Albus Dumbledore is truly the most respected and revered wizard in the Harry Potter universe, with his incredible skill and genius intellect being both respected and feared by other members of the wizarding community. Dumbledore became one of the highlights of the recently released Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which showed that even in the 1920s, Albus Dumbledore was still widely revered. In the movie, one of Grindelwald's followers even referred to Dumbledore as "The Great Albus Dumbledore," a title that stuck around for decades after. But what was it that made Dumbledore so great? It wasn't just that he was a teacher / Headmaster, or that he mentored Harry Potter. Long before the Harry Potter franchise began, Dumbledore had already changed the Wizarding World countless times, with his achievements going down in history. Some even considered Albus Dumbledore to be the greatest wizard of all time, being even greater than Merlin.
The Dumbledore audiences met in The Crimes of Grindelwald had certainly made a name for himself, but he had still yet to achieve some of his greatest accomplishments. In the years between 1927, when The Crimes of Grindelwald took place, and 1991, the year The Sorcerer's Stone took place, Dumbledore had made some grand achievements, many of which changed how magic was used in the wizarding communities. From receiving awards to making new discoveries, and fighting dark wizards to revolutionizing Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore achieved quite a lot in the 64 year gap between the two franchises. With that said, here are 25 Things Dumbledore Did Between Fantastic Beasts And Sorcerer's Stone.
25 Dueled And Defeated Grindelwald
Much of the conflict in The Crimes of Grindelwald had to do with the fact that Dumbledore refused to duel his old friend Gellert Grindelwald. However, as history tells us, Albus eventually dueled Grindelwald in 1945, as what was described by witnesses as the greatest duel of all time.
This final confrontation between Dumbledore and Grindelwald is said to be the finale that the Fantastic Beasts franchise is building up to. Though it appears to be a slow build up, as The Crimes of Grindelwald takes place a whopping 18 years before the duel, it will surely be worth the wait.
24 Received The Order of Merlin First Class Award
Following the defeat of Grindelwald, Dumbledore was awarded the Order of Merlin First Class Award, an award that is only bestowed upon the greatest wizards of all time. Other well known recipients of this award were Arcturus Black, Remus Lupin (following the Battle of Hogwarts), Minerva McGonagall (also following the Battle of Hogwarts), and Cornelius Fudge (who awarded it to himself as a political stunt).
During the events of The Order of the Phoenix, some members of the Ministry of Magic attempted to retract the award, but they failed as the process took too long. Regardless, Dumbledore didn't really care if the award was retracted or not as he found no importance in the title whatsoever.
23 Was The First To Make A Patronus Talk
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a Patronus charm was sent by Kinglsey Shacklebolt to a Weasley wedding, carrying a message from Shacklebolt himself. Patronuses haven't always done this, however. Albus Dumbledore was actually the first to create this use for them.
Dumbledore didn't just avidly teach students, but he also taught himself, always jumping at new opportunities to learn. He became an extensive master of Charms and, while experimenting with his Patronus, learned that he could use a Patronus to send messages. This went on to become a common form of communication in the Wizarding World.
22 Discovered The Twelve Uses Of Dragon's Blood
Dragon's blood is a rare potions ingredient in the Wizarding World, but the development of using dragon's blood in potions did not occur until the past hundred years. Alas, Albus Dumbledore was the one who discovered not only that the Blood can be incredibly useful in potions, but that it even has 12 different possible uses, such as curing verucca and, oddly enough, cleaning ovens.
Following the passing of Dumbledore, a wizard named Ivor Dillonsby claimed that he had found the first eight uses of dragon's blood and that Dumbledore had merely taken credit for his achievements. However, most people do not believe Dillonsby's claim, especially considering that he told this bit of information to Rita Skeeter for her book The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, most of which just ended up being false accusations and rumors.
21 Invented The Deluminator
The small, lighter-shaped object that Dumbledore used to remove the light from the street lamps in the opening scene of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone wasn't just any ordinary magical object that a wizard could buy at a store. Dumbledore was actually the inventor of this small device.
While it's possible that Dumbledore could have made a load of money simply by selling Deluminators in stores, this was never anything he considered. Instead, he only ever made the one Deluminator, which was later given to Ron Weasley in The Deathly Hallows.
20 Became Head Of Transfiguration At Hogwarts
After teaching Defence Against The Dark Arts for several years at Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore eventually moved on to teach Transfiguration (this may have been due to the events of The Crimes of Grindelwald, but those details still remain unclear).
Around 1945, Dumbledore made a temporary leave of absence from Hogwarts in order to finally pursue Grindelwald. When he returned to Hogwarts, he wasn't just given back his job - he actually received a promotion, becoming Hogwarts's Head of Transfiguration, a position he held for two decades. The position was later filled by Professor McGonagall.
19 Became The Headmaster At Hogwarts
Following the retirement of Professor Armando Dippet, the 300 year old former Hogwarts headmaster, the Hogwarts Board of Governors elected Dumbledore to become the school's new Headmaster. It is unclear what year this occurred in, but it was certainly some time between 1965 and 1971.
Dumbledore served as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) headmasters that Hogwarts had ever seen, serving the school until his final days in 1997. He was briefly suspended from his duties twice, once in 1993 and again in 1996, but those were only minor setbacks for the Great Albus Dumbledore. Like his Transfiguration position, the position of Headmaster was later filled by Professor McGonagall.
18 Singlehandedly Made Hogwarts The Most Secure Place On Earth
After Dumbledore became the Headmaster of Hogwarts, he used a number of protective enchantments that he had learned in order to make Hogwarts the most secure location on the planet, even more secure and well protected than Gringotts Wizarding Bank.
The true extent of Dumbledore's enchantments on Hogwarts were not truly appreciated until almost a year after Dumbledore passed away, during the Battle of Hogwarts. When Voldemort wanted to invade the castle, he was unable to, with the magical barriers literally disintegrating some of his followers. It took the combined strength of Voldemort and countless Death Eaters to take down Dumbledore's magical barrier, and that's not even mentioning the enchantments that Dumbledore put on the statues.
17 Began An Unprecedented Alliance With The Centaurs
For centuries, the centaur communities have had bad relations with the Wizarding World, with the centaurs resenting the wizards for trying to control them and regulate them, despite their cultures being drastically different. Because of this, most centaurs truly despise wizards and are known to sometimes brutally attack a wizard who accidentally stumbles into their territory.
Dumbledore was the exception to this. Much like Newt Scamander, Dumbledore found ways to relate to and connect to magical creatures like the Merpeople and Goblins. He made an unprecedented alliance with the centaur community, specifically with the centaurs who roamed the Forbidden Forest, which helped to keep them always on good terms. Some centaurs even attended Dumbledore's funeral out of respect.
16 Turned Down The Position Of Minister Of Magic Three Times
Dumbledore's greatness did not go unnoticed by the politicians of the Wizarding World. In fact, Dumbledore was offered the position of Minister of Magic, the highest position of power a wizard can achieve in Britain, on three different occasions. Dumbledore turned down the offer each time.
The reason Dumbledore turned down the position was because he did not want to tempt himself again. When he was young and working with Grindelwald, he was blinded by power and made many mistakes. Dumbledore feared that having power was his greatest weakness and did not want to make himself more powerful than everyone around him. In fact, this fear of power almost kept him from taking the Headmaster position at Hogwarts.
15 Accidentally Found The Room Of Requirement
The Room of Requirement was one of the greatest secrets of Hogwarts, being left unknown for centuries. It wasn't until Harry Potter began attending Hogwarts that it started to become utilized by students at the school. Until then, it had mostly been used in secret by the House Elves who worked there.
Despite the secrecy, Dumbledore was the first known wizard to come across the Room of Requirement since the founding of Hogwarts nearly 1,000 years earlier. Dumbledore once told a story of how he once needed to use the restroom and found a mysterious door that happened to have a bathroom inside. When Dumbledore returned to the location later on, the door was gone. Without knowing it, Dumbledore had discovered one of the school's best kept secrets.
14 Hired Filch Just So Filch Could Have A Place In The World
Argus Filch is without a doubt the most useless staff member at Hogwarts, but this has nothing to do with his character. Simply put, almost everything at Hogwarts can be cleaned using magic, so why was Filch hired as the school's caretaker / janitor?
Unlike most of the other staff members at Hogwarts, Filch is a Squib, meaning that he has magical lineage, but is unable to produce magic himself. Often times, Squibs are unable to find work in the Wizarding World, but also cannot find a place in the Muggle world because they don't really fit in there. In 1973, Dumbledore hired Filch as the school's caretaker, finally giving Filch a place to belong.
13 Was Heavily Involved With The First Opening Of The Chamber Of Secrets
The first time that the Chamber of Secrets was opened in 1943, Dumbledore was not yet Headmaster, but he still had a hand to play in investigating the attacks. In fact, Dumbledore rightly concluded that Tom Riddle was the one behind the attacks on the Muggle-born students.
Realizing that he was a suspect, Riddle framed Hagrid for the attacks, which Headmaster Dippet and the Ministry of Magic believed, despite Dumbledore claiming it was Riddle. Even though Riddle got away seemingly scot-free, Dumbledore kept a close eye on Riddle for the remainder of his stay at Hogwarts, which successfully kept Riddle from opening the Chamber again while he was a student.
12 Hired Hagrid Right After He Was Expelled
After the young Rubeus Hagrid was wrongfully condemned for causing the attacks when the Chamber of Secrets was first opened, Dumbledore, knowing that Hagrid was innocent, fought to keep Hagrid around at the school. Seeing as it was Hagrid's pet that "attacked" the students, Hagrid was not given a criminal sentence. Despite this, his wand was destroyed and he was forbidden to ever use magic again.
Dumbledore convinced Headmaster Dippet to hire Hagrid as a Groundskeeper-in-training. Later, after Dumbledore became the Headmaster, he promoted Dumbledore to the "keeper of keys," in addition to allowing him to remain the Groundskeeper. He later promoted Hagrid again to a professor during Harry's third year at Hogwarts.
11 Became The First (And Only) Owner Of Fawkes The Phoenix
It's unclear how old Fawkes is, as phoenixes are immortal, but he is arguably the most important phoenix in history. His feathers were used to create the wands of both Voldemort and Harry Potter. Additionally, he was strong enough to take on a Basilisk, which is truly remarkable for a bird.
It is rare to come across a phoenix in the wild and even more rare for a phoenix to be used as a pet. Throughout his life, Fawkes only ever found one wizard that he deemed suitable to be his owner: Albus Dumbledore. Somewhere around the 1930s, Dumbledore adopted Fawkes the phoenix, and the two companions stayed together until Dumbledore lost his life in 1997. After the loss of Dumbledore, Fawkes returned to the wild and was never seen by a witch or wizard again.
10 Hired Someone To Spy On Young Harry
Following the loss of Lily and James Potter, Dumbledore brought the young Harry Potter to his aunt and uncle and left him seemingly alone for ten years. However, Harry was not actually alone during this time, as Dumbledore had hired someone to watch him for his entire childhood.
Mrs. Figg was a Squib and trusted friend of Dumbledore. Following the First Wizarding War, Dumbledore hired Mrs. Figg to be his eyes and ears in Little Whinging, watching over Harry for his entire childhood. Figg even got close enough with the Dursleys that they allowed her to babysit Harry, not realizing that she was a spy the entire time.
9 Saved Hogwarts From The Cursed Vaults
The Chamber of Secrets wasn't the only cursed location in Hogwarts that almost shut down the school. Alas, as revealed in the mobile game Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, there are secret vaults inside of Hogwarts which, if opened, unleash a number of curses upon the school. Fittingly, these are called the Cursed Vaults.
During the First Wizarding War, one student, unknowingly working for Voldemort, used the Cursed Vaults to unleash numerous curses across the school, one of which almost froze the entire castle and everyone in it in magical ice. Fortunately, Dumbledore was there to save the day. Presumably, any other previous Headmaster would not have been able to deal with the issue as Dumbledore did and likely would not have been able to save the school.
8 Obtained Two Of The Deathly Hallows
By the end of his life, Dumbledore had managed to get his hands on all three Deathly Hallows, but he actually managed to obtain two of the three before the events of Harry Potter even began. The first Deathly Hallow Dumbledore obtained was the Elder Wand, which he won after he defeated Grindelwald in their climactic duel in 1945.
The second Deathly Hallow he received was the Invisibility Cloak. By happenstance, James Potter had come across the Invisibility Cloak at a young age. When Dumbledore learned about it many years later, he asked if he could borrow the cloak from James in order to study it, believing it to be the actual Cloak of Invisibility from the Deathly Hallows story (which it was). Unfortunately, James lost his life to Voldemort after loaning the Cloak to Dumbledore, so Dumbledore never had the chance to return it. The Cloak was later given to Harry during his first year at Hogwarts.
7 Created A First-Of-Its-Kind Private Study For Students With Himself
Previous Headmasters at Hogwarts had more of a distant relationship with their students, typically only involving themselves with the students in disciplinary events. This was something that Dumbledore was not proud of, so he started the "Albus Dumbledore Homework Help."
Every Friday, Dumbledore would have a class time-slot where he would sit in a classroom and help any student that came in with any courses they were struggling with. It helped give students one-on-one time with the brightest wizard the world had ever seen, which was incredibly useful. Students were even encouraged to send owls ahead of time so Dumbledore could have time to prepare a personalized lesson for them. Little things like this show just how great of a Headmaster Dumbledore truly was.
6 Indirectly Caused The Prophecy Foretelling That Harry Would Defeat Voldemort
One of the most important factors in Harry Potter's life was the prophecy foretelling that Harry (or Neville) would be the one to ultimately defeat Voldemort. Shockingly, Dumbledore had an indirect impact on the creation of this prophecy that forever changed the Wizarding World.
Dumbledore, not believing in Divination or prophecies, was hoping to cut Divination from Hogwarts's curriculum. Despite this, he still gave Sybill Trelawney an interview out of respect. However, Dumbledore was still not convinced by Trelawney's attempts to show her future-telling skills. As Dumbledore turned her down and started walking away, Trelawney fell into a trance, where she gave the prophecy about Harry being the one to defeat Voldemort. Had Dumbledore not rejected her, this historic prophecy may never have occurred.
5 Founded The Order Of The Phoenix
When Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard at the time, rose to power and started the First Wizarding War with his Death Eaters at his side, it only seemed right that Dumbledore, the most powerful good wizard at the time, should start an army of his own.
Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix, which was named after his own Phoenix, Fawkes, who actually served as an unofficial member of the group, often fighting alongside Dumbledore in battle. The Order was essential to the First Wizarding War and it's unlikely that Voldemort's armies would have been effectively defeated had Dumbledore not formed this group.
4 Recruited Tom Riddle
This maybe wasn't Dumbledore's proudest moment. At some point after becoming a staff member at Hogwarts, Dumbledore was appointed as one of the school's recruitment officers. This was a job that Dumbledore enjoyed, as he did like reaching out to incoming students. It was also a great way to market the school, because who wouldn't want to go to Hogwarts after "The Great Albus Dumbledore" asked them to?
One of the students who Dumbledore recruited was Tom Riddle, later known as Voldemort, who was still discovering his abilities while living in a Muggle orphanage in 1938. Had Dumbledore not reached out to the young Tom Riddle, it's quite likely that Riddle would not have learned the true extent of his abilities and would have just gone on lighting closets on fire rather than attempting to enslave Muggles for the rest of his life. Hindsight is 20/20.
3 Indirectly Started The "Defence Against The Dark Arts Curse" At Hogwarts
After Tom Riddle graduated Hogwarts, he asked the Headmaster at the time, Professor Dippet, if he could return as a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Dumbledore successfully advised Dippet against allowing Riddle to return as a teacher. About twenty years later, when Dumbledore was the Headmaster, Riddle returned to the school to request yet again to become the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Knowing that Riddle had become heavily involved with the Dark Arts and even had a cult following at the time, Dumbledore turned him down a second time.
Furious at Dumbledore's decision, Riddle jinxed the Defence Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts, making it so no professor who took the position would ever last a year in the job. While it was Voldemort who created the curse, the curse itself is often attributed to Dumbledore. Fortunately, the jinx was eventually broken after the events of the Harry Potter franchise. It is unclear, however, if it was broken by the passing of Dumbledore or by the passing of Voldemort.
2 Allowed Werewolves To Attend Hogwarts
Among the Wizarding community, werewolves are almost always outcast. Despite most werewolves only showing their features one night per month, most wizards saw them as monsters nonetheless and would often distance themselves from them. In fact, most schools, including Hogwarts, had strict rules against allowing werewolves to attend them or even step foot on the grounds.
When the young Remus Lupin hoped to attend Hogwarts, despite being a werewolf following an attack by Fenrir Greyback, Dumbledore decided to rewrite the rules. Wanting every witch and wizard to receive fair treatment, Dumbledore allowed Lupin to attend and kept Lupin's infection incredibly secret. He even reserved the Shrieking Shack as a place for Lupin to stay whenever there was a full moon, with the Whomping Willow keeping Lupin from escaping as a werewolf.
1 Earned Himself A Chocolate Frog Card (His Greatest Achievement)
While all of the achievements listed above were truly great accomplishments by Albus Dumbledore, there was one achievement he held above them all: the day he received his own Chocolate Frog Card. In every Chocolate Frog box would come a collectible trading card of a legendary wizard who had an impact on the Wizarding World. Other recipients included Merlin, Godric Gryffindor, Bertie Bott, and eventually Harry Potter.
To Dumbledore, this was the highest honor he could ever have achieved. In fact, when the Ministry of Magic attempted to defame him and rid him of his Order of Merlin Award, Dumbledore's only concern was that they did not get rid of his Chocolate Frog Card. There lies the true essence of Dumbledore's character. He was never out for fame or power. He was a simple man who loved to learn, but also loved his candies.
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