A week later Dumbledore was feeling a bit more happy with Ariana.
There had been no more questioning of him or what she was supposed to do, and seemed to finally just accept everything that he told her.
While he still had some misgivings and he would definitely be making some improvements to future clones, at least for now he wasn't going to get rid of her or replace her and he was willing to go forward with more clones, starting with Barty Crouch Sr. and Lily Evans.
Ariana had highlighted some major problems for him, some of which would be resolved by using clones with real memories from their originals. Problems with lacking information that he had been unable to supply for her such as about sex or relationships would no longer be problems since each new clone would have memories of that.
What he did need however was a way to force them never to question him and simply do whatever he asked without question. He had hoped that all of his clones would simply follow him because they would all naturally come to the conclusion that he knew what was best for them, but he finally had to admit that this was just not plausible.
While he would have preferred not to use it, as it could be dangerous and cause the loss of a few clones before he got it quite right, there was already an existing plan to remove any of their free agency and be programmed to follow his instructions perfectly.
First however he needed to bring back Lily as Snape was starting to get antsy and request that she be brought back now that Ariana appeared to be stable.
He had agreed to do it, under the condition that Snape keep her locked up inside a secret bunker that had been built during World War II but was modified to serve their purposes.
Obviously he couldn't have anyone finding out about her or her escaping.
Lily was quite different from Ariana in that she had died recently enough and whose picture was still seen in public so that someone might actually recognize her. She would also have memories of her original self and would almost certainly want to see her son Harry.
He had however extracted from Snape an unbreakable vow that he would never release her unless he himself gave express permission to do so.
Of course he had had to do some major manipulating in order to convince him, but it had all been worth it in his opinion. Snape had been told she would only have to be there a year and by then he would likely get rid of both him and clone Lily as neither would serve any other purpose.
Ariana, as long as she remained faithful, he would keep around, unless she needed to be replaced by a more faithful version of her.
As long as he kept her away from his brother Aberforth, now living in Hogsmeade, and the only person alive who would even recognize her, she would likely never even come close to finding out the truth.
DUELDUELDUEL
"Are you ready?" Harry asked.
"Ready!" Ariana answered as she slung the invisibility cloak over her shoulder.
They were just about to leave for Hogsmeade and Susan and Ariana were currently getting ready to sneak out underneath the secret tunnel to it.
"We'll see you on the other side then I guess." Tonks told them both.
"Probably a bit later, we were planning on checking out some of the shops first." Susan answered.
"See you later then." Harry said.
They both slipped on the invisibility cloak and disappeared, leaving Harry and the remaining girls to head out themselves. With permission forms still in hand, they went over to the front gate where Filch was dutifully studying each one before letting them through.
"I don't see why he has to scrutinize each one every time like this." Fleur commented.
"I think he just gets some some sort of high off thinking he'll find a forgery and Dumbledore will have them hung by their thumbs again in the dungeons." Tonks admitted, "He's been doing this for as long as I can remember and he still has yet to find a real forgery, although he thinks he has a few times."
Stepping forward Filch scanned each of theirs before letting most of them through.
However, he stopped Gabrielle and said, "I'm sorry little missy but yours is a forgery, you'll have to come with me."
"My permission slip is most certainly not forged!" Gabrielle argued.
"We even have the same parent sign ours and you let me through!" Fleur insisted.
Filch looked at her nastily and said, "You're right, I'd better take you in as well."
Personally Harry thought that Filch was just a pervy man wanting an excuse to be alone with two attractive young Veela, but he wasn't about to say that to him, not yet at least.
"What seems to be the trouble here Filch?" Madame Maxime said, coming up behind them and instantly casting a large shadow over Harry.
"Madame Maxime, these students clearly have forged documents." Filch argued.
Madame Maxime looked over at both of their permission slips and said dismissively, "These aren't forgeries Filch, I even looked their father's signature over myself back when they were going to my school."
"Be that as it may, Hogwarts is significantly better at catching criminal and illegal behavior than Beauxbatons." Filch replied.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Madame Maxime asked angrily.
Filch looked prepared to argue, but then she got right up in front of him as she stared menacingly down at him. Since Filch was only half as tall as she was, and not nearly as big, he actually cowered in obvious fear and discomfort.
"Nothing." Filch gave an ugly squeak.
"Good, now I think I'll go with these students so we can be underway to Hogsmeade." She told him.
Filch was still too scared to argue, and they all gladly followed Madame Maxime as she walked with them. Once they were away from Filch, they gladly thanked her.
"Not a problem." She replied, "Happy to help, although I have to confess I was a little worried that Filch might object. It seems a lot of people are questioning me and my ability to run my school."
"That's ridiculous, you're probably the best Headmistress Beauxbatons has ever had." Fleur argued.
"Thank you, but I'm afraid some people might not see it that way. I had a tough enough time as it was even getting this job but it seems this tournament has just made it even worse. I fear that unless things get better I might be fired." Madame Maxime confessed.
"We can't allow that to happen," Gabrielle stated, "if you were to find the culprit responsible for the cheating do you think that would help?"
"Of course, but nobody seems to know anything and examination of the Triwizard cup has proved fruitless." She confessed.
"Then we'll just have to find them for you." Fleur insisted.
"I wish you wouldn't, this is a matter that I need to solve." Madame Maxime said.
They agreed since they realized she would never allow them to be put into danger, but as soon as they left her in Hogsmeade, they all agreed they would definitely be stepping it up and finding the culprit for her.
DUELDUELDUEL
Meanwhile Ariana and Susan were walking down the secret tunnel into Hogsmeade.
"I really should feel guilty about doing this." Ariana confessed as they walked.
"You know you don't have to do this if you don't want to, we can just stay behind and do something else." Susan suggested.
"I know, but its also kind of exciting to be a bit rebellious, I don't think I've ever really done anything bad before." Ariana replied.
"We aren't really doing anything bad, just what Dumbledore should have let you do in the first place." Susan pointed out.
Ariana drew a deep breath as she would now be doing something even more against Dumbledore's wishes as she confessed, "Susan, I think you should probably know something, Dumbledore is more than my magical guardian, he's my great-grandfather."
At this, Susan actually stopped and turned around. "Are you serious?" She asked in complete shock.
"I just felt like you deserved to know." Ariana replied.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Susan asked.
"Would you if you were me?" Ariana questioned.
Susan thought about this a moment then confessed, "No, I don't suppose I would."
"It's been so hard for me not to tell any of you." Ariana said.
Susan drew her into a hug and said, "It's okay, I'm not going to judge you because of who your family is, you couldn't have helped that. In truth even my own family has some links with some not so good individuals and I'm not the only one. You should see Pansy's family tree for instance, trust me, she's the nicest one in her family by far."
"Thanks for understanding." Ariana replied, now smiling.
She really did like Susan, and was a great friend, girlfriend, or whatever she was by now and it felt really good to admit that at least to her. Her answer had certainly helped her make a decision that she would never do as her grandfather had asked and spy on her, she just couldn't ever bring herself to do it. That would be something that she told her later though not wanting to try her luck and risk how Susan might react to that news as well. She wanted to handle it delicately as Susan would definitely be mad at her grandfather for it, and while she may not have agreed with some of the things he did, she still loved him and didn't want to risk hurting him.
At any rate they had resumed walking and finally reached the end of the passageway.
"It leads up to the cellar in Honeydukes." Susan said, "I thought maybe we might get some candy and then go get a Butterbeer."
"Okay!" Ariana replied.
After sneaking out through the cellar and emerging inside of the store, they picked out some candy to buy which Susan offered to pay for while Ariana remained underneath the invisibility cloak.
Candy was something that Ariana knew quite a lot about, and it surprised her that she recognized every single type of candy in the entire store and remembered trying.
It confused her because the candy in the United States should be different, but even the weirder flavors, such as cockroach cluster, she recognized.
She even knew how to make it, which she tried to tell Susan about but she simply made a face and asked her not to tell her.
Still Susan was visibly impressed by her candy knowledge as she continued on whispering about other candy.
"How do you know so much about candy?" She asked.
"I guess I must be Willy Wonka." Ariana said grinning.
Susan looked puzzled so she had to explain just who Willy Wonka was and then the entire movie.
"I remember watching that with Dumbledore like a dozen times." Ariana confessed.
"I can see why he would like it even if it is a Muggle film," Susan replied, "A movie in a candy factory with children being horribly punished for not listening to an insane man who makes candy."
"Hey!" Ariana protested, "He's still my grandfather and I still enjoyed watching it."
"Sorry, I'll try to be nicer now that I know but I couldn't resist making the comparison." Susan confided.
"Well I suppose he is a bit like Willy Wonka, although older." Ariana confessed.
Susan laughed at that, and then they finished picking out candy.
After paying for it, they headed off to the Three Broomsticks. Yet when they got inside, they could already tell that the place was packed and looking over at one of the tables, they could see Professor McGonagall sitting at a table.
"I don't think this is a good idea," Ariana whispered to her, "too likely to get bumped into under this Cloak or be discovered by a teacher."
"Good point," Susan whispered back as they headed back outside, "how about we go to the Hog's Head instead? They serve Butterbeer there too, and I think it is actually less expensive even though less popular."
They headed over there and went inside.
Unlike the Three Broomsticks, barely anyone was inside: less than half a dozen patrons all wearing cloaks, hoods, or things that obscured their faces.
Apparently it was a fashion statement here.
The only exception to this was Hagrid, currently sitting at the bar so they figured it wasn't too dangerous of a place as long as he was there.
"Hello Hagrid." Susan said, going up to stand by him.
"Hello Susan," Hagrid answered, "I really can't thank you enough for that date idea you gave me. Olympe absolutely loved it."
Ariana remembered that Olympe was actually Madame Maxime and Hagrid's current girlfriend, who were evidently doing rather well together.
"I'm actually supposed to meet up with her later today." Hagrid confessed.
"That's great, but you might want to lay off the alcohol then if you've got a date." Susan pointed out.
"It's only Butterbeer." Hagrid assured her, lifting his glass to show her, "Actually if you're going to get something here, you'll want your own glass. I've got an extra one here if you'd like it."
"That would be great Hagrid." Susan replied gratefully.
Hagrid reached into his coat pocket and pulled one out before putting it on the counter, a huge Hagrid sized mug.
After waiting for the barman to come over, she said, "Can I get a Butterbeer please?"
The barman looked down at the huge mug and then said, "I'll have to charge you for two if you are going to use a mug that big."
"That's fine." Susan agreed.
She guessed that this really was okay since Susan would likely be sharing with her.
After taking a long drink, she surreptitiously put the mug underneath her invisibility cloak so that she could have a drink.
As she drank, Susan continued to talk to Hagrid, who failed to notice that she no longer had his mug.
While she listened absently about how his last date with Madame Maxime had went, she looked around the bar.
The three black cloaked gentleman in the corner were currently playing a poker game, and what appeared to be a hag sat at a table all by herself reading a book that made the occasional small scream.
With the only other occupants being Susan, Hagrid, herself, and the barman, she looked over at the wall behind the counter.
In addition to a fading copy of an Award for Best Service that was 60 years out of date, she spotted a few old photos and as she turned to look at one, she actually dropped her mug in shock.
It was a picture of her!
Not just a girl that looked like her, but looked exactly like her, the eyes, the hair, the nose, the chin, it was all there.
At first she thought that perhaps the owner of the bar was just a pervert in somehow getting her photo and keeping it, but the photo was way too old for that, it even had a date at the bottom: summer of 1899, way before she was ever even born.
Then why did the girl look exactly like her?
Susan, however, was unaware of her still staring at the picture as she was still underneath the invisibility cloak and so couldn't actually see her face.
She dropped down onto the floor to pick up the mug and the spilled Butterbeer.
"Did you just drop it?" Susan whispered quietly so Hagrid wouldn't hear.
"Look at the picture behind the counter!" Ariana whispered.
After picking up the mug, Susan looked over at the picture herself, and her own mouth dropped open in shock, no doubt going through the same process that she did.
"Excuse me, who's that picture of?" Susan asked the barman as she pointed at it.
The barman's face immediately took on a look of deep sadness as he gruffly said, "It's no one that concerns you."
"Please." Susan pleaded.
Finally the barman replied, probably hoping it would satisfy her curiosity, "It was my sister Ariana."
"Was?" Susan queried.
"She died not long after that photo was taken." the barman replied.
"Would you happen to have any more photos of her?" Susan asked.
"Why all the questions about my sister?" the barman countered back.
He obviously didn't appear happy talking about her and normally Ariana would have told Susan to back off, but she wanted to know just as much as she did.
"I just think it might be very important, if I could maybe just see some more photos perhaps..." Susan replied.
Like her, she just felt like knowing more about the girl in the photo was important.
The barman appeared reluctant, but finally said, "I don't have any other photos with me, but if I show you a portrait of her, will you leave me alone?"
"I will, thank you so much." Susan replied.
"Come back with me." The barman offered.
Susan stepped back behind the counter as she followed invisibly herself.
Stepping into another room, she immediately saw a portrait of the girl, still looking exactly the same as her.
"Now you've seen it," the barman said, "now I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Ariana simply couldn't allow that happen, she simply had to find out more about the girl.
Pulling off her invisibility cloak, she appeared right in front of him.
As the barman saw her appear, a look of complete shock appeared upon his face.
"Ariana? It's not possible!" The barman asked in total and complete shock. As soon as he said this, he fainted, falling onto the floor.
Susan rushed over to see if he was okay as he came to.
"Are you okay?" Susan asked him.
"Sorry, I just thought I saw something that I really shouldn't have seen." The barman replied.
Yet as he looked over at her again, he nearly fainted again. "How are you here?" He asked, now as white as a sheet.
"I'm not your dead sister if that is what you're wondering," Ariana replied, "but I'd still like to know just how you know my name?"
"Not my sister?" The barman asked in consternation, "You look just like her though."
"That's what we've been trying to figure out as well." Susan told him, "We were wondering if you might be able to help us with that."
"If you aren't my sister, then who are you?" The barman asked.
The barman simply could not stop staring at her.
"I'm Ariana Taylor, and who might you be?" She questioned.
"I'm Aberforth Dumbledore, Ariana Dumbledore was my sister." Aberforth replied.
"Any relation to Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts?" Susan asked.
"Yes, he's my brother." Aberforth responded.
"He's actually my great grandfather, but the thing is he never even mentioned he had a brother, much less a sister who looked just like me." Ariana told him.
Personally she was very confused just why he had never told her.
"That would be like him I suppose, but he never even mentioned he had a child, much less a great grandchild. He always told me that he was totally celibate his entire life." Aberforth commented.
"Well I know that can't be true since he had sex with a Muggle woman and had my grandmother." Ariana said, "I'm still confused just why I look just like your sister and even have the same name."
Aberforth paused to think for a moment then said, "I guess it's more likely since at least you and her are somewhat related, but it's still hard to believe that you would look exactly alike like each other, even around 100 years apart."
"Tell me about her." Ariana urged.
The look of deep sadness returned to him as he began to relate to them his memories of her.
"She was born about a year later than me, and was quite a precious and smart child. Even at a young age she was turning out to be very gifted with magic, something that our parents were particularly pleased with since their older child Albus had been the same way and was already off to a great start at Hogwarts. One day while she was 6, however, some of the Muggle boys living in the neighborhood caught her doing magic and so they attacked her for being what they considered to be a freak. The attack left her traumatized and caused her to lose control of both her mind and her magic."
For some reason this story rang true for her, feeling almost like she had lived it, the fear, the loss of control, it felt so very much a part of her whenever she did magic in front of others.
"My father on the other hand got angry." Aberforth continued, "He ended up cursing the Muggle boys in retaliation and for that was sent to Azkaban since he wouldn't tell why he had done it, the reason being that in the state my sister was in if the severity of her condition was widely known she would be sent to St. Mungo's and neither of my parents could bear to have that happen. Ultimately we ended up caring for her ourselves and hid her from the rest of the world. Despite her condition she was still a nice girl, and when she was calm I used to let her help me feed the goats. Unfortunately when I went off to school was when the problems started since I was the only one who could calm her down when she was having her fits and one day there was an accident when she couldn't control herself and my mother was killed."
A wave of sadness immediately hit her. She didn't know Aberforth's mother, but she still felt like she did, and still somehow felt somewhat responsible for her death.
At this even Aberforth was crying as he continued with the story.
"After the death of my mother, I prayed for a miracle. I couldn't be mad at her for the death of my mother as she had had no control but I still felt responsible for her. I decided to drop out of school to take care of her, but Albus wouldn't hear of it. He wanted to finally put her in St. Mungo's since he felt that she was a danger to society. Personally I also think he just didn't want to have care for her himself. By that point he had graduated from Hogwarts and could have stayed at home to look after her. Yet as I prayed for a miracle, I actually got one. One day I awoke and went into Ariana's bedroom to check up on her and found a beautiful phoenix there in her bedroom."
"At first I was afraid for her, but then I saw Ariana smiling as she petted the bird, I had never actually seen my sister smile ever since the incident and so I stopped to simply watch the display."
"She began actually talking to the bird and bird seemed like it was responding to her. Eventually I realized that above all odds, the phoenix had decided to bond itself as her familiar."
"It was an unprecedented occurrence since phoenixes are extremely rare to begin with and even more rare to bond with a human. The fact that for whatever reason this phoenix had found and chosen my sister was truly a miracle. Ariana called the phoenix Fawkes."
"That's the name of Dumbledore's phoenix!" Susan exclaimed.
"The very same phoenix." Aberforth admitted.
"I knew that he had a phoenix but he's never let me see it." Ariana claimed.
In truth simply mentioning Fawkes the phoenix stirred something with her, a sort of calm peacefulness.
"I'm sad that he has been that way to you due to the value Fawkes was to my sister." Aberforth replied, "Fawkes was able to do for my sister what no one else could have as she began to slowly but steadily recover from both her mental and magical illnesses as Fawkes began to cure her of it. She smiled and was happier a lot more, her magical fits began to get weaker and weaker and all that was needed to end them was a song sung by Fawkes. For the first time I had high hopes that she would make a full recovery given time."
"Unfortunately Albus learned of the phoenix as well and I was able to persuade him that you were recuperating on your own. He ultimately decided to stay at Godric's Hollow where we lived and look after you. The problem however was that Gellert Grindelwald, at that time merely a teenager at that time and around the same age as Albus ended up coming to stay there as well. Both quickly became friends and hatched a plan to take over the world and improve society with wizards as rulers over muggles."
"Grandfather would never do something like that though." Ariana argued.
"You can choose to believe me or not, but it's still the truth and I would be willing to still say it over oath." Aberforth claimed, "I don't know what his views are now, but at that time that was his plan. At any rate, before they did so they sought for power over death, something people throughout time and searched for and ultimately failed to find."
"At that time however, Dumbledore was still thinking about Ariana's phoenix. The phoenix was the only known creature on the planet known to have complete power over death. Nothing could seem to kill one since it would always be reborn. In addition it had incredible healing powers, powers that he was already witnessing firsthand with my sister, could carry heavy loads, and could even travel possibly anywhere in the world by flame travel. Dumbledore decided that if he was to obtain power over death he needed Fawkes for it, and since Fawkes seemed only willing to listen to Ariana, he needed her as well."
"They tried taking her and Fawkes with them on their planned journey, but I told them no, that not only was Ariana still not stable enough to travel but she would never help them fulfill such an evil goal. Grindelwald was angry with me, and so used the Cruciatus curse on me. Albus rushed to my defense and a duel between them ensued. In the confusion, a stray spell hit Ariana that ended up killing her. We still aren't sure just who actually fired the spell, but I still blame Albus for it, since whether or not he did it, he still is responsible for trying to abuse her like that in the first place for his own evil ambitions."
"After that, Albus and Grindelwald had a falling out, and Grindelwald started out on his plans for world domination without him, going quite far until he and Albus' famous duel where he was defeated."
Once he had finished his story, Ariana simply let the whole tale sink in.
She didn't want to believe it, but it just felt so true to her, almost like she had lived it herself, which she found very unsettling, since this Ariana looked and felt so much like herself it was uncanny. If there wasn't such a huge age difference, she might have believed that she really was the original Ariana.
"How come Fawkes chose to follow Albus after Ariana's death then?" Susan asked.
"To be honest I'm not sure and something I've always been highly suspicious." Aberforth admitted, "Fawkes loved Ariana but he certainly had no love for Albus, he used to screech and squawk angrily whenever he was around. Usually a phoenix only bonds with a truly good person which was certainly not what Albus was at that time. I remember Fawkes was there for Ariana's funeral but then I didn't speak to Albus for many years after that so I don't really know what happened. All I know is when I next saw him again he had Fawkes. Personally I think he must have done something to it or tricked it somehow, Fawkes would never have chosen him after losing Ariana like that."
"It does sound very suspicious and horrible if it's true." Susan agreed.
"I think I've already got a lot to think about already." Ariana admitted.
"I'm sure you do, and I'd be more than happy to help you figure them out." Aberforth volunteered.
"Thank you, this is already just so much for me to take in right now." Ariana replied as she went and gave him a hug.
He returned the hug as tears still went down his cheeks, before staring at her again.
"You know, you really do look and sound just like her." Aberforth told her.
"The thing is, I feel almost like I am her." Ariana confessed.