Edit #1: 10/15/19

Chapter 1: The Path Diverges

On the night of October 31, 1981, The U.K. and Ireland were in celebration. Well, half of the country was celebrating. The magical half. For you see the Dark Lord Voldemort, the evilest and most powerful dark wizard for the last five centuries, had been defeated. The war was over.

You might think that some super-powerful battle mage had descended from heaven to end the blight upon magical Briton. Wrong. It was a fifteen-month-old boy. Hadrian James Potter. Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. The single known person to ever survive the killing curse, Avada Kedavra. He, out of all the powerful witches and wizards of the generation who had fallen to Voldemort, he out of all them had survived where everyone else had died. He was famous. He was the Boy-Who-LIved.

In most parallel worlds to this one, little Harry was the last Potter left and was taken straight from the wreckage to his muggle relatives, the Dursleys.

But in this world, a unique set of events happened that made this reality possible. Starting with the survival of Lord Charlus Fleamont Potter and Lady Dorea Druella Potter nee Black. The parents of James Charlus Potter and the grandparents of Hadrian James Potter. The survival of these two key individuals sent the world into an out of control spiral down a very different path.

Hogwarts

Headmaster's Office:

While the rest of the country was in uproarious celebration, Albus Dumbledore was not having a good night. Because he had cast the Fidelius Charm on the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow, he automatically felt when Peter Pettigrew gave the Potter's secret away. It was but the work of a thought (literally) to find out what he already knew. Pettigrew had given the secret to Lord Voldemort. All according to plan.

Really, he was a master Legilimens. He knew the moment that Peter joined that he was thinking of becoming a spy. He was, after all, a rather weak wizard who had had to befriend stronger, smarter, and cleverer wizards just to pass in school. Straight out of Hogwarts he joined the Order of the Phoenix with his 'friends.' Two years later a brief glance at his surface thoughts showed that he had joined Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

But this went according to his plans. Lily and James were married with a kid on the way along with Frank and Alice. Both of the couples fulfilled the prophecy he had been given 2 months ago. The same prophecy that he leaked to Voldemort with the help of a bar, a Death Eater, and the use of the Imperius curse.

But that was a story for another time.

If all went according to plan, which it would, Tom would kill both the babies and their parents, ending two very old pureblood lines in the process. After that Tom would realize what he had done and he would repent. With his help, Tom could restore his old body and he could train him up to be the next leader of the Light. His conscience would be clear, Tom would lead the wizarding world into a golden age, and he, Albus Dumbledore, would go down in history as the greatest wizard of all time.

And then, problems happened. As it turns out Lily Fucking Potter was a practitioner of blood magic. She was even better at blood magic then she was at potions and charms (of which she had mastery level in both.)

As an Unspeakable for the Ministry of Magic, she had access to as many books on as many subjects as the Ministry was aware of.

Apparently, before Tom attacked them, she had done a blood magic ritual on Harry, with the help of James (who had a good understanding of blood magic because of his wife and mother), and together they're blood in Harry, along with their sacrifices so that he could survive, made the killing curse, the Mordred-fucking-damned killing curse, rebound of Harry and hit Tom. Destroying his body in the process. Good thing Tom had Horcruxes in place to ensure his survival. That, coupled with the fact that Harry wasn't dead, proved to Dumbledore that Tom wasn't dead and the prophecy was still on.

Thinking quickly he left the house, had Hagrid go and get Harry, and bring him back to him. He would put the boy with his magic hating aunt and uncle. Ten years of constant abuse would make him meek and malleable. Perfect for Dumbledore to mold into a future martyr for the Light.

For something thought up on the spot, it was a rather foolproof plan. He would get Sirius sent to Askanan, kill Pettigrew, and get Lupin to travel with some loyalty potions and compulsion charms keyed to himself. He would bind Harry's already impressive magic to something slightly below average. And weave some long-term compulsions in the wards to make sure he grew up abused and friendless. By the time he got his Hogwarts letter, he would be practically begging for a savior. And he, Albus Perceval Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, would be that savior. He would have Hagrid get the boy, alienate him to the Slytherins, make him loyal to Dumbledore, and cast a compulsion to have him forget to mention how to get on to the platform. Then he'd have the Weasleys help him on the platform. The youngest boy, Ronald, would befriend him on the train. Over the years Molly could feed him loyalty potions to the Weasleys and himself. When they got old enough he'd have Harry impregnate their newborn daughter, Ginerva, and have the next generation of Potters loyal to him and only him. It was perfect.

But he left one important thing out of his delusional plan for mass genocide just to appease his consciousness. He forgot about the boy's grandparents.

Lord Charlus Fleamont Potter and Lady Dorea Druella Potter née Black were the most powerful couple in Britain. They, along with ten others, formed the Old Guard. The Old Guard were the 12 original people who took the fight to Voldemort. All of them had fought in the war with Grindlewald. All of them had made names for themselves because of their superb dueling skills. Together Dorea and Charlus fought Voldemort, 2 on 1, in a fight that would go down in history as one of the few times that Voldemort was beaten. While the ten other members of the Old Guard had engaged his forces Lord and Lady Potter had faced off against the Dark Lord. Charlus was Head Auror while Dorea had been Chief Unspeakable. That, combined with their respective family magicks, made both of them very powerful opponents. Together, the married couple was almost unstoppable. Their years of fighting in unison had made up for all the dark rituals that Voldemort had performed upon himself. Fifteen minutes later the Dark Lord was on the run from the two forces of nature that were the Potters. Five minutes after that the weary forces of the death eaters limped back to their base. Broken, beaten, and demoralized.

After that Voldemort got a lot smarter about his war. They started recruiting heavily. And soon after that, the mass killings began. Throughout the course of the war, all of the members of the Old Guard were killed except for Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody and the Potter's. So when Hagrid walked into Dumbledore's office with the same couple who were able to defeat the only man in Magical Briton who had the same general power level as him. A couple who had plenty of reasons to hate him. Well, to say that he was slightly panicking would be like saying Voldemort was a little deranged.

Why why why why why had Hagrid let them follow him to Hogwarts. Although, that would explain how they got here so quickly, seeing as they could just apparate them to Hogsmeade instead of Hagrid having to make his own way.

The moment he had sensed their presence entering the proximity wards around his office he put on his best "grandfatherly" air possible.

After taking Harry and dismissing Hagrid he looked to the grieving couple. "Ah, Charlus my boy! What can I do for you tonight?" he asked all smiles and twinkly eyes. Charlus it turns out, was not impressed. "That's Lord Potter to you Albus or have you forgotten your manners when ensuring the death of my son and daughter in law and KIDNAPPING MY GRANDSON!" roared the grieving father while said grandson lay in a conjured crib on the headmaster's desk. Blissfully oblivious to it all.

The headmaster put on a sad frown while internally panicking as his plan started falling to pieces. "Now Charlus you know it was never my intent to get Lily and James killed. I only thought that they'd be safer behind some strong wards that could-"

"And why," calmly interrupted the woman in the room, "would they be safe behind some basic excuses for wards that you erected to hide them and not behind the ancient wards of Potter castle? Tell me, Albus, why would you take them to some remote location that none of us could get to instead of leaving them at the Potter ancestral home?" There was silence. "Dorea you know I only did what I thought was best for them. Everything I work to do it for the greater good and I would never wish harm upon-" she interrupted him again. "Whether or not you wished harm upon them it was still your actions that led to their deaths. And while I'm reserving judgment upon whether or not to blame you for the orphaning of my grandson, if we let you continue said actions you would have him grow up in the home of magic hating muggles."

"Petunia is Lily's sister. Harry is her blood. If you're worried about not seeing him I'm sure that we could work something out. He is her nephew, I'm sure that she would love to take Harry in. especially if we tell her she'd be honoring Lily's memory"

"Don't even try with me Headmaster," she seethed saying his name as if it were an insult. "Petunia Dursley nee Evans is the most jealous, bitter, vindictive bitch of muggle I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. Because Lily had magic and she didn't she turned bitter and jealous about anything magical. Saying we're all freaks and whatnot. She has pushed her view of 'normal' on her husband in a way that he turns violent about anything that's not remotely average. If you send Harry there at the first sign of accidental magic they'll kill him. If you send him there he'll like as not grow up abused and friendless. And I know you know thisAlbus. So don't even try that with me." There was more silence after that.

With a long, very fake, weary sigh Dumbledore, still panicking while trying to salvage his plan, took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and turned a sad and slightly pleading look to the Black turned Potter. "Dorea everything I do is for the greater good. I implore you to understand that I only wish what's best for Harry. He'll be safe behind powerful blood wards that will protect him and the inhabitants of the house from any magical being that wishes him harm. You can't get these wards anywhere else and-"

''You forget, Albus, that Dorea has a masters in blood magic," Charlus, who had been content until then to let Dorea cut Albus down with her words.

Magical masters were different from their muggle counterparts in that while muggle masters degrees took 1.5 to 2 years to complete magical masters degrees could take anywhere from double to six times that amount of time. Magical masters were also different in the fact that not only your teacher but magic itself had to approve your graduation. It was only approved if magic decided that you were ready. Once you got an approved magical masters in a branch your power and ability to use that branch of magic skyrocketed. Depending on which branch you were attempting to gain a masters in depended on how the graduation ritual was chosen. For a history of magic mastery, there was a specially prepared paper test. For her blood magic graduation ritual, Dorea had done a ritual that made any of her descendants slightly stronger on Potter properties. It had the adverse ritual cost of making her slightly weaker while on all Potter and Black properties, but it was a small price to pay to give future generations of Potters "home turf" advantage.

"Before they went into hiding," Charlus continued letting Dorea recover from word shredding him. "Both Lily and James performed the blood magic ritual together so that it could work completely for both of them. We could easily tie the blood magic into the wards of Potter castle making them forever stronger and Harry even safer. Besides, you said it would protect Harry from any magical beings that wish him harm. What of the muggles within. The same aforementioned muggles who hate anything unlike them with an insane fervor."

"Charlus," Albus pleaded his attempt to salvage his plans quickly failing, " you know that I just want what's best for Har-"

"You know Albus," Dorea said with a drawl, "it seems that you would want to let Harry grow up with abusive Muggles. Like you would want a child to go through ten years of constant abuse." She turned her piercing black eyes, the same eyes as all members of house Black, that were currently tracing the grains of wood on the desk, towards Dumbledore. "I hope you wouldn't want that for our heir?"

Shit.

In just one conversation they had figured it out. The entire fucking plan.

Both the Potters and the Blacks were some of the oldest families in Britain. Both houses trained their children from the age of five up both occlumency and politics. While around ⅔ of Potters were Gryffindors, the rest were scattered amongst the other houses, all of the Blacks were in Slytherin meaning that their school years were nothing but politics. After Hogwarts, most Blacks got into politics further sharpening the metaphorical blade that was their political understanding.

While most of the Potters were Gryffindors, they, being a Most Ancient and Noble House, were no slouches in the political arena. They didn't have the same influence as the Blacks, but when they wanted something to happen, it happened.

So that she had figured out at least some of the plan whilst engaging him in conversation, flustered and panicked or no, was not too too much of a stretch. Still very bad, but not unimaginable.

Charlus, who had also figured out at least some of the plan, fingered the desk idly then said in a conversational tone, "You know dear?"

"Yes honey?" she replied in the same conversational tone of voice that sent the old man's 'oh shit' detector into haywire. "I seem to recall Lily and James mentioning some sort of prophecy. About Harry or the Longbottom heir, Neville, possibly having the, what was it oh yeah, power to defeat the Dark Lord."

You could hear a pin drop in the office.

"Oh yes, dear. When Lily told us we immediately went down to the Department of Mysteries that day to find said prophecy. I remember telling little Harry to pick it up. All we had to tell him was that we would buy him a new broom if he did."

Dumbledore who's panicking, which had been slowly dying down, rose in crescendo. This. Was. BAD. Like, WORST MERLIN DAMNED CASE SCENARIO bad. Not only would the boy grow up loved and aware of his fame. He would grow up aware of his destiny! If he did this then he wouldn't become a martyr for the light! He wouldn't die for the prophecy! TOM COULDN'T BE REDEEMED!

Albus, unaware that his grandfather facade was replaced with a horror-stricken expression, tried outright begging over custody of the sleeping toddler on the desk between them. "Charlus, Dorea, please! I'm begging you. This boy needs to go live with his muggle family! It's for the greater-" But he was cut off with a roar of fury that came from Charlus. "I'm warning you, Albus, if you say another word, another goddamn word, I'm going to ruin you and you're gods damn 'Greater Good,' he ended with a sneer. "I might not currently know how, but I will ruin you. Mark my words, if you don't stay out of my grandson's life than you will regret it." And with that said from Charlus, gave a final parting glare while Dorea picked up a stirring Harry and swept out of the office, taking all of the hopes and dreams of Avalon's Light Lord of Magic with them.

AN: So if this chapter didn't clue you in I WILL be putting HEAPS of bash on Dumbledore and the Light in this story. This will be a Grey Haphne (as in Harry x Daphne) Fanfiction.

I will be explaining the magical regions, Lords of Magic, and magical degrees in more depth in later chapters.

And, bad news, Charlie and Dora won't be around for too long. You better get all your love in now, before it's too late.

Read and Review. They give me the motivation to carry on. Thank you!