Ruminations on Manipulations
Disclaimer: Let's be honest here. I would not be writing this if I owned Harry Potter.
Just so you know, the Dumbledore in this story is extremely manipulative (which should be fairly clear from the title…). I'm not sure whether or not I believe that, but this idea came to me and I had to write it down. I would appreciate it if you would review to let me know what you think, but more importantly I hope you enjoy this!
"So the boy…the boy must die?" asked Snape quite calmly.
"And Voldemort himself must do it, Severus. That is essential."
Another long silence. Then Snape said, "I thought…all those years…that we were protecting him for her. For Lily."
"We have protected him because it has been essential to teach him, to raise him, to let him try his strength," said Dumbledore, his eyes still tight shut. "Meanwhile, the connection between them grows ever stronger, a parasitic growth. Sometimes I have thought he suspects it himself. If I know him, he will have arranged matters so that when he does set out to meet his death, it will truly mean the end of Voldemort."
Dumbledore opened his eyes. Snape looked horrified.
"You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?"
"Don't be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?"
"Lately, only those whom I could not save," said Snape. He stood up. "You have used me."
"Meaning?"
"I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter's son safe . Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter – "
~Deathly Hallows, Ch. 33 (The Prince's Tale)
The future began to reveal itself to me from the minute I met Tom Riddle. Even at 11, he was clearly a budding psychopath; all the signs were there. He killed small animals, traumatized the other children, and stole their things. When he told me about all of this, he showed not guilt, but arrogance. He was thrilled that he could get revenge on the people who annoyed him.
Did I know what he would grow into, then? I had an idea. The echoes of that conversation would serve as a warning for what was to come.
"Billy Stubbs's rabbit… well, Tom said he didn't do it and I don't see how he could have done, but even so, it didn't hang itself from the rafters, did it?"
"I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to."
The pattern continued at Hogwarts, but no one else seemed to see it. It seemed so obvious to me. After all, how could Hagrid have managed to open the Chamber of Secrets? He was simply not smart enough. No, it was always Tom. The intelligent one, who charmed everyone he met. He attracted followers to do his bidding, and always stayed cool and out of trouble. There was nothing I could find against him at school.
When he graduated, I knew who the next war would be fought against. We'd finished Grindlewald, and already there was another fight for the greater good, waiting to be waged.
Then came the prophecy, overheard by Severus. If he had not reported it to Tom, I would have arranged for it to be leaked. After all, what was our hope without this Chosen One that the prophecy spoke of? Tom would need to fulfill parts of the prophecy, and I knew he would try to kill one or both of the boys the prophecy spoke of. From there, I would have a hero to mould against him.
Personally, I had hoped he would choose the Potters. Severus had always loved Lily, and he would probably come to the Light side to try to protect her. Besides, James Potter's merry band of friends contained a weak link; one who had probably already turned to the Dark side, and it would be so easy to let Tom get to the boy. Then, we could see if the boy was the Chosen One.
My luck was good. Tom went after the Potters first.
I, of course, offered to be the Secret Keeper, knowing that James would refuse. He always did trust his friends above anyone else. His original choice for the Secret Keeper was Sirius Black. That was no good for my plan, because Sirius was as loyal to James as was possible, and besides, he ran away from his decidedly Dark family a long time ago. Obviously he wasn't a Death Eater, or he would have been added back into their family. With Sirius guarding the secret, Tom would never reach the Potters. The weak link was Peter Pettigrew, who had never really thought for himself. He was surely the Order's leak to Tom.
I planted ideas in their heads; Sirius was such an obvious choice, and wouldn't it be better to recruit a different person for the Secret Keeper? Sirius could be a decoy.
I knew they wouldn't choose Remus Lupin. I had been careful to put him on assignments that made him secretive and stressed, leading his friends to believe he might be the Order's infamous leak.
They went with Peter. It was perfect; my plan couldn't have worked any better. Peter sold them out to Tom, who came and killed them on Halloween, leaving an orphaned Harry Potter with a curse scar on his forehead.
Mark him as his equal, indeed.
The aftermath worked to my advantage as well. Sirius went after Peter, and managed to get framed for the deaths of thirteen people. With the anti-Voldemort sentiment at the time, Sirius was thrown in Azkaban without a trial. The one person who might have taken young Harry away from me was completely out of his life.
I placed Harry with Lily's sister. I remembered her letter to me, wishing to be magical, and knew that her hopes had been crushed and she would be incredibly bitter towards her sister and magic now. This meant that Harry's life would be difficult, and he would end up being fiercely independent, and not pampered in the least. It was perfect.
When it was time for the Hogwarts letter to be delivered, I sent Hagrid. He was friendly and pro-Gryffindor. He would steer Harry towards the house that was considered the "good" house, and show him just how magical the world of magic is.
After the first trip to Diagon Alley, Ollivander owled me to let me know that Harry had the brother wand to Tom. I took this as a good sign and waited to see what Harry would be like at Hogwarts.
As it would turn out, my plans worked like a charm. I was worried for a bit, as the Sorting Hat took an unreasonably long time to sort young Harry. But it settled on Gryffindor in the end, which was all that really mattered.
He made friends with the youngest Weasley boy and Hermione Granger, which good choices for him. The youngest boy in a family of blood traitors and the smartest girl at Hogwarts in a long time. All in all, excellent sidekicks for his heroic deeds.
Speaking of which, his heroic deeds should start small… Perhaps he could save the Philosopher's Stone from Quirrel. That couldn't be too hard.
I sent him his father's old invisibility cloak for Christmas and he found the mirror of Erised with it. I watched him, and discovered that his character was true; he saw his parents in the mirror. He would do anything to save the people who he considered family, which would help defeat Tom. After a few days of going back to the mirror, I told him to ignore the lies the mirror fed him and get back to his normal life. He complied, and that was the end of that.
His curiosity led him to the forbidden third floor corridor, as I predicted. He saved the stone, after he and his friends got through all the tasks. I made sure they would be able to get through them, because I wanted Harry to meet Tom once when Tom was weaker. It was a perfect set up, if I do say so myself.
The experience left Harry in the hospital wing for three days, but it was alright in the end. I made sure the Gryffindors won the feast, because the good guys always have to win, right?
Harry finished his first summer at the Burrow with the Weasley family. He was happy there, which pushed him further into the Wizarding World.
I was a bit concerned over the incident with the flying car. The Ministry owled me about it, and Severus really wanted to see them expelled, but I smoothed it over by essentially putting them on probation. Not that I ever would have thrown them out. Harry was so vital to everything. It would simply not be possible.
The Chamber of Secrets was reopened on Halloween. Sometime later, I discovered that Harry was a Parseltongue. This was very curious, because Parseltongue is skill passed from parent to child, and neither of his parents had that skill. It was obviously related to Tom trying to kill him. I decided to wait to see how it played out.
I knew that when Hermione Granger was petrified, Harry would want to stop the attacks. Thanks to Harry's Parseltongue skill, he would easily be able to get rid of the basilisk, and another heroic deed would be good for him.
When I was asked to leave the school, I merely reminded the invisible Harry (and his sidekick, the Weasley boy) to stay loyal to the school and left.
The stakes got higher when Ginny Weasley was taken into the Chamber, and I knew Harry would stop at nothing to get her back. He would fight with Tom Riddle in the Chamber, and end up expressing his loyalty to Hogwarts.
This would lead Fawkes to come to him, with the Sorting Hat. From those, he could get the Sword of Gryffindor. Besides, when facing a basilisk, it's always good to have the antidote to the venom. With these tools, I knew he would not fail.
He didn't, of course, coming back without a scratch. He even managed to set a house elf free in the process, proving his character once more.
He also brought back a destroyed Horcrux from Tom. It seemed like a callous treatment for a piece of Tom's soul, which led me to think that he might have made more that one. I made a mental note, and then I rewarded Harry (and the sidekick) well, and once again, the good guys proved victorious at the end.
His third year was marked by a worrying development: Sirius Black escaped Azkaban. Harry would gain another trusted adult, and learn the truth of his parents' deaths. This could turn him away from me, and thus, it would be harder to achieve all of my plans.
However, as an eternal optimist, I had a back-up plan. Harry could save Sirius at the end of the year, and I would just have to be careful. I hadn't left any evidence that it had been partially my fault that the Potters died, so I could proceed with caution and allow Harry to have a link to his parents for a few years.
I hired Remus Lupin as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, figuring he might be able to help Harry with Sirius.
I was not happy about the Dementors, as they would affect Harry terribly and Sirius wasn't really a danger to anyone. Not that I could share that. That would crack Pandora's box wide open.
There was also a time turner in the mix due to Hermione Granger's overachieving qualities. I had a feeling that it would become an integral part of saving Sirius.
I was right, of course, and everything worked perfectly. The only snag was that Pettigrew had escaped, and Trelawny gave a prophecy that Tom Riddle would rise again. Although, on second thought, that might be good. No one could kill him when he wasn't really alive.
I left Harry for another summer after telling him that he saved an innocent life, and that was the most important thing. For him, it should be, as that will be essential to keep him in the war.
The fourth year began with the terrible fiasco at the Quidditch World Cup. Of course, that was merely a small issue, as the Triwizard Tournament would be starting soon, so I focused on that. I invited Alastor Moody back to help me make sure all went according to plan. Except, as I soon realized, it wasn't really him.
You don't honestly think I wouldn't recognize an imposter in my staff? I worked very closely with Moody for years in the war. I picked up on some signs immediately. Drinking out of his flask at every hour exactly? Becoming more serious and less sarcastic? Walking slower than I'd ever seen? Asking me about putting the Imperius Curse on students?
Regardless, I couldn't let on yet. I had to wait it out, as I didn't know what the purpose was yet.
It became clearer when Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire. I suspected it wasn't to kill Harry, because Tom had always wanted to that himself. He always was an egotistical boy. So what, then? Get him somewhere to assist in Tom's rising. Knowing what the tasks were, I figured he would probably choose the last task. In the meantime, Harry would be fine, as I suspected Imposter-Moody would help him win. I just had to decide what to do before then.
Should I stop it, or let Tom rise? What would be best for the Wizarding World?
In the end, I figured it would be better to let Tom rise. At this point, it would be good to gather more information about Tom's Horcruxes, and I had no sources to tell me more yet. Harry would be fine, as he always was, especially since Tom's brother wand would not kill Harry. It might mean there would be a few tough years for the Wizarding World, but it was for the Greater Good. There was really no other way to proceed.
I didn't count on Cedric Diggory getting in the way. Tom called him the spare, and I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, he really was. It was a sad loss of life. I should not have underestimated Hufflepuffs, and Harry's Gryffindor chivalry.
Imposter-Moody took Harry away from the crowd, and I followed, as surely Imposter-Moody wouldn't want to leave any witnesses to his master's rising. I brought witnesses, and questioned him with Veritaserum. I must admit, Barty Crouch Jr. did surprise me a bit, considering his father hadn't seemed the type to break any rules for his family, much less break his son out of Azkaban.
The Minister proved his idiocy once more by bringing in the Dementor. It didn't matter too much, as I didn't need the public or the Ministry to wage this war. They might have helped, but who knows. I didn't have the time to dwell on it.
I was too busy with everything Harry told me. Tom had taken more steps than anyone to gain immortality. I was correct about multiple Horcruxes. I would need to figure out how many and which objects. I could start researching over the summer. It made me wonder about Harry as well. Perhaps he was a Horcrux as well, with the Parseltongue.
The other interesting thing was that Tom had taken Harry's blood. Thus, even if he killed Harry, Harry would not die because Tom tied him to life. This was an unexpected and stupid mistake on Tom's part.
After sending Harry to rest, I began to gather the forces of the Light. The war was beginning again.
Harry became very angry over the summer, and his scar hurt much of the time. He also would get odd dreams. It was clear that there was a strong connection between Harry and Tom, and I decided to avoid Harry for a while. This made him more angry, and he turned to Sirius instead of me.
He saw Arthur get attacked at the Ministry, and reported it immediately. While it was good that we knew about the attack, he shouldn't have seen that, and Tom would probably figure out that they had a mental connection. I told Severus to teach Harry Occlumency, which was probably not the best choice. It was better than the alternative; Harry couldn't learn from me when Tom could see inside his mind. It wasn't that pressing anyway. At this point, though, the mental connection wouldn't lead Harry into any trap he couldn't get out of.
I figured that everything with Harry would work itself out, and concentrated on the Ministry, which had crossed the line between unhelpful and interfering. Dolores Umbrige was a plague at Hogwarts, but I managed to minimize the damage as best I could.
I knew, of course, about Harry's secret defense group. I was very proud, as he was proving himself as a great leader, and he was trying to protect the other students. When they got caught by a snitch, I took the blame and left the school. I could do more without being the Headmaster. Dolores was trying to take away all my power either way, so I might as well go do something useful.
Sirius was getting reckless at Grimmauld Place, as I knew he would. If Harry did end up in a trap from his mental connection, I believed Sirius would go to help and end up dead in a blaze of glory. Although Sirius was good for Harry, I couldn't leave any other adult figure to be important in Harry's life, so I decided not to do anything to stop that possibility.
Soon after I made that choice, Harry was fed an image of Sirius being tortured and took some friends to the Department of Mysteries. The Order helped them battle Death Eaters, Sirius fell through the veil, and Tom possessed Harry, but was driven out by love. The night ended with the Minister seeing Tom and stopping his campaign against Harry and myself. It was the best of all possible worlds.
Later, I helped Harry understand how important love is, and how it will defeat Tom. I also told him about the prophecy, and his destiny. It had been a tough year for him, but after one more summer, I could start teaching him all that I know without interference from Tom or Sirius. Harry was ready for learning how to defeat his enemy, as he now knew without question that he needed to.
That summer, I went to the Gaunt shack and removed the ring. I couldn't resist the temptation when I realized it was actually the Resurrection Stone, and gave my arm a horrible curse before I destroyed it. Severus told me I would have about a year left.
I picked up Harry, who helped me get Horace Slughorn to come teach at the school, which I knew would be vital, as Horace had known Tom as a boy and could answer some important questions for me.
I taught Harry of Tom's history, from his earliest days to my suspicions. Harry got the memory from Horace that confirmed the existence of six Horcruxes. Two were taken care of, but Gryffindor's locket, Hufflepuff's cup, and two others still remained. I did not tell Harry of my idea that he was a Horcrux. That would come later.
Throughout all of this, I knew that there was a plot to kill me by Draco Malfoy. He was failing miserably, which was Tom's intention, as he was punishing the Malfoys. I told Severus that he should kill me instead, since I was going to die anyhow, and I'd rather die by his hand. Besides, I would rather the Elder Wand didn't fall into enemy hands. I informed Severus that he would have to protect the students, and help Harry when it came closer to the end of Tom.
The year came to a crux on the night that I told Harry I had found a Horcrux in a cave from Tom's early history. He and I set out on a cold night to that cave, and went through the lake. I drank the potion in the basin, as he was always the most important. It was incredibly painful, as the potion dredged up many of my worst memories. But we got the locket, and got back to the castle as well. It seemed to still be part of my nightmares, as the Dark Mark was over the school. It appears I had underestimated Draco Malfoy. Harry and I went up to the tower, and I immobilized him under the invisibility cloak to keep him safe. He would have time to track down the rest of the Horcruxes, and he would take down Tom. I didn't want him injured in a Death Eater battle now.
After my talk with Draco Malfoy, Severus came up the stairs. I hoped beyond all hope that my manipulations would work as they should. It was, after all, time to face my next great adventure. Harry is on his own from here.