KenderCleric's Challenge #24 For The Greater Good

Summary:

"For the Greater Good..."

It had been an ideal, a vision for a better future, which ended in a duel between its creators. One man had sought the actualization of the vision at any means while the other had turned his back against it. Albus Dumbledore had “seen the error of his ways” after his sisters death, but Gellert Grindelwald had tumbled down the proverbial rabbit whole chasing the dream. In the end the dark arts that Gellert had clung to, had thrived on, betrayed him and Albus proved the stronger of the two.

Dumbledore could not bring himself to kill his one-time friend, however. Instead, he chose to imprison Gellert in the very prison he had built: Nurmengard. Imprisoned atop the jet-black tower of the forbidden prison the once mighty Dark Lord soon faded into historical obscurity.

Grindelwald was not without diversions amid his lonely cell in Nurmengard. Albus was not a cruel man and had provided his fallen friend with a few comforts. Chief among those comforts was a self-updating copy of the Daily Prophet. It was through the highly biased, and factually-challenged, publication that Gellert learned of the rise of the self-proclaimed Dark Lord named Voldemort.

It was during the dark days of Voldemort’s rise that Grindelwald felt the stirrings of his emotions again. Since his defeat at Albus’ hands he had been cold and indifferent to the world. His perfect society, all the sacrifices he had made For the Greater Good, had been for naught. Now, however, as he read daily about the actions of Voldemort he could feel his blood boil.

The fool who dared call himself a Dark Lord was nothing more than a petty terrorist. He killed muggle and wizard alike with reckless abandon in the hopes of sewing terror. Even if the idiot succeeded in taking over the British Ministry he stood no prayer of achieving his self-stated goals. Voldemort was ruining the world that Grindelwald cherished and had fought to improve.

The Tower of Nurmengard was a place designed by Gellert to house his enemies permanently. While he may have delved deeply into the dark arts, and sought power for his own ends, he was not a truly cruel or bloodthirsty person. The prison had simply been designed to keep its inmates sealed away, magicless, until they died. They could, of course, be released, but only if he chose to let them go.

Only if he choose.

What none save Gellert knew was that Nurmengard was more than just a fearsome prison, but a true work of magical artistry. He had spent years researching Hogwarts and the methods the Founders used in its construction. The semi-sentience the ancient castle had always piqued Grindelwald’s interest. Thus, when he built his prison he had duplicated several aspects of the school’s construction and chief among those was the link between Headmaster and School.

It took him nearly a year of meditation to find the nearly faded link between himself and Nurmengard. The level of magical suppression Albus had left on his chamber had made it nearly impossible. However, once the link had been found he was able to begin drawing miniscule tendrils of power from the prison to the link to reinforce it. Finally, after hundreds of hours of grueling effort he was able to issue the one command he had been struggling toward.

On August the 2nd 1979 Gellert Grindelwald felt the rush of his not-inconsiderable magical strength for the first time in nearly 34 years.

As the magical suppression came to a sudden halt and his power returned to his beck and call Gellert cried out in pain and shock before collapsing. His body, now 96 years old, only barely withstood the massive strain he had just placed on it. After 34 years of living as, for all intents and purposes, a muggle his body simply could not readjust properly.

When he was finally able to push past the pain he realized his mistake and its cost. He would be dead soon unless he took immediate action.

Grindelwald’s title of Dark Lord was rightfully earned based on his knowledge of the Dark and Forbidden arts. Thus it was that in short order he was able to prepare a ritual which would allow him to escape his failing body. Plans began to form in the elder Dark Lord’s mind and plots spiraled into courses of action. Soon he would have his freedom, his youth, and his revenge. Gellert would have his perfect world no matter the cost to himself or others because it was For the Greater Good.


On October 3rd at 7pm a prophecy was made with Albus Dumbledore as the witness. It spoke of a child who would be born as the seventh month dies that would have the power to destroy the Dark Lord. At the time Albus believed the prophecy to mean Voldemort.

On October 4th 1979 the magical world awoke to reports in their various morning papers of the Destruction of Nurmengard Prison. Many theorized it was a sign that Voldemort had slain Grindelwald to ensure his status as the Dark Lord. Yet, there were others that claimed it was forces for the Light who had stopped a plot of Voldemort’s by destroying the cursed tower. The truth was simply too improbable for any to have conceived of even in their wildest dreams.

On July 31st 1980 Harry Potter was born, as the seventh month dies, to parents who had three-times defied Voldemort’s power and survived. What few noticed was that at the time of his birth his hair, what little he had, was blonde and slightly curly. His eyes, blue as ice, held a wild and triumphant look about them. These abnormalities faded only moments after birth leaving the child with pitch black hair and stark green eyes. He was, after all, his parent’s son.

On October 31st 1981 the Dark Lord Voldemort was defeated by the infant Harry Potter. The child had survived the Killing Curse and was left with only a lightning-bolt shaped scar to show for it. Only Albus Dumbledore had shown any disquiet over the shape the curse scar had taken, but he dismissed the omen as coincidence. After all, Gellert had used the emblem of the Hallows far more often than the Lightning Bolt.

On July 31st 1991 Harry Potter finally received the letter his uncle had been denying him for weeks. As soon as he laid eyes on the wax crest of Hogwarts a single thought invaded his mind before he passed out from a rush of thoughts and images…

“For the Greater Good.”


The Challenge:

We've seen "Dark!Harry" fics before, but so rarely do we see a truly DarkLord!Harry fic. Imagine though a world where Harry Potter never truly existed except in the machinations of Gellert Grindelwald. It is a world where every aspect of Harry Potter's existence was derived from a ritual conducted by a dying Dark Lord as a means to his own ends... For the Greater Good.

This is a world where he is destined to defeat the sadistic "would-be" Dark Lord known as Voldemort. It is a world where he is destined to be the pupil Albus Dumbledore; the very wizard to originally instilled the idea of "For the Greater Good" in Gellert.

How would the world be different when its Chosen One is truly someone worthy of the title of Dark Lord. When the Hero of the Light and Voldemort's Bane is in reality a wizard who started entire wars to establish Wizard supremacy over muggles; how would the story we know be changed?


The Rules:

• This challenge is based on the idea that Voldemort's only claim to the title of "Dark Lord" is based on his body-count, love of the Unforgiveables, and Horcruxes (if included). Grindelwald, however, is truly a "Dark Lord" in name and actions. Illustrate this point by his actions, power, plots, etc. Don't just make him a psycho-killer.
• "Harry Potter" as we know him from canon has never truly existed. He is a construct of Grindelwald; the wolf's sheepskin cloak so-to-speak. Keep this in mind, but also remember that no wolf in sheep's clothing would shed that disguise with the Sheppard nearby.
• Gellert was a genius on the same level as Dumbledore. He, unlike Voldemort, can learn from his mistakes. That doesn't mean, however, that he considers his previous goals and beliefs to be those mistakes.
• JKR's mentally-challenged declaration that Dumbledore's gay is to be IGNORED for the purposes of this fic. Dumbledore and Grindelwald were just good friends, genius' in the company of like-minded fellows, etc. This rule can be taken to mean no SLASH in this fic.
• As usual the normal no Harry/Ginny etc etc rules apply.
• IF you are going to use pairings in the challenge make them make sense.

 

I like this challenge a lot. So does Harry find out he is a construct of Grindelwald then?

 

I really love this idea, however I see one problem. There's barely no transition between Harry and Gellert.

There's no point of Harry going to Hogwarts if he has all the knowledge of Gellert. And I'm pretty sure Gellert is skilled enough to be truly unreachable (Fidelius, for example). Maybe if there was some slow transition; more like Gellert's influence, reflexes, as if Gellert was in Harry's subconsciousness rather than in his consciousness.

Isn't Gellert supposed to be just as old as Dumbledore? He'd be something like 130-140, not 96.

Il'l try to write something and if I manage something decent enough I'll post it, though that's unlikely.

 

From what I understood, Harry is Grindelwald

 

No kidding, I thought Harry was Elvis Presley's in disguise. Now, try reaching the company that sold you, maybe they'll (hopefully) upgrade your brain for free. Sorry if I'm mean, but it was kinda obvious, no?

 

Based on the dates inferred from canon on both Albus and Gellert's age his would only be 96. Gellert was younger than Albus by a few years, but neither of them were as ancient as most of us had thought apparently. The reference for this info can be found here.

Keep in mind that we are talking about a character that was supposed to have been dead in 1945 as per JKR's own words. Retcon allows for so many great windows of opportunity.

 

As mentioned before, why would Harry/Gellert go to Hogwarts?

To rule over the muggles, the muggles had to learn about their inferiority first. That would mean worldwide open acknowledgment of magic. That would only be unstoppable if the revelation came from within muggle society itself. To spread this amount of chaos that the ministries of magic wouldn't be able to just obliviate people anymore he would be better of in a physics lab or a TV station. Good idea though, I'd think it would be fun to develop that further.

EDIT: I just thought that this idea would go nicely with a kind of mudblood revolution, where the muggleborns vanish from wizarding society for decades and are plants in high offices in the muggleworld. Then when the time comes, they have their place, they crush the traditional wizarding society and rule over the muggles openly. And Harry/Gellert can even be the kindly old Merlin-type as a king. Dumbledore would be terrorist then