However, it is quite wrong to suggest, as some...
- Posted at 5:47 AM on Sunday, January 24, 2010 by minping4849
However, it is quite wrong to suggest, as some have, that the brothers were not friendsThey rubbed along as comfortably as two such different boys could doIn fairness to Aberforth, it must be admitted that living in Albus's shadow cannot have been an altogether comfortable experienceBeing continually outshone was an occupational hazard of being his friend and cannot have been any more pleasurable as a brotherWhen Albus and I left Hogwarts we intended to take the then-traditional tour of the world together, visiting and observing foreign wizards, before pursuing our separate careersHowever, tragedy intervenedOn the very eve of our trip, Albus's mother, Kendra, died, leaving
Albus the head, and sole breadwinner, of the familyI postponed my departure long enough to pay my respects at Kendra's funeral, then left for what was now to be a solitary journeyWith a younger brother and sister to care for, and little gold left to them, there could no longer be any question of Albus accompanying me
That was the period of our lives when we had least contactI wrote to Albus, describing, perhaps insensitively, the wonders of my journey, from narrow escapes from chimaeras in Greece to the experiments of the Egyptian alchemistsHis letters told me little of his day-to-day life, which I guessed to be frustratingly dull for such a brilliant wizardImmersed in my own experiences, it was with horror that I heard, toward the end of my year's travels, that another tragedy had struck the Dumbledores: the death of his sister, louis vuitton new bags Ariana
Though Ariana had been in poor health for a long time, the blow, coming so soon after the loss of their mother, had a profound effect on both of her brothersAll those closest to Albus - and I count myself one of that lucky number - agree that Ariana's death, and Albus's feeling of personal responsibility for it (though, of course, he was guiltless), left their mark upon him forevermore
I returned home to find a young man who had experienced a much older person's sufferingAlbus was more reserved than before, and much less light-heartedTo add to his misery, the loss of Ariana had led, not to a renewed closeness between Albus and Aberforth, but to an estrangement(In time this would lift - in later years they reestablished, if not a close relationship, then certainly a cordial one However, he rarely spoke of his parents or of Ariana from then on, and his friends learned not to mention them
Other quills will describe the triumphs of the following yearsDumbledore's innumerable contributions to the store of Wizarding knowledge, including his discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, will benefit generations to come, as will the wisdom he displayed in the many judgments while Chief Warlock of the WizengamotThey say, still, that no Wizarding duel ever matched that between Dumbledore and Grindelwald in 1945Those who witnessed it have written of the terror and the awe they felt as they watched these two extraordinary wizards to battleDumbledore's triumph, and its consequences for the Wizarding world, are considered a cartier santos 100 watch turning point in magical history to match the introduction of the International Statute of Secrecy or the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named
Albus Dumbledore was never proud or vain; he could find something to value in anyone, however apparently insignificant or wretched, and I believe that his early losses endowed him with great humanity and sympathyI shall miss his friendship more than I can say, but my loss is nothing compared to the Wizarding world'sThat he was the most inspiring and best loved of all Hogwarts headmasters cannot be in questionHe died as he lived: working always for the
greater good and, to his last hour, as willing to stretch out a hand to a small boy with dragon pox as he was on the day I met him
Harry finished reading, but continued to gaze at the picture accompanying the obituaryDumbledore was wearing his familiar, kindly smile, but as he peered over the top of his half-moon spectacles, he gave the impression, even in newsprint, of X-raying Harry, whose sadness mingled with a sense of humiliation
He had thought he knew Dumbledore quite well, but ever since reading this obituary he had been forced to recognize that he had barely known him at allNever once had he imagined Dumbledore's childhood or youth; it was as though he had sprung into being as Harry had known him, venerable and silver-haired and oldThe idea of a teenage Dumbledore was simply odd, like trying to imagine a stupid Hermione or a friendly Blast-Ended Skrewt
He had never thought to ask Dumbledore about his pastNo doubt it sale chanel quilted handbag would have felt strange, impertinent even, but after all it had been common knowledge that Dumbledore had taken part in that legendary duel with Grindelwald, and Harry had not thought to ask Dumbledore what that had been like, nor about any of his other famous achievementsNo, they had always discussed Harry, Harry's past, Harry's future, Harry's plans\a133 and it seemed to Harry now, despite the fact that his future was so dangerous and so uncertain, that he had missed irreplaceable opportunities when he had failed to ask Dumbledore more about himself, even though the only personal question he had ever asked his headmaster was also the only one he suspected that Dumbledore had not answered honestly:
\i"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"
"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks\i
After several minutes' thought, Harry tore the obituary out of the Prophet, folded it carefully, and tucked it inside the first volume of \iPractical Defensive Magic and its Use against the Dark Arts\iThen he threw the rest of the newspaper onto the rubbish pile and turned to face the roomThe only things left out of place were today's \iDaily Prophet\i, still lying on the bed, and on top of it, the piece of broken mirror
Harry moved across the room, slid the mirror fragment off today's \iProphet\i, and unfolded the newspaperHe had merely glanced at the headline when he had taken the rolled-up paper from the delivery owl early that morning and thrown it aside, after noting that it said nothing about louis vuitton fabric VoldemortHarry was sure that the Ministry was leaning on the \iProphet\i to suppress news about VoldemortIt was only now, therefore, that he saw what he had missed
Across the bottom half of the front page a smaller headline was set over a picture of Dumbledore striding along, looking harried:
\bDUMBLEDORE - THE TRUTH AT LAST?\b
Coming next week, the shocking story of the flawed genius considered by many to be the greatest wizard of his generationStriping away the popular image of serene, silver-bearded wisdom, Rita Skeeter reveals the disturbed childhood, the lawless youth, the life-long feuds, and the guilty secrets that Dumbledore carried to his grave, WHY was the man tipped to be the Minister of Magic content to remain a mere headmaster? WHAT was the real purpose of the secret organization known as the Order of the Phoenix? HOW did Dumbledore really meet his end?
The answers to these and many more questions are explored in the explosive new biography, \iThe Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore\i, by Rita Skeeter, exclusively interviewed by Berry Braithwaite, page 13, inside
Harry ripped open the paper and found page thirteenThe article was topped with a picture showing another familiar face: a woman wearing jeweled glasses with elaborately curled blonde hair, her teeth bared in what was clearly supposed to be a winning smile, wiggling her fingers up at himDoing his best to ignore this nauseating image, Harry read on
In person, Rita Skeeter is much warmer and softer than her famously ferocious quill-portraits might rolex sport watch sug
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