Disclaimer: Yep… still don't own Harry Potter.

AN: A short chapter to give an idea of what I am doing with Dumbledore. Longer AN at the end to address some comments from reviews.

Chapter 5

Dumbledore Plots

'How did it go wrong?' Albus mused to himself. 'They were not even to Hogwarts yet! Severus will regret his part in disrupting my plans.'

The Headmaster got up and crossed to the window, looking out at the grounds.

'What went wrong? The Dursleys played their part. No doubt there. They kept Harry isolated from everything magical. As expected, he was given no love. Harry should have been starving for any positive human contact. Any person to show him the slightest human kindness would be seen in a very positive light. The first person to do so would likely have a friend for life.'

Dumbledore popped a lemon drop into his mouth as he continued to think, 'The multitude of owls we had to send to get Harry his letter proves the Dursleys were trying to keep Harry away from magic and the magical world. Hagrid found them hiding on a rock in the sea, of all places. That is pretty extreme to avoid post. So, I think it is fair to say the Dursleys did their job as expected.'

"Tea please, and some jammy dodgers" Albus said to the air. Tea and biscuits appeared on his desk, steam curling up from the spout of the antique china teapot.

Taking the cup of freshly poured tea and a biscuit, Dumbledore looked out the window again. 'So, what happened? Surely the harpy was able to accomplish a simple task. All she had to do was make sure Harry and Ron met before they got on the train. Harry was properly primed; he would take any positive human contact and react very positively to it. Ron and Harry should have been best friends by the time they got to Hogwarts.'

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and gave a derisive chuckle, 'Well, that didn't happen…'

Finishing his jammy dodger and washing it down with several sips of tea, the headmaster made a decision. Whatever went wrong, happened on that train. 'Time to find out what happened from the horse's mouth.' Remembering the exhibition of gastronomic excess displayed at the sorting feast, he would be sure to stay well away from this particular horse's mouth as he discovered his answers.

******************Back in the Headmaster's office, later that evening****************

Under the guise of checking on the first year students, Dumbledore had spent enough time with Ron Weasley in his dorm room to pick through his mind with a bit of legilimency. What he found there was not encouraging; no, not in the slightest.

The first problem had been sorting truth from fiction. Ronald's recollection of the event was heavily altered by his biased perceptions, both of Slytherins in general, and of his own prowess specifically. The boy honestly believes Draco 'did something dark' to him, causing him to react the way he did. Once these delusions were stripped away and the original memory viewed, the stupidity of the boy became obvious. Molly must have told him to befriend Harry 'or else'. Well, he certainly made an impression! Harry will never trust Ron. Not after that. Harry's charge of kidnapping was ludicrous and would never hold up in court. However, if he spoke to a solicitor or barrister, they would recommend downgrading the charge to physical assault. That charge would be very difficult to laugh out of court or sweep under the carpet. Harry's assertion that he is "Head of House Potter", while ridiculous, also guaranteed Harry's charge would be heard by the Wizengamot. The Wizengamot defended their supposed privileges quite zealously.

And equally obvious was Draco's behavior. Draco taunted Ron, deliberately provoking him into an attack. Why?

Dumbledore reviewed the memory in his pensieve. Something was off. This was entirely too neat. It seemed orchestrated, as if Draco wanted… no… that isn't right. No. As if Draco NEEDED Ron to attack him. If only Ronald paid more attention to everything else in the compartment. If he had, Dumbledore could see Harry's face. That might help. But Ron was concentrated on young Mr. Malfoy with the intensity of an Olympic archer. He saw nothing else, but Dumbledore could count the threads in Draco's robe.

Dumbledore smiled as he had an 'ah ha' moment. Rewinding the memory to just before Ronald collided with Draco, he froze the moment and shrunk his pensieve self to mosquito size. Flying up to Draco's right eye, he could clearly see Harry's expression. Rewinding the memory to the beginning of Draco's taunting and watching Harry's face in Draco's eye in slow motion, it became obvious when Harry figured out what Draco was doing. With this new information Albus returned to his normal size and rewound the memory again. He played it many more times, watching each participant exclusively during at least three replays. But his deduction seemed to hold. The only conclusion possible…

'Draco is teaching Harry' Albus growled at this thought. 'This changes everything. All my opening gambits are worthless. And Draco is teaching Harry about his duties as Head of House Potter. That is how Harry knew to invoke Head of House status!'

Dumbledore smiled evilly, 'No, Draco taught Harry enough to FAKE being Head of House Potter. He did not have enough time to teach him everything, or even enough to get by, except around children; just some forms, some basic expectations others will have of him. Just enough to get him into more trouble than he could ever handle on his own.' Even if Dumbledore had to fan the flames of that trouble, from the shadows of course. 'Then, when Harry realizes how hopeless he is, I will rescue him from his self-made morass. Then he will be suitably appreciative of my efforts.'

Taking a sip of his re-heated tea, he nodded to himself. 'Yes, my opening gambits are worthless, but the midgame can be salvaged easily. And the endgame is still solid: Harry will still find himself dying at the hands of Voldemort.'

Dumbledore did not feel guilty for arranging Harry's death. After all, it was pre-ordained. Harry was a walking corpse from the moment that scar defiled his innocent forehead. Albus really had nothing to do with it. Actually, if you think about it, Sybill is the one who killed Harry. Or perhaps you could say Fate "pulled the trigger", as the muggles say. Regardless, there is no blame for Albus in this situation.

'Yes, Harry must die. But only at the appointed time and place, by the hand of Voldemort himself. Only after all the other horcruxes are destroyed. Only when Albus Dumbledore was standing near, to destroy the monster who killed The-Boy-Who-Lived.'

'Then my power will be absolute. As vanquisher of Grindlewald and Voldemort, none will question my ability or wisdom.'

Sipping his tea, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore could see the shape of the future. He would set Wizarding Britain back on the proper path.

"For the Greater Good" he whispered, as he reached for another jammy dodger.

Silence reigned as Dumbledore reviewed and finalized his new plans for Harry.

"Now, how am I going to punish Severus for causing this mess?" Albus smirked and refilled his cup.

AN: And that is my version of Albus Dumbledore. He is not evil, at least not in his own mind. He is manipulative, but he has to be. Decades of politics will do that to you. He has nothing against Harry. Harry is just collateral damage. Tragic, but unavoidable.

(long) AN: After several reviews regarding Dumbledore and 'evil', I felt the need to address the issue. First, a bit about myself... I am a combat vet. I understand war, sometimes a bit too much. The universal truth of war is... people die. Innocent people... wicked people... good people... and whether you are innocent, good, bad, dark, light or neutral... dead is still dead. The universal truth of war can be restated as War Sucks. Anyone talking of the glory of battle is lying through his teeth or has never been in battle.
Dumbledore came through the first war. Even in canon, the 'Leader of the Light' was losing. Lily's sacrifice literally saved the British wizarding world.
BTW, note that term... "Leader"... Dumbledore was effectively a General for the Light side. He made decisions on a routine basis which could result in someone's death. He constantly sent Snape to spy on Tom, knowing Snape could be discovered on any trip and meet a grisly end, but he kept sending him.
Now Dumbledore has a prophecy that says Tom is immortal unless he kills Harry (or is killed by Harry). Dumbledore also thinks Harry is a horcrux, thus he has to die before there is any chance to kill Tom. So, he doesn't even have the option of helping Harry defeat Tom and survive, for as long as Harry lives, Tom can return.
So, Dumbledore is faced with an impossible task, killing Tom while saving Harry. Albus knows it is impossible, so doesn't try. Harry must die or Tom lives forever. If Tom lives, hundreds if not thousands will die every year after Tom returns. It will take several decades of constant training to teach Harry enough to give him a fighting chance in a straight up duel. (After all, Tom has a 50 year head start...) So Albus has to weigh the lives of tens of thousands versus the life of one child. (Please remember, the canon Dumbledore also planned for Harry to die. And when Harry was given the choice to give himself up to Tom, knowing Tom would kill him, Harry made the same choice, to sacrifice one life (his own) in the hopes of saving many more lives.)
It really is that simple.
War Sucks.
The most evil thing I have my Dumbles doing is arranging to take advantage of what he believes has to happen. Is that evil? Yeah, a little.
But consider the other side... if Albus decided to train Harry for the 30+ years needed to make him Tom's equal in a duel, then Albus is choosing to save one life, Harry's, by sacrificing the tens of thousands Voldemort will kill while Harry is training... AND Dumbles will still have to find some way to deal with the horcrux in the scar.
So, my opinion... Dumbledore is not evil. He is not absolutely good. He is neutral good (instead of neutral evil) because his choices benefit more people than they harm.
My Albus is not a nice guy. (But neither is the canon Dumbledore.) I wouldn't want him dating my daughter.
But he is no Lucius Malfoy.
And he is definitely no Voldemort.

I hope this clears up my concept of Dumbledore.
I don't expect anyone to like him.
Just don't expect him to start throwing AKs around either.