"Well, well... I once used to play on this exact spot when I was a child. Aren't nostalgic moments the best things in life... after lemon sherbets, of course?"

I watched in frustration as Dumbledore looked smilingly around with glistening eyes, acting as though we were simply on some trip down memory lane.

"That's great, Professor," I said, trying to keep my patience, "but did you hear what the announcer said? We've got to play marbles."

"Ah... marbles. I used to play that with my brother all the time. Did you know I had a brother? And a sister, too. Both dead now, though... dear Ariana." He looked off into the distance, seeing a life I could not see. "I'm sure my house is nearby. Shall we see if Mother will care to lay another place at the table?"

"Um- perhaps we should play marbles, first?"

"It's no problem. Mother loves entertaining." He turned, ambling up the road, motioning for me to follow.

I swallowed. "Professor."

But Dumbledore just continued to limp away, causing my chest to harden in panic.

"Professor!"

"My house is definitely somewhere around here."

I pushed my hands through my hair in frustration. "Professor, we have to play this game right now."

"This is weird." Dumbledore mumbled, spinning around on the spot so that his long grey scraggly hair fanned around him. "It's definitely this street. Where did my house go?"

"Professor!"

Dumbledore blinked at me, as though only just noticing me standing in front of him, his eyebrows knitting in confusion. "Are you lost, little girl?"

Dear Merlin on Earth.

"Marbles!"

"Marbles?"

Trying not to scream out loud, I pointed to the other players who were already well into their rounds. "See? Everyone else is doing it. We have to do this too."

But, to my dismay, Dumbledore just shook his head, chuckling softly. "No. That's a child's game. Why would I want to play that? I'm nothing but an old, decrepit man."

And without waiting for an answer, he turned and continued to limp his way up the street.

Well. This was going swimmingly.

"Wait. Professor!"

Frustrated, I turned towards the pink guard who was assigned to us.

"Look, clearly my partner is not in his right mind. Isn't he basically withdrawing from the match? He can't play the game. No?"

The guard remained mute.

"Damn it."

I ran after Dumbledore who continued to wander around aimlessly. "Let's just play once." I cajoled, my voice unnaturally light as I tried to hide my panic. "This is really... it's a lot of fun."

No sooner had the words left my mouth when a loud gunshot reverberated in the air, and, next to us, Oliver Wood's head blew up in an explosion of blood, bone and brain matter.

"Player 453, eliminated."

"See?" I added weakly.

Looking startled, Dumbledore began to tremble. "I want to go home," he sobbed, sounding not unlike a lost and frightened child. "I know my house is somewhere around here, but I don't remember where."

All I could feel was sheer panic. If we didn't play then we would both end up like Oliver Wood. And I couldn't die, especially knowing that one of my sisters would. So, in my panic to survive, I found myself roughly grabbing the front of Dumbledore's tracksuit, shaking him, desperate to make him make sense.

"Please!" I cried, my voice choked in pure desperation. "Will you pull yourself together? If we stay like this, we'll both die! You might not care, but I do! I have to make it out alive! I have to survive and leave this damn place!"

To my surprise, and also disconcertment, Dumbledore covered his ears with his hands. "Stop yelling at me," he wailed, cowering before me. "I'll play with you. Just- stop... please."

Feeling disgusted with myself, I slowly let go of him, my hands shaking. What had I become? What had I been reduced to? Bullying an elderly man into playing a game of marbles? This was not me. This was not me in the slightest.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, stepping away from him. "Professor, I'm so sorry-"

He straightened up, wiping the tears from his aged face, his own hands trembling as he did so, breaking my heart that little bit more.

"Say no more, Alia," he murmured quietly, his tired and bloodshot eyes looking sorrowfully into mine. "Let us play."

*****

"Even."

With my heart plummeting, I slowly unfurled my fingers, revealing the two marbles nestled in my palm.

To my surprise, Dumbledore just shook his head and handed me three marbles. "I used to be so good at this game."

What the-?

"But, Professor-" I started, trying to instantly hand them back, "-you said even, and-"

"Did I, my child?" He chuckled softly, a knowing glint twinkling in his eyes as his lips twitched into a warm smile. "Did I?"

So, he was throwing the game. Or was he? He clearly was not in his right mind... should I insist he take the marbles back?

But before I could say anything, Dumbledore had already begun the next round, looking at me expectantly as he held up his closed fist, waiting for me to make my guess.

I just looked at him mutely, hardly daring to breathe.

"Go on, my child," he coaxed, nodding his head. "Your need is greater than mine."

He was giving me the okay. He was letting me live.

"Odd." I said, my voice shaking.

Slowly, Dumbledore unfurled his fingers, revealing two marbles, his eyes glistening up at me through half-moon spectacles.

"Well done, my girl. Well done," he wheezed, coughing into his other fist. "You're on a winning streak. How much did you bet?"

I swallowed. "I- I-" I looked away closing my eyes as tears of shame stung behind them, and when I parted my lips, my voice was but a mere whisper. "Two."

And so on we played, with Dumbledore handing me his marbles even though I did not win them, or even deserve them.

But I took them because I guess I was a coward. How would I face my family again after this? How would I ever live with myself?

When Dumbledore reached his last marble, however, he did something I did not quite expect: he got up and walked away, taking it with him.

Oh... fuck.

"Professor?" I called after him, trying and failing not to sound panicked. "Come back! We need to finish the game!"

He halted and slowly turned around, a crooked smile plastered across his face as he looked at me. "Do we?"

Yes, we fucking do!

I glanced up at the clock. Three minutes remaining.

"Professor!" I cried, jumping to my feet and stumbling after him, the pink guard following close behind me. "Please! Let us play the last round!"

"Help will always be given to those who ask for it."

Damn. Okay, so he wanted me to beg.

Realising I had nothing left to lose, I fell to my knees in front of him. If I was willing to let some pervert fuck me for food, then I could beg at my old headmaster's feet for my life.

"Please," I whispered. "Please let me have the marble."

"Why? Why do you need to live so badly, Alia Patil? Give me a good enough reason and I'll give you the marble."

I paused, trying to think, but with the little time we had left, I rushed out the first thing that came to my mind. "Because I want to help other unfortunate people and make the world a better place."

Dumbledore tutted, shaking his head in disappointment. "Hmmm, noble, I can't deny. But I want a more honest answer than that."

Fuck. I thought, I thought hard. I thought about my mum and dad and how much I wanted to see them again. I thought about Draco and the new and old friends I had made in this place. I thought about life in the outside world, and what it could be like.

Dating, loving, living. That's what I truly wanted - I wanted it all.

"Because- because..." I stumbled, trying to find the words, "because I have so much love yet to give. I want to be happy and find my parents and maybe even one day have a family of my own. I want to live. I want to live so much."

Blue eyes twinkled into mine as Dumbledore let out a soft chuckle and slowly removed the marble from his pocket.

"Now, that was the honest answer I was hoping for. Here... take it. Go live your life, Alia. Go and spread the love that the world is owed. Make it the beautiful place it deserves to be."

He dropped the marble into my hand just as the clock reached zero.

Scarcely daring to believe it, I opened my mouth to say thank you, but found instead that the words had caught in my throat.

"Goodbye, Alia. And thank you for playing with me."

He nodded to the pink guard who immediately lifted his gun. Not being able to bear to witness it, I turned around and walked away. And, when the sound of a gunshot ripped violently through the air, I finally let out the sob which had been stuck in my throat and therefore prevented me from thanking the man who had just given his life so that I could live.

"Player 001, eliminated."

******