Once they emerged again it was in the middle of a narrow street with cobblestones underfoot and low walls on either side, except for a single dark and dingy-looking building that they were now standing in front of. Wendy blinked and looked around, noticing that there were more buildings not far away.
Crammed together on either side of what looked like a bustling street filled with people wearing robes and pointy hats, but for some reason this building was slightly separate from all the others and very few people seemed interested in coming towards it.
She turned to look at the building and saw, as Dumbledore stepped over onto the threshold and pushed the front door open, words scrawled over a sign above the doorway that read:-
The Hog's Head.
"Is this a bar?" Wendy asked, slightly nervously. "Are… are you sure I can go in there?"
"Not entirely," Dumbledore admitted. "But… I believe… this place may be ideal for you to recuperate in. Come, come. Let's go and have a word with the barkeeper."
Wendy slowly followed Dumbledore inside and bit her lip when she saw the interior of the place. Rarely had she seen anywhere that looked more grungy and filthy than this. The only place that could really compete was the ancient city of Nirvana and that had been abandoned for hundreds of years. But this place had windows she could barely see out of, a floor that looked like moles could pop out of it at any second, tables that looked like they were going to fall apart if you so much as touched them and a very ugly looking boar's head mounted on the wall nearby. That last one especially caused Wendy to shiver and she stuck close to Dumbledore as he strode across the room.
There were only two people in the bar, one of them being the barkeeper. And that barkeeper, who had long straggly silver hair, a big beard and robes that looked like they were made of a sack, had seemingly been frozen in the middle of washing out a filthy looking mug, his blue eyes narrowed as he glared reproachfully at the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"What are you doing here?" he muttered sourly.
"A pleasure to see you too, Aberforth," Dumbledore nodded to him. "I apologise for not giving you advance notice of my arrival, but it was a rather snap decision on my part."
"Is that right?" the barkeeper muttered, putting the mug down with a decisive thud. "Well then, say what you have to say and be done with it." And it was at this point that his eyes settled on Wendy and he froze again.
"Um… hi…" Wendy waved uncertainly.
Aberforth didn't reply. He just stared at her for several seconds before his gaze switched back to Dumbledore. "What's going on here, Albus?"
"Perhaps we can continue with this conversation somewhere a bit more private," Dumbledore suggested.
"No problem. You, out!" he barked at the other person sitting in the corner, who had his face partially hidden in his cloak.
"What? But… I'm not done here…"
"I said out! I've decided to close up early today. Move along."
"But…"
"Don't make me pull out my wand."
The wizard snorted in irritation but pushed himself to his feet and trundled out of the bar and into the street one again, slamming it behind him and leaving the pub devoid of customers.
"There. We're in private. Now, care you explain what's happening?"
"I have come to ask a favour of you," Dumbledore replied calmly, not at all put off by the short-tempered behaviour of the barkeeper. "A favour that had nothing to do with the Order. This is Wendy Marvell - a young girl with a rather… unique set of circumstances. In fact, I am sure that if I explained it all to you, you would be quite convinced that I had gone mad."
"I've had my suspicions you have for a while," Aberforth folded his arms. "Go on then, surprise me."
It took quite a while for Dumbledore to convince the barkeeper of the truth, and Wendy had to put in a word of two of her own to help along the way. Aberforth seemed to be quite sure that Albus had hit his head on something to come into his bar and start prattling nonsense like that, but Wendy was able to finally convince him of the truth behind it all by demonstrating some of her magic to him. Apparently Aberforth liked to keep goats and one of them had fallen sick with something that Aberforth had been trying unsuccessfully to cure, and after he took them into the back and Wendy spent ten seconds with the animal it was running around the room bleating its little heart out.
"Alright," Aberforth murmured. "So I believe it. What does any of this have to do exactly?"
"I was wondering if you would consider watching over her for me for a while. Until such a time as I can find the best way to help her."
Aberforth had an unreadable expression for a moment before he suddenly growled, "So… you want me… to take care of a little girl while you go swanning off playing the glorious hero, is that what you're saying? Huh… you know… that sounds remarkably familiar doesn't it, Albus? Where have I heard that before?"
His gaze switched towards the portrait of a young blond haired girl that was watching them silently from the wall, her painted eyes flicking between Albus and Aberforth with concern written all over her features. Wendy frowned when she saw it, wondering who this girl might be, but Albus' face tightened slightly.
"Aberforth, please…"
"What's the problem with looking after her yourself, may I ask? Is it too much for you? Is she going to get in the way of all of your grand plans?"
"Aberforth…"
"I suppose you doing this is 'for the greater good' in some way, is it?"
"ABERFORTH!" Albus' voice raised slightly and for a fleeting moment Wendy thought she could see a heartrending pain fill his formerly twinkling blue eyes but it was gone in a moment and he sighed. "This… is not like that."
"You can't deny it sounds similar," Aberforth grunted.
"It does, I admit, but if I felt that I could adequately protect her myself then I would do so without a second thought. But you know that these are times where I must tread lightly. With the Ministry imposing itself upon my school, what do you think they would do if learned of Wendy's existence and what she can do. Wizardkind… no… humanity itself, does not exactly have a good history with how they handle things that they do not understand."
"So, you intend to go behind the Ministry's back? And what should happen if they find out you've been hiding some girl from another dimension from them?"
"That is a question with an answer I would rather not speculate on."
"I'd say arrest is certain. And you know the same sentence would be upon me if they found out that I helped you, do you not?"
"I am aware that I am… asking much…" Albus pursed his lips. "But please, Aberforth. She needs our help."
Aberforth frowned and turned to fix his gaze on Wendy. The Sky Dragon Slayer smiled hopefully at him, placing her hands together and interlocking her fingers as she tried not to look away from his eyes, which she noticed were strikingly similar to Albus'. Aberforth only broke his gaze to look back at the portrait of the girl again and as Wendy turned to look as well, she saw the girl give him a reassuring nod, but still said nothing.
"Alright," Aberforth sighed. "Alright, she can stay with me."
"Thank you, Aberforth."
"I'm not doing it for you, Albus. I'm doing it for her."
"I understand completely. Believe me, I do. But if she ends up staying for a while then I will be making regular check-ups on her progress." The Headmaster then turned to Wendy and said, "Aberforth may be a little rough around the edges but he is a good fellow and he will look after you properly. I must get back to the school now, but I will begin trying to find your friends immediately."
"Will I have to stay here very long?" Wendy asked.
"Like I said, I do not govern your decisions. All I would ask is that you stay here for at least one night. Whether you stay longer will depend on what course of action we take, I suppose."
"Okay… please do your best. I'm just… so worried."
"As to be expected. But for now I bid you farewell. I will come back tomorrow with my decision." And he strode out of the door, leaving Wendy and Aberforth behind. They listened to his retreating footsteps together until he had left the pub and then there was a brief crackling of fire and nothing. Albus was gone.
"Um…" Wendy slowly bowed her head to her new caretaker. "I hope that I'm not an imposition on you, Aberforth-san."
"I won't lie and say this is a bit inconvenient. I haven't had anyone actually stay here in goodness knows how long," muttered the barkeeper with a shake of his head. "But I've got food and drink aplenty so, I guess you should just help yourself. I'll make up some kind of bed for you as soon as I figure out where its going to be."
"Thank you, sir," Wendy smiled. "I can be of help around the place - clean and things like that."
"I don't think that will really be…"
"No, I want to do it. I want to be useful while I'm here instead of just a burden. Please, tell me what to do and I'll do it?"
Aberforth stared at her before he chuckled gruffly and said, "You ever milked a goat before?"
"Um… no. But I can try, I think."
"Eh, we'll save that one for later maybe. For now, if you really want to help… I guess I could use some help with the washing up."
"No problem," Wendy grinned and immediately went to the sink to fill it up with water. Aberforth watched her go briefly before he turned to the portrait of the girl, who was now smiling.
"Girl's been here five minutes and already she's reminding me of you, Ariana."
The portrait merely kept smiling and Aberforth eventually sighed and left to find a decent place for Wendy to sleep, conjuring pillows out of thin air with his wand as he did so.
...
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