Dumbledore looked down at the sleeping bundle in Hagrid's arms. "Sirius said ter watch over 'im until 'e got back," the half-giant explained. There was a tremendous bang as a massive firework went off over Hogsmeade. The ball of red, white, and blue transformed into the flag of Magical Britain; the Union Jack in the corner of a white field with crossed wands in the center. Even from the grounds of Hogwarts the fireworks were clearly visible over the tops of the trees. Dumbledore hadn't seen the likes of this celebration since 1945.

"The poor boy," Minerva said, shaking her head. "To have the war be finished in one fell swoop… but at the cost of James and Lily…" She wiped a tear out of her eye. Even as they spoke, Dumbledore knew that the remnants of the Ministry were utilizing the confusion among the Death Eaters to target the remaining leaders while they felt vulnerable. Imperiouses were being broken and high ranking Death Eaters either killed or taken into custody every hour. Dumbledore had already assisted in the capture of Dolohov and the Carrow twins. He knew he had a short time before he would be needed again to help finish the war.

"Where did Sirius say he was going?" Dumbledore asked.

"Ter find Pettigrew," Hagrid explained. "Said the rat was the real Secret Keeper, must 'av betrayed James and Lily." Hagrid's face hardened. "If I ever get my 'ands on the traitor, e'll wish 'e went with 'is master."

Sirius was a trained Auror and a far better fighter than Pettigrew, but Dumbledore still wished the rash man hadn't charged ahead alone. Grief can cause stupidity, and in a fight stupidity can mean death. "When I heard the news, I couldn't believe it," Minerva said. "It was a clever trick, giving Peter the secret instead of Sirius. But while Peter always had his jealousy, I never thought he would be a spy." She shook her head. "That's the sad way of it. A wizard wants power, he pledges his wand to somebody. Thousands of years, and we still haven't changed that.
She sighed. "At least we know Sirius is no traitor. When I first heard the news I couldn't believe it." She looked at Dumbledore. "Albus, what will we do with Harry?"

Dumbledore looked back down at little Harry Potter and gently picked him up out of Hagrid's massive arms. "I will raise him," he said gently. Another firework boomed and one month old Harry awoke and began to cry. "I'm sure the Ministry will agree to appoint me his legal guardian," the old wizard said as he attempted to rock the baby back to sleep.

"You, Albus?" McGonagall said, surprised. I mean no offense, but you have never raised a child before. Surely there is somebody else willing to adopt him, perhaps with an older child for him to look up to."

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. Little Harry was not quieting down. "Voldemort is not dead," he said. McGonagall and Hagrid both flinched at the name. The taboo curse placed on the name was not yet removed, and it would likely be a generation before people could comfortably utter it in public beyond Hogwarts's mighty wards. "Tom Riddle was too clever and ambitious a boy - no a man - to be killed by a single fluke of magic. He has set the prophecy into motion. Harry will need to be trained."

"He will be trained at Hogwarts," McGonagall insisted.

"Not enough to fight a Dark Lord," Dumbledore said. "Not nearly enough. And it must be Harry. The prophecy has been started."

"Albus," McGonagall said. "You are already Headmaster, Chief Warlock, and Supreme Mugwump. You don't have the time."

"Perhaps now I can walk away from some of those responsibilities now," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. He had personally dueled two Dark Lords in his life, and was old besides. It might be time to find somebody else capable of being magical Europe's protector.

"I can watch 'im if yer need it," Hagrid offered. "Take 'im for a day when yer busy."

Dumbledore nodded. Harry was finally quieting down. "I can do more of my paperwork from my house instead of my office. And I'm sure our fellow professors wouldn't mind watching the son of James and Lily for a day if I ask."

McGonagall sighed. "At every speech or honors ceremony, they all talk about your genius, bravery, and heroism. Every single time they neglect to discuss your stubbornness." The old professor held out her arms and Dumbledore passed off the now silent but still away baby Harry. "I suppose he'll be enrolled at the ICW school until Hogwarts, not homeschooled." The ICW maintained a pre-magical education for the children of employees.

Dumbledore nodded. "Every little boy needs children his own age to play with."

Harry's eyes kept sliding shut but every firework jolted them open. He started crying again. "It's a better alternative than those awful relatives of Lily's," McGonagall said. She looked up at Dumbledore. "Do you intend for the boy to be your protege?" she asked.

"Anyone with 'is parents will be something special," Hagrid said.

"What I want more than anything is for Harry to live a happy carefree childhood, meet a vivacious girl like James did, and grow old enough to meet his grandchildren," Dumbledore said. "But responsibilities have been forced upon him by forces outside his control. I have already failed him once and now he's orphaned." Dumbledore rubbed his weary eyes. To the east the sky was turning grey, and he had yet to sleep that night. "I offered to be Secret Keeper, but James insisted it be Sirius, and then they fooled us all with Peter… Harry will live a long life. That I promise."

Hagrid put a hand on Dumbledore's shoulder. Of course, with the size mismatch it was more Hagrid covered Dumbledore's shoulder with his arm. "It wasn't yer fault," the half-giant said.

"Hagrid is right," Minerva said. "It was their choice. Peter is the traitor."

A boar Patronus charged down out of the sky and landed in front of Dumbledore. "The traitor Sirius Black is in Auror custody after killing twelve Muggles and Peter Pettigrew. The Potters will be avenged." The spectral boar faded from existence.

McGonagall and Hagrid both looked alarmed, but Dmbledore just appeared to grow even more tired. "A mistake," he said. "We know the truth. I shall go to rectify the situation and free Sirius."

"Is Peter truly dead?" McGonagall said.

"We will find out soon I imagine," Dumbledore said. "I must go now. Minerva, Rubeus, walk with me to the gate?"

Hagrid and McGonagall; still holding Harry, fell in behind Dumbledore as he walked to the gate and the edge of the wards. The party on the other side of the woods showed no sign of slowing down with the approaching dawn. The cleanup would surely be immense. As Dumbledore prepared to Apparate, McGonagall stopped him. "Albus, I need you to promise to be committed to raising Harry. For James and Lily."

Dumbledore nodded. "Until the day I die." With a crack, he was gone.

SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE

Harry's army was silent as he walked up to the marble coffin. It stood simple but intricate, carved with moving pictures of the great man's greatest deeds, sitting within sight of the castle he had faithfully served and protected for decades.

Harry's short military robes swished as he walked, the phoenix emblem on his chest shining in the light. It was a beautiful day, but he would feel better if it would thunderstorm. He had no desire for beauty in the world right then.

He moved with the grace of a trained warrior, the fluidity that the man now lying cold in a hard coffin had taught him. His wand was in its quick-draw holster, and his usually emerald eyes reminded anyone who saw them that day of the shade of the killing curse. His grief and anger was so palpable the ground seemed almost to crack under his feet.

Eventually Harry reached the coffin, putting one hand on top. He debated pushing the marble slab off, but he wasn't sure he could bear to see the face that had been so full of life even at almost one-hundred twenty years drawn and empty. Two of his girls put a hand on his shoulders but he didn't look up to see who. Harry's attention was purely on the most influential father figure he ever had. "I'm sorry I wasn't here Grandfather," he said. "We fought, but know I always loved you." He slammed a fist into the unyielding marble, right on top of a carved rendition of the famous duel against Grindelwald. "They'll die for this. I'll burn it all down if I have to!" he screamed. An answering yell went up from the army assembled behind him but Harry didn't notice. "I'll find every last person involved in the attack and rip them in half," he vowed. "Their deaths will serve as a lesson for all history," he vowed.

The young man turned to face his supporters and amplified his voice. "THE BEGINNING OF THE END STARTS TODAY!" he thundered. "OUR ENEMIES WILL RUE THE DAY THEY WERE CONCEIVED!" He pointed to the ruined top of the Astronomy Tower. "WE WILL HAVE REVENGE FOR ALL THOSE LOST AT HOGWARTS! DEATH TO THE DEATH EATERS! A FATE WORSE FOR VOLDEMORT!"

Harry's supporters shouted their approval back and a dozen shot his symbol; the phoenix wreathed in black flames, into the air. Harry marched away from the coffin and towards the place he had always called home.

Alright, welcome to my little concept. I decided to write this start and see if it garners any interest. Tell me in the comments if you think it shows promise.

Some notes on the world building and lore of my version of the wizarding world. J.K. Rowling did a phenomenal job building something lovable and (now) iconic, but her worldbuilding is pretty lacking when you think about it for like five seconds. Great Britain has a magical school, but there are only ten more for the entire rest of the world. Also, Great Britain has like five hundred babies born every generation, and love potions; which are a horrifying and manipulative concept really, are casually sold in joke shops. I think of myself as standing on the shoulders of a giant to fill in some of her gaps.

For starters, the magical and muggle political worlds roughly mirror each other, with some differences. For example, the counterpart to Iran is Magical Persia. Also, events from one world can have effects on the other. In my lore, Chernobyl happened because of a spell mishap, and instability in the Magical USSR started instability in the muggle USSR. The international community doesn't totally ignore a genocidal maniac running around the British Isles like they do in the books. House politics exist, Harry has some power just because he's the last member of House Potter.

Also, magic is; to me, cooler and a bit more fleshed out. Wizards use it for more mundane tasks than they do in the books (no need to de-gnome by hand, there's simply a rune that will ward against them) and there's more attention paid to more branches of magic. Alchemy is a whole big more fleshed out thing, Arithmancy (which is like mathematical Divination in the actual lore) is used to predict the weather, Necromancy, soul magic, and elemental magic are all their own branches. Just no stuff like magical cores, soul bonds, or mindscapes. Each totally has their place in fanfiction, just not this fic.

FYI, will be smut and lemons with several different women will exist. Don't have every final relationship decided yet, I'll see what feels right in the story as I go a bit. The ones listed will definitely happen. Not meant to be a harem fic, but you'll see how relationships work with powerful witches and wizards in this world. If you feel like the sex takes away from the story, just skip it. I plan to have much more focused on attempted character building (it's really hard guys), action scenes, politics, major battles and strategic planning, etc.

Harry gets pretty dang powerful in this fic, he eventually becomes like the new Dumbledore (spoilers, unless I'm just throwing you guys off and that's not actually what happens). He won't get ridiculously OP though. It'll take awhile, and he'll fail sometimes and lose fights and get his hand cut off by his nemesis who is actually his father. Wait, that's just my brain telling me I want to watch Empire Strikes Back right now. All jokes aside, Harry will have to learn from mistakes.

So yeah, that's the premise of my idea. Harry is raised by to be Dumbledore's protege and grows up to fight Voldemort and start a movement and fuck some pretty women along the way b/c he's straight and straight guys tend to do that sometimes. Tell me in the comments if it seems promising. I'll start writing the final version of the next chapter. Hopefully somebody likes this.

Oh, P.S. I'm really not a fan of bashing or manipulative Dumbledore fanfiction because it pretty much always makes the story worse. This is a genuinely pretty great Dumbledore who's fucked up a fair few times in his life but raises Harry best he can.