A/N: I was reading Young Princes by .Xanda (which you should read) and really liked the idea of a Papa Voldemort so while waiting for them to update I thought I would try my hand at this category. Let me know what you think!

"AAAAHHHHH" the screams of a dark haired man echoed through the stone chamber as his body shook, overcome by blinding pain. The pain was excruciating and he never wanted to experience this again.

Finally, the screams stopped as did the twitching. Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Voldemort, He Who Must Not Be Named, stared at his reflection in the mirror and laughed. The unnaturally pale skin, crimson eyes, and snake-like and nose-less face was gone. In its place was the thick, wavy dark hair, naturally pale skin, and the aristocratic facial features from his early twenties. His dark eyes, however, had instead become a soft burgundy color, no doubt a side effect from the Horcruxes.

His magic sang in his blood, his body felt strong, and his mind was brilliantly clear for the first time in almost 4 decades. For the life of him he couldn't remember why he ever thought splitting his soul into 6 pieces had been a good idea. It was a good thing that he hadn't been able to use the Potter child's death to create a seventh Horcrux. Who knew what utter depths of madness he would have descended to if he had succeeded.

With one last admiring look in the mirror, Lord Voldemort left the ritual chamber he had ensconced himself in and headed towards the throne room. Time to shock his followers with not only his change in appearance and his sanity, but also of the return to the Dark's original goals and tactics.

Lucius Malfoy glanced at his friend and fellow Death Eater, Severus Snape as they waited for the appearance of their Lord. He knew Severus was as confused as he about the reason for their summons and both men had braced themselves for the pain of a Crucio, as well as some suicidal mission.

Which was why both men could be forgiven the lapse in stoicism and manners as they gaped, slack-jawed and flabbergasted as their Lord swept into the room looking not a day over 30, his reptilian features gone, and the eerie crimson eyes had mellowed to a calmer burgundy.

"My, my Lord!" Lucius stammered even as both men dropped to their knees, bowing their heads. Although Severus didn't speak, his wide eyes showed his surprise.

"Rise my Elite. There is no need for you to grovel before me like mindless minions." Voldemort's smooth baritone flowed over them.

The two men quickly rose and found themselves filled with a strange emotion, hope.

"As you can see I have regained the visage of my younger days as well as my sanity. My arrogance and paranoia have set back our cause, but not all is lost." He stated, leaning forward in this throne, chin resting on his fist.

"You mean we are returning to our original goals? There will be no more mindless killings?" Lucius spoke before he could censor himself. Now he cringed, bracing himself for the expected pain of a Crucio.

But it never came.

"Yes, Lucius. We shall go back to the original goals. Killing will most likely be necessary, but there will be none of the mindless violence that has unfortunately characterized our recent efforts. This is why I have summoned the two of you here. I have specific tasks I want each of you to take charge of which will take a lot of effort and planning. It will be slow going, but this will put us on track to achieving our goals with less bloodshed and the so-called Light side won't be able to stop us." Voldemort said, passion and certainty lacing his words.

Despite the shock at their Lord's new appearance, or perhaps because of it, both men felt a renewed loyalty to the Dark, which had been wavering due to the reckless actions of a madman. Looking at each other, the two elite dark wizards were reminded of why they had joined their Lord in the beginning and the change they had hoped to bring about in the Wizarding world.

"What do you need from us?" Severus asked.

"Lucius, your task will be two-fold. First, you will need to find out all of the dirty secrets Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix are hiding. Albus especially, find out about his youth, his defeat of Grindelwald, his actions in the Wizengamot, the International Confederation of Wizards, and his tenure as Hogwarts Headmaster. Then we will start chipping away at his power, first through his actions as Headmaster and then we will go after his political standing until he is nothing more than a pariah!" Lucius' eyes gleamed with the challenge. "Simultaneously, you will work on Cornelius Fudge. Spin it however you like, but we need to get the restrictions on the magical races lightened and then eradicated. We cannot win this without the support of the werewolves, the veela, vampires, and other sentient magical creatures. It would be ideal if we could get the goblin nation on our side before we win, but at the very least this will show that we intend to honor the promises we make. We'll also need to review the current and dormant laws which are still in effect to see what needs updating, modification, or eradication." Voldemort stated mind awhirl with the monumental task ahead of them. "Take as many Death Eaters as you need and divide them among these tasks as you see fit."

Lucius very nearly broke out in song and dance, he was so overwhelmed (in a good way) with possibilities. This was what he had dreamed of working towards when he had first accepted the Dark Mark. A chance to use his political savvy to effect much needed change in the Wizarding World. There was so much that was wrong with their world, but that people pretended to be unaware of. This was his chance to not only make the Wizarding world a better one, but also a chance to be one of the major power holders in their society.

Voldemort quirked his lips almost fondly as he watched his right hand man begin plotting and scheming. Then he shifted his eyes towards his genius of a potions master. "Severus, I will need your assistance with some spell-crafting ideas I have. You will also be working on making modifications to the Wolfsbane potion as well as other potions that will be useful for the magical races. Finally, I have some vague ideas for potions that don't exist yet and you can experiment to your heart's content with them." The Dark Lord smiled at the sudden gleam in the Potion Master's eyes.

"Let's get to work my friends."

The Dark Lord surveyed his Death Eaters from where he was seated in his throne on an elevated dais in Slytherin Manor's Great Hall. There were several tables spread out through the Hall covered with parchment, ink, quills, and books. Various Death Eaters were hovering around each table murmuring quietly to each other, brainstorming on how best to carry out their individual missions. Lucius moved between each table, stopping to listen in, comment, or veto an idea. Severus had claimed one corner of the room simultaneously monitoring an experimental potion while sketching runes on the floor for one of his and the Dark Lord's ideas on bypass anti-Apparition wards.

Voldemort allowed himself a small quirk of the lips as he realized things were finally progressing the way he had always wanted. Although he had done extensive research into the Dark Arts following his Hogwarts graduation, he had always wanted to teach at Hogwarts. He enjoyed teaching and working with the younger students and would have happily remained involved with the school. But of course that plan was thwarted by Albus Dumbledore who had become Headmaster of Hogwarts. Dumbledore who had never liked and trusted Tom from the moment he found out about his Parselmouth status. Sometimes, late at night, Voldemort wondered what his life would have been like had Dumbledore taken Tom's complaints seriously, if he had for one moment believed in Tom.

Alas, Dumbldedore flat out rejected his application as Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor and instead Tom went to Plan B – politics and the reformation of the Wizarding World. He was not so naïve as to think that he could immediately change the things worked, but he knew there was a lot that needed to happen and wanted to take an active role in effecting that change. But, Dumbledore had also stepped in here to blacklist him from the Ministry and had all but forced Tom into becoming the Dark Lord Voldemort.

Voldemort shifted slightly in his throne before resuming his thoughts. He had never regretted becoming a Dark Lord and taking the violent way to effect change, but Dumbledore had interfered again, raising the Order of the Phoenix to counter his Death Eaters. Dumbledore, who believed so strongly in the good of Light Magic and the evil of Dark Magic, who believed in eradicating out dated Pureblood culture and forcing Muggle traditions on the Wizarding World. Dumbledore truly believed that it was a good idea to bring both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds back into contact the way it was before the time of the Founders.

The only thing that Voldemort truly regretted was breaking up his soul into multiple Horcruxes. His original intention had been to make two – one for an anchor and the second as a backup in case something happened to the first one. But somewhere along the way between Dumbledore's constant attacks and his own fear of death he had lost his way and formed more than the original two Horcruxes causing him to slowly slide into insanity and unnecessary violence and moving further and further from his original goals.

It had only been just recently with that fiasco in the Ministry of Magic that he was able to regain some semblance of control. His brief possession of Harry Potter had made him realize that the boy was actually a Horcrux. A Horcrux!

The realization that his prophecized enemy was a container for his Horcrux shocked him enough to push past the cloud of insanity to realize that Dumbledore knew for sure about his Horcruxes. He had probably already suspected before this, but with Harry Potter's curse scar Dumbledore would have had proof of what Voldemort had done to insure his immortality. This knowledge was what drove Voldemort to recall his inanimate Horcruxes – the Diadem, the Locket, the Ring, and the Cup – and reabsorb them resulting in his current state. He had planned to leave the Diary and Nagini as his only anchors and then reabsorb the Horcrux in Potter when he next encountered him. However, the discovery of the destruction of his Diary had enraged him and earned Lucius a session under the Crucio, but he didn't kill the blonde for it as he might have done if he had not reabsorbed the other Horcruxes. After some intensive research and experimentation, he had determined that the loss of one Horcrux would not have undue side effects, but he resolved to guard Nagini fiercely. He also had to determine what to do about Potter.

An inanimate Horcrux could be reabsorbed with minimal damage to the container, but there was nothing written about what would happen if he tried to remove a Horcrux from a living vessel. Voldemort frowned at this. He supposed he could just kidnap the boy and transfer the Horcrux to an inanimate container, but what would that do to the boy? And did he care?

Potter was magically strong as evidenced by their numerous encounters over the past 5 years. He also carried several old bloodlines if the rumors of the Potters being descended from Gryffindor and Peverell were true and he was quite possibly the heir to House Black. Not to mention that the boy was unafraid to defy him when grown men couldn't even speak his name.

Was it possible to recruit Potter to his side? Or at the very least get the boy to swear a Neutrality oath? Voldemort hummed softly to himself as he considered this. The boy's own stubbornness and hero complex would be obstacles as was his having murdered Potter's family. He would have to give this more thought – perhaps the boy could be convinced now that he was in his rational mind again and if he could explain his original goals? He couldn't replace the boy's parents, but perhaps there was something else he could offer the boy? Voldemort sighed – this would not be an easy task. However, since Dumbledore had yet to do anything about the Horcrux he assumed the wily Headmaster would wait until all of his other Horcruxes were destroyed before attempting to do something about the one in Potter's scar.

Voldemort paused mid-thought. The only ways to destroy a Horcrux, at least that he had been able to discover, were through Fiendfyre and basilisk's venom. Fiendfyre was incredibly difficult spell to cast and control and a basilisk's venom was extremely rare. So how did Dumbledore plan on destroying the Horcrux without harming his Chosen One? The Killing Curse could kill Potter, but what would it destroy the Horcrux as well? Or would the newly severed Horcrux latch on to the closest inanimate object?

Voldemort straightened in his throne abruptly. No. That was absurd. There was no way the Leader of the Light would contemplate this…..would he? Voldemort mulled this over. An 11 year old, even the Chosen One, should never have attempted to protect the Philosopher's stone when there were highly trained wizards in the castle who would have been much better suited to dueling Quirrel/Voldemort. He didn't know how the Diary was destroyed, but he bet Potter had something to do with it. Even though he had instructed Barty Crouch, Jr. to put Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore should have been able to remove him from the tournament, even if it meant destroying the Goblet of Fire for no 14 year old would have been able to survive in a tournament where even older experienced wizards had died before. Snape had told him about the disaster of the Occulmency training with Potter. Snape was a master Occulmens and Legilimens, but given the history between the two, if he were in Dumbledore's shoes, he would have found someone else to teach the boy the basics at the very least. Could Dumbledore have really let this events play out without attempting to help the boy because he wanted to ensure that Voldemort and Potter met as many times as possible hoping that Voldemort would use the Killing Curse and accidentally destroy his own Horcrux?

Voldemort slowly nodded his head. Yes, Dumbledore was perfectly capable of sacrificing the Chosen One in the name of the Greater Good. Now was it possible to use this information to persuade the boy to remain Neutral if not swear his allegiance to Voldemort? He resolved to set the idea aside for now. He had many other pressing matters to take of before deciding on the best course of action relating to Potter.

"Confringo!" One of the Death Eaters shouted.

Voldemort groaned silently. Even though the vast majority of his Death Eaters were satisfied with the new order of things that still did not mean that everything was happy go lucky on the Dark side. There were still plenty of arguments among the Death Eaters both in relation to their missions as well as attempts to supplant others in his favor.

He rose to his feet intending to put a stop to the fight but the small explosion had everyone diving for cover. The Confringo spell had been deflected by the intended recipient with a shield charm which normally wouldn't be a problem. However, the spell had ricocheted off of the shield and hit Severus's experimental potion just as the man had removed the stasis charm to add an ingredient. The Potion's Master had thrown himself to the side while simultaneously casting a Containment shield around the area to prevent further mishaps. Voldemort frowned, wand raised and at the ready, when he saw that thick, dark purple smoke had begun to fill the area under the Containment charm. He winced when he realized some of the potion had leaked over the runes Severus had laid out. Who knew what an experimental potion attempting to mimic a Time Turner would do when crossed with runes trying to circumvent anti-Apparition wards. Salazar help them!

All the assembled Death Eaters held their breaths and their wands at the ready when the smoke receded leaving in its place three children.

Voldemort blinked, stunned, as he stared at a mini-version of himself, complete with red eyes, who looked to be about 9 years old. The older boy was holding the hands of two younger children both of whom had the brilliant green eyes that could only belong to Harry Potter, but had his cheekbones and jawline. The middle child who looked to be around 7 had a mop of black hair that definitely came from the Potter genes while the youngest at 4 had thankfully inherited his own silky locks, but had a red shimmer to it that could have only come from Lily Potter.

The boys looked around unsure of what was happening when the oldest child locked eyes with him. "Papa!"

Voldemort realized his life had just gotten way more complicated and this time he couldn't even blame it on Dumbledore.