Ok. So I don't own it. Wish I did but I don't.
Notice: This is AU. Here's the first of two world building and history chapters. Note that Dumbledore is not a nice guy. This chapter, I hope, explains the attitudes of both him and the magicals. I've tried to make it so you can see why he does what he does, to some extent, and hopefully didn't come across as bashy. Also I removed the history note at the end of the first chapter as I 've decided to change some things.
Albus sat in his office, pondering the latest revelations that his 'replacement' "Boy Who Lived" was outright refusing to attend to his duty to rid the British wizarding world of the problem of Voldemort. Oh how he wished he could have just stunned the man and returned him to Britain, but, even for a wizard of his considerable power and influence, it would be impossible for a British wizard to smuggle a body internationally.
Damn those Australians! If they'd just follow the lead of the mother country, then there would not be an issue, but no, they believed in freedoms and refused to acknowledge that magicals with the proper breeding are simply better than those with a mixed heritage and should be respected by all. After all it was proven in the 30's and 40's when Gellert embarked on his little "freedom march" in Europe. He thought that the numbers of mudbloods and half bloods would make the difference when facing the pureblood forces. So what if the muggle fracas had occurred in the latter years, inadvertently decimating the mans forces. They'd lost! Showing once more the superiority of the pure. It'd come down to a duel between Albus and his old friend to end it once and for all.
Sanctions had been imposed on the muggle born and half bloods after the war and rightly so. They'd made up the majority of Gellerts forces and had to reap what the sewed. The resultant exodus of them to countries like Australia and America only solidified the attitude of those nations towards freedoms that were unheard of in Britain and Europe. Still mudbloods had been born in the years since and the wizarding world was always in need of menials and the ready money that they brought in, so the sanctions had been relaxed over the years, until the 60's and 70's, when a movement amongst the younger set had developed at the school, which resulted in the un-natural mixing of the classes. In direct opposition to a resurgence of anti mudblood rhetoric and pureblood rights in wider society at the time. It was this mix that led directly to the subject of his contemplations.
In the early 70's, the Potters, an always liberal family, had sent their only son, James, to Hogwarts, as was proper. He was a friendly, gregarious and loud child who'd immediately formed a small group of friends within his and the previous year groups though even this seemed to be a prediction of future events and issues. Not so bad was the first of his friends, though a child from a family darker than he would have liked, Sirius Black. Then was the scion of the Longbottoms, Franklin, who was a year earlier than the others. Another problem child was one Remus Lupin, the werewolf. The boy had been bitten during his childhood by the monster Fenrir Greyback in response to his fathers voting in the Wizengamot. Indeed it was only due to the extensive donations and the establishment of a safe environment by Lupins father that swayed Albus into letting the child into the school. Such a shame at the end of his final year when he was "outed" and his father was imprisoned for "Endangering pureblood heirs at Hogwarts" and the associated fines broke the family. Young Peter was nothing to worry about, just a child of an unimportant pureblood house. However it was the girls that were the problem.
Alice Fortescue, half-blood member of the Fortescue family wasn't too bad even though she was in a relationship with the Longbottom heir, but their pairing led to James getting it in his head that he was in love with a mudblood that he'd met on the train, one Lily Evans. Oh Albus had tried many, many times over the years to torpedo the relationship via the half-blood child of the Prince family, all to no avail when in their sixth year, Lily had finally consented to go out with the boy. So yet another Pureblood family had corrupted itself by fornicating with mudbloods and fallen. The Longbottoms and Potters had married in 1978 and begun to move within society, promoting their liberal views and acting in opposition to the faction led by a man who seemed to appear out of thin air to promote and defend the pureblood cause. Co-incidentally, at the time, violent incidents had sprung up, targeting mostly mudbloods and half-bloods but also had affected some of the "Light" pureblood families. It had gotten so bad that Albus had reformed a group that he'd headed in the war, named "The Order of the Phoenix." He'd recruited heavily from recent school graduates including the Longbottoms and Potters, no matter what their attitudes the two families had power and money to burn, something that Albus was in desperate need of.
It was during period that the school divination teacher had become a statistic of the ongoing conflict during a visit to Diagon Alley. Albus had hoped to finally be able to do away with the subject, he'd long believed that it was only the gullible and feeble minded that thought divination was real, only to have his hopes dashed by the school board. He'd been pressured by the Trewlaney family to interview the half-blood Sybil for the post. Showing his disdain, Albus had refused to conduct the interview in his office as normal, instead taking a room at his brothers pub in Hogsmeade. It was at the end of this waste of time that the, suspected, drunken witch fell into a trance and recited the famous prophecy. Albus had been forced by his oaths as Headmaster to accept the sot to the position. Unknown to him at the time, his brother had caught someone lurking in the hallway of the pub. It was none other than the Half-blood friend of Lily Potter and Hogwarts newly appointed potions professor, Severus Snape.
In early 1980, both the Potters and Longbottoms announced that they were taking a leave of absence from the order, both families were now expecting the birth of their heirs, both due in July or August. Both boys were born on the 30th and 31st of July only an hour apart. Albus on hearing the news, had the prophecy made by his divination teacher spring to mind. If he played it right he could end the fighting and remove some of the stain to pureblood society at the same time.
Albus approached both families with the news of the prophecy and his interpretation that it was directed at one of the two boys. It took him an inordinate amount of time, but he'd finally convince the two families to allow him to hide them away under a fidelous in a small estate in the village of Godrics Hollow in Wales. In the end it'd been the leaking of the first half of the prophecy to the press, via a very public argument between Lily and Severus, that convinced them to hide. They'd outright refused to go into hiding separately, Lily and Alice had become the godmothers respectively of each others child. They'd initially thought to make Harry's godfather, Sirius, the secret keeper but rejected it due to his prominence in society and how obvious the idea would be. Instead they chose Peter as he'd basically just skirted around after school and wasn't either successful or widely known by society.
This would unfortunately be their undoing. Peter had gotten fed up with not, in his eyes anyway, being given his due in school and had joined up with Voldemorts minions. It was on All Hallows Eve in 1981 when Voldemort made his move. He'd gotten the secret from Peter and approached the house, intending to kill everyone in residence. He quickly did away with the two men downstairs while Alice and Lily rushed the two boys into a safe-room that they'd prepared in case of the worst. Quickly initiating the protections the two mothers prepared to defend their boys. Neither was successful and fell quickly, however when Voldemort levelled his wand at the two boys, his Avada Kedava backfired and destroyed his body, reducing him to something more than a ghost but weak and unable to do anything else but flee. It was to this scene that Sirius arrived, warned by a hasty message from Lily, he took both boys from the remains of the room and past their mothers. Albus had arrived as the Black scion left the house and had demanded to know what had happened. Sirius tearfully related what he'd found inside the house and his desire to get the two boys somewhere safe. Albus had immediately seen the possibilities and cast a strong confudus at Sirius, telling him that Peter must be caught. Sirius had passed both boys to Albus, trusting in their safety, before taking off on the hunt for the traitor.
The boys had been briefly taken to Hogwarts where they'd been looked over by the school matron and healed of several cuts and abrasions. Albus had contacted Augusta Longbottom, Neville's grandmother, and in accordance with pureblood law handed the future Lord Longbottom over to her care. Harry though presented a small problem. Albus in his prejudice had jumped to the conclusion that the pureblooded boy had been the one marked in the prophecy, now he just had to work his magic to assert control over the boy and didn't want any contention into who everyone would owe their devotion too, but what to do with the boy. He knew that James Potter was an orphan so he'd delved into the records of former students and found that Lily had a married sister, which would do nicely. It had been law for centuries that orphans were always to go to blood family, not even he could alter that, not that he wanted to anyway.
Albus pulled the address from the records and, after writing a short note, apparated to Little Whinging in Surrey. Walking down Wisteria Lane and turning down Privet Drive, Albus quickly reached number 4. He looked at the house, shaking his head at how bland and uninspiring the building, even the entire street, was in appearance. All the lights were out and instead of disturbing the muggles, no doubt sated after an evening of the trick or treating tradition, one that Albus heartily agreed with, so much wonderful candy, Albus decided to simply leave the child on the doorstep. He wasn't completely heartless though and cast some simple sleeping, warming and weatherproof charms over the bundle that would wear off by the touch of his aunt in the morning. Without any further thought, Albus turned on his heel and apparated away.
It'd be the last he'd see of the boy for nearly 10 years.
Even after starting at Hogwarts, Harry had rarely come to mind at all. Oh he vaguely remembered the boy and a muggle born friend being sorted into Ravenclaw, but his main attention, and that of everyone else, was on "The Boy Who Lived" Neville Longbottom. Albus remembered that the two had been courteous with each other but certainly not friendly through school. It was not until a small incident at the end of the year when Harry and, who he now recognised, Hermione had gone to their head of house, Professor Flitwick with their concerns about their DADA instructor. Flitwick, one of the few half breed beings that were universally respected in Britain due to both his intelligence and of course his duelling skills, had confronted Professor Quirrell which had ended in a widely destructive fight in a corridor on the third floor, where Hagrid had been keeping his Cerberus while it recovered from an illness. In the end a wraith was witnessed leaving the body of Quirrell when he was defeated, his body quickly succumbed to the ravages of the possession together with the corruption associated with being forced to consume Unicorn blood by his passenger.
Their second year was one for the books. It had started on Halloween when the school caretaker's cat was discovered petrified and hung from a wall sconce, next to a warning written in blood, in a corridor during the Halloween feast. This had started several incidents during the year where several Muggleborn students had been found petrified. Shortly after the first student was found the new DADA instructor, renowned adventurer and author Gilderoy Lockhart, had organised a duelling club in the hope to alleviate some of the fear permeating the school. It was during a club meeting that Harry Potter inadvertently revealed that he was a parcelmouth resulting in him being ostracised by 95% of the school population. Indeed, for the rest of the year he was quite openly suspected as being the culprit of the petrifications and the "Heir of Slytherin."
In the last month of the year, it had all come to a head. Two final victims had been discovered during a Quiddich match, Hermione Granger and none other than Neville Longbottom himself. Albus had immediately summoned Harry to his office and, in the presence of Filius and Minerva, interrogated the boy for what he knew of the petrifications. He'd found no guilt there but plenty of anger directed at whomever had hurt his friend. After determining that Harry had little if anything to do with the incidents, he was escorted back to his common room by his head of house.
It was a week later when during yet another meeting with the senior staff to discuss the petrifications, that in a flash of phoenix fire, Albus' familiar Fawkes had deposited two students filthy with slime, a bloody Harry Potter and a dazed and confused Ginerva Weasley. Harry had thrown down a black covered book which sported a hole right through that near tore the book in half, then laid, of all things, the Sword of Gryffindor and the sorting hat beside it. Miss Weasley had been ushered off to the infirmary while the staff fired questions at the boy. As the story came out it appeared that the diary had performed a version of possession on young miss Weasley and forced her to enter the Chamber of Secrets and release the Basilisk that resided there. Harry and Hermione had worked out what was doing the petrifications and she was on her way to inform Professor Flitwick with their conclusions when she was petrified. It'd taken Harry another week to finally work out where the entrance to the chamber was located and even then was partially due to luck as he spotted Miss Weasley going through the entrance. He'd followed her down and confronted the spirit possessing the girl, when they'd summoned the monster of the chamber. It was a massive snake, around 60 odd feet long and around 3 feet across. Fawkes had appeared and blinded the snake while dropping the hat to Harry. Following directions from the hat, Harry had discovered the sword and used it after a significant battle had killed the snake, in the process actually being bitten and then healed by Fawkes. Lacking the ability to cast anything destructive enough to damage the diary, Harry had stabbed it through with the sword, banishing the shade of the owner. Fawkes had then transported them to Albus' office.
The interrogation had ceased there and Harry had been sent to his common room, it had been surmised that Fawkes tears had fixed any injuries. In the clean up of the year, it'd finally been discovered outside of the school that Neville Longbottom had been petrified and that the Half-blood Harry Potter was widely thought to be responsible. The result was and invasion by the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, his undersecretary Dolores Umbridge, Dowager Longbottom and the entire school board all demanding the head of Harry Potter. Albus had then made his biggest mistake. Instead of defending his student and providing the evidence of his innocence, Albus had allowed the minister, board and Augusta to railroad the boy, resulting in Albus in his role as headmaster, binding the boys magic to that of a squib, snapping his wand and expelling him from Hogwarts. It was only when the minister attempted to have Harry obliviated that it was discovered that he was living jointly with a foster family with a magical daughter and also his godfather, Lord Sirius Black. Wisely, for once, seeing the fallout from attempting an obliviation the minister ceased chasing the obliviation and was satisfied with the binding and expulsion.
Harry was deposited outside the Hogwarts gates and collected by his godfather. It was during the summer holidays that Hermione Granger sent through, to Filius' despair, notice that she was leaving Britain and had enrolled in a school in Australia. At around the same time, Sirius Black gave his Wizengamot proxy to his cousin Andromeda Tonks and left Britain.
Albus had never given the boy another thought. He'd continued to train and influence Neville, especially after the incidents tow years later when, during the renewed Tri-wizard tournament, Cedric Diggory had been kidnapped and used in a dark ritual to give Voldemort a body. Sadly the young man did not survive and it was only due to the spell-work of the ministry unspeakables that both found his body and determined the mode of his death.
The ministry had immediately decried the results but had been forced to resign after the outpouring of sympathy to the Diggory family and the discovery of the methods being used to discredit the sacrifice of Cedric. The breakout of several convicted Death Eaters from Azkaban prison was just the icing on the cake.
Madam Bones had been elected in a tight race to the position of Minister and immediately brought the country to a war footing. She'd lost most of her family to Voldemorts depredations in the 70's and refused to allow it to happen again. As such a cold war that occasionally turned white hot, had existed in Britain for the last 10 years. In the last election, Minister Bones had been beaten and the Wizengamot had elected Pius Thickness, a known supporter of the dark, into the role. Less than two weeks later the ministry had been invaded, concluding with the death of Neville Longbottom and leading to the conundrum that perplexed Albus now. "How do I get Harry Potter back to England?"
Albus new that he wouldn't return voluntarily and kidnapping wasn't an option, even by proxy…
Wait a minute, Proxy! If I can't get him to come back for our sake, how about for someone else? I need to get to the Wizengamot, how to word it? "In light of the recent incursion the Wizengamot requires all members to attend in person to renew their oaths to Wizarding Britain." Yes, yes that should get the bait here and get the ball rolling.
Well there you go. Hopefully this has started to answer a few of the questions I was asked. In the next chapter we'll find out what happened to Harry and Hermione, and also if Sirius went to Azkaban and if not why didn't he raise his godson. Remember that there are no Horcruxes in this story. The diary was just a heavy compulsion spell together with a possession spell, kinda like an advanced portrait. If you want to know how Tom survived, it's all to do with the wording of the prophecy, "And either must die at the hand of the other!"