(I'm not especially happy with this write-up of this idea, but it's better than any other I've managed to come up with so far.)
A common plot element in Harry Potter fanfic is for Harry to inherit great power, of one sort or another; sometimes it's political, sometimes it's financial, sometimes it's magical, sometimes it's a combination of the above. The inheritance is sometimes by literal line of descent, through one or both parents (and/or Sirius Black), and sometimes by way of magic - "child of prophecy" or some other such. In many cases, this power is of sufficiently staggering magnitude that not much can ultimately stand against it.
An even more common plot element in Harry Potter fanfic is for Headmaster Dumbledore to be scheming and manipulative to an extreme degree.
In fics which use both of these plot elements, Dumbledore generally is power-hungry, more or less runs the wizarding world (to some degree or another) from behind the scenes, and hides the existence of Harry's inheritance from him - often with the goal of stealing it for himself.
In such fics, Harry's less than entirely pleasant childhood and the "shouldn't Dumbledore have been able to prevent this?" mishaps and adventures at Hogwarts are fairly often arranged intentionally, by Dumbledore, as a way of trying to keep Harry beaten down and cooperative or at least ignorant.
Despite this, in most cases, after Harry discovers his inheritance and puts it to good use against his problems (often including Dumbledore at that point), he almost universally turns out to have developed into the rare sort of person who can safely be trusted with the enormous power he has inherited - the sort of person who can have it, even wield it, but not succumb to the temptation to abuse it.
What if that was exactly the goal?
Imagine a scenario in which Harry is going to be heir to even greater power than usual - vast wealth (sufficient to topple nations if used properly), noble titles (or otherwise significant historical ancestry) and the associated political influence coming out of his every orifice, magical power and/or talent fit to outmatch any wizard since at least the Founders if not Merlin, yadda yadda yadda.
Very early on (quite possibly before Harry is born), Dumbledore puts the various pieces together and discovers this fact, and realizes that no one and no group of someones could stand against Harry once he comes into that power. (Not counting people who would already be on his side, whether from the political influence or the wealth or whatever else.)
Rather than deciding to try to prevent Harry from inheriting that power, Dumbledore draws on all his own power, all his skill, and all the experience gained over his long lifetime, and sets out to shape Harry's life so as to mold him into someone worthy of being trusted with that kind of power.
This probably involves hiding the fact of the inheritance from him, among many other things; it may well not resemble the events of canon all that closely. (The end result of a realistic plan in that direction probably wouldn't, but for fanfic purposes it's nicer if we at least sort-of stick to the known lines, and Harry's canon childhood does seem to have done a surprisingly good job in that regard - though not necessarily a good enough one for this context.)
Harry does eventually discover the fact of his inheritance, and gain all of the power to which he is heir, and discover that Dumbledore has been manipulating him and those around him his entire life - and he's very possibly quite angry about that.
But by that point, Dumbledore's plan has worked. Harry has become the sort of person who can safely be trusted to hold that kind of power without abusing it (at least not in ways that actually hurt anybody).
Dumbledore knew that the truth would have to come out eventually, and when Harry confronts him about it, views his own death - or his life, with whatever retribution Harry may visit upon him personally - as a price he is quite willing to pay in exchange for that fact.
I've got fragments of a scene in my head (told completely in the lines spoken by Dumbledore, for some reason) of Harry, and probably his friends, confronting Dumbledore about this in the Headmaster's office. Unfortunately I don't have any details; I just know it ends, and probably the story does too, before we find out how Harry actually reacts.
A common plot element in Harry Potter fanfic is for Harry to inherit great power, of one sort or another; sometimes it's political, sometimes it's financial, sometimes it's magical, sometimes it's a combination of the above. The inheritance is sometimes by literal line of descent, through one or both parents (and/or Sirius Black), and sometimes by way of magic - "child of prophecy" or some other such. In many cases, this power is of sufficiently staggering magnitude that not much can ultimately stand against it.
An even more common plot element in Harry Potter fanfic is for Headmaster Dumbledore to be scheming and manipulative to an extreme degree.
In fics which use both of these plot elements, Dumbledore generally is power-hungry, more or less runs the wizarding world (to some degree or another) from behind the scenes, and hides the existence of Harry's inheritance from him - often with the goal of stealing it for himself.
In such fics, Harry's less than entirely pleasant childhood and the "shouldn't Dumbledore have been able to prevent this?" mishaps and adventures at Hogwarts are fairly often arranged intentionally, by Dumbledore, as a way of trying to keep Harry beaten down and cooperative or at least ignorant.
Despite this, in most cases, after Harry discovers his inheritance and puts it to good use against his problems (often including Dumbledore at that point), he almost universally turns out to have developed into the rare sort of person who can safely be trusted with the enormous power he has inherited - the sort of person who can have it, even wield it, but not succumb to the temptation to abuse it.
What if that was exactly the goal?
Imagine a scenario in which Harry is going to be heir to even greater power than usual - vast wealth (sufficient to topple nations if used properly), noble titles (or otherwise significant historical ancestry) and the associated political influence coming out of his every orifice, magical power and/or talent fit to outmatch any wizard since at least the Founders if not Merlin, yadda yadda yadda.
Very early on (quite possibly before Harry is born), Dumbledore puts the various pieces together and discovers this fact, and realizes that no one and no group of someones could stand against Harry once he comes into that power. (Not counting people who would already be on his side, whether from the political influence or the wealth or whatever else.)
Rather than deciding to try to prevent Harry from inheriting that power, Dumbledore draws on all his own power, all his skill, and all the experience gained over his long lifetime, and sets out to shape Harry's life so as to mold him into someone worthy of being trusted with that kind of power.
This probably involves hiding the fact of the inheritance from him, among many other things; it may well not resemble the events of canon all that closely. (The end result of a realistic plan in that direction probably wouldn't, but for fanfic purposes it's nicer if we at least sort-of stick to the known lines, and Harry's canon childhood does seem to have done a surprisingly good job in that regard - though not necessarily a good enough one for this context.)
Harry does eventually discover the fact of his inheritance, and gain all of the power to which he is heir, and discover that Dumbledore has been manipulating him and those around him his entire life - and he's very possibly quite angry about that.
But by that point, Dumbledore's plan has worked. Harry has become the sort of person who can safely be trusted to hold that kind of power without abusing it (at least not in ways that actually hurt anybody).
Dumbledore knew that the truth would have to come out eventually, and when Harry confronts him about it, views his own death - or his life, with whatever retribution Harry may visit upon him personally - as a price he is quite willing to pay in exchange for that fact.
I've got fragments of a scene in my head (told completely in the lines spoken by Dumbledore, for some reason) of Harry, and probably his friends, confronting Dumbledore about this in the Headmaster's office. Unfortunately I don't have any details; I just know it ends, and probably the story does too, before we find out how Harry actually reacts.