Something Special

Albus Dumbledore was no stranger to special witches and wizards. He had encountered more than his fair share in his life.

His entire family was talented for one thing. His brother, outstanding. His father, insanely powerful. His mother? Never outright showed it, but the ease with which Albus witnessed her performing any of her magical affairs, he had a hunch she may be more powerful than them all.

His sister hadn't had the chance to be anything special, rest her soul. But he knew in his heart, she would've put them all to shame.

Albus himself, of course, was nothing to scoff at. He had always been a natural at all things magical. He had watched other children struggle to learn things that came to him effortlessly. It had always bothered him when he could watch and see what was wrong, what his classmates were missing. He was always one to jump in and help.

At times, he admits, he may have seemed to be a know it all. He truly just wanted to help. He grew to understand, through life experience, that he may have been less than gracious in how those handled situations.

Everything that happened with his sister and his father and then his mother made him a bit resentful of it all. His natural ability had gotten him exactly nowhere. He still had to return home and do all the things everyone else does, be less, even, than what everyone else is.

He met Gellert Grindelwald. He was another outstanding wizard, both in the conventional way and a way all his own. They did their thing. Two wonderful wizards, making plans to make a better world. One that corrects the injustices Albus has faced in his life.

Until it happened. And then they couldn't anymore. Albus couldn't. He wasn't the same person he had been.

He understood. He understood all the wrong, all the misconceptions they were under, all the unfairness and lies. It was like the glass shattered. Suddenly he saw what this new world would be. What it would turn into.

It wasn't what Albus wanted.

He had always loved seeing witches and wizards excel. He had always been one to excel himself, so he knew how elated they were when they got that new spell finally. When they were told their potion passed with flying colors.

Grindelwald's world didn't allow for that. It didn't allow for people to succeed that way. For the peers he had helped, even though he hadn't been too gentle with their feelings he now knew, to have the chance to get there too.

Gellert's world, it only allowed for the exceptional to succeed.

Albus now recognized the error in this way of thinking. He had always known, but now it was all he could see.

They were all exceptional. Every witch who was the best at transfiguration, who puts her whole class to shame. Every wizard who took three attempts to make the perfect sleeping draught because he was distracted from a lack of sleep the night before. Every muggleborn child who got their Hogwarts letter at 11, and even their younger sibling that didn't.

Not a single one of them was unexceptional.

Even his brother, who people often see as exactly that, unexceptional

And just like that, he knew there was more he had to do. He had to be the one to make them see just how much potential they had, each and every one of them. How exceptional they could be. And he had to help them make sure they got there.