Prompt: The Creator- Goal: realize vision OR Fear- mediocrity
Optional Prompts:
(quote) The excitement of dreams coming true is beyond the description of words.
(word) blaze
"Dumbledore's Plan"
On the 30th of June in 1997, everything fell into place.
The night was mild, the sky filled with clouds with only a slight shimmer of the moonlight shining through. A perfect night, Dumbledore thought to himself, for my death.
How perfectly everything fell into place… His thoughts drifted as he considered what would be happening within the next few moments. Almost like puzzle pieces...
The grounds of Hogwarts were completely still, as if frozen. In their own small way, they were paying their respect to the man who was about to allow himself to be killed. Paying their respect to their protector for more than three decades. Paying their respect to a man who should be honored.
A brilliant and wonderful plan, hatched decades ago - even before one of the key players of the war was born. A plan that took up all of Dumbledore's plans for so long. A plan so meticulously put together that there was no way it could fail. That plan was Dumbledore's pride and joy. The very thing that allowed him to remain determined despite the dire times that they were living through.
Dumbledore couldn't allow himself a smile in such a dire and important moment, but he did have to restrain himself. Everything was perfect.
Nobody truly knew about this plan as in-depth as Severus Snape, and he only knew his own role in the complicated scheme. Looking into the eyes of Severus now reminded him of the budding future that the boy had once had - the infinite number of possibilities for his life had been narrowed down to very few.
Dumbledore didn't regret one minute of it. It was all necessary for the plan, and it couldn't have been avoided. Severus was just another tool that needed to be used for his plan to be executed perfectly.
He felt great pride in saying that this elaborate plan that he put together would save thousands of lives - perhaps millions - in the long run. It was truly his life's work - everything led up to this. His own death was another domino falling onto another to reach the end result; Voldemort's death.
Looking at Harry's frozen form hidden from the view of everyone else put everything into perspective. Everything depended on this mere child. But he's not a mere child, he thought to himself. No mere child could have such a fiery blaze behind his eyes.
It was certainly a blaze - there was no other way to describe it. A fire. A fire had been lit in Harry Potter's heart from the moment his parents had died. At that point, it was just a spark. With each traumatizing event after another - Quirrel, the Chamber of Secrets, Sirius's death - more fuel was added to the flame.
That blaze was necessary. In order for Harry to succeed and complete Dumbledore's plan, every single event that helped build that blaze had to happen. Harry wouldn't be properly prepared for the final battle if he hadn't become accustomed to the horrors of war or the loss of his loved ones. It was a horrible truth, Dumbledore admitted to himself, but a necessary truth.
In Harry's vibrant green eyes, Dumbledore could see tears welling up as he tried to fight against the Body-Binding Curse cast by Dumbledore himself. The perfect soldier, Dumbledore thought to himself, completely led by emotions, easily malleable.
In the beginning, Dumbledore had felt guilty. Manipulating an 11-year-old made a part of him scream that what he was doing was sick. As the years passed, however, he came to accept that it was necessary. Every single step of it.
Looking from one student to another, Dumbledore found himself turning to Draco Malfoy. The boy had disarmed him and was now trembling as he continued to point his wand in Dumbledore's direction.
Draco Malfoy was on the opposite side of the spectrum as Harry Potter.
To Dumbledore, Harry Potter was a chess piece - the most important one at that - the King itself. On the other hand, Draco Malfoy was simply a pawn to those on the other side. Draco mattered little to Dumbledore's scheme - but he understood that he had let this child be raised in a toxic environment and he regretted it. Even if Draco Malfoy was to survive this war, although it mattered little in Dumbledore's mind, he would never live a truly healthy life.
Draco Malfoy, to say it simply, looked exhausted. A look that Dumbledore believed belonged on nobody's face, especially one so young. Deep eye bags on an increasingly pale face had worried many of the teachers at Hogwarts. Many of them had come to Dumbledore, anxious about the boy's wellbeing, and Dumbledore had brushed them off.
Dumbledore tried to dismiss his troubling thoughts. It's all for the plan. It's fine that he allowed a child to be raised in an environment that was abusive in at least one aspect. Dumbledore never knew of physical abuse, but he knew verbal and emotional abuse were most definitely prevalent in Malfoy Manor. His eyes drifted back over to Harry.
No, Dumbledore thought. My final moments cannot be filled with regret. Everything is coming together. This is perfect.
Snape swept onto the scene, wand in hand. The other Death Eaters didn't even spare him a glance, knowing that only their own would be let through the barrier that they had set up. They also couldn't afford to let their eyes off of Dumbledore for even a second - none of them knew that Dumbledore was truly resigned to the fact that this was the night he would die.
"Severus…" Dumbledore spoke quietly, playing the role that he was expected to. The role of a man who trusted Severus Snape - a man who Severus Snape had lied to and misled. It was quite the opposite, and Dumbledore found it ironic. Dumbledore had set all of Severus's actions into place long prior to this night. Albus controlled everything, and that brought him a great thrill of euphoria to know.
Snape paused in his place at Dumbledore's words, looking into the Headmaster's eyes with his typical emotionless mask on, but Albus knew better. He could see into the depth of Severus's soul and knew he was broken up over the murder he was about to commit. He was definitely a good actor, Dumbledore had to give him that.
Bellatrix Lestrange cackled, but it didn't waver the statuesque expressions of Dumbledore or Snape. "Well, look who's here!" A wide grin spread across her face. "Hogwarts' own Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher! Come to see the slaughter?"
Snape didn't bother answering Bellatrix, instead choosing to stare into Dumbledore's soul.
This is it. The moment. Everything led up to this.
"Severus, please," Dumbledore pleaded again, pleased at how weak he sounded. He sounded like a man who realized he was doomed.
Snape swallowed thickly, a small slip in his disguise that went unnoticed by all of the others. Dumbledore was happy to know that Snape did care for him on some level. "I gave my word," Snape said quietly. "I made a vow…"
Dumbledore watched Snape closely as the man took a bold step forward, his wand raising powerfully.
In a split second and a few syllables later, the last part of his plan that he would be witness to took place.
"Avada Kedavra," Snape jabbed his wand in Dumbledore's direction.
A green light came from Severus' wand and seemed to inch its way towards Dumbledore's chest. Albus made no attempt to move, only watching as the jet of light flew towards his chest.
In one stunning moment, it hit him.
For a moment, it seemed like nothing had happened. Like the spell had no effect.
Suddenly he was flying back over the edge of the Astronomy Tower's rails.
As the vivid colour of green took over his senses and shut everything else down, Dumbledore gave a twitch of a smile.
After all, the excitement of dreams coming true is beyond the description of words.
Dumbledore's life ended quickly, and for Dumbledore himself, happily. He escaped before he got to witness what his own death would cause. He escaped before he could hear Harry's yells of broken sadness and rage, or Draco Malfoy's gut-wrenching sobs as he attempted to fall asleep that night.
He escaped before he could bear witness to the loss and tragedy and horrors that the following year would bring. He escaped before he would witness all of the lives that would be ruined for his plan. He escaped before he could see his vision become fully realized. He escaped before he could come to regret his own actions.
But to Dumbledore, the effects didn't matter. After all, it was for the greater good.