A/N - I do not own Dumbledore, or Hogwarts, or any of that. I do own Miranda, a few minor characters, and the plot. That said, I would like to say thank you for checking out my first posted story, and I hope you enjoy it!
1945 Albus Dumbledore was distracted. He was getting ready for the return of the Hogwarts students in a few hours time. He picked up a lesson plan off his desk, realized he had no ink in his office, and went off to find some. Along the dim corridors, his mind wandered even as his feet did the same.
Suddenly he rounded a corner and crashed into someone. It was a woman he had never to his knowledge seen before. She dropped the pile of books she was carrying.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Albus quickly apologized. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going - a lot on my mind, I suppose."
"It's okay." She had a soft, lilting, musical voice. She bent to pick up the books.
"Oh, allow me," said Albus, bending down himself. "Where do they need to go?"
"The Astronomy lab," the woman said as Albus levitated the books with a casaul wave of his wand.
"Any particular place?" Albus asked, directing the books toward a staircase with his wand.
"I don't know," she said. "I haven't been there yet myself."
They walked in silence for two floors, then Albus said, "I'm Albus Dumbledore, by the way. I teach Transfiguration."
"Miranda Silverlight," she said softly, accepting Albus' hand. Just then they arrived at the Astronomy lab.
"Where shall I put the books?" Albus asked, looking around.
"On the desk, I think," said Professor Silverlight, looking around also. Albus set the books on the desk and straightened up to take his leave of Professor Silverlight. Their eyes met, and they simply looked at each other, neither of them making a move to speak.
Miranda Silverlight was slightly shorter than Albus, around 5'6". She was still young but had prematurely gray hair, which shone silver, living up to her name. Her eyes were almost lavender, and her figure under the robes was lithe and willowy.
The silence became slightly awkward.
"I'd best be going," Albus said briskly. "I have much to do. I'll see you at the feast?" Then, at Professor Silverlight's nod, "I'll seat you a save at the staff table."
He stopped in the motion of leaving the room. Professor Silverlight was looking at him a bit oddly. He cast his mind back.
"What did I just say?" he asked slowly.
Miranda Silverlight laughed. SHe had a laugh like pure, clear water tumbling over a falls, and Albus found himself laughing along with her.
When she could speak, Professor Silverlight said, "Well, it was nice meeting you, Professor Dumbledore."
"Please," he said. "Call me Albus."
Her expression sobered. "In that case, call me Miranda. I'll see you at the start of term feast, then?"
"Yes," he said, and excused himself, closing the door to the Astronomy lab behind him. Professor Silverlight - Miranda - looked at the closed door for a long moment, a smile touching her lips, then turned away to get acquainted with her new office.
Miranda arrived at the Great Hall halfway through the Sorting Ceremony. She slid into one of two adjacent empty seats as "McGonagall, Minerva" was made a Gryffindor. The McGonagall's had a daughter? Miranda wondered idly, her eyes following the girl to the Gryffindor table. Miranda herself had been a Ravenclaw, but she had always appreciated the virtues of the Gryffindors. She looked back at the front of the room, where Albus was reading students' names from a long roll of parchment. After "Poppy, Pomfrey" was sorted into Gryffindor and went to sit next to Minerva, Miranda's mind wandered to her fellow staff members, most of whom she had met.
There was Comstance Sheldon, who had once been her Herbology teacher and Head of House. Next to her was Madam Fractus, who had been the nurse for as long as Miranda could remember. On Professor Sheldon's other side was Augustus Grant, who had been four years ahead of her in school and now taught Potions, as well as being Head of Slytherin. Across from him was Professor Binns, the old History of Magic teacher who had taught Miranda's mother before her. As "Riddle, Tom Marvolo" was made a Slytherin, Miranda's eyes slid farther down the table to Madam Octavia, who had been her good friend and was now the Hogwarts librarian. Next to her was Lancelot Jervis, the pompous Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who had been an assitant teacher when she had been in her first year.
Just then the last student was sorted into Hufflepuff, and Albus rolled up his parchment. He took the Sorting Hat away and a few minutes later he sat down next to Miranda. They didn't get the chance to do more than exchange a quiet hello, because the Headmaster, Professor Dippet, had risen and was welcoming the students to another year at Hogwarts. He made the standard announcements about the Forbidden Forest and then instroduced Miranda and the new Charms teacher, a tiny little wizard called Flitwick.
Dippet sat down, and the polite applause faded away. A moment later the food appeared on the plates, and everyone dug in. Miranda was ravenlously hungry. She hadn't eaten all day because she'd been busy getting her office ready. She ate several helpings and made small talk with Albus, then went up to her room and to bed early.
Albus' distracted air, which had lifted briefly that afternoon, was back. He was thinking about Miranda Silverlight. About the way she laughed. About how her eyes reminded him of the pond on the Hogwarts grounds, deep and pure. About the way she smiled. He decided that he had better stop thinking about her when he walked absent-mindedly into the door coming out of the bathroom. He shook his head to clear it, and went back into the bathroom. He had to laugh at himself when he discovered that he was wearing his shoes, a dressing gown, and his wizard's hat. He put down his wand, took off the hat and shoes, and with another self-deprecating chuckle, went off to bed.
He rose early the next morning. The sun was only just starting to peek over the clouds on the horizon. He dressed in robes of deep purple, put on his hat, picked up his wand, and went down to breakfast.
Early as Albus was, he wasn't the first one there. Miranda Silverlight was eating a bowl of cereal and reading the Daily Prophet. She started when Albus sat down next to her, then smiled when she saw who it was. She put down her paper.
"Good morning, Miranda," he said. "I trust you had sweet dreams last night?"
"Oh, yes, very," she said emphatically, then blushed and looked down at her food, suddenly awkward. "A-And you?" she stuttered after a moment. "Did you have sweet dreams too?"
"Didn't sleep a wink," he replied, and he too looked down at the table.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," said Miranda at once. "Is there anything I can do?" she added, a bit hesitantly.
"I believe," said Albus, "that you already have."
Miranda's spoonful of cereal paused halfway to her mouth, as she considered the implications of this. It was nearly a minute before it continued on.
Over the next few months their encounters became relaxed and comfortable as a porch swing in the summer breeze. Albus found himself thinking about Miranda at odd moments, like in front of a class of first years, when he suddenly forgot what he was doing in the middle of telling the class how to change a match into a needle. ("Er, Professor Dumbledore?" He came back to himself with a start, and realized that he had no idea what he had been doing a moment ago. "Yes, Miss McGonagall?" he said, chagrined. "Er, the spell, if you don't mind? Um, what is it?" "Ah, yes, sorry about that. I - I lost my train of thought for a moment. The spell would be Compos reversus . . . ) Or the time when he sat down to grade papers after dinner, his mind wandered off into the comfortable realm of Miranda, and he got up again at midnight without grading a single paper. Or the time when - well, you get the point.
Miranda was experiencing a similar phenomenon. She knew she had to get her mind back on track, and one day she found the perfect opportunity. They had been hearing reports of a rising Dark wizard called Grindelwald for the last few months. He had just attacked several people in a small, mainly wizarding sillage between London and Hogsmeade. The Ministry had their best people on it, but they had asked for two Hogwarts professors to aid the investigation.
This, thought Miranda as she sat down to write a letter to the Ministry, is the perfect opportunity for me to get my mind off Albus and do something useful at the same time.
A few days later, on Friday evening, Albus recieved an owl in his office.
Dear Professor Dumbledore, [it read] Thank you for volunteering to assis us in the Grindelwald case. Minister Prewett has scheduled a meeting at his office tomorrow. I will send a pegasus to pick you and your colleague up at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. Again, thank you for volunteering. Sincerely, Dedalus Abbot
When ten o'clock the nect morning rolled around, Albus was running late. As he got out of the shower he saw a magnificent pearly white pegasus land on the lawn outside Hogwarts and stand, folding its great wings. It tosses its head and stamped one slender leg impatiently.
"I'm coming," he muttered, snatching up his hat and wand and fleeing the apartment.
He came around the corner to the entrance hall at a run and crashed into someone. He staggered and sat down hard on the stone floor. He blinked several times and saw Miranda sitting across from him, rubbing her forehead. They stared at each other.
"What are you doing here?" they said in unison. There was silence for a moment, then Albus began to laugh. Miranda joined him, and they laughed for several minutes, until Albus got to his feet.
"I think we're both here for the same reason," he said, offering a hand to Miranda.
"I think so," she said, accepting it. He pulled her to her feet and they went out to the waiting pegasus.
"Oh, it's so beautiful," Miranda breathed as the pegasus tossed its fine head, pearly mane flying in the breeze. It knelt down as they drew near. Albus climbed on and pulled Miranda on in front of him. Her hair smelled like a warm summer breeze.
I think we're both going to enjoy this ride, he thought as he reached around Miranda and grasped the pegasus' long, flowing mane. He felt Miranda laugh delightedly as the pegasus took flight. Her hair streamed back into his face, and he leaned forward to be free of it, his long auburn mustache gently brushing her cheek.
They flew in silence for a while, enjoying each others company. Miranda looked down and feasted her eyes on the scene below, a patchwork of green fields and forests, ponds with the sunlight bouncing off them, and several snow-capped mountains in the distance.
She settles back against Albus and looked up at the fluffly white clouds all around them.
"Oh, Albus," she sighed. "Life is so beautiful. I never want this feeling to end."
He rested his chin on her shoulder, his long fingers still gripping the pegasus' mane lightly.
"I assure you," he said, "that it never will."
"Thank you for coming, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Silverlight." Dedalus Abbot greeted them as they landed in front of the Ministry offices.
"Thank you for sending the pegasus, Mr. Abbot," said Miranda. "It's the most enjoyable way to travel that I've encountered yet." She shot a small smile at Albus as she realized she was holding his hand. Dedalus Abbot hesitated for a fraction of a second before speaking.
"Yes, it's something, isn't it? Jonny!" he called, turning away from them slightly. "Jonny is our stable boy," he explained. A small boy came running up to them and led the pegasus away. Miranda's eyes followed it until it rounded a bend and she couldn't see it anymore, and she allowed Albus to lead her into Minister Prewett's office.
That day marked the beginning of their relationship, as well as the beginning of the Grindelwald case.
The case's progress was generally slow, sometimes tedious. Albus and Miranda settled into a comfortable routine over the next few months. They would rise early, have breakfast together in the Great Hall, teach the day's classes, the go to dinner at the Three Broomsticks before working on the their investigation and finishing the day with hot chocolate in Albus' office.
One evening they returned late to the castle, absolutely exhausted but pleased with the evening investigations, which had resulted in their discovery of Grindelwald's hide-out. Miranda excused herself to get freshened up, saying that she would be back down in a few minutes for hot chocolate.
"Just go to bed," Albus said. "You're exhausted, Miranda." She did indeed look grey with exhaustion; her hair had lost its silver shine, even her eyes looked grey.
"No," she answered. "This is the only time we have to just be together, and I wouldn't miss it for anything." She kissed his bearded cheek and was gone.
Albus turned and went to his office, secretly quite pleased.
He busied himself with making two cups of hot chocolate, then sat down to wait for Miranda.
She didn't come.
Albus drank his cooling hot chocolate by himself, thinking, She was so tired. She probably fell asleep. I shouldn't wake her.
So he drank her cup of no-longer-hot chocolate too, tidied up his office, and went up to bed.
He tossed and turned restlessly for a while before falling into a deep sleep.
He dreamed that Miranda was being taken captive by a vague Dark force. She was reaching for him and calling his name, but a curtain came down between them. The curtain became a wall, Miranda fell silent, and Albus woke up in a cold sweat with the dreadful certainty that something was very wrong.
Before he knew what he was doing he was out of bed and running to Miranda's room.
She answered the door, blinking and brushing the hair out of her face with both hands.
"Oh, Albus, I'm so sorry," she said, a bit thickly, when she recognized him. "I must have fallen asleep - What time is it?"
"I have no idea," Albus said. "Miranda, you're in danger."
"Why do you say that?" She didn't sound very worried.
"I just had a dream about you being taken by a Dark force, and I th - I know you're in danger."
"Albus, don't be ridiculous. I'm fine." She put heavy emphasis on the word 'fine'. He stepped closer to her, gripping her shoulders with long fingers that trembled slightly. He was breathing heavily.
"Miranda," he said. "I love you. I don't ever want to have to live without you."
"Oh, Albus." Her own voice was constricted; she couldn't say any more. She put her arms around him and pressed herself close to him. "I love you too," she said. "More than life itself." She kissed him, a short, sweet kiss that communicated more true love than desire. She held him tighter, which was fortunate, because the shock of it and all the thoughts and emotions running through him made him feel a bit weak in the knees.
When they broke apart Miranda whispered, "We'll never be apart, remember that, Albus. We'll always be together, no matter what." She pulled out of his arms. "Go to bed now. I love you," she added in a softer tone.
"I love you too," Albus returned, his own voice lower and huskier than it had been five minutes before.
Albus went back to his bed, his mind awhirl. Miranda's words and actions made him feel as though his heart was soaring somehwere above the clouds, but he couldn't shake that dream.
Sleep did not come for Albus Dumbledore that night. He tossed and turned until dawn, the two halves of him arguing with each other. When the sun came up he forced himself to stay in bed a while longer, then got up, dressed, and went down to the Great Hall early.
Miranda was not there. Not that he expected her to be there early. She probably wanted to sleep in a bit, since she was so tired, he told himself. He got himself some breakfast and sat slowly chewing his bacon as the teachers and students began to trickled in. Soon nearly everyone in the castle was there, but there was still no sign of Miranda.
Albus sat and tried to talk to his fellow professors, but he couldn't keep his mind off her. As the teachers and student's began to leave for the morning classes, he went to stand over by the entrance to the Great Hall, ao he couldn't possibly miss Miranda, whether she came into the Great Hall or headed straight for her classroom.
Several minutes later, Minerva McGonagall approached him, looking nervous.
"Professor Dumbledore? Could I talk to you for a minute?"
"Of course," he said, but he didn't take his eyes off the spiral staircase he was watching.
"Well, er, my friend, Derek Potter, he has an Invisibilty Cloak. I don't know how he got it, or what he does with it or anything, but I do know that last night he went exploring with it, and he went past Professor Silverlight's room, and he said he heard her talking to someone, a man."
"Did he recognize the voice?" Albus said sharply.
"No," she said slowly. "But he said she sounded scared. He told me about it this morning, and I thought I'd better tell you, especially because she didn't show up for breakfast, and because you and her are, well - you know - " She blushed and looked down, then looked up again. Her expression clearly showed that she was worried about her professor. Albus gave her a small, tight, nervous smile.
"Thank you, Minerva," he said. She nodded and walked away, obviously seeing that she would only be in the way if she hung around, though she just as obviously would like to. Albus shot her retreating back a grateful glance, then turned back to the staircase.
Minerva gave him a sympathetic look as she passes on her way to his classroom. Just then the bell rang. He seized her shoulder and she spun around, startled.
"Tell the class to read Chapter Eleven of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. "I'll be back as soon as possible." He turned and began to run toward the staircase.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Minerva called after him. "We've already read that chapter!"
"Read it again!" He leapt up the stairs three at a time and nearly fell at the vanishing step halfway up. He burst into Miranda's room without knocking, calling her name. Panic lay at the roots of his voice.
She was not there, and his calls died away in the middle of her name. He looked hopelessly around her apartment, tears of despair welling up in his eyes. He wiped at them roughly with the back of his hand. It was a moment before he could think clearly again.
Grindelwald is at the Hogsmeade Manor House.
He went down the stairs and left the school.
The Hogsmeade Manor House was several miles outside 'old' Hogsmeade; the deserted section of the town. The house was supposedly severely haunted, and nobody ever went near it. It sat out in the middle of miles countryside, and the path that led to it was highly overgrown. It was the perfect for someone like Grindelwald to hide out.
Albus arrived at the rundown old Manor house, tossed his broomstick aside, and eased himself inside.
There was no one to be seen, just a few dusty portraits of' long dead withces and wizards that looked down at him disaprovingly. Albus stood, wand at the ready, and looked around the dusty, empty old house.
Something cought his eye about the first door to his right, and he eased it open.
A fraction of a second later he was on his knees beside Miranda. She was lying on the dusty floor, evidently too weak to move. He knelt over her, and a moment later he was holding her, and his tears began to fall, leaving streaks in the dust on her face.
She had been cursed, and without knowing whar curse had been used there was nothing he could do. She was still alive, but it wouldn't be long.
Her eyes fluttered open.
"You're here," she whispered. "I was so frightened that I would die without seeing you again. I need to apologize - "
"No, Miranda, don't speak." His voice was hoarse with emotion. "I need to apologize," he persisted, "for not listening to you last night. This is my fault. Don't blame yourself." She stopped again, the pressed on.
"Defeat Grindelwald for me, Albus. This shouldn't ever happen again, to anyone."
"I'll defeat him if it's the last thing I do," Albus promised, breathing heavily.
"And one more thing, Albus. On my - my gravestone, I want it to say Miranda Dumbledore. I don't care how you do it, but I want - "
"Shh, Miranda, don't speak. I promise I will do that for you - "
"For us." She fell silent; her breathing was slowing.
"I was frightened of death," she murmured thickly. "But not anymore. It's impossible to be frightened of anything when you're holding me. I love you." Her voice slowed; it was barely above a whisper. "Remember what I said last night." Her beautiful almost lavender eyes closed, and she was gone.
"I love you too. More than life itself. We'll never be apart, remember that. We'll always be together, no matter what."
"Well, Albus. How nice to see you." Albus staggered to his feet and whirled around. Grindelwald was standing in the doorway. A hatred like Albus had never known was coursing through him.
You took Miranda away from me. I'll kill you for that. I'll kill you or die trying.
Grindelwald blocked Albus' first spell, and the second. They were both skilled at dueling. Albus was completely fearless. He was totally concentrated on his goal of deafeating Grindelwald; living through it was secondary, and he wasn't even sure if it mattered.
The professors opened the door to the old Hogsmeade Manor House cautiously. They stepped in, wands at the ready, looking around tensely, alert for any sign of danger. The first door to their right stood open, and they made their way slowly toward it.
The first thing they saw was the body of a man - Grindelwald. The professor looked past him to see Albus Dumbledore, on the floor with Miranda Silverlight's body in his arms. He reacted not at all to their presence.
Lancelot Jervis levitated Grindelwald's body to take it back to Hogwarts. Constance Sheldon went over to Albus, helped him to his feet, and put her arm around him. She led him out of the house and into the bright sunshine. His shoulders began to shake, but he followed her blindly to the waiting carriage. They got in and it started back to Hogwarts. Constance trusted her colleagues would bring the bodies back. No matter how much they bickered under normal circumstances, they could be trusted to work together and get the job done in an emergency.
1985
Albus Dumbledore was distracted. He was getting ready for the return of the Hogwarts students in a few hours time. He picked up the roster of new students and whistled for the Sorting Hat. While he was waiting for it, he glanced down at the roll of parchment in his hand. A name jumped out at him.
Miranda.
His heart did a little leap in his chest. He turned away from the parchment, his eyes tightly shut, his heart beating painfully fast. Her memory still caught him by surprise like this occasionally. He opened his eyes and looked directly out his high window into the sunny day outside. The perfect blue sky was filled with fluffy white clouds. As he watched, one of them took the shape of a winged horse in his mind's eye. He could hear Miranda's laughter, the laughter that had been with him for forty years. It reminded him of a pegasus ride he had taken long ago, and what they had said to each other.
"Oh, Albus," she had sighed. "Life is so beautiful. I never want this feeling to end." And she had laughed, that delighted, beautiful laugh Albus was hearing now. It was the very essence of Miranda, and he never wanted it to end, either.
"I assure you that it never will."
Albus laughed, too.