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Dumbledore watched the feast as though through a fog. September the 1st, 1991. Quirinus and Tom sat together less than a dozen feet to his right, the stone lay safely enchanted in the Mirror, and Harry Potter laughed at the Gryffindor table, unaware of what the future held for him.
Could hold for him, he thought absently. Before latching onto the thought with intensity.
Plans could be changed. Ought to be changed. It was only by some miracle that this year didn’t end in heartbreak. The gauntlet of the third floor had made sense at the time. A test, to prove to Harry his strength and guide him to confront his parents murderer with all the protections of his mother. A plan that would have worked if not for the Horcruxes.
It must be discarded. Dumbledore had barely had the strength to put the child through such things when they were in abstract. Now, knowing the details of the suffering, he could not do it again.
Plans upon plans. All these years he had made contingencies and preparations, and when they failed, he built upon them to move forward. A stalagmite of failures built upon each other, each hoping to be the last, each drawn close to piercing his heart. At some level he stood by his hope and triumph, that by taking Harry’s blood into himself through resurrection, a way forward existed for the complete destruction of Voldemort and the preservation of Harry Potter.
But where such a path was one he could grudgingly direct a 16 year old Harry down. One who had fought so hard and been through so much. Now, with the stalagmite worn down to a fresh start, he would not knowingly set the innocent boy in front of him on that road of despair. It was a plan of hope born from desperation, and better could be made.
The horcruxes could be found and destroyed, yes. All but the boy. But why should he need to be destroyed? Voldemort had been content to hide for a decade until the lure of both his prophesied vanquisher and the elixir of life drew him into the castle. After his defeat he had gone right back into hiding, potentially for years if he hadn’t been sought out by Peter Pettigrew.
Which ought to be a priority after dealing with Quirinus. Get the rat out of the castle and the dog out of the prison. Wrongs could be righted sooner and Peter would be unable to enable Tom’s return.
Perhaps Tom had been willing to wait out his enemies. When one is immortal what use are a few decades or even a century? After all, he would only have to wait until Harry and Dumbledore himself were dead, and then who would oppose his return. Perhaps such a scenario could be encouraged. And if Tom were to suddenly and unexpectedly find himself lacking any anchors upon the natural death of one Harry Potter, so much the better.