Disclaimer: I do not own for the Harry Potter universe and characters belongs to JKR.

Written for the Parent/Child Competition issued by ash-luvgirl02.

Letters to My Father

A young red haired lad ran into the yard of a small cottage calling frantically, "Father! Father!"

His father, also a red head, looked up smiling as his son ran up to him. "What is it, Albus?", he asked.

"Come quick! Some boys are hurting Ariana! I can't stop them." Young Albus said before running back the direction he came.

Eyes wide, the father grabbed his wand and with a furious look on his face he followed his son. Behind him, his wife stood, clutching onto a young boy tightly while tears came to her eyes.

To my father in Azkaban:

I know I have never written before, but as I am now a man I feel better able to understand your actions when I was young. I have tried to live my life as I thought you wanted. When you went to Azkaban for assaulting those Muggles, I thought that they were the enemy. You were defending Ariana, but the Ministry still took you from me. I thought that they were the enemy. So, I went to Hogwarts and had to fight to be sorted into the house of my father. I am not brave and I prefer to scheme to act, but I am a Gryffindor as you would have wanted.

Mother is well. We moved from Mould-on-the-Wold to Godric's Hollow shortly after you were sent from us. Mother has been dedicated to caring for Ariana and does not often leave home. Ariana is as well as can be expected. She grows more powerful and more erratic as the years have passed. I hardly know what to do sometimes, but she is my sister and I will protect her even if it must be from herself. Aberforth has been the biggest help to Mother. I went away to school but he stayed to help Mother. Not to say he wouldn't have done well at Hogwarts, as Abe's intelligence is exceeded only by his curiosity. I worry that he will get into something that I won't be able to get him out of one of these days. But I will watch over him as I have done since you have been gone.

I graduate from Hogwarts this spring. I hope to do a Grand Tour of the Wizarding World with my friend Elphias Doge after graduation. Mother says that she can care for Ariana for the number of months I will be gone, as it would be the same as though I was still in school. I feel a bit of guilt that I will be leaving them, but I will be gone for such a short amount of time. It will be invaluable to me later to make the connections on this trip that I plan to make.

One day I hope that you will be home with us. I know now that what you did was wrong, but what the Muggles did was far worse. Their ignorant treatment of our poor Ariana was inhumane and I will never forget. I wonder if perhaps the actions you took were not nearly enough. I hope that you are well and that the Dementors have not taken all your memories of us from you.

Your loving son,

Albus

To my father in Azkaban:

It is with the greatest sorrow that I must inform you that my mother, your wife, is dead. She passed away due to an unexpected outburst of accidental magic by Ariana. We buried her in the cemetery in Godric's Hollow. I have decided to forego my Grand Tour and will be staying with Abe to care for Ariana.

Ariana is terribly upset about Mother's passing. I think that she does not understand where Mother went and misses her terribly. Abe is better than I at comforting her, but I am here for her. Abe is devastated and we are unfortunately constantly at daggers drawn with each other over Ariana's care. I am trying to act as the eldest brother should, but feel I am failing miserably.

I regret that I must return home at this juncture in my life. I am no fit guardian for Ariana and Aberforth as I am barely an adult myself. But I will do my duty as eldest and will keep them as safe as I can. It will put me at great disadvantage for my future career though. I do my best not to resent Ariana, as I love her, but if she was more normal I would be able to have the career I have been dreaming of as I studied my way through Hogwarts. I even had an apprenticeship lined up for after my Grand Tour, with a Master of Transfiguration. I wonder if I will be able to achieve that dream now.

Godric's Hollow does not offer much in the way of entertainment for a young man, but I have met a new friend here. His name is Gellert Grindelwald and he is recently from Durmstrang. He is staying with his great-aunt Bathilda Bagshot, who is a writer of history. He has been helping me recover from Mother's death and we often enjoy grand discussions about magical theory and politics. His ideas are so far reaching and he wishes to do much to solve the issues with Muggles breeching our world. I think he will have a great impact on the world. Abe does not care much for him, but Gellert has been here for me when I need him.

Now more than anything, I wish you had succeeded in killing those Muggles. I know that killing is wrong, but they destroyed so much just by existing. Ariana will never be normal. Aberforth gave up his education. You are in Azkaban. Mother is dead. And I am left to try to pick up the pieces of a life I never wanted to live. I will carry on as I expect you would want me to and honor my Mother's sacrifice.

Your loving son,

Albus

To my father in Azkaban,

I am an utter failure at guardianship. I write this to you in the aftermath of the worst week of my life. Ariana is dead. I know not who is the direct cause of her death, but Aberforth, Gellert and myself share equal blame for the incident occurring.

I should explain. Gellert and I were, as always, making plans for the way we wanted the world to be. Gellert thinks that Muggles should be subjugated to Wizards. It would be for the greater good of us all for Wizards to rule the world. We have higher intelligence and understand much more of the world than Muggles after all. Aberforth took exception to our plans and accused me of abandoning Ariana and of risking exposure of her condition to the Ministry. Gellert pointed out that if we ruled the world, there would be no reason to hide her condition. He has a point, Father. If we ruled over Muggles, we would not have to worry about her exposure and she could have finally received the treatment that Mother was so afraid to get for her. Perhaps then she could have been normal again. A duel developed between Aberforth, Gellert and I. Ariana was upset and tried to break up the fight. In the end, I don't know whose curse struck her, but she was dead. Gellert has fled back to the Continent. And Aberforth refuses to speak to me. He punched me at the funeral. My nose was broken, but I figure that I deserved it.

I have failed in everything that you would have wanted me to do, Father. Mother and Ariana, whom I should have protected, are dead. My only brother refuses to see or speak to me. Our family has fallen apart. And I deserve to be next to you for my actions. I may not have killed Ariana, but I will bear that burden on my soul forever.

Father, tell me what I should do. I want to make a difference in the world, but perhaps Gellert's ideas are too extreme. Should I carry on with my apprenticeship? It would be a shame not to, now that I am free to do so. Perhaps I will take over for my master, and teach the next generation of students. Teaching sounds like a good way to cause great good in the world.

All I have ever wanted to do is make you proud, Father. I am sorry for failing you.

Your loving son,

Albus

To Albus Dumbledore,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to tell you that your father, Percival Dumbledore, passed away last evening. As you are his eldest son, and only correspondent, I write you with this news. His body will be released unto your custody as of Friday this week. Please be on the mainland docks of Azkaban at ten o'clock that morning.

Regards,

Thaddeus Harbin

Warden- Azkaban Prison

To my father who is gone from this world:

It has been several years since I wrote. You died and I was unable to even be by your side. I am sorry for that Father. I hope that the knowledge that Abe and I were still of this world was a comfort to you before you passed.

Abe and I are still not speaking, much. He has relented to at least greet me. He finds my efforts to repent for my actions funny, though he would never tell me so himself. Abe has been working in Hogsmeade, running a small pub called the Hogs Head. He purchased it with the money he inherited from Mother. I flatter myself that he chose Hogsmeade to be close to me at Hogwarts, though it is more likely that it was the only place with a pub for sale.

I used my inheritance to pay for my apprenticeship. I am now a Master of Transfiguration and teach at Hogwarts. I teach the next generation the great Art of Transfiguration and have tutored many through the transformation to become an animagus. I am one, you know. Not many know it, but I am able to take the form of a lynx. I think it is an appropriate form for me, as it has some symbolism that I find intriguing. Do you know the symbolism, Father? The lynx is Keeper of all Secrets and Mysteries, Movement through Time and Space, and the Secrets and Vision of the Hidden and Unseen. It is interesting to me that my inner animal has these meanings, as one of the things that I have been most accused of is keeping secrets.

Do you remember me telling you about Gellert? What a disappointment he turned out to be. I trusted him, and his actions indirectly lead to Ariana's death. As did mine, I suppose. Gellert has been trying to take over the world, just as we planned and schemed to do those years ago. I know I need to take action to stop him, but part of me misses him enough to not want him harmed. And another part is afraid to confront him because of what he might say. Perhaps he has a better idea of whose curse killed Ariana, and perhaps it was mine. I can't face that.

I know I will have to face him soon. His actions are damaging to our world and to the Statute of Secrecy. And I will face him and deal with his menace…for the Greater Good. Which is ironic as that is the banner he is marching under. He feels the actions he takes will benefit our world. I remember scheming with him, and wonder now how I could have been so misguided.

I miss you father. I know that you are gone for good now and I miss you more than I did before while you were simply locked away from us. I endeavor to live my life as you would have wanted.

Your loving son,

Albus

To my father who is gone from this world:

I did it. I faced Gellert. He is no longer a menace to our world. My heart hurts that I had to face him like that. His vision had such promise when we were young. I can't believe that it became so twisted. To my relief, he did not taunt me with the realities of Ariana's death. He knew no more than I as to who threw the fatal curse. He said he fled because he thought I would blame him. I have always blamed myself and it was merely his misunderstanding that gave him the impression I would blame him.

He will spend the rest of his life in Nuremgard Prison. It is more humane than Azkaban, I think. The guards are human and there are no Dementors. Perhaps I will visit him. Certainly he would wish for visitors and I think I loved him, once.

Teaching at Hogwarts is very rewarding. There is a young man that was recently Head Boy that has such promise. His name is Tom Riddle and is a relation to the Gaunt family, though he is most likely unaware what that means from a genealogical standpoint. But he is the heir of Slytherin and suitably enough in Slytherin house. There is a part of me that worries he will go dark and become as much a problem as Gellert was. But if he stays light he will be a shining thing. I will keep watch over his progress and guide him as I can.

Abe and I are back on speaking terms. I hope that he will forgive me. I believe that my recent confrontation with Gellert will do much to heal our rift.

I am afraid I must go, Father. The duties of Head of Gryffindor House are many and I find I must confiscate some form of alcohol from the Quiddich team.

Your loving son,

Albus

To my father who is gone from this world:

It has been many years since I put quill to paper to communicate my thoughts to you, nearly thirty if you can believe that. I have been busy living my life, but that is no excuse for becoming such a poor correspondent.

I am Headmaster of Hogwarts now. I have been for about twenty years. It is a tough job but very rewarding. I have a most capable Deputy in the form of one Minerva McGonnagal. She took over as Transfiguration professor after I ascended to my current post. She was my first apprentice and I am proud of her.

I have a great number of promising students here at Hogwarts now. There are four Gryffindor students that are always in trouble. They call themselves "the Marauders" and enjoy pranking everyone, though their targets do appear to be Slytherins more often than not. And unfortunately this has led to a great number of Slytherin retaliations. Their main target is a young lad named Severus Snape. He is a simply brilliant young man, excelling in Defense Against the Dark Arts as well as Potions. I predict great things in the future for him. I only hope that he does not bow to the current social and political pressures in Slytherin.

These pressures are quite pervasive and far reaching, extending throughout the whole of Wizarding Britain. Do you remember the young man I told you about before, Tom Riddle? Unfortunately, I was right to worry. He has gone dark, and as bright as he could have been as the scion of the Light, he is that dark beacon for the Dark forces. He has taken the extremes of Gellert and expanded upon them, but this time right here in Britain. I worry for the future of the world because I do doubt that anyone can fight against him. But, I will fight the dark forces as I always have, and if must be I will rid the world of Tom Riddle, who now styles himself as Lord Voldemort. It is such a silly name, an adaptation of the French term "flight from death". Does he fear death that much?

Abe and I have reached an accord. I do not bother him unduly and he will speak of me and to me cordially. He won't admit it, but he is proud of my accomplishments (at least I hope he is). In addition to my duties as Headmaster, I have also been serving the Wizengamot and the International Federation of Wizards for many years. Just recently I was elected as leader of both august bodies. Your son is now the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. As always, I want you to be proud of me. With these additional duties, Minerva is becoming more and more of an asset.

I will be sure to write to you again soon. Perhaps with good news instead of these dire tidings.

Your loving son,

Albus

To my father who is gone from this world:

It is with a glad heart I tell you that the threat known as Tom Riddle, or by his preference, Lord Voldemort, is gone from this world. However that joy is tempered with sadness. He is gone at the expense of a young family, leaving an infant orphaned. I mourn for his loss and that he will never know his mother's love nor will his father teach him to fly or to prank. Indeed, the father of this child was the leader of the Marauders I wrote of before, James Potter. The brilliance of both of these young people will be sorely missed, not the least by their young son, Harry, whom people are already calling the Savior of the Wizarding World and have dubbed the Boy-Who-Lived.

I have placed young Harry with his mother, Lily's sister. Lily's last action, that of dying in place of her son, invoked ancient magic that will protect Harry in the future, but only if he is able to call home a place where her blood relatives live. I feel confident that the minor ill feelings fostered between the sisters will not carry over to young Harry. He will grow up sheltered from the world of magic, and therefore from the hero worship and indeed hatred that would be focused on him if he was to grow up in a magical household.

There is a small part of me that fears that Tom Riddle is not totally gone from this world forever. I am wary to call this a total victory, as no body was discovered at the place of the final altercation. But his wand was recovered, which sets the minds of every day witches and wizards at ease. I hesitate to bring any hint of my suspicions to the attention of the masses, as they want very much for this war to be over. For now, I will rest with some ease knowing that he is definitely at the weakest he has ever been and stand ready to take up arms against him if the need arises.

For now, I will fulfill the obligations I have to the public to lead the Wizengamot as the trials of the Death Eaters are performed. I have a young man to protect from Azkaban. Young Severus Snape, though he made some poor decisions, in the end turned back to the light and indeed turned spy against the one he once called master. I will protect that boy as he tried to protect his one true friend, Lily, the mother of our new Savior.

I only regret that our protections on the Potter home did not hold. It should have been foolproof, but they trusted the wrong person to hold the secret of their location. I never would have expected it, but apparently this is one time that blood won out over friendship. Sirius Black was the best friend of James Potter from the day they entered Hogwarts. Their friendship was the closest I had seen in a long time, though they had two other friends too. I never thought that I would see the day that Sirius would betray James, they were closer than most brothers and I am not even using Abe and myself as a comparison. The Minister of Magic has decided that for the actions of Sirius, that of betraying the secret of the Potter's location and for killing thirteen Muggles and one wizard with one spell, he will be sentenced to Azkaban without trial. I hesitate to allow this, but he was heard confessing that it was his fault. For his crimes, I do not expect that Sirius Black will ever be released from Azkaban.

After the news came out, and I had young Harry settled, I stopped by the Hogs Head and had a drink with Abe. I was delighted that he consented to drinking with his brother, until I realized that I was picking up the tab for the entire pub. I do not begrudge him this though. It was a good day to celebrate.

I must return to my duties. I am presiding over the trial of Lucius Malfoy today. I do wonder what he will say to get out of trouble this time. His excuses while he was still in school were always interesting. Unfortunately, I do not believe that we will be able to hold him, but I do look forward to fining his extensive vault for the actions he committed.

Your loving son,

Albus

To my father who is gone from this world:

Once again, it has been several years since I wrote to you. Unfortunately, I believe that this will be the end of our rather one sided correspondence. I have made a terrible mistake and it will cost me my life within the year. Have you ever heard of the Deathly Hallows? Well, they are items from the tale by Beetle the Bard about the Three Brothers. The Potter family has had one of those items as a family heirloom for many generations, since the Potter family and the Peverell family joined. This priceless item is the Invisibility Cloak. My wand is also one of those items, the Elder Wand otherwise known as the Deathstick or the Unbeatable Wand, though that last is not especially accurate as I beat Gellert while he was using this wand. But my mistake did not involve this wand. Instead it involved the Stone. The Resurrection Stone gives a person the ability to communicate with the dead. I just wanted to see Ariana again and apologize. And see Mother and tell her how much I love and miss her. And to see you one more time and ask if you were proud of me. But I am such a foolish old man.

Let me rewind. Tom Riddle is not gone from this world. I believe I had mentioned my worry about that. But we had ten years of quiet before he made his first attempt to return. Indeed his first attempt coincided with the return of Harry Potter to our world. Harry was not treated as well I may have hoped in the home of his relatives, but he was safe from the dark influences of the world and a nicer, more humble boy had never graced the halls of Hogwarts before. But unknown to me, Tom had possessed one of my professors that year and as I was hosting a rather dangerous item in the school, an end of the year altercation occurred between the young Savior and the former Lord Voldemort. Luckily Tom was unable to retrieve that item, as it would have given him near immortality, but instead the protection lent to Harry by his mother was activated. Unfortunately, Tom escaped, though much weakened.

The next year, there was a dark creature of great and terrible abilities that we had to contend with, along with a curious diary that somehow contained the memories of a young Tom Riddle. It took a great deal of research to turn up the slightest mention of what that item could be. It was a Horcrux, a soul container, containing a fragment of the soul of Tom Riddle. And indeed since the memories contained were from such a young age, I know now that there was no hope for Tom to become the shining thing I had once hoped he would become after Hogwarts. And once again, poor Harry was on hand to become the Savior once again.

The next year brought a bright spot on the bleakness that the future was showing. It began rather inauspiciously as Sirius Black escaped Azkaban. I never knew it could happen, but he managed to accomplish it. It was alleged that he was after Harry, but for once the rumors were incorrect. As it turned out, he wished to protect his godson from the real betrayer of the secret of the Potter's location. Apparently Sirius was not the Secret Keeper, but instead another close friend, Peter Pettigrew was. Unfortunately, we were not able to take Peter into custody, but Harry was able to spend a small amount of time bonding with Sirius.

It was young Harry's fourth year that everything went wrong. As an attempt to kindle foreign relations, Hogwarts hosted the Tri-Wizard Tournament for the first time in such a long while. It should have been an opportunity to foster good feelings and relations with the officials of France and Bulgaria, but instead it was a political nightmare. It all started when Harry Potter's name came out of the Goblet of Fire as the fourth name in a three contestant tournament. From then it was obvious that someone was pulling strings to cause grave harm to the young lad. And for the life of me I was unable to keep him safe and protected as I should have. Indeed, he was kidnapped from the final task after comporting himself well against three much older opponents, and was held against his will as his blood was used in a vile ritual to resurrect the shade of Tom Riddle. Not that there is anything left of the promising boy he had been. Now there is no doubt in my mind he is Lord Voldemort, though I will always call him Tom. In addition to this foul happening, my DADA professor, a man I have known since he was at Hogwarts and a man I call friend, was found to be locked inside his trunk for nearly the entire year while a Death Eater took his place. I have never had my powers of observation fail me so completely.

It was this past year that was a trial for our young Savior. You may wonder why I call him that but indeed he will be the Savior of the Wizarding World. It is something I was unable to tell him for a long time, but there is a prophecy about him and Tom. It states in normal prophetic speak that Harry is the one who will be the one to defeat "the Dark Lord" because neither can live while the other survives. I put off telling him for so long, but at the end of that year, there could be no doubt that he had to know. Unfortunately, he lost his godfather the night he was told.

I spent this summer searching for any hints or clues as to the locations of the Horcruxes Tom created. It was a horrible realization that he created even one of those foul creations, let alone that he was so depraved that he created more than one. But I never expected to run across the one thing I have searched for most of my life while on this quest to find Tom's soul. I told you I am the current wielder of the Elder Wand. And with the Potter family holding the Invisibility Cloak, the only item I hadn't located was the Resurrection Stone. I did so over this past summer, to my detriment. The Stone was mounted in an heirloom ring belonging to the Gaunt family and it was this ring that Tom used to create a Horcrux. When I saw it, my desperate need to see my family again overrode the knowledge in my mind that Tom would have laid horrific traps over the ring to protect it. And so, I am dying from my own stupidity. My hand is already dead, and even with the best efforts of Severus, I know I have less than a year to live.

There is a plot this year by one of my students to kill me. His name is Draco Malfoy, and he is another with such potential to shine, or to fall into the depths of the darkness. His family influence leads him to darkness, yet I believe his heart remains mostly pure. Young Draco has been the rival of Harry since they came to Hogwarts. I wish it were different, they would have made a formidable pair if they could have been friends, but it wasn't to be. I only hope that he does not succeed in his plan to kill me. I don't want my death to be the event that pushes him completely to the side of Voldemort. I have done another horrible thing. To protect my student, I have placed my death firmly into the hands of my most trusted professor. I have extracted a Vow from Severus that if it comes to it, he will kill me in the place of Draco. He has reluctantly agreed, but I know that my choice weighs heavy on his mind.

I have located another Horcrux and have decided not to retrieve it alone. I have entrusted Harry with the knowledge of Tom's Horcruxes and that they must be found before Tom can be defeated. He will accompany me to the cave where I believe the locket is located. I am unsure what protections surround the locket, but I do not wish to be caught in a trap of Tom's making again. I still have much to do. Harry and I leave tonight to collect the locket.

I have said my goodbyes to Abe. He knows that I am dying and we have called a truce from the fighting we have indulged in over the years. After all this time, we have made peace with our actions. I do not know if he ever forgave me, but he forgave himself. That is enough for me.

Your loving son,

Albus

A flash of green light surrounded the elderly man, who was tired and ill from the poisons that were in his body. The eyes of the "Defeater of Grindelwald" closed for one last time. The burdens he had borne throughout life were no longer his to carry.

Striking blue eyes opened to a familiar sight, the small cottage from his youth in front of him. His father was sitting on the porch beside his mother. A blond girl played in the front yard, levitating her toys with ease and control. He walked into the yard, remembering a time long ago when he called his father away to help his sister. His father never came home.

"Hello Father. I am home", Albus Dumbledore said, smiling at his father whom he had not seen for a hundred years.

Percival Dumbledore looked at his eldest son with pride. "Welcome home, son. We have been waiting."