章 1574: 36
Chapter 36: A Dark Lord rises at NurmengardNotes:
Good morning everyone,
here is this week's chapter. With it we begin the second part of this story, a new Dark Lord and new dangers will face our heroes. This part will be shorter than the last one, and the pace will probably change a bit too to fit the new setting and mood. Hope that you'll like it.
Unfortunately you'll have to wait until next week to find out who died at the end of last chapter.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Fire.
Heat.
Incoming spells slamming against his weak shields.
Albus Dumbledore was anything but strong right now, but he was still the smartest person in the room. And he had figured out days ago how to circumvent the anti-apparition wards, but he needed to disappear permanently.
His angel's fire would deflect only a few incoming spells, but that was enough for him. Because aside from being a shield, it blocked Tom's line of sight.
He erected a shield around his body that would shatter loudly once the next strong curse passed through the fire. And since Albus knew Tom very well, he expected the killing curse. After all, the Dark Lord would want to present his dead body to the world.
And he, a master of transfiguration, gave Tom Riddle the body that he was looking for. A little rock that had been lying in a corner of his cell was sufficient enough to serve as material for the transfiguration. It would even last a year or so if no one would cast a high-level detection spell at it. Enough time for him to get strong again and move against Potter and his friends.
He heard the killing curse being cast and, perfectly timed with the loud shattering of his shields, the former "Leader of the Light", Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, apparated away and left a transfigured stone, looking like his body, in Riddle Manor. And now, as he was a "dead man", he could do as he pleased. But not in Britain.
Dumbledore looked around, out of breath and on the verge of collapsing, and realised that he was in London. Not a good place to be for him right now, the danger of a ministry worker recognising him was too high. He needed to change his appearance and leave.
Like every veteran of the Grindelwald War he had a few stashes of emergency supplies hidden away in Europe's biggest cities. Back then the chance of being captured and having to escape without wand and other supplies wasn't too unlikely, so most people hid away backup supplies in major cities.
It took him a short while to recall where he hid the stash in London, but in the end he remembered the location. A magically hidden compartment in the wall of a rather unremarkable looking building not far from Westminster Palace. Sure, the aspen and unicorn hair wand wasn't perfectly matched, far from it, but it worked well enough for him to be still considered extraordinary.
His "spare robes" weren't even robes, to be precise, but a charcoal grey three-piece suit that had been tailored for him back in the forties. Yes, it needed a bit of transfiguration to fit, but not much. It were mainly his wide and colourful robes that made it seem like he lost his slim body.
Then, after redressing under an invisibility cloak (not even remotely as good as the Potters', but good enough for now, despite being partly faded) and having an early dinner in a nearby muggle restaurant, he was recovered enough to perform more magic.
The first thing that had to go was hair and beard. He was no longer trying to be a nice and friendly grandfather, no, he first needed to be anonymous and then again the powerful man that once defeated Gellert Grindelwald.
He kept the full beard, but it was trimmed down to about a centimetre or two in length, and the hair was shorter too, and combed back. His half-moon glasses were transfigured into much more normal looking ones, more rectangular and with a black frame.
His wand was tucked away in the sleeve of the jacket and he had about two dozen galleons in a bag with an undetectable extension charm on it. Now he took the satchel, which had been hidden in the secret compartment and turned it into a leather suitcase. No one would recognise him easily anymore, at least from afar. The Albus Dumbledore that everyone had known didn't exist anymore.
The thing that angered the man the most was the fact that all his ancient tomes and grimoires were either at Hogwarts or in his vault. And since the goblins were allied with Potter and Minerva had turned against him, both places were unreachable.
So there was only one real solution.
And with that, a plan started to evolve in his head. An artefact that could defeat the Master of Death, which Harry would probably become, a power that hadn't been seen in a millennium. He didn't know where it was, but he…they had tried finding it before turning to the Hallows. None of his research was anyhow accessible though, so he'd need to go and visit HIM.
Via muggle means and with a few confundus charms Albus travelled to France, carefully avoiding the aurors stationed at the ports. After a few days of train rides and hiding in muggle hotels, he came into apparition range of Nurmengard. Due to it being so far up the Austrian Alps, he needed to be rather close to apparate up there.
The castle itself was under a runic-based notice-me-not for muggles and behind strong magical shields for any witch and wizard. The only person keyed into the wards was Dumbledore himself, and the two house-elves tasked with caring for his old friend.
Most rooms of the castle were empty and dusty, but the elves always kept a luxurious suite as well as a few additional rooms for him clean and ready. After letting the elves unpack his things and make him a big dinner, he decided to visit Gellert.
Despite all the luxury downstairs, the cell was pretty small and plain, not much more than a crappy bed and a thin blanket.
"Gellert"
What…Albus? You changed a lot."
"Yes. Things have gone south at home and now I'm here."
He proceeded to tell the entire story to Gellert, who listened quietly until the big reveal that Potter had at least two if not by now all three Hallows and would be Master of Death. The whole "getting thrown into jail" was not the biggest surprise, because Gellert Grindelwald, still a brilliant man, had always helped Albus with his plans. Working out how to make the Potter boy suffer throughout his childhood had been fun for example, and Gellert even got to read two books of his choosing for a whole month in return.
"And why are you here now, Albus?"
"You know what I need, Gellert. There's only one way with which I could defeat the Master of Death guaranteed. And I lost all my research."
Grindelwald laughed loudly.
"You…you didn't even come here to get my help, no, you just want my books because you idiot got caught. That's…hilarious, Albus."
"Give it to me, Gellert."
"Under one condition."
"Yes?"
"I get out and you take me with you."
Back in the day, when Ariana had still been alive and when the world was still good to them, Albus Dumbledore met the nephew of his elderly neighbour and brilliant scholar Bathilda Bagshot. He fell in love with Gellert Grindelwald the first time he saw him, and once they conversed for the first time, Albus felt like he was in heaven. Finally someone that wasn't timid like Ariana or stubborn and annoying like Abe, who never saw the need to become extraordinary. Gellert was like him.
And as the two teenage boys shared everything, their lunches, their books and tomes, their beds, their secrets, they both shared their deepest obsessions (aside from each other too). Gellert had always been fascinated with the Deathly Hallows. A term that Albus hadn't known until then, but he knew the story of the three brothers. And with the evidence of their existence, like the changing owners of the wand throughout history, the family trees to find cloak and stone, Albus was immediately convinced.
But he had a different obsession, one older than the Hallows.
In the ancient tales Merlin had always been a strong wizard. Myrddin Emrys, Merlin Ambrosius, however he was called and referred to in texts, was strong, nearly invincible one might say. And a few authors (the Dumbledore family had a few very rare books that no one had ever seen in centuries, found by Albus in a hidden room in their ancestral home) claimed that he had a special wand. One that surpassed every other made before and after it. Some claimed it was a staff, not a wand, but that didn't diminish its power. Where it was hidden, no one knew, but legend says that it was put to rest with the old man himself.
And since it sounded like this wand (or staff) would even surpass the Elder wand, they began looking for it first, thinking it might be better than the hallows (they had no need for cloak and stone right now either way, so all that mattered was the wand)
After months of research, digging into the archives of Godric's Hollow, sneaking into Hogwarts' restricted section and Gellert searching at Durmstrang, they both had to admit that they had nothing more than fairy tales as of now, and none of those seemed to help.
That's why they focussed on the Hallows next, until their friendship ended with Ariana's death. But neither ever stopped thinking about those magical artefacts. And one day Albus heard through some of his sources that Gregorovitch claimed to have the Elder wand. If his teaching job wouldn't have kept him so busy, he could have visited the old wandmaker before the summer holidays, and maybe he could have gotten the wand first, but Gellert had been quicker.
And then, when the war broke out, he dreaded fighting by himself. Both because of the Elder wand in Gellert's hands - a truly scary thought - and the love he still had for him. Eventually he had to though, and he faced him. He faced him and he won.
He had the Elder wand.
Forgotten was the wand of Merlin now, and he never even touched his research about it after that day. He kept it always around so it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands, but he didn't need it anymore.
And for a short while he had even had two of the Hallows, the wand and the Potter cloak. But he never found the stone after the Potters' death.
A death that was quite lucky for him, not just because of the boy, but because James kept asking for the cloak. That the arrogant Potter man kept defying him. Lily Evans truly was a bad influence.
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…
Lily Evans and James Potter, usually hating each other, together screaming at him after the whole debacle with Remus' transformation. The stupid Evans girl had found out that the charms on the hidden tunnel had been weakened and that Severus had been under a compulsion.
She had long known that Remus was a werewolf and always kept it secret, but after Severus and Sirius had to spend the day following the full moon in the infirmary, she confronted Potter. He told her the truth, and she couldn't believe it. As if Severus hadn't known about the lycanthropy when she knew since second year. That's why Black even dared the boy, they all assumed that he knew about it and that he wouldn't go through with it.
And after a brief interrogation of Severus and Sirius they were certain. Snape had known about the lycanthropy and was under a compulsion to follow the Marauders. Sirius just felt horrible for making the dare and asked about the integrity of the wards on the tunnel. And that was the next thing they checked. Usually just the marauders could enter the tunnel and just leave it in their animal forms during the full moon, but since Lily Evans was a damn brilliant woman they found out that those were weakened too.
They yelled at the headmaster for over half an hour to find out who did it, not realising that it had been a plot to either get rid of the wolf or separate him from the others so he'd be malleable. He couldn't have a wolf associating with the Potter heir and the only light Black, and since he would have swept the whole affair under the rug they would have been indebted to him.
He would have saved Severus himself, creating a loyal spy in the Dark Lord's ranks. It was a smart plan, thwarted by Potter. And now he had to calm those two. Oh, and remove the knowledge of the manipulations out of their minds, obviously.
Lily and James Potter (a marriage he didn't approve of secretly, but that was out of his hands. Line manipulation was something most heir rings prevented rather forcefully) yelling at Albus Dumbledore, because the Order guard protecting the McKinnon family got called away by him and the McKinnons were dead now. They didn't believe him that he needed the wizards for another mission, there were enough other Order members available. And the McKinnons had not only been friends, but their close allies in the Ministry.
Albus had to admit later that this had been an actual mistake on his side, not even a plot of his. The loss of the McKinnons hadn't made things easier for them.
James Potter, accompanied by his wife, who carried little Harry on her arm, visited Dumbledore to demand back his cloak. Not only because it was his, an ancient Potter heirloom, but because after what happened to the McKinnons, the Prewett twins and the Bones family he feared for their safety. But old Dumbledore barely listened to him, he just yelled at them for leaving the fidelius and demanded that they return immediately. Not that they did that, James, supported by his wife, just yelled back at him. Those Potters.
After they were finally gone, Albus fell back into his chair, summoned the decanter with his favourite brandy and filled the tumbler on his desk unusually much. Well, not so unusual for these days, truth be told.
How can they keep arguing and defying me and my orders, is what he thought. And then he couldn't not think about the prophecy's phrasing. But he didn't and wouldn't consider himself dark, ever. It was all about the greater good. Besides, the only time the Potters defied him before Harry's birth was the werewolf incident, that's just once.
Or did the "born to those who have thrice defied him" apply to the parents in general regardless of when it happened. Harry's parents had defied him thrice now. If they were to be attacked soon like Severus said…
But maybe it would be Neville Longbottom and he wouldn't have to worry.
And besides, if he just kept the cloak, James would be here again next week and yell at him. Problem solved.
But now he had to forget all about it, because there were still some last-minute things to do for the Halloween feast this evening.
Little did he know that this day, October 31st 1981 would be one that no witch or wizard would ever forget. And little did he know that he wouldn't see James and Lily Potter ever again.
…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…
Harry being scarred by all the violence of his uncle, aunt and cousin. Broken bones, scars all over his back and chest, the concussion from being hit with a frying pan.
Marked by the horrors of having caused a death by accident, the burned body of Quirinus Quirrell. Just like Albus with Ariana.
In a different timeline, one that barely anyone could remember, more pain and marks caused by the headmaster. The physical marks were gone, but the emotional marks were still there. Even if Dumbledore couldn't remember them, Harry remembered, and so did the universe.
A horcrux, left there instead of being removed, a basilisk's bite. Dementors, a dragon, Voldemort, scars caused by Dolores Umbridge. The pain of Sirius' death, the pain of Snape's occlumency classes.
Horrors and pain, all leaving the boy scarred, physically and emotionally. All because of Dumbledore and his plans of making the boy as strong as he was, but malleable and ready to sacrifice himself.
Telling the tale of the boy-who-lived and scarring the boy forever with fame that was sometimes worse than torture. Just as famous as the defeater of Grindelwald himself.
A boy, raised with pain and abuse, malleable but strong, famous like Dumbledore himself. A boy he wants to make a warrior, taught by himself. His equal in being famous, strong, in pain and with losses. Taught to be like him, or at least like he appeared to be.
But what power does he have that Dumbledore knows not?
Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter would answer those questions very differently. The one would claim that it's the Hallows, but the other would say it's either his soulmate, and by extension actually the love Dumbledore always talked about, or it is his future knowledge. But maybe it is just the friends, true friends, that he has. Not followers, friends.
... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies....
And Albus Dumbledore screamed in anger and frustration as he now saw the truth. He had marked the boy with all his manipulations (even more than he could even remember), and now he would have to face him. He was a dark lord.
With raw and untamed legilimency he dug his way into Gellert's mind, not as weakened as he might have hoped. The man was still strong, mainly because the occlumency was the only thing he could do in here.
But in the end Dumbledore's rage was enough to shatter all defences.
He saw what he needed to see and left Gellert's mind again.
Then he kneeled down, next to the man he loved and hated at the same time, and for the first time in his life, Albus Dumbledore cast the killing curse.
A new man, a dark man, left the cell of Gellert Grindelwald. The old Albus Dumbledore was now entirely gone, and the new Albus Dumbledore made his way down the stairs into the dining hall. In his last moments Gellert had shown him what he wanted to see - not voluntarily of course, but through pain and force.
The books he longed for were not in one of the libraries of Gellert's study, no, they were in his secret, second study. A magical picture of the two of them was hanging above the fireplace in the big dining hall, a room Albus had never used here. Now that he needed followers, that might change though.
And once the two smiling young teenagers looked at him, he gave them the codeword.
"Passage to Camelot!"
A secret staircase appeared as the entrance opened. This would be his way down.
Two days later, Albus Dumbledore still hadn't slept properly, not even once. The elves brought him food and something to drink, occasionally a book or other documents from one of the other rooms in the castle. The research Gellert had done was enormous. Some of it he had done before he had the Elder wand, but most of it actually with the wand. Probably because he had more resources and magical power then.
What he understood so far was that Merlin had actually been buried with the wand. And neither the hidden Merlin statue at Stonehenge nor the magical catacombs of Tintagel Castle, both considered places where Melin could have been buried, were actually the burial site. All research pointed towards a quest to find the location, and Gellert had apparently not even found the proper starting point. At least he had dozens of hints and ideas.
But it would take months.
Probably even longer if he also worked on getting followers, wealth and power too, and that in secret. But this was his plan.
"Master?"
One of the elves interrupted him, and he looked up, slightly frustrated.
"Yes?"
"Yous want to bury old Gellert's body? Or we should remove it from tower?"
The decision wasn't easy, but in the end Dumbledore decided to go for a funeral, a grave in the courtyard of Nurmengard. Nothing too spectacular, but a proper gravestone with name and dates, as well as "For the Greater Good." It was his phrase after all, and his death was for the Greater Good - Dumbledore's gain of power to rule everything by himself - so it was the most appropriate thing to do.
It would take over a week for Dumbledore to read one of the local wizarding newspapers that told the story of the "Battle of Hogwarts." Apparently Harry and co. had won, and in the process they had eliminated most of the Death Eaters with any real power (he noted the absence of the two most intelligent Death Eaters and would search for them if the need would ever arise) and Tom too. He saw the wizarding picture of Harry unleashing extraordinary magic, using the Elder Wand and wearing all the Hallows. Even through the pictures he felt the energy within them.
Both the whole "Master of Death" story and the truth about the horcruxes (though not mentioned by name and condemned by Harry and Minister Bones) were printed, even the horcrux in Harry's scar. Damn goblins.
He read the list of dead people on both sides, a shocking amount and a loss of magical blood he could only condemn. Many of those he had known rather well, most of them had been students of his. And the tragic loss that Harry had to endure…if he wouldn't hate him, he'd pity the boy.
But now they must presume that the prophecy was fulfilled, apparently they had burned his body in fear of an Inferius - which would have been an actual issue for him, because that wouldn't have worked. That means they would focus on schooling, social life and politics, not war and danger. So he had all the time in the world to prepare for his return.
Notes:
So, that's it for this week. What do you think? And did any of you see that coming? I'd be happy to hear your thoughts about this chapter.
Until next week :)
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