Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did I wouldn't be living next to a railway line.
A/N: This will be a story in three rotating parts (hopefully). I'll post the first three once a day, then the following chapters as I finish them.
Once upon a time, there was a young wizard with a very promising future. He was smart, powerful, handsome and considerably charismatic. Unfortunately this young wizard also had a few tragedies in his life. His younger sister had been caught doing magic by a few Muggle boys. When she couldn't show them how the trick was done, they violently beat her, leaving her somewhat... damaged, and unable to do magic. His father, enraged by the act attacked the boys, equally violently.
When the father was later arrested for the attack, he refused to explain it, so as to prevent his damaged daughter from becoming a permanent resident of St Mungo's. As a result, he was sent to Azkaban prison, home to the dreaded Dementors. Many who went into that dread fortress never returned, others returned darker and somewhat demented by their experience. The father in this tragic tale died before completing his sentence.
The young wizard never quite got over the unfair incarceration and subsequent death of his father.
The mother of this poor family decided then to relocate her daughter and two boys from Mould-on-the-Wold to Godric's Hollow, secluding her daughter within the new home. This seclusion lead to the popular opinion that the girl was a squib and thus an embarrassment to the family. Nothing could be further from the truth. The girl was actually quite powerful, magically. Had she lived she would have been even more powerful than her brothers. However the attack had robbed her of her control. She would deny any ability with magic for days, weeks, even months on end, until her now very volatile emotional state got the better of her.
It was on one of these occasions that her mother died. The young wizard, recently graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry suddenly found himself the head of the family instead of embarking on a whirlwind tour of Europe with like-minded friends. His younger brother offered to drop out of school and look after their trouble sister full-time, but the new family head would not allow it. His education must be completed.
In truth, the young wizard held his brother lightly accountable for their mother's death, as the boy had irresponsibly not been home that day.
And so the bright, respected, ambitious and proud young wizard found his future stunted by his responsibilities. Resentment, even if it was only mild, was inevitable. But he found good fortune in a recent acquaintance, the great-nephew of a local woman. The two young wizards found in each other similarities of thought and opinion and immediately became fast friends, fascinated with the legend of the Deathly Hallows, and with Grand Plans For the Greater Good of Wizarding Society.
For there is rarely anything more important to a young wizard than his own opinions
Their ideals were simple and rather commonplace: wizards are superior. The Statute of Secrecy was in truth hampering the development of the Wizarding World and should be done away with. Why should the superior race hide from the mundane? Only in their ideas of execution did they differ. One of the young wizards believed that Muggles should take their rightful place as the servants of Wizarding World, much like the serfs under the nobles of old. The other felt this did not go far enough. As the Neanderthal had once been replaced by Homo Sapiens, so should Homo Sapiens be replaced by Magus Superior.
Two men, seeking power, divided by detail. Enemies have been made by far less than this, only a catalyst was required.
This catalyst took the form of the younger brother. Being of far more tempestuous temperament than his elder, he took great exception to the neglect of their sister, and a great argument sprang up between the three, with the sister caught between. Curses soon followed and when the smoke cleared, only the young wizard remained. His friend had fled in fear of the consequences. His brother had left cursing his name.
His sister was dead.
The young wizard was now at a very vulnerable time, a veritable crossroads of fate. It could never be determined who was ultimately responsible for the girl's death, and that weighed heavily on the young wizard's mind. A wizard with less ego might feel some measure of guilt, for neglecting his own flesh and blood, for siding with a friend over family. A wizard less proud would admit his mistakes in allowing his ambitions and fascinations to override his responsibilities and sense. But this young wizard had been too long denied his grand future, too long had he suffered under the weight of family misfortune, misfortune that could be laid at the feet of others.
There would be justice and retribution.
For some time the young wizard had sought the records of his father's trial, to clear the family's good name. But those records were sealed by law. Recently, however, with the judicious use of bribes and hints of intimidation, the young wizard had finally been able to at least gain access to list of those involved in the trial.
Had his sister never been beaten, she would never have become so damaged. For that the names of Dursley, Snape and Evans would become his puppets and tools until their inevitable destruction.
Had his father never been unjustly incarcerated, their family would have thrived. The judges, the barrister, the prosecutor, the Aurors. All would suffer until they begged for mercy, which, being merciful, he would grant.
Gaunt, Potter and Prince would be judged.
Pettigrew would have no defence.
Weasley would be persecuted.
Black would become as their name, never to see the light again.
Wizarding society must never be allowed to follow the Muggle world into decadence and decay, but must be preserved at its peak for all time.
For the Greater Good.