Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor any of the characters.
Chapter 1: Way back When
He's only ever been the villain and by the time a moment to shine appears he doesn't know how to take it.
Go easy on him.
When he finally turns eleven and gets away to Hogwarts- alongside a pretty girl who'll break his heart- he has high hopes for the future.
It only takes a few years to beat him down. A couple hundred trips in the hallway, sneers of "greasy-haired git," a few times being flipped upside down and he finally understands.
No one wants him to be the good guy; no one but he himself.
He stops trying.