Hogwarts: Era of Darkness

"The bastards!"

With a loud shout, Lockhart almost fell through the door to the dining room, scaring our two new house elves, Winky and Dobby. When we hired them, it turned out the latter was once in the Malfoy household, but when it fell apart, he got sent to Hogwarts. With all the commotion happening later, many elves were in a kind of limbo, undecided about where they would end up eventually. Luckily for us, both were grateful to be given a home and to stay with us. The former was happy because she seemingly relished the idea of finally serving a wizarding family once again. The latter, on the other hand, after hearing my name, was surprisingly adamant about coming with Winky and constantly going on about working for the one who killed his evil Master. Huh...

"What's wrong?" I chuckled, biting into my sandwich. "Don't scare poor Winky!"

"Ah, sorry, sorry!" He smiled at her hurriedly before shrugging and throwing the current issue of the Daily Prophet on the table. It had an image of me, with the headline 'The Story of the Youngest Murderer,' highlighted in bold letters.

"You look good on the front page." Quincy chuckled, making the elves tiptoe to take a look at it.

"Master is dashing!" Winky agreed while Dobby was tilting his head, his massive eyes looking questioningly at us.

"Why do people write lies about Young Master? They are horrible!"

"Well, it isn't exactly lies." I answered with a chuckle, picking it up and reading some parts of it. "We did make sure one of the evil teachers, who was just as bad as Lucius Malfoy, disappeared. And I killed your old owner, no?"

"Someone worse than Old Master? That can't be!" Dobby gasped, and thanks to Quincy's quick reflexes, she pulled out the plate from between his fingers. Poor Dobby did have issues, always trying to self-punish when he made a mistake. Or when he thinks he made one. Or when the Malfoys come up and he curses at them. Haaah, I don't want to know what he went through, but the first day was mainly about Winky following him and berating him because she had to clean up the broken plates he had been smashing against his head.

"Yeah. They did get the part right where we used Draco to kill Umbridge. They just didn't nailed the weapon and the exact method."

"Maybe that would be too big news?" Quincy asked, taking the paper and reading it for herself. "Wait, is that me? Did they give me the name of the Blackest of Witches?"

"They think it is a good enough wordplay of your heritage and your black heart." Lockhart snorted, sitting down and taking the coffee from Winky, who was ready to serve him breakfast. "Amateurs. I will publish a counter article! If they want to play it like this, I will bring them down; just watch me, Young Conrad! I will show them how we do it professionally! They are a bunch of amateurs!"

"It's your field of expertise!" I nodded with a chuckle, "I trust your judgment, Professor." Seeing him beam just the same as he did while we were back in school, I was no longer annoyed. Instead, I genuinely looked at him as a proper friend by now.

"What about the books?" Quincy asked, making him take a sip before answering.

"They are coming along. The first volume will be finished by autumn, and I am planning to release it at the start of the new semester. It will summarize my experience in Hogwarts, my meeting with you, and what you did for me and everybody else. It is not long, but it will be impactful, and then we can start writing your recollections! Those will go out before Christmas if all is good, making it the perfect gift. I hope to sell a lot of them!"

"They will attack you for it." Grindelwald spoke up, entering the room like a silent specter popping up from nowhere.

"What are they not using to try and smear us with filth?" I asked with a shrug. "They will do more and more because they are feeling that they are about to fail."

I wasn't bluffing. They were losing their support and fast. For one, Gringotts was back in the goblins' hands. This also meant that our gold supplies were stopped as everything returned to normal, and all the losses were chalked up to Voldemort and his few missing supporters. Of course, I wasn't worried because it was time to start raking in those investments.

Many who escaped were now happy to help us or work for us. Not only did the Quibbler become ours, but multiple different, diverse shops and venues now also belonged to us or worked for us. There was one, the Dragon's Lair, where, for example, I was selling the artifacts that I was creating. I usually sent all the little trinkets that were my finished training exercises to them. The people who manned the shop were old schoolmates, graduates who weren't captured or imprisoned by the Order. As for if someone asked who made them, they wouldn't spill the beans. They even began advertising the shop, and we were making a good profit.

Heck, I thought that maybe I should pass down some of my meager knowledge and train some beginner artificer of my own. Anyway, to fuel both my and Quincy's passion, we also bought up a few suppliers who would trade and gather ingredients for us. Copying what my Father did in the muggles' world, we knew how important it was, so we were spending money wisely, making it self-regenerate, so to speak. Quincy also had her own avenue, which, unlike mine, was wearing her name. Quincy's Remedies. She opened it two days after our public debate in the heart of Diagon Alley, and the people there were also young Hogwarts graduates, mainly from Hufflepuff. With her recipes becoming somewhat famous and with Professor Slughorn's multiple endorsements, business was booming.

With the public perception on our side, they could do nothing much against our shops besides some smear campaign. Or opening competing shops, but so far, the latter has not happened yet. Then, there was the fact that SPEW was also catching up with them. They successfully presented more and more choices for ministry positions and garnered ample followers to start counting their votes. The Order's only chance to come back in the race was if they relented... and made some internal compromises, letting Neville come to the forefront. Only that would draw back people to their side, as he was hailed as a Hero. The boy who ended Voldemort. If anyone asked me... I think they were going to do it. I saw no other route before them. This, in turn, also means that we will have two Ministers of Magic because Neville was repeating it time and time again! I wouldn't mind... I would take two people at the top who I may befriend instead of having one who is antagonistic towards us.

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A few days later, in the Daily Prophet, there was an announcement that the new Wisengamot had been voted in and, in its first year, would contain only 12 members before more matured and joined up with them. Of course, my nomination was thrown out, using my age as the main reason... and I agreed. Publicly. As for the others? Most of the names were not interesting to us, but a few made me smile, knowing we would have multiple pairs of ears inside of the group. The most evident was Professor Slughorn, who made it in, so I expect clicks to form and some decisions to reach his ear at the last moment. But... Then again, two others were selected, and I don't think anyone knew they were also in contact with us. One was from the Abbott family, who received our support to reestablish themselves, while the other was Snape himself. I was surprised he got in there, but he did, and I couldn't be happier.

With that sealed and publicly announced, finally, it was time for what I had been waiting for. They would have no more reason to postpone the trials of the captured 'Death Eaters.' We already began preparing for that trial because I wanted to be there and make sure we free as many of those who we knew. If they don't make the trial public, I will still attend, and if not for any other reason, then it will be because I was there with them at school. I knew them, and they worked with me... And I worked with my Father and Snape. If the latter, as Dumbledore said, was one of the biggest heroes, being an agent for decades and helping them from the inside, then we were accomplices. So... Are we punishing now people who did what the Order asked of them? I wanted to hear Dumbledore's answer to that question, and if everything went well, I may just do so.

If I can provoke him enough to attack me, it would be enough to oust him and start a campaign to draw attention to the wand in his hand. Our goal with Quincy was clear from the start. Dumbledore would be punished, but there is another thing we decided on. The three Hallows have to be destroyed. We tried attacking the stone, but that had no success, and I came to the conclusion that we would need the Elder Wand to blast it apart. As for how we will destroy the wand itself... That is still in development. But I am sure we will come up with something... so it is future me who will need to worry about it.

For now, it was time for me to prepare to try to free some old friends. I will never forget how they helped Quincy and me, and I am here to return the favor.