- If Voldemort had been slightly more careful about Snape instead of being excessively arrogant and believing in his trustworthiness blindly -
"Imperio," Thomas Marvolo Riddle whispered, as he put Severus Snape under his control for the time being. While he had no doubt that Snape was loyal to him, you could never be too careful with spies as they were always more concerned with self preservation more than anything else. Especially considering how much of an expert Leglimens Snape was, it was better to be safe than sorry.
/
"Well, well, well, you've outdone yourself, Severusss," Voldemort hissed to himself in pleasure. Harry Potter was the final horcrux he had unintentionally created, and Dumbledore was banking on his intense desire to get rid of his "rival" to get rid of it. But AHA! He was Lord Voldemort, the greatest wizard in history since Merlin himself, and he would not be fooled by such trivial issues. Now, it was time to plan a coup so surprising that anyone, not even Dumbledore supposedly the saviour of the wizarding world, would be expecting. Maybe he would even lay off his minions and not crucio them for their silliness for a while...
Finally, the day was here. It was time for him to reap the seeds he sowed, and for him to take over as the supreme leader of the Wizarding Community of Britain and establish his dominance and prove his superiority.
"Lucius! Bellatrix! Come here at once! It's time," He ordered as he sneered in delight, relishing in thought of what was about to happen.
Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange immediately gathered their troops and disapparated to the doorstep of Number 4, Privet Drive. They crashed through the door and immediately set about their mission: capturing Harry Potter. Yes, it was a rather ingenious idea of his, as Severus had informed him about the simple flaw of Dumbledore's blood wards: only anyone who wished to harm Harry Potter would not be able to enter the house. And knowing what he knew now, he was not going to even a harm a hair of Harry Potter. Oh no, Harry Potter was to be kept safe under lock and key and was going to be the means to ensuring his immortality. HA, that fool Dumbledore had lost again! He, Lord Voldemort, the greatest of them all, was going to triumph over Dumbledore yet again and set things right.
Soon enough, his loyal death eaters returned with his prized prey. Voldemort was positively vibrating in pleasure, and immediately bestowed upon his subjects their due rewards before turning around to pay attention to the main character at hand.
"You won't win Tom! Even if you kill me, Dumbledore and the rest won't stop fighting and will destroy you before you can even try!" Potter screamed, loud enough to shatter his eardrums and give him a pounding headache had he not preempted this and protected himself from the stupid boy's curses. "Aha, and that's where you're wrong Potter, for I'm not going to kill you and instead, you're going to help me rule the world!" He sneered at the boy, before he decided to end his annoying whining and silenced him with a flick of his wand. However, that didn't stop him for gesticulating wildly at him and making rude gestures. Voldemort had reached the end of his patience and immediately flew down to the boy in an attempt to slap him quiet. And it proved to be a fatal error.
- A.N.: HA, I didn't say Dumbledore and the Order wouldn't similarly be smarter did I? -
He was immediately portkeyed out into a cage, one which was magically restrained, so powerful that not even he, Lord Voldemort, the greatest wizard in history since Merlin, could not escape from.
See, Dumbledore was not as dumb as Voldemort had perceived him to be, and had charms on his doorway, informing him whenever an imperiused person walked through it. He had immediately gathered what Tom's plans were and played him smartly, rather a grandmaster of chess. He had baited Tom using a decoy and now successfully trapped him. Now, not only did he have to not worry about killing Harry as Tom was effectively neutered, Fudge's ostrich act was not harmful either. The death eaters were rather useless without Tom leading them as they weren't as united as previously thought, with all of them fighting for leadership after Tom 'disappeared'. Dumbledore wasn't simply known as the leader of the light for no reason.