Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. They belong to the very talented J.K. Rowling.
Life Lost
Dumbledore sighed as he watched Harry walk out of his office. Everybody said that Harry reminded them of James, but in Dumbledore's eyes Harry was like his mother. They both had experienced so much, so early in life. Yet, they both managed to survive and come out stronger. With every challenge they were faced with they proved themselves to be accomplished and wise beyond their years. He had to admit that Lily was always more wise than Harry had ever been. However, they had both shown an amazing strength of character. Dumbledore had felt a connection with both of them. It was a connection that conveyed the convening of greatness. (A/N that was quite a tongue twister!) A connection that kept him somewhat at ease because he knew that as long as someone like Lily or Harry was around the world would still be ruled by good.
Yet again, he had not told Harry the whole truth tonight. Yes, he could reason with himself that if Harry had asked him the question he would give him the truthful answer, but he knew it wasn't Harry's duty to ask the question. It had broken his heart to lay such a burden on a child that already had burdens enough. Telling Harry about the prophecy was something that had to be done though. Lives were at stake and he realized that it was time for him to start thinking about the whole wizarding world, not just the boy that he loved so much. Dumbledore sat in quiet reflection. Thinking about how he had even gotten to where he was. Thinking about the people whose lives should have been spared. Thinking about the horrible person who had created this nightmare. But most of all he was thinking about what a different world it would be if things had turned out the way they were supposed to.
Lily Evans arrived at Hogwarts, a bright eyed and happy little girl. Her parents loved her to death and she loved them to death too. It had been hard to leave them, but she had been too excited about this new life to get too sad about leaving.
Dumbledore vividly remembered her sorting. He had been amazed to see a confident little girl with flaming red hair and sparkling green eyes walk out in front of the whole school and firmly place the Sorting Hat on her head as if she had done it every day of her life. Then she had sat on the stool for 15 minutes with the hat on her head. Dumbledore had never seen any student take so long to be sorted. From that moment he knew that Lily had quite a future ahead of her. He was fully aware that the Sorting Hat liked to give cryptic messages. So he could only hope that the hat hadn't scared this precious little girl too much. After the hat named her as a new member to Gryffindor she removed the hat and got off the stool. She looked a little shaken, but overall she seemed happy. Dumbledore remembered how years later Lily finally recanted to him the cryptic message the sorting hat had given her. However, he thought, that was to be remembered some other time.
If anyone knew anything about how a person's death affects the people who loved them it would be Albus Dumbledore. He had seen more of his friends die than any one person should ever have to. Constantly he had to rearrange his life to fill the gaping holes that were left. He had learned to hide his pain well. His only consolation was the thought that it was better to sacrifice one for the whole. However, the "whole" was slowly being destroyed by Voldemort. Dumbledore had in fact learned to hide all of his emotions well. It was necessary in the fight against the Dark Lord who thrived on emotions. Tom Riddle, as Dumbledore well knew, was a very smart man. But he was a man devoid of any feeling and that was what had always been his greatest downfall. He was a man who watched the world, detached. Silently he observed people interact with each other. He watched them fall in love and he watched them grieve over lost love. He was proud to be able to live without feeling for as he so often saw, feeling things only brought pain. Dumbledore knew that only a man so disconnected from everything could be as hateful and as powerful as Voldemort was.
A/N- Please, please, please review! It will be the reviews that keep me writing this story, because I don't know if it's any good or not. And please don't hate me for writing from Dumbledore's POV. I know that it's not nearly as Dumbledorish as it should be, but I tried to make it seem wise. Well, all I can say is PLEASE REVIEW! The story will become more Lily/ James oriented if I keep on writing more.