Brothers to the End
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does.
AN: Captain of the Tutshill Tornados for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition - Round 6
Prompt: The Lost Boys (loosely based off of)
Word Count: 1,849 words
"Avada Kedavra!" — Speaking
'Knowledge is power!' — Thinking
~.~
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The house was silent save for the ticking of the grandfather clock in the front room. Every tick echoed throughout the near empty house. Everything was broken and looked like a whirlwind swept through the house. A lone figure sat in the dark on the only non-broken item in the vicinity. He had blood running down his face and left arm, pooling into a puddle on the floor. His face was set in a morose frown, eyes staring into nothing and his shoulders slumped in a defeated gesture.
"He's gone…" The man whispered brokenly. "He's gone…"
~.~
Earlier that day
"Hey James! Bet I can outfly you!" Yelled Sirius Black, his black hair flapping in the wind behind him as he zoomed past a wide eyed James Potter.
"Yeah right Sirius! I'm the better flyer!" Smirked James as he caught up to Sirius on his broom.
The two young men were hanging out in James' backyard, flying about on their brooms. Both were as close as brothers could be without being close blood related. They did almost everything together, from playing quidditch to practicing spells for their jobs as aurors. Ever since they were eleven when they met on the Hogwarts Express, they had been extremely close. Oftentimes it seemed like they were the ones that were married, instead of James and Lily. It caused some hilarious jokes among their friends.
Now they had finally finished school and were working as aurors. Both men were ready and willing to fight in the war with Voldemort and his Death Eaters, no matter the cost. They were both ambitious and protective of what they determined as theirs. The only thing that mattered to them more was each other. Both men viewed the other as a brother. Sirius Black was the older of the two by a few months but no one could tell since both James and Sirius acted immaturely, as though they never grew up. James Potter was married to Lily Potter nee Evans, but he spent more time with Sirius than he did his wife. It never caused a strained relationship between the married couple but everyone noticed how close the two men were and sometimes it caused some questions.
Every so often the two would get together and fly, making their worried disappear. Just like this moment, the two had carefree faces as they tried to outfly the other. With large smiles and deep laughter, the two flew all afternoon.
"That was fun Padfoot! And know we know I'm the better flyer!" James laughed at him.
"No way! We tied! There's a difference Prongs!" Sirius rebutted, pointing a finger at him.
"Yeah yeah…" James smirked, "You just don't want to admit defeat. I see how it is."
"And you just want to win every time!" Sirius accused before giving in and smirking himself. "We'll fly again soon and have an audience so everyone can see how much better I am at flying than you."
"Come on Padfoot, let's get something to drink," James said, throwing an arm over Sirius' shoulder.
"Damn right! Hey let's have a drinking contest!" Sirius exclaimed, placing his arm over James' shoulder.
They both walked into James' house, arms around each other's shoulders as a brotherly gesture. Sirius flopped onto a chair in the dining room while James went to grab some alcohol and glasses. He came back with some whiskey and poured them each a cup. Soon they were both drunk and laughing at nothing.
"Haha! James! I'm gonna…I'm gonna win!" Sirius exclaimed, raising his drink in the air with a stupid grin on his face.
"Nuh-uh! I'm gonna win you dog!" James declared.
Neither of the men were aware of their surroundings as they were both roaringly drunk. If they were, they would have noticed that a group of vampires were entering the house. They found a hole in the wards surrounding the home that the Potter's did not know of. Voldemort ordered them to attack and kill two of his most annoying enemies.
The small group of vampires sneaked through the house, getting close to the two drunks in the dining room. They were quiet and swift as they moved, surrounding the room with their two victims. James felt something on the back of his neck and looked around, although drunk both men could still fight, albeit not at their best.
"What's the matter Jamesy?" Sirius asked a little more alert but clearly drunk as the red hue on his cheeks showed.
"I don't know…just something…" James replied before his eyes widened in shock. He jumped up and his wand flew into his hand a spell on the tip of his tongue; but before he could say it he was launched across the room.
"JAMES!" Sirius yelled, getting up from his chair. He started to move to his downed brother but was grabbed from behind, his wand clattered on the ground. "No!" Sirius yelled as he struggled against his captor but to no avail.
"We're going to have some fun with you Black," his captor whispered in his ear before dragging him into another room. "We're going to play with you nice and slow. Maybe if you're good you can live as one of us."
"Never you bloodsuckers!" Sirius snarled and head butted his captor with the back of his head. The vampire let him go and he stumbled forward. He turned around and launched himself at the stunned vampire, changing into his animagus form mid-jump. His form was a large black dog that at first glance looked like a grim. He pounced onto the vampire and started tearing him limb from limb. Sirius was so focused on his enemy that he forgot about the other vampires that were in the room.
He was knocked aside into a wall, his breath knocked out of him and he was pretty sure he broke some ribs. In pain, he changed back into his human form and gasped, the pain was immense. He saw a shadow descend on him so he looked up at what caused it. A pale vampire was glaring down at him, his brain was slow on the uptake as the vampire grabbed his throat and pushed him against the wall with a lot of force, causing his already broken ribs to crack just a little more.
"No…" Sirius groaned weakly. Never did Sirius feel this weak before. Without his wand he was pretty hopeless in a fight, especially if he was in such pain that he could not fight in his animagus form.
~.~
With James just after he was blasted against the wall
James slowly got up from the floor, just in time to see Sirius dragged out of the room. He saw red and blasted the table at them, catching some of the vampires by surprise. Spells left his wand in quick succession as adrenaline coursed through his veins.
"You will not take my brother!" James growled out, and started killing the vampires. Although he was drunk, James was one of the best aurors so his spell arsenal was large and his aim impeccable.
The fight was on, James attacking the vampires and the vampires dodging his spells, slowly closing in on him. He killed a few with well timed spells, some were blasted away, torn apart, burned, and many more before he was overwhelmed and cornered. One of the vampires dashed at him straight on and before he could utter another spell he was knocked into the wall again. His wand was separated from his hand and he became defenseless against them. The vampires descended on him quickly and started tearing into his body. James' screams could be heard throughout the house as his flesh was ripped into.
"JAMESSSS!" Sirius yelled distraughtly from the other room. Hearing James' screams caused Sirius to snap. He somehow got out of the hold from the vampire that pinned him against the wall, he didn't know how but he was grateful that he could. His mind was in such turmoil and his rage so great that he blanked his actions from his mind as he destroyed the vampires. All that Sirius knew was that he used some dark spells that he learned in his youth as the Black heir. When he came to, he was sitting in a chair with the house destroyed within and vampire parts strewn across all the rooms.
~.~
Back to the present
"Why…?" Sirius cried brokenly, "Why did you leave me brother?"
Tears cascaded down his cheeks silently, his eyes broken and filled with despair. He moved to get up off the chair but only caused himself to fall to the floor. His right leg was broken from the fight that happened earlier but it did not matter to him anymore. In the way he fell, his face was pointed to the body he declared as his brother just a few feet away. The body was unmoving with blood pooled around him.
The broken man grunted as he tried to move, his whole body was screaming at him in pain. He started crawling to the body, slowly he moved his right arm and left leg to crawl across the floor. His right leg was useless as it was broken and his left arm was unmoving as the bones were pulverized and gashes littered it along the length of the arm, leaving it unusable. His tears never stopped flowing, from the pain of losing his brother or from his wounds, he didn't know.
It felt like an eternity but he finally pulled himself next to the cooling body. He laid down on his left side, his eyes never strayed from the person he was trying to reach. Slowly, he reached to the person and pulled him to face himself. He could see his face now, the man's eyes were closed as if asleep but he knew better. He knew that he was not asleep with the mere fact that he had wounds torn into him, causing him to lose a large amount of blood which pooled beneath him.
"I'm going to follow you brother…we will be together again…" The subdued man whispered as he reached his right arm out to touch his face. He coughed harshly as some pain flared up in his chest, blood spewed out of his mouth. A weak laugh passed his lips, then he grinned insanely.
"I'm sorry it ended this way…" He coughed, "But don't worry…we'll have fun again…since we still have to see who's the better flyer…"
His body was dying, it wouldn't be long now before he breathed his last; his eyes were slowly closing, his breath becoming labored. He wished they were better at their job, he wished they weren't so proud of themselves, he wished…there were a lot of things he wished but the thing he wished most was that he could protect his brother better.
He only had a few moments of life left and in that moment he gripped his brother and breathed one last word, "James…"
~.~