A/N: This is the Seeker from Montrose Magpies writing for QLFC Round 4.

Prompt: The Yoruba Dance from Nigeria; write about a character who celebrates small moments in life

Thanks to my team for looking through it!

Word Count: 1189

Disclaimer: I have no intentions of making money from this story, so all the recognisable stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling.

a little too late for celebration

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin (First Class), Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot celebrated big moments — the defeat of Dark Lords, the Hogwarts Sorting Ceremony, the birth of each magical child, even if he didn't know of them at the time, and, most importantly, the release of a chocolate frog card with his name on it. He lived for the life-changing moments that would go down in the history books, changing the world one bright spark at a time.

Just Albus, though, lived differently. Plain ol' Albus lived for the small moments. Discovering the shape of a cool scar in the days following a battle was always good (he had one on his knee that was a map of the London Underground) and as a reward for surviving the wound, he always went out for ice cream. A good hair day — which didn't occur as often as he wished, despite what someone else might think — was celebrated with a shopping spree. The better the hair, the brighter the colours. It was not Albus's fault that he was colour-blind; he didn't regret buying vivid fabrics to make up for the lack that he himself could see. It was okay to be selfish sometimes, and the reactions of his staff were always hilarious. On a particularly good day, he could inspire Severus to take pains to avoid him in the corridors if his robes were vibrantly patterned.

He loved the pranks students pulled, and for every prank that didn't get caught by the staff, he discretely handed points to the house in question, usually Gryffindor. (The Weasley twins were the latest culprits and they were exceptionally good at avoiding patrolling prefects and professors.)

But Albus's greatest love was sweets. The second he'd been switched onto solid foods he'd discovered that he had a sweet tooth that could rival no other's, which had not been a problem when his father had been around. Percival had always indulged Albus, ignoring Kendra's half-hearted protests of him becoming overly excitable when consuming sugar. Overactive Albus simply meant accidental magic and both his parents loved to see that in action.

Contrary to popular belief about sweet-lovers, Albus wasn't overly fond of chocolate. His one true love was hard candy, though he really liked to try any new, eccentric sweet out in the market.

One of the reasons getting his very own Chocolate Frog card was his biggest accomplishment was the privilege that came alongside it: the sweet-manufacturers would send him a goodie-bag full of their upcoming sugar-laden inventions, and Albus loved it. If he found a specific type of sweet that he became partial to, Albus would go out to Honeydukes the day it became available to the public and splurge.

Sweets were also the reason Albus willingly ventured out to the Muggle world. Getting out of the half-Muggle Godric's Hollow had been a relief, despite his change of heart about Muggles, and Albus had been sure he would never go back, but Merlin! He had been sent Bubbaloo Liquid Filled Sour Cherry Bubble Gum by the newly-married James Potter as a gag gift for Christmas. Albus had fallen in love, and he had to get more. His guilty pleasure had become popping gum and he could only imagine the look on Minerva's face if she ever caught him at it. (It should be noted that it is fiendishly difficult to get gum out of one's beard.)

From there, he had discovered Jelly Beans, Sherbet Lemons, Bon Bons, Pear Drops, Cola Bottles, and Drumsticks… the trip to the Muggle Candy store had become a constant in Albus' schedule.

Back in the Wizarding world, the 2nd of May dawned bright and shiny, and Albus descended to his office, yawning widely, to find a new goodie-bag of sweets lying on his table. Suddenly wide-awake, he rushed to the bag, pulling out a box of what looked like … Jelly Beans. What ingenious wizard had stolen the idea from the Muggles and come up with the concept of wizarding Jelly Beans?

He put his reading-glasses on — they were charmed to be summoned back to the table when not perched on his nose, because Albus lost them too often to count, and fishing for his wand just to summon them was exhausting.

The box read: Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. It sounded a promising concept to Albus, so without further ado (which wasn't Albus' usual style, he normally prefered as much ado as he could get away with), he opened the box and popped one into his mouth.

And promptly spat it out.

It had tasted like dirt. Who in their brilliant mind had decided to make a dirt-flavoured candy?

Albus did a double-take, then, and went to the box. The smaller print told the man that Bertie Bott had actually intended for the box to contain every flavour. How very stupid.

But most mischevious.

A little cautious, Albus selected a bean that appeared to have some promise, sunshine yellow in colour. He bit just the corner of it, and as the banana-flavour flooded his mouth, Albus let out a sigh of relief. Well, hadn't been too bad, had it?

Little did he know, it was to be his only good-flavoured bean for a long, long time.

Albus wasn't sure why he was so unlucky. Rotten Egg, Flobberworm, Polyjuice, Grass, Liver, Tripe, and on a particularly bad day, a Vomit-flavoured bean. Albus had started keeping a tiny bean-bin on his table after he'd had to use one-too-many Mending Charms on the dents his bean-spitting had left in his table.

But Albus didn't give up. He would not rest until he had tasted at least another good bean — the Banana-bean had proved it was possible — and the day it happened, he would celebrate. He decided that he would celebrate with a cake the same flavour as the good bean had been. In fact, he gave his personal House-elf an order to do that in case he forgot.

Harry had gone to retrieve his cloak, and Albus knew very well that he might not come back alive. This was a perfect opportunity for Draco to try, and for Severus to do what Albus had asked him to do. Albus was fine with the approach of his impending death, though; it had been his decision, after all. And honestly, it was just retribution for his greed. Albus was pretty sure that was his most fatal flaw.

With a sigh, Albus got up, his hand reaching out for a box of beans sitting on his table. He fished out for one at random and popped it into his mouth without concern — a first in a very long time. Usually, Albus was very choosy with his beans, despite how his selections were always the worst.

A cherry-flavour spread on his tongue, and Albus couldn't help the smile on his face.

The next morning, when Minerva came up to his office, there was a cherry-flavoured cake sitting on Albus' desk.