Written For:

- QLFC Round 10: Of Ghosts & Portraits - Write about Ariana Dumbledore. You may write about your character in their human life if you wish, however he or she must feature as their ghost or portrait self somewhere in your story. Likewise, your ghost or portrait doesn't have to be the main focus of your fic, but he or she must play an important role to the plot.

W.C: 1,414

The Lady of Shalott

I'm half sick of shadows,
I want to see the sky,
Everyone else can watch as the sun goes down,
So why can't I?

oOo

(There's a portrait of the young girl in periwinkle hanging in the old Dumbledore house in Godric's Hollow. She waits for someone to walk around the corner or enter from the kitchen, as the constant silence hurts her.

But no one ever comes.)

oOo

Ariana sat quietly whilst her mother bound her hands in tight, glowing bandages. "These will help you learn to control your magic," Kendra told her six-year-old daughter quietly. "I cannot promise that nothing will happen at all, but they should help you focus your magic into your hands."

"I don't want to wear them, Mother," Ariana whined. Kendra pursed her lips at her youngest daughter and stood up, making to leave the room.

"You will do as you are told. It is because of your lack of control that we had to move to this god-forsaken village and your father is rotting in Azkaban." Before Ariana could reply, Kendra dismissively pulled shut the heavy oak door to her bedroom, and the click of the lock echoed through the room.

Ariana sighed, and looked up at the spot where her window used to be. It is covered up now, smothered with a thick layer of brick and cement, not even allowing the slightest ray of sunlight to stream through. She longed for the days in her old bedroom when she would wake up and see the sun rising over the horizon.

The Dumbledore family had been living in Godric's Hollow for a few weeks, yet Ariana hadn't seen any of it.

She doubted that she ever would.

oOo

(There's a stain on her portrait, something dark and red and ugly. It's as though someone threw red wine over a window and left it to dry.

She'd hoped that she would get to see the sun again when everything ended, but it was not to be. Instead she stares into the same dark house that she is so repulsed by, with nothing but the red stain to marr the vision.)

oOo

"I cannot take it anymore!"

"Ariana, please calm down!" The frantic cries of her mother did little to permeate Ariana's rage. She could hear the woman screaming, desperately trying to back out of the dining room to get to safety, but Ariana couldn't control her anger.

Kendra had placed dinner in front of Ariana, and proceeded to quietly sit at the other end of the table, reading from a leather-bound journal and ignoring Ariana, as was routine. There was no-one else around, much to Ariana's distaste. Aberforth usually entertained her; he treat her like she was still a person and not a ticking time bomb. Albus was much more reserved, but he still conversed with Ariana whenever he was home. Kendra, though Ariana was sure loved her, seemed constantly bitter about what had happened when Ariana was six.

Ariana wished she could get a motherly bond back with her mother, but it seemed like it was never going to happen. Kendra obviously blamed Ariana for her father being incarcerated, and nothing was ever going to change that.

She had only asked her mother one question over dinner. Just one question, and the reply was enough to gauge a breakdown.

"I cannot let you outside, Ariana!" Kendra cried. "You know why!"

She had only wanted to see the sun setting, just once. She only wanted to feel the warmth on her skin, just once. The garden was enclosed and safe, and Ariana had been sure that nothing bad would happen, not if her mother was supervising her.

"I have been locked in this house for nearly ten years!" Ariana wailed, and both of the dinner plates on the table soared out of reach, shattering against the nearest wall. Kendra ducked, narrowly avoiding the splatter of vegetables and gravy on the wallpaper. "I just wanted one chance! One chance to see the sun again!"

"Aberforth!" Kendra yelled, sticking her head through the door and shouting with the hopes that her youngest son would hear her, wherever he happened to be. "Aberforth!"

"Aberforth and Albus can come and go as they please!" Ariana continued to cry. The curtains were billowing around the windows, and the flames on the candles were streaming. "They do not understand the pain I have to endure in this house! With you!"

"Ariana," whispered Kendra, sliding down the wall until she was crouched. Her eyes were wide with horror, and several strands of dark hair were escaping her usually immaculate bun. "I was just trying to help you."

"You are wicked!" she screamed, and she threw her arms outward, releasing her pent-up anger in the form of one huge burst of raw magic. The explosion generated from Ariana's very centre, illuminating the dining room with a blinding white light, before everything went dark.

oOo

(Even as nothing but a portrait fuelled by words and memories, Ariana still remembers the screams of her mother. They carried her into the afterlife and echoed in the very corners of her mind until the day she died.)

oOo

"We can't treat her like Mother did, Albus. This is why Mother ended up dead."

"I do not see how else we can help her. We know not the slightest thing of her ailment. Father should have allowed her to go to St. Mungo's when he had the chance, so she could have received help for her troubles."

"Albus! How can you say such things?"

Ariana let the tears stream freely down her face as she leaned against the closed door, listening to her brothers quarrel. They were right—Father should have had her committed when the accident happened, and Mother would not be dead. Everything would have been fine.

oOo

(Her painted ears prickle as she hears the sound of someone treading carefully through the debris of the dining room. Someone has come back to the house, but who? Who would want to wander into such a place of death and misery?

She stares placidly into the dining room, waiting for the intruder to show themselves. She hopes they are happy with the decaying remains of the Dumbledore family, which they will soon find.)

oOo

"Stop!" Ariana cried, rushing into the centre of her brothers and their friend, Gellert. "Why are you fighting?"

"Ariana, go back upstairs!" ordered Aberforth, trying to shove his little sister out of the way. He narrowly missed a jet of red light that skimmed his shoulder, and he immediately fired back at Albus. "You nearly hit our sister!"

"Cease this stupidity!" snarled Gellert, turning his wand on Albus. "You will never get anywhere while you continue to adhere to the rules of the current world. Ariana will never have to hide again if the Muggles are subdued. She will be praised for the powerful witch that she is!"

"Do not speak her name, Grindelwald!" snapped Aberforth, directing a curse at Gellert. It was dodged expertly, and as he went to shoot one back, Ariana dove in front of his wand.

"Ariana, no!" screamed Aberforth, just as Albus was directing a spell at Aberforth. Aberforth threw out a shield charm, causing the spell to bounce away.

The bounced curse hit Ariana square in the chest, and she fell to the floor like broken doll.

As she stared up at the three horrified male faces, she cursed herself. She would never get to see the sun again, like she had always dreamed.

oOo

("Ariana?" the voice is little more than a breath, but Ariana recognises it immediately. She spots the blue eyes behind the grey beard, noting that they have lost their twinkle.

"Aberforth," she murmurs, wondering her voice can be heard through the medium of paint and pastels. When Aberforth's ears prick up and he stumbles over the debris towards her portrait, she smiles. "You came back for me."

"I would have come sooner," Aberforth's wrinkled eyes fill with tears. "But I thought you would not wish to see me again."

"How wrong you were," Ariana replies quietly.

Aberforth pulls her frame down from the wall, and tucks it carefully under his arm. As they leave the house, Ariana's breath catches in her throat. She can see the final rays of sunlight passing over the horizon, casting a beautiful orange glow over the village.

Finally, she is able to see the sun again.)