Oh, Aberforth! ♥ him. This is a wonderful portrayal of him: prickly but so sure that he's right, and determined to stick to his guns. The relationship between him and Albus was a lovely thing to base the story on, as was the idea of them having to "share" Ariana and Minerva. Your Minerva was fab - I especially loved the description of her transformation from cat to human. Most people skim over that sort of thing, but I loved the details you provided there. And the recurrence of "those lips" - lovely way to end things. :)