Get it Right this time.
Inspired by Dragens challenge of the 'death is pissed because Harry has been through her office seven times'
Albus of the many names Dumbledore found himself in a chair, an uncomfortable chair, waiting for what seemed like an eternity.
It is entirely possible that it was an eternity, because time was without form here in this place.
He had no one to talk to, nothing to read, and he couldn't seem to get up from the chair.
His last conscious memory was of a conversation with young Harry at Platform 9 and ¾ after his young student had willingly sacrificed himself for the magical world.
He smirked at that. It had been a clever plan that had taken almost twenty years to put into place, from the false prophecy to the cajoling the Potters into leaving their safe home at Potter Castle and staying in a hovel that the Dumbledore family rented out to transients.
His sleight of hand using Hagrid as a catspaw to steal the boy away from his rightful protector and getting that protector eliminated was a masterpiece. All for the Greater Good, of course.
Albus saw nothing wrong with the things he had done, the lives he had ruined and the arms he had twisted, in an oh-so-grandfatherly manner..again, it was his greater good that was at stake, the lives of a few underlings was worth the sacrifice.
Footsteps. He could hear footsteps, but could not discern from where they came.
The place he was in was pure white, without form, he could see his own body and the chair he was trapped in, but that was all. He could not see any floor, any texture, color or indication that there was a physical place where he was trapped.
Just white and glare of brightness from all directions.
Out of the glare a figure came into being. A young woman dressed all in black, with black hair and pale skin, Her makeup was impeccable and could be defined as 'goth'
"Get up, Dumbledore, you have an appointment."
she was curt and to the point.
He found himself able to move and the young woman walked away swiftly, her boots striking sparks on the hard stone he found himself walking on.
Her pace was swift and even so the taller man had to almost sprint to keep up, and could hardly ask his questions.
"May I ask your name Miss?"
"No"
"where is this place?"
"Between"
"Between? Between where?"
she stopped suddenly and pointed a sharp finger at his beaky nose.
"between life and not life, before judgement and the reward you so richly deserve."
"I see, so I am to receive the honors fotr my years of service to mankind, well, let us go, then"
He started to go forward and brush past the young woman, but found himself fixed firmly to the stone of the floor in this infinite place.
The young woman's face twisted in a sarcastic grimace. She walked a circle around the former warlock/headmaster/mugwump.
"You have been a bad boy, Albie, you have destroyed the lives of many people. You have hurt some of my favorite people, terribly so."
He tried to speak, but was unable to do so.
She carried on.
"How do I list the crimes you have committed? By the date? Alphabetically? Or maybe just pick out a few of your victims..
"Let's start with one of my favorites.. Harry James Potter, son of James and Lily Potter, grandson of Charlus and Dorea Potter..we won't even talk about the Evans side of the family, for you KNOW that Lily was adopted and no relation whatsoever to the Evans clan, nor to Petunia..your own words to Harry convict you, Albus.."
'I knew I was sentencing you to ten years of dark and hard times'
the words echoed in his ears.
She stood in front of the transfixed wizard, her hands on hips, her leather jacket glistening black.
"The very thought of what you did to keep those two seperated was criminal.. Harry and Hermione are one, and you were trying to use Hermione as payment to the gingers.. well, guess what, I have some ideas on that, and if any one of them touch her, their name goes to the top of my collections list."
she turned in a huff and walked off and the dead man had no option but to follow.
They entered between two great pillars of fire and cloud, and Albus Dumbledore felt small, for he fell to the floor in front of a great throne, the which of all he could see was the feet of the occupant.
Death spoke up.
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore"
"Thank you child."
the voice that spoke was pervasive and seemed to come from everywhere.
In his peripheral vision Dumbledore saw men at the right hand of the throne interacting.
One man was tall, with hard muscles of a working man, his hands familiar with tools and wood.
He had dark skin and curly hair and an easy smile. He was speaking with an old man with white hair and beard that he recognized as Merlin, at least the version he thought of as Merlin.
They were discussing him, as their eyes were glancing in his direction.
There were strange and unusual creatures around the throne, singing in some unknown language.
The Merlin nodded and shook hands with the tall carpenter and strode over to where Dumbledore was prostrate on the floor.
"I am your Counsel, Dumbledore, your life will be reviewed and you will be put to judgement."
"It will be completely fair and above board, based on your actions. Are you ready?"
For once Dumbledore had nothing to sayas for the first time in his 154 years he was in the presence of something he acknowledged as greater than himself.
"I..I'm afraid.."
Merlin slapped him on the shoulder "That's the spirit.. now get up off the floor and face your Creator."
the choir of angels on either side of the throne room sang out
Δόξα Σοι τῷ δείξαντι τὸ φῶς.
Δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις Θεῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία.
Ὑμνοῦμέν σε, εὐλογοῦμέν σε, προσκυνοῦμέν σε, δοξολογοῦμέν σε, εὐχαριστοῦμέν σοι, διὰ τὴν μεγάλην σου δόξαν.
Κύριε Βασιλεῦ, ἐπουράνιε Θεέ, Πάτερ παντοκράτορ, Κύριε Υἱὲ μονογενές, Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, καὶ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα.
Κύριε ὁ Θεός, ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ Υἱός τοῦ Πατρός, ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς, ὁ αἴρων τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ κόσμου.
Πρόσδεξαι τὴν δέησιν ἡμῶν, ὁ καθήμενος ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Πατρός, καὶ ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς.
Ὅτι σὺ εἶ μόνος Ἅγιος, σὺ εἶ μόνος Κύριος, Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ Πατρός. Ἀμήν.
Καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν εὐλογήσω σε, καὶ αἰνέσω τὸ ὄνομά σου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος.
(grabbed from wikipedia)
Dumbledore could follow some of the language.. ancient greek, if he was not mistaken
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore"
"Lets start with how you got all of these names.. your parents certainly didn't give them all to you..
Merlin sifted through his memories, not leaving out anything, even the parts that one would want hidden.
This seemed to go on for hours, days, where every decision, every action, every plan was taken and judged before the Creator..
after an eternity Merlin turned towards the throne and spoke.
My Lord, He has been sifted and has been found wanting."
"Send him from our presence and into the hands of those , his victims."
Albus felt some rough hands grab him up off the floor and drag him away, he was trying to reach out and touch the light in front of him but it got farther away as he was taken.
The sound of the angelic host faded as he was taken farther into the abyss.
He felt as if he were thrown and fell forever.
Finally after an indeterminate time he hit a stone floor with a thud.
He groaned and tried to turn over, but he could feel several broken bones, which slowly, ever so slowly migrated back to where they were supposed to be.
Finally he was able to sit up and saw that he was surrounded by the faces of those he had wronged in life. All of them, whether he knew them or not.
All the victims of Voldemort, every one. Every single person whose blood was on his hands, by direct action as well as those by his neglect and indifference.
Any single one he focused on, he felt all their pain and anger and hatred and frustration, and there was no where for him to look away. They were all around him, some just shouting or screaming, some shouting about how he had betrayed them, about how he had lied to them, about how he had stolen their livelihood, their money or their life.
The crowd got bigger every day. Because Harry had died in his attempt to eliminate Voldemort. Because Harry was martyred against his will.
Because Harry was kept separate from Hermione.
Soon it became evident that his sin was greater than anyone could conceive.
Because soon, it was every single magical person in the world shouting at him, as well as a significant percentage of the muggle world as well. For the war had spilled over.
Without Harry to stand in the gap between the forces of darkness and the rest of the world, Voldemort and his evil expanded. First taking Great Britain and then spreading across the world, killing and destroying at will, spreading disease and destruction wherever he went.
After a few moments of this, or possibly ten thousand millenia, he could not tell which, everything stopped.
Death strolled into his hellish sanctum and regarded the ex-wizard.
The surrounding millions were silent, the sound had stopped, time had stopped to the point of the electrons circling the neutrons were stationary..
"So, you have a choice. For the Greater Good, of course.
"You can stay here in your own private hell, knowing you destroyed the world with your ego, or you can go back and fix what you did wrong."
He could not move, but in his mind he thought..
"Please, please, let me go back and fix what i did wrong..."I don't want to destroy the world..please?"
she looked him in the eye.
"Don't screw this up."
He found himself in his office, the transfiguration office, he was younger, and it was nearing the end of term.
Tom Riddle sat in the chair across the desk from him.
"Please Professor, don't make me go back there, I can't stand it..it makes me want to ..hurt people.."
"Very well Tom, if I cannot get Headmaster Dippet to approve this, then I will take you as an apprentice myself, you can live with me and my brother in Godric's Hollow, its a mixed magical-muggle village, you know.. I know you will love it there. He stood to head to the Headmaster's office. "In fact, Tom, I will introduce you to Bathilda Bagshot, she is a neighbor and family friend, "
And the world changed.
Tom Riddle was saved from returning to the orphanage and was brought into a community where he was appreciated and trained up properly, as well as receiving counseling about dealing with dark urges..
Eventually he would gain his mastery in defense and stand up against the next dark lord, Gilderoy Lockhart, and eventually settle down as the professor of defense against the dark arts, as well as a consultant in those things for the Ministry of Magic.
James would meet Lily and marry, and the couple would have a son, Harry James and then a daughter Alice Rose. Harry would grow up to be a fine wizard and meet a young witch on the Hogwarts Express, whose first words to him were:
"Has anyone seen a toad?"
to which he replied.
"Has Neville lost Trevor again? C'mon lets find him.. Hi, I'm Harry, what's your name?"
"Um, Hermione, Hermione Granger"
"Hello Hermione, Hermione Granger, can I call you Hermione for short?''...
The End.