"Once upon a time, I wanted to know what love was. Love is there if you want it to be. You just have to see that it's wrapped in beauty and hidden away in between the seconds of your life. If you don't stop for a minute, you might miss it."

-Cashback

I The Death of a Good Man

June 1945

Dumbledore, the only man capable of killing most powerful Dark Lord of all time, died. It's normal for good people like Dumbledore to die young of course but the tragedy of his death wasn't that he just died. The tragedy was that he died by the hands of Gellert Grindelwald.

Tom folded the Daily Prophet which held the bitter news. He sighed. He wasn't happy with the news for two reasons. One being that he wanted to be the one to kill him, two being that he expected him to win over Gindelwald in their duel. He desperately needed Grindelwald out of his way.

He looked at the bright side of the fixed situation. At least now, he thought, he could have the pleasure of killing Grindelwald.

A few miles away from where Tom lived, a great mansion stood with large gardens full of exotic flowers and trees and rooms with gold and the finest furniture. The house of Gambee resided in that area. They were a small family. The youngest in the family was Augustine. He was the son of Pendleton and Jocasta. They loved him very much.

On the night of Dumbledore's death, the Gambees where celebrating the birthday of Augustine. He was turning fifteen. The Blacks, Malfoys, Flints, Yaxleys, Crabbes, Notts and all the other pureblood families were there. The party was more than grand and it was all just for a fifteen year old boy.

"Pendleton," Perry, Pendleton's brother spoke. "Do you have any idea where my son is?" His son's name was Anteros.

"Which son? If you're looking for Eros, he is with Augustine and the other children."

"No, no. I'm looking for Anteros."

"Well I have no idea where he is but do try at my daughter's room. If he is not there, ask the servants for him. Why are you looking for him?"

"Marriage matters."

Perry's son wasn't in Pendleton's daughter's room. He was at the gardens with Pendleton's daughter. Pendleton's daughter's name was Madeleine. She was a year older than Augustus and was less loved for the same reason why some wizards were being killed by Grindelwald. Anteros who was two years older than Madeleine, comforted her as she cried about Dumbledore's death. Next to them was the Daily Prophet that held the sad, sad news. It was burning to crisps, unintentionally by Madeleine.

"He's in a better place now, Madeleine." He said for the fourth time. Madeleine nodded at him for the fourth time. She tried to stop crying but she couldn't. Most girls always had a weakness for tears.

Why was Madeleine crying over Dumbledore, Anteros thought. He was a great man, a good man and his death was a heartbreak but he wasn't crying over about it. So why was Madeleine? Anteros, being the insensible man he was asked,

"Why are you crying over Dumbledore?" Madeleine laughed lightly at his question. She was used to his bad timing and lacking of feeling and learned to find it amusing at some point.

"I liked to pretend that he was my father most of the time."

"Oh."

"He was my Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts and my mentor."

"What do you mean by mentor?"

"He taught me a lot of things." She smiled. "Most of the things I know, I know because of him. I owe Dumbledore a lot." She paused then spoke again. "His funeral is tomorrow; Nine in the morning. Will you join me?"

"Of course. I'll come by earlier so we can have breakfast at a nice café or something."

"Alright. I'll be waiting outside the mansion by seven."

Tom planned to go to Dumbledore's funeral, just to curse at his face one last time and to reunite with his followers just to tell them that he'll be gone for a few months or years. He needed to go to Albania for various reasons like training to kill Grindelwald and finding for an artifact.

The funeral was to be held at Hogwarts. In honor of Dumbledore's uniqueness, the area of the funeral was decorated with the colors blue and plum, his favorite colors, instead of the generic black. The people who were to attend were required to wear clothes of the same or either color and were to be given complimentary lemon drops. Half the people who read this invitation in the Daily Prophet were agog and thought the whole thing was a disappointment to Dumbledore. They all still planned on going though.

When Madeleine read it she knew Dumbledore would be very pleased because he believed death was never meant to be taken tragically. Dumbledore taught Madeleine that piece of wisdom back then but she never really believed in it and she never really saw how she could ever.