Disclaimer:

I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...

Mischief Managed Damn It!

Title: Book 2, Chapter 01

Posted Date: December 29 2023

Harry looked about his surroundings in confusion, wondering about the field he was in. He knew that he was asleep and that his mind would be semi active in sorting out all that was in his head thanks to his Occlumency, but he was pretty sure he did not create a landscape that involved a rather dreary countryside with a few dried up shrubs and one big tree that made Hagrid look small in comparison and apparently in the middle of dying with the leaves dropping off the branches or stems. At the foot of the tree, what appeared to be a small boy huddled there with a silvery cloak wrapped tightly around him, his sobs echoing in the area. Harry found himself moving towards him and before long kneeling beside the boy.

"Hey there, what is the matter?" Harry asked the boy, now noting the boy's apparent age to be younger than him in clothes that appeared to be in the past millennium, and the silvery cloak appeared to be the same as his father's.

"I am lost." The boy sniffled as he answered Harry with his head down still. "My family is torn apart, and I can't find my brothers."

"Would you like some help with that?" Harry offered a hand to him while speaking.

"It won't work, we have been brought together before, but we are not allowed to be whole." The boy answered as he slowly reached out to grab his hand. "They will never leave us be, for they always desire power."

"Who?" Harry frowned only to wince as the grip got very intense suddenly.

"They will not let us be together." The boy spoke as the weather around them got stormy with the wind blowing the dead leaves about and the branches of the elder tree started to sway and groan. "They keep saying they will bring us together, but we are never made whole. My eldest brother is always away in the hands of those seeking power, the other is kept away to cheat death."

"What do you mean?" Harry tried to get the grip eased off his hand only for it to get harder.

"We have to be made whole." The voice of the boy started getting hoarse. "We cannot be left apart for so long."

"I get it, can you let go please?" The storm was now upon them with lightning ringing about them and thunder rumbling about in the area. The boy then looked up for the first time, and Harry noted him to be roughly ten years old with somewhat tired features, but his eyes were unusual as they were showing glowing triangles with the left pointing downwards, and the circle and bisecting line was barely seen within.

"No, you are the successor for the cloak, you must find the wand and stone." The boy's face seemed to age rapidly with one side turning gaunt while the leaves around them blew around and turned into a tornado behind the boy. "You have to make us whole!"

"Let go of me!" Harry was panicking at this point, this was one hell of a nightmare he was experiencing right now, and it got worse as the tornado parted to reveal a large figure cloaked in dark smoke with glowing green eyes that fell upon them and bony arms reaching out to them. Harry looked back to the boy only to see that the boy now had half of the face decayed to the point of showing the skull with the symbol glowing brighter in the empty eye socket.

"MaKe Us WHolE!"

"AAAAHHHH!" Harry shot up from his bed and slammed his head into the ceiling, his magic reacting to his nightmare and rocketing his body upwards only to be stopped by the cushioning spells set in the manor for young children experiencing accidental magic that often had them flying about. Harry took a while to calm down from the adrenaline rushing in his body and slowly drew back his magic to allow himself to descend onto his bed before he let out a sigh.

That was a very messed up nightmare to say the least. It had to be because of that movie Sirius had insisted on watching the previous night, wanting to see what type of movies the mundane world had since the period he was locked up in Azkaban. It was sort of funny to see Sirius screaming shrilly while Arcturus looked at the show acting like the devil was chasing them, with Albert and Jeremiah seated near them criticising the style of the movie, the latter two snarking at how unrealistic the ghost was while chasing the lead character. Harry was of two minds about the film.

Right now, he really hated the film.

What was weird about the dream was the presence of his father's invisibility cloak in it. The cloak had been left in the Potter Family Vault after it had been checked over by Sirius, Arcturus, the goblins and curse-breakers in their employment to remove the multiple tracking and compulsion spells on it, some of which were embedded in threads stitched into the cloak. Something about the cloak got them excited but Harry was temporarily kept out of the loop until they could determine the reason. The only thing he did get from them was how well preserved the cloak was for one passed down the family for generations without losing any of its power.

No matter, he just wanted to sleep.

~ooOOoo~

"Harry, you look like hell worn over." Those were the first words that came out of his godfather's mouth as Harry came to the breakfast table with a sluggishness that drew the attention of the other adults. The house elf quickly guided the boy to his chair before he slumped on the dining table, uncaring of Arcturus's disapproving frown.

"I blame you for this, Sirius." Harry mumbled with his face on the table top.

"What did I do?" Sirius blinked while Arcturus gave him the stink eye.

"That horror movie you decided to show last night." Harry answered as he slowly moved himself so that he could grab the cup of caffeine he needed to wake himself up. "I had a nightmare about some kid haunting me in the middle of nowhere, with what appeared to be a Grim Reaper wanting to take my soul."

"Erm, oops?" Sirius was moving backwards in his seat from the glares by the other two adults, and the house elf serving them.

"Well at least it was only a nightmare, granted one that is a little too real… And I will be regulating what you watch in the future." Albert spoke while making a mental note to himself about the matter.

"Oh great!"

"Shut it, grandson." Arcturus ignored the pouting from the younger man and looked at Harry with a keen eye. "There was something else with the dream." Harry took another cup of strong tea to wake himself up.

"I saw this young boy wearing the Potter Invisibility Cloak by the Elder Tree that had been bare for years. He kept asking about his brothers whom he was separated from, something about the eldest being kept away for power, the second was kept away for cheating death." Harry slowed his talking as he watched the purebloods straightening from his description. "You two know something?"

"Harry, in any point of that dream, did you see a symbol?" Arcturus sounded almost intense with that question.

"Yes." Harry drew out the word while looking at them.

"Do you recall what it looked like?" Sirius asked this time in a serious tone, and he was not joking around.

"A circle inside a triangle with a single bisecting the two. The triangle was brighter than the other two." Harry answered and watched the two purebloods look at each other with wide eyes. "Okay, what is it?"

"We may need to get you to Gringotts later to check something." Arcturus answered. "If I am correct in my thinking, this may relate to one of the items that were previously hidden from you." Harry blinked at that odd detail but decided to trust them on the matter. All thoughts went out the window when the house elf appeared to deliver the Daily Prophet and a letter embossed with the ICW logo. "Ah, my guess is on your results."

"Seems that way, it took them a while to get it though." Harry remarked as the elf placed them on the table and popped away.

"I asked them to deliver it to my name or Albert's in case someone was trying to control your mail." The black patriarch frowned as he took the items in question. "For now, we can be certain that while the more important documents are untouched, it seems any magical correspondence with your classmates and friends are being intercepted. The goblins have checked and it appears to be done by a house elf."

"Well luckily, I don't just depend on owl mail. With the goblin mail box, we can exchange letters quickly and in the event they are not available to take them, they are in a secure mail vault to protect them." Harry answered while opening the letter to look at the contents and hummed thoughtfully.

"Well, what are your results like?" Arcturus and Albert rolled their eyes in good nature at the impatience of Sirius Black.

"Outstanding for my main core subjects including Basic Healing and Shaman Arts, Exceed Expectations for History and Astronomy, and Acceptable for Basic Wandlore." Harry folded the letter and handed it to Albert who enlarged it for the others to view at once. "My regular subjects are also going well. I can finish off the rest of my A-levels and start university. With that set, I can in effect prepare for emancipation in the mundane world if Dumbledore tries something."

"Very good, young man." Arcturus nodded his approval at the results. "As I would expect from a potential heir." He then turned to Sirius with a glare. "Why is it that your godson has better results than you when you were younger?" Sirius merely shrugged with a mischievous grin.

"Do people know about his possible heirship?" Albert asked as he hummed at the results.

"Most are currently under the impression that Sirius will be the primary heir and become the next head after my retirement." Arcturus answered. "Which is not illogical given his lineage. That also means people are now sounding him out."

"And as I am Harry's godfather, I am going to be more involved one way or another." Sirius shrugged. "But then, Harry at this point has the highest chance of being the next head. I did run away to the Potters in my fifth year, so I did not do the rites of passage meant for heirs at that age. And I messed up with the whole Secret Keeper switcharoo." The man winced at the reminder and his hand clenched to the cup desperately, trying to control himself while the others stayed quiet. Sirius was making progress with his mental healing and had fewer episodes of guilt, but when he did have them, the episodes varied from minor inconveniences to full-blown panic attacks. The cups and glasses were spelled to be indestructible so that he could grip them without breaking, and they made sure he had no access to alcohol around the house. They did word it that Sirius needed to set an example for Harry and so he was trying to hold off the clutch that would have developed for this.

"That is true, but I believe you are still eligible to be regent in the event of my untimely death." Arcturus mentioned as he checked the newspaper.

"Please don't say that. That is a death flag if I ever heard one." Albert briefly admonished the old man only to be answered with a grunt. Sirius and Harry shared a smile at this. The interaction between Arcturus and Albert were quite humorous with the latter acting more the grandchild dealing with a grumpy grandfather.

"Now I just need to wait for the book list for the advanced programme. Hogwarts too." Harry placed the letters down before continuing with his breakfast.

"Why are you still doing Hogwarts's subjects?" Sirius asked, a little puzzled over that.

"The laws that were passed over the recent decade made it such that Harry must at least get some of the British subjects done to ensure obtaining his vaults. Granted, they don't necessarily apply to him but the conditions are general enough that he needs them done to keep people knowing he already has access to the vaults." Albert answered. "Dumbledore is really doing everything he can to keep Harry in his grasp. That is why Harry went to do his OWLs with the core subjects that are taught in Britain and everywhere else to keep to the rules just to make sure no one tries anything."

"Damn it. This is getting insane." Sirius slumped in his chair before taking his newly refilled cup of tea like a shot glass.

"What are your plans for the summer?" Albert asked while Arcturus continued to read the papers.

"Going to meet up with a few others at the community building to work on some of the summer items while introducing the magicals to some of the technology used over the years. They are going to get a shock over the real technological advances going on outside of the whole horseless carriage from the 1900s." Harry still could not believe what the magicals beliefs over the mundane world, he thought the adults talking about it were joking about the Muggle Studies being outdated. So some of the graduates from Hogwarts suggested using some rooms to showcase the evolution and advancements of technology to ease magicals through. And if the ICW commission gave the okay, maybe Hogwarts could arrange trips to the building.

Free advertising for his foundation while schooling the magicals. Win-win.

"Hmm, bad business with Barty." Arcturus spoke out as he looked back at the article that was on the front page about the recent murder of Barty Crouch Senior. The photos included a profile shot of Barty, and then the shot of a burning manor with a shadowy skull appearing over the house with a snake coming out of the mouth.

"On the one hand, I would say karma has caught up with Crouch. On the other hand, it is quite problematic that we have either a death eater or a supporter moving about." Sirius remarked as he looked at the photo.

"What is the official word on that?" Harry asked.

"Much of the consensus is that one of the Death Eaters who was not caught previously had decided to use the general mayhem going on in the country to take out Barty, but missed out on the ICW officers." Arcturus then rolled his eyes. "Fudge on the other hand is insistent that someone is trying to frame upstanding citizens." Sirius pretended to gag at that description.

"I swear that minister of yours is really testing the patience of many people with his denial." Albert shook his head in disbelief and disgust.

"He is a minister for peacetime, not wartime. He is also the type who does not like the boat being rocked in his world, so he would try to keep things under wraps so as not to make the populace panic, which is why it was previously reported that a dark wraith had invaded Hogwarts when it was actually the dark lord." Arcturus answered as he checked the other articles. "At least the ICW are on hand to make sure this is not going to be swept beneath a rug."

"I doubt Fudge is happy about that." Harry commented as he read his copy.

"Oh he is practically spitting tags, and I am very thankful that Umbridge has been shoved to a different department thanks to the ICW. They really hated her for her comments and what she has done so far." Arcturus actually sounded giddy at this. "If it was not for the minister and those who owed favours to her, she would have been dragged in chains to the World Court for judgement. Maybe she could be given the Baba Yaga Cauldron treatment to give out secrets, Merlin knows how many secrets she has in that twisted head of hers."

"Is she really that bad?" Harry's query was answered with collective snorts from the adults almost at the same time.

"That is like asking if the sky is blue. That woman is a menace, and I have no idea how she managed to claw her way to such a high position." Arcturus shook his head at the thought.

"Oh dear." They turned to find Albert looking at the London Times. "They really need to update the building standards. An entire row of houses went up in flames in the older part of London yesterday."

"Which part?" Sirius asked out of curiosity.

"Somewhere around the district of Grimmauld Place." Albert answered while consulting the article. The clanging of cutlery drew the attention back to Arcturus and Sirius who looked at Albert.

"Are you sure it is at Grimmauld Place? Which one?" Arcturus asked tersely. Before Albert answered, the elf appeared with a letter in his hands.

"Pardon the interruption, Master Black. DMLE has sent a summons about your property in Grimmauld Place." Everyone turned to each other at that odd coincidence.

"Well, good thing our schedule is clear for the day." Sirius spoke lamely.

~ooOOoo~

If anyone were looking at the young man hunching over with one hand to his side and staring at a locket, they would have politely looked away or watched him with suspicion. As it was, Voldemort or Tom Riddle did not need to worry about that since he was in a hostel nursing the bruise on his side with the signage indicating he did not want to be disturbed by the housekeeping lady.

A small price to pay to obtain what was his to begin with.

Tom looked at the locket that sat innocently on the table, the tarnished look still showing a lustre that could not be stopped by the tests of time. It was intricately designed and featured the snake coiled in the letter "S" with the small emeralds glittering darkly despite the light shone on them. It was closed for the time being and in a miniature ward designed to halt the curses on it so that he could think of what to do with it next.

It took him a while to determine the location of the locket, and a few extra minutes to recall the address that had brought him here. Standing in front of Grimmauld Place No. 12 was certainly a trip down memory lane for him, and it also made him angry at the prospect of one of the Blacks being involved with the theft of his Horcrux. Given the supporters he had, there was only one who could possibly know about the locket because of the elf living in the place.

Regulus Black, the heir that Walburga had favoured before his untimely disappearance, and likely his death since the locket was now here instead of the cave.

Thankfully it was not under a Fidelius or he was going to throw the mother of all fits trying to figure his way inside the building.

As it was, he only needed to walk up to the door and claim that he had a delivery. The elf that answered the door was practically a shadow of the loyal elf that followed Regulus, and clearly driven mad from the years of isolation. Tom barely needed to get inside before casting a cutting curse to decapitate the elf while firing a blasting curse to shut the howling portrait of the late matriarch. Tom then moved about the place, noting that it had seen better days even if there were recent signs of cleaning and refurbishment being done. Tom briefly feared that the locket he was seeking may be gone and that what he was tracking was actually the condensed dark magic in this house, but with some searching and trashing of the place, Tom was able to find the locket. He then decided to hide his tracks with some muggle petroleum and some cursed flames to get it started, well aware that the dark magic was more than enough to keep the flames going for the muggle firefighters to keep it contained while he could make his getaway. But the bloody elf apparently left a gift as a last line of defence if someone tried to take the heirloom away from it, and it was only thanks to his enchanted clothes that he only got a bruise out of the situation.

But he finally obtained his horcrux once more. The Locket of Salazar Slytherin.

Tom had his list out to confirm his thoughts on the matter. Now that he had absorbed the shards from Ravenclaw's Tiara and the Gaunt Ring, he now had three horcruxes remaining including this locket. He knew where the other two were at the moment so he was not worried, but he had to consider what to do with the shard in the locket. The man had continued reading up on all information regarding horcruxes when preparing his new body and after that, and came to the conclusion that he was bloody lucky with the shards from the tiara and the ring reuniting with his primary soul. The size of the soul shards could have potentially overridden everything in his psyche if not for the fact they were both inert, and with the soul shard from the tiara merged first before the ring, Tom was able to retain his original self while increasing his sanity.

The locket held a slightly bigger soul than his at the moment, so he had to consider the option of getting one that held the smaller shard to merge. At the same time, Tom was tethering on the thought of maintaining two horcruxes to have a total of three souls in magical harmony as calculated with Arithmancy. He now knew that he had pushed it too far with the idea of seven soul shards and he had to count himself lucky that he maintained something when he blew himself up from that spell rebound that night. For all he knew, a piece of his soul could have potentially splintered off and joined with the Potter boy that night.

Wouldn't that be ironic?

For now, he needed to lay low and avoid magic for a while. And he needed to recover his strength first, the body was still new and he took a bit of a risk to retrieve the locket. He needed to make sure to get better and consider his options. At least the other two were where they should be, and with one currently out of his reach, the other one he could approach in a few days time before the start of the new school year. He would consider whether to get that particular horcrux when he found it.

After all, it was not like Lucius would give away one of his treasures on a whim after Tom had ordered his father to protect it at all costs. He made it clear that it was to be protected at all cost.

~ooOOoo~

Dumbledore growled heavily as he glared at the missive he had gotten from the Ministry with such intensity one would expect the letter to burst into flames. The commission comprising the ICW, EUM and the local British inspectors had put together their reports and sent them to both the British Ministry and the ICW for viewing, and the results were quite damning against him.

New teachers, new subjects, new policies. All of which were done without his input, and the worst part of it all was him being placed under probation while having an inspector to check on him using the old laws from the old charter to install a High Inquisitor. They would not be under his commands and answer strictly to the Ministry and with some leeway, the ICW as well due to them making sure the Ministry did not get too high handed with the position. For that part, at least Dumbledore did not need to worry about someone like Umbridge trying to get into Hogwarts, but it also meant he would not know if the overseer would be someone he could manipulate to some level.

Hogwarts itself was rebelling against him with the reactivated protections along with the additional ones from the new ward scheme that the Potter brat had made for his own use. Those blasted crosses have been appearing in three quarters of the school now and they kept cleansing if not throwing out any dark objects in the area. Thankfully his own office was free of those monstrosities. He did not care that those crosses could exorcise wraiths or remove any dark magic out of people, he was supposed to be the one that everyone looked to protect them. Aside from that, the castle had also removed most of his control over the elves along with sealing away the main kitchens to avoid potion attempts. If a child wished to have food, a separate chamber was their access to ask for it, but there would be no direct contact with the food. Dumbledore could only count himself lucky that he could still have an elf helper provided he was not using them to harm a student or to spy, the latter being a problem for him since he had less options to spy on Harry.

As already discussed with the commission, there would be new Heads of Houses to ensure the students could approach the staff for aid outside of lessons. Minerva and Severus had their picks set in the form of Babbling and Sinistra, but Pomona and Filius were still reviewing possible candidates to take over from them, but for the coming year they would have assistants to aid them for their lessons either from past graduates or even current students if they could manage the work.

Regarding the subjects being taught at Hogwarts, the observers gave some genuinely good reviews for most of the core subjects, but they were not impressed with the other subjects currently being taught or those that had been removed previously, and dealt with the professors in question at a time when he was not around in the castle to deal with other matters.

Binns was forcibly exorcised when he did not leave, with the auditors checking where the money was going. He was replaced by Charity Burbage, the previous professor for Muggle Studies who had applied for the history position when she came to Hogwarts for a job only to be refused by Dumbledore before. In her old position, the ICW were going to install a muggleborn to teach the subject properly and they also planned to make it mandatory to all students regardless of blood status, a decision that was much to the consternation of the purebloods who wanted to control the education, and his own admittedly since he did not want students to know more history than needed nor did he want the students to know how much the muggles had changed over the centuries.

Umbridge was very vocal about the changes and nearly got sent to the ICW courts for spreading malcontent and slander on the situation. It was only thanks to Cornelius and a good number of favours that she was not deported, but she was ultimately demoted and moved to another department. Which one, he did not know yet, but it won't be too hard to find out since she would likely throw a tantrum at the moment.

The DADA curse was removed from the classroom with all anchors removed, but the curse breakers were a little leery given how long it was left untouched. They told the staff that they would prefer having the rotation of Aurors to continue and with different conditions to avoid triggering the curse until they could confirm the removal. Dumbledore had managed to sidestep them by getting Gilderoy Lockhart into the position beforehand with the reasoning that with the curse being active at the time, he needed time to get the candidates ready in the event of the current one leaving.

He could only hope the buffoon could do the job right. But given what he remembered of the man in his time at Hogwarts, he was doubtful. And it did not help his mood that Amelia, with permissions from the ICW supervisor and Cornelius, prepared her rotation of Aurors for any students who wanted a solid footing into the DMLE if they wished.

Sybill Trelawney, the often drunk professor for Divination, had her contract terminated with some money as compensation, and she was long gone by the time he heard about it. Dumbledore had angst about it for a while but ultimately decided to let it go. He was not too worried about the prophecy leaking out from her since seers would never remember the moment they gave out an actual prophecy even with the combination of Veritaserum and Legilimancy. Dumbledore only kept her around in hopes of hearing another prophecy other than the one told from her interview, but that had proven to be a waste of resources and it was certainly time to cut his losses.

Filch was let off with a care package and a fair amount of money to compensate for his years of service to Hogwarts. The man was shortly picked up by someone who granted the chance to work with cats, and the last Dumbledore heard of him, Filch was very happy with his new placement. Likely helped since it was a place that allowed Squibs to work with no issues, supposedly under that blasted Lily Evans Foundation that he still had no way to infiltrate or disassemble. He would have to see if he could contact that man in the near future to make him talk.

At least dear Severus was allowed to hang on. Ultimately the verdict was that while he was too lenient with his own house and a terror in the classroom towards others, he was still a competent professor who was able to bring in good results, and they really needed potions masters at the moment. The solution was to give Severus what he wanted for a few years now but Dumbleodre had denied previously, which was to grant him an assistant teacher to handle the lower years while he dealt with the rest, with the added position of Hogwarts Potions Master adjusted along with the salary. Dumbledore had to give them this, he would have preferred Severus teaching the lower years to have more contact with the children and more importantly, Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. Even if he tried to push, the inquisitor would be keeping an eye on the matter.

All of these changes were not to his liking, but Dumbledore did not go through all those years without some unpleasantness getting in the way of his dream. The old wizard placed the missive on the table, got out of the chair and moved to the window to look out to enjoy the scenery in hopes of containing his temper. It worked to some extent as it calmed his mind and helped him focus on matters outside of the school that at least he was still in charge of with reduced powers. It would be three more weeks before the start of the new school year and he had to consider the many elements happening in Britain.

And that would be the real prize at hand.

After the confirmation that Voldemort was still around from that fight in the Great Hall, it appeared that he was laying low to gather up his strength. Then roughly 2 weeks after the students had left Hogwarts, Severus came to his office with a pale face and the sleeve pulled up to show his left arm with the tattoo that was clear to all and moving about to show its active state. It was proof that somehow or another, Voldemort had managed to regain a body of his own, and it coincided with the energy surge that he had felt the previous day. He also knew it happened thanks to his contacts among the Auror Corps who had notified him of the magic sensors going crazy back in the Ministry, with the source indicating that it came from Brownbard Manor. It took a while for him to recall the two brothers who were low ranking Death Eaters and the youngest brother not having the Dark Mark or following much of the teachings, but Dumbledore had no doubt that the last brother was involved in some manner and likely lost his life in the process.

It was now a question of what Voldemort would do after regaining a body, and at the same time, Dumbledore needed to bring back the Order to prepare for the upcoming fight. It was a sad reminder of how the numbers have dwindled from the war, and of the few survivors, only Alastor, Remus, himself and a few others were combat ready, and as much as he would want to deny the facts of life, Dumbledore was getting old.

Dumbledore's thoughts turned to other members of the Order and he let out a growl at a few who had refused to come back for a number of reasons, but the one refusal that galled him came from Sirius Black who had quit the Order and refused his request to use one of the Black properties as a base. Dumbledore had hoped for one of the properties to gain access to possible tomes of the Black Family magic, and more importantly, access to Harry Potter. The boy needed to be protected from Voldemort and ultimately be guided to his destiny.

Letting his mind run on a tangent, Dumbledore sighed at the thought of the boy in the center of his plans.

With his custody under Arcturus and Albert Thornwood, there was no doubt that Harry knew about his inheritance and likely had access to it despite many of the bills pushed by him or others hoping to gain the Potter fortune. Odds were high that the boy may have access to some of the inheritance especially if the boy was elevated to certain levels as it was stated in the charter for orphans from families that were at least 500 years old. That charter was one of a few that Dumbledore hated not being able to get rid of even with his past powers. Not to mention his loss of access to the Potter Vaults in Gringotts through the goblin that used to be the vault manager for the Potters meant they had found the rat that was scurrying in their vaults.

It was also noted that the boy technically completed his test year if he was interested to stay, not to mention the boy had completed his OWLs despite Dumbledore's attempts to derail him, and it was only thanks to the lobbying Dumbledore had done to ensure he attended the upcoming year. He needed the boy under his guidance now more than ever with the onset of Voldemort appearing again, he just had to deal with Arcturus, Albert and Sirius Black.

For the last one, a mere mention of him being in Azkaban for so many years would help a little. And people were still fearful of Sirius thanks to the years of misinformation he had spread. Dumbledore could use proxies to play it up a few times if required.

For the other two, something a little more permanent was required, along with favours to ensure no one else could take custody of Harry Potter if needed. Maybe Molly could do that just so she would shut up about getting the Potter fortune. All he needed was to make sure no one could disrupt his plans for Harry Potter.

It may seem excessive, but for the betterment of Wizarding Society, the boy needed to learn from Dumbledore that self-sacrifice was necessary, and that he knew best to steer him to his destiny.

Author's Notes:

Managed to get this one out before the end of a very turbulent year for all of us, with wars, deaths of famous stars and all the crap hitting us at once. Makes me wonder if the Mayans got the date wrong regarding the end of the world.

As some can likely surmised, I am trying to do something new with the story instead of rehashing the whole story, so the canon train is going off the rails at some areas. I doubt I can please everyone, this is fanfiction after all, but I hope to be creative with my writing.

Second year will begin for Harry, let's see what craziness comes for our young lad.

For now, Headstart is going to remain on Fanfiction, but if you wish to see what stories I have done on AO3, look for rwby1989 (I could not get Kratos1989 'shrugs'). Those are more prototype stories if you would when my imagination gets out of hand, and maybe M-rated LOL

Hope you enjoy my story, take care of yourselves, and I will see you in the new year.

And I put my pen down for now... And take up my party poppers.