He stood alone, watching the destruction in the village below. It wasn't the first muggle village he had watched being razed, and it wouldn't be the last. Their use of magic would alert the Aurors soon, but it would be too late for the Aurors to do anything. They would have been long gone by then.

"Albus."

He turned to lay his eyes on the bloodstained man who grinned at him, a glint of insanity in the depths of the other man's eyes. Gellert's appearance was a stark contrast to his own unblemished robes, his green tie still firmly in place and his black robes holding not a hint of blood.

"Did you have fun, Gellert?" A wry grin wound its way onto his lips. Gellert had always enjoyed the blood and gore, while he was the one to enjoy the fear and terror that was nearly palpable. Their intelligence, however, was equal as was their respective control over their magic.

It was them seeing equals in each other that had been the start of everything.

"Do you think you can finish up? Curfew is in a few hours, and I'd rather not have anyone get suspicious." Albus rolled his eyes. His excuse, should anyone have been looking for him during the last three hours, need not be elaborate: Slytherins were many things, but they were loyal to those with power, and Albus had power.

"Is that all?" Gellert asked, amusement filling his voice. "I wouldn't have thought that you cared about such trivial things anymore. You're nearly graduating, aren't you?"

"I do not care. Aberforth has simply becoming more and more annoying. He has been appearing at the most inopportune moments recently. He suspects something." Albus shrugged. "I've ensured that there isn't much to find. The other Slytherins know to keep their mouths shut, especially in the presence of Aberforth and his rowdy Gryffindor friends."

"I can take care of the rest. Go back to Hogwarts, and reassure your brother that you are still his innocent older brother." Gellert laughed at the idea of Albus being innocent. Much of this bloodshed had been his idea, after all. Gellert didn't care much for Albus's reasons, only that their end-goal was the same.

Albus nodded, disappearing with a soft pop.

…oOo…

"Albus! Where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Albus sighed. He had barely been in the castle for ten minutes, and his dear brother had already found him. Their conversation topic would be inane and better saved for tomorrow. Aberforth would make sure to continue the conversation until curfew, wasting more of Albus' time than he would like to think about.

But he had to humour his brother, lest Aberforth sent an owl home telling their parents about how the Slytherins were as bad an influence as they had expected. Albus laughed every time he thought about it; it was he who was the bad influence on the Slytherins and not the other way around, if you could even put it that way. Albus had only united the Slytherins and given them a goal that aligned with their own values.

Despite being a Halfblood, Albus had not needed to do much convincing to get the other Slytherins to join Gellert and him. He had prepared elaborate explanations that would have surely convinced even those thick-headed Gryffindor's to join him, but none of it had been necessary. They had only heard of his ideas and agreed.

For all of his mother's fervent desire for their family to be treated like Purebloods, Albus had never thought that it would be this easy. The exalted Purebloods were just as foolish as everyone else in their bigotry. Albus hid his embarrassment of every wanting to be like those fools carefully; having them think that he looked down upon them would be disastrous to his need of their continued compliance. They wished to be treated as equals, and for now, Albus would allow them to continue thinking that they were.

It was Albus' intention to join the Ministry as soon as he left Hogwarts. He needed their influence if he wishes to rise to the top of the Ministry quickly.

It would be too late by the time they realised that they were expendable in his and Gellert's plans. Those esoteric conversations where he and Gellert spoke of the plans that were his and Gellert's only, just like their place in the future Wizarding World was theirs only. They would reach the zenith together, as they had promised each other that day so many summers ago.

"Aberforth, would you mind? I'm trying to get to get into bed before I fall asleep," Albus said finally, having had enough of walking through the corridors with his brother. "I had prefect rounds last night."

Aberforth still sent him a suspicious look despite the fact that his excuse was perfectly reasonable. Many of the other prefects spent the morning after their rounds yawning as if they hadn't slept at all.

Albus yawned behind his hand and saw Aberforth's expression soften slightly. "Alright, then. Goodnight, Albus. I'm going to need your help in Transfiguration tomorrow!"

He waited until Aberforth's footsteps had faded into the distance before he started moving again; Albus wouldn't put it past Aberforth to follow him in an attempt to find out where the entrance to the Slytherin common room was. Even so, Albus made sure to take all the shortcuts he knew, doubling back a couple of times, just in case, before he was finally standing in front of the diagonally placed section of the stone wall: the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

His inner circle sat on the couches before the fire, waiting for his return. His seat remained empty, Albus noted with approval. The six Slytherins looked up as he entered before quickly standing up.

"An owl arrived for you only moments ago," Black replied, quickly offering Albus the letter. He hadn't opened it, Albus knew, but that didn't stop him from enjoying the look of fear that settled on Black's face upon his inspection of the letter.

It was from Gellert–the usual post-raid letter informing him of everything he needed to know about the forces that were beyond the walls of Hogwarts and under Gellert's control.

"It was successful," Albus informed them, watching the smiles break out on their eager faces. They were such simple people. They were the best Hogwarts could offer, though, and Albus supposed that comparing them to Gellert was a bit unfair, perhaps even insulting.

To Gellert, of course.

When their plans became reality, the Wizarding World will be free from the shadows the Muggles had forced them into, and Ariana would finally be able to live in peace and free of the fear those Muggle vermin had instilled in her.

Aberforth would understand.

Eventually.

Written for

Mystery Competition: Slytherin!non-slytherin character; esoteric

Hunger Games Competition: #25

Pokémon Challenge: Elaborate; Diagonal, Section; He stood, alone, watching the destruction in the village below

Bad Movie Tuesdays: The Swarm: [dialogue] "Is that all?"

Quidditch Pitch: zenith