This was written for the Clue Challenge over at the Harry Potter Fan Fiction Challenges Forum. It was so much fun, I highly suggest you try a challenge or two. Anyway, this is just a character sketch of Albus Dumbledore, but it was insanely fun, so…yeah.

xxx

For These Ones

Prompts: Dumbledore, eraser, observatory

You're standing there at the top of the Observatory, watching over the ground of Hogwarts from over half-moon glasses. It's dark and silent around you, and not even the wind dares to disturb.

There must be some significance, you think, that you're standing in the very spot that you died. There must be some reason for it.

There's a single object, an eraser, in your hand.

Even with your never-wavering faith that the universe has reasons for everything, you have to wonder why. Of all the objects in the world, why would this one be some important to wedge its way into grasp, pushing and shoving into your own dream world?

In retrospect, you think that maybe an eraser has more significance than you realize. With one quick brush over parchment, any mistakes that were made automatically disappear, leaving only a thin, barely visible marking, always visible beneath other words placed over it, never allowing you to forget.

(You've longed, oh, you've wished that you could be able to erase your mistakes that easily, and even if they still remain in a faint form it would be better than the way it is now, with them tormenting you nearly every minute of every day)

With a sudden onslaught of impeccable hindsight, you remember with perfect clarity all of the mistakes you've ever made, the hearts you've broken, the ones you've disappointed, the friends and family you've lost.

It's almost unbearable to remember these things, maybe even worse than it was to actually experience it, because now you can see all of the ways that they could've been avoided, you should have been there, you should have done something that would've made it different—

(It's all your fault, really, everything—you could have stopped it and you didn't, but you were too selfish, too caught up in everything, and now they're the ones paying the price)

At least you got to enjoy a full life—it's more than they had, those ones whose deaths came too soon and too quickly—but it's your penance that you've had to live with the guilt.

As you play with the eraser in your hands, tripping it over your long, gnarled fingers, your age is suddenly apparent. You are old. You are a hundred and sixteen years old, and you will be that way for the rest of eternity, but is it really eternity when you're dead? Or are you really dead?

You have died, that is for certain, your memories of the Killing Curse are quite clear, but you don't think that you've truly passed on. You're waiting, in between.

Waiting for what?

(For the mistakes you've made to correct themselves as if passed over by an eraser, but you've been waiting for that your whole life and now, there's nothing left to do)

There's nothing left to do but move on, let them go; you'll never stop carrying that weight with you, but from now on it will only way one ton instead of two—

(For these ones that shaped who you are, for these ones that died for you and cried for you and loved you more than you can comprehend even in death, you will always be grateful)

The eraser trips clumsily over your fingers and falls into the dark abyss below, disappearing.

You've been running too long, soaring too high, trying too damn hard, and now maybe it's time for you to take a leap of faith.

And suddenly the stone encircling you has vanished and all you have to do is step out, just a single step, that's all you need, just one little step—

You take a deep breath, close your eyes, and let yourself fall.

xxx

I'm insanely proud of this. XD

Reviews would be amazing.