DISCLAIMER- I don't own the creations of JK Rowling
Chapter-3: Life and lies of Albus Dumbledore
(This is like a side dish to the main course. Rather common dish but I tried to make it a little different. Hope readers will enjoy it.)
At the headmaster's office in Hogwarts, Dumbledore watched, along with his deputy, as the dicta-quill addressed the last of the letters of the year, addressed to Percival Weasley. Minerva McGonagall then looked at the headmaster and he nodded, the signal for her to leave.
She went out of the room, to visit Charity Burbage, the muggle studies teacher and discuss the schedule. Every summer, the two of them would visit the muggle-born children and explain to the guardians the necessity of sending their children to Hogwarts, giving them the answer to the strange things that happened with their children. Dumbledore himself relaxed a little in the chair, thinking- four more years to go. He glanced at the sensors, it was all right- Harry was in one piece, the wards were standing.
He already had enough in his hand. When a boggart faced him, it now took the shape of Rita Skeeter. He did fear the nasty woman spreading slander about him, though he himself knew that everything he did was for the greater good. It was through his entire life that he followed the ideal.
He had enough to bother about. Tom had done one thing which he actually liked. Destroying the other schools in Britain, coupled with the decrease in population and fertility by the end of the war resulted in all the children of the land admitted to Hogwarts, his sphere of influence. That was good result.
He had another problem whenever he went to the International Wizard Conference in Geneva. There were envoys from all countries; it was really irritating to listen to them arguing about Harry Potter, the savior of magical Britain. All argued which major school of the world was best for the boy, as if he himself would let Harry attend anywhere except Hogwarts. He would not tell anything about Harry, be it the boys location or his own plans with the boy, the boy has to be his puppet.
With Tom gone, he was also gathering as much information as he can about the former's past, mostly by memories. It would help him to know Tom better, and thus smoothen the way to victory.
The other problem in his life was a person who gave him constipation. After the downfall of Tom, almost forty of his followers managed to wriggle out free and got their names cleared. The most prominent amongst them was Lucius Malfoy. The man had enough gold to buy his way into the ministry and tried to fill the position left behind by Tom. Dumbledore had managed to fill the empty Potter and Black seats in the Wizengamot with his own nominees, but Lucius Malfoy's name was a terror. While he would have beat Tom with a wand, Lucius armed with a speech and influence on the Wizengamot was not the same.
He had nightmares about Rita Skeeter digging about his past.
At his early life, he had plans of world domination, he found Grindelwald a partner- it was for the greater good of all. He found his ideas agreeing even with a muggle scientist named Darwin. It was sad that the brilliant idea failed due to the differences with Grindelwald.
He had killed his own sister in a moment of heat, but was it not for everyone's good? He and his brother were freed from a burden, Ariana was freed from her miserable life. He tried to block out the fact from his memory later. His brother had a guess, but had no proof- he could not be accused by anybody. He firmly believed that chapter of his life far beyond. He had his present rather full now.
The chocolate frog cards did not lie, he did defeat Grindelwald. Of course, there were more facts that were not mentioned, but that did not change the truth. He did the final task, right?
Muggles do know of the Second World War, but tend to trivialize the fact that Nazis were interested in occult belifs- it was a major point. In fact, Grindelwald had allied with the muggle German dictator and as a result, muggles and wizards fought together in the war, on both sides when Nazi Germany rose and was defeated, but few knew the truth. The people who knew were obliviated later.
Dumbledore remembered the meeting with muggle leaders. The heads of muggle governments do know about the existence of wizards, but they had to be convinced. The leaders understood that when the Statute of Secrecy was enacted, the deadliest muggle weapon was the arbalest, but even modern muggle weapons cannot kill an alerted wizard. Long-range one-shot blasters that the muggles called shells (and bombs if airdropped), flaming weapons and those firing high-velocity projectiles called guns, with different ranges and rate of fire, are useless against an alerted wizard, he or she would simply apparate away before those can hit them.
When muggle armies and planes advanced on the Nazi territories, the wizards also went with them, fighting Grindelwald's army. The muggle officers did know of a "special recon force", nothing more. The wizard coalition was more diverse in nationality than the muggles.
Finally, as he faced Grindelwald in front of the Nuremgard fortress, it was not his fault that his former lover was stunned for almost two seconds seeing Dumbledore. Those two seconds offered an advantage, he was not a fool to let go of any opportunity in a duel.
It was about twenty five years later that a dark wizard rose in his own homeland, his own former pupil Tom. Tom gathered his own followers and worked on his own agenda to rule Britain. He had his own style, different from Grindelwald, without allying with any muggle group.
Then, Dumbeldore had just two secrets, only one was dirty. He himself admired his image in the mirror, which resembled the muggle actor Michael Gambon. However, he had designed a false beard, moustache and long hair- all silvery white that he always wore when meeting other people.
It gave a good image in front of both children and adults, who were stupid to ignore the fact that the real thing would have a greater chance of catching lice, plus it would take extra labour to wash and comb, not to mention turning in bed would create an entangled mess. He would use a sticking charm on the disguise before going out and only cancel it before going to bed.
The other secret was dirty, but natural. He would now and then seek out muggle gigolos to satisfy his natural needs only, right? He did pay them out of his personal account and even obliviate them later, but the infernal magical media would treat this as a scandal. He had never touched any boys at Hogwarts though he sometimes wished to, no one would appreciate his restraint.
Coming back to Tom, he himself tried to check Tom's wreaking of terror across wizard Britain, which also resulted in some muggle killing. Though he failed in his plans and both the Ministry and his chosen followers in the Order of the Phoenix were getting killed one by one, he never gave up. It was indeed a dark period when a ray of hope appeared, from an unexpected person.
Sybill Trelawney, the descendant of a famous seer, had applied for the post of divination teacher at Hogwarts. The woman did know the principles of divination all right, but seemed to have no sight herself at first. However, she made a prophecy- the boy to vanquish Tom would be born soon, who will have powers that Tom does not have and in the end, only one will survive.
The wheels in Albus's brain already started rolling. Amongst his own Order, both Lily and Alice were pregnant. He hatched a plan that was justified just because it was for the greater good. Sacrificing one life would save the community, plus there were other benefits too.
He himself then again "met" Sybill at the Hog's Head. Putting the Imperious curse on her would make her repeat the prophecy in front of the whole crowd at the inn. The place was preferred by a shady clientele, he was sure that someone would hear it and leak the news to Tom. That "someone" turned out to be Mulciber, who heard it partially and ran away before anyone could react. Of course, Dumbledore could have stunned and obliviated the thug in normal conditions, but he would not then.
The hope was fulfilled. Both Lily and Alice conceived on the same day, the predicted one, at St Mungo's hospital. He himself turned up "to bless the boys", but actually felt their magical cores to get the answer- baby Potter had to be the chosen one, his magical core was more powerful.
Next phase of the plan would begin. Lily had wanted to move out of Britain with her husband, son and the Longbottoms but he persuaded her to stay back because it would result in a mass exodus. It was true, but he also had plans to sacrifice Lily- for the greater good as always. She did not revere him like others, his revenge would be sweet and private too.
The Potter manor was destroyed earlier, James's parents and the elves killed when Death eaters attacked the place. Albus asked them to hide in Godric's Hollow to execute the plan.
The plan was flawless. He actually had asked both Lily and Alice to prepare for the blood sacrifice ritual. He himself suggested the Fidelius charm, offered to be the Potters secret keeper, but later did for the Longbottoms. He guess was accurate, James chose his most trusted Sirius, he himself suggested Sirius to change it to Peter, who would leak the secret to Voldemort.
Dumbledore had found out that Peter was the traitor in their midst. Any simple-minded man would have grabbed Peter and thrown him away, but few would see the advantage- Peter can be used to feed Tom exactly the information Dumbledore wanted Tom to know. He knew nobody would approve, so he kept the secret to himself. This Peter can be turned into a tool to kill Lily.
There was an additional bonus. Severus Snape had the courage to defect for his childhood friend, he found a competent spy to plant in Death eater ranks and to manipulate.
It was unfortunate that James had to die, he would not abandon his wife. Albus advised them to place a powerful bind on baby Harry's magical core, it was natural because children with raw magic can be troublesome. Dumbledore had placed confoundus charms on both James and Lily because he wanted their deaths to be smooth, any clever wizard can turn their house into a collection of death-traps.
Tom attacked the Potters on Halloween night, when young Harry was fifteen months old. Sitting at his room in Scotland, Dumbledore was enjoying the Halloween (or Samhain) feast when the sensors told him that the plan was successful. Lily and James were dead, Harry alive. It meant that Tom was destroyed. He had smiled to himself, pulled out a parchment to compose a letter and sent Hagrid to recover the baby from the ruins.
Sirius would have posed a problem, but he hoped for the best. Hagrid met the man at the house, but had refused to hand over the baby to Sirius, the half-giant blindly followed Albus's orders, he was a useful henchman who did not argue or ask questions to the headmaster.
The man was sure to go after Peter in grief and rage, he hoped that Peter would land the man in trouble, thus out of the way. The hope was fulfilled, Peter soon landed Sirius in trouble and escaped. Cornelius Fudge had put the pensieve memory of Sirius muttering "I killed them", Albus argued it was enough evidence to put Sirius in Azkaban. He himself would free Sirius if the right time comes.
Albus placed the baby with his aunt. He had multiple reasons; there was no reason to tell it to anybody. He himself had told Minerva that he was doing what was best for the boy, it was a lie but he had to, it was not for the boy but for the greater good as always. He was sure that she would not argue with him.
He knew that Lily had placed blood protection wards around her sister's house, though the horse-faced woman hated Lily. If Harry was placed there, it would certainly strengthen the wards. He had put in some threat in the letter that he wrote to Vernon and Petunia, they would keep the boy for their own safety and thus, not react in an undesirable manner like dumping the baby elsewhere.
One loose end was tied up soon. He visited the Potter solicitor and placed a compulsion charm on the man, making him not execute the will of James and Lily- he did not even bother to know what was there. Anyway, he would not divulge the location of the boy to any of the nominees, if there were. Harry would be declared as a ward of Hogwarts, that was a nice plan.
He had killed just once more later, it was not even a murder, an elf is not a human. He had destroyed Tom using Lily as a pawn and Harry as the bait. When he found the lone surviving she-elf of Potter manor, crying over the graves of James and Lily, he was sure that baby Harry was not old enough to call her by name but a strong mental reminder may be equally effective, so he took no risk. He had pulled out his wand, and without anybody noticing, had used a spell that stopped the creature's heart. The elf would have died from grief anyway, it was kind of him. Thus the second end was tied up too.
He was certain that Harry would be neglected and abused- he knew what the Dursleys were like he did want it. At his age, he did not expect people to act contrary to their nature. According to the prophecy and his own guess, Harry was going to be powerful. He was sure that there would be either of two outcomes regarding the boy.
If the boy developed vicious tendencies, he would have to be killed before he becomes another Tom, that would give Dumbledore fame, having defeated three dark wizards in his lifetime. He would show no leniency to the boy. It was the worse outcome, but it was unlikely- his parents were good-natured.
Else, if the boy was broken, he would be easy to control and manipulate, being a weapon in Dumbledore's hands. The boy would desperately look for someone to save him from his horrible relatives, thus look upon the wizarding world as a savior at the time when the Hogwarts letter would arrive. He had planted a squib lookout in the house near Petunia's, the woman reported that the boy was of a nice nature and was in one piece- good for all.
He had placed a magic aversion-compulsion charm on Harry so that if any mage spots him, the person would avoid the boy and thus not draw attention. Muggles provide a safe background for wizards to fade into. He also placed his own tracking charm, he had to know where the boy was. Lastly, the magical bind on the boy's core was a necessity to keep- it would keep the boy from performing raw magic.
He did not tell anybody that the boy has to die at a suitable time. The scar that made him famous actually had a horcrux, a spilt soul of Tom residing there. Obviously it was accidental, but Tom would have made more, the change in his appearance would be due to that. He would keep his own hands clean, but Harry has to walk to his own slaughter, he would have to see to it. If Tom ever comes back and realize the fact, then the impossible would happen- Tom would protect Harry.
Harry should be grateful for being alive all the years. If anybody lived after Tom decided to kill them, barring Albus himself of course, then every day lived is a gift- Harry would live for years.
The soul fragment was weak because it could not feed off the boy's bound magical core, it was good.
Lastly, he felt that the boy has to die before coming of age, then he could not make any will and Potter Manor would be auctioned off by the Ministry, he could claim his share from it. The Potter vault would be divided between the Ministry, Hogwarts and maybe Gringotts would be given a share too.
After all, he did have some good moments planned out for Harry. The boy would surely look upon Hogwarts as his home, just like many others before with a bad childhood, like Tom and Severus. He would also ask Molly to show some nice behavior to Harry, she can tell her youngest son to be friends with Harry- the boy would be in the same year as Harry and be a useful lookout. As a return, Molly can be paid some money from the Potter wealth as a payment of gratitude.
It's a pity that he could tell no one of his brilliant scheme and receive appreciation. But he did not know that his plans were disrupted almost a year ago, but not enough for his lookout to notice.