Hello all! Long time no see! [It's been a little over a year… but I'm back! Yay!]

Anyway, I wrote this in about half an hour in the middle of the night last night, so I'm sorry for any mistakes; I'm impatient and wanted it posted. It's the first thing I've done in 2nd person, but it didn't really fit in 3rd. ["You" refers to Dumbledore, if anyone can't tell]

[*]

Tom reminds you of Gellert, and that terrifies you. You know you have to stop the boy; Gellert's power is already growing, and you just can't have two of them, so you put him down at every opportunity, and why can't the others see? Why do they think he's charming –can't they see that he's manipulating them all?

But you can see, you can tell. So you turn him away when he asks for the Defense position. You know you can't allow him any power.

And many years later, you realize that it's your fault he turned out the way he did. You created him. Maybe if you had just allowed him that job, he would have been satisfied with his life; maybe he wouldn't have killed all those people.

The rise of this Dark Lord is just as much your fault as was the rise of the last.

[*]

Severus reminds you of Tom. Even as an eleven year old, he is already bitter. But he has potential, and ambition. If only he hadn't been sorted into Slytherin.

There's less you're able to do about Severus. But you're there in the background. You smile when the Marauders prank him, and when he still befriends that redheaded muggleborn girl. You can tell he's in love with her, and so you think it will all turn out all right. He would never betray his best friend to follow Tom.

But then, he's not friends with her anymore, and he called her that awful name, and you're pretty sure that he's already following Tom, and you were too late.

Finally, though, Severus comes back to you. He pleads your forgiveness, because he doesn't know where else to go and it seems that perhaps he still loves that redheaded muggleborn girl.

And now, maybe it worked out even better than you had planned, because now you have a spy in Tom's ranks, and Severus isn't all that much like Tom anyway. Or Gellert.

[*]

Harry's not going to turn out like Severus. Or like Tom. And most definitely not like Gellert.

Because you understand now, what went wrong. All those boys wanted was a family, was acceptance. If only you had realized this before! Think of what you could have had! So you give Harry Hagrid, and the Weaselys, and that muggleborn girl befriending him certainly didn't hurt.

But just to be safe, you make sure the Harry doesn't get sorted into Slytherin. Of course, the Hat will not listen to your advice, but that is unnecessary; Hagrid and the Weaselys –they understand that those who come out of Slytherin are not to be trusted.

You realize, somewhere along the way, that Harry might have turned out much differently if you weren't the headmaster, and perhaps he would have been happier. But it was a necessary sacrifice, because what might have happened if you hadn't interfered! Harry was much too like Tom. It was for the greater good.

But you force yourself not to think of Gellert when you say that.

It pains you sometimes, to watch Harry. You're so proud of him; truly you wish he didn't have to die.

You smile when you see the flash of green hurtling towards your heart. You won. You beat Gellert.

So what if you ruined the lives of three innocent boys?

[*]

I love Dumbledore, and he really is a fantastic character, but he's still a manipulative old goat. The whole thing with Grindelwald really hurt him, I think. I don't think he meant to love Harry, because he was a tool, but Harry's just too lovable.