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 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 / Heaster, 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 ing 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.
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.
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.
Became The Heaster At Hogwarts
Following the retirement of Professor Armando Dippet, the 300 year old former Hogwarts heaster, the Hogwarts Board of Governors elected Dumbledore to become the school's new Heaster. 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) heasters 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 Heaster was later filled by Professor McGonagall.
Singlehandedly Made Hogwarts The Most Secure Place On Earth
After Dumbledore became the Heaster 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 ed 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.
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 . Some centaurs even attended Dumbledore's funeral out of respect.
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 Heaster position at Hogwarts.
