Desperate Measures

Albus came back to the Castle expecting to hear Harry was once again chasing after his so-called friends trying to earn their forgiveness and be re-accepted as their friend. Something he knew his children wouldn't grant until he told them to do so. He had them well trained and had no illusions about their reasoning for doing his bidding.

They were being well paid to lead Harry around by the nose for him and demolishing the boy's reputation behind his back. It didn't occur to him that this was no longer true. The children had come to him complaining about their keys being recalled and not being able to get new ones, but with his own money issues he'd completely forgot they were no longer being paid at all. And children were notoriously fickle creatures.

It was his plan to have the trio withhold their friendship until November before graciously accepting Harry's overtures. Two months of begging should make the brat nice and humble for him and his children of choice.

It should also sour all the other children on the idea of becoming one of his friends while at the same time making them want to be friends with his children. He wanted the students to see his trio as the better kids to know and be accepted by.

This was one way of doing that. Even though Harry would always be more famous than they ever would be, they would be the ones the children thought more positively towards when they left school behind for the wide world. They would be the children others remembered as the popular kids. Who's names and faces everyone knew by sight. The other children would soon forget they'd attended school with Harry Potter.

Which would set things up nicely for the day when Albus finally sent Harry face to face with Tom for the last time. Harry would kill Tom for him and then die by the wounds Tom had given him. By that time, Albus planned to have Harry so set apart from normal society, no one would truly care that he didn't survive the confrontation so long as his main supporters did.

Harry's time on this earth, which was coming to a quick end in just a few more short years, would fade into myths and legends just as all good temporary heroes do. In time, people would forget he'd ever lived at all. He'd become as much of a myth as King Arthur though not nearly as popular.

While he, Albus, lived on writing himself into the annuals of history for far greater deeds. Centuries after his passing, which was guaranteed now that he'd lost Nicolas' Stone of Immortality, people would know Albus Dumbledore truly had walked the earth at one time. This time Merlin would be more remembered and beloved than Arthur.

It never occurred to him that without the Philosopher's Stone, he could die before Harry graduated. Or before his plans came to fruition. After all, every time Harry and Tom had met to date Harry had walked away while Tom usually didn't fare nearly as well. And he was already quite elderly no matter who's calendar you were using.

But for Albus, all he knew was that while his plan did mean he'd have to share the spotlight with the three teens, that was acceptable because they were nothing special. He'd easily be able to outshine them. There was nothing extraordinary about them as there was with Harry. Harry just seemed to attract people to him wherever he went. Albus had noticed that as soon as he'd shown up here in the Castle.

That first year had been a nightmare for Albus as all the children had seemed to want to do better; be better when Harry looked at them or spoke to them. And if he smiled at them, the children walked about on cloud nine, as the muggles say.

He could do no wrong as far as the children were concerned. And the staff wasn't much better. He'd had to really hit his teachers with some powerful spellwork to get them to comply with his wishes for the brat. Even so, it hadn't really taken hold until the brat's second year.

Not even the now infamous detention he'd conned Minerva into giving him had worked out the way he'd hoped. The brat had been rescued by a centaur and the children had been furious over it. Not furious he'd been saved by Firenze or that he'd been caught breaking the rules and gotten punished.

No, they'd been furious with him and the teachers for the punishment he and the other caught children were given. They were furious he'd been sent into the forest so late at night improperly chaperoned to hunt down what was killing the unicorns.

And power. The boy had more power than he knew what to do with. Which only made even older people flock to his side. How they even learned of the brat's power he didn't for the life of him know or understand. But they did and they all believed he was something special because of it.

It was one thing for the children his age to think he was something special. But when even adults thought it, Albus knew he had a problem. His own popularity was dying day by day as word of Harry's deeds spread from the children to their parents and guardians and from them to their friends and neighbors. Soon people would forget all about Albus and only see the brat.

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