Sweet as Sin

by orphan_account

Summary:

Albus knew the moment little Lily Evans stepped into the Great Hall as an eleven-year-old. Her blood red hair, her curse green eyes, he'd known the fate of their world was about to be judged.

Weighing the fate of their world and the threat that was Voldemort, Dumbledore knew whatever judgment the Demon Lord came to would be worth the sacrifice he made.

"The power he knows not," Dumbledore sighed. "What else could it be, but the devotion of a Demon Mate?"

"You'll never find paradise, Albus Dumbledore,"
"I don't need paradise," Albus smiled. "I'll pay for my sins as any other would,"

Chapter 1

Albus knew the moment little Lily Evans stepped into the Great Hall as an eleven-year-old. Her blood red hair, her curse green eyes, he'd known the fate of their world was about to be judged. She would give life to a Saviour, a Monster, a god in human flesh or a Demon from hell. Her child would destroy their world, or bring about a new age of peace. Her child would hold the fate of their world in as of yet non-existent hands. He'd studied the prophecies, had read the legends and found the documents and records of time long past. It was always the same. A girl from purely non-magical parents, with hair as red a rose, and eyes as green as death, would birth the one who'd be the judge, jury, and executioner of their fate. 

 

Years later, holding the newborn Harry James Potter, Son of the Potter Clan and Heir to the Black Lordship, Dumbledore knew what he had to do. It was a difficult curse, powerful, with a cost most thought to high to even consider. Weighing the fate of their world and the threat that was Voldemort, Dumbledore knew whatever judgment the Demon Lord came to would be worth the sacrifice he made. He suppressed little Harry's half of the Mate Bond, knowing whichever Demon Harry was destined to would feel the disappearance. 

 

"When the times comes," Dumbledore soothed the wailing infant. "I'll suffer for this decision, but your Mate will be able to take care of Voldemort so you don't have to suffer in this war...I've grown pathic in my old age haven't I?"

 

Dumbledore knew his plan worked when a dark, and very angry presence greeted him in his office. 

 

"What did you do?"

 

Dumbledore didn't fear death, not for himself at least, but fear of the unknown was a human instinct. There was a young man, quite handsome even with the frosty anger glinting in his glowing red eyes.

 

"What needed to be done," Dumbledore said. "As the prophecy indicated Riddle will, should Riddle make the young one a Horcrux, wither on accident or purpose, your union and thus the breaking of my curse will destroy the Horcrux entirely,"

 

"That's not your only reason, is it human?"

 

"The prophecy also said the young one would have a power," Dumbledore admitted.

 

The demon hummed, clearly displeased at being made to wait.

 

"The power he knows not," Dumbledore sighed. "What else could it be, but the devotion of a Demon Mate?"

 

The demon's eyes flashed in warning. Dumbledore sat heavily on his chair.

 

"You'll never find paradise, Albus Dumbledore,"

 

"I don't need paradise," Albus smiled. "I'll pay for my sins as any other would to protect the people from Voldemort, and madmen like him."

 

Alone in his office, Dumbledore sighed. It was going to be a long few years, he thought. Maybe now would be a good time to get his affairs in order. 

 

"Sometimes, I worry that the greater good isn't worth the sacrifices I make," Albus sighed. "But then I remember the children and hope for the best. They deserve a future no matter the costs I must make,"

 

Fawkes' song was a cold comfort, but a comfort nonetheless. 

Chapter 2

 "What did you do Albus?" Minerva asked, dropping a stack of Daily Prophet parchments on his desk. "Mere days after Holloween and already every marked Death Eater has turned up dead, strange things are happening all around the country, and I know you've got something to do with it,"

 

Albus flipped through the stack, recognizing several of the articles with a grimace. Once Voldemort marked Harry as his 'equal', the demon had been tracking the Horcrux energy to the child. The curse Dumbledore used would take advantage of anything it could to keep the demon from finding Harry, which meant things like Horcruxes being destroyed, and Death Eaters killed. 

 

"Everything is fine my dear," Dumbledore sighed. "Voldemort is being taken care of,"

 

"By who?"

 

Dumbledore smiled until his Deputy left in a huff. Looking through the newspapers with a sigh, he wondered how long it would be before the Demon and Harry finally met. How long did they have before the Demon took out every last trace of Tom Riddle/Voldemort and ended up at the Dursley Residence?

 

Harry Potter The-Boy-Who-Live! 

Holloween, 1981. The day Voldemort attacked Godric's hollow and gave the Demon a lead to track his cursed mate. Several hundred Death Eaters were killed that night, mostly unmarked thugs that went unreported. Those thugs lead the Demon to Lucius Malfoy, whose murder highlighted the Prophet on November 1st.

Lord Malfoy Murdered!

Dumbledore found an uncursed diary on his desk when got up that morning, with a note. 'The gates of Paradise will be forever closed to you,'. A few minutes later and Hufflepuff's goblet joined the diary on his desk, with the same note. It hadn't been reported until the day after, to cover up the murders and disappearances of various corrupt Ministry officials. 

Break-in at Gringotts? Or Azkaban Escapee?

All the Death Eaters in Azkaban had been found dead. Sirius Black was the only one left alive, but Dumbledore had been called to the ministry for an emergency trial. Peter Pettigrew was strung up in the reception hall, a Dark Mark branded into his arm. Needless to say, Sirius Black was quickly and quietly released from Azkaban and the incident covered up.

Lord Crabbe Murdered! 

Dumbledore hadn't been keeping up with the Death Eater Murder toll much after that. Sirius' night stay in Azkband hadn't changed him much, and keeping the Lord of House Black from his godson took most of Albus' time. If he let Sirius bring Harry back into the magical world, then the Demon would find Harry before he finished off the Dark Lord. That would have made this entire ordeal pointless.

Lost Hogwarts Artifacts Found! Who did it?

The return of Ravenclaw's diadem and Hufflepuff's cup had distracted the population from the rising murders of 'Upstanding Citizens'. It didn't last more than a day. 

Lord Goyle Murdered! A Serial Killer?

Sir Macnair Murdered!

The Death Eater Killer Strikes Again!

The decision to report one murder a day kept the public from mass hysteria, even though those attacks had been minutes apart at most. By this point, Dumbledore was sure the Ministry had been gutted of Death Eaters, as had Saint Mongus. If there was even a single Death Eater left alive, Dumbledore would be honestly surprised. 

Tornados Rampage through Little Haggleton

Magical Snakes cause havoc in Muggle Zoos

 

Slytherin's locket and the corpse of Riddle's familiar found their way onto his desk last night with a note, 'Your time is up,'. Dumbledore was just waiting for it now. He knew it would happen, the Demon would come for his soul, as promised. The cost for the curse he'd cast on Harry was his soul. He hoped Harry was happy...he hoped he'd made the right choice.

 

"I may never know," Dumbledore sighed. "But that is the price of my sacrifice,"

 

A cold chill. A dark chuckle.

 

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore found Dead!

 

Chapter 3

Petunia was bathing her toddler nephew, the freak crying and struggling to get out of the water when he started to glow. She shrieked. Stumbling to her feet, her back pressed against the bathroom door, shaking in fear as she watched. What was the freak doing? Were baby freak supposed to start glowing? A fog settled over her, a soothing presence that distanced her from her emotions. 

 

You really should take the freak someplace else. What? Where would she take the freak? Far away, Spain, or Italy, or Russia. How would she get the freak there? The couple in house Six are moving to Italy, give them the freak. That's a good idea. 

 

Petunia dressed the freak. Taking the whimpering toddler with her, she left for her neighbor's house. She knocked on the door, a small happy smile on her face.

 

Mia wasn't sure what she expected to happen when she opened the door, but it wasn't Mrs. Dursley handing her a toddler. 

 

"Excuse me?" Mia asked, but Mrs. Dursley wasn't listening. The housewife just smiled at her before turning on her heel and leaving. 

 

"Mother Mary," Mia muttered. "Mrs. Dursley!"

 

Then the baby in her arms started to glow, and Mia's protests died on her tongue.

 

You've always wanted a baby. True, but she couldn't conceive. But you were just given a baby. That's not how adoption works though. You should take your son on a shopping spree. Yes, her son would need clothes, and food and toys...

 

Mia walked inside her house and dragged her husband to the car. After handing him their son, she climbed into the driver's seat and started the car.

 

Henry stared at the little boy in his arms in confused disbelief. 

 

"Where'd you get the baby?"

 

"He's our son Romeo."

 

That wasn't right, Henry thought, eyeing the glowing baby warily. He would've remembered Mia being pregnant. But he's your son, you love him. Yes, Henry smiled. He loved his son. 

 

Henry followed his wife through store after store, buying whatever she said Romeo needed. Then he followed her to the airport, where they got on their flight to Italy a few hours earlier than previously planned. 

 

They spent a week in Italy before they lost Romeo at the park. 

 

Bambie loved her new brother. She introduced the green-eyed boy to her Mama, and then Mama said they would get ice cream after dinner. 

 

"Come on Ardian!" Bambie said. "We're going home to France tomorrow!"

 

The green-eyed and black haired boy found himself traveling all over the world frequently in his life. People he just met would get a dazed look in their eyes before announcing themselves as his family, and carting him to a new country. He went by several names and learned several languages. The older he got the more control he had in where he ended up. If he wanted to visit Brazil, then whoever his new parents were would take him there. Sometimes he didn't have any warning before someone was relocating him halfway around the world. 

 

"Welcome to the test run of the Time Displacer Machine!" Newest Dad said, excitedly showing off the bulky glowing portal. "All you've got to do is walk through it, Okay Ivan?"

 

"Ah sure, Dad." The boy said. "What's it do again?"

 

"It'll send you through time! I've figured out time travel!"

 

Ivan highly doubted that, but if his life was in danger someone would come crashing into the room and kidnap him to safety. Since that wasn't happening, he shrugged and walked through the time portal.

 

Milliseconds later, a red-eyed demon stood over the corpse of yet another human in his way. With a furious snarl, the demon followed his cursed soulmate through the glowing portal. 

Chapter 4

Stepping through the supposed time travel portal, and then falling onto the table of a wealthy couple during dinner wasn't exactly expected, but then the glowing thing happened which he did expect. It always did when he met a potential family.

 

"Hadrian Alexander Jameson Burnett, what do you think you're doing!" The woman in the red evening dress yelled.

 

"Coming to dinner?" Hadrian asked, marveling over the length of his newest name. He's never had two middle names before.

 

"Get off the table this instant! My word, what has gotten into you?" The red haired woman, his new mother, began a lecture on decorum while she led him to his room. Apparently, his newest family were nobility and his commoners' clothes were unbefitting of his rank as his Father's Heir.  Thanks, crazy inventor Dad. A life of rules, and expectations, every child's dream.

Hadrian rolled his eyes, amused at the sarcasm in his own thoughts, as he followed his Mother to a minimally furnished bedroom. One of the maids was already there, dusting and generally keeping the room tidy.

 

"Hadrian, this is Claire, she'll be your maid," Mother said. "I expect you at dinner properly dressed and seated in your proper seat. No more dropping in, wearing such rags, understood?"

 

"Yes Mother," Hadrian said. 

 

The woman looked to see if he was lying, but nodded, satisfied she'd talked sense into him. She left him with the maid, returning to the dinner table to finish her supper with her husband.

 

Hadrian and the maid stared at each other for a minute, before the maid came up with an idea. She left, most likely to find clothes Hadrian could wear to dinner, leaving Hadrian to explore his new bedroom.

 

He had a nice view out of his bedroom window, this must be some sort of townhouse, because Hadrian could see London from a previous era outside his bedroom window. He'd actually traveled back in time. 

 

"I wonder if my knowledge of the future would affect anything..." he mused, if he could invest in businesses he knows will do well...or at least those he knows exist still in then nineteen-hundreds, maybe...well he's not actually sure. Maybe this new Father would teach him business?

 

There was a bed, largest bed he's ever seen, and there was a three-drawer dresser,  and a standing wardrobe, but not much else. Would he be staying long enough to personalize this room? He really hoped he would be.

 

The maid returned, a stack of clothes folded in her hands. 

 

"These were your father's," the maid said. "when he was your age,"

 

Hadrian wasn't sure how old he was exactly. He knew he wasn't eleven yet, because he hadn't received his Hogwarts letter, which he was looking forward to because it would have his first name on it, but his parents usually guessed his age unless he could tell them how old he was first. The last time he'd been able to do that it was because he'd just celebrated his fifth birthday with his previous family, but...he couldn't remember how long ago that was. There'd been so many families between five-years-old and now.

 

He got dressed into the suit, idle chatter with the maid, learned her name was Claire Granger, the suit was like something out of a historical reenactment, but this was going to be his life now, and it wasn't history anymore. It was present day for him now. That was going to take some getting used to.

 

Dressed properly, long sleeved silk shirt, trousers, and a tailcoat, Hadrian left his bedroom to join his parents at dinner. 

Notes:

This note is as much for me as it is for anyone curious

Hadrian is roughly 8-years-old
Ciel is roughly 9-years-old