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The Corruption of Lily Potter	By : jamspectrum1274 Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 93627 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 6
Disclaimer: I do not own anything described in this story. All original works to the Harry Potter franchise belongs to J.K. Rowling. No copywright infringement is intended. I do not make any money off of this, as I am only doing this for fun.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
The Corruption of Lily Potter
Chapter 13
Interlude: Part 1
(Dumbledore)
November 20, 1981-Godric’s Hollow

          The town of Godric’s Hollow has never seen so many people. Scores of witches, wizards, and Muggles the town had never seen before or had rarely visited all arrived early that morning for the funeral of James and Lily Potter. Unfortunately, while the townspeople there all expected to see this many at the Potter’s funeral, there was one who wasn’t there; many who thought would be there to mourn the loss of his parents, Harry James Potter. Of course, they did not know about where the young boy was, nor the type of harsh treatment the Dursleys were giving him. However, there was one who knew exactly where the one-year-old child was and how he was being treated: Albus Dumbledore.
          As the funeral precession circled the town’s main street, many noticed that the Headmaster of Hogwarts was not at the head of it, he was in fact very far behind, watching the mourners as he followed them around the town to the graveyard where James and Lily would be placed in their final resting place. Or, more to the point, the body that Albus Dumbledore himself arranged to take Lily’s place, a deceased Muggle female approximately the same age as Lily who died of a drug overdose not too long before that Halloween night. While there was a slight resemblance to Lily, Dumbledore enchanted one of Lily’s bracelets with a glamour of her and made sure that the dead female wore it so when people came to pay their respects, they saw James and Lily lying peacefully in their coffins, and not James and some person who looked like Lily. The reason for this was that Dumbledore had to pay a price to a man who he personally thought was less than the rat he could transform into, Peter Pettigrew. The price was Lily Potter’s body.
          However, the traitor had his uses, and was a lot smarter than Dumbledore figured him to be, as he managed to frame one of his friends, Sirius Black, with the betrayal of James and Lily to Voldemort, and murdering several Muggles a week after before disappearing entirely from sight. Dumbledore was actually quite pleasantly surprised by Pettigrew’s ingenuity as well as his cruel and malicious nature involving the way he betrayed his friends. Afterwards, no one has seen Pettigrew since, and many believed that he was dead, murdered by Sirius Black. However, Dumbledore knew that Pettigrew was still alive, and here somewhere among the mourners following the funeral carriage to the church. Dumbledore originally suspected that Pettigrew was in his rat form crawling through the gutters underneath the street, but that was until he noticed a glamour form he had created for Pettigrew just for emergencies just moments before the crowd of mourners gathered around and the traitor had disappeared from Dumbledore’s sight.
          Now, as the carriage stopped in front of the church and the coffins were carried into the church followed by the mourners, Dumbledore once again saw the glamour form of Pettigrew emerge from the crowd and walked towards Dumbledore. The form, which looked like a tall, athletic tan man with long, blonde hair, waited until the mourners all entered the church before joining Dumbledore at the bottom of the stone steps. When the last mourner entered the church, Dumbledore turned and walked to the side of the church with Pettigrew following.
          “Why are you here, Wormtail?” Dumbledore stopped in front of the entrance of the small graveyard and asked, not even bothering to look at him. “If Remus even suspects you are still alive, you’ll be risking everything.”
          “You said that the Dark Lord would succeed, and that the boy would die that night.” Pettigrew said to the headmaster. “What was your plan, Dumbledore? To lead my master into a trap, so the boy could kill him?”
          “Don’t be absurd, Wormtail.” Dumbledore frowned, looking at the two freshly dug holes in the back of the graveyard. “I was the one who convinced James and Lily to trust you to be their Secret Keeper, so that way Voldemort’s spy could betray his friends to him and he could kill them and the boy who was prophesized to defeat him.”
          “What about Longbottom?” Pettigrew asked, looking at the elderly man with slight disgust. “I thought you had taken care of that situation as well.”
          Dumbledore took a few moments before answering, as he did see Alice Longbottom among the mourners alone with no sign of her mother-in-law or her one-year-old son, Neville. With most of the Death Eaters dead, imprisoned, or hiding in plain sight, Alice decided to take time to mourn her friend Lily and her husband. Although, while the Death Eater attack on the Longbottom family failed, the scars were there as Frank Longbottom did not survive and there were indications that Alice had been suffering some effects of a Cruiciatus curse. The funeral for Frank was two weeks ago and was much less private than the one they were having for James and Lily. Fortunately, no one suspected that Dumbledore had a hand with leading the Lestranges and their group to the Longbottoms, leading to Frank’s suspicious death and their family going deeper into hiding.
          “I’m a patient man, so I am content with waiting until Neville comes to Hogwarts.” Dumbledore finally answered. “You or the Dark Lord will not have to worry about him or Potter for much longer. You do not need to know the details of what I’m planning Wormtail. All you need to do at the moment is hide where I told you to hide. Now go, Wormtail. We have nothing more to discuss.”
          Pettigrew looked like he was about to respond, but at that moment, he froze as he opened his mouth. In fact, the entire area around Dumbledore and Pettigrew stopped moving, with the exception of one figure from a few feet away. The figure was in fact Albus Dumbledore, ten years older than the Dumbledore who was talking to Pettigrew, as his beard was significantly larger than his frozen counterpart, and one or two wrinkle lines had been added since the memory of this event. Dumbledore took a few steps forward and looked at the glamour form of Pettigrew and audibly scoffed at the traitor, and what bought his loyalty. In truth, he never thought much of Pettigrew, as the traitor was not very powerful. Even the fact that he became an Animagus was surprising to Dumbledore. However, Pettigrew was still useful, even now knowing that Lily Potter had been bonded to her son, as he hid in plain sight from both her and Harry while they were all here, and helped keep tabs on Harry and Lily in places where Dumbledore couldn’t see in Hogwarts. That didn’t mean that he enjoyed working with the rat, but Pettigrew was a useful tool that Dumbledore could still use.
          Dumbledore waved his hand from left to right, and the memory he was reliving fast-forward several hours as Pettigrew quickly disappeared, and Dumbledore now saw a crowd of mourners dispersing as with the younger, well slightly younger version of himself, shaking the hand of a tearful Alice Longbottom, comforting her as they stood in front of the graves of James and Lily Potter.
          “I had to come, Professor.” Alice cried as she held Dumbledore’s hand and looking at the tombstones of James and Lily. “Lily would have done the same for me. No matter the danger.”
          “I understand, Alice.” Dumbledore said gently as he did his best to comfort the woman. “You should think about Neville, though. You are going to be raising him all alone, after all.”
          “Augusta is looking after him while I recover.” She told him. “And she insisted that I should live with her to help raise Neville. However, I’m glad that I ran into you, Professor Dumbledore, as I recently discovered something odd.”
          “Oh, and what might that be?” Dumbledore asked, wondering what Alice had discovered.
          “Back in September, Frank took a trip for what he told me was for Ministry business.” Alice let go of Dumbledore’s hand and told him. “He wouldn’t tell me what it was, but I know that James went with him. He was gone for almost two weeks before coming back with a somewhat satisfied grin on his face. I tried asking him about where he went and what he was doing for the Ministry, however, I believe that he was lying to me about that.”
          “And why do you think that, Alice? Auror business for the Ministry can be extremely complicated and thus highly secretive at times.” Dumbledore frowned, as he had wondered about that himself. He did recall that Frank Longbottom and James Potter disappeared around that time and when he confronted them when they returned, both Frank and James refused to tell Dumbledore where they went or what they were up to. He did, however, know that they weren’t on Ministry business, as he had top clearance with all Ministry matters, including all secret missions the Ministry send their Aurors on.
          “Because I found this two weeks ago while going through Frank’s papers.” She responded, pulling out a small piece of half-torn paper and handed it to Dumbledore. Dumbledore looked at it and saw that it was a round-trip plane ticket to America. He frowned at he looked closely at where the plane had specifically taken Frank, and apparently James as well. The destination was listed as San Francisco, California and had no other stops or layovers listed on it. When Dumbledore looked up at Alice, she continued: “The Magical Congress of America is based in New York, and since it is mandatory for all visiting wizards and witches to stop there for at least a day when on official business for the Ministry, I don’t think they went there on Ministry business.”
          “Hmm, I find that to be very interesting.” Dumbledore said looking at the plane ticket. “I don’t seem to recall anyone living in America that would know Frank or James, or any business they would have there. I will look into this as soon as possible, Alice. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”
          The memory froze again as the image slowly faded into darkness, leaving Dumbledore alone in the middle of a dark circle, waving his hand and commanding another memory to replay in front of him.

**********************************************************
A year later-Azkaban Prison

          “Why am I still here, Albus?” Sirius angrily said to Dumbledore, but kept his voice as calm as possible. Sirius didn’t look at the man, as he was glancing through the tiny crack in the wall that served as a window to the outside world. The cell he was imprisoned in was incredibly cramped, with barely enough room for Sirius to stand or to lay down in. As a matter of fact, Dumbledore couldn’t even fit inside of the cell as he simply stood in the cell door looking at the brunette wizard, whose health was slowly waning. However, that did not stop Sirius speaking in a fierce tone. “You know it was Peter who betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort, and it was him who killed all of those Muggles and framing me for it. Why haven’t you found him yet?”
          “There is simply no proof that Pettigrew is even alive, Sirius.” Dumbledore answered calmly. A small smile appeared on Dumbledore’s face at that moment, knowing already just where Pettigrew was, and had successfully convinced everyone on the outside world that Sirius was the one to blame for James’ and Lily’s deaths. However, it was important for Dumbledore that Sirius not know that he was personally involved with Sirius’ imprisonment. “I assure you that while the Ministry has stopped looking in this matter, I have not. You and I are the only two who knew that Pettigrew was James’ and Lily’s Secret Keeper, and thus he was the only one who could’ve betrayed them to Voldemort, but revealing that information to Minister Bagnold has been extremely difficult thus far. Also, she is using her influence in the Ministry to keep you locked in here without a proper trial. However, I am sorry to say that is not why I am here. I have come to ask you something about a trip James took with Frank Longbottom a month prior to their deaths.”
          Sirius turned to face his former headmaster with a more serious look on his face at that point. “I don’t understand, Albus. Why would James and Frank take a trip when their families were in danger?”
          “That is one of the questions I myself have Sirius.” Dumbledore said calmly. “Alice Longbottom informed me of this at James’ and Lily’s funeral. All she knew was that the Ministry had no information about the trip and the destination of the trip was somewhere in America. Somewhere around San Francisco, California to be precise.”
          “California?” Sirius looked puzzled. “Why would Frank and James go there? And wouldn’t the Magical Congress of America know of this visit?”
          “I’m afraid not, as I have talked with Millicent and the current President of MACOA, and neither of them had any knowledge of James Potter or Frank Longbottom having business in America. So, I’m down to my last resort with you and have come to ask you about this.”
          “I’m sorry, Albus, but I have no information about it.” Sirius informed Dumbledore. “I know that I visited the country shortly after I graduated from Hogwarts, but I only visited the eastern part of the country, and only then I wasn’t interested in business at the time, just pleasure.”
          “I see.” Dumbledore sighed, frowning a little more intently. “Well, since no one knows about this secretive trip, I’m afraid that I have no choice but to let the matter drop for now. Be well, Sirius, as I can promise you that I will do whatever I can to find Pettigrew and reveal the truth to all.”
          Sirius smiled weakly and nodded. “Thank you Albus, and I’m sorry that I wasn’t of more help to you.”
          “That’s quite all right, Sirius.” Dumbledore nodded his goodbye as a Dementor appeared and shut the cell door. “Take care of yourself, Sirius. I promise to do all I can to see you free.”
          Sirius smiled weakly and nodded back to the headmaster, trusting Dumbledore completely with his future. He then turned back to the small crack in the wall to once again look out through it. Once Dumbledore knew that Sirius was no longer looking, he allowed himself to smile immensely as he turned and walked away from Sirius’ cell. He didn’t get too far, though, as he turned a corner, he immediately heard the insane laughter of Bellatrix Lestrange. While he tried ignoring the unstable witch, Bellatrix was not someone who could be ignored.
          “Have a good talk with my cousin, Albus?” Bellatrix asked from her prison cell in an almost sing-song manner. Dumbledore kept walking past Bellatrix’s cell as she laughed until she said something that made him stop in his tracks. “I know what you want.”
          “Tell me, Bellatrix, how do you know what I want?” Dumbledore stopped walking but did not turn to face the woman. Bellatrix just laughed at Dumbledore as insanely as before, waiting for Dumbledore to turn to face her. After a moment, Dumbledore turned begrudgingly to face her cell as she waved her arm through the cell door window motioning him closer. He took a step closer, but minded his distance as he knew Bellatrix was not crazy, she only acted as such to serve a purpose. What that purpose was, even Dumbledore did not know, however, he did know she was very intelligent and was very vicious towards any who stood in her way. “If you want my attention, Bellatrix, you have it. Now, tell me how you know what I want.”
          “Oh, no Albus. This information comes with a price.” She smiled through the cell window at him. Dumbledore frowned intently as he knew what she wanted; her freedom. Bellatrix smiled wider at Dumbledore’s realization, and laughed again. “I already know that you’ve been playing both sides, Albus. I know about Wormtail, and I know who lured Rodolphus, Rabastan, Barty Jr. and I to the Longbottom’s location that very night. So, I see no reasons why we can’t be reasonable and come to an arrangement concerning my release.”
          “I can’t very well free you, Bellatrix. You were tried and convicted by the Wizengamot, which I myself oversaw to,” Dumbledore stared at the witch’s face, her slightly frail form smiling at Dumbledore’s displeasure at talking to her. “So what makes you think that I will arrange for your release?”
          “Well, I see that I need to give you a little piece of what I know.” Bellatrix said, letting her smile subside a little. “When we, my husband, his brother, and Barty got to the Longbottom’s hiding place, both Alice and her baby boy had already escaped with Frank covering for their escape. After we defeated and tortured Frank into submission, Rodolphus and Rabastan tried hunting down Alice and her baby while Barty and I had our fun with Frank. However, before I did, I noticed a piece of parchment burning in the fireplace. I didn’t see much, but I did catch a name and part of an address on it. The place was San Dimas, California, U.S.A. For the name, you have to get me out of here.”
          Dumbledore was amazed that Bellatrix managed to obtain and remember something that to many would consider to be unimportant. However, this information was what Dumbledore wanted. So, after a long pause, Dumbledore gave her his answer. “Alright, Bellatrix. If you tell me the name of this individual, I will help you leave here permanently. I give you my word that I will get you out of Azkaban if this name has value to me. Do we have a deal?”
          “Oh, I’m not that gullible, Albus.” Bellatrix stated, gripping the bars that were a part of her cell door. “You need to give me something other than your word before I tell you the name I saw on that parchment.”
          Dumbledore sighed reluctantly and pulled out an old bronze pocket watch from his robes with one hand while grabbing his wand with his other. Then he enchanted the watch with a powerful glamour charm with an image of a brunette female that had a very slight resemblance to Bellatrix. Once he was finished, he handed it to her through the cell bars of her cell door and once Bellatrix took it, she changed into the glamour form Dumbledore enchanted onto the watch.
          “You already know that there is no way that the Wizengamot will grant your release.” Dumbledore explained quietly to her, making sure that others couldn’t here. “However, if you are able to escape without alerting the Dementors, using that watch and a body of somebody that resembles you which I will provide, and stay in the shadows revealing to no one that you are free, then I believe that will more than satisfy what you have asked of me. So, Bellatrix, do we have a deal?”
          “Very well, Albus.” Bellatrix nodded and waved him slightly closer to her cell so he could hear her say the name that she saw on the parchment. Once Dumbledore got close enough for her to whisper, she smiled and said loud enough just for them to hear: “Thaddeus Matthew Prendergast.”

**********************************************************
June 25, 1992-Headmaster’s Office

          Dumbledore emerged from his Pensieve and slowly began to stroke his long, white beard. A glint of anger showed in his eyes as he walked over to his chair and took a seat behind his desk. As he took his seat, he began to mentally curse himself for not realizing that Thaddeus had been protecting Harry and Neville since before that fateful Halloween night. Although Thaddeus didn’t arrive until both boys were seven and that earthquake nearly destroyed Surrey, Dumbledore now suspected that Thaddeus had given James Potter and Frank Longbottom an old, forgotten spell as some sort of last resort. What that spell was, Dumbledore still did not know, but after witnessing young Harry’s actions throughout his first year, especially with his mother, he suspected that the spell was one of the first forbidden spells.
          Dumbledore thought back to that moment in Azkaban Prison where Bellatrix Lestrange told him the name she saw on that parchment the night she tortured Frank Longbottom. Once she told him, Dumbledore had recognized instantly who Thaddeus Matthew Prendergast was; the adopted son of Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel, a noted historian and known spirit-talker, but that was all he knew about Thaddeus. Unfortunately, Dumbledore had never met Thaddeus prior to this year. However, that didn’t mean he didn’t try to figure out why Thaddeus had chosen to get himself involved with both the Potter and Longbottom families, and had somehow moved to England shortly after Harry’s seventh birthday, the very day that Harry caused that devastating earthquake. Now, Thaddeus had somehow convinced both the Ministry and the board of governors to make him the new History of Magic professor here at Hogwarts. He, an American wizard, had managed to insert himself into the oldest wizarding school right at the moment when Dumbledore couldn’t have expected it. What was worse was the fact that Thaddeus had given the Philosopher’s Stone to Harry, in clear sight of the Headmaster of Hogwarts. The reason behind this eluded Dumbledore, however he knew that the decision to do so did not involve Nicholas, as the Alchemist was currently in poor mental health, and barely knew who he was at times.
          Grunting in anger, Dumbledore summoned a bottle of brandy from across the office from his personal liquor cabinet. Pouring himself a large glass of it, he began to turn his thoughts to Harry and Lily Potter, the ones who defeated Voldemort for the second time, very much against what he wanted. His entire plan hinged on Quirrell/Voldemort killing Harry for the Philosopher’s Stone, then killing Neville and Hermione as she had gotten involved, and then after the possessed DADA teacher had accomplished all of that, he would then die by Dumbledore’s hands. However, the boy and his ghost mother had shown themselves to be much more resourceful than either Dumbledore or Voldemort had expected. Of course, Harry had changed Dumbledore’s plans the very moment he entered the castle, and everyone saw the ghost of Lily next to her son anywhere he went inside of Hogwarts. From that point on, Harry had proven to be smarter, stronger, and more versatile than Dumbledore had expected, and that’s not including the eleven-year-old’s sexual activities.
          Taking a sip of his brandy, Dumbledore himself was quite surprised with how the females around the young wizard were reacting around him. Even Minerva McGonagall, his Deputy Headmistress, had given herself to Harry, going as far as actually allowing him to fuck her on her own desk in her office. Much more than that, he suspected that Madam Hooch and Madam Pomfrey also had sex with the young boy. Unfortunately, while he had magical mirrors that were in every classroom and in every professor’s office, and in each common room for all four Houses, he had no direct proof of any of this happening, save for what Minerva had been doing.
          Shaking his head in frustration, Dumbledore place his glass of brandy down and got up and went back over to his Pensieve. He needed to look on the previous last moments of the school year, most notably the meeting he had with Severus Snape.

**********************************************************
Several Weeks Ago-Headmaster’s Office

          “You lied to me, Albus!” Snape slammed the door to the Headmaster’s office angrily. Dumbledore calmly lifted his head from the scores of parchment laid out across his desk and lifted an eyebrow at the clearly enraged Potions master. “How could one of the greatest wizards of our time not know that Quirrell was possessed by the Dark Lord?”
          “There was much I didn’t know, Severus. Voldemort using Professor Quirrell to enter Hogwarts and obtain the Philosopher’s Stone was something I could never have foreseen.” Dumbledore calmly answered. “While it is true that I did sense very dark magic coming from Quirrell, all I had at the time was suspicion that Quirrell might betray the school.”
          “Are you honestly telling me that you had no idea that Quirrell was being controlled by the Dark Lord?” Snape walked over to the Headmaster, enraged at his indifference. “And don’t even get me started on endangering the boy by allowing him and his friends to get past all those protections.”
          “Calm yourself, Severus. One might think that you actually care about the boy.” Dumbledore replied, keeping his calm demeaner. “You should remember that Harry is very much like his father in certain aspects. Most importantly, breaking school rules and wandering the school grounds looking for excitement. As for getting past our protections, the three Gryffindors are very intelligent, and, with Lily Potter helping them, they were perfectly capable to get through all of them, including your protection, I might add.”
          Snape grumbled something incoherently at that point. However, he nodded his agreement to Dumbledore’s explanation. Taking a moment to compose himself, Snape calmed down and asked: “Now with Quirrell gone, you’ll need a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Have you given any thought to who might fill the opening?”
          Dumbledore frowned very slightly as he looked straight into the eyes of his Potions professor. After taking a deep breath, Dumbledore responded: “I’m sorry, Severus, I know that you want the position, but with the Ministry and the school governors wanting to keep an eye on things here for a while, I need to pick someone who won’t cause any problems with them. The wizard who will be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be the famous and legendary Gilderoy Lockhart.”
          Snape took a moment to let that information sink in before his pale face turned a darker shade of red. “GILDEROY LOCKHART?! Are you mad, Albus? He may be famous, but anyone with half-a-brain who’s even met the man can tell you he’s a charlatan. I, myself, find him to be a weak, unintelligent, fraud of a wizard. How can you suggest anyone like him to be a teacher here, much less than our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?”
          “First of all, while many of his conquests are suspect even to me,” Dumbledore explained. “His fame will help keep the Ministry and the school governors from interfering with the education of these young wizards and witches. Also, Lockhart is well known to become the center of attention whenever he walks into a room, and is proven to be a distraction to anyone he’s ever met. Secondly, with Thaddeus Prendergast being appointed by the governors as our History of Magic professor, Lockhart will have the Prendergast’s attention for the first part of the next school year as he will wonder why Lockhart is here. Finally Severus, while Lockhart doesn’t seem to fit the mold as our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, he is in fact a very capable wizard in his own right and intelligent enough to convince others that he’s a perfect choice as our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.”
          Snape grumbled again, unconvinced of Dumbledore’s explanation about Lockhart. However, Snape realized one simple thing: “How are you going to convince Lockhart to become our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?”
          With that, Dumbledore gave Snape a slight smile and said: “He owes me a very large favor.”

**********************************************************
Present time-Headmaster’s Office

          Dumbledore smiled after he exited his Pensieve for the second time as he looked over to his desk and noticed the near finished letter he had written to Lockhart, describing his desire to have the wizard join his staff as the DADA professor. Dumbledore walked over to his desk again and reviewed the letter one last time before signing it and having it delivered to Lockhart’s current home in Paris.

Dear Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart,

          It may be of interest to you that an opening of a teaching position has become available here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I would be extremely honored if you would accept my personal invitation to join my staff as our Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Now, as you already know, Gilderoy, someone of your stature will be a welcome addition seen by many parents and guardians, especially considering your recent published best-seller memoir.
          We have an excellent supply of young witches, and wizards, who will greatly benefit from your years of expertise of dealing with dark creatures far and wide, as well several dark witches and wizards who managed to cross your path over the years. I should add that one of our young students happens to be Harry James Potter, the one who defeated Lord Voldemort, and will be in his second year at Hogwarts. I would also like to mention that he has amassed a fan base himself, much of them young witches as well as a few members of my staff here. I’m quite sure that the two of you will get along famously.
          I will be looking forward to hearing from you soon that you will accept my offer to become the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher here. However, I am aware that you might be extremely busy with your best-seller, and thus you might refuse to accept the position here at Hogwarts. While I do feel that might be the case, I feel that it is important that you come to Hogwarts and help with the education of young witches and wizards. If necessary, you can consider this a repayment of the rather large favor you owe me.

Best Regards,
Albus Dumbledore

          Dumbledore sealed the letter in an envelope and addressed it to Lockhart, knowing full well that Lockhart would most definitely accept the job. While everyone saw Lockhart as a hero to the wizarding world, Dumbledore knew that he was not only a fraud, but a pedophile. In fact, the large favor Lockhart owed Dumbledore concerned Lockhart raping a young princess of a small country and the royal family had wanted Lockhart to die in the slowest and most painful way they could imagine. If it wasn’t for Dumbledore, Lockhart would not have survived and the entire royal family would have had to live with that disgusting memory. Fortunately, both Lockhart and Dumbledore were able to erase the entire memory of the event from the young princess and her family. Shortly after that incident, Lockhart swore himself into Dumbledore’s service and has since been a secret supporter to Dumbledore’s agendas.
          Much like Wormtail, Lockhart had his uses to Dumbledore, as the main reason the pompous wizard took credit for other witches and wizards victories was to make sure that these wizards would not interfere in Dumbledore’s plans. Not that Dumbledore was worried about that actually happening, but using Lockhart to erase their memories and ensure that everyone believed that Lockhart was responsible for those witches and wizards victories was just a small part in what Dumbledore needed for the future.
          Grabbing the letter and placing it inside one of his pockets of his robe, Dumbledore gave a slight smile to his familiar, Fawkes, and said simply: “I’ll be back by tonight, old friend. I have to visit two families with important business; the Malfoys and the Weasleys.”
          Fawkes stayed still, looking at Dumbledore for a moment before the old wizard apparated out of his office, leaving the phoenix alone with a single thought. How much longer do I have to follow that fool.

**********************************************************
Around the same time-Unknown Location

          A sadistic smile was on Bellatrix Lestrange’s face as she was sitting in the living room of a small house long owned by the Black family. However, the house had actually been unlived in for over a century before Bellatrix’s escape from Azkaban and she had chose this place to stay hidden in, as there were only three members of the Black family who even remembered this place existed: Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda. Of course, with Narcissa and Andromeda believing their older sister to have died in Azkaban, neither of them had any reason to search for Bellatrix here. This left Bellatrix safe with no one other than Albus Dumbledore knowing that she was still alive.
          As for Dumbledore, he was true to his word, providing a dead Muggle that resembled her enough to trick the Dementors that allowed her to simply walk out of the prison using her glamour form provided by Dumbledore and his watch. She was pleasantly surprised that Dumbledore had not gone back on his word and betray her to the Ministry like she believed he would. As a matter of fact, the old wizard had not bothered with her since that day she escaped Azkaban prison.
          The reason for her smile was because she was reading the top headline off from her copy of The Daily Prophet. The Prophet was delivered to her under her new identity, Helena Lightfield, so there was no danger of anyone making the connection of her being alive. As for the headline, it read: Harry Potter Saved The Philosopher’s Stone. Her smile widened as she saw a picture of the young wizard standing next to two fellow Gryffindors who she read from the article were Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom. The three children were somewhat smiling in the picture with Harry trying to leave.
          “Well, well. So, this is the boy who is supposed to defeat Lord Voldemort.” Bellatrix said as she stared at the moving picture of Harry Potter. “The one who will take over the Wizarding World.”
          She placed the newspaper down and stood from her chair, licking her lips at the last statement she made. Even though she was still loyal to Lord Voldemort, she always knew that there would be another to take his place, and she would follow whoever did. In truth, she was very much a realist, knowing that the Wizarding World was mainly controlled by men like Dumbledore and Fudge. When she left Hogwarts, there was no hesitation in her when she joined Voldemort’s followers and became a Death Eater. Her arranged marriage to Rodolphus was based on following Voldemort’s orders, even though she didn’t really hate Muggles or Muggleborns. Now, she never loved Rodolphus, nor did she want to be part of the Lestrange family, the only reason she married the man was because her Dark Lord wished it. However, she was not a blind follower, as Voldemort promised her access to dark magic and made her his most trusted Death Eater, virtually his second-in-command. However, all that changed for her when Voldemort was destroyed by a baby, and she was captured and sent to Azkaban for her part in torturing Frank Longbottom.
          Looking out of her living room window, she realized that it was time to put her plan in motion; the plan that will prove Harry Potter will become the new Dark Lord she is destined to follow. If not, then she would enjoy torturing the young boy until there was nothing left of him and his friends. Grabbing the watch that Dumbledore gave her, she transformed into her glamour form and apparated to Diagon Alley, hoping to grab certain items that she will need to test how strong the boy is. She knew that it would take some time before she would be ready, but after all, she waited nearly a decade for this boy to surface into the Wizarding World, so she was perfectly willing to wait a while longer to see if The-Boy-Who-Lived would become her new master.
          After she disappeared, her voice and her laugh echoed into the empty room. “Harry Potter, I’m coming to get you.”

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The Corruption of Lily Potter