Those Twinkling Blue Eyes
Summary: Hermione Granger has steadily crossed the line from admiration to love, for a kindly old man with twinkling blue eyes whose shoulders the whole wizarding world has rested upon and taken for granted for years.
Rating: R or M
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JK Rowling. I just love to use the personas she has created.
A/N: This story contains sexual scenarios between two magic persons with a fairly large age difference of about 100 years. It takes place in Hermione's sixth year in school. However, with her use of the time turner, she is actually of age before Harry and Ron.
Warning: Contains spoilers from the Harry Potter books up to HBP. Slightly AU.
Hermione Granger was a brilliant young woman, and was set to graduate Hogwarts with the highest grades the school had seen in a century. When asked how she managed to take so many classes and remain so studious, she would shrug off the person who gaped at her. It came naturally to her, the urge to learn and work. She was not satisfied unless she was busy analyzing and educating herself.
Sometimes even she wondered why she wasn't sorted into Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, but she would immediately silence such thoughts, as her association with the Boy Who Lived had gotten her into so many messes that her courage was unquestioned and dominated her personality.
Another person had been taking note of her actions over the years. The twinkling blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore skimmed over the Gryffindor table as he watched Miss Granger devour yet another book as she ate. He smiled to himself as he savored the taste of his custard tart. If all continued as it was, he had no doubt that Hermione was to become as great as him someday. His gusto for learning as a Hogwarts age student had earned him many awards, and his talent had brought him to where he was today: Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Grand sorcerer. As glamorous as those titles went, only Albus truly understood the price of such esteem.
Many came to him for advice, and many gladly dumped their problems on him, expecting him to sort them out. And sort them out he did, as best as he could. Albus was a Light wizard, and he believed in the greater good of everyone and could not bear to see others suffer. His kindness and care caused problems for him however, because as acclaimed as Dumbledore was, he was human and humans made mistakes. Because of this he had built up a fair share of regrets over his many years of life. Although many of them he did not deserve to be blamed for by any logical thinker, he seemed to think that because of his abilities he had a duty to keep things in control. He was left alone to wander among such feelings, as many of the situations he had dealt with were private and could only result in unnecessary immaturities from others.
Finishing up his custard tart with an inaudible sigh, Dumbledore stood up from the staff table and nodded his head at his colleagues, chuckling slightly as he watched Severus Snape giving off his morning glares at the students, and headed for his office to begin his daily share of paperwork.
Underneath her lowered lashes, Hermione watched Dumbledore gracefully descend the pedestal and head up to his office. Over the years she had garnered a large amount of respect and admiration for the man as she watched him handle situations with civility; and yet he gave off an air of superiority. Hermione was abashed by his ability to remain so polite to so many dunderheads even though he was significantly more powerful, and should he want to, he could blast them all into nonexistence.
She couldn't even believe how flippant people were with such a skilled and kind man. His age greatly outnumbered that of Fudge and his cronies, yet they still thought him to be beneath them, politics going to their bloated heads. They could never match his skill or his accomplishments. She knew that there was some reason that Dumbledore chose to remain Headmaster when he could hold the entire wizarding world hostage should he want to; perhaps he had a secret lust for power. Hermione chuckled, as that seemed completely out of character for him. But she remembered the delicious shiver she had felt when she watched him rise to his full height after stunning an entire room of ministry dunderheads, including that disgusting Umbridge character, and he still managed to act as though he felt sorry that he had to do it.
Frowning, Hermione passed some pudding to Ron as he badgered her out of her thoughts. Ignoring how he stared at her longingly, she stood up to begin the trek to the greenhouses for Advanced Herbology.