I don't own Harry Potter.

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X

The Treasure Hunter.

"Why?" Harry had dozens of things he wanted to say, what he had on the tip of his tongue, but nothing seemed more poignant than that single word; he had years of abusive things he had longed to say to the aged wizard in front of him, lying so pathetically with only one hand lying on the floor next to him, too weak to stand and fight, but Harry knew better than to underestimate somebody of Dumbledore's calibre. The old wizard was sly, and his intellect was what made him dangerous. If he had a plan in mind for escape he would put it into action any minute now.

And yet….

At the same time, Harry was still stunned by what he had learnt, what he had figured out when he had first confronted the bastard who'd taken his appearance and worn it like it was his own without a care or regard for how the original felt. Harry was still surprised. Dumbledore had hit new lows in the past, but this one was the worst. Harry swore, that if the old bastard so much as claimed this was all for the Greater Good, he would take the law into his own hands. May Amelia Bones be damned. But hopefully, it wouldn't go that far.

Dumbledore stared back at him, his blue eyes were not twinkling, but full of physical pain and stress. He was having to use his occlumency barriers to try to hold back the dizzying waves of pain, but the numbness had already set in. He felt weak, dizzy, numb and hopeless, and now he knew why Arabic countries took off a hand or ancient cultures - magical and muggle - both cut off limbs as a punishment. The aftereffects were so painful that it made the very thought of standing impossible.

But his mind gave him something constructive to focus on while he tried to direct what little control he had over his magic to his stump.

"You know how long I have been guiding and protecting the magical world, Harry," Dumbledore began, deciding not to use his usual and more favoured tactic of playing for time and then leading people on until he felt fit to give a straight answer. He was in too much pain and his mind was crumbling from the stress. "I have helped defend this world against the likes of Grindelwald and Voldemort, but I enjoyed the glory."

Harry shrugged. "Rather you than me. I never felt comfortable with the glory I received," he spat the word glory, remembering what it had got him, what Dumbledore had done to him and what nearly happened. But he had no desire to even think about it.

"It was your destiny, Harry-," Dumbledore tried to say. But he was interrupted.

"No, it wasn't. Killing Voldemort was not my duty, not a destiny I would have chosen!" Harry wasn't shouting, but the air around him crackled under the force of his growing anger, startling the aurors around them. "You forced me to become your great weapon, but it failed when the Dursleys proved to be more malevolent than you imagined. You pushed that stupid duty on me. Let's get something clear, you demented old son of a whore; I didn't kill Voldemort for you. I did not kill him for Fudge, for the students of my time at Hogwarts. I killed him because he had murdered my family. I killed him because he had been a shadow over my life. I killed him because I knew if I didn't, he would never leave me alone for the rest of my life! I killed him because the thing he left me with that night was driving me insane! Don't delude yourself by thinking I was doing it for you; if it weren't for the exceptional circumstances, I would have left this stinking shithole of a country for pastures better, and don't think for a second any of the other magical countries would have tolerated that snake-faced freak trying to wipe them out. What I want to know is why you became a murderer; you're a bastard, Dumbledore, I have never liked you, but you never struck me as a murderer on this scale. What happened, and tell us the truth or I'll rip off one limb at a time?"

Harry lifted the wand for emphasis. Dumbledore got the point and he carried on, looking increasingly unhealthy. "When Grindelwald was defeated, I received great acclaim and I have to admit I was delighted by what I had. I had honours and I had become an important personage in the Wizengamot and the ICW," Dumbledore ignored what Harry had said, "with the defeat of Grindelwald, I was able to do some good in the magical world. And when Voldemort rose to power, I saw another chance to do some good."

"You mean to become the hero once more," Harry correctly darkly, thinking of what he knew of Dumbledore's attitude among the Order of the Phoenix, "God, you really a fucking egotist, but you were never a general. You never led anyone into a proper battle over a prolonged period; if you had then you would never have come up with that stupid notion that there was to be no killing. There's no doubt in my mind at all if that happened, you would have lost that war. And you nearly did, it was not until my parents stopped him that the war ended with Voldemort. When are you going to understand, that war is hell, war is death? There is nothing you can do to correct that. The only thing that matters is killing as many of the enemies as you can, but that would be too difficult for you, right? I've met dozens of people who say you never contributed anything to the war with Grindelwald; you just stayed in Hogwarts for almost a decade while the bastard used silver-tongued words to sway the crowd. Mm, actually, are you sure Aberforth is your brother and not Grindelwald? It's just, well I mean, the pair of you are both well-matched manipulative bastards."

Dumbledore closed his eyes and fought to ignore the taunt. He had no intention of even thinking about the relationship he'd had with Gellert before it fell apart. He was having a hard enough time staying conscious thanks to the pain, and he had to deal with the mental torture Harry was giving him. The numbness had taken hold and it was spreading, his occlumency skills were strong enough to mitigate the worst of his nausea, but he'd been too late to apply his training and knowledge. "When Voldemort launched his war, I saw it as a challenge, a way to bolster my own popularity."

"Popularity?" Harry glanced over his shoulder and took in Amelia Bones's disgusted expression; he had a feeling, ever since that night after he'd summoned her to the castle after he'd destroyed the Horcruxes and killed Voldemort, she despised Dumbledore's methods as much as he did, and knew the old man was a con man. "Hundreds of people were being killed, and all you thought about was your own popularity? I lost everyone in that damn war because of those animals, and you had us giving them second chances by constantly stepping in whenever they waved that stupid Imperius curse defence."

"If you're trying to appeal to his common sense, Madam Bones, don't bother. He doesn't have any," Harry snorted.

Dumbledore glared at him through pain glazing eyes. "Kindly stop speaking of me as if I were not right here."

"Oh, you are here right now, Dumbledore, and whatever justification you have for this mess, it exists only in your little mind. You live in a bubble. You're king of your own little world. There are people out there who want fame, but you take it in totally different directions," Harry bent down and picked up Fawkes. The tiny phoenix was chirping weakly but he was chirping. "You're a disgusting old man who doesn't care about anyone but himself. This is the ultimate proof in my mind. No phoenix in the world would ever do what you made this one do, and they certainly would never stay with you if you murdered children and innocents who hadn't done anything. So why bother?"

"It….it was for the Greater Good," Dumbledore replied honestly.

"The Greater Good?" Harry sneered, ignoring the gasps from the older aurors. "Wasn't that Grindelwald's spiel? It was, wasn't it? I've done a bit of checking into Grindelwald. I've found out he kept using your favourite catchphrase. Why is that? Are the rumours true about you two, that he was your former lover and something happened to make you two fight one another?"

Dumbledore said nothing, he just sat there on the ground, staring at Harry with something like disbelief.

Harry shook his head. "I wonder if Grindelwald would have done anything as you had. So what happened, what did you two have in mind? Those rumours say you were planning something. But something happened to make you change your plans…and you became a heroic legend by defeating him. That's what all of this is about, you want to recapture some of that glory for yourself." So disgusted was Harry that he could not even look at the old wizard.

Dumbledore opened his mouth, probably hoping to give out some long-winded spiel but he saw that was not a good idea. In the end, there was nothing more he could say except, "Yes."

"But why bother? You've proven yourself up to dealing with Dark Lords twice. Why couldn't you just accept the glory you had and deal with that?" Harry asked. "What was the point?"

"I saw the advantages of the glory of dealing with three Dark Lords."

"But I'm not a Dark Lord-oh, now I understand what this is all about. Voldemort must have been the crown jewel of that achievement, he must have been," Harry gazed down at the old man with renewed disgust, "but he wasn't like Grindelwald was he? No. Voldemort proved to be nothing more than a heartless, senseless beast who had more raw power at his common compared to you despite your greater experience. Grindelwald genuinely wanted to change the world, all Voldemort wanted was to destroy it, and reign on high in a world destroyed and shattered so he could truly become the greatest wizard in the world. A brutal vision you underestimated. You never understood what lay underneath Voldemort's facade, did you?"

"I had hoped to stop him from going that far," Dumbledore countered.

"How, by making us use stunners?" Bones demanded, glaring down at Dumbledore in disgust. She had lost friends and family to Voldemort in the past, and all this old fool had done was preach to them like they were school kids.

Suddenly Dumbledore had had enough, tired of being attacked all the time when he was in agony. When was he going to receive some medical attention before the numbness and the lightheaded feeling got worse?

"They were purebloods!" He was somewhat surprised with himself when he began shouting in order to make his point; he had doubted he even had the energy needed to shout or scream. "The purebloods hold the secrets of our world! They are the custodians of our customs, our history. We can't kill them off. Too many have died out over the years."

Silence. Suddenly Harry snorted. "And at last the true Albus Dumbledore is revealed," he clapped, "a blood bigot. It's no wonder now to me why the purebloods at Hogwarts always got away with everything, especially with you turning a blind eye. All that talk of forgiveness... it was all just a pack of lies, right? You simply didn't care, and that's the truth of it all. Many of those deaths were their own fault. They joined two psychopaths in the hopes of creating a world they could rule over, but instead, they were merely signing their own death warrants. In Voldemort's case, that's literal; he wouldn't have shared anything. He would have murdered every single speck of life on Earth, and he would have felt justified because he was the one doing it. Tom Riddle should have been lobotomised from birth. But you are just as bad. Suddenly it all makes sense; all of those moments during my Hogwarts years and probably before that, you allowed scum like Malfoy to get away with anything, yet you punished the victims. Did it ever occur to you they would grow up to become monsters, or did you just wish for them to be born so you would have something to fight?"

Dumbledore didn't reply, he just gazed back with that self-righteous arrogance that was despised by dozens who knew there was more to the old wizard than what met the eye. Harry knew there was no reasoning with him.

"But going back…. What was the point of what you were doing? I think I have that worked out. When Voldemort was banished after attacking me, that must have driven you crazy since you hadn't done anything to stop him, well nothing substantial," Harry went on, deciding to move on and return to the matter at hand. "But you quickly saw you could take advantage of what happened, and find a way of defeating Voldemort by yourself, right?"

"Yes," Dumbledore whispered, knowing that no matter what he did, how he twisted things, there were too many people here and they would soon spread the word about what he had been doing. His career and life were over, and he was rational and practical enough to realise that was the case despite how much he wished the reality were different.

"But what about the Dursleys? Was it just to keep me safe, or did you want them to punish me for what my mother, who I'm sure proved only too well muggle-borns can be as good if not better than some purebloods, did that night?" Harry asked, seeing without surprise the looks on the aurors' faces as they remembered the dim reports of what the Dursleys tried to do to him as a baby.

Dumbledore made a face, not about what the Dursleys had done; he had long since gotten over them ruining so many of his plans. No, he was grimacing because he was thinking of Lily Potter, the mudblood who triumphed where so many failed. "Yes," he spat, making everyone gasp.

"Thank you." Harry was pleased, for a long time he had suspected one of the reasons why Dumbledore had sent him to the Dursleys was to get some kind of petty revenge. Now he had the proof. "Let me guess what your sick plan was here. You can fill in the gaps. You're old. You were angry with how I killed Voldemort, not because I just did it, but because you felt it was your right. You still wanted to be remembered for defeating two Dark Lords, but since I killed the second one you've known, you decided it wasn't a problem so you decided to create a new one," he clenched his fists angrily as he finished off, "Me. You planned on making me out to be a Dark Lord, but because I wasn't around anymore, you couldn't do anything like that. But that wasn't a problem. You used my image instead. You were able to take my youth and clone it for yourself and then you started creating blood baths. The result? I would be hunted down, and you would duel me. It wouldn't matter if I knew what was happening or not, just so you could prove to everyone you'd defeated me. And after that? You would be heralded as a great wizard again and no one would know the truth. But that plan was foiled when the Ministry went out of its way to hunt me down."

"I didn't even know what the Ministry was doing," Dumbledore replied honestly. "When I saw you in the courtroom and you proved yourself to be innocent, it made things harder for me. But I knew I could twist it."

Harry didn't even want to ask how the conniving old fucker in front of him would do that. "Was it worth it?" he asked quietly, knowing that there was no way back for Dumbledore now. He had crossed too many lines, and the magical world would not let him get away with this, with anything.

Amelia Bones had had enough. She silently levelled her wand and stunned Dumbledore with the strongest stunning spell imaginable. Once he was lying on the ground, unconscious, she put on magically-restraining cuffs. Harry watched as she directed aurors to take him away to a cell, and she also summoned the Unspeakables to the DMLE. They had to be able to sever Dumbledore's connection with Fawkes.

Once it was over, Amelia took Harry to the DMLE office. "I think you would have made a fine investigator," she poured some coffee into some mugs and took one of them to Harry, who slowly scanned it to make sure it was not tampered with.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I've had a taste of DMLE procedures when I spent time in that room," Harry took a sip of coffee, pleased with the blend and he smacked his lips in appreciation. "Thanks all the same, but I'd rather continue with the life I have. I enjoy travelling to other countries, and there is still so much out there I wish to see and do."

Amelia nodded although she wanted to know what Harry planned to do with himself later in the future. But she wasn't going to. It wasn't any of her business, after all. Instead, she focused on something else. "Albus Dumbledore is going to have a trial, Potter. I'd like you to stay a little bit longer, and see it through."

"Why?"

"Because you are a witness to his crimes and his actions. You possess an insight into his lack of character, and that can be of great help for me right now."

Harry considered the idea. He had to admit that the offer had advantages, and in truth, he did want to bring Dumbledore down a few pegs. Ever since he had learnt what the old wizard had done when he was a baby, Harry had often wondered how it would feel to make him pay. Now he had his chance.

"Okay, I'll do it. When will the trial be?"

Bones shrugged. "I can't answer that. He's just been arrested and charged. But I have little doubt it will be soon. The only problem is Dumbledore is well known for his connections to Nicholas Flamel, the alchemist who-."

"I know who Flamel is. And you're right. I'd say you'd have to give Dumbledore…..," Harry interrupted so he didn't have to listen to a recounting of Flamel's career, but he crinkled his eyes as he mentally estimated how long it would take to flush the potions Dumbledore likely took to make sure things like this didn't happen, "4 days."

"Why 4 days?" Amelia asked curiously.

"Just a precaution to let the potions in his body to wear off, but I'd give him a couple of flushing potions to be on the safe side," Harry said mildly. "So what do you want me to do? I'm not a trained investigator or prosecutor and if I'm honest, the less I have to do with magical politics the better.." When he saw Bones struggle with the idea herself, it came to him. "Tell you what, I have a few questions on my mind, questions I have never asked Dumbledore before. How about I spend time dreaming up questions about him for you and others to ask? It would certainly turn the public against him."

Bones narrowed her eyes at him. "While it's the job of the prosecutors to ask the questions, I see no reason why you shouldn't have questions for him,'" she commented. "What did you have in mind?"

While the idea had just sparked in his mind, Harry already had a few questions in mind. But he didn't plan on telling Bones anything.

"Dumbledore has been around for a century, and I think deep down he was always a criminal. This is not a change of heart. I just want to know what else he's done over the years," Harry answered. "I need to go into the muggle world."

"What for?" Bones blinked with genuine surprise.

"I want to buy a few notebooks. I can organise the questions better in a notebook than I can from using parchment scrolls," Harry pointed out.

Bones mulled it over, unsure of how far she could trust him. "

Harry saw her expression and it didn't really surprise him that much. "Look, just have an auror come with me, one who understands the muggle world and won't make any stupid mistakes that will get us noticed."

X

The auror who ended up escorting Harry was the weird haired one. Harry found out her name was Tonks, and she suspiciously didn't give him her first name, but he decided not to pry. He didn't give a damn one way or another. She was only slightly older than Harry, possessing a bubbly exterior he had liked but at the same time he was worried her lack of self-control when it came to her physical appearance would get them caught. Bones apparently had the same fears, and she had made sure Tonks understood not to lose control over herself, or her emotions or her appearance would change. In the end, Harry had to conjure a beanie hat because the idiot couldn't stop letting her hair colour and length from changing. They didn't go too far from the Ministry's muggle entrance, which consisted of an old telephone box. As they both left the box, the two went in search of the notebooks, and they found them in a newsagent. After flicking through them and making sure that they were lined and what he wanted, Harry picked up two black biros.

In truth, he didn't need the blank notebooks. He had several of them back in the house. He was hopeful that he could persuade Bones to let him go back to his house so he could work on the questions from there and be left alone for the next few days while the potions in Dumbledore's system wore off, but if she kept him under house arrest then he would have what he needed.

The questions he had come up with were now coming in droves, and it was only thanks to his occlumency enforced concentration that he was able to think and collect the notebooks.

Harry glanced at Tonks. The auror had been silent for a while, wearing a shattered expression on her face while he was taking the notebooks up to the counter and he looked left and right. "Are you okay?"

Tonks turned to him, shaken out of her innermost thoughts. "What? No, sorry," she apologised when she realised what he was asking her. "I'm just thinking about Dumbledore."

Harry studied her closely. He knew Dumbledore had many fans, people who had idolised him for a long time, and the news of Dumbledore's betrayal was spreading through the magical world and there was going to be a trial. "Take my advice. Don't. Albus Dumbledore was a fake, a fraud. He was a manipulator, a meddler, a blood bigot, a liar and a cheat. He was never someone to idolise."

Tonks bit her lip. "But how could he justify what he had done?" She said softly.

Harry sighed and subtly cast a low-level privacy ward to give him and Tonks a few moments. He knew what he was going to say was going to shatter the auror, but it had to be done. "I've just told you. Dumbledore was a manipulator, he had spent years convincing people he was a protective, grandfatherly man but in his heart was a man who was unafraid of using anyone - man, woman, child, and phoenix in his personal quest for fame, fortune, and personal recognition. He didn't care when Grindelwald was rampaging through Europe, and if you don't believe me then go to France, to Beauxbatons."

"Why would I go there?" Tonks asked predictably.

This was the problem with having some stupid ghost teaching history; instead of focusing on the worldwide history of the magical world, Binns was making sure they only learnt about the goblin rebellions in an attempt to keep the disgust between the two races going. "Tonks, did you know that thanks to Grindelwald, Beauxbatons was attacked by muggle soldiers in the last World War?"

The auror gaped at him in horror. "What?" She whispered as she considered the clear and terrifying implications. Everyone knew Beauxbatons was the French equivalent of Hogwarts, seeing an annual attendance of a couple hundred or so students. The idea of them being attacked, and by muggles...

"It only came out at his trial, but Grindelwald's favourite tactic in recruiting people who quickly came to realise the savagery of muggles was to find a place that was important, find out how to break down the protective wards and then direct the muggles to attack it. Beauxbatons was one of the worst attacked places in the whole war. Grindelwald brought the wards down - I don't know how long it took him, but when they came down, there was an attack; the Luftwaffe and the SS both attacked the school. The teachers got a call through to the French Ministry, and the French despatched a number of aurors, but the damage was done; many of the students had been killed by the surprise attack after the wards collapsed, and many of the teachers were slaughtered trying to protect them and dealing with the SS. When the aurors arrived with Unspeakables, they didn't hold back. They killed as many of the SS as they could, Tonks; the Germans at the time were savages, but they were nothing compared to the aurors and hit wizards who attacked them. An angry auror who had children at the school was furious, saying muggles should either be slaughtered or culled to prevent another attack from happening again. He was not the only one. Grindelwald had what he really wanted, many angry and scared parents and people were frightened their future was being snatched from them or wiped out by muggles. Dumbledore might have been praised for stopping Grindelwald, but there are many in Europe who have not forgotten or forgiven him for doing nothing. Beauxbatons was not the first school attacked, and it proved to be one of Grindelwald's favourite tactics, and he justified it all by saying it was for the Greater Good. That's why the phrase is hated around the world. There are rumours there was some kind of pact between him and Grindelwald, I don't know if it's true and it's gonna be one of the questions I ask, but the fact is there are many murky secrets surrounding Dumbledore during that time. Now come on, we have work to do."

After he paid for his purchases, Harry and Tonks returned to the Ministry. The auror was noticeably quiet, troubled by the horrific images in her mind from Harry's history lesson. Once he got back he made sure nobody had stupidly let Dumbledore out of his cell. He also made sure to check on Fawkes. The operation to truly break the familiar bond was in full pelt by the time they got back, and it was something Harry truly didn't want to see. Hearing the tiny Fawkes's trills of pain was nightmarish.

When they got back to the DMLE, Harry made sure to speak to Amelia Bones. It took some doing but he was able to convince her to let him stay at his house in Kent. He had purchased it a few years before, tired of London and it fitted in with his newfound fondness of wide-open spaces. The fact it was so close to the Romney, Hythe, and Dymchurch steam railway was a bonus, but there was a good train service into London. Harry even went as far as to swear another magical oath to convince her she was not going to do a runner, which he was sure she was certain he would do. In truth, Harry wanted to stay and see justice occur with Dumbledore. He told Amelia he would spend a few days at his home and he would come on the fourth day to see how things were going. In the meantime, he would write the questions while secretly planning where he was going to leave next.

It only took an hour but he had already written over 3 dozen questions.

X

When Dumbledore was brought into the courtroom, Harry was sitting on the prosecutor's bench. It had been at Amelia Bones' request, really although he wasn't sure if she should have bothered since he had never really given himself the credit that he could perform such a job. But she had to point out to him that some of the questions he had come up with were revolutionary and many of them, depending on the answers, were bound to force the DMLE to prepare for new court cases and trials.

Bones was set to make an example out of Dumbledore, although what that example was and what it would ultimately mean, was not something that Harry was really interested in bothering about. While he sat waiting for Dumbledore and the start of the trial, Harry watched as the courtroom filled up with aurors, and Ministry officials, including the new Minister, Rufus Scrimgeour. Harry hadn't really heard much about the new Minister, or how he was received by the rest of the worldwide community, but he wasn't going to bother with him. Fudge had put him off for life.

He noticed Sirius and Remus, both looking haggard as if they couldn't believe their world had come caving in. The surviving Weasleys came in, looking much the same. In the crowd, he noticed one brown-haired girl intermingled with the redheads. Hermione. Harry didn't pay them any attention although he did make note of their presence in the court. He also noticed a tall man with a beard, who had an unnerving resemblance to Dumbledore, except this man lacked the effeminate, flowing robes that Albus favoured to magnify his own self-importance and make himself appear superior to everyone around him, emphasising the popular view of him being Merlin reincarnated. No, this wizard was dressed simply, a bit shabbily, but Harry didn't care. He looked so much like Dumbledore, many in the courtroom who noticed him did a double-take, convinced this wizard was Albus, that Harry wondered what was happening but he didn't look bothered.

Finally, Madam Bones called for order in the court. "All Rise!" She bellowed through her magically enhanced voice as she stepped into the courtroom and took her place. "Please take your seats. Bring in the accused."

Once everyone was sat down and everything was ready, Albus Dumbledore was brought into the courtroom. Harry leaned forward slightly. The last few days had been rough on the ancient wizard. The space where he once had a hand had been healed but only slightly, just enough to ensure infection didn't set in. Nothing else. The whole thing was a stump, useless and a constant reminder of what Dumbledore had once possessed before Harry had taken it from him.

If it weren't for the crooked nose, the blue eyes, the gold rim half-moon glasses and the waist-length beard and shoulder-length hair, all of white, Harry would never have recognised Dumbledore, but it was a fleeting recognition. The hair of his beard and down to his shoulders hadn't been groomed in days. His clothes were shabby prison garb and he wore a magical suppression cuff on his arms and legs and there was even one around his collar. The aurors were not taking any chances, Dumbledore was a very powerful wizard and right now he was vulnerable and in danger, and that made him more dangerous than ever.

On top of that, Harry knew Amelia Bones was not one of the newer generation witches and wizards. She knew how Dumbledore was, she was aware of the damage he could do, she had seen it first hand. He was glad she was one woman who learnt from her mistakes.

In the meantime, it took a moment for the old wizard to notice Harry's presence in the crowd. Harry gazed back coldly at his enemy, looking forward to what he was going to do.

"This court has assembled, to try Albus Dumbledore for his crimes against magical kind," Amelia Bones proclaimed through her magically amplified voice, "to all of you here, I will not tolerate any intervention, interference of any kind. Should any of you interrupt, protest, or interfere with the proceedings, you will be incarcerated in the holding cells until you are fit to be questioned," Bones addressed the crowd of people whom Harry deduced were members of Dumbledore's precious Order. "This is a criminal court case, and we take such matters very seriously."

Dumbledore was read his rights and the charges were levelled out against him. The old wizard listened calmly as the crimes he had accumulated lately were read out to him. Finally, it came time for him to be questioned with truth potion. They used Veritaserum supplied by none other than Professor Horace Slughorn, who sent Dumbledore a glare of such contempt Harry wondered about the history between the two men.

After asking Dumbledore the basics, the real questions began. The person asking the questions was a hard-bitten looking auror, the only one who hadn't lost half of his nose.

"When did you decide to become a Dark Lord?" The first serious question came.

Dumbledore visibly tried to fight the question - Harry couldn't understand the logic, surely the old wizard could see it was pointless? "A year after Lord Voldemort was killed by Harry Potter."

"But why did you decide to become a Dark Lord?" The auror asked.

"It has always been my ambition to become the greatest wizard in the world," Dumbledore replied, "while I was able to claim credit for a host of things, such as the twelve uses of dragon's blood, I soon found that I could achieve political power on a greater level if I proved I could be a force for good. When I defeated Grindelwald, I went from a powerful and well-known schoolteacher to a conqueror of the Dark. Doors opened for me, and I was soon moving up the echelons of magical society. Very quickly I was able to manipulate members of magical government to my own way of thinking, for the Greater Good of the wizarding world. I was able to pass off laws aimed at limiting creatures such as vampires and werewolves and Veela, and I also subtly ensured muggle-borns were unable to reach higher levels of office."

Harry sent a look at the stands where he knew Hermione Granger was currently sitting. He could see the former spy who had been used by Dumbledore to spy on him looking horrified at what her precious hero and idol was saying. He knew what she thinking. She had been working for a man who was no better than Malfoy, no better than Voldemort. He could see she was having a hard time believing it, but the truth serum was still working and there was no way you could fool that.

"When Voldemort rose to power in the 60s and 70s, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to gain more. But during the 1940s when he was educated at Hogwarts, I saw him as another pawn to greater power. I had already known from the moment I met him as a child when I went to hand in his Hogwarts letter that he possessed raw, barely tamed power, and he possessed a burning hatred for everyone barring himself. He was a perfect pawn. One night I snuck into the Slytherin dorms, and I used my proficiency in occlumency and legilimency to plant a seed of darkness into his mind."

Harry felt a chill go down his spine. He knew many masters of the mind arts were capable of such things, but to hear Voldemort was manipulated into becoming what he had in such a manner was horrific. But it was tempered by the knowledge Voldemort would likely have been created one way or another; Tom Riddle was a monster long before he became one, all Dumbledore did was stoke the fire.

Remorselessly, Dumbledore went on, "The seed would twist what was already there. Voldemort had a pathological fear of death, but the discovery of the magical world offered him many opportunities. The kernel I planted in his mind simply made him search for the darkest forms of magic. As I watched him grow, gathering followers, I realised he was planning for his own war. Using the knowledge I regularly planted in his mind or for him to find, he soon learnt about the darker ways of becoming immortal, but he made the job easier by asking Horace Slughorn about horcruxes; soul fragments which allow for immortality although he had the information right in front of him. I had needed a way of controlling Slughorn for a while, and I felt having something that incriminating about him that would help me control him. But Slughorn foolishly believed Voldemort had gotten the information about them from him. In fact, he got it from my help."

Harry sent a look towards Slughorn. The old Potion Master's expression was stunned and horrified that the whole thing had been staged. Harry wanted to reassure him that it was the truth, but he wanted Dumbledore to go on.

"But Voldemort was different. I underestimated him. He was no longer under my control, and he had gained access to some of the more arcane forms of magic in order to wage war. He proved to be more powerful than I had imagined, but I still saw defeating him as the perfect means to gaining greater power over both the magical world and the muggle world. But he was more powerful and uncontrollable than I had anticipated. It wasn't until the mudblood Lily Potter and her bastard son defeated him that I realised I would need to change my plans for good, unfortunately, those filthy muggle relatives of the brat nearly killed him instead of beating him, as I had hoped, and he nearly died instead of becoming the weapon I had needed to help weaken Voldemort."

Clenching his fists, the only outward sign of emotion he actually allowed while everyone else gasped in horror at the revelations coming, Harry was somehow able to focus on the things Dumbledore was saying, and he forced himself to be calm while a part of him wanted to murder the evil wizard in front of him.

Harry leaned over to whisper into Bones's ear. "I think this question can be revisited later," he told her, "but there are other questions I want answered and quick, otherwise we'll be here all day."

Bones frowned but nodded. She stood up and addressed the auror. "I think that's enough on that question for now; move on, please."

The auror moved on, secretly pleased. "What really happened with Grindelwald?"

Harry hid a smile when he remembered the question. There had been many rumours and ideas relating to both Dumbledore and Grindelwald for a long time. Many of them had started in Europe, and Harry had first heard of them when he had visited some of the places that Grindelwald had caused severe damage to, including Beauxbatons.

He had always been curious himself, although he felt it would not surprise him in the least if the old wizard and Grindelwald's relationship was deeper than what was already known. But this was the perfect opportunity to further tear down Dumbledore's lofty image.

Dumbledore condemned himself. In a lecture that lasted for the next 45 minutes, he told them of how he and Grindelwald had met after the latter was expelled from Durmstrang for illegal experiments (Harry idly wondered what those experiments were; he had visited the parts of Europe where Durmstrang was located; while he knew the school had a focus on the dark arts, and a survival of the fittest mentality, they had limits - judging from some of the judging panel, Harry suspected a few of the panel were curious about what those experiments were, and how much Dumbledore knew about them), and they first met, discovering they had much in common.

They were both powerful wizards, two unique people who had a totally different view of the world compared to others, and both were talented and believed they had the right to change the world the way they thought. Harry listened calmly and carefully as Dumbledore revealed it was Grindelwald who believed he had the perfect way of changing the world. They would conquer the muggle world, wipe out the leadership and put the wizards in control of the muggles.

It didn't take long for Dumbledore who was greedy for fame and fortune to come around and agree with him.

They soon had it worked out. With the chaotic way muggles had always governed themselves with their near-constant wars with each other and with Europe as a powder keg throughout its long turbulent history, they saw several ways they could take advantage of the situation. Together the pair of them gathered political power, on their own so then when combined they would be seen as unstoppable in the hopes they could wipe out enough muggles and subdue the rest.

In the early years of their friendship, Dumbledore and Grindelwald became closer than brothers. They not only had so much in common with one another, but they were both homosexual and it was not long before they became lovers.

During that time, the pair of them formed a Blood Pact. Harry was surprised the two of them would go so far, blood pacts were almost difficult to break since they were a binding magical agreement that swapped blood with a specific oath created by the magic of two wands. but he was surprised Dumbledore would commit himself to something like that, and he forced himself to listen to what the old wizard said next about how the blood pact between himself and Grindelwald was supposed to ensure they would work together always.

Once he heard that, Harry wondered about the circumstances that led to the two former friends fighting one another, and he knew the others were thinking the same thing.

But the Dumbledores had a nasty little secret. Their sister Ariana was rendered mentally handicapped after a group of muggle boys saw her using magic one day, and they attacked her. The trauma was so terrible that Dumbledore's father retaliated, and he attacked the boys, which resulted in Dumbledore senior being sent to Azkaban. Ariana was so traumatised she couldn't produce a spark, and yet she was smarter than her brothers were by a long shot. Sadly Albus was unable to bear the thought of being related to anyone like that, and so he attacked her, resulting in Grindelwald and Aberforth stepping forward to stop him, resulting in a fight which led to the young girl's death. Grindelwald was forced to flee.

The plan was almost ruined. Originally the pair of them had planned to separate and gather political power, charming their way through the highest social circles in Europe before they were ready to strike.

They had proof of how muggles fought each other in wars. The First World War was one of their greatest examples, showcasing muggle brutality on unprecedented scales. For the next few decades after the war, Grindelwald collected knowledge of Hitler's rise to power while Dumbledore tried to keep his head down and gather knowledge himself on Grindelwald's slow and steady rise to power, using the knowledge gleaned of muggle brutality. Grindelwald came close to bringing the MACUSA onto his side during a case with an Obscurial, but he had made several mistakes along the way, and he was captured. But he had admirers, especially in the MACUSA who had many reasons to resent muggles. Decades before the MACUSA were forced to cover up a massive breach in the Statute of Secrecy, and they were forced to bury themselves further in order to protect themselves. This action caused a great deal of resentment and even hostility for muggles in the MACUSA, many of them had felt sympathy for Grindelwald when the Dark Lord asked pointedly who the Statute protected. "Us or them?"

By the time he had escaped the Second World War began, Grindelwald was on the rise again while Dumbledore was stuck behind the scenes, frustrated by the DMLE's attempts to rope him in to help when he couldn't. He had come to see that by defeating his former lover, he could attain the power he wished, and he would secretly start to manipulate people into seeing muggles were savages and only wizards could guide the world into the future.

But the only way to do that would be to end Grindelwald.

After he manipulated Newt Scamander into stealing the Blood Pact, Dumbledore was able to free himself, and he was in a better position to end Grindelwald, who had begun using his skills in magic to gather support by collapsing the wards of magical schools and magical monuments and centres of magical culture in Europe and Asia and directing hostile muggles there to ransack and destroy and kill whoever was there. One of these sites was Beauxbatons. The loss of so many schoolchildren inflicted a terrible wound on magical France, and many flocked to Grindelwald for a chance of revenge, but Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald before anything serious could happen, in a surprise duel which saw his former lover imprisoned, and not dead.

One of Grindelwald's sickest acts was how he had indoctrinated some of his followers, inspired by the Nazi SS and Gestapo. This little group, known as the Black Cloaks, were a group of vicious and twisted wizards who were the most extreme magical extremists and they were let loose on those who their master considered threats. Many of them had survived despite the best efforts of the ICW. Dumbledore had done nothing about them, really, content with just letting others clean up the mess.

By the end of Dumbledore's explanation of Grindelwald, everyone was tired and they wanted to process what they had just learnt. Harry was relieved to get out of the courtroom. He needed to get some privacy and something to drink before the court resumed. After he got himself some squeezed fruit juice and a sandwich, Harry went to a table and flicked his wand to create a bubble of privacy. He didn't want to speak to anyone, and if anyone had used their brains and identified what he had just done, they would realise he just wanted to be left alone.

Too bad so many people were just stupid and didn't think.

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin walked over to the bubble, carrying their own food trays. They bounced, rather comically, on the bubble, and they stared at him in shock. Harry ignored them, watching as they pounded and kicked futilely on the bubble, but nothing broke it as he focused on eating, ignoring them, proving truly he wanted nothing to do with the last friends of his father. In his mind, these two meant nothing.

As he did, he couldn't help but think about what he had learnt.

The revelation that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were not only lovers but had mutually agreed upon a masterplan to take control of the muggles while destroying their leadership had not surprised him after hearing of all the conspiracy theories and ideas that swirled around Dumbledore but the old wizard had never managed to stamp out and silence was not something he had expected. Rumours that had led to him being despised in Europe, or seen as another powerful wizard with delusions of godhood.

When he had dreamt up those questions, Harry had hoped to get the truth. There was no doubt in his mind he was opening up more cans of worms where Dumbledore was concerned, and he had a feeling each question that the old man answered would result in a separate trial. By the end of it, Harry felt the old wizard would be lucky not to be executed as a result. His heart bled for Dumbledore, whom he felt deserved every single nasty thing that came to him.

A slow, sinister smile crept over his face as he remembered the next question on the list. Oooh, if that didn't see Dumbledore's reputation plummet further than a shot down a plane like from World War 2, he did not know what wouldn't.