XXIV – Albus Dumbledore

Albus was cleaning out his office, reflecting on the events that had happened.

Albus was tired.

Tom Riddle had met his demise. Granted it was not how Albus had envisioned it happening, in the slightest. Eaten by a dragon. But he had confirmed with Severus, who had apparently been working on destroying the Horcruxes, that he was mortal at the time of the dragon eating him.

It was humbling.

He didn't want to admit it to anyone but he did purposefully place Harry in a home where he might not have been the best place for him to make him grow up grateful for the slightest bit of attention, the tiniest affection. So that one day, when Albus was ready to tell him, he would be willing to sacrifice himself to save magical Britain – to get rid of the Horcrux in Harry's head.

He had it confirmed with Poppy that Harry no longer has dark magic resonating in his scar.

He didn't know how it happened but only that all the Horcruxes were gone and his job was done. The two darkest lords were defeated, the light won.

Grindelwald, granted, he was more hands on with the defeat. Gellert, his first love, who was so brilliant and charismatic, who he often thought about ruling over the muggles, whom he hated at the time. For the Greater Good, he would always say with him.

It became perverted as Gellert turned cruel, high off the power that he had, of the people that he had under him. It was his undoing.

Albus never wanted any of that. Power goes to people's head and he realized that getting drunk on power is his greatest fault so he never wanted to have a lot of power.

Then with no real intent, he became the Headmaster after Dippet retired, after being on the staff, then with the defeat of Gellert, he was granted the Supreme Wugump of the International Confederation of Wizards and then became the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot.

He needed to let some of that power go. He held too much office. He was nowhere near the end of his life, if he kept up his health. He had another 60 years before he would be that old to have to retire. But he could hone his efforts into making a real change.

He summoned some of his objects in his office and shrank them and put them in his trunk.

He had a lot of knick knacks accumulated over the 37 years he had been Headmaster. But perhaps he made the wrong decisions while the man held the appointment. He didn't want a cursebreaker to look at the Defense curse, he didn't want any help with the Chamber of Secrets issue. Perhaps Minerva will do a better job than he did.

Albus felt his true place should be on the Wizengamot, he was pushing for equality between the Purebloods, Half-Bloods and Muggleborns. He wanted to advocate for equal representations, not just representations for the Sacred-Twenty-Eight. Those days were outdated and half-bloods and muggleborns outnumbered the pure-bloods by quite a bit. The purebloods needed to accept it.

He picked up the diary, the one Horcrux he had ever had in his possession, reflecting on Harry, who seemed to be loving life lately, he had a family, friends and many prospects and he couldn't help but feel a little bad that the Dursleys could have snuffed out that life quite easily. He was glad that Harry didn't let it defeat him.

"Poor Harry." He sighed, talking to himself.

"Harry did exactly what I thought he would do." The Sorting Hat muttered.

"How so?"

"He acted like a Slytherin, just as he was supposed to have been sorted, but he argued with me and I couldn't fault his arguments." The Sorting Hat sniffed.

Harry in Slytherin.

Well, as much as Albus would like to say that he wasn't predisposed to a certain house, it was a lie.

Gellert was in Slytherin and so was Tom – usually the problems he had the most were from Slytherin house students. Severus was in Slytherin and he definitely didn't treat him like he would have treated him if he was in Gryffindor.

Albus wasn't perfect but he made the best decisions he could. He had regrets and self-loathing.

Ariana is one such regret and another is Severus.

He tried to help him by shielding him in Hogwarts and now he helped defend Hogwarts from the Death Eaters. Hopefully the public truly believes that Severus is a good man, like Albus thought he was.

He packed more things into his trunk, pondering more memories. He was feeling a bit sentimental.

He packed some books away, thinking of Harry's friends for some reason.

Miss Granger continued to get top marks and she was one of his first picks for his muggleborn representations on the Wizengamot – she was a brilliant witch who could do anything she wanted to do.

Mister Weasley, it seems that his younger sister's fears were not unfounded. Molly confided in him that Ginny told her that she thought he might be cursed. Ginny told her oldest brother, William and after the battle, he tested Ron and found that he was indeed under a curse.

It must have been placed on him at the beginning of the year by Barty Crouch Jr when he was masquerading as Moody.

Unfortunately, the curse only made his thoughts come out easier and his anger was much quicker to ignite. Which explained the lashing out at Miss Granger – he was attracted to her. Hormones were an overwhelming thing for a young person, especially one under the curse.

Unfortunately, he burned a lot of bridges, under a curse or not and Albus thought it quite sad that the students weren't as forgiving as he might have wished that they be.

Mister Longbottom continued to surprise him and flourish under Sebastian's tutelage. His potions grades were on the incline and his confidence was definitely flourishing. He seemed to be working with Sebastian for a cure for his parents. Which Albus thought a fruitless effort but if that is what Neville wants to try and accomplish, it will be even that more surprising and amazing when it happens.

Albus closed his trunk with a click. He sighed, looking around at the empty room. He felt the empty portrait, knowing that the magic would activate as he left, leaving his magical signature in the room for forever, helping future Headmasters and Headmistresses with his advice and his mistakes.

He closed the door and made his way down the stairs and passed the gargoyle and made his way out of the school.

He looked back one more time as he made his way to his brother's pub.

"Goodbye, Lady Hogwarts." He waved in farewell, knowing that Minerva could handle it from here.

This is the end!

Keep an eye out for the four mini sequels, following Harry, Neville, Hermione and Draco on their life journeys. They will be posted in this story, so you won't have to search for them.

I have started an outline for a new story, that I am pretttty excited about. I just started outlining it and I might start posting the story in January/February, after I finish up these sequels. I made it to 1800 words for Neville and Harry has close to 5k written. Once I finish Neville, I will move onto Hermione's Ft. Viktor.

Toodles!