manuscript

Found in the papers of Albus Dumbledore, written longhand on a piece of foolscap

—

You would understand, I think, the words

I never thought I’d want to say. And yet

the want itself is deathly. I can’t forget

the weeping nights, silence screaming, absurd

ideas of words to say—as if you heard.

 

How much could you still understand?

 

As you watched us laughing, as we planned

to change the world for good—for those preferred—

you kept the frightened silence that now rings

thundering inside my every dream,

to warp with magic stronger than my own

the words I still can’t say—a thousand things

that weren’t—or were they?

                                                                            How do these words seem?

 

Words and silence die unheard, alone.

—

Professor Minerva McGonagall, the estate’s executor, entrusted this manuscript along with other personal effects to Aberforth Dumbledore, the next of kin. The manuscript was rediscovered after Aberforth’s death, when it was found sewn into the lining of his jacket.