The Greater Good
Even though it was April, the nights could be rather chilly. In the old castle where the Order now resided, the wind howled through the hallways, making eerie sounds. The castle itself was under a Fedelius charm, and Albus was the Secret Keeper. It was an old and dilapidated castle, with broken walls and holes in some parts of the floor. Located on the Isle of Arran, just south of Blackwaterfoot, it stood high upon a mountain. To make sure Muggles didn’t enter, the same wards were active as they were at Hogwarts. For magical people, if you didn’t know the location, you couldn’t see it at all.
In one of the rooms, high up in one of the towers, sat the man who was responsible for so much misery, but who always shrugged off everything, on the fact that it was all for the greater good. Albus Dumbledore. Former Headmaster of Hogwarts, former Supreme Mugwump, and all that other bullshit. He was now a fugitive. Labeled a terrorist by the man who, in his opinion that is, was the Darkest Lord since Grindelwald. Drinking from a tumbler of Firewhiskey, Albus thought about how everything had gone to hell.
The Potter brat. Of course, it started with her. He needed her to be the perfect little lamb for slaughter. Even before she was born, he had made sure the chess pieces were positioned where he needed them. After finding Tom in the orphanage, he knew the boy was trouble. Speaking with snakes, bullying, stealing. That boy would be nothing but trouble and Albus then knew, he needed to defeat this child. But murdering an 11-year-old, no, that would land him in Azkaban. He needed to play chess master again, like all those years ago. He and Grindelwald agreed that Wizards were the superior race and that Muggles were little more than cattle. He liked them well enough, but for the Greater Good, Wizards needed to rule.
To this day, he wasn’t completely sure that it wasn’t him, that killed his sister. He felt regret, but it was so much easier to blame the boy he deep down cared for. After all, people already assumed Gellert was Dark. When he had defeated him, he got everything he ever wanted. Fame, glory, and power. And now he had to deal with the Riddle boy. So he began planning and scheming. First, he made sure that the Marauders picked on the Slytherins. No good House anyway. Horace Slughorn was a pushover, who never helped his own house.
It was fate that Severus Snape was in love with Lily Evans, the beautiful Muggleborn girl. A few compulsions spells later and she was in love with Pureblood James Potter and she stopped being friends with the Snape boy. As planned, Severus became a Death Eater and with the fake prophecy overheard by him, he knew he had him. His perfect spy. He made him swear a Vow, to always protect Alexis Potter and his plans went amazing. He knew that Peter was the Secret Keeper and not Sirius, but Sirius had to be out of the way, so Peter could run to Voldemort, as Tom called himself now. He was proud of his creation. Tom had completely flown off the handle and was a monster. How he, Albus Dumbledore, would be seen after he defeated him…the glory he would receive. The power they would bestow upon him.
The only thing he did not anticipate, was the love Lily felt for Alexis. Because she refused to step aside, her sacrifice caused the Killing Curse to backfire on Tom. When Dumbledore arrived, to be the Savior and battle Tom, Tom was a wraith and nowhere to be found. Lily and James were both dead and the child had a curse scar. Ever the chess player, Albus handled quickly and changed his plans. Knowing Tom was not dead, he placed the girl with her Muggle relatives.
But of course, he now needed the girl. The Girl-who-Lived. She was famous and he would use that fame to make her into what he wanted, the perfect little soldier. He regretted that she needed to suffer, but she couldn’t be spoiled, so he put compulsions on the Muggles, to hate the child.
When Alexis came to Hogwarts, he was briefly ashamed when he saw her. She had clearly been through hell, but for the Greater Good, it was necessary that she got back to Surrey every year. When the girl defeated Tom he was sure that what he did was right. She adored him and was willing to risk her life and she said no to Tom. Perfect, just what he needed. He played the grandfatherly act and the years that followed happened to his satisfaction. A little bumpy when Sirius broke out, who knew the man was an Animagus, but that sorted itself out, because children didn’t think and the hatred Severus had for both Lupin and Black, made the escape of Peter happen. He knew Tom would rise again.
When the girl was chosen as Champion, he suspected foul play. He knew it wasn’t the real Moody soon after, but he needed to defeat Tom, so Tom needed to come back. And if the girl died, so be it. But no, the chit had survived and later in the hospital, she begged him not to send her back. She told him what her Uncle did. He was sorry, obviously rape wasn’t what he wanted, but he couldn’t place her with Molly. Ron had behaved outrageous and Alexis no longer wanted to be his friend. So he had send her back, asking Arabella to keep an eye on her.
And then she was gone. Poof. He tried everything he could to stop any formal investigations, but he failed and his schemes were uncovered. His positions and powers were taken from him, and he lost the support of Severus and Minerva. To make matters worse, the Weasley family, one of his biggest supporters, had split and Arthur had divorced Molly, when it turned out she had worked with Ron trying to feed Alexis Amortentia. They wanted her to marry Ron and give Ron power over her money. A fight had broken out in Grimmauld Place and when Ron tried to hex Hermione, he was knocked into a wall, and broke his neck. He was essentially killed by Fred, who had sent a Tripling Hex to him to protect Hermione. The twins, Charlie, Bill, Percy and Arthur had left and now he only had Molly. She was annoying, but the witch could cook. So there was that.
Sipping his drink, Albus felt the wards hum. Someone wanted to come to the Floo. He gave the password and Hestia Jones came out. ‘Good evening Albus.’
He greeted her back. ‘I have news,’ Hestia said as she took a seat.
She, along with Moody, Fletcher, Diggle, Doge, Vance, Seamus and Dean were all that was left of the Order. They still believed him to be right. He knew Moody had some doubts, but the man was an old friend and hated Dark Wizards. So he followed Albus, the so-called leader of the Light, not realizing that this Leader had done things that even Dark Wizards frowned upon.
Hestia worked as an Unspeakable, with Hermione. She had to officially renounce Albus but was a spy, like Severus used to be and she was damn good. ‘It seems that Voldemort has collapsed. She didn't tell me personally because she doesn't trust me, but I did hear the message she got.’
That was interesting. It was a huge blow that Hermione wasn’t with him. As annoying as she was, she was really smart. And when the news came that she was involved with the Dark Lord, he had secretly hoped she would be killed by the more violent followers of Tom. But somehow, even the most depraved Death Eaters either were killed or imprisoned again, and no one had acted against Hermione. The thought of Tom with Hermione sickened Albus. He was twice her age. Pervert.
‘Find out what you can and let me know.’ Hestia nodded and left him alone. Albus stood up and walked over to his bookcase. There had to be a way to defeat Tom. Or find the girl, for he also had not stopped looking. The instruments that told him she was still alive stood on his desk. But where was she? Little stupid whore. If he found her, he would make sure she obeyed only him.
A thought came to him. A thought he haved had more than once, over the last years. He looked at his wand. The Elder Wand. The most powerful wand ever made, if you believed the legend. One of the Deathly Hallows. Once he had two. The Cloak was James’ but he had lent it to Albus, upon his request. He only gave it back to the girl, because he needed her to find the mirror. It was a shame he lost it. But maybe he didn’t need it. Legend also said, that if you possessed one of the Hallows, you could summon Death. It was a Dark Ritual, one that required a human sacrifice. If he was going to do this, he needed to do it alone. No need for any of the Order members to get involved. The old man shook his head. Killing was not what he wanted, but if he could summon Death, he could still defeat Tom. He could order Death to kill him. He needed to make sure that Tom, himself and Death were in the same room, otherwise, it would not work. But he would succeed and Tom would die. And all would be right in the world. It was for the Greater Good.