Ariana's voice brought with it only a small amount of relief. Speaking did not indicate that she was alright, but it was better than nothing. At least she was conscious, he just had to insure she kept talking, that she stayed with him. His mind was already spinning out of control, imagining the worst possible scenarios, each one more horrible than the last. His stomach had twisted up into tight, painful knots, but he held himself together. Just barely. He could deal with that later, behind closed doors. He could acknowledge the clawing, desperate monster in his chest, threatening to break free with every breath he took.
"What, Ari? What did you fail at?" he asked, using the soft, even tone he always did whenever Ariana was upset. His hand rubbed circles into her back, keeping her close and eyeing the door. The hospital was a treck, but his journal was not with him and there was no other way to get her help. If he could just manage to get a proper hold of her, he could take her there and they could ... Before he could finish his train of thought, Ariana's tiny body was jerking away from him. Aberforth reached for her once more, before the sound of retching reached his ears. Wincing, he returned his hand to her upper back to rub, his other hand holding her hair out of the way while he murmured reassurances to her. Everything would be okay. He was here. It was all alright.
But when she was done and chose to pull even further away, Aberforth was at a loss. It was only with the last statement that any of her ramblings made any sense. After everything that had happened in previous months, he'd done his research on love potions. He never wanted to be put in a position where he revealed more to a person than he ever normally would, nor did he want to be force fed false emotions. He knew love potions inside out and he knew that to be what Ariana was speaking of. "A love potion?" Aberforth asked, wondering who his sister intended giving the other dose to. Was it because she fancied someone or did it have something to do with the vague conversations they'd had in the past?
"Ari-" he tried, reaching out and carefully placing a hand on her shoulder. "Ariana, why?" he asked, voice gentle and genuinely curious. "Whatever for? What did you want back? Love?" Ariana had been matched up with a Lockhart, as he recalled. Was that what this was about? Aberforth was genuinely confused. Emotions did not compute with him as he buried his own so far down he didn't even acknowledge that they existed most days.