The Extortionist - A "Rita Skeeter-esque" witch or wizard who's excellent at unearthing all the juicy, scandalous secrets that the rich and powerful of the Wizarding world would prefer to never see the light of day, and exchanges his/her express silence for all sorts of favors. Essentially a faceless power broker, dealing in information.

 

The Problem Solver - Not a wizard with grand designs for the future, the Problem Solver does exactly what his name promotes. He gets by on contracts from dark wizards far more imaginative in their evil goals than him, and the jobs he takes range from heists to assassinations. He's pretty good at what he does, but as his work requires a lot of preparation and information, he hates being lied to, which happens far too often.

He's also not a bad tempered person by default like many of his darker compatriots. He simply found a job he does well in, and goes through life with a smile.

 

So basically a Harry Potter-style Dark!Dresden. Sounds good.

Warlord:

The kind of person who'd want dominion over an area. He doesn't want to rule the world, no, he's not a megalomaniac like Voldemort, but he wants to be a feudal lord of sorts over an area. He wants to be free to do within its bounds as he pleases.

 

Along these lines but somewhat more sinister: a wizard takes over a whole town, its every member enslaved to his will, such that they will turn on visitors who seem at all likely to be magical, Body-snatcher style. He's been working at ways to see through everyone's eyes, even cast spells through a few of his more enchanted followers. It's to the point where the Aurors won't know if they've got the right guy or if the 'final' boss was still a puppet of the real overlord.

 

That would be bloody brilliant. And to think that Voldemort would have such a person under his thumb. Truly makes you wonder at the kind of power Voldemort must possess to have the fealty of such a man.

 

The most convincing follow-up to Voldemort, to me, is a character who is as convincing to our new pillars of society as Voldemort was to their predecessors—i.e., what would a dark wizard look like who impressed Harry or Kingsley, or anybody in the post-blood-purity wizarding world?

You don't have to push all the way into making Harry/Kingsley/etc. the bad guys to make this work—you only need to recognize that it's as trivial for people with your morals to do terrible things in their name as it is people with The Other Guy's morals, even if yours are right.

I'd love to see somebody write, say, a (small-d) democrat dark wizard—somebody who promises to reform the wizarding world along lines our heroes completely agree with, but is willing to go a little further than they are to make it happen—then a little further, and a little further, until they have a difficult decision to make. (A Grindelwald figure for the canon generation's desires, I guess, without the interpersonal complications and the mass murder.)

 

The Heisenberg: A poor, sick potion master who starts to make and sell illegal potions to support his family. As time progresses, he becomes an addict himself: He can no longer live without the danger, the money and the feeling of power and loses his respect for other people's lifes. His actions first cause a rift between him and his family (his wife), and later make him the No. 1 wanted criminal in Magical Britain.

 

This reminds me of a TV series ...

And Joe's Unfound Door.

The Scholar:

Basically a nerd who studies dark magic because a) he likes learning things and b) he thinks it makes him cool. He uses dark magic to defend himself from some bullies and finds himself in a world of trouble. Events spin wildly out of his control and he feels forced to delve deeper into dark magic.

 

After Voldemort dies, a veteran of the war begins thinking he knows what's wrong with this society. With the Ministry. All the corruption that is the government's lifeblood. It doesn't matter which side he fought on in the war. That is not important to this story.

So he begins plotting. He makes far-reaching plans, unafraid of their scope. He's young, ambitious - it will take a lot of time, years, but he has them. If he fails, he'll at least have tried.

He doesn't think people are inherently bad or stupid - he's a person too - he just thinks that most are inherently misguided. One can easily spot smart people and those less possessed of the gift of intelligence. They're lost. They need a leader. He can be one.

But the society is solidifying around the heroes of the war. After Voldemort's death, most think that the worst is over. He knows that given time, things will go back to the way they were. And wasn't status quo wonderful? <sarcasm>

He's not an idiot - he can't do it all alone, he'll need allies. Or, perhaps he should say servants. Loyal lieutenants he'll be able to trust with smaller responsibilities.

But no one knows him. He's not Harry Potter. No one will just follow someone like him. How to gain allies? Can he inspire people like Potter can? Eh, probably not. He knows what he is and what he isn't and an inspiring figure he's not.

If one wants allies, one must take opportunities when they present themselves. If there are none, one must manufacture them.

And so the young wizard steps onto a Darker path than his few acquaintances would have imagined for him. He seeks out people on the brink. Some weak, some merely lost and he gives a gentle push. As they fall over the precipice, he's there to grab their hand and they hold on for dear life. He chooses his apprentices carefully and just the first is an ambitious project.

With each new recruit, he becomes more skilled in magic and rhetoric, turning people and their whole families to his secret cause, or away from their families if needed. Some are resistant. Those are eliminated. He's careful and knows he can't afford to make mistakes. Revolutions, even quiet ones, are never bloodless.

They grow into a tightly knit group, concentrated around their enlightened leader, who is, it seems, the only person keeping them standing straight up. They'd collapse without him. He found them when they were broken, scared and mended them. All he asked in return was their dedication, help in creating the world he had envisioned - and what a vision it is!

And so it goes. His circle grows larger, large enough to come out of the shadows into the light of day and begin his campaign. He has enough endorsements to gain a foothold in the heart of the corrupt Ministry. His rise is steady, but brilliant, like a sunrise. In time, he rises to almost the very top. The second stage is almost complete.

When the day of the election comes, he wins by a landslide and his swift reforms, lauded by his followers, buy him the people's vote of of confidence. He's already the most powerful man in the country, but it seems he keeps rising even higher, though there's no more prestigious post to be won.

Not until... it is created, of course.

But when people are content, they grow lazy. His popularity wanes precisely because he's been so effective. Some even begin to speak out against him, pointing out how much power a single man has amassed. That cannot be allowed to happen. Revolutions are never bloodless, after all.

It takes planning, time and resources, but the foundations were always there. Britain had fought Voldemort alone, after all. The British and the French were never the best of friends and the fact that no one else in Europe had lifted a finger while the people of Britain suffered bred enough resentment to serve as a tool.

A conflict erupts and the Minister acts decisively, forming a standing military force - an unheard of thing. The ICW takes notice and they begin questioning Britain's illustrious leader. But he's "their" Minister again, so they defend him. The ICW mediators who arrive to negotiate a peace treaty are all but spat upon when they dare question him. He's calm, collected and gracious, as becomes a Minister of his great nation, but everyone else present in the room makes no secret of their feelings. His most trusted have enough self-restraint to merely appear cold and reserved (a carefully prepared performance), but the zealots shout and bang their wands on the table and protest. The delegates scurry back to the continent after working out a deal - the Minister's army scared the French into mistake after mistake and now they are paying for it.

His subsequent rise in the people's eyes is meteoric. He's the only one who knows what's what, as far most are concerned. The rich complain, but when don't they? Let the man keep doing good work. It doesn't take long for the people to grant him the mandate to do just that.

The Regent, they call him now. There's no monarch of the wizardkind and they don't think much of the muggle Queen, but "Minister" simply doesn't fit anymor and they're not going to call him President like the French or Chancellor like the blasted Germans. And he serves personally in the people's stead. He's their chosen representative - by the laws he passed, they're free to do with their lives as they see fit, aren't they? They're their own kings. He's the regent of them all.

The enthusiasm rolling over the nation in tidal waves is enough to keep the people believing that. He's their regent, fair enough. Soon, he'll be even more.

And it does happen. Not right away - such undertakings require a solid, tough foundation. Without unanimous support, he can't even dream of it, but he does it anyway. He dares to aim ever higher, because that's the only way anyone accomplishes anything.

Voldemort was... Voldemort, but he never let anyone tell him he couldn't do something. Well, until Potter happened, of course, but Potter is such an unambitious man. He had all the support he needed to do exactly what the Regent has done, but Potter saw nothing wrong with the world. Never saw the big picture, always focused on the singular, narrow goal - Voldemort. He's met the Auror and talked to him enough to know that for certain. Once, Harry Potter was an almost messianic figure. Now, he's an Auror captain with a wife, three children and a retirement plan.

His ambitions lay always above where he is. It's how he got to the very top. When he reached it, he damn well started building himself a tower on top of the mountain and didn't stop once he was past the clouds. Finally, he's arrived. By the people's will as much as by his own, they give him a crown and call him King. It's a glorious moment, years in the making. It took blood, sweat, manipulation and a great deal of magic to accomplish this.

Now the King looks down from upon his throne towards the continent. He must always aim higher, keep climbing, else he'll inevitably start to fall. No one ever become en Emperor without an Empire of nations to rule.

And there you have a Wizard King. Or a Witch King if you're feeling like referencing LotR. Yeah, it got away from me. Sorry for that.

 

Heh, so the Santi's version of Harry Potter... eventually.

 

The smart assassin guy with a grudge

A former Death Eater / Voldemort sympathizer who decides to personally target Harry, his friends and family. Kills with poisons, traps, hit and run attacks, using all the game breaking magical abilities HP series has. Stabs Harry's friends in broad daylight with a daggers coated with basilisk venom while using polyjuice potion, uses imperius on random muggles and has them shoot people from distance with a rifle, flings wordless curses from under invisibility cloak before apparating away.

So basically someone who, while nowhere near the same threat level as Voldemort in the grand scheme of things, is infinitely more dangerous on personal level.

 

The Gilderoy: A serial rapist with a sense of humor. He is an egocentric wizard that fails at many things. But the dark savory treats that sate his hunger developed a keen skill of a predator. Stalking is second nature. Blending is as easy as his slimy smile. And the souvenirs as real as a dream. The only thing he likes more than playing with his toys is leaving clues behind. Sometimes on their skin, sometimes hidden amongst their possessions, but most of all, he likes to treat them with memories. And while St. Mungo's is always searching for a trace of magic, they still cannot find it. Magic was never his forte, how else would he learn the joy of manipulating the mind. Magic is too quick, too easy to spot. Physical manipulation is a cherry he pops in his mouth, savory and sweet.

 

The dark creature groupie: Peter Pettigrew type character who hangs out around vampires to 'feel dark'. Maybe a muggleborn who grew up as one of those vampire loving muggles, carried that fascination over to the magical world. Does odd jobs for his vampire 'masters' in the muggle world, like kidnapping.

 

The "sealed" ancient dark wizard archetype:

The giant squid is actually Harpo the Foul in his animagus form.This was a product of experimenting to put his horcrux in a descendant of Cthulhu he found by accident,with the desire to control it.This foolish decision obviously backfired and he spend the next centuries recovering his human form(what was left of it) while pretending to be a human loving giant squid.
But it was all false just like the fact that your family loves you.

After eating the carcass from the basilisk that slipped into the lake via tunnel from the chamber of secrets he regains a appearance that looks like octodad while he starts to gather armies of inferi,charmed skeletons,Blood-Sucking Bugbears,Cockatrices,acromantulas,giants,crazed vampires,lycans,banshies and other similar dark evil beings.

He starts to terrorise the wizarding world from his base of operations in the forbidden forest.His right hand man is actually the unidentified creature that Hagrid kept hidden in his hut, that happens to be mandrake/banshee hybrid capable of killing anything on the orders of its master with a piercing shriek.

His ruthlessness slowly gives him a passage in the annals of magical history,and writes him as the nefarious Lord of the TaintedTentacle .