Author's Notes: just a random one shot I decided to do on a whim. It hasn't been beta-read, and it's not all that great, but I enjoyed writing it. It's in Dumbledore's point of view, just him sort of musing about things. He's hard to write! I mean, he's sort of a paradox; he's open and friendly, yet closed off and secretive.

Anyways, Review!

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 The Once and Future King

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King Arthur: I have carried this candle for many years with a hand to shield it from the wind. It has flickered often. I am giving you the candle now- you won't let it out?

The Young Page: It will burn . . . I will give it to other people to carry on after me.

-- Paraphrased from The Once and Future King, by T.H. White. Pg 637.

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I see my students, all of them, as new-borns. They all have a clean slate, no matter the family they come from, the house they are to reside in, no matter what happens.

I fear that I will not be strong enough to help them become good, strong people. I fear that they will be pillaged, broken, beaten. Denied the happy life they so rightly deserve.

In my long life, I have seen death, I have seen life, I have seen good, and I have seen evil.

I see what this world has become. The Ministry is in denial about what is happening right in front of them. People, good people, are dying and the Minister is too selfish to admit that anything out of the ordinary is happening. The ministry may be on the side of good, but the Minister is just as power hungry as the enemy.

In my long life, I have seen death, I have seen life, I have seen good, and I have seen evil.

I remember teaching Riddle. Unlike what people may think, he was not always evil. He was scarred, yes, and angry, but he was not evil. I remember seeing him one night, his first year. He was out of bounds, and so I had been watching him. I did not want to disturb him when I heard him crying. Imagine if people found out that I, Albus Dumbledore, had kept watch over Tom Riddle as he cried.

Since then, when I have seen him grow up into what he is, I have always questioned if I should have left him alone that night. Even as a first year, he had been proud. I knew that he would have resented it if I had talked to him that night. I think that, deep down, he had known I was there, and he had been glad, at least on that night, for someone to stay within his presence without him having to close up his walls.

In my long life, I have seen death, I have seen life, I have seen good, and I have seen evil.

James Potter was very much the epitome of good. He was a powerful wizard, and, even if people sometimes forget, I am saddened that he and Lily became the Parents Who Died. I know that this is a thought that his son thinks of often.

I have high hopes for Harry. He is so much like that young Tom Riddle, yet not. He has had as many, if not more tribulations than Young Tom had, and he has come out the better for it, unlike Riddle. He is humble, yet he has the power to someday over power me.

Before Harry Potter, I feared that when I left this existence, the wizarding world would fall to darkness. No one seemed to have the presence of mind, the will power, the determination, and that inherently Good disposition to fight that which takes advantage of their power over others.

In my long life, I have seen death, I have seen life, I have seen good, and I have seen evil.

When the time is right, I will feel at peace to leave this existence into capable hands.

Explicit Liber Regis Quondam Regisque Futuri

The Beginning

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Author's Notes: The Latin Phrase roughly translates to "The Once and Future King." If you've read the book, you'll sort of get why I see (loose) connections- more like concepts- between "Harry Potter" and "TOaFK."

Review!