A Hell of Heaven

Disclaimer: See first chapter/drabble.

Summary: Albus Dumbledore's good intentions got him and Voldemort send to Hell. And now, three centuries later Voldemort visits him to lengthen Dumbledore's stay, less the old man gets send to his next great adventure too early. Or: "How Albus Dumbledore made himself a Hell of Heaven"-A drabble.

Warning: If you read the summary and 'Paved with good intentions', you'll know that this contains Dumbledore bashing. There is also the mention of homosexuality as a crime. The readers of my other stories will know that I have nothing against homosexuality, especially considering that I write slash. However, it had to be mentioned in a negative way to fit into the story line.

AN: Here is the promised third drabble in my 'Paved with good intentions' series. I never planned that after Easter would turn out to be after three Easters. Sorry for that hyper long delay.

-~-~- A Hell of Heaven-~-~-

-~-~-by StillWatersAreDeep-~-~-

"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven"

Paradise Lost, J. Milton

-~-~- A Hell of Heaven -~-~-

Albus Dumbledore was confused. Before he died, he'd been looking forward to the next great adventure, eager to see his beloved Ariana again. But the first thing that greeted him was not his sister. No, it was none-other than Tom Riddle.

"So, where should I place you two?" a spirit asked.

Ah, that's why I'm here, Dumbledore was relieved to finally receive an explanation for his current detour. A lemon drop right about now would be great, he wished, hoping that the afterlife worked like the Room of Requirement. To Dumbledore's annoyance, it did not and so he had to do without his favourite sweet for the time being.

Without his favourite Muggle sweet, he did not want to waist any more time before he could be reunited with his sister, thus he immediately replied, "Tom obviously belongs into Hell."

He hated how Tom had rather easily thrown back every argument he'd brought forth. But it at least had the desired result. Tom was condemned to Hell. Where he rightfully belongs, Dumbledore thought satisfied. If only the spirit had not condemned metoo, he thought riled up as he was force-Apparated to another place in the afterlife.

"Name?" a male spirit asked him.

"Albus Dumbledore," he answered as he took in the room with its stone benches and green-yellow lights.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore?" the spirit ask for clarification.

"Yes," Dumbledore answered with a sweet smile. This is my way out of Hell, he thought. The spirit certainly looked like someone that had enough power to overturn the previous ruling.

Searching around on his desk, the spirit finally found the scroll with Albus's name on it. "Ah, here it is!" he exclaimed triumphantly, opened the bindings and began to read through the scroll.

"The deeds of yours that were collected at the entrance already earned you a three century long stay here in Hell. And I wouldn't be surprised if there are more crimes you have to pay for that are not listed here," the spirit stated. "However, like anyone who comes here you have the chance to do penance for all of your crimes. But I have to warn you. Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light," the spirit repeated the traditional speech that was given to all new residents of Hell.

"Surely there must be a mistake on the scroll," he replied, his grandfatherly smile in place. "I'm sure it only says a three day long stay."

"No, you earned three centuries," the spirit stressed. "And that only for the crimes that were stated at the entrance. More may be added at a later time if more crimes are brought to light."

On the inside, he was boiling with rage, but he was old enough to control such impulses from showing on the outside. "You do not look like someone who would keep an old man from seeing his beloved sister," he stated, moving so that his body portrayed an old, helpless man.

"I'm not," the spirit replied, giving Dumbledore hope. "As soon as you completely the penance period for all of your committed crimes, you're free to go up the Heaven."

Dumbledore was silent for some moments, contemplating his choices. "Three centuries you said?"

"Yes," the spirit replied.

"How can my penance be longer than my life span? I lived for just over a century!" he complained.

"Killing a person with the Killing Curse takes less than a minute. But what the murderer takes from their victim was more than a mere minute. They take their victim's lifetime," the spirit patiently explained. "So, what should be used to measure the crime? The time it took to commit it? Or rather the time that was forcefully taken?" he asked challenging.

Phrased like that, the latter was the answer his heart agreed with the most. At least if he looked at the greater picture. But if he looked at the individual picture, his own time of penance, there was only one answer he could give, "The time to commit the crime."

The spirit shook his head. There he went out of his way and offered Dumbledore the chance to reduce his penance time by ten percent and he did not use it.

"Especially if it was done for the greater good," Dumbledore added.

"Do you know who else said they did something for 'the greater good'?" the spirit asked, but did not give Dumbledore time to answer, time was running out, the next new addition to Hell would appear in front of him soon. "So do you want to go to Heave or not?" he asked.

"Is there no other way for me to see my sister?" Dumbledore asked.

"If she is in Heaven, doing your penance is your only option to join her there," the spirit replied.

"And if she's not?" Dumbledore asked, having noticed the shady formulation.

"Then you'll never see her again if neither of you decided to follow the path of penance to Heaven."

Dumbledore sighed in resignation. It seems like there was only one way for him. "Is there a chance of reduction for good conduct?"

"There is not," the spirit replied. "However," he paused intentionally wanting to give Dumbledore false hope, "there is a penalty for too much denegation and negotiation. Acedia being a sin and all that," he explained offhandedly.

"And avarice is not?" Dumbledore wanted to ask, but thought better of it.

"It is," the spirit replied with a smirk.

Great! Dumbledore groaned. He got through my Occlumency shields?! How can he get past them? he wondered outraged. Not even Tom had been able to overpower them.

"Enough loitering," the spirit said with finality. "Do you want to do penance or not?"

With no other choices—his every though being laid open like a book preventing him from coming up with a clever scheme—he thought of his beloved sister. "I'll do penance," he finally decided.

As soon as the words left his mouth he was forcefully Apparated once again. This time, however, the scene that greeted him was even more unfriendly than the previous room with its stone benches and green-yellow lights. The first thing he noticed was the stinging smell of sulphur, which made him want to retch. This was when he noticed that he was immobilized. Everything but his head was frozen in place.

"Finite Incantatem" he called out, hoping to cancel the curse with his wandless magic, but it was no use. He tried again and again, but still, he was unable to move out of the fire that had started to burn beneath him. While it did not burn his clothes, he could still feel the heath of the flames that was increasing by the minute, the smell of sulphur remaining constant.

Sweat was dripping down his face as he desperately called "Finite Incantatem" again and again until his cry sounded more like 'Find it eh in cartoon.'

"I reconsider!" he finally called out. "I changed my mind. Please take me away from here!" he screamed, but they were deaf to his pleas. Once a decision was made, it could not be taken back.

It was only when he was already full of adrenalin, sure that he would be consumed by the flames, when the flames receded. His relief was only short lived though. Soon after the flames lit up again, reaching higher than his head as if someone had thrown oil into the fire. It took Dumbledore some moments to realized that this time the flames, while still shining red and yellow, were freezing cold rather than burning hot.

Dumbledore did not know how much time did pass with an unpredictable mixture of rising hot and cold flames, before he received his first vision. He saw himself entering the Hospital Wing. Based on his white hair and the cut of his robes, he mused that it must have happened in the last twenty years. His assumption was confirmed when he saw the Golden Trio. Late spring of 1994, he correctly guessed.

"You meddle with time," was the last accusation Tom had thrown at him and it seemed like his penance would start from the bottom of the long list.

He watched how he instructed Hermione to use the Time Turner and then was forced to watched how she and Harry rescued Buckbeak and Sirius. Not that he minded watching the events, the opposite was the case. He found the whole happenings more than interesting and the fact the flames were burning low at his feet during the whole vision was a welcomed bonus in his eyes.

It was only when he saw how Hermione and Harry returned to the Hospital Wing after they successfully completed the task he'd given them, that it went downhill. The doors of the Hospital Wing had just closed behind him, when Hell broke loose.

All of a sudden he felt his cheek getting scratched, then a hard hit to his head. It was not long before he realized that once a vision ended, he was forced to relieve through all the negative experience, be it emotional or physical, everyone had felt during the previous vision. First he went through Severus's experience, then Sirius, followed by Hermione and Harry before he screamed his voice hoarse when he was forced through the pain of a werewolf transformation as he relieved Remus's experience of the night. Pettigrew's fear that followed felt like a relaxing bath in comparison.

With relief Dumbledore welcomed the hot flames. When the image of him discussing the Tri-wizard Tournament started, he immediately called out for help again. He knew what pain awaited him. It was of no use.

And so the years passed, he would be consumed by the flames, see a vision of his committed crime he had to do penance for by feeling all the pain he'd caused with his action before the cycle would start again with the flames.

He just came out of the vision how he acquainted the Elder Wand when a voice called, "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore." His memory had gotten blurry, but still the voice sounded familiar in his ears. If he could just remember to whom it belonged to.

It was only when the flames receded that he was able to make out the figure of a tall man with wavy black hair. When the man stepped closer, he recognised Tom Riddle. The culprit of my current predicament. He scowled.

"Advocate Riddle," Tom said, amused by the hate Dumbledore threw it him, giddy with pleasure to torment the old torn in his side.

"Tom," Dumbledore said in greeting. How can it be that he is free to walk around? he wondered.

Tom just smiled at the old man's thought and repeated the crimes he'd accused Dumbledore of at the entrance. "You already served two-hundred ninety nine years out of the three hundred you've gained for them."

As on cue, Dumbledore sighed in relief. His eyes twinkling merrily in anticipation of his freedom.

His relief was short lived. Tom, after a short paused where he enjoyed the hope rising up, smirked at Dumbledore and said, "Before you can receive your pass to Heaven, I need to confirm that you've not committed any more crimes which you still need to atone for."

"There is nothing more," Dumbledore replied, his voice sounding calm and secure. Just like a kind grandfather would.

"I disagree. But I'm confident that you'll bear the price for the crimes that were not taken into account at your entrance with the same endurance and passion. So let's see what crimes you still have to atone..." Tom said and used his power as an advocate to silence Dumbledore for the next minutes. He would only end up in a pointless argument with the old man otherwise.

"Where to begin?" he mussed out loud for the theatrical effect. "How about the crimes you committed against Harry Potter? A quite intriguing fellow he was, don't you think? Let's see," he began and took out a pen to add the new crimes to the list. "Ah, yes. The famous Quidditch match in his first year where I cursed his broom. While you cast the spell that slowed down his fall, you should have cast the counter curse minutes earlier. Poor Severus had to do it for you instead. Ten years sound good for it."

When Tom looked up after writing down the crime and sentence, he saw that Dumbledore was moving his month, trying and failing to complain about this verdict.

"Save your breath for later, old man. There are still more crimes I can list and you'll need your breath for your beloved redemption," he mocked.

"The second incident we need to add to your list would be that you allowed Potter and also Malfoy to walk alone into the Forbidden Forrest. In the middle of the night no-less! What responsible adult does this?" he questioned. "And you knew that Hagrid left his 'cute' pet Acromantulas there. Five years.

"My favourite from Potter's first year: How you so conveniently left the protection of the Philosopher's Stone up to him and his friends. You took the stone out of Gringotts to hid it behind 'protections' that mere first year students could overcome. You wanted to test him, didn't you? Pathetic. Twenty two years.

"And when he was recovering in the Hospital Wing, you had nothing better to do than to steal a Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Bean from him. The poor boy just recovered from nearly being killed and was still traumatised from killing Quirinus Quirrell, and you have nothing better to do than to steal sweats from him. Sixty six years."

Dumbledore was even more outraged now. If he could, he would have cursed Tom right about now, either with words or with actual curses. Sixty six years for stealing a piece of candy?! The absurdity of it. If this continued, he would spent another three hundred years in Hell.

"Nah, just these events from Potter's first year gained you an extra one hundred and three years. We still have six more years to go. So twice the time would be a more accurate guess," Tom told him, having heard the other's thoughts.

But I was already dead during Harry's seventh year! Dumbledore thought outraged.

"With that being said, let's continue with Potter's second year, shall we?" he asked. "Gilderoy Lockhart," Tom state and shuttered. That had been one creepy man. "Hogwarts' staff hiring procedure explicitly states that potential candidates have to give a test lecture. A book signing does not count as a test lecture. Forty eight years for traumatising all the poor students.

"And then we had the lovely Chamber of Secrets affair. How convenient for you to never have asked the ghost of Myrtle Warren how she died. With how eager you were to frame me, one would have thought that this would be the first thing you did." Tom shook is head in reprimand. "Thirty three sounds like good punishment for this."

"And since you knew that I was a Parselmouth, and it was a gift solely inherited by the Slytherin line, you should have figured out sooner that the creature must be a snake. And there are only so many snakes that can petrify their victims and would led to killed roosters. Take another thirty three years," Tom said joyfully in a mock repeat of how Dumbledore had rewarded Harry and friends with a ridiculous amount of house points during Potter's first year.

Two hundred seventeen, Tom quickly calculated the intermediate result. Nah, let's make it three hundred again, he decided.

"Potter's third year. You were very cooperative with the Aurors and the Ministry in that year, weren't you? At least in the beginning. Allowing all the dementors on the school ground? That alone is worth fifty two years of doing penance. But you did not even think about providing special Patronus lessons to the students, less handling out free chocolates, which increases the verdict to eighty two years," Tom stated.

"For the Quidditch match which you allowed to be played in the middle of a heavy storm you gain seven years. Be glad that only Potter's broom and not his neck had been broken as a result," he mocked.

"Since I'm being merciful today, I would say we stop today with how you on purpose hurt Ronald Weasley when he was in the Hospital Wing with his broken leg. Four years. So I believe that we'll see each other again sometime in the next three hundred and nine years."

With a satisfied smirk on his face, he told Dumbledore his typical parting words, "Farewell Hope, and with Hope farewell Fear," and then turned around and walked away from him, his job done for the moment. Until next time, he thought with a smirk. Today had certainly been a very good day for him.

-~-~- AHell of Heaven -~-~-

Over three hundred years have passed since his last visit to Dumbledore. Tom was already eagerly awaiting the day Dumbledore when scroll would show up on his daily pile of clients to visit. It was only when Dumbledore had less than a month to serve that his scroll landed on Tom's desk. He smiled. Just one little thing to add today, he decided giddily. Three hundred years were far too long without torturing the old man.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," he called out when he reached the spot in Hell that was reserved for the previous Headmaster of Hogwarts. "You were found guilty of the following crimes," he began and read the wrongdoings from the scroll in a monotone voice. "They earned you six hundred and nine years of penance. You served six hundred and eight years and eleven month already. But I can see that there is more you need to atone for.

"When you saw how the beast loving Rubeus Hagrid was expelled, you insisted that he may remain as the gamekeeper. But you did not do it out of the goodness of your heart, did you? No, you did it on the mere hope that the half-giant would turn out to be a second Newt Scamander in the making." Tom loved how Dumbledore looked at him full of shock. Regrettably, Dumbledore's thought did not give away if he was shocked at Tom knowing of his true motivation or if Dumbledore was shocked because he never had realised his own motive before today.

"Since it happened in 1940, nineteen plus forty years should be a fitting time. Farewell Hope, and with Hope farewell Fear," he said in parting.

-~-~- AHell of Heaven -~-~-

"Happy six hundred sixty six years of redemption, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," Tom happily greeted the man. "I hope after watching all your misdoings and how they affected the people around you, you still remember the significance of the number 666 in Arithmancy and Muggle occult."

Dumbledore was too weakened by the feelings he'd lived through in the last years to even glare at Tom.

"To celebrate the event, I thought I would mention a certain event connected to the love of your life. But first the legal formalities..." And as usual his scroll, that was getting longer which each visit, was read out.

There were so many thing connected to Gellert that Dumbledore did not know what Tom would accuse him of today. The crime Tom brought forth surprised him thought. He'd never thought of it like that. He'd truthfully only had done it because of the blood wards when he placed Harry with the Dursleys. In retrospect, he should consider himself lucky that what he was accused of now never happened.

"One hundred and thirty five years for purposefully sending Harry Potter to live with his magic hating and abusive aunt and uncle in that hope to make Potter an Obscurial, whose powers you wanted to harness in order to defeat me. Or maybe just because you're a power hungry bastard who liked his beloved Gellert wanted an Obscurial as his personal pet."

The next one hundred and thirty five years were the worst so far. Seeing and later feeling first hand what Harry had gone through during his childhood was heart breaking.

-~-~- AHell of Heaven -~-~-

AN2: I rather not make any guesses on when the next part will be updated, but hope that you enjoyed this new drabble anyway. And don't forget to leave a review with any crimes I may have missed from the years 1-3.