Author's Notes: I can't believe that this is the last chapter, and that it was almost a year ago since I started Ties of Blood and Loyalty. It's been an awesome journey. Stay tuned for the sequal that's in the works. I am nowhere near through with these characters. I'd better go before I start rambling on again. Peace out.

Disclaimer: Anything that you recognize from Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.

Chapter Thirteen

Bartholomew stood hidden in the shadows, watching the Dumbledore family through a window. The scene that he saw was a happy one: everyone stood smiling around Katherine's bed. They were a close-knit and happy group of people. Bartholomew continued to stare at them through the window. He had nearly destroyed their family, just as his had been torn apart all those years ago.

He thought about Aunt Bathilda and Gellert and their few months together as a family. He remembered all of the pain that he had felt when Gellert had been imprisoned and Aunt Bathilda had consequently lost her mind. Nobody deserved that pain. No one deserved that feeling of being utterly alone. For the first time, Bartholomew began to question his cousin's judgment.

He had nearly torn the Dumbledore family apart. The happy scene that he saw might not be taking place due to his actions. His imagination created an alternate scene - Katherine cursed, and the family crying around her bed. His actions could have caused this; he was no better than Albus Dumbledore. He had nearly caused the pain that Albus had caused him. Would he even be able to live with himself if the curse had not been stopped? He had nearly ruined a family and continued the cycle of terrible pain that doing so caused. The past, in its painful entirety, had nearly been repeated.

"Thank Merlin she's alright," Minerva said to Albus in reference to their youngest child.

"Indeed," he replied thankfully, "The thought of her not alright is a horrible one."

"I can't imagine who would do something so horrible to her."

"We may never know, love."

Minerva sighed and changed the subject, "We should probably be getting back to school."

"For awhile. We still have to take our holiday, you know," Albus had a twinkle in his eye.

"You know, in all of the commotion, I'd completely forgotten about that."

"Well, let's consult the children and pick a destination."

The Dumbledore family sat on the lawn in front of McGonagall Manner, discussing their upcoming vacation. Their fight forgotten with the events of the previous night, Alice and Jacob sat next to each other. Minerva sat next to Alice, and Albus was on the other side of Jacob with Katherine sitting in his lap. Bartholomew, unbeknownst to the family, hid behind a tree, watching them.

"Venice," Alice suggested, "The land of Othello and Iago."

Jacob laughed, "You've been reading far too much Shakespeare."

"Wherever we go, we ought to bring Uncle Aberforth with us," Katherine said.

"Excellent idea," Albus replied.

"Yes, but he can leave Amy behind," Minerva added.

Alice laughed.

Bartholomew, from his hiding place, leaned on one of the tree's branches. It broke and crashed to the ground with a loud thud, revealing himself to the Dumbledores.

"What are you doing here?" Minerva demanded. Bartholomew looked frightened and began to slowly back away.

"I've seen him around Hogsmeade before," Alice said softly to Jacob.

Albus stared at the man. He hadn't changed much over the years: same pasty face and short, chubby frame.

"Bartholomew Bagshot," Albus asked.

"Albus Dumbledore," Bartholomew's voice was shaking.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Albus said friendlily.

Bartholomew nodded. "I haven't seen you since you were a bit older than her," he said, pointing at Alice.

"What brings you here?" asked Albus.

Bartholomew paled and began to shake again, "I'm sorry."

"Oh, pull yourself together, Mr. Bagshot!" Minerva exclaimed, sounding as if she was speaking to a student, "Trespassing is not a major offence, and we will not be pressing charges."

"Don't be sad," Katherine said.

"No. No, I've done something horrible," Bartholomew confessed, "I- I cursed the blonde one."

As soon as the words had left Bartholomew's mouth, Jacob grabbed his wand out of pocket and lunged at Bartholomew.

"Jacob!" Albus stopped his son before he could do anything.

"He cursed Katherine!"

"Fighting will solve nothing," Albus told Jacob.

"Why?" Minerva asked, "Why would you do this?"

Bartholomew squeezed his eyes shut, as if to shield himself from the pain of the people in front of him, "It was Gellert's last wish."

"Gellert Grindewald?" Minerva asked.

"Yes. And Gellert was my best friend. You knew that," Bartholomew pointed at Albus,

"But you stole him from me and got him landed in prison! After you defeated Gellert, he was lying there, broken, and he told me his last wish. I was supposed to curse your firstborn child."

"That's me," Alice said, "Why did you hurt Katherine?"

Bartholomew closed his eyes again, "I don't know. I must've messed up somehow. But it took me fourteen years to finish the curse. I finally did it, and I came here to see the results. And then I saw you all, after you preformed the counter curse, Albus. You all looked so happy, and then I realized what I had done."

"Bartholomew, you had no right to hurt any of my children-" Albus began, but was interrupted.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. I almost tore your family apart, just like mine was all those years ago. That should happen to no one. No one deserves that. Seeing you all made me realize that. What I did was terrible."

"As I was saying, Bartholomew," Albus said softly, "You did something quite awful, but I am sorry about everything that I caused to happen all those years ago, your family in particular."

"You do seem genuinely sorry," Minerva said, "But that does not erase your actions. You belong in Azkaban!"

Bartholomew hiccupped, "I won't fight it if you send me there."

"Children, go inside," Albus said; Alice, Jacob and Katherine did as they were told.

The three siblings walked into the house. They sat in the living room.

Alice said, "I'm so sorry, Katherine."

"Alice, you didn't do anything," Katherine said, surprised.

"That curse was meant for me," Alice replied sadly.

"It wasn't your fault," Jacob reassured his older sister, "It was Bartholomew's doing. I'm not even sure it was his fault; he seems quite messed up."

Alice let out a breath, "It's not only that. I've been horrible to both of you recently. I've been acing as if you two don't exist, which I'm sorry for."

"I've been too hard on you," Jacob said, "It's okay, Alice."

"No," she replied, "It isn't, but thank you, Jacob."

"Albus, he cursed our daughter! There is no better place for him than Azkaban!" Minerva said angrily

Albus glanced at Bartholomew, who stood by the tree with a nervous look on his face, "Bartholomew Bagshot is not a criminal. He made some bad decisions, but he is not a bad person."

"You trust too easily."

"Minerva, put yourself in his shoes. He lost his family, which was partially my doing. I remember from my younger days that Bartholomew idolized Gellert. Gellert told him to do what he did. I believe that Bartholomew was too lost in his pain to realize the consequences of his actions until he saw them."

Minerva softened, "Well, then ministry probation seems like a fitting option."

Jacob knocked on his sister's door. They were still at McGonagall Manner and would return to Hogwarts tomorrow. Alice opened the door, and Jacob entered the room. The first thing he noticed was that her eyes were as red as her hair.

"You've been crying," he said.

She wiped her eye with the sleeve of her shirt, "Yeah."

"I wanted to say I'm glad we're not fighting anymore."

"Me too," Alice replied, "I hated that."

"So did I," Jacob said, "It's been a crazy twenty-four hours, hasn't it?"

"You can say that again." Alice paused and then sighed, "I'm going to break up with Duke."

"You don't have to do that because of today," Jacob told his sister.

"Yes, I do," she said.

"You were spending most of your time with him, but if you made a conscious effort not to do that, it would be okay. I really believe that, Alice."

"Today has helped me see some things, Jacob. Family really is the most important thing, and nothing should come between family. My relationship with him was doing just that," Alice said sadly.

"You say some wise things, Alice," their father said, entering the room, "But what Jacob says is just as smart."

"You don't understand -" Alice began, but was interrupted.

"I do understand," Albus told his oldest child, "There's a person that you love to be around and could spend hour after hour talking to them. You start to ignore everyone else, particularly your brother and sister, because you like this person so much and would rather be with him. But then something happened to help you put things in perspective, and you realize what a fool you've been. Only in my case, I came to the realization when it was too late."

Alice and Jacob looked at their father. "Aunt Ariana's death?" Alice asked of their father's realization.

"Yes," Albus said, "Ari's death was my wake up call to the fact that I had been spending all too much time with Gellert and neglecting her and your Uncle Aberforth."

"I never realized how similar our situations were until now," Alice said.

"They are, though there are a few differences," Albus told her, "For one, you're much smarter than I was at your age. You realized that things were wrong before it was too late."

"It was mere luck that it wasn't too late for me," Alice said, "I'm not smarter than you were at my age."

"Alice -"

"What if I had realized all of this when it was too late? What if Katherine had been cursed permanently? What if I never realized this at all and shut you all out for Merlin knows how long?"

"Alice, you are indeed smarter than I was at your age."

"How?"

"You're asking the questions I never thought to ask. A very wise woman, who happens to be your mother, once told me that what we've done in the past is forever behind us. We can't change it, which is why we should try to be the best that we can be in the present."

"Mum said that?"

"She did," Albus told his daughter, "I hope you find those words as helpful as I did."

Alice looked thoughtful, "Thanks, Dad."

They took the portkey back to Hogwarts the next day. Alice headed to the Gryffindoor common room in order to try to find Duke. She was successful, as he was sitting in in armchair with a book. She tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hello," he said, "You're back; that's excellent. How are you?"

"I've been better," she answered truthfully, "Can we talk?"

"Here or elsewhere?"

"Not here," Alice said, as they were not alone in the common room. They exited through the portrait hole and walked through the halls of Hogwarts until they were standing in front of Professor Slughorn's classroom. Alice pondered the fact that their relationship had begun and would end in this spot.

"I don't know how to say this," she said, "I mean, I've never been nearly as good with words as you are."

"Just say it," Duke told her, "You usually say exactly what's on your mind, and I like that about you."

"Okay," Alice swallowed, "Well, I'm breaking up with you. We can't be together anymore, Duke."

He looked surprised, "Why? What changed?"

"It's nothing you did wrong," Alice went on, "It's a realization I've come to."

"As, the ever typical, 'it's not you, it's me,'" Duke said quietly.

"It's true in this case," replied Alice, "I realized that we were spending every waking minute together and I was ignoring my family and Molly and Arthur. That isn't fair to them, and they all mean a lot to me. I'm so lucky to have the family that I have, and I was forgetting that."

"Oh," Duke looked forlorn.

"Let me tell you a something that happened to my father while back ago. There was someone that he loved to spend all of his time with. Someone like you are to me. He began to completely ignore his brother Aberforth and his sister Ariana. Then, when it was too late, my aunt Ariana died. She was gone forever, before Dad could even realize that he bad been horrible to both her and Aberforth. I'm lucky, really, although it doesn't feel like it at this particular moment. I realized that I was ignoring Katherine and Jacob before any deaths occurred."

"Oh," Duke frowned, "I wish I could think of something more coherent to say…well, not the typical 'it's not you, it's me."

"No," Alice bit her lip, "I hate that I have to do this, but I do have to. Goodbye, Duke."

She gave him one last kiss on the cheek and walked away from Slughorn's classroom.

She found Molly sitting outside, frowning over Potions homework.

"Unicorn hair," Alice told Molly.

"What?" Molly exclaimed, startled, "Oh. I didn't see you there."

"Unicorn hair is the ingredient that you need," Alice said again, in reference to Molly's homework.

"Thanks," Molly said as she finished her work.

"Do you have a moment?" Alice asked, hoping the answer would be yes.

"I do," Molly replied, "I didn't get the chance to tell you this earlier, but I heard about your grandfather and I'm sorry, Alice."

She smiled lightly, "Thanks, Molly; that means a lot, really. I have an apology to make, too: I'm sorry about the past few weeks."

"It's alright, Alice," Molly forgave her best friend.

"I broke up with him."

"You know, as much as I dislike him, if he truly made you happy, I'd be willing to put up with him. So would Arthur."

"He does make me happy, but Molly, we can't be together," Alice sighed, "A lot of things happened when I was at my grandparent's - my grandmother's - house. A man short enough to be a house elf cursed Katherine."

"Merlin! Is she alright?"

"She's fine, but it made me think about how much I appreciate you, and Arthur, and Jacob and the rest of my family. I was spending every single second with Duke and being terrible to you all. I'm truly sorry for that."

"Don't worry about it, Alice. You're my best friend and always will be."

"And you're the same to me."

"Tell me more about what happened with Katherine."

"Well, there was a man named Bartholomew…"

Albus was sitting in his office when he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in," he said. His brother entered the room.

"Hello, Albus," he said in his gruff voice.

"Good afternoon," Albus replied.

"How's Minerva?"

"She's," Albus paused, "feeling better."

"And Katherine's alright?" Aberforth asked, "Don't look so surprised, Albus. You'd be surprised at what my customers know."

"She's fine," Albus replied, "I didn't mean to keep that from you, Aberforth; I just didn't have the chance to tell you yet."

"Yeh, I know."

"Actually, it's Alice that I'm worried about."

It was Aberforth's turn to look surprised. "Alice?"

"Yes. Bartholomew had originally meant to curse her, and she's afraid that she's been ignoring Jacob and Katherine as I did you and," Albus paused, "Ariana."

"She's afraid the past will repeat itself?"

Albus nodded.

"So far it hasn't," Aberforth stated matter-of-factly, "Alice is a smart girl. Katherine is alright. She wasn't."

Both brothers knew who "she" was. She was the girl who had made herself a necklace out of daisy at the lake. She was the girl who had loved to dance. She was the girl whose life had ended when she was so young and quite tragically. She was their younger sister. She was Ariana.

"Aberforth -" Albus began guiltily.

"Stop blaming yourself, Albus. It's alright," Aberforth suddenly smiled, "You saved Katherine. Her spirit lives on in her."

"You had quite the week, it seems," Gideon said to Jacob as they sat together outside. It was cold, and Jacob shivered.

"I did," Jacob replied, "but things are slowly coming back to normal."

"You're alright, then?"

"For the most part," Jacob paused, "When he said he cursed Katherine, I wanted to kill him. I've never felt that way before, Gid, and I hope I never do again."

"It's kind of understandable that you did. You love Katherine."

"Yes, but I wished I hadn't judged Bartholomew so quickly. He wasn't some cold blooded killer; he was just lonely."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. There's nothing you can do about the past, but do something now. Maybe you could reach out to him."

"That's not a bad idea," Jacob said, and smiled, "I'm glad my family's back to normal."

"That's good."

"Yeah. I mean, things aren't perfect, but we have each other. That's what counts."

Jacob sat on the backyard swing set. Like the rest of his family, he would be for a two-week stay in Ireland later that day. Unlike the rest of his family, he had packed the night before. He sat in a contemplative state as his parents and sisters filled their suitcases. The look of the backyard had changed over the years, with new plants, his mother's numerous attempts at vegetable gardens, and a lack of the shrubbery that Amy had eaten. The swing set, however, had stayed the same. It was a constant, in the very same stop it had been when his father had brought it home for Alice. A constant indeed. It was still there after all of those years.

"I hate packing," Alice proclaimed as she sat on the sing next to him.

Jacob laughed, "I know you do."

"Thank Merlin I've finished with it. How long have you been out here for?"

"About an hour or so."

"I remember the day Dad brought this thing home," Alice smiled as she ran her hand over

one of the metal bars.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's my earliest memory. I was with Mum in Diagon Alley. She pregnant with you and was looking at Transfiguration textbooks for her classes. Then she took me to go look at the owls, and when we got back Dad had it in the backyard."

"And Mum flipped when she saw it."

"Yep. She hated 'that ridiculous muggle contraption,' but I fell in love with it, so it got to stay."

Katherine entered the yard, "Mum wants to know if you two are all packed."

"We are," Jacob replied, "How about you?"

"Just finished," Katherine replied as she sat down on the third swing.

"And," Alice finished her story, "the swing set has been here ever since."

"It will probably be here forever," Katherine said.

"Our children will swing on it," Jacob added.

"And then years into the future, their children will," Alice said, "Some things can endure anything."

"Jacob, Alice, Katherine!" their mother called, "Uncle Aberforth is here."

Into the house, and then into Ireland, the three siblings went. Their shared future looked incredibly bright.

Whether you've been reading this without reviewing or reviewing all along, please do so now! Seriously, review or I just might have to hold Amy the goat hostage. Only kidding. But still give me those reviews. Thank you. I hoped you liked the story. Love, Emily