Prologue
Voldemort slid into the chair at the head of the Malfoy kitchen table. Normally such meetings were held at the dining room table, but as the only others present were Lucius, Bellatrix, and Narcissa, this smaller table was more practical. He glanced briefly around the table. On his right Bella was lounging lazily in her her chair, playing with her hair, in stark contrast to her sister and brother in law, both of whom were sitting straight in their chairs. "Bella." He said quietly. Bella looked at him, then took her feet off the table and stopped playing with her hair, though she remained slouching. He took this as the best concession his chief lieutenant would give him and turned toward Lucius, who cleared his throat.
"My Lord, I believe I have found a way to turn the current situation in our favor." He said. Voldemort raised an eyebrow. Lucius thought he'd found a way to turn Dumbledore snapping and becoming homicidally anti-pureblood in their favor? An impressive feat, if it was true.
"And how do we do that?" He asked.
"By allying with the Ministry." Bella snorted.
"How would allying with the Ministry allow us to take over the Ministry." She demanded.
"Simple." Lucius said, giving her a disdainful glare. "We all know that the Dark Lord is the only one in Britain capable of defeating Dumbledore. Therefore, if we were to ally ourselves with the Ministry, then, once the old man is dead, we'd be the heroes of Britain. Besides, with all due respect my Lord, were we to forcibly take over Britain, then at leas one resistance movement with the potential to cause serious damage would arise." Voldemort nodded. This thought had occurred to him more than once. "It would, of course, require us to make a few changes in the name of good PR." Lucius admitted somewhat apologetically. Voldemort raised an eyebrow again.
"Oh? Such as?"
"I'm afraid, my Lord, that we could no longer call ourselves the Death Eaters. The name simply does not sound...heroic."
"And what would we call ourselves then?" Bellatrix asked. "The Anti Dumbledore Club?"
"The Legion of the Dragon." Narcissa said quietly. The other three turned to her, various degrees of surprise showing on their face. "It'll provide a nice parallel to Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix." She explained with a shrug. "Both the phoenix and the dragon are powerfully magical creatures, revered among all magical cultures, but everybody knows a dragon would win in a fight."
"And the Dark Mark?" Bellatrix asked, the sneer gone.
"I see no reason why we couldn't just call it The Mark." Narcissa said. "If you could somehow change it to incorporate a dragon my Lord, that would be preferable." Voldemort mused. The more he thought about this plan, the more it appealed to him. If he could take Britain without first destroying it, if he could avoid spilling countless amounts of magical blood and losing his loyal Death Eaters, a few cosmetic changes would be worth it. He paused, and then gave a small sigh. There would be one other change though, that would not be merely cosmetic.
"My Lord? Is my proposal displeasing to you?" Lucius asked, worried.
"No my fried, the more I consider your proposal, the more I find it to be the most prudent course of action. However, something has occurred to me. With Dumbledore's recent actions in the name of anti-pureblood fanaticism, or pro-mixed blood fanaticism, any sort of blood fanaticism is unlikely to sit well with the populace. He stopped and considered his options, then let out another sigh. "So be it. Let us put aside our plans to put the Muggles in their place until Dumbledore is dead and we rule Britain." He turned to Bella, ignoring the looks of shock on the Malfoy's faces. "That means no more Muggle killing Bella." Bellatrix pouted, then shrugged.
"Fine. It was getting boring anyway. They never even try to fight back, they just scream and run." Voldemort chuckled, then turned serious.
"Now then, let's discuss how to go about enacting this new plan."
Ten years later-The Potter apartment, St. Louis.
Albus Dumbledore knocked on the door of the Potter apartment. A few moments later, it opened , revealing a little red headed girl who looked like she was four years old. He smiled. "Good evening. Are your parents home?" She nodded silently, looking up at him with serious eyes.
"Ruby, who's at the door?" A man called, walking up to the door. He looked at Dumbledore and paled visibly.
"Hello James." Dumbledore said pleasantly. "May I come in?" He stepped inside before the younger man could answer and looked around. What he saw saddened him. They were living in an apartment smaller than what Hagrid's hut had been back before the half giant had been driven from the Hogwarts grounds. He could see two doors, most likely leading to a bathroom and a bedroom. There was a crib in the front room, with the Potter's baby son lying fast asleep in it. Lily walked out of the bedroom, stopping dead when she saw him. Dumbledore smiled politely. "Hello Lily."
"Ruby, go play outside." The woman said. The little girl didn't need to be told twice, and she bolted outside and downstairs excitedly. Dumbledore watched her go, then turned toward the Potters, shutting the door as he did so.
"I wouldn't have hurt her Lily. You know that." He said sadly.
"You've been doing a lot of things I'd never have thought you'd do Albus." Lily told him, folding her arms.
"What do you want?" James asked, walking over so that he was standing next to his wife. "We've done nothing to hinder you or your Order. We came to America to get away from the war."
"I have recently learned of a prophecy." Dumbledore told them. "It spoke of your son Harry, and foretold that he would defeat the Dark Lord." He took a step closer to the couple. "Lily, James, return to Britain, I beg you. We can protect you and your children, and give Harry the training he needs to one day defeat Voldemort." The Potters looked at each other.
"Albus, you are the Dark Lord, not Voldemort. Dumbledore sighed deeply and sadly.
"You too Lily?" He looked at James hopefully. "And what say you James?"
"I agree with Lily." The man said firmly. "I don't agree with everything Voldemort says and does, that's why we came to America in the first place, but I certainly don't agree with anything you've done lately Albus."
"I truly regret that." Dumbledore said, drawing his wand. "I do. But I must do what is best for Britain. For the Greater Good." Lily took a step back so that she was standing directly in front of Harry's crib.
"You're not taking Harry." She said, glaring defiantly at him. The small, dark part of his brain that he always did his best to stamp out laughed. Neither of the Potters had their wands, and they thought they could stop him?
"I'm sorry." He repeated. "Avada Kedavra."
"Lily!" James cried out, rushing forward to catch his wife's corpse. Dumbledore raised his wand again, and cast the Killing Curse again. James threw himself to the side, forgetting that he was in front of the crib. The beam of green light went through the bars of the crib and struck Harry. James' eyes widened as an explosion filled the small apartment, the focal point of the explosion somehow being Dumbledore.
When the dust settled and his vision and hearing returned to normal, James was startled to hear Harry crying. He scrambled to his feet and rushed to look inside the crib. To his shock, Harry was almost completely unharmed, the only mark on him being a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. Considering the fact that James had seen him get hit with the Killing Curse, that was pretty good. James paused, looking at Lily's corpse, and gathered his thoughts. He needed to get himself and his children out of here in case Dumbledore had brought any members of the Order of the Phoenix with him.
Six Months later-Potter House, Savannah Georgia
"I'm going to kill him." Sirius growled.
"Calm down Sirius." Remus told him. He, Sirius, and James were gathered in James' living room. The Potters had chosen to live in an apartment in St. Louis because they'd hoped it would help them hide. Now that that was no longer necessary, James had turned his Galleons into American Dollars and bought a house. "It's not as if they made Peter their Secret Keeper. We didn't even think of setting up the Fidelius Charm."
"I can't believe you're defending him!" Sirius snapped, pacing around the room.
"I'm not defending him, I'm simply saying that you should calm down." Remus said, sounding tired. "Both the Ministry and the Legion are searching round the clock for him now that they've rounded up most of the other members of the Order."
"Do you really think they're going to look all that hard?" Sirius asked skeptically.
"I do." James said, speaking up for the first time. "The Americans won't let them not, and neither will their pride. Dumbledore making it across the Atlantic and all the way to Missouri undetected is simply to embarrassing. They'll want to prove that they can do something right." He paused, then looked up at them. "I want you two to return to Britain." Remus and Sirius both stared at him.
"What?" Sirius demanded.
"The children and I will stay here, but I want you two to return to Britain." James said calmly. "Remus, I know the Ministry wants you to be the second for the new Werewolf state in Scotland to balance out Greyback. And Sirius, we both know that once Voldemort takes over Britain, which he will, he's going to put the old families back in positions of power. With the deaths of your parents and Regulus, that leaves you as the sole heir of half the Black legacy."
"Let Bellatrix have it all, see if I care." Sirius muttered grumpily. "Dora'll be getting it all anyways, unless Bellatrix finally agrees to get married and produce an heir."
"Dammit Sirius, I'm not asking you to do this for me!" James snapped. "Now, if you won't do it for yourself, at least do it for Ruby and Harry." He stopped to gather his thoughts as his two friends stared at him in shock. "I'm staying here in America." James began, sounding calmer. "Lily didn't want to try and raise the kids in the mess that's Britain nowadays, and I agree. But something could happen to me. There could be an accident, or some Order member could kill me in an attempt to avenge Dumbledore. If that happens, I need someone to be around and in a position to take care of the children. We all know that Lily's sister won't do it, so that leaves you two." Both men stared at him in silence for a moment, then Sirius sighed.
"Fine. But you owe me." He said. Remus nodded, agreeing.
"If you insist." He said. James gave a small smile, then waved his wand and conjured three glasses of firewhiskey.
"To Lily." He said, raising his glass in toast.
"To Lily." The other two repeated solemnly. They drank, then began to joke and reminisce about happier, simpler times. And, just for a little while, everything was alright.