I'm not sure how you would make an idea like that interesting. Dumbledore is the greatest force there is; only his death allows Voldemort to take over the wizarding world in a few month's time and it's the definite low point in the books. He is brilliant, witty and arguably more skilled than Voldemort, at least if he's got enough things to transfigure nearby.

If you want to make him the main character of a Peggy Sue fic, you'd need him to act. The only reason Voldemort got so far in the books was that he essentially didn't, and you just didn't notice it because he wasn't on screen most of the time. And as soon as he acts, armed with the knowledge he has at the point of his death, I struggle to think of a way he wouldn't immediately win without relying on severe contrivance.

You could, of course, circumvent that by having him try to achieve the exact same outcome - his death - in order to not change the timeline despite already changing it upon his arrival (e. g. he arrives in front of Harry's eyes during the stone fight/whatever) or by giving him a deadline (e. g. keeping the curse in his hand), or by dropping him in a universe where things are fundamentally different (e. g. Ariana never died).

But I feel like a "classical" Peggy Sue fic would be hard or impossible to get to work.

 

You're wrong about everything. I just finished HBP a few days ago so I've got a clear idea of Dumbledores head space at the time. The first thing is that Dumbledore wouldn't be the main character of the story, its still Harry Potter. This isn't like all the shit Harry post DH time travel stories where there is an easy solution. It's an opportunity for Dumbledore to make some different choices with more information. The story quickly becomes a very different one to canon. Dumbledore knowing Voldemorts more immediate plan means he can be thwarted, we can expect Dumbledore to be capable of this though we'd never see it. Instead we'd get a story about Harry Potter who is having a bit more responsibility thrust on him sooner than in canon. Dumbledore has the opportunity to teach Harry without being so pressed for time, to tell Harry the important things before they cost him so much. He doesn't get to achieve easy victory, Voldemort is still immortal, and even if Dumbledore is able to destroy the ring, and find the locket it's a long road to Voldemort's defeat.

The story is one of an older more prepared Harry that's facilitated by Dumbledore's time travel.

 

You are aware that my post was about having Dumbledore as main character?

If you say "nah, but he isn't", we're no longer talking about the same thing.

 

As I said, you're wrong. A Dumbledore peggy sue isn't a story about Dumbledore, it remains a Harry Potter story. Dumbledore would act on knowledge he didn't have the first time, but mostly it would be about bolstering Harry. Dumbledore can't end the war. Voldemort almost won the first time, it would only Harry's saving grace that defeated him. You're right that without Dumbledore's premature death Voldemort wouldn't have been able to act so soon, but there is no reason to believe that Dumbledore with a couple extra years preparation fares any differently. It's about Harry, it's always about Harry.

 

Dumbledore would quickly seize Barty Crouch Jr., attempt to capture Pettigrew and Voldemort’s body, and then even if all that failed seize and destroy multiple Horcruxes. Granted he only knows about the Peverell ring and thinks he knows about the locket, but he’s Dumbledore and will probably deduce who RAB is much more quickly than Harry. That will lead him to the Lestrange vault, and all of that could be done in a matter of weeks.

Giving Dumbledore such a massive advantage would utterly change the story to such a degree as to render Harry’s involvement almost irrelevant. The Horcrux in the scar is a bit of a challenge, but if Voldemort’s attempt to return is thwarted definitively and rapidly it’s not like Dumbledore can’t devote some of his new free time into seeking an answer.

 

Potter Law #1 is strong with you.
If Dumbledore returns around year 1, he is able to simply capture Quirrell (see below how that would unfold).
If Dumbledore returns between years 2 and 4, he is able to capture Voldemort because he knows exactly when he'll be, and because Voldemort is in no state to fight him. After that, they have a lifetime to find the Horcruxes and to think of a solution for Harry's scar.
That's not that interesting. You'd have to cook together some unlikely escape story in order to make it work (or try to find a reason why Albus doesn't capture him).

I'll give you that there's no such obvious story-pitfalls as soon as you make it happen at the beginning of year 5. He could destroy the medallion, presumably also the snake (because he knows about the attack against Arthur) and the ring. He could also prevent the Azkaban breakout, and Sirius' death, which would indeed bring several changes.

However, not exactly changes to heighten the tension.

Still, I can't see how "Dumbledore, who already is kind of omniscent, insanely powerful and very wise, too, knows even more than he did before at the same point" is a good starting point for an interesting fic that stays true to Dumbledore's character.

What you seem to want to make out of it is a DumbledoreMentorsHarry!fic, but if you want that, there's no need for time travel. You'd have to work around Dumbledore's knowledge of the future anyway, as there are some things that simply have to happen (Azkaban breakout, for example).


EDIT: Pretty much ninja'd by @Puzzled

 

You all overestimate Dumbledore. He lost the first war. Voldemort was on the verge of taking over despite everyone being against him. Even if Dumbledore knows about the horcruxes finding and destroying them isn't easy. He knew about them since CoS and had to piece it all together, we learn the fruits of his research in HBP. You're also assuming he would be able to capture Voldemort, even if he were about to find him and spring an ambush there is no reason for us to believe it's even possible to hold Voldemort captive before he gets restored to body. Dumbledore would delay him, if he's able to take away his supporters in Crouch and Petegrew he may delay him for many years, but ultimately he's coming back. Even if Dumbledore is able to find the Cup, he has no leads on the Diadem. In HBP he has no idea if it's even a horcrux and certainly he doesn't believe it can be at Hogwarts. It's Dumbledore's assertion that Voldemort wanted to return to Hogwarts to look for a relic. It's also possible that Voldemort hasn't made his final horcrux yet, Nagini may never be more than a snake which prolongs the search further.

It's also unlikely that there is a way to cheat the scar. Harry has to die.

 

The thing is, even if you were correct about everything you're saying (which I don't think to be the case, because winning wars is easier if you know the next steps of your opponent, destroying Horcruxes isn't a problem because he's got the sword, and Voldemort was some sort of homunculus before he got a real body; there's no reason you can't capture a homunculus); the end result would still be that A) having Dumbledore travel back in time is completely unnecessary and you could just as well write an AU where he teaches Harry from earlier on, and B) the big things, like Harry having to die or the destruction of the horcuxes, happen exactly as they did in canon, because the Dumbledore at the end of book 6 wanted most things to happen as they did in canon, and he now has more tools at his disposal to ensure that they do.

TL; DR: Write it and prove me wrong

 

Dumbledore doesn't know all the moves Voldemort is going to take. As soon as Dumbledore takes action everything is different. He prevents Voldemort's resurrection, he captures Crouch Jr. and maybe he finds Petegrew and captures him too. Likely he doesn't though, since Dumbledore already knew Voldemort had been at the Riddle house during that time and wasn't able to track him down. His 3 years of extra knowledge only goes so far. Those three years are important but they aren't everything, they don't completely remove the difficulty and challenge the way post DH time travel does. He finds and destroys the ring, forewarned is forearmed. With more time to prepare he can probably find some other means of getting the locket without drinking that potion. Then he's nowhere. He's sitting on the knowledge he already had in canon, that horcruxes exist. He now knows for certain what he already expected at that time, that Voldemort had made many of them. He can speculate about everything else, but he knows nothing. So Dumbledore continues his searches and inquiries. He brings Harry into his confidence earlier and begins working toward the inevitable return to war. All he can do it prepare. His story isn't an interesting one. Which is why this would be a story about Harry.

 

When did Dumbledore know where Voldemort was during GoF?

 

He knows everything Harry did at the end of book six, minus RAB, and somehow Harry managed to stumble through finding the horcruxes while being on the run. It’s really difficult for me to see how Dumbledore can’t improve on Harry’s performance since A Voldemort isn’t running the UK, and B Dumbledore is a way wiser and better wizard than Harry. Sure the scar horcrux is a problem, and maybe Voldemort goes off to be a shade somewhere, but that just gives him more time to find a solution that doesn’t involve Voldemort taking over everything and killing a lot of people.

 

At the end of GoF he knows about Frank, the muggle, whom Voldemort killed.
--- Post automerged ---

Bah. Harry was only able to find the diadem because of their mental connection, and the goblet was because Bellatrix was out of Azkaban. The weakness was in the human element.

 

If you Peggy Sue Dumbledore back into GoF the fic would not be about the conflict with Voldemort. Not without a few ass pulls in the name of narrative 'tension'.

 

I haven't written anything since High School so this one is almost sure to never go anywhere but here goes:
The Premise:
After the defeat of Voldemort Harry and Ron both go back to school to become Aurors. Catapulted by the fame from their roles in the defeat of Voldemort both are accepted into the DMLE (Aurors being culled from experienced DMLE members a la detectives in my head-canon) and receive promotions relatively quickly with Harry a lieutenant equivalent and Ron a sergeant after only a few months in the department. Harry is quickly relegated to managing shifts and running large training seminars (the latter due to his fame) and finds to his surprise that he loves his duties. Ron meanwhile is exposed more to the day to day operations and the continued hypocrisy of the ministry that Harry is somewhat insulated from. Basically Ron's increasing bitterness at the ministry is a catalyst for change, but he hides it from his friends because he doesn't want to interfere with Harry's happiness.

Essentially Ron begins to straight up ignore the rules sometimes even training new recruits similarly. The story would involve a lot of Sergeant Ron tagging along on relatively fresh recruits beat rounds and basically interfering with the due process of the law to serve his own moral agenda. The climax would involve either Ron's friends or the department finding out about his behavior and confronting him and the fallout from that.

 

One-shot plot bunny: fic where Minister Hermione manages to push through a law giving house-elves full citizenship including the right to vote. She proceeds to lose the next election to an ultra-conservative backed by a huge house-elf vote. They adore his promises to abolish holidays, scrap the minimum wage, and re-introduce corporal punishment to Hogwarts.

 

Historical Thriller dealing with largely hidden and lost mysteries of the Wizarding world. MC is Harry Potter. Inspired by the Robert Langdon series.

 

Third year end, Sirius invite Harry to stay with him, before things go south and Sirius escape.

What if, after Harry returning to his summer residence at the Dursley, Sirius takes with him to a wild vacation ?

Another idea, Sirius time travel.
Either to 3rd year or just the start of the fifth year. (or summer after 4th year)?

In the first idea will be fore Harry to sample more of the Wizardry world, to be expose to more culture.

The second idea will be more with Sirius has on his mind to dirty his hands and engage war on his own terms.
I don't remember where I read it (probably Dark marauders) Remus musing that the different between Sirius and his family, was the methods, just the targets.

 

Shadow of Gringotts - Voldemort was defeated, but not completely destroyed. The pseudo-horcrux in Harry's scar bled into him instead of perishing. Now, Harry is constantly tormented by visions of Voldemort, a curse that may just turn out to be a blessing. Feeling the wizards' weakness goblins decided to rebel again. They offer no mercy, there is many of them, and over the years they managed to collect a large number of wands. Fire needs to be fought with fire. The combination of Harry's prodigious willpower and Voldemort's mastery of the imperius curse allows them to dominate the minds of their enemies. The goblins started this war and they will pay for it.

Honestly, I have no idea how I would portray such a war, but this "You serve Bright Lord" in Shadow of Mordor brought the Light Lord cliche to my mind.

 

It'd certainly be cool to see such a thing in a fic similar to Sum of Their Parts. The goblins attack when the Ministry is weak, after the war and during Harry's attempted takeover, and Harry ends up killing hundreds of goblins.