I've got no idea what this will be about when it's finished. I just hope it will be finished someday... ^^
Disclaimer: I do not own... blabla... you know.
Prologue: Dumbledore the Bold Demur
Whatever people thought about him, he did no longer care. That was what he thought, at least. But when Albus Dumbledore got up this morning, he already felt something was badly wrong. Something important. It was not until he took a look at the person staring back at him from inside the bathroom mirror however that the headmaster of Hogwarts realised what had made him feel so bad:
His beard, trimmed and tended until the other day now dangling shrivelled in front of the old man's chest. Also, some of Professor Dumbledore's hair seemed to have taken vacation – unfortunately for a longer time, it seemed. Unsettled, the man shook his head. Obviously he no longer was the wise, respectable wizard, at least not on the outside. Instead he had become nothing more than an old, bald doter nobody would take serious anymore.
Dumbledore knew, if anybody saw him like this, he was finished. The era of great Albus Dumbledore was over anyhow but until now the headmaster himself was the only person who knew. Thinking feverishly about how to conquer this crisis, the senescent wizard missed the sound of a visitor knocking at the door to his private chambers. "Yes, of course!", Dumbledore shouted, when a way of concealment came to his mind, just to turn around and see Minerva McGonagall entering the room.
"H-headmaster?", she stuttered, shocked by seeing how upset the elder was. Clearing her throat she concentrated the message she had to deliver. "Albus, the Daily Prophet is gathering staff in the Great Hall. Rumour has it a student died last night, when he left Hogwarts for a trip to the Forbidden Forest. To make matters worse, word has been spread he might have been attacked." Trying hard to retaining her composure she looked at Dumbledore, waiting for an answer.
"I'll... I'll deal with it in a second, Minerva. In a second...", the elder replied and searched the room for something to hide his thinned out hair. Moments later he ran down the stairs to the Great Hall, wearing nothing but his red dressing gown and a deep blue bobble hat. Followed closely by Professor McGonagall the headmaster finally reached the crowd of reporters. Many of them where already interviewing students, some of these crying, some confused because they did not know what all the excitement was about.
"Please", Dumbledore interrupted in a loud, tight voice. "All students immediately return to their common rooms", he ordered. At once, the press jumped at the headmaster, firing questions at him. Pictures were taken of the elderly man while Dumbledore desperately tried to calm the lurid reporters. His biggest problem was that he did not even really know about the incident they were talking about as he just heard the news about it himself. Only for a short moment Dumbledore had time to wonder why those people could know about a dead student before the headmaster himself knew. Halfway through the interview, which seemed to be quite similar to a cross-examination, Dumbledore somehow managed to lose his bobble hat.
The very next day every single newspaper had the same picture covering the front page: a desperate -looking Albus Dumbledore, barely dressed and his bald head uncovered raising his hands to calm the crowd in front of him. This gesture however made him seem more helpless than anything else. "Bold Demur" the headline said in big black letters, the "O" changing to an "A" and back from time to time.
"It's a shame", a croaking voice said, although the words oozed with irony. "According to several reputable newspapers, Albus Dumbledore, treasured headmaster of Hogwarts, was more worried about some reporters scaring the students than one of his fosterlings having been found dead the night before. Also, to quote my favourite article, Professor Dumbledore seemed to be quite 'jazzed' and seemed to be more a senile old man than the great and powerful wizard we all are used to see representing this school." The voice paused dramatically, before addressing Dumbledore directly, who was sitting on the opposite side of a large table, Professor McGonagall seated next to him. "Albus", the voice continued, "would you like to explain something to us?"
Dumbledore examined the close-lipped faces of all the other parents present. There was nothing to explain. He had been jazzed indeed. He actually had been more worried about his hair than even about the reporters pestering his students, but now was not the right time to admit that.
Whatever he would say, all those parents were sure to jump his throat for it. Therefore, Dumbledore remained silent. Therefore, Dumbledore followed his hair on their very long vacation.