Pawns and Lords

Nurmengard

1989

To Grindelwald's dismay breaking out of Nurmengard took far longer than expected. It had been his own lack of foresight. After months of wearing down the original wards, pulling them apart with only the magic of the mind, he found out that both Albus and the ICW had added new intricate wards, something he should have remembered and expected. But Gellert persevered, and after several more years, he was finally ready to leave.

During those long years he worked on escaping, Albus came with the news that Harry Potter was the "chosen one", confirming his thoughts. Grindelwald of course knew the boy's grandfather Fleamont and his great uncle Charlus. Both were fierce fighters who had opposed him in the first war. Oh how they would roll in their graves when he took the boy under his wing.

Gellert laughed internally when Albus told him that he had placed Harry Potter with his muggle relatives. Dumbledore seemed to believe that raising the wizarding world's savior with muggles was a good idea. It would be easier than he thought.

He knew that Albus had ulterior motives for keeping the boy away from the world of magic. He had known Albus too long not to. The boy would likely be easily manipulated if Gellert were to be the one to introduce him to the gift of magic. He knew that he had to act quickly before Harry Potter was under the thumb of Dumbledore.

The time to act was now. Gellert prepared his belongings and he began his escape plan. He called for Wheezy and ruthlessly broke his neck immediately. He had been a useful servant but his true use was now in play. Using the blood of the elf he began drawing runes on the floor of his cell. The wards silently fell, and the guards outside didn't even flinch. Gellert grinned as he felt his magic slowly become accessible again. With a wave of his hand, the cell doors burst off the hinges and the guards at the cell's entrance died instantly as the massive door collapsed on them. He went through their belongings and eventually found a wand that would be serviceable. Not his wand he thought to himself, but one that would serve for now.

He walked down the hallway and was met with a squadron of guards all with their wands pointed at him.

"Freeze!" yelled the squadron leader, his face pale and hands shaking.

Gellert Grindelwald shook his head, the fear in his voice brought joy to his heart like nothing else.

"Put down the wand! You are surrounded!"

Grindelwald raised his wand. "My friend, all I am surrounded by is dead men." 

With one smooth motion, he ended their lives with a wave of his wand. Gellert's thoughts began to wander as he strolled around his fortress. More guards came of course, but they all fell before him in droves. Gellert began to laugh softly at the sight of the massacre before him. Blood ran freely on the cracked flooring beneath him. He walked outside and breathed in the crisp mountain air for the first time in almost 45 years. He took one last look at the prison and disapparated towards Bulgaria to prepare for his search for Harry Potter.

4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey

One Year Prior (1988)

Harry Potter was quite miserable. He was currently locked in his cupboard for turning his teacher's hair blue. He had no idea how it had happened and quite frankly was more confused than the teacher. His face ached, and he gingerly raised his hand and touched the bruise on his face. Uncle Vernon had been quite angry with him for showing some freakishness. To his count, this was now the third straight day that he had been locked in his "room". Suddenly the cupboard was wrenched open, and a meaty fist pulled Harry out of the darkness.

Harry winced as his eyes adjusted to the light again.

"BOY!" yelled Vernon Dursley as he glared at Harry Potter.

"You will be completing the list of chores that your Aunt Petunia gives you if you want to be fed tonight! You better be done by the time I get home!"

Harry nodded meekly, but on the inside anger slowly began to fill him. How come he was forced to do all the chores? However, he knew better than to lash out or to speak out of place. That would mean punishment.

He slowly limped to Aunt Petunia, took the list and began to work his way through the housework and chores. The list that Aunt Petunia had given him would likely take the average person several days to finish, but to Harry, this was a normal occurrence and he quickly went through the list. It was almost evening when Harry did the final task of washing the dishes.

He was carrying the dishes towards the dishwasher when Dudley elbowed past Harry and shoved him to the floor. As expected, the dishes shatter against the floor and Harry felt a surge of both anger and fear. "Get out of my way freak," laughed Dudley maliciously. Harry's fear vanished and all Harry felt was anger and resentment.

Then to the surprise of Harry, Dudley flew across the kitchen and hit the wall with a loud bang.

"What's going on in here!" shrieked Aunt Petunia as she came down the stairs. Her face turned pale as she saw Dudley on the floor moaning in pain.

"DUDLEY!" she screamed as she ran towards her son. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DUDDERS!" said Petunia as she cradled the boy's bruised head. Shakily Dudley pointed a finger at Harry, before passing out.

It was at this time that Vernon came home from work. Today had not been a good day for the man, as he had just been demoted from Grunnings for insubordination. His day did not get better when he entered his home and saw his son on the floor unconscious. "Pet I'm ho- BOY WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" yelled Vernon Dursley. Harry was still at a loss for words, as he did not know what had just occurred himself. "You're going to pay for this one, Freak!" growled Vernon as his face went from red to purple.

Harry put his hands up in defense as Vernon began raining blows on the poor boy. Harry tumbled to the floor as he felt his ribs crack and his nose break. Vernon grabbed a nearby cane and hit Harry in the head. Everything went black for Harry as fell unconscious.

Under normal circumstances, the Horcrux within Harry would have stayed dormant and Harry would not have known of its presence. Harry would've woken up on his own in the next couple of days and normality would have ensued. However, these were no normal circumstances. As Harry began to die on the floor, the Horcrux "awoke" as it felt its host was about to become compromised. So, it used its own magic and shot a pulse of it from inside Harry. This pulse of magic would begin the healing process of Harry Potter and would also throw Vernon Dursley across the room and knock everyone in the house unconscious.

Harry woke up the next day. He opened his eyes and saw his "family" snoring on the floor. The furniture was all over the house and was in complete disarray. Harry was bewildered as he walked around the house and saw pictures, pillows, and random trinkets littering the floor. Then he slowly began to remember the previous night. He bent over and picked up a mirror off the floor. As he gazed into the mirror, he saw his eyes flash red for the briefest of moments, and then he heard a voice.

"Hello Harry, my name is Tom Riddle."

A/N: The chapter lengths will get longer as the story picks up in pace :)