Under Darkness

Chapter 5: Dumbledore's Secret

A/N: See the awesome manip sandra-sempra made on my Tumblr page crochetawayhpff! Also, drop a line and tell me your thoughts! Posting these all early because I had a few reviews bum me out. Enjoy!

"Tom! Tom!" a voice woke him from a deep sleep. Tom sat up and blearily looked at Harry who was shaking him and going on about people being in the Under.

"There's always people in the Under," Tom replied stupidly.

"No, Tom, listen! Dumbledore's here and Ollivander! And a few others. They say they've been kicked out of the Upper!" Harry explained as he waved his hands to emphasize his point.

"Wait, what?" Tom shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Start from the beginning."

"They just showed up, a few hours ago. Dad took them into the council building. It wasn't many of them, but I recognized Dumbledore and Ollivander."

"Why would they get rid of their wand-maker?" Tom asked almost to himself as he rose from the bed and crossed to the dresser to throw a shirt on.

"No idea. Totally barmy if you ask me," Harry said. "And Dumbledore? Didn't he run Hogwarts?"

"Among other things," Tom replied thinking hard.

Dumbledore also basically ran their government. Everyone knew Cornelius Fudge, current Minister for Magic was a Dumbledore puppet. Had Fudge grown claws and thrown Dumbledore out? He knew that Potter and Black were also high in the shadow government of the Upper. The government behind the actual, legitimate government. Another reason Tom hated the Upper, they were beyond corrupt. They had a legitimate government and then instead of working inside that government, they had people like Dumbledore, Potter, and Black who worked outside the government and were the true leaders. Although, maybe that would make it easier to take them all down? Tom would have to think about it some more.

He followed Harry out of the school and to the council house, where as soon as they entered they heard yelling.

"I've never heard Dad that angry before," Harry whispered to Tom as they walked toward the main boardroom.

"He hates Dumbledore as much as I do," Tom replied. "For good reason. Dumbledore is half the reason the Under and the Upper are still separate."

"Really?"

"Mmm-hmmm, Dumbledore was great friends with Grindelwald. You remember him?"

"Yeah, Grandmum went over him back when we studied history," Harry replied.

"Alright, well, they were friends. Dumbledore is a half-blood, Grindelwald too. Both he and Grindelwald grew up in the Under. Nobody's entirely sure what happened, but they were running some sort of false documents ring. Dumbledore and his whole family made it to the Upper under those documents. Grindelwald didn't. And when Grindelwald went to track Dumbledore down in the Upper, a huge duel broke out between the two of them. Grindelwald lost and was imprisoned in the Upper. Dumbledore was mostly successful at passing himself off as a pureblood. His father was a pureblood, but his mother was a Muggleborn. So he cast his mother back out into the Under. His brother decided he wanted nothing to do with him and also left for the Under. His father was already dead by this time. So there's Dumbledore, sitting pretty in the Upper under false documents. And the rest of the Upper see this huge fight he had and is impressed by his power. He starts out with a seat on the Wizengamot, then as a professor at Hogwarts and his power just increased from there. Now he's Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Headmaster of Hogwarts."

"I had no idea he was a half-blood! So, is it because of him the restrictions between the Under and Upper increased?" Harry asked.

"Yes. After he joined the Wizengamot he campaigned that the Under was a ragtag group of wizarding wannabe's. Not actual wizards. And certainly not powerful enough to become part of the Upper. And his fear-mongering worked," Tom said bitterly.