Sweet Tooth | Albus Dumbledore

Chapter Eight

There was a soft knock on Albus' door when he went upstairs, furious and upset.

He thought it would be his father and stayed sullenly silent, but then Kendra poked her head around the door. His mother always looked younger when she was dressed for bed, more like Ariana. Her black hair was loose around her shoulders, and she wore a shawl over her nightgown. Only the little lines around her eyes revealed her age.

"Albus?" she said.

"Yes?" He replied, a little stiffly.

She sighed and closed the door with a soft snap, padding across the wooden floorboards. She sat on his bed. "Did your father have a talk with you?"

"Yes," he said again. "And if you wish to say the same thing I'm not interested."

"Oh Albus, don't be like that. We both only want what's best for you."

"This isn't what's best for me," he murmured. "I'm almost an adult. I will be seventeen in August."

"I am afraid, Albus," she said gently. "You will still be treated as a child while you live under this roof."

"I won't be living under this roof at Hogwarts."

His mother gave him a sharp look. "You know what I mean. Perhaps your father has a reason for making this decision. You're young, you're confused. It happens."

Albus chewed his lip. "Mum, did you fall in love with Pa?"

She blinked. "I – yes, I suppose I did."

"I think I feel like that about Will, Mum. Every time I see him my heart thumps inside my chest, and sometimes I dream about him at night, and I know it in my heart."

"You've always been such a handsome boy," she said, a little desperately. "You could have any girl."

"I don't want a girl, Mum, I want him."

The result of it was that William and Albus were kept apart for the rest of the summer. Kendra always found ways to keep him busy when his father wasn't there, and any William never appeared in the garden anymore. Once, just before his birthday, Albus glimpsed him in an upstairs window and waved. William raised his hand to wave back, but before he could do so, an unseen hand yanked back the curtains.

The summer had started so bright, so promising, and now it had turned lonely and dreary.

His father barely even looked at him anymore, like he was a deep personal shame. He took to getting Aberforth for things he'd usually ask Albus to do, joking and laughing with him as he had once done with Albus, and it hurt. Albus knew his brother was sorry, but he could do nothing to change it, and though she argued, neither could Ariana.

The most she could do was ferry little notes to William through his grandmother, hidden in the basket of food their mother always sent to them.

Albus learned from them that although his grandmother protested, William's father had stopped him making sweets. As well as that, he had ordered ordinary robes and clothes for him. He spent his time gardening with his grandfather, though he told Albus his talent did not lie in that field at all, for all of his plants withered and died. He went fishing, did whittling and metalworking, and it was clear what his father was trying to do. He was trying to turn him into a man.

As for Albus, he spent his time reading, helping his mother around the house, helping Ariana with her studies. For the last three weeks of the holidays, William was sent to stay with some relatives at their farm in Wales, and Albus received no letters at all.

Finally, the day of Hogwarts dawned. Albus and his siblings dressed in their school robes and their mother accompanied them to the station, fiddling and fixing, sighing and wiping dirt from Aberforth. It was only as she had just left, the siblings preparing to board the train, that Albus heard the call.

"Albus!"

The familiar voice made his heart jump, and he turned to see William coming towards him. He wore an ordinary dark suit, the jacket flapping, a blue ink stain down the leg of his trousers. He paused, seemingly out of breath, and pushed his hair out of his eyes.

"C'mon," Ariana muttered, pushing Aberforth, who looked puzzled. "What? What about Al?"

She sighed in impatience, hefting Reginald in his cage, which he hated. "Get on the bloody train and I'll explain."

They disappeared in the throng of students, and there was an awkward pause.

"Hello," Albus said finally.

William blushed pink. "Hello. It's good to see you."

"You too," Albus said. "You've got proper clothes."

William fidgeted with his jacket. "Yes well. Had to grow up a bit, Dad said."

"Mm," Albus murmured, not wanting to say he missed the outlandish clothes, though he did.

"Listen I – Albus, there's something I've got to say."

The final bell went in warning, and Albus spoke. "Can you say it on the train? Only-"

"Oh! Oh yes – of course-"

He hefted his trunk and followed Albus, and they found an empty compartment at the back.

"Albus....what I meant to say was that, well – I'm moving to Wales."

Albus' heart plummeted. "What? When?"

He ran his hands through his hair. "Dad decided it for me ages ago. The last few weeks were just a trial run. I'm not coming back. He's even considering getting me home schooled after Christmas."

"Because of me," Albus said flatly.

"Yes," William said. "Rather."

"Why you moved," Albus said coldly. "I heard."

William sighed. "There was a boy," he mumbled. "Down the road. I kissed him, a foolish mistake, one I would pay for. He kissed me back, I'd swear it, but after a few seconds he broke away, started yelling. By lunchtime it was all around the town. Dad moved us."

Albus wasn't at all sure what to say. His emotions were welling up inside him.

"I hope you have a good life," he said finally.

"You too," William said quietly, and they nodded to each other. Albus took his trunk and pushed the door of the carriage open, and then he said, "Albus-"

Albus turned. "Yes?"

And then, suddenly, they were kissing. Right there in the compartment, his hands in William's hair, William's teeth scraping his lip –

"We can't," he said breathlessly, breaking away. "Not here, too busy-"

"I know," William said, just as breathlessly. "I – Albus, would you call me stupid if I said I thought I loved you?"

"No," Albus managed. "Not at all. Would you call me stupid if I said I think so too?"

William gently pulled his hand back inside, closing the door. "No."