InsaneJournal

Name: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Birthday: 4 February, 1842
House: Gryffindor Alumnus
Year: Left Hogwarts in 1861; Transfiguration Professor at Hogwarts from 1936-1956; Headmaster of Hogwarts from 1956 until his death in 1997
Kind of blood: Muggle-born
Pet: A phoenix named Fawkes
Wand: Ash, 9 3/4 inches, phoenix feather, springy

Physical Appearance: tall and thin; his hair and beard were once auburn but are now silver and long enough to tuck into his belt; pale blue eyes, which usually twinkle behind half-moon shaped spectacles; a long, crooked nose that looks as though it's been broken at least twice; has a scar above his left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground

Biography: Albus was born on a small farm outside of Chesham, Surrey on 4th February, 1842 to Muggle parents. The middle child of three rambunctious boys, Albus was completely unaware of any wizarding abilities he possessed until receiving his Hogwarts letter. Due to the fact that his parents were largely illiterate -- and their son's having a reputation as something of a prankster -- they thought Albus was teasing as to the content of the letter. Therefore they initially refused to travel all the way to London to buy his supplies for his supposed "wizarding" school. In those days, the journey would have been four days in their humble dogcart, so their hesitation was fully understandable.

When the next letter arrived a few days later -- delivered by an owl rather than the rural postman -- his mother Agnes began to believe his story. Albus' father, however, remained sceptical, until a torrent of letters began arriving in the days that followed. With their small farm besieged by owls, Abraham Dumbledore finally decided to brave the long journey to allow his son to start on the path to becoming the greatest wizard presently living.

Albus entered Hogwarts the following autumn, where he was Sorted into Gryffindor. He performed reasonably well in all his subjects, although he excelled especially in Transfiguration. Unfortunately, not well enough, in his opinion. Once Albus learned of the existence of Animagi, he thought he might be able to realise a childhood dream. From a young age, Albus had been fascinated with insects -- particularly bees -- and he'd wanted to become a bumblebee and fly. Flight on a broom was, in his opinion, a poor substitute for being able to fly of one's own volition. Alas, he could not master the Animagus transformation, try as he might, and Albus abandoned his childhood dream before leaving Hogwarts. Although neither Aaron nor Aberforth had received letters from Hogwarts when their eleventh birthdays approached, Albus never considered his brothers' work on the family farm less noble than the things he learned at Hogwarts.

Since in his school days there were no restrictions on magic use by underage wizards and witches between terms, Albus could show his family what he'd learnt or how he could employ his talents to be useful on the farm. Every holiday, therefore, Albus could be found magically fixing or expanding the farm house, casting Engorgement Charms on the crops -- enough to bring in more money, but not enough to raise suspicions -- and doing other various and sundry jobs on the farm. His brothers, who had originally scoffed at the idea of a wizard in the family, soon found themselves grateful for Albus' saving then from much of the exhausting farm work they normally had to perform.

Albus somewhat regretted that decision when Aberforth -- who possessed a small amount of magical ability, although not enough to justify admission to Hogwarts -- acquired a mail-order wand and began practicing inappropriate charms on some of his goats. A minor scandal resulted from Aberforth's experimental charms. The scandal was confined mostly to the Wizarding World, however, and was therefore not enough to prevent Albus' marriage in December of 1863 to his childhood sweetheart -- a local lady by the name of Violet Caruthers.

The newlyweds settled on a small plot of farmland located near Albus' brothers' farms, where they raised crops and kept bees. The family farm had grown and flourished during Albus' school years, due to the magically-enhanced labour he was able to perform, even if only during holidays. Although she was a Muggle, Violet was quite aware of her husband's powers and regarded him with a sense of awe. The two planned to have a large family, and Violet was eager to see all her children follow in their father's footsteps. Unfortunately, their plans never came to be. In 1865, after a long and complicated pregnancy, Violet lost her life in childbirth and their child also did not survive the difficult labour. Albus could not bear the thought of naming his stillborn daughter, so the gravemarker simply said "Baby Girl Dumbledore."

Albus was understandably grief-stricken at the loss of his wife and child. Despite his brothers' attempts at encouragement, he became something of a recluse and his farm fell into disrepair. Only when the civil wars between the giants broke out in the late 1870s was Albus roused from his torpor, acting as an emissary between the differing tribes. His efforts were successful, and the giants did not commit complete self-genocide. It was then that Albus Dumbledore realised his destiny lay not in either the Muggle or the Wizarding Worlds exclusively, but rather as an intermediary in both.

After the giants' civil wars were over, Albus set to work on a notion he'd taken during that conflict -- that dragon's blood might be useful for things other than merely circulating in a dragon's veins. After publication of his treatise "On the Twelve Uses for Dragon's Blood" in June of 1895, Albus was offered a position teaching Potions at Hogwarts. He declined the proposal, however, in favour of collaboration with the famous alchemist Nicolas Flamel. He didn't feel that he was qualified to teach Potions, despite his recent publication's attracting Flamel's attention.

Meanwhile, many things were happening in the Muggle world. Albus involved himself heavily in the Women's Suffrage movement. He never quite understood why the term "bluestocking" was considered derogatory, having always been rather a fan of a pair of thick, woolen socks himself. His older brother Aaron travelled to India in her Majesty Victoria's service in the Boer War. When Aaron returned from India, he had in his possession a baby bird, which he claimed was a phoenix. Albus worried for a time that his brother had been taken in by a shrewd merchant, but he appreciated the gift nonetheless. The chick, whom he named Fawkes, soon grew into a swan-sized red bird with a long, golden tail.

Occasionally Fawkes would disappear while Albus was engrossed in his research, only to reappear shortly afterward. Albus rarely thought anything of this, until his brothers told him the times of Fawkes' disappearances coincided with times they'd injured themselves in their farm work. On those occasions, Fawkes appeared on the scene and cried into their wounds -- large, pearl-coloured tears -- which healed the wounds immediately. Fawkes was therefore a true phoenix, which was only confirmed when he completed his first regeneration a decade later.

When Albus was offered the position of Professor of Transfiguration at Hogwarts in 1936, he accepted, although he continued his work with Flamel for many years afterward. He was made head of Gryffindor House in 1941. During the First World War and the Great Depression, Dark wizard Grindelwald continued to gain power in Germany and Eastern Europe. As might be expected, Albus was concerned about the reports from the continent, but felt that he -- as a mere teacher, researcher, and occasional diplomat -- could provide little help. His mind was changed, however, when he happened upon a minion of Grindelwald's on Hogwarts grounds. Albus was enraged by the sight of that man's attacking a student and member of his House.

Upon pulling his wand to subdue the attacker, Albus discovered a heretofore unknown ability to channel his anger into massive amounts of magical energy. His attempt to disarm the man resulted in sending his body flying across the lake, although his wand flew in a tight little arc, obediently landing at Albus' feet. Whether the man was killed by the disarming spell alone or by the fall the mediwizards could not determine. Since Albus feared for his student's safety, however, the Ministry of Magic cleared him of any wrongdoing in the subsequent investigation.

Albus was at once both excited and frightened by his newly discovered talent, which made him feel magical power coursing through his veins and radiating off his body like heat. Apart from a few good-natured tussles with his brothers as a youth -- during which his nose always seemed to bear the brunt of the assaults and was repeatedly broken -- he could not be considered to have a short temper. In the days that followed, however, he studied relaxation techniques and self-hypnosis to make certain his temper, and therefore this power, did not get out of his conscious control.

He also found the use of a Pensieve highly effective in this endeavour, as it enabled him to remove anger-inducing thoughts from his mind and to look at such thoughts from a distance. Even a few inches seemed to make a drastic difference in the intensity of his ire. That is not to say Albus was unable to utilise the powers within his conscious control. He did so many times in the future, culminating with his famous defeat of Grindelwald in 1945.

In his tenure at Hogwarts, a few students caught his attention. Among those were his star pupil in Transfiguration, Minerva McGonagall, who reminded him of his dearly departed Violet in many ways. Minerva surprised him and made him extremely proud by becoming only the seventh registered Animagus in the 20th century before the age of thirty-five. When Armando Dippet retired in late 1956, Albus became headmaster of Hogwarts, which is the position he currently holds. He did not forget his star pupil when the time came to fill the post of Professor of Transfiguration that he had recently vacated. Minerva McGonagall joined the Hogwarts staff in December of 1956, and became deputy headmistress a short decade later. And the second love of his life had returned.

Two other Hogwarts pupils who distinguished themselves in Albus' mind, but for much different reasons: Rubeus Hagrid and Tom Riddle. Hagrid was a kind-hearted, half-giant lad who loved taking care of magical creatures that would have other students cringing. By contrast, from the day he travelled to a London orphanage to invite Tom Riddle to attend Hogwarts, Albus suspected that there was something wrong with the boy. He'd seen many Slytherins come and go in his days at the school, but Riddle had a cold hunger in his eyes that Albus did not care for in the slightest.

Even though the other Hogwarts staff seemed to be fooled by Riddle's good marks, charming smile, and easy-going manner, Albus suspected something darker lay within. When Riddle, as Head Boy, accused Hagrid of opening the Chamber of Secrets and unleashing a monster, Hagrid was expelled. Albus pleaded with Headmaster Dippet to keep Hagrid on as the school Gamekeeper, citing his love of magical creatures. After many hours discussion, Dippet finally agreed.

Not surprisingly, after Tom Riddle left school, he began to delve into the Dark Arts in a quest for immortality. He emerged again in the early 1970s, calling himself Lord Voldemort. His agenda to rid the world of Muggles and "Mudbloods" -- who are Albus' roots and friends -- is particularly distasteful. Albus continues to keep an eye out for news of Voldemort's exploits, determined -- through the use of his Pensieve -- to keep his anger in check until such as time as it needed. He is single-minded in his mission to not allow that boy to outsmart him a second time.

Likes: Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Alchemy, sweets of all sorts, fighting Dark wizards, Madam Rosemerta's oak-matured mead, and thick, woolen socks

Dislikes: rudeness, bigotry, Divination, History of Magic, Arithmancy, Ministry restrictions

Hobbies: chamber music, tenpin bowling, knitting, and collecting delicate silver instruments

Romantic history: Albus was married for a short time in his early life (1863-1865), but his Muggle wife, Violet Caruthers Dumbledore, died in childbirth, and their infant daughter also did not survive the delivery.

Astrology: THE ERRATIC TRENDSETTER (Aquarius/Tiger) -- A more speculative Tiger than we already know is personified by this clear-thinking, zigzag personality. Aquarius lends Tiger vision. Tiger congeals some of the free-floating mental jell-o that characterizes Aquarians. This combination sign provides the world with many innovators. Aquarius/Tigers go crazy for modern methods. They are purveyors of all sorts of new ways of accomplishing old tasks. They are into everything from the dernier cri computer software for pet training to obscure relaxation techniques developed by astronauts in zero gravity. Aquarians are the weirdoes of the zodiac. Tigers are not exactly known for their stability either. So this person can be said to be "marginal" in that he doesn't fancy settling down in a quiet place to raise family or pursue a calm career in dentistry. There is a spirit of revolution here. Aquarian/Tigers want change. Sometimes it's only change for themselves, which is why they move about so much. But often they will start a crusade for big change in government or work for feminist or class action causes. Love with this zany character is lots of fun. But it doesn't often last too long. Don't be surprised if you wake up on morning and he or she is long gone -- off on another quest for change.

Status Before Dumbledore's Spell: Dying, obviously...

DISCLAIMER: This journal is for role-play purposes only. I am not Richard Harris, nor do I own Albus Dumbledore -- more's the pity. If I did, I'd be rich, and I'd be writing about him for real, instead of merely playing him.