You Look So Young

Spoilers: Through the final chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Summary: Dumbledore reflects.
Disclaimer: Not mine, J. K. Rowling’s. Hopefully she won’t mind my visiting the characters from time to time.

You’ve seen more than most twice your age.

You’ve stood on your own and looked death in the face more than once. You’ve been an orphan: teased, ridiculed, abused, ignored, but not loved until far past the time you deserved it. You’ve laughed and cried, fought and loved, been overwhelmed with pain and astonished by joy. You’ve been proud and pleased, and you’ve been angry. Your anger has reached deep into your soul and shaped the way you react to the world around you.

You’ve made decisions and survived on no more than a wing and a prayer: a bit of luck, a lot of skill, and the sort of bravery only one who has looked death in the face and beat it back can ever truly make claim to. You’ve triumphed and you’ve lost. You’ve looked into the face of evil and seen the glitter for what it truly is—mere sparkle that will tarnish when it meets reality. You’ve witnessed your friends, and your family, die. Seen them struck down in front of you and been powerless to stop it from happening.

You’ve been on the top and on the bottom and you’ve taken it in stride. Shouldered the responsibility of your actions, your decisions, and those of others. I’ve watched you for five years: Watched you learn, watched you love, watched you laugh, and watched you hurt. And I’ve watched you look death in the face without blinking.

You’ve faced more than most twice your age.

Tonight you sit here, in the very office where I made a decision years ago to keep you safe, to protect you, to help you grow into the sort of man that evil fears. But tonight you are angry with me. I recognize I have made a mistake, and now I must tell you the truth.

I feel so old.

And you look so young.

By Sabrina