Image credit: here

Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was a half-blood wizard born to Percival and Kendra Dumbledore, and the elder of brother Aberforth and sister Ariana. When Dumbledore was around ten years old, an incident occurred between Ariana, who was six years old, and a group of Muggle boys where they had seen the young girl had been practicing magic. Unable to reproduce the magic in front of them, the Muggle boys assaulted her and the incident left Ariana traumatized and unable to control her magic. This led to their father, Percival, to attack the boys, for which he was later sentenced and imprisoned in Azkaban for. He refused to explain the reasoning as Ariana would be taken away due to her violating the Statute of Secrecy, and so he chose to serve the sentence instead. Unfortunately for Percival, Azkaban later became his resting ground. Dumbledore later lost his mother eight years later in an explosion when Ariana lost control of her magic. This incident, which occurred shortly after his graduation from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, resulted in Dumbledore becoming the legal guardian of his two younger siblings. To add to the tragedy, Dumbledore later lost his sister in a three way duel between himself, Aberforth, and his friend Gellert Grindelwald, who later became the second most dangerous Dark wizard of all time. After the Ariana’s death, Dumbledore started his career at Hogwarts as a Transfiguration professor and he later became the headmaster of the school.

Many consider Dumbledore to be the most powerful wizard of his time. He was most known for his eventual defeat of Gellert Grindelwald, discovery of twelve uses for dragon blood, and his advances in alchemical research with Nicolas Flamel. Dumbledore was also greatly involved in wizarding politics and was often called on by Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge for advice on various matters. He himself was offered the position of Minister for Magic several times, but turned it down every time since he realized that his desire for power was his weakness. He served as the leader, or Supreme Mugwump, to the International Confederation of Wizards, an intergovernmental organization that operates similar to the Muggle’s United Nations, until 1995. Dumbledore was also Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, the wizarding British court of law and parliament. Dumbledore was dismissed from both positions upon the denial of Voldemort’s return by the Ministry of Magic, but was later reinstated his membership after the Ministry forced acknowledgement the dark wizard’s return. Unfortunately, Dumbledore did not regain his position as Supreme Mugwump as Babajide Akingbade had succeeded him when he was removed, but he remained Chief Warlock until his death in 1997.

Albus Dumbledore’s portrait was painted in 1956 after being appointed Headmaster for the school. It was placed in the headmaster’s portrait cupboard and much like the headmasters before him, Dumbledore often visited it so that he could teach his portrait to behave like him and to pass on valuable information. This ultimately proved to be useful after his untimely death during the Second Wizarding War. Following his death, the portrait was hung in the Headmaster’s office, and it provided instructions for the new headmaster, Professor Snape, in aiding Harry Potter in destroying Voldemort’s horcruxes.