But there was more to it than that. I should remind you that when Potter first arrived at Hogwarts there were still many stories circulating about him, rumors that he himself was a great Dark wizard, which was how he had survived the Dark Lord's attack. Indeed, many of the Dark Lords old followers thought Potter might be a standard around which we could all rally once more
Severus Snape - HP & HBP (Chapter 2)
1st November 1981
While the Wizarding World had already started celebrating the downfall of Lord Voldemort at the hands of infant Harry Potter, several Death Eaters held a quick meeting the evening after their lord's downfall.
"Does anyone know what happened?" asked Reggie Jugson.
No one in the room knew what to say. They were all at a loss at how a mere baby had managed to thwart the most dangerous Dark Lord in history.
"I'll kill that little brat!" screamed Bellatrix, foaming at the mouth. "He DARES to incapacitate the Dark Lord. I'll rip his skin off."
"Calm down Bella," said her husband Rodolphus. "There's no way our lord is gone. He was too great to possibly let death evade him. But I think I know how to find Harry Potter."
"HOW," roared Bellatrix, a manic gleam in her eyes.
"Everyone knows the Potter's and Longbottoms were close," said Barty Crouch Junior. "Stands to reason that not only they would have custody of Harry Potter, they would likely know where our lord is hiding. We need to find him."
"Excellent," smiled Bellatrix, showing off her evil smile. "Come along you morons. You too Barty."
And with that she frogmarched her husband and brother-in-law out of the room, with young Barty on her heels.
Reggie shook his head. "There's no way Dumbledore would have let the boy go near the Longbottoms. He would know one of us is already on our way there."
The other Death Eaters nodded in agreement.
"Where's Lucius?" said Corban Yaxley in anger.
"He's off already paying out bribes to thwart an investigation into his activities," snorted Igor Karkaroff. "You wouldn't find a bigger coward elsewhere."
The other Death Eaters glanced at each other. They'd all already started doing that. Corban had already spent close to over a million galleons in donations to the Department of International Magical-Cooperation.
"What about Harry Potter?" asked Virgil Crabbe, bringing them back to their initial discussion.
"I have a theory," said Corban.
At once everyone turned their eyes to him.
"Our Lord has been obsessed with the Potter's for several months," he said. "But he's been most obsessed with Harry Potter. Why would he be obsessed with a baby you may ask. I wonder myself. He never told us of anything about him after all."
"Personally, I think he saw him as competition. You all saw how he disposed of Gregor Tarlow when he tried to become a Dark Lord. Gregor told no one, but our Lord found out. Maybe Harry Potter is the next Dark Lord, and our lord didn't want that. He wants to be the only Dark Lord."
"You know," pointed out Jugson. "That is highly possible."
Reggie Jugson was highly respected among the Death Eaters for his wisdom. The man had an innate ability to see through people that helped the Death Eaters look up to him. Whatever he believed, they believed.
"We need to find Harry Potter and pledge our allegiance to him," spoke Gavin Goyle in fear.
Reggie stared hard at Gavin. "First of all, a one year old child wouldn't understand if you kissed his robes," he spoke angrily. "And secondly, we need to find Harry Potter. Albus Dumbledore would have hidden him by now."
The other Death Eaters nodded. They all knew Albus Dumbledore to interfere in anything, whether it concerned him or not.
"It will likely take a long time to find him," continued Reggie. "In the meantime we need to try and stay out of Azkaban. No one is to start looking for Harry Potter until next year. We've all got a lot of bribes to hand out. I'll be surprised if you two buffoons - " he pointed his finger at Crabbe and Goyle " – actually succeed at staying out of Azkaban. I'm warning you two. If you screw up and decide to name us in some sort of plea bargain we'll all come after you. We'll even bring Bellatrix."
Crabbe and Goyle were purely terrified of the deranged witch. They both looked at the angry faces now looking their way.
"We'll be good."
lIlIlIl
1986
Nearly five years had passed since Voldemort's downfall.
The Death Eaters had spent four and a half years looking for Harry Potter in their spare time. Not only had they not found him, they had no idea where to look. Albus Dumbledore had announced nearly five years ago he had placed Harry Potter with family in the Muggle world from his mother's side.
They all knew Lily Potter's maiden name was Evans. But there were so many Evans in the Muggle world, so they gave up on searching the name after two days when Reggie showed them a Muggle invention called a phone book where the surname was endless. They had nowhere to look, and they couldn't risk their lives looking for Harry Potter's location in the Ministry. Lucius had attempted to try and had to pay a massive fine. Harry Potter's location was protected by multiple layers of red tape. Minister Bagnold refused to even go near it despite the amount of money they attempted to throw at her. She was too scared of going to Azkaban.
But eventually they got their lucky break.
lIlIlIl
Reggie Jugson, despite being a Death Eater, didn't mind the Muggle World too much. He was a champion of Pureblood Supremacy, but he didn't really care about Muggles. He just didn't want them all dead. He made sure to instill these values in his children and grandchildren.
He had been called on to babysit his six year old granddaughter Milly. Milly was his youngest grandchild. She had been born in the thick of the war in May back in 1980. His daughter Deanna didn't truly believe in his judgement about Muggles, but she told him he can at least try to convince her if he spent time with Milly without influencing her. So he tried. He just didn't speak about Muggles, which was enough for Deanna.
So he brought Milly to Muggle London. The young girl was crazy about the London Eye. He honestly enjoyed it too. There was something magical about seeing practically the whole of London from the sky.
Afterwards he brought the girl to an ice cream shop where there was only one family at the till. The rest were all sitting down at booths.
"And here's your ice cream," the cashier said, handing a large cone full of ice cream to the fattest child Reggie ever had the misfortune of sighting.
"Are you sure you don't want ice cream," she said to the other child. This child was practically scrawny compared to the other.
The boy shook his head.
Milly stepped forward next to the boy. "Surely you want ice cream. Every child wants ice cream." Reggie smiled. His son Tobey always used that line with his grandkids.
"He doesn't want ice cream," the large man said. "Do you boy?"
And the boy shook his head. Only Reggie noticed that the boy shook his head rather violently. Something was wrong here.
"Grandad," said Milly. "Could you buy my new friend ice cream?"
Reggie was about to say no when something happened. The chubby kid went straight up to his granddaughter and shouted at her.
"Stop being nice to the freak. He doesn't deserve ice cream."
"What did you say?" Reggie spoke coldly. He couldn't help himself. Something was very wrong with this family and he wanted to find out why. "Turn around and face me."
The family of four all turned at Reggie's voice. Reggie knew he was terrifying when he used that tone. The Death Eaters all learned that by trial and error.
The fat boy whimpered and tried to hide behind his equally as fat father, but couldn't.
"That's what they call him," the boy whimpered, pointing at his parents.
"Why would you call your own son a freak?"
"He's not our son," said the man. Reggie could tell the man was trying his hardest not to shout. "He's our nephew. He just doesn't speak much, so our son Dudley just calls him freak for fun."
"Why don't you just call him by his name?" growled Reggie. He turned to the boy and adopted his kindly face, the face he used for all his grandchildren. "In fact, what is your name?"
"Harry Potter."
Reggie almost had a heart attack when he heard the answer. He managed to keep his façade though despite his brain telling him to scream.
"Well, it is nice to meet you, Harry."
However he forgot about his granddaughter.
"You're Harry Potter," squealed Milly. "You're my hero."
And with that the girl lunged forward and crushed The-Boy Who-Lived with a hug.
"How did you defeat You-Know-Who," she asked in wonder. "Do you have the scar?"
Reggie rubbed his head in frustration.
"YOU'RE ONE OF THEM!" bellowed the man. "GO AWAY AND LEAVE US NORMAL PEOPLE ALONE."
Now Reggie understood the situation in front of him. The-Boy-Who-Lived was abused by these monstrous Muggles just because he had magic. That's why they called him 'freak'.
Reggie was very good friends with Millicent Bagnold. He knew if he did this right, he might be able to get Harry Potter under his protection and guardianship, influence the boy with the other Death Eaters. And destroy Albus Dumbledore's reputation. After all, the man himself claimed to check up on Harry often and always preached that Muggles were good people.
And he also knew very well these three disgusting Muggles belonged better in the Dark Ages during the witch-hunts.
"Do you want me to have you arrested for child abuse in here?" he spoke loudly. "Or would you just like to follow me to my superiors."
His loud question had the desired effect. Every single adult in the diner was glaring daggers at the couple and some were looking murderous.
The couple gulped at the attention they now received.
"We'll follow you," mumbled Vernon.
lIlIlIl
The story of The-Boy-Who-Lived being abused brought widespread attention all over the UK.
People were furious and tried to break into the Ministry holding cells wanting to lynch Vernon and Petunia Dursley. Afterwards Amelia Bones had moved them into the Muggle prison system for their safety. Due to them being Muggles they couldn't be charged in their court. Amelia however explained the situation to the Muggle Prime Minister and they had arranged for a trial to take place in the Muggle court. Dudley was placed into foster care after his aunt refused to raise him. Petunia was sentenced to twelve years in prison for child abuse. Vernon was sentenced for twenty five years though as an investigation into him discovered he was skimming money from his employer, so he deservedly got a longer prison sentence. A few vengeful wizards however informed other prisoners what he was imprisoned for. As a result Vernon would spend most of his prison sentence in a hospital infirmary and so would Petunia in a women's prison.
Albus Dumbledore had also landed in a lot of trouble. He had tried to explain that he didn't know but his admissions that he was checking up on Harry had him charged with perjury. He lost his position in the ICW and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot because of the embarrassment but managed to hold on to his role as Headmaster despite calls for his resignation. Since he was sacked from government office and now mistrusted he wasn't able to influence the Wizengamot in Harry's placement with Deanna Lightoller, daughter of once suspected Death Eater Reginald Jugson.
But Reggie was happy with this. He didn't think the Wizengamot would provide him guardianship as he was sixty years old.
He went round as often as he could to Deanna's house. Little Harry was enamoured with Milly as she was the first one to show him kindness. He had also taken to Reggie very well so he took the opportunity to take the boy under his wing and coach him through their world.
Reggie wasn't sure if Harry Potter could possibly be a Dark Lord, but he knew the boy was only like this because of how he was treated. He might be able to work around that though, so he called on his Death Eater associates with children to come by and visit Harry as much as possible.
He had personally told Harry the truth of his name and his history within their world. The poor boy was shocked, shy and overwhelmed with everything, but was quickly coming out of it as he met more people who were kind and patient with him.
Narcissa Malfoy especially doted on Harry and often took Harry and Milly over to Malfoy Manor. Lucius was leery of the boy being in his home but Reggie made it clear to him that he was not to be in any way unkind to the boy.
Harry was now extremely close to both Draco and Milly. Draco, under Lucius' order, managed to help Harry slowly distrust Muggles more and more.
1991
Five years later Reggie was holding a very special letter.
Harry had been accepted into Slytherin house.
The five years had gone by in a blur. He himself taught Harry sophistication and how to get what he wants. But he knew how Dark Lords work.
He had started first year with Tom Riddle himself. He had not liked the boy at first as he was a half blood. But at the end of the first month everyone in Slytherin had discovered that he was a direct heir of Salazar Slytherin himself. So he ingratiated himself with him. They got along great although he knew that Voldemort saw him as inferior to him. He saw how Tom became Voldemort through his sheer brilliance, his cunning, his resourcefulness, his determination and his greed.
He had personally made sure that Harry was steered in that direction. You don't become a Dark Lord for being a reckless Gryffindor, after all.
Harry was highly intelligent, had learnt how to spot lies (and became an excellent liar himself), manipulative, and as of late had started developing a thirst for power. He had also been trained by Macnair on some beginner Dark Spells, and was highly curious about the Unforgivables.
Reggie knew he would be a great Dark Lord.
And he was happy when the next day he learned that Albus Dumbledore had a heart attack. Apparently it was his response of Harry Potter being placed in Slytherin. However, he survived but he was being kept in St Mungo's until he got better.
He was just glad the man was away from Harry.
lIlIlIl
"Mr Potter," came a silky voice.
Harry looked back at his Potions teacher with distaste. He had heard from his 'grandad' Reggie that the man had been a supporter of the man who killed his parents.
"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
"The Draught of Living Death, sir."
"Well, then tell me Potter," he continued. "Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Harry didn't like his teachers attitude and decided to out the man. "In the stomach of a goat sir," he said through clenched teeth. "Maybe if you went up to your former master when I killed him it would have brought him back. Once a Death Eater always a Death Eater."
The class gasped and stared at their teacher with mute horror, who had turned violently red.
"OUT, GET OUT ALL OF YOU," he bellowed. Every student scattered. "Except you, Potter."
The man tried to frogmarch Harry to the headmasters office. When they were passing the Great Hall Harry made his move. He clumsily on purpose kicked the man's shin with his left foot as he 'slipped'. Snape let out a howl in rage as he went flying forward and landed several feet ahead of Harry.
"Sir, are you alright," called Harry as he went up to his fallen teacher. Unseen by everyone he brought his foot down on the man's hand and leaned down as if to lift him up.
"Mess with me at your own peril," said Harry quietly, but viciously. "What I will do to you will make you beg for the Cruciatus Curse in exchange. I hope we have an understanding."
"Gee, sir, you're too heavy to lift up," said Harry loudly, now having gone back to his 'curious kid' voice. "You need to lose weight."
A ripple of laughter started up from everyone in the vicinity but quickly stopped when they remembered that it was Snape they laughed at. Snape stood up and was shaking in fear at Harry's threat.
"The poor man is shaking," said Harry. "Can someone get the school matron? I'll watch him while we wait."
He looked at Snape speculatively.
Severus felt fear for the first time in ten years as those pierceless green eyes seemed to judge him and found him unworthy.
When he next returned to the First Year class he stayed away from Harry Potter and never spoke to him again.
AN: I've always enjoyed Dark! Harry stories. My only attempt at a Dark! Harry so far (Dark Equals) I found to be a disaster. That line from Half-Blood Prince has always stuck with me. I think Harry would have been a brilliant Dark Lord. Not an outwardly evil one, but a benevolent Dark Lord who climbs the ranks and later becomes Minister. He also has the right background to become one. Imagine Voldie's response when he comes back only to find out Harry stole his title. So far this is just a one shot idea. I have another new story in the works and I want to focus on that, In All But Blood, and Prank Connoisseur. I might do something like this in the New Year, but I thought I'd just share a gem about it for the time being.