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"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 sympathy. I shall miss his friendship more than I can say, but my loss is as nothing compared to the Wizarding world’s. That he was the most inspiring and the best loved of all Hogwarts headmasters cannot be in question. He 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 that I met him." —Albus Dumbledore's obituary[src]

Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, O.M. (First Class), Grand Sorc. , D. Wiz. , X.J. (sorc.) , S. of Mag.Q. [20] (c. Summer[1] 1881[3] – 30 June, 1997[3]) was an English half-blood wizard, who was the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, later the Transfiguration Professor, and later the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Professor Dumbledore also served as Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards (?–1995) and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot (?–1995; 1996–1997). He was a half-blood, Muggle-supporting wizard considered to have been the greatest wizard of modern times, perhaps of all time. The son of Percival and Kendra Dumbledore, and the elder brother of Aberforth and Ariana. His father died in Azkaban when Dumbledore was young, while his mother and sister were later accidentally killed. His early losses greatly affected him early on, even at his death, but, in turn, made him a better person.

While initially unable to directly act against Gellert Grindelwald, due to their past Blood pact, the Ministry's surveillance of him, his lingering feelings of love toward Grindelwald, and his lingering guilt over Ariana's death, Dumbledore sent Newt Scamander to New York to release the Thunderbird Frank, and later sent Newt to Paris to rescue Credence Barebone. After the tragic death of Leta Lestrange in Paris, Dumbledore became determined to contribute helpful advice to the resistance against Grindelwald, notably Newt, Theseus, Tina, Jacob, Yusuf, and Nagini in the Global wizarding war. Initially unbeknownst to Dumbledore however, Grindelwald intended to use the former's alleged Obscurial relative, Aurelius Dumbledore, as a weapon against him.

Following the Global wizarding war and the end of the For the Greater Good revolution, regardless of Aurelius Dumbledore's fate, Dumbledore became most famous for defeating Grindelwald in arguably the most epic duel of all time. Dumbledore also gained much more recognition with his involvement in the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with Nicolas Flamel.

It was through Dumbledore that resistance to the rise of Lord Voldemort was formed, as it was he who founded and lead the Order of the Phoenix against Voldemort during the First Wizarding War. Following Voldemort's sudden return and the start of the Second Wizarding War after the resignation of Cornelius Fudge, Dumbledore swiftly formed and lead the second Order of the Phoenix. He would also support Jacob's sibling in the latter's quest for the Cursed Vaults, and consistently aid the trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione during their first six years at Hogwarts, thus leading them to name Dumbledore's Army after him.

Due to the fact that he had a keen mind and legendary power, Dumbledore became the only wizard that Voldemort ever feared. He was the wielder and the master of the Elder Wand from 1945 until 1997 and considered by many as the greatest Hogwarts Headmaster. As he was about to die by a cursed ring, Dumbledore planned his own death with Severus Snape. Per the plan, Dumbledore was killed by Snape during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower.

Though he was no longer alive at the time, it was through Dumbledore's manipulations that Lord Voldemort was ultimately defeated and lasting peace finally restored to the wizarding world. Dumbledore is the only Headmaster that was laid to rest at Hogwarts. A portrait of him still remains at Hogwarts. Harry Potter later named his second son Albus Severus Potter after him.

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Biography

Early life (1881–1892)

"You know the secret of my sister’s ill-health, what those Muggles did, what she became. You know how my poor father sought revenge, and paid the price, died in Azkaban. You know how my mother gave up her own life to care for Ariana. " —Dumbledore retells his early years to Harry[src]

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was born to Kendra and Percival Dumbledore in the summer[1] of 1881, in the mainly wizarding village of Mould-on-the-Wold.[4] The early years of Dumbledore's life were marked by tragedy when his younger sister, Ariana Dumbledore, was attacked by a group of Muggle boys, who saw her performing magic and were frightened by what they saw.

Ariana was left mentally and emotionally scarred by the event and her magical powers were left severely altered and would manifest themselves on rare occasions usually in random or destructive ways. Albus' father, Percival Dumbledore, was heartbroken and set out in search of his own brand of justice. He located the Muggle boys and attacked them, as they had his daughter. For this, Percival was sentenced to Azkaban where he later died, choosing the sentence over explaining why he had attacked the boys as it would have meant Ariana being taken away.

To escape the accusing eyes of the local community, Kendra Dumbledore moved her young family to the village of Godric's Hollow which, like Mould-on-the-Wold, was a part-wizarding village. Fearing - like her husband - that the ousting of her daughter's inability to control her magical ability would see her confined indefinitely to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Kendra rebuffed all her neighbours, with the eventual exception of Bathilda Bagshot, preferring to be left alone: and Albus learned not to mention his sister or father in public.[21]

Hogwarts years (1892–1899)

"By the end of his first year, he would never again be known as the son of a Muggle-hater, but as nothing more or less than the most brilliant student ever seen at the school." —Dumbledore's years as a Hogwarts student[src]

Dumbledore began attending Hogwarts in the autumn of 1892 and was Sorted into Gryffindor house. Dumbledore's first year was met with much whispering about his father's crime. Many of Albus' fellow students mistakenly believed that, like father like son, Albus too hated Muggles. Some praised his father's actions, hoping to gain his trust, but they would not find favour with the young Dumbledore this way. Though later in his young life, under the influence of his love for Gellert Grindelwald, some anti-Muggle prejudice did develop, but he soon saw the error of his intent.[21]

He befriended a young Elphias Doge on his first day at Hogwarts; Doge was suffering from the aftermath of Dragon Pox at the time (greenish skin and pockmarks), which discouraged most from approaching him. Dumbledore, however, demonstrated his uncommon kindness and willingness to look past the surface and find inner beauty in people. Dumbledore also became very well-connected during his Hogwarts years, making notable friends such as Nicolas Flamel, Bathilda Bagshot, and Griselda Marchbanks, who marked him in his N.E.W.T.s for Charms and Transfiguration and later recalled that he did things with a wand that she had never seen before. He also had several of his papers published during his studies and exchanged letters with theoretician Adalbert Waffling.[22] Minerva McGonagall later shared these letters with members of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force who pursued a Professorship profession to help improve their skills in addressing the Calamity.[23]

In his third year, Dumbledore presumably took Study of Ancient Runes and at least one other subject, which is known not to be Divination.

During his fourth year, Dumbledore "accidentally" set the bed-curtains in his dormitory on fire (although he admitted that he had never liked them anyway).

Albus was made a prefect during his fifth year and was made Head Boy in his seventh year. At some point over the course of his school career, Dumbledore also won the Barnabus Finkley Prize for Exceptional Spell-Casting, became the British Youth Representative to the Wizengamot, and received the Gold Medal for Ground-Breaking Contribution to the International Alchemical Conference in Cairo,[21] not to mention the recognition of having been arguably the most brilliant student to have ever attended the school.

Tragedy and romance (1899)

"So that, when my mother died, and I was left the responsibility of a damaged sister and a wayward brother, I returned to my village in anger and bitterness. Trapped and wasted, I thought! And then, of course, he came." —Dumbledore discussing his harsh past[src]

After graduating from Hogwarts in June 1899, Dumbledore planned to take the traditional "Grand Tour" of the world with his friend Doge. However, tragedy ensued on the eve of the departure when Kendra Dumbledore was killed by an outburst of Ariana's uncontrollable magic, leaving Albus the head of his own broken family and now in charge of his younger siblings. Albus returned to Godric's Hollow full of bitter resentment at his situation, feeling trapped and wasted, although he refused to let Aberfoth quit school and insisted he complete his education first before taking care of Ariana. Fortune finally appeared to shine on Dumbledore, however, when a foreigner arrived at their little village, by the name of Gellert Grindelwald. A young man around Albus's age, he lived for the next two months with his great-aunt, the celebrated magical historian and family friend of the Dumbledores, Bathilda Bagshot, who introduced the two soon after Grindelwald crossed her doorstep. Thrilled to realise that the newcomer was every bit as brilliant as himself, the two young men took to each other right away and quickly struck up a close friendship, unified by the revelation of Grindelwald's research into the existence and whereabouts of the fabled Deathly Hallows. Dumbledore also quickly became fascinated by Grindelwald's ideas of wizarding domination, obviously considering Grindelwald an unexpected new chance to show his own brilliance and come out of the local misery. Over the course of the two months Grindelwald stayed in Godric's Hollow, the two young men’s friendship became romantic, with Albus ignoring any misgivings he had about Gellert's dark intents by convincing himself the revolution they were planning to embark on was truly For the Greater Good, and that any harm caused would be repaid a thousandfold after its conclusion.[21]

When Albus's brother Aberforth, however, disgusted with Albus for his plans and concerned of the fact that he and Ariana will have to be dragged along for the ride, angrily confronted him over his neglect of Ariana over the past few weeks, bluntly telling him he couldn't carry out his plans with Grindelwald, as he would have to take her with him, which brought Albus back to reality despite not wanting to hear the truth of the words his younger brother shouted at him. Grindelwald, however, furious with Aberforth's intervention, used the Cruciatus Curse on him in a fit of anger. Moving to defend his brother, a violent duel erupted between the three teenage boys. Ariana herself tried to intervene in the fight, but couldn't due to her erratic abilities, and in the ensuing chaos was hit by a stray curse and died. No one knew whose curse it was that killed her, but Grindelwald fled immediately, as he already had a bad record back home, leaving the devastated Albus and Aberforth behind. Aberforth resented Albus and they had a strained relationship, with Aberforth punching Albus and breaking his nose at Ariana's funeral. Aberforth never knew of the great guilt and regret Albus would feel for the rest of his life about his part in Ariana's death.[21]

Early career at Hogwarts (1910s–1925)

Dumbledore: "I had proven, as a very young man, that power was my weakness and temptation. I was safer at Hogwarts. I think I was a good teacher." Harry Potter: "You were the best." — A discussion in limbo regarding power and leadership[src]

Shortly thereafter, Albus, who had been exchanging owls with the famous researcher as far back when he had been a student at Hogwarts, travelled to France and spent "some time"in Paris studying the ancient art and science of alchemy under the tutelage of Nicholas Flamel , presumably in order to both give his brother some space, as well as to get away for a bit and spend his time grieving more productively than he otherwise would have done simply wallowing in his own misery. It is unknown when exactly he returned to Britain , but around the time he did, Albus had become intrigued with the study of dragon's blood , and was ultimately credited with the discovery of no less than twelve new uses for it,even though a wizard by the name of Ivor Dillonsby would later claim that he had already discovered eight of them when Dumbledore "borrowed" his notes.This accomplishment nevertheless earned him widespread fame and recognition, and played no small role in the subsequent offer of employment that he received from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Having always felt drawn towards teaching himself, even as a student, Albus was happy to accept.

And so it was that Albus Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts Castle, which was now under the stewardship of Professor Phineas Nigellus Black. not to learn this time, but to teach. Burdened by the secret knowledge of Grindelwald's imminent rise to power and wanting to rectify past mistakes, it was natural, perhaps, that he felt drawn towards the job of Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor, a position in which he could most easily prepare his charges for the dangers he knew one day would come.[27] Albus, who would henceforth come to be known to successive generations of students as ‘Professor Dumbledore’, were granted Classroom 3C located off of the Serpentine Corridor on the third-floor and an office.

Even though the freshly hired instructor would henceforth largely busy himself with the training of young witches and wizards, Albus would continue to keep in touch with Nicolas Flamel, alongside whom he would eventually achieve a number of advancements in the field over the years as their their relationship blossomed from that of student-and-mentor, to that of an equal partnership and near life-long friendship.[7] At some point after this, Albus would visit his old friend and pose for a photography in Flamel's workshop alongside his celebrated tutor, with many of his alchemical tools and equipment being visible in the background, as well as crystal ball and a book with a phoenix on the cover.[24]

In the 1910s, Dumbledore taught Hufflepuff Newton Scamander and Slytherin Leta Lestrange. One of his lessons involved confronting a Boggart and learning the spell to banish it. When Newt's Boggart turned into a desk, Dumbledore commented on its unexpected nature and kindly inquired why it took this form: Newt confessed that his greatest fear was being stuck working in an office. After Newt successfully dispatched the Boggart, Dumbledore encouraged Leta to take her turn, reassuring her that being afraid of something wasn't shameful; everyone was afraid of something. The form of Leta's Boggart surprised both Dumbledore and the entire class: a white sheet containing an undistinguishable, slight form floating through a dark blue glow. The event badly shook Leta.[27]

In 1913, one of Leta's experiments with a Jarvey went too far endangering the life of another student. Newt decided to take the blame and was sentenced to expulsion by Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black. Dumbledore, however, argued strongly on his behalf and whether Newt's expulsion was enforced or not is unknown but Dumbledore succeeded in at least allowing Newt to keep his wand.[28]

During his time at Hogwarts, Dumbledore also developed close relationships and friendships with wizards and witches throughout the world. Among these friends, he counted the French alchemist Nicolas Flamel and Ilvermorny Charms Professor Eulalie Hicks. He maintained close contact with these friends in the form of enchanted books they all possessed which allowed them to speak despite the distance. The British Ministry of Magic, which was already suspicious of Dumbledore because of his past connexion to Grindelwald, was weary of these relationships, believing that he used these contacts as spies to allow him to act as an independent authority to theirs, and maintained a close watch on Dumbledore and his allies. Chief among Dumbledore's rivals within the Ministry was Torquil Travers, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, who never tried to hide his dislike for the Hogwarts teacher.[27]

Global Wizarding War (1926-1945)

Newt Scamander's visit to New York

In 1926, Dumbledore received word that strange events were occurring in New York, events that had also caught the attention of the International Confederation of Wizards. These events came as the European wizarding communities had been suffering a series of attacks conducted by Grindelwald and his cadre of followers. Dumbledore, suspecting other circumstances that might nevertheless interest his old friend, wanted to arrange for his plans to be thwarted.[27]

He contacted his old student, Newt Scamander, who had become a Magizoologist in the employment of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic in London and had been travelling throughout the world, locating and rescuing magical creatures from wizard hunters who believed that these creatures represented a threat to their secrecy. Dumbledore told Newt of a Thunderbird that was being held captive in Egypt, knowing he would not stand for such an injustice and would not only rescue him but also return him to his native Arizona. To accomplish this, Newt would have to pass through the Muggle customs in New York. Newt's visit to New York resulted not only in the discovery of Credence Barebone, the most powerful Obscurus ever recorded (the only one to survive into adulthood), but also in the capture of Grindelwald, who had been disguised as a high-ranking official at MACUSA by the name of Percival Graves to find the Obscurus. While there, however, Newt got in trouble when a number of the magical creatures his case escaped and ran loose in areas of the city inhabited mainly by Non-magical people.[28][27]

For his role in the incident in New York, as well as his reluctance and evasiveness where providing his superiors at the Ministry details about why he had been in New York in the first place was concerned, Newt was banned from travelling internationally by the Ministry, a ban they offered to lift if he confessed that Dumbledore had been the one to send him to New York. Although he realised that Dumbledore had covertly sent him to New York, Newt remained loyal to his old teacher and refused to confess his role in the affair.[27] Even in later years, when the rumours were published by Rita Skeeter in a biography of Newt called Man or Monster? The TRUTH about Newt Scamander, he continued to deny that Dumbledore was responsible for his trip to New York in the forward of a new edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

In the same year Dumbledore became a regular columnist for Transfiguration Today, with the Daily Prophet quoting him as saying he was "enraptured!" to be writing for the magazine.[17]

Moving against Gellert Grindelwald

In 1927, when Grindelwald had escaped, Dumbledore, feeling that he would not be able to fight him, met with Newt in London to ask him for help. He sent his former student to Paris to find Credence Barebone, who survived battle in New York, and rescue him from Grindelwald. He also gave Scamander the address for a 'safe house' where he can go if he needs to hide for a time.[27]

The rumours of Newt's potential travel to France reached the British Ministry of Magic, and a delegation of Aurors, including Newt's brother Theseus Scamander and Torquil Travers, was sent to Hogwarts Castle to question Dumbledore. Travers demanded from Dumbledore to fight Grindelwald for him, but Albus refused it, which angered Travers to this point, that he cuffed Dumbledore into Admonitors, and forbaded him from ever teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts again. Dumbledore turned to Theseus, who was leaving classroom the last, and warned him, that if he ever trusted him, he should not let Travers send himself at Grindelwald's rally.[27]

Moments later, in one of classrooms, he met Leta Lestrange, who also was in delegation, but she separated herself from the group of Aurors. Leta accused Albus that he was the only one who did not consider her bad in her youth and that he was wrong about this. Dumbledore told her that rumours about her brother Corvus Lestrange, which supposed to be Credence Barebone, must have been painful for her, for which angered witch interrupted his statement and added that he could not understand her, because he did not lose his brother. Dumbledore only replied that years ago he lost his sister, Ariana. Ending the conversation, Albus advised her to get rid of regret because it was his inseparable companion since the death of his sister.[27]

One night, Dumbledore went to the Room of Requirement, where the Mirror of Erised was stored. As a first, to his joy, he saw still valued old memory of himself and Grindelwald from the time when their friendship was at its peak that led them sealing it with the blood pact in a barn, swearing to never fight each other. Dumbledore also saw Grindelwald himself from the present. Albus was longing for this meeting, and at the same time being very afraid of it, because he knew that he was the only person who could stop Grindelwald, and he would face the truth about who is Ariana's killer.[27]

After the Battle of the Lestrange family Mausoleum, Dumbledore was waiting for Newt at Hogwarts. Albus expressed his sadness due Leta's death from Grindelwald's hands, for what magizoologist gave him, stolen by Newt's Niffler, the pendant of his former teacher's blood pact with Grindelwald so he can destroy it, henceforth allowing him to finally participate in the war and defeat the Dark wizard once and for all.[27]

Meeting Tom Riddle

Professor of Transfiguration

Dumbledore also served in recruiting students for Hogwarts. Most prominent among the students he recruited was Tom Riddle , whom he found in Wool's Orphanage in 1938 Alone of all the professors at Hogwarts, Dumbledore was not charmed by the natural charisma and cunning of Tom Riddle. In their first encounter, Dumbledore became immediately suspicious of his "and resolved to keep a close eye on him during his studies at the school. As Dumbledore was not so easily taken in by his charming façade, Riddle came to despise and fear him.At some point after this, Dumbledore partook of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans , at which point he had the unfortunate experience of tasting one flavoured like vomit. Ever since then, he lost his liking for them.At an unknown point in or before 1943 , Dumbledore became the Professor of Transfiguration . In 1943, several Muggle-born students were mysteriously petrified by a beast rumoured to have been released by the Heir of Slytherin from the mythical Chamber of Secrets. Indeed, the final victim of the beast, Myrtle Warren , was actually killed; this act seemed likely to ensure the permanent closure of the school, forcing Riddle to go back to the orphanage. While Dumbledore rightly suspected Riddle was behind the attacks, the aspiring Dark Wizard expertly framed Gryffindor student Rubeus Hagrid as the perpetrator.

Riddle was able to pass off Hagrid's tamed Acromantula, Aragog, as the beast attacking students, resulting in Hagrid's expulsion and ensuring that Hogwarts remained open. Dumbledore was never able to uncover hard evidence implicating Riddle, however, he nonetheless kept a very close watch over Riddle, preventing him from opening the Chamber of Secrets again during his remaining years at Hogwarts. He was also able to convince the Headmaster to allow Hagrid to remain at the school as the groundskeeper-in-training.[30]

"Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945." —Info on Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog Card[src]

Aftermath (1946-1969)

Turning down power

As Dumbledore was educating young wizards and witches, Gellert Grindelwald was still at large in Europe , building up his army, and had already found one of the Deathly Hallows , the Elder Wand , which he used to continue terrorising the continent. Initially prevented from opposing Grindelwald directly because of the Blood pact they once made, even once that was destroyed, Dumbledore still felt conflicted about going after his old friend, whom, in spite of himself, he still felt a lingering love for the man Grindelwald had been, or rather, the man he had once convinced himself Grindelwald was and/or could be. More than anything, however, Dumbledore feared facing Grindelwald. While secured in his ability to defeat him in battle if it came to it, more than anything, Dumbledore was afraid Grindelwald could reveal to him that it had in fact been he himself who had cast the curse that killed Ariana. Having delayed pursuing him as long as he could, however, at the height of Grindelwald's power, in 1945 , Albus could no longer in good conscience turn a blind eye to the many atrocities of Grindelwald and his followers, and so he finally tracked his old friend down. Upon finding Grindelwald, Dumbledore engaged him in what would later be widely considered the greatest duel ever fought between two wizards. Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald and then brought him before the authorities of the magical world, and Grindelwald was imprisoned in the uppermost cell at Nurmengard , while Dumbledore kept the Elder Wand for himself.Celebrated worldwide as the hero who put to rest the Global wizarding war , and ended Grindelwald'srevolution of wizarding dominance over Muggles, Dumbledore was awarded the Order of Merlin (First Class ), by Leonard Spencer-Moon 's administration.

Resuming his career following this legendary event, Dumbledore taught several other students over the years, some of which would become staunchly loyal to him and what he stood for, whereas others would become enemies, allying themselves with Lord Voldemort in the latter's rise to power. Among these students were future Order of the Phoenix members Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett, Death Eaters-to-be Bellatrix Black and Lucius Malfoy, as well as neutral parties, such as the one-day world-famous Curse-Breaker Patricia Rakepick. During this time, he was offered the position of Minister for Magic several times, but he turned down the offer every time, remembering how his quest for power had been his weakness in the past. It was around this time that he encountered a house-elf named Hokey. Before she died, he took a memory from her, in which Tom Riddle showed his interest towards the magical antiques of a recently deceased Hepzibah Smith. This memory was not sufficient enough to show Hokey's innocence, as it only proved that Riddle was aware of the artefacts' existence.[29]

Becoming Headmaster of Hogwarts

By the mid-1960s, the amount of Dark magical activity across the country was growing steadily, and while few knew what was behind the mounting attacks and sightings, this was but the precursor to Lord Voldemort's first rise to power. Aware that it was only a matter of time before his former student made his presence and intent known to the wizarding community as a whole, and already preparing to oppose him, by the time the Death Eaters began recruiting Dark creatures to help them overthrow the Ministry of Magic,[32] Dumbledore already had spies in their midst reporting to him. It was through these contacts that Dumbledore first learned of the attack on a young boy by the name of Remus Lupin, who had been infected with lycanthropy by a Fenrir Greyback. Rather than trying to manage his condition, however, the attacker had instead made it his mission in life to infect as many people as possible and was harbouring grand plans of raising an army of werewolves big enough to take over the wizarding world; having even earned notoriety for targeting children with the intent of raising them away from other witches and wizards and teaching them to despise regular humans for that very reason. Knowing how this would have had to have impacted the Lupin family, the old Transfiguration teacher could not help but be sympathetic to their predicament. As fortune would have it, however, a blessing in disguise presented itself when the Hogwarts Board of Governors was faced with the decision of finding a suitable candidate to succeed Armando Dippet in the post of Headmaster and judged Professor Dumbledore to be the best man for the job;[33] which in turn granted him the authority to properly accommodate the Lupins when the time came for Remus.

Shortly after Dumbledore assumed the position, by which time he had already relocated to the Headmaster's Tower and filled his new study with a number of curious magical instruments that had formerly been housed in his old classroom, Tom Riddle, now known exclusively as Lord Voldemort, approached him with the same request he had proposed to Dippet before him, to be allowed to return to Hogwarts as a teacher. Dumbledore, who knew of Voldemort's illicit activities since he left Hogwarts and suspected that he might have meant to use the position as means of recruiting more followers, turned down his application. This led Voldemort to angrily jinx the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor, preventing anyone from holding the position for more than a single school year. What was more; while being entrusted the stewardship of the school in and by itself was an honour and a privilege, it also meant that he was henceforth expected to shoulder the responsibility of making all the difficult decisions that came with leadership as well. On such occasions, Dumbledore would step out in the Clock Tower Courtyard, where he found the quiet night and crisp air helpful in regard to putting one's troubles in perspective,[34] and developed a habit of pacing around his new office a lot, especially in times when the security of the castle were were breached.[35][36] On occasions, he would also see students in his office, be it because of a misdemeanour that had to be addressed, or because one of the pupils sought redress during conflicts with their peer, such as Bertha Jorkins.[37] At some point following his appointment, Professor Dumbledore began to offer to help students with their homework, whom he would meet every Friday in Classroom E-13.[38] Fond of festivities in general, he would also sometimes stand for the entertainment during the annual Hallowe'en Feast in the Great Hall.[39]

As the day when young Remus Lupin would be of an eligible age to begin his magical education, and wasted little time in making the necessary preparations for the young man's arrival: To this end, Dumbledore arranged for a house to be built a little way above the rest of the nearby Hogsmeade; perched atop a hill overlooking the village. Once finished, the Headmaster applied the appropriate spells to provide Remus with a safe and secure place for his transformations that could contain even a fully grown werewolf, if necessary. Next, he arranged for an underground passage to be made on the school grounds to give Remus an easy and discreet way of accessing the building when necessary, and had a Whomping Willow planted over the opening; both to hide it from view, and as a security measure to stop anyone from coming across the future pupil whilst dangerous. Shortly before 10 March 1971, Dumbledore showed up unannounced at the doorstep of Lyall and Hope Lupin to invite their son to attend school. Well aware that their initial reaction, namely to try and keep him from entering their home, stemmed from fear more than anything else, the Headmaster took the liberty of finding his own way into the house. Five minutes later, Dumbledore was sitting on their living room floor by the fireplace, eating crumpets and playing Gobstones with Remus.

After explaining to the three of them that he was aware of their situation and, more importantly, that as far as he was concerned, there was no reason why Remus should not be able to attend Hogwarts, as long as special precautions were taken to ensure the safety of both Remus and the other students, a mutual understanding was reached, and it was eventually agreed that young Mr Lupin would indeed present himself at Hogwarts Castle for the Start-of-Term. This would forever earn Dumbledore Remus' gratitude, as most others would simply have forbidden the boy from even setting foot into the school. When Severus Snape found out Remus' secret, Dumbledore forbade him from repeating it to anyone.

First Wizarding War (1970–1981)

Severus Snape: "Hide them all, then. Keep her — them — safe. Please." Dumbledore: "And what will you give me in return, Severus?" Severus Snape: "In — in return? Anything." — Snape pleading with Dumbledore to protect Lily Potter[src]

After Lord Voldemort started his first rise to power in 1970, Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix, a secret organisation of witches and wizards willing to risk their lives to fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters. As the only wizard Voldemort was ever truly afraid of, Dumbledore was the perfect leader of the organisation and was a significant contributor to the war effort.

Later on in the war, Dumbledore was approached by another person who also wanted a job at Hogwarts: Sybill Trelawney, who applied to become the new professor of Divination, lessons that Dumbledore disliked and barely considered a part of necessary education for young wizards and witches. Dumbledore gave her a chance because she was the great-great-granddaughter of the celebrated Seer Cassandra Trelawney. To his disappointment, when he was interviewing Sybill at the Hog's Head, he came to the conclusion that she was not a real Seer. However, as Dumbledore was about to leave, Trelawney fell into a real trance and made a prophecy about the birth of the one that would have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord, who would be born to those "who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies".[40] This astonished Dumbledore, but as it turned out, the Death Eater Severus Snape had overheard most of the prophecy but had been caught in the act of spying and ejected from the tavern by Aberforth Dumbledore.[29] Dumbledore hired Trelawney in order to protect her from the Death Eaters.

The Cursed Vaults

While his presence at Hogwarts effectively ensured that the Dark Lord and his followers never strayed too close to the school, Dumbledore was still unable to prevent the security of the castle from being breached when one of his students embarked on a foolhardy quest to uncover the secrets of the fabled Cursed Vaults,[41] presumably in order to get his hands on the gold, prophecies and various other powerful magical artefacts myth would have it had been sealed within them.[42] Not alone in this endeavour, however, assisting him in this search were two of his friends, Duncan Ashe and Olivia Green, who were in Slytherin and Ravenclaw House, respectively.[43] This was not the first time that a student was known to have looked for the vaults, the last one being the former Gryffindor student, Patricia Rakepick, who likewise was a firm believer in the existence of the vaults and had previously tried to warn the staff about them, but whose claims were dismissed due to a lack of evidence.[44] In the case of the pupil in question, however, it would seem like there was some merits to the tales that were told. Admittedly intrigued by their soon-to-be notorious ringleader, who was, after all, judged to be thoughtful and considerate by some,[45] while simultaneously being one of the most talented and rebellious students of his time at the school,[46] the Headmaster took a personal interest in young Jacob, and even decided to help him nurture his gift upon discovering that Jacob was a born Legilimens.[47]

As time passed, however, Dumbledore could not help but notice how Jacob became increasingly obsessive in his search for the vaults and, he sensed, changed because of it. The boy become ever more impulsive and reckless, leading to the violation of "all sorts of school rules" and endangerment of both himself and others in the process. Eventually, Dumbledore began to grow concerned that this fixation might even drive him to madness. Unable to overlook their pursuit for the vaults for these reasons, he was known to have reprimanded both Jacob and Mr Ashe for their many indiscretions on at least one occasion.[47] This did not dissuade the adventurous youths, however, who continued their search despite Dumbledore's firm words of caution. Some time later, the Headmaster becoming aware some time later that Jacob had even snapped his own wand in two over the course of this quest, which greatly shocked him.[48] Unaware at the time that he had only done so in order to pay the price required to break the curse on the Vault of Fear, this was a contributing factor to his eventual decision to terminate Jacob's attendance, seeing as how it stood to reason that a wizard desperate enough to break his own wand would be willing to do anything to get what he wanted.

In the end, their hunt for the vaults ended in tragedy when Duncan was killed while attempting to brew a particularly potent Erumpent Potion in an effort to get past one of the obstacles standing between them and one of the Cursed Vaults.[49] No longer able to turn a blind eye to the magnitude of what had just transpired, Dumbledore notified the Ministry of Magic about Duncan's untimely demise, which sent two Aurors to bring Jacob in for questioning about the incident. Having found him at the Three Broomsticks Inn in Hogsmeade village, they apprehended him and took him away.[50] During the interrogation, Jacob falsely admitted to having pressured his friend into making the potion as part of their bid for the vaults.[49] In light of Jacob's confession, Dumbledore had no other choice but to expel him.[41] Duncan Ashe was not the first casualty in their foolhardy quest, unfortunately, nor was he the last. Olivia Green met a similar fate, and every time one of the vaults were disturbed, another curse was triggered and unleashed upon the school.

Cursed ice began to appear and spread throughout the castle, turning whole rooms into crystalline prisons and threatened to encase the whole school,[51] and severely injured several of the students. A Sleepwalking curse was also triggered, placing students in a deep slumber and caused them to mindlessly wander off into the Forbidden Forest in the direction of one of the vaults, where those whom the staff failed to stop were, due to their condition and inability to defend themselves, ravaged and some even outright devoured by the dangerous creatures within. Others, Madam Pomfrey observed, simply never woke up again.[44] There were also a curse that was rather unique in that it trapped the castle's residents inside portraits.[52] Although Dumbledore and the rest of the staff ultimately managed to contain the curses and got the situation under control, the faculty nevertheless denied any knowledge that the vaults actually existed, quite possibly hoping to dissuade other students from pursuing the vaults as well, by quieting down the attention around them after Jacob's removal from the school was so prominently covered at the time in the Daily Prophet.[53]

At some point after all of this took place, however, Dumbledore became aware of the existence of a secretive cabal known simply by the initial 'R', which had become active in the wizarding world some time prior. A dissenting group of dangerous Dark Wizards about which very little was known, yet whose ruthless pursuit of 'enlightenment and immortality'[49] had given rise to various clandestine operations around the world[54] and ultimately led them to turn their attention towards Hogwarts. Their involvement in the disturbance of the Cursed Vaults had been a covert one, however. Unbeknownst to Dumbledore and the rest of the staff at the time, this group had made both Jacob and Duncan unwitting pawns in their bid for the vaults,[55] until finally in the fullness of time they had made their presence known to the students involved. From that point on, coercion had been a driving force behind Jacob's obsession with the vaults,[49] by threatening to make those Jacob cared about 'disappear' if he failed to cooperate, while simultaneously hanging a superficial promise of future membership over his head.[49] It had in fact been 'R' that pressured Duncan Ashe into making the potion that cost him his life, and Jacob had simply taken the blame out of fear that they would make good on their threats had he exposed them.[49]

Thus, any decision the Headmaster might have meant to make about revoking Jacob's expulsion upon said discovery, however, was rendered inconsequential when, a few months later, Jacob ran away from home and rumours began to circulate that he had earned quite a bit of notoriety in the figurative underworld of wizarding Britain, with former teachers even describing him as the "most feared wizard in Knockturn Alley."[49] Realising that Jacob must have continued to pursue the vaults for 'R' as a means of keeping his loved ones safe;[43][56] even though the Headmaster immediately recognised the rumour that he had even become a Death Eater under Voldemort's command for the empty hearsay it was,[57] anything he could have done to help him likewise became rather inappreciable when Jacob subsequently went mysteriously missing without a trace.[58]

With Jacob gone and thus unable to protect his kin, and given the possibility that the Cabal, whose members was still unknown and very much at large, might make good on their threats had he moved against them, Dumbledore initially kept his findings to himself. As such, there were only three people who knew the full story once the dust had settled: Jacob, Duncan Ashe, who had returned as a ghost, and the Headmaster himself.[59] Which was not to say, however, that Dumbledore did not have every intention of probing the situation as closely as he could under the circumstances. Having prudently decided that the best way to proceed in order to prevent this new enemy from knowing that he was onto them was with much care and caution, Dumbledore tasked his old friend, veteran Auror and brother-in-arms in the Order of the Phoenix, Alastor Moody, with investigating 'R',[60] who henceforth monitored their activities off-the-books.[61][62]

Between the wars (1981–1995)

Fall of the Dark Lord

Still, the wizarding war raged beyond the walls of Hogwarts: Shortly before the Potters' deaths, Dumbledore discovered that James's Cloak of Invisibility was, in fact, one of the Deathly Hallows. Although Dumbledore had long given up his desire to unite the Hallows and become Master of Death, he could not resist the thought of studying the Cloak. To that end, he borrowed it from James while James and Lilly were in hiding. Later, Severus Snape approached Dumbledore, having already told Voldemort about the Prophecy. Snape was shocked by the fact that Voldemort had concluded that the prophecy was about Harry Potter, the son of James Potter, and Snape's own loved childhood friend, Lily Evans. Dumbledore agreed, on the basis that Snape worked as a double agent for the Order. Dumbledore made arrangements to ensure the safety of the three; he advised them to stay hidden in their house in Godric's Hollow, which was protected by a Fidelius Charm. However, their Secret-Keeper (believed by Dumbledore and everyone else to be Sirius Black, but was in truth Peter Pettigrew) betrayed them, resulting in James and Lily's deaths at Voldemort's hands. However, as Voldemort attempted to murder Harry the curse backfired due to Lily Potter's love for her son and destroyed his body. This unfortunate occurrence provided Dumbledore with ownership of two of the Hallows, who had already confirmed James' old cloak was indeed one of legend.

Presumably well aware that Lord Voldemort wasn't truly vanquished, Dumbledore made sure that Harry would be kept safe with his family, the Dursleys, despite them not being selected as his guardians in the event of James and Lily's death, as his spells ensured that Voldemort could not harm Harry there as long as he could have a home with those with whom he was related by blood. He convinced Snape to help him protect Harry, although years later Dumbledore secretly planned to allow Voldemort to kill Harry in the end, which would destroy the piece of Voldemort's soul inside Harry. However, he also hoped to influence Harry into such a person who would willingly sacrifice his life for the greater good, allowing him the chance to choose between life and death in the end, guessing correctly the significance of such an act. Shortly thereafter, Dumbledore gave Snape employment at Hogwarts as the Potions master, and later defended Snape against the Ministry of Magic, who were rounding up and arresting remaining Death Eaters. Dumbledore attended many Death Eater trials, including that of the Lestranges and Barty Crouch, Jnr. He was also a witness to Igor Karkaroff's testimony which secured his release from Azkaban in return for the names of fellow Death Eaters. With Harry safe and certain members of the Order of the Phoenix and allies of their cause keeping watch over him and reporting back to Dumbledore, continued his work as the brilliant if eccentric Headmaster of his beloved school.

1984–1985

Start-of-Term

At the Start-of-Term Feast during the 1984–1985 school year, Professor Dumbledore was seated in the magnificent golden chair at the centre of the High Table in the Great Hall, looking on with interest as Professor McGonagall presided over the annual sorting ceremony and the most recent addition to the student body, as they were placed in their allotted houses. Among the newcomers, he observed, was the second oldest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley and the daughter of Andromeda Black and her Muggle-borns husband Edward Tonks. The former, to no one's surprise, was placed in Gryffindor House, whereas the latter defied her mother's long history of notoriously pro-pure-blood fanatics by being sorted into Hufflepuff. The new batch also included Tulip Karasu, the young daughter of two members of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at Ministry of Magic, whom Dumbledore presumably would be familiar with given his ties to said institution and affiliation with the Wizengamot. Merula Snyde and Barnaby Lee, both of whom had parents who had earned notoriety as Death Eaters during the wizarding war and been sent to Azkaban for their many atrocities, found their way to Slytherin House. Rowan Khanna, the scion of a wizarding family that owned a rather well-known tree farm famous for supplying various high-quality wood for the manufacture of wands and broomsticks. Perhaps most notably, however, Jacob's younger sibling was sorted this year, whose arrival was met with much muttering of their brother's disappearance by staff and fellow students alike.[46]

After this time-honoured tradition had ran its course, Dumbledore rose from his seat and took place at the Owl Lecturn and held the customary welcoming speech, explained how the house point system worked and encouraged them all to do their utmost to be a credit to the new house. It did not take long, however, before he was approached by Professor Snape, who informed him that he and the Charms Master, Professor Flitwick, had caught the younger sibling and one of the other first-years, Merula Snyde, duelling in the Clocktower Courtyard. And though Snape was of the opinion that the latter pupil should be expelled for this misdemeanour, the Headmaster on the other hand, was as always inclined to exercise a modicum of patience with students that broke the school rules without any sort of malicious intent behind it. Quick to reject his suggestion as a punishment that did not to fit the crime, Dumbledore limited the Potions Master to mete out more conventional methods of discipline. Almost immediately afterwards, however, Snape returned with some most disconcerting news. The Caretaker, had found Cursed ice in a room one of the farthest corridor on the east end of the fifth floor;[42] a sign that someone had been tampering with one of the Cursed Vaults.

In the aftermath of this discovery, the faculty successfully managed to keep it from spreading any further and securely sealed up the room afterwards, and placed it under guard by Mr Filch[42] and Mrs Norris.[48] Acknowledging that his own knowledge on the vaults and whatever horrors they contained both fell rather short of enabling him to adequately address the threat that they posed to the security of the other denizens of the castle, however, the Headmaster soon reached out to a former student of his, who had since become a renowned expert on the subject, and whose extensive research into the Cursed Vaults in her youth would hopefully be of some help to the staff in bringing the matter to a quick and decisive conclusion.[48]

The Howling Hallowe'en

As the always much-anticipated Hallowe'en Feast drew ever closer and the faculty prepared the castle for the annual festivities, Dumbledore decided to make that year's celebration one with "more of a personal touch" than usual. To this end, the Headmaster requested several students to meet him in the Great Hall, where he proceeded to ask whether or not any of them might be persuaded to lend him and the teachers a hand in the decoration process.[63] Delighted to find that a number of volunteers from the student body was willing to take time off their busy schedules to help out, he immediately put them to work, tasking them with among other things the carving of jack-o'-lanterns from pumpkins from Hagrid's pumpkin patch and crafting hats for a troupe of skeletons that he revealed he would be bewitching to dance at the feast, going as far as saying he believed it was going to be "a treat" for both himself as well as the students, seeing as he had never made skeletons dance before.[63] Unfortunately, the Headmaster would not be able to fully appreciate the improvements that had been made upon the time-honoured tradition that year: Near the end of the feast, when the Headmaster would usually have announced the evening's entertainment, Dumbledore was nowhere to be found; having realised that there was something amiss on the school grounds and left to investigate.

There, he found that the school had come under attack by a pack of werewolves, and, with no time to alert the rest of the staff, set out into the night to repel the cursed canines himself; successfully removing five of them that had almost overran Hagrid's Hut before returning to the castle, where he arrived just in time to save Jacob's sibling from three more, who had tried to take advantage of his absence to attack a couple of students that had stepped outside, only for Greyback and the remaining members of his pack to hastily retreat into the Forbidden Forest once they caught the scent of him. After making sure that the aforementioned pupil was unharmed, he noticed someone lying on the ground nearby, unconscious. Immediately recognising the victim as another student; a young witch in Hufflepuff House by the name of Chiara Lobosca, the Headmaster briefly examined her injuries and, concluding that she did not appear to have been bitten, instructed Jacob's sibling to return to their dormitory while he took care of their classmate. Following the attack, Dumbledore informed the Ministry of Magic about the incident and requested that they send someone to the school that could look into the matter and hopefully rounded up the werewolves before anyone else was hurt.

In response, they sent Cecil Lee from the Werewolf Capture Unit to track the werewolves down, whom the Headmaster gave permission to conduct an investigation and question the students and staff if necessary. It would take another month before Mr Lee's involvement brought results, however, when Mr Lee showed up at his office and reported that he had, with some good help from Jacob's sibling, successfully captured Greyback and most of his pack.[39] Whilst he had left Greyback and the rest of the werewolves he had been able to catch safely tied up on the Training Grounds for his colleagues to find, there was one werewolf that had stood out among the rest; a female werewolf with white fur that Jacob's sibling had called "a friend", and whom the Ministry official had decided to bring to Dumbledore instead of to the Ministry.[39] Upon learning that the Lycanthrope in question was, in fact, Chiara Lobosca, who it turned out was also a werewolf herself, having been bitten as a young child and thus being counted among Greyback's many victims in addition to the prejudice around werewolves that was still very much widespread in the wizarding world, Dumbledore resolved to extend her the same offer he did Remus Lupin years before; a continued place at Hogwarts in exchange for her consent to certain precautions relating to the management of her condition, and a limitless supply of the recently invented Wolfsbane Potion, courtesy of Professor Snape.[64] Once the issue of the werewolf attacks were taken care of, Dumbledore resolved to host a second feast as neither he, nor the student body, had been able to fully appreciate the first on account of Greyback's involvement.

Hagrid's birthday

Sometime after this, their trusty Keeper of Keys and Grounds lost one of his favourite pets, after which he was known to have been decidedly more sombre for quite a while, which eventually prompted the Headmaster to look for a way to lift his spirits. Sometime during early December, Dumbledore, having grown quite impressed by their enthusiasm and creativity where helping their friends and fellow classmates were concerned, not to mention well aware that Hagrid had grown quite fond of them, sent an owl to Jacob's sibling and asked that they came to the Clocktower Courtyard to discuss a matter of great importance. Once the pupil in question presented themselves, however, the Headmaster revealed that he had nothing worse in store for them than wanting to solicit their assistance in organising a surprise party for their trusty Groundskeeper; a task, he was delighted to find, they gladly accepted. Soon, other pupils in the courtyard wanted to participate in their discussion about the right way to give their mutual friend the best party possible. Thereafter, Albus and his young co-conspirator parted ways; Jacob's sibling went to ask their best friend Rowan Khanna for advice on party planning, whereas the Headmaster left to call in a favour with an "old friend" of his in the employment of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.[65]

The Headmaster later bumped into Professor McGonagall and confided how he had just spoken to Amos Diggory, who had agreed to drop by the castle with a selection of magical creatures for them to pick from as a birthday gift, but told her to keep it a secret, and to instruct his fellow party-planner if she saw them issue an invitation to Mr Filch while they were at it. In order to distract their unwitting guest of honour so the rest of the involved parties could make the necessary preparations, Dumbledore asked Hagrid to meet him at the at the Training Grounds, explaining that there was "urgent business" in Hogsmeade that he had to take care of, and requested that he accompanied him. In the meantime, he told Jacob's sibling to stay behind and babysit Fang while he and Hagrid completed their "tasks". When they both returned a short while later, he proceeded to discreetly instruct the pupil to invite Professor Snape next, and even advised them to bribe him with a gift if that was what it took to win him over. At the scheduled time, Dumbledore and the rest of Hagrid's party guests met up in the Great Hall, where their surprise party for Hagrid would ultimately be a massive success.[65]

Around Christmas that year, Dumbledore requested students that stayed behind at the school during the holidays to get involved in the decoration process, seeing as how well they did decorating for Hallowe'en: Student participation during Hallowe'en and Christmas both eventually became something of a time-honoured tradition.[66]

End-of-Term

Their efforts to keep their charges safe from the aforementioned cursed ice, however, was ultimately unsuccessful, as it was later discovered that a group of students had broken into the locked room it was located. The following evening, Dumbledore stepped outside into the Clocktower Courtyard to consider the events that had taken place at Hogwarts since the sorting of Jacob's sibling, and upon realising that their trespassing of the room they had been sealed off had nothing at all to do with some selfish quest for glory and riches by uncovering the content of the Cursed Vaults, and everything to do with a desperate search to find the older sibling who had gone missing, Dumbledore sent for the student in question to meet him there. When the pupil arrived, however, it quickly occurred to him that whilst it looked like they expected a lecture, there was nevertheless something they wanted to ask him; and hence, he decided to allow them to do so. Wishing to shield and protect them from the truth,[67] Dumbledore was still reluctant to reveal too much about the circumstances surrounding Jacob's expulsion, only denoting it as a long and complicated story and otherwise reminded them that the school held many mysteries, advising them to limit their exploration to those that were not life-threatening in the future.[48] Rather than punishing their latest transgression, however, the Headmaster instead went on to commend them for their display of courage, compassion, and resourcefulness throughout the year, for which he awarded them 100 house points and assured them that they would talk more after the summer holidays.[48]

During the End-of-Term Feast that year, Dumbledore announced the winner of the House Cup, expressed his hope that the students had learned as much from the teachers that year as he himself had learned from them, and wished them all a good summer holidays.[68][69]

1985–1986

Looking for answers

Although the room with the cursed ice had been duly secured following the meddling misadventure of Jacob's sibling and their peers near the end of the previous term, the staff was still unable to fully determine what the repercussions of said incident would be, and what it might mean for the immediate future of the school.[51] As such, when Dumbledore took the podium at the Start-of-Term Feast to welcome students new and old for another year of learning, he also offered a word of caution to his usual speech; instructing them all to be extra careful as they journeyed through the castle that year, and to immediately inform one of their teachers if they saw anything out of the ordinary.[51] Upon returning to his seat, it was discovered that one of the Gryffindor students were unaccounted for; a second-year by the name of Ben Copper, whose curious absence puzzled his classmates as much as it did the staff.[51] After the feast, it was decided that the staff would search for him. At some point the next day, Dumbledore was paid a visit by Professor McGonagall, who informed him that she had met with Jacob's sibling in the Clocktower Courtyard to discuss the matter of Mr Copper's disappearance and the visit to the locked room, from whom she learned that there had been a secret message that may have hinted at threats beyond the room itself.[70]

Having taken the cryptic warning about an 'Ice Knight' and 'Vanished Stairs' under advisement, it was nevertheless the case that the sudden reappearance of cursed ice inside the castle the previous term had given rise to a number of difficult questions. Having come to suspect that there might be answers to be found somewhere outside of it, especially in light of his failed attempt at getting hold of Patricia Rakepick. Professor Dumbledore left Hogwarts shortly afterwards,[71] but not before tasking Hagrid with doing some research into winged horses in Scotland;[72] specifically, on Abraxans, as this information would go a long way in helping to prepare the school for an impending visit from the equally prestigious counterpart in France, with whom Hogwarts had always maintained a cordial relationship.[73] To this end, he advised Hagrid to solicit the assistance of Jacob's sibling, who he had learned attended to one such magnificent beast in the Magical Creatures Reserve.[73] No sooner had he left the school, however, before he received an owl from Professor Snape with some rather concerning news: 'R' was back, and resumed their bid for the Cursed Vaults.[71]

The Cabal had unwittingly showed their hand when Jacob's sibling and Rowan Khanna stumbled upon a message from them addressed to Ben Copper while assisting the teachers with looking for their friend, who had apparently been forced to embark on a scavenger hunt throughout the castle, the objective of which was to find a series of written instructions hidden throughout the castle by one of more members of 'R', threatening Ben with 'severe punishment' if he failed to meet their demands.[74] This, his trusty Potions Master had discovered when he caught the aforementioned pair exiting the Common Room of another House, and, upon questioning them, they had admitted to be re-tracing Ben's steps by following the directions given on one such message.[71] Not too long after this, their missing student was finally recovered, having been found in the farthest corridor on the east side of the fifth floor of the castle; trapped by cursed ice; which had now began to spread throughout the corridor outside the locked room that had been intruded upon during the previous term. Due to his prolonged exposure to the cursed ice, however, which was known to have strange effects on those that came in contact with it, the young pupil was suffering from a sort of delirium that left his memory erratic, and hence in no condition to provide further insight into whatever plans the Cabal were making behind the scenes.[75]

Return to Hogwarts

Painfully aware that the cursed ice would only continue to spread and inflict ever more of the castle's inhabitants, the need to find a solution to their current predicament became increasingly urgent, prompting Dumbledore to spend the remainder of the school year travelling the world in an attempt to track down "an expert Curse-Breaker" whom he thought could be of great assistance in helping him and the rest of the staff with the task of locating the rest of the vaults, and hopefully break the curses placed on each of them before they claimed any more victims in the student body.[72] Upon his eventual return to the school, however, it did not take long before the cursed ice suddenly vanished without a trace; a clear sign that someone had successfully opened the door to the vault that the curse of the cursed ice had been tethered to.[76] Upon realising this, Dumbledore went to the fifth floor corridor to investigate the place where the cursed ice had first appeared for himself, where he discovered the hidden entrance leading up to the Vault of Ice.[49] Upon examining the wintry entrance hall, the Headmaster was able to determine that 'a terrible amount of work' had gone into its construction, not to mention 'complex and dangerous magic,'[77] and realised that the door leading into the heart of the vault had recently been opened, and even more importantly, he was able to determine that the ice curse that had been unleashed upon the school had indeed broken.[76] This did not bring Dumbledore any closer to uncover the identity of the person who had tampered with the vault this time.[76]

Upon returning from this venture, he shared his findings with the rest of the staff, before he returned to the Headmaster's Tower. Shortly thereafter, he asked Professor McGonagall to summon Jacob's sibling and send them up to his office, having guessed correctly that it was this pupil who had ventured up to the Ice Vault and broken the curse and, in doing so, saved the school from a terrible fate, just like their brother before them.[76] When the student in question presented themselves in his study, however, he gave them the run of his office while he finished scribbling down some notes on all that he had learned. When he was done, however, he gave his young visitor his full attention. Upon hearing that his guest had appeared to have been beckoned to the Ice Vault by the disembodied voice of Jacob, which they believed to be some sort of vision, Professor Dumbledore gently dismissed the idea, theorising instead that there might be another, more likely explanation.[76] That said, however, Dumbledore still asked the pupil to explain themselves. And although the Headmaster readily admitted that there was still much to be learned about the origins and the purpose of the Cursed Vaults, and that with any luck, the person he had attempted to locate would be able to shed some light on the matter once he finally got hold of her. He also commended them for their heroism in breaking the curse, yet also prudently pointed out how they and their friends had to needlessly endanger themselves, and asked that they henceforth left the search for the remaining vaults and their brother to him, but not before awarding them with 50 House points and subsequently sending them on their way.[76]

Hosting the Beauxbatons

Although the report he had received from Hagrid earlier that year was undoubtedly put to good use with the arrival of Professor Olympe Maxime, the Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic,[24] Dumbledore still still fell a little short in terms of offering her the appropriate accommodations. When her carriage landed at the school, Hagrid was away on official Hogwarts business at the time, and their Care of Magical Creatures was "predisposed with an ornery Streeler", meaning that he could not provide her with an attendant to care for the dozen Abraxans that had flown her there all the way from France. Hence, Dumbledore found a place for them on the Training Grounds, where they were well supplied with several big barrels of single malt whiskey to drink. Although she had initially come in so that she and Dumbledore could "discuss some school matters", she had also taken the opportunity to bring along one of her own students, Aurélie Dumont, for a visit to Hogwarts to meet with her penfriend, Penny Haywood.[24] Over the duration of their stay, however, it came to Dumbledore's attention that the youngest of their two guests had ulterior motives for being there. Rather than considering a transfer and wishing to simply accept a guided tour of the castle by two of the residents like she claimed, it quickly became apparent that she had spent her time looking for something. Upon realising this, he asked Professor Maxime to find Miss Dumont and Jacob's sibling and send them to his office.

When they arrived, he expressed his appreciation for how the latter had gone to the trouble of showing their visitor around, but that he was still curious as to why she had not come to him directly, given his connection to Nicolas Flamel and given her search for something related to alchemy. After confirming that he was indeed the young man on the old photography that they found posing with the famous alchemist, Dumbledore humoured them for a bit by telling them both a little about the man himself.[24] Upon hearing from Miss Dumont that there was a rumour circulating in France about a treasure hidden in a protected vault at Hogwarts believed to house a chalice that once belonged to Flamel; an ancient alchemical artefact that would make whoever possessed it into a great alchemist as well, the Headmaster was quick to assure them that while he could not say if any such object existed, he was certain that it was not anywhere at Hogwarts.[24] Upon seeing how disheartened she was by learning this, however, and hearing her express the fear that without it, her dreams of getting out from under her prodigiously gifted brother's shadow and becoming a great alchemist seemed virtually unattainable, the Headmaster resolutely encouraged her not to give up on them, informing her that she could very well reach these worthy goals once she stopped comparing herself to him and learned to truly appreciate her own talents; which was a lesson he felt that Jacob's sibling would do well to learn too.[24]

Following this, Dumbledore was present at the End-of-Term Feast, where he praised the student body for their bravery in the face of adversity that year in facing the cursed ice, before finally announcing the winner of the House Cup.[78]

1986-1987

Start-of-Term

Present as always in the Great Hall alongside the rest of the staff to welcome the students for the 1986–1987 school year, once the traditional Sorting ceremony was at an end and everyone had found their way back to their seats, Dumbledore positioned himself at the Owl Lecturn to deliver his usual words of welcome. Among these, however, was also instructions relating to student conducts where the Cursed Vaults were concerned.[45] Having already decided that they were entitled to an explanation in light of the dark events that had put so many of them in such grave danger during the past school term, the Headmaster finally confirmed that the existence of the Cursed Vaults, as well as that the rumours that had been circulating claiming that a group of students had found their way into one such vault and broken the curse placed on it were indeed true, but that he would still be amiss if he did not point out how they had nevertheless placed both themselves and others at great risk in doing so. For this reason, he imposed a blanket ban on all future attempts to look for, not to mention entering any of the Cursed Vaults by any students, as each one would be likely to unleash another curse on the school if tampered with. Assuring them that the faculty would deal with the situation and do whatever they could to keep them all safe, he invited them all to enjoy the rest of the Start-of-Term Feast.[45]

Around the same time, Dumbledore also met with Jacob's sibling's Head of House: Having correctly anticipated their non-compliance with his instructions to stay away from the vaults in view of the fact that bringing Jacob home safe and sound was at the heart of their fixation with them, the Headmaster resolved to provide the well-intentioned inciter with some overdue incentive to turn their focus away from their dangerous quest and onto their schoolwork by disallowing them to leave the school to partake in the always popular weekend trips to Hogsmeade village, even with the required permission slip.[79] Not entirely unreasonable, however, he would permit them to earn back the privilege of visiting the village, and gave the Professor charged with their care permission to lift the ban if they deemed their diligence where their academics was concerned sufficient to warrant it.[79] His efforts would eventually turn out to be futile, however, as said pupil would immediately proceed to question the landlady of the Three Broomsticks Inn, and used what they learned from Madam Rosmerta to further facilitate their search for the Cursed Vaults and their brother.[50]

Within days after the Welcoming Feat, however, Dumbledore was approached by the school's Head of Herbology, Professor Sprout, who notified him that one of her third year classes had been disrupted by the sudden appearance of a Boggart in Greenhouse Three, which had assumed the form of a werewolf and terrified one of her Hufflepuff students, Penny Haywood.[45] An odd occurrence, seeing as how Boggarts were usually found in dark, enclosed spaces,[35] not big, airy, sunlit greenhouses.[45] Given this discovery, the staff came to suspect that the reason behind its odd behaviour was that it had been influenced by a curse, and that someone had disturbed yet another one of the vaults. One that fed on the fears of those around it. He would later receive an owl from Madam Rosmerta, informing him that Jacob's sibling had helped her make a new, extra-sweet Butterbeer and proposed that he awarded them some House points for their troubles.[50]

Lies and deception

Later still, the Headmaster found himself enjoying some pumpkin juice with the other teachers in the Great Hall around lunch time, when Merula Snyde made her way up to them to show them a Wit-Sharpening Potion that she had been working on. Judged by their very own Potions Master to be the single best sample he had seen a student brew in the years he had spent teaching the subject, Dumbledore found himself heartily agreeing with him when he was invited to examine it for himself; and shared his fellow professor's sentiment that Miss Snyde deserved special recognition for demonstrating such an impressive dedication and technique.[80] As it turned out, however, it would take no less than a month's worth of relentless preparation and dedication by two of Miss Snyde's retaliating peers, and, perhaps most of all, an admirable amount of cheek before Dumbledore actually realised that he had been hoodwinked.[80]

On that particular occasion, the good professor had been seated at the High Table and busily discussing Harry Potter with Professor McGonagall when he noticed someone that looked for all the world like Professor Snape come to a halt right in front of them and invited him to join the conversation; and asked that he took a seat so they could discuss the Potions curriculum. Over the course of this dialogue, Dumbledore also included a bit of socialising, such as mentioning how the resident Charms Master had been "bragging about the remarkable batch of Ravenclaws" they had gotten that term, jokingly asking him whether he was "up for the challenge" of handling five more of the Weasley children that would be attending the school in a few years, and commenting on the academic prowess of Rowan Khanna, a pupil whom he found to be "exceptionally bright."

On the flip side, however, he also took the opportunity to address some of the more disconcerting news of recent past, such as asking the Head of Slytherin House if there was any truth to the rumour he had heard that some of the Slytherin students had been writing letters to Azkaban lately, and indirectly revealing the identity of the Curse-Breaker he had been trying to find during the previous term by casually mentioning a fellow pupil from Snape's days as a schoolboy who had aspired to said profession; still unaware that the individual next to him was in fact someone other than the faculty member he thought that it was. That was not to say, however, that Dumbledore was completely in the dark about the fact that there was something amiss. Indeed; neither the Headmaster, nor its Deputy could help but notice that their co-worker was acting rather odd.[80]

How it all fit together first dawned on him once "Professor Snape" called Merula Snyde to them and unexpectedly demanded that she confessed to a wrongdoing that, up until that point, there had been no evidence to suggest that she had committed. Though the young pupil initially feigned ignorance, she finally gave in under pressure and admitted that she had in fact stolen the Wit-Sharpening Potion she had showed them from one of her own classmates, who it was quickly decided would receive the overdue recognition she deserved. Raising to his feet, Dumbledore called for everyone's attention and invited Penny Haywood up to join him on the podium; where he rectified the mistake done by publicly commending her skill at potion-making and assuring her that she would be adequately rewarded. Once Miss Haywood found her way back to her seat, however, the Headmaster turned his attention to Jacob's sibling, who he had correctly deduced was the one he had been speaking to for the past few minutes, and cheerfully advised them to exit the hall before the Polyjuice Potion they had taken to assume Professor Snape's likeness wore off; but not before rewarding them with ten house points for having displayed such loyalty and gone to such lengths to right a wrong.[80]

Dark Horses

Over the same period, the International Confederation of Wizards was due to convene for a conference somewhere in Great Britain, to which he invited the school's trusty Groundskeeper to give a demonstration on thestrals to clear up the misconceptions that so many of its delegates had come to have about them over the years; specifically by showing that even a thestral that has had limited exposure to strangers could be comfortable working with several of them.[81] To help him prepare his speech, the Headmaster advised him to solicit the assistance of not only Jacob's sibling, who had proved time and time again to have a way with magical creatures, but also Merula Snyde:[81] Well acquainted with her family's history, and hence privy to the fact that not only was the strife-torn young Slytherin able to see thestrals, but that she had also tried hard to bury and forget the memory of the incident that enabled her to do so; the brutal murder of an Auror from the Ministry of Magic at the hands of her own mother at an early age,[81] it had been for the purposes of filling two needs with one deed that Dumbledore had asked Hagrid to bring her along; hoping that by having Merula work with a thestral, a gentle and intelligent creature that could only be seen by those who had seen death, she might come to realise that something wonderful could come from even the most unpleasant of circumstances, and, in doing so, finally confront her past in earnest and be able to truly move on.[81]

Once he had given Hagrid adequate time to get ready and time came for them to depart for the meeting, Dumbledore went to the Training Grounds to collect him, and was delighted to find that his attempt to help the troubled pupil had been a success; meaning she had gained something more valuable than the house points she had hoped to earn from the experience.[81] Moreover, during the aforementioned assembly, not only was the thestral, in Hagrid's own words; "practically perfect," but his passionate lecture on the dark horse that he had brought along with him was so touching that even wizards in attendance that were not able to see it had been moved, and prompted several to volunteer to fly on it as part of the demonstration and even considering taking up training thestrals themselves, thus successfully inspiring many in the crowd to start treating the "dark horses" with kindness and respect rather than fear and disgust.[81]

Searching for Rakepick

At some point prior to his second departure from the school in as many years, Dumbledore gave Rita Skeeter 'periodical permission' to visit Hogwarts Castle to observe the students, and to invite them to partake in a "friendly competition" where the winner would receive a first-page article in the Daily Prophet.[82] By the time she first arrived at the school to announce the reason behind her visit and those that had yet to come, however, the Headmaster had already left to resume his search for Patricia Rakepick.[83] Although it would take almost the remainder school term for him to return to the school, Dumbledore's latest attempt to get hold of the adventurous banker would eventually yield significantly more results than the previous two, and he was finally able to track her down. Curious, however, as to what motive one of his former pupil might have to go to such great lengths to elude him, the Headmaster spent quite some time tracking her movements, having found her "here and there", in places where he had not expected to find her;[84] which in of itself had raised its own set of questions.[84] Concluding, however, that in view of the fact that he had not found her to be guilty of any actual wrongdoing, he would be doing her a disservice if he did not give her the benefit of the doubt, the Headmaster hence decided to trust her.[85] Having followed her as far as to South America before he made his presence known to her, he finally approached her as she began investigating some ancient ruins that had recently been discovered beneath the Brazilian wizarding school of Castelobruxo, situated in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Unable to leave Brazil until her work there was finished, an arrangement was made where she would instead come to Hogwarts at the beginning of the next term.[84]

Back at Hogwarts

Having convened with the rest of the faculty upon his return to the castle, more noteworthy than the numerous encounters that members of the student body had had with their worst fears in his absence, however, was a nearly instantaneous drop in Boggart-related incidents that had just taken place; an improvement that coincided suspiciously well with what Professor Snape had only just been told by two of his Slytherin students; Merula Snyde and Ismelda Murk. Specifically, they had informed him that they had seen that Jacob's sibling and four other co-conspirators had trespassed into the school library after it had closed for the night and successfully made their way into the Restricted Section; where they had been able to locate a second vault.[86] While naturally pleased to hear of the improving conditions, Dumbledore still concurred with Professor McGonagall's instruction for Rubeus Hagrid to keep this new development to himself, as announcing it too soon after it happened could only serve to dilute the reprehension that the culprits were due for breaking the school rules. Shortly afterwards, the good Professor went to look for Jacob's sibling, and eventually found them in the middle of a big victory celebration alongside their many accomplices at the Three Broomsticks Inn in Hogsmeade. Once there, he asked them to see him in his study later that day, during which he wanted to discuss both the pupil's "unprecedented heroics" in once again breaking a curse that threatened the whole school, and to hear everything that they could possibly tell him about the vault that they had entered. He also, however, took the opportunity to address their "egregious misbehaviour." Having finally started to run out of excuses for them, the Headmaster solemnly warned them that the next time they broke the rules, he could no longer spare them the rod. Ultimately, however, he still gave them a hundred house points as an award for saving the school, before giving them leave to go.

Following this, Dumbledore briefly left the school again, this time in search for someone else; an individual that he would later admit that he hoped never to find Even so, he was back in time to see the students off for the summer, and presented the the winner of that year House Cup with their just award.[87]

1987-1988

Start-of-Term

Anxious to finally put the annual breach of the castle's security to rest, and, by his own admission, concerned about the effect that their growing obsession with the cursed vaults might have on Jacob's sibling,[47] Dumbledore was quick to invite Madam Rakepick to join him up at the High Table upon her eventual arrival in the Great Hall alongside the student body on September 1, 1987. Curious to hear her opinion on not only the vaults, but also on the aforementioned student,[84] the Headmaster spent the what little time he had left between the students entering the hall and finding their seats and when he was scheduled to make the usual start-of-the-term announcements filling her in on the events that had taken place over past three school terms and put her in charge of attending to all matters related to the Cursed Vaults,[44] and even bestowed upon her a place on the faculty; making her a member of the non-teaching staff as means of granting her both the run of the castle for the remainder of her stay, as well as some disciplinary powers over the students, such as giving and docking house points.[44] During his customary welcoming speech, he included a quick introduction wherein he clarified to the students who she was and why he had invited her, before letting her take his place at the podium so that she could address the students.[44] It would seem history repeated itself, however, when, as had been the case during the previous term, another student failed to meet up for the Welcoming Feast.

This time, it were one of young Mr Copper's classmates; a Ravenclaw student by the name of Tulip Karasu. Having dozed off on her way to the school at the Hogwarts Express and woken up in the Black Forest, Rubeus Hagrid had found Miss Karasu wandering the grounds on his way to the feast, apparently sleepwalking. And though she had reached the dark woods to the east of the castle by the time he caught up with her, fortunately, Miss Karasu had hit her head on a low-hanging branch as he tried to enter, allowing their trusty Groundskeeper to bring her to the Clocktower Courtyard. Once there, he was finally able to wake her up. After a brief two of her peers, not to mention some efficient use of a healing spell by one of them to relieve her of a headache, Hagrid was finally able to convince her to let him take her up to the Hospital Wing.[88]​​ Upon learning about this incident, the Headmaster quickly deduced that someone had already disturbed one of the other vaults and unleashed a new curse upon the school and its denizens, and informed the teaching staff; telling them to watch the perimeters around the Forbidden Forest to prevent a repeat of this incident.[89]

The Celestial Ball

Even though the number of students that succumbed to the Sleepwalking curse only continued to grow steadily in the time that followed, and while there was no denying that there were still those among the castle's residents that remained suspicious of their visitor, even on the staff, the fact that they now had a tried-and-tested expert looking into the matter nevertheless took some of the pressure off of the rest of the faculty, to the point where Dumbledore decided that it was past time that the denizens of Hogwarts Castle all got a much needed distraction from the trying times that was now behind them, not to mention a happy memory to look back on given the dark times that still laid ahead. After discussing the matter among themselves, the staff finally agreed to arrange an Astronomy-themed social gathering for the students in the Great Hall known as the Celestial Ball. In order to further involve the students in the festivities, the Headmaster was able to persuade Madam Pince, the school librarian, to allow the election for the head of a student committee that would be in charge of the decorations to take place in the library. Thereafter, he summoned the students to the Great Hall in order to to announce the event, explaining that there would be music, refreshments and dancing, with the dress code being "formal." He also invited the students to partake in the election for the decorating committee, which would be overseen by Madam Pince, before giving the pupils leave to return to class.

Following Penny Haywood's victory over Emily Tyler in the student election, their trusty Charms Master was kind enough to lend the decorating committee the use of his classroom for the creation of the decor, some of which was made without magic and in line with their leader's "stellar vision" for the end result: Aside from a big banner reading "Celestial Ball", the centre of the hall was dominated by a large, glowing model of the moon; the four house tables were gone, and in their place, six circular ones with matching chairs where students could mingle had been situated along the walls nearest the entrance; flanking a magnificent carpet that ran across the length of most of the floor. At the far-end of the the hall, in front of the High Table, the floor was covered by a large, glass-like dance floor with a bluish tint to it that was blank-polished and reflected the starry evening sky from the enchanted ceiling above. On the eve of said event, the Headmaster chaperoned the festivities alongside the four Heads of Houses, Professors Binns and Kettleburn, and Rubeus Hagrid. At the start of the event, Dumbledore stood by the doors, greeting the students as they entered the hall, among them Jacob's sibling, and later held a short speech wherein he commended Penny Heywood and the committee's success. During the event, he was seen socialising with Professor McGonagall, and later watched the pupils enjoy themselves alongside Professor Snape, beaming as Rubeus Hagrid and Professor Flitwick eventually opted to join the students on the dance floor, and over a job well done in spite of everything.[90]

1988-1989

Dumbledore's decision to appoint Rakepick proved a costly one as Rakepick turned out to be one of R's members and nearly managed to kill Jacob's sibling and their friends before being defeated by a Garroting Gas and forced to flee but left Merula Snyde traumatised with the betrayal and use of the Cruciatus Curse when they went to the Cursed Vault. Dumbledore was away at the time and unable to stop it and was left responsible with what had happened, admitting regret for being outside to deal with threats and promising to prioritise capturing Rakepick.

1989-1990

The next year was by no means any less troublesome than the previous year, with Jacob's sibling and their friends more determined than ever to stopping R and finding the last Cursed Vault, despite Dumbledore's attempts to make them focus on their studies. He was even more disturbed with how Ben Cooper and Merula Snyde had became different due to the events of last year and that an Azkaban escapee who turned out to be an expelled student of Mahoutokoro School of Magic was working with R. When Rowan Khanna was killed by Rakepick, Dumbledore lead a huge memorial to their noble sacrifice.

1991–1992

Harry Potter: "But why couldn't Quirrell touch me?" Albus Dumbledore: "Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realise that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good." — Dumbledore and Harry discussing the power of love[src]

Ten years after Dumbledore left Harry Potter with his uncle and aunt, the Dursleys , Harry started attending Hogwarts , not as happy as Dumbledore might have hoped, considering the neglect he had faced at the hands of his intolerant aunt and uncle, but alive and well. That year, Lord Voldemort formulated a plan to regain human form. Dumbledore and his friend Nicolas Flamel (the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone ) began to suspect that the disembodied Dark Lord was plotting to steal the invaluable object, which would be capable of restoring him to full power. Dumbledore had the stone moved to a medium security vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank , but later had it moved to Hogwarts itself; coincidentally, on the same day that an attempted break-in was made upon the vault. It was retrieved by Hagrid, who was also taking Harry to buy his school supplies.

Dumbledore and several teachers (McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, Snape and, dubiously, Quirrell) at Hogwarts planted magical security methods to protect the stone. Dumbledore was behind the final, and most powerful protection placed upon the stone. He enchanted the Mirror of Erised to contain the Philosopher's Stone, only to be removed by someone who did not intend to use or possess it, but only to keep it from the hands of evil. Dumbledore suspected that the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Quirinus Quirrell was behind the plot to steal the Philosopher's Stone, while working for the weakened Lord Voldemort, and as such he asked Snape to keep an eye on him. He also anonymously returned James's Cloak of Invisibility to Harry as a Christmas present.[7]

Over a series of nights, Harry Potter proceeded to visit the Mirror of Erised as often as he could to see his parents' faces. Dumbledore found Harry visiting the mirror one night, and after explaining to Harry what the mirror was all about, told him that the mirror was to be moved and requested that Harry not go looking for it. Before heading back to bed, Harry asked Dumbledore what he saw when he looked into the mirror. Dumbledore claimed to see himself holding a pair of thick, woollen socks, telling Harry that "one can never have enough socks."[7] However, Dumbledore was joking — the matter being a very personal one. At first, still yearning for Grindelwald’s love, Albus saw himself with his former lover in the Mirror. However, after Grindelwald’s defeat and having come to terms with his past guilt over his sister’s death, later in his life Dumbledore would see his family whole and intact, free of any pain or suffering.[21] It is unknown if Grindelwald, as a redeemed man, was included in these later reflections.

In the end it was Harry who protected the Philosopher's Stone from Quirrell and Voldemort. Voldemort failed for the same reasons he had failed to murder Harry previously: due to Lily Potter's love for Harry. When Voldemort, who had possessed the body of Quirrell, ordered his servant to attack the young boy, the sacrificial protection instilled within him at the point of his mother's death killed him and forced the Dark Lord's spirit to flee. When Harry recovered from the ordeal in the hospital wing, he questioned Dumbledore about why Voldemort had tried to murder him as a baby.[7] Dumbledore did not believe that Harry was ready to know the truth about the Prophecy Sybill Trelawney had made, and told him he would know when he was older (although this would actually later turn out to be a mistake).[40]

At the end-of-year feast, Dumbledore awarded an extra 170 house points to Gryffindor students, Harry Potter (60), Ron Weasley (50), Hermione Granger (50) and Neville Longbottom (10), respectively for bravery and logical skills, prompting Gryffindor to win the House Cup, ruining Slytherin’s chance of the cup for the seventh year in a row. This may have shown an amount of bias towards Gryffindor to announce their win in such unusual circumstances.[7]

Sometime before the next year began, Dumbledore, having never been fooled by Gilderoy Lockhart's tall tales, figured out the truth soon when Lockhart erased the memories of two wizards that Dumbledore personally knew. He realised that Lockhart had gone too far in his desire for fame and decided to track him down and make him pay for his crimes. Having the position of the Professor of the Defence Against the Dark Arts vacant proved to be useful for Dumbledore, as he offered Lockhart the job and although Lockhart was reluctant as his career as an author was progressing very well, successfully convinced him by slyly hinting that Harry Potter was a second-year student in Hogwarts, causing Lockhart to accept.[91]

Having intended for Lockhart to show his ineptitude and fraudulence to the students and thus expose him to the public secretly, Dumbledore's decision was shocking to take by the other staff members as they never forgot Lockhart as the obnoxious attention seeker back then despite his achievements, with McGonagall saying what the students could possibly learn under a man as vain and celebrity-hungry man as Lockhart. Dumbledore, however, skilfully talked himself out by pointing out that Lockhart was the only one who was willing to take it and also saying that there was a lot to learn from even a bad teacher: what not to do, how not to be.[91]

1992–1993

"It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." —Dumbledore's advice to Harry Potter[src]

Shortly into the school year of 1992, students again fell under attack from a beast allegedly released from the Chamber of Secrets. Under the influence of Lucius Malfoy, the Hogwarts board of governors voted to remove Dumbledore from his position as Headmaster when he proved unable to uncover the culprit; Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge also had the groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid taken to Azkaban, acting under the theory that it had been he who opened the Chamber in 1943.[30]

It was later revealed that first year student, Ginny Weasley, had come into possession of Tom Riddle's Diary, a bewitched object capable of interacting with whoever wrote in it. The diary slowly drained the life force from Ginny, and when the memory it contained was nearly strong enough to take physical form, it had her journey into the heart of the Chamber. However, Harry Potter was able to find the Chamber himself, and there, defeated the beast that dwelt within; Salazar Slytherin's basilisk. He also destroyed the diary with one of the basilisk's fangs, saving Ginny and defeating the nearly fully formed memory of Riddle. Harry was only able to achieve these feats by displaying an extreme amount of loyalty to Dumbledore; for only someone truly loyal to the Headmaster would be capable of summoning his pet phoenix Fawkes, who provided the tools needed for Potter to defeat Riddle and the basilisk.[30]

Dumbledore mysteriously returned to his position as Headmaster after the memory of Riddle was revealed as being behind the attacks. He commended both Harry and Ron for solving the mystery with the Special Award for Services to the School and two hundred points each for them. This secured Gryffindor for the House Cup for the second year running and again ruining Slytherin's chances, fuelling the hatred and rivalry between the two houses. He also secured Hagrid's release from Azkaban by having Ron deliver his release papers via owl and cancelled exams as a special treat, much to the delight of the students and the dismay of Hermione Granger. Lucius Malfoy was also sacked from his position as a governor of Hogwarts, much to Draco's dismay and Harry's satisfaction.[30]

However, Dumbledore was privately concerned by the phenomena that Harry described; a mere memory capable of taking physical form was unheard of. Dumbledore then began to suspect that Riddle's diary was in fact a Horcrux, and furthermore, considering the lack of care the Dark Lord had taken in protecting the diary, that he had created more than one.[30]

During his final 