Chapter Five

The next day dawned with all the golden glory of early autumn. The silver and gold contraptations in Albus' study gleamed as though newly polished, and the dust on the higgledy piggledy piles of books and scrolls shone like fireflies. The windows were wide open as though to invite the new day in, and Albus hummed contentedly as he readied himself for his first transfiguration lesson with the new first years. Fawkes was perched on the open window preening his red and gold plumage, and occasionally catching a lemon drop that Albus tossed in the air for him.

"You know Fawkes I've never known a bird to have such a sweet tooth as you ..." Albus joked, "I hardly get any lemon drops when you're around ..."

Fawkes cocked his head and looked at Albus quizzically, as though querying whether Albus was actually aware that phoenixes did not have teeth.

Albus chuckled softly as though he understood just what Fawkes was thinking. "Yes my friend, of course I know that you don't have teeth, it was purely a figure of speech." Albus answered with a beaming smile. "Care for another lemon drop ?"

As Albus tossed the candy high in the air Fawkes cooed happily, and swooped off the window sill in a fluffy of scarlet and gold to catch the sweet deftly in his beak.

Albus' long auburn hair blazed like fire as the warm rays of the autumnal sun caught it, and his azure eyes danced and sparkled as though sunbeams had been captured in them. Albus always looked forward with almost childlike excitement to his first class with the new students, filled with curiosity about them - nothing gave him more pleasure than to see the young people he cared for learn and grow. He counted his job well done if he could inspire them and fill them with a wish to learn, if he could teach them the value of compassion and joy.

Albus knew that some of the first years would be feeling nervous still, and might well be even more apprehensive about their first class with the Deputy Headmaster. Thinking about how his students might be feeling reminded Albus of his own nerves when he had first become a teacher - it almost seemed as though it were only yesterday that Albus had stood in this same room with butterflies dancing a disconcerting jig in his stomach, trying desperately to calm his fears before teaching his first ever class. Albus chuckled softly to himself as he recalled what had happened.

That morning just a few years ago, Albus had dressed in his normal bright colours - a vivid scarlet robe decorated with golden moons and stars, purple hat with golden phoenixes, and large turquoise boots. He had glanced at the clock, nervously gathered books and scrolls into his arms, then dropped them in a heap on the floor as he tripped over a stool that he knew was there. He had been so busy picking up the books and scrolls that he had forgotten his wand, and had to rush back and fetch it. Then he had wasted even more time nervously smoothing down his hair, before tripping over the exact same stool again and dropping everything once more. By the time Albus had left his rooms he was a quivering mass of flustered nerves.

As he had walked along the passage on his way to the transfiguration classroom he had overheard two of his fellow Professors talking, they didn't seem to have noticed Albus as he moved towards them.

"How do you think that new young fellow, Dumbledore, will do today ?" Herbert Beery, the Professor of Herbology had asked loudly.

"Oh he'll never keep discipline, not with that twinkle in his eyes." Silvanus Kettleburn the Care of Magical Creatures Professor had responded equally loudly.

Albus had instantly been frozen to the spot in horror as he heard this, his legs seemed to have turned to jelly as the nerves he'd been struggling to controll all morning threatened to overwhelm him. Was his twinkle really that bad ?

"Who's Dumbledore teaching today anyway ?" Herbert Berry asked, as though unaware of the young auburn haired Professor standing a few yards away.

"The fourth years."Silvanus Kettleburn answered casually.

"Oh they'll eat him alive !" Roared Herbert, "Do you remember what they did to that poor young fellow last year ?"

"Indeed I do." Answered Silvanus, "Never fully recovered from it, left at the end of term didn't he ?"

"Half term actually ... never taught again apparently." Herbert replied.

Albus had heard all he could stand, turning he shot back down the passage to his chambers and shut the door firmly behind him. For a moment he leant quivering against the door, tempted to go to Armando Dippet and resign then and his Gryffindor courage reasserted itself as he reminded himself that teaching was what he wanted to do more than anything else. 'I shall just have to be stern and disciplinarian.' Albus told himself firmly, at first this seemed like a brilliant idea to him, then Albus realised that he had no idea whatsoever how to be stern or disciplinarian. "Oh dear ..." He said softly as he rubbed his chin distractedly and wondered how one managed to be stern. "Oh bother ..." He muttered a few moments later, as he began to pace back and forth frantically. "Oh Merlin ..." He groaned as his pacing grew even more rapid and he was still desperately tryng to work out how to be stern.

It was on his tenth circuit of the room that Albus caught sight of his reflection in the mirror on the wall, at once he stopped dead as though frozen and stared at himself aghast. He looked the exact opposite of sterness in his brightly coloured outfit, and his eyes - Albus could hardly believe it, they did twinkle, they sparkled in a horribly merry manner. Albus covered his eyes and groaned in despair, how could he ever hope to keep control with eyes that twinkled like this. Cautiously Albus parted his fingers a little and peered through the cracks between them, perhaps he'd been wrong about his eyes, maybe they weren't really that bad. As he saw his eyes sparkling back at him brightly Albus groaned and slammed his fingers tightly together again, it seemed to him that the more he looked at his eyes the worse they twinkled.

"Can't stand here all day with my hands over my eyes ..." Albus muttered to himself, mournfully he dropped his hands to his sides and stared despairingly at his reflection. Suddenly Albus had a brainwave, maybe he would look sterner if he changed his clothes. Albus beamed in delight then had to prevent himself from flinging his hands over his face again, as he noticed how the twinkle in his eyes had grown even more intense. Trying desperately to ignore the loathesome sparkle of his eyes Albus drew his wand, and with a casual flick transfigured his clothes into sombre darkly coloured robes, that were devoid of even the slightest hint of colour. Albus gazed hopefully into the mirror, but despite his black robes he still didn't look stern at all, how could he look stern with eyes that insisted on sparkling like sunbeams all the time.

"I've got to make them stop twinkling." Albus muttered to himself, as Kettleburn's words played over and over in his mind. Albus spent the next few minutes staring at his reflection and commanding his eyes not to twinkle, when that failed to work he tried thinking the gloomiest thoughts possible. No matter what he did his eyes still persisted in sparkling until Albus was almost at his wits end. Suddenly Albus remembered how stern and fiercesome some of his old teachers had looked, how they'd been able to quell an entire unruly class with a single glare. "That's it !" Albus said triumphantly, "All I have to do is look stern." Albus clenched his fists and glared fiercely at his reflection as though daring it to even attempt to twinkle, his reflection didn't seem impressed at all and simply twinkled at him as though the whole thing were highly amusing. Next Albus tried setting his face into what he hoped was a severe and rigid expression, and clenching his fists so hard that they hurt, still his bright blue eyes insisted on ruining the effect by sparkling.

Albus was so busy practising his stern glares that he completely failed to notice the moustached face of Herbert Berry poking round his door, and watching in great amusement. Albus made several more futile attempts at fiercesome glares, he even tried snarling at his reflection, at which point Herbert had to stuff his fist into his mouth to keep from laughing.

Albus stared into the mirror miserably, he was going to be an abject failure as a teacher. His class would run riot, and Armando would have no choice other than to fire him. He must have been insane to ever want to become a teacher. If only there was some way he could cover up his eyes, so that their twinkling didn't ruin all his stern glares. Suddenly Albus' eyes sparkled gleefully as he remembered watching a film where some of the muggles had worn glasses with darkly coloured lenses. Albus hadn't been sure why they did this until it had been explained to him that they protected the eyes from bright sunlight. Whipping out his wand Albus transfigured an empty lemon drop tin into a pair of glasses with almost completely black lenses, then put them on eagerly and stared into the mirror. To his delight, his annoyingly twinkly eyes were completely hidden from sight. Albus was so excited by this that he didn't notice how dark everything looked, and how difficult it was to see, until he tried to walk across to the table to get his books, banged his left knee hard on the arm chair, bumped his elbow on a bookshelf and tripped over the table leg. Albus spent the next few minutes sitting on the floor rubbing his knee and elbow alternately, and wondering what on earth muggles saw in dark glasses. While Herbert Berry leant shoulders shaking against his door.

Mournfully Albus got to his feet and looked miserably at his reflection, even with bruised knees and elbows his eyes still sparkled back at him, as though all was well with the world. "Why do you have to twinkle ?" Albus enquired of his eyes forlornly, "Please stop twinkling, just stop twinkling ... please."

Hearing this Herbert spluttered so loudly that Albus heard him, as Albus spun round Herbert turned the splutter into a cough expertly. "Just coming to remind you not to be late Dumbledore ..." Herbert said casually, "Better get going you know ..."

Albus stifled a sigh, he had no choice other than to face the disaster that his lesson was certain to be. "Thank you Herbert ..." He murmured, and picking up boooks, scrolls and wand gulped slightly and left the refuge of his study.

Just as Albus reached the door of his classroom, he recalled the advice that Armando Dippet had given a few days ago. "Remember Albus if they give you any nonsence just hand out a few detentions, take some house points, or give some lines, that will soon make any trouble makers think twice." The headmaster had said. At the time Albus had been determined not to take such a disciplinarian approach but now he felt as though he had no choice.

Consequently it was an extremely strict Albus Dumbledore who taught his first ever class. Detentions were flung around like confetti, Albus even gave one boy lines simply for raising his hand to ask a question. By the time the lesson was nearly over his pupils were almost afraid to breathe, and the room was so silent that you could have heard a pin drop. As Albus gazed at the rows of bowed heads, each one working hard and silently, he wondered why he wasn't relieved that things were going so well. His students were under perfect control despite his twinkling eyes, and yet he didn't feel any delight in this, he just felt nearly as miserable as the children before him looked. That was it, Albus suddenly realised, this wasn't the kind of teacher he wanted to be. He didn't want to see rows of chldren who worked hard only because they were scared of him. He'd come into teaching because he loved being around young people, and because he wanted to inspire them with the joy of learning, to guide them and try to keep them safe from the temptations of the darker arts. 'I can't be this kind of teacher.' Albus thought, 'I have to be my kind of teacher.'

"All detentions are cancelled." Albus announced, rising to his feet, flinging his arms wide, and beaming joyously at the bewildered faces of his students. "And furthermore, these robes are postively gloomy, wouldn't you agree ?" Oblivious of the staring eyes and wide open mouths of his class, Albus whipped out his wand and transfigured his robes back to their original bright colours, then sat crosslegged on his desk and gazed benignly around him.

As his students stared at him uncertainly, still too afraid to move or speak, Albus felt a surge of guilt, he had made them so miserable. "Today I forgot a very important thing, and that is that learning should always be fun." Albus said softly, "So from now on we are going to have lots of fun, but we are also going to learn a great deal. Therefore all previous punishments are, as I said, cancelled. Now since I believe we've worked quite hard enough for today let me offer you all a lemon drop ..."

Albus then proceeded to entertain the class by turning all the desks into sheep which had coats in all the colours of the rainbow, and ran around the room bleeting noisily. When some of the sheep started to nibble at scrolls and books, Albus turned them back into desks, except they were fur covered desks that said baaa whenever anyone tried to put anything on them. By this time all the students looked much happier, and looking around Albus could see the spark of interest in many of their eyes. Beaming serenely at them, he flicked his wand one final time and the desks became perfectly normal wooden desks. "That my dears is the magic and wonder of transfiguration." Albus said lightly, "Now off you all go and have some fun."

Later that day when classes were finished Albus had made his way to the staff room to share his experiences with his fellow Professors. As he'd turned the door handle he'd heard Professor Berry's voice, "Most successful joke we've ever played ... pleading with his eyes to stop twinkling, would you believe ..."

Professor Kettleburn had roared with laughter at this, indeed he had laughed so loudly that he had fallen off his chair and rolled around on the floor, with tears of laughter streaming down his cheeks.

Albus chuckled to himself as he remembered how he'd stood in the staff room doorway tempted for a few moments to hex Professors Beery and Kettleburn, and how this had been the start of a prank war that had only ended when an irate Headmaster had summoned the three Professors to his office like naughty schoolboys. Armando had then lectured them sternly on acting their age and setting a good example. The Headmaster had finished his lecture by stating firmly that if there was any more nonsence he'd put each one of them on probation. Still chuckling at his memories Albus settled his tall purple hat securely on his head and made his way to the transfiguration classroom ready for his first lesson with the new students.

Author's Notes

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, it really does help to motivate me to keep going. Next chapter will be sometime in January, since I'll be busy with family over the holidays. In the next chapter Minerva has her first lesson with Albus.

Have a great Christmas everyone, and please review, reviews make my day all sparkly, just like tinsel or Albus' eyes. :D