crack_van | Tower of Air by cluegirl (PG)

Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: none
Author on LJ:

cluegirl
Author Website: The Soulgarden
Why this must be read:

Albus Dumbledore has a private portrait gallery, and after the fight at the Department of Mysteries, he has one more portrait to add. This fic is a heartrending picture of Dumbledore and the guilt and sadness he carries, the cost of the wars he's fought, and the fact that he still lives while others don't.

An excerpt:

Albus stops climbing, turns the canvas about to give its occupant a proper look. "Very nearly, dear boy," he says, "But I'm afraid this tower does not appear on your map." It is a private place, this lofty perch; no feet save his own have ever touched its steps; no other's breath but his has stirred its dust. Even the castle elves dust and polish its doorstep without guessing what lies beyond.

The painting makes a gasping sound. "Whoa. Is that the Astronomy Tower down there?"

The shape glimmers dimly through stones so deeply impregnated with invisibility charms that they have become translucent from within as well. A wide, flat roof some twenty feet down, ringed with telescopes and kissing children -- what else could it be? Albus has never been one to seek the murky depths, after all, hiding his heart in the castle's stony bowels as old Salazar did his vengeance. This vantage; unplottable, undetectable and scraped raw by heaven's gaze is a far more fitting site for an old man's guilt. But aloud, he only says "Yes, dear boy. Yes it is."

This story is stark, painful and very much a Dumbledore I can believe in.

Tower of Air by

cluegirl