The Rise of a Dark Lord

Blood and Magic

Albus was feeling old, he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt like this. How had things gone so wrong? He was sure that the Stone was safe but now it was gone and it was highly likely that Voldemort had it. Only Merlin knew what Voldemort would be able to do with an artifact that powerful.

The past year hadn't gone as he had hoped. Beginning with Harry and ending with the theft of the Stone, he hadn't seen any of it coming.

He knew that Voldemort wanted the Stone, he knew that Voldemort was in the castle, but throughout the year there was no attempt to steal the Stone. Albus even thought that Voldemort wanted to give them a false sense of security, but when the Christmas break had come and gone and there was still nothing, Albus started to think that maybe he was wrong.

And it wasn't only the fact that Voldemort hadn't tried anything against the Stone, it was also the fact that he hadn't tried anything against Harry that had left him astounded.

Not that he wanted Harry harmed but it was something for which he had prepared, however, nothing had happened. He had thought that it would have been impossible for Voldemort to resist attacking Harry but as far as he knew not even a hair on Harry's head had been touched. Of course, he was happy that nothing had happened to Harry but it was still something that he wasn't expecting.

Harry, Harry was another factor that had surprised him, he was expecting Harry to be sorted into Slytherin, what he wasn't expecting was what Harry had done in Slytherin.

Considering that many of the Death Eaters' children were in Slytherin and many students there believed in pureblood ideals, he was expecting that Harry would be quite isolated there. He had thought that Harry would keep his head down, trying not to be noticed. He had been partly right, at the beginning Harry was isolated, only talking with young Theodore Nott, and hadn't that in itself been surprising? Of all the students, Nott wasn't the one that Albus had thought would befriend Harry, considering the loyalties of his father and grandfather. However, they had become quite close and later Marcus Jugson, which Severus was certain Harry had sent to the Infirmary with broken bones, joined the little group.

That was when he started to fear the paths that Harry could take.

Marcus Jugson was a self-declared pureblood supremacist and Albus was certain that Harry despised muggles, who could say that he didn't feel the same for muggleborns?

Albus' worries grew after the Christmas break. He may not have been a Slytherin but he knew what a Court was when he saw one. And in the middle, clearly showing his position, was Harry.

Albus supposed that he should have expected something like that, and a part of him told himself that he hadn't been the least bit surprised, that he was expecting it, but the purest truth was that Harry establishing a Court hadn't even crossed his mind.

Albus' worries grew drastically, he was expecting students from other houses to be attacked, he was expecting insults, he was expecting the Slytherins, especially the members of the Court, to walk around Hogwarts as if they owned the place, he was expecting a lot of things. So saying that he was dumbfounded when nothing happened was an understatement.

Contrary to what he was expecting, the Slytherins appeared to be calmer; they didn't start any fights, they didn't make fun of or insult other students, they didn't cause any trouble at all. They looked like exemplary students. And it wasn't only their behavior that had changed, most of the Slytherins had higher grades, they seemed to be doing their best to get the highest grades they could.

Albus had no idea what was going on but he was sure that Harry was the one responsible, now he just needed to know what Harry's objective was. If it were another situation, he would have found it ridiculous to think that a child had plans, objectives. However, from what he had seen from Harry, he thought that the right question to ask was what those objectives were, not if he had any.