Written for QLFC Season 5, Final Round 1
Team: Wigtown Wanderers
Position: Beater 1
Position Prompt: Set story in Carkitt Market.
Additional Prompts:
1. (word) History
13. (object) padlock
15. (quote) "At least you get the chance to meet me." - Pokémon
Word Count: 1855
Beta(s): AyaDieFire, DinoDina, RawMateriel
Summary: James encounters a ghost from his past. They've come to exact their revenge.
James took a deep breath through his nose and let it out through his mouth slowly. He turned to face his guilty-looking brother. "You don't know where Lily is."
Albus sank into himself. "She was there one second and then…"
James pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned, "Merlin, mum will skin us alive…" He glanced back to the handsome young wizard with whom he'd been successfully flirting. The wizard gave him a concerned look. James turned back to Albus."I hate –"
"Everything I choose to be? Yeah, I know." Albus rolled his eyes.
James bid the wizard farewell (after he'd promptly gotten his phone number, of course), and with an air of nonchalance, they walked past their mother and out of Flourish and Blotts to look for their missing sister. The boys searched all the obvious places first: book shops tucked away in alleys, any interesting looking buildings, pet shops, apothecaries, pawn shops – there was no sign of her.
"You had one bloody job!"
"She's fifteen, James, she's probably fine. She never gets lost, you know her." Albus strode ahead of James, who had to almost scurry to keep up.
"Right, she just 'goes on adventures', and ends up in trouble with Headmistress McGonagall, the Ministry of Magic and the owner of Honeydukes all within her first year of Hogwarts," James hissed. "She just does whatever that first pops into her head, she's got no bloody sense!"
"Oh, and you were never in trouble in school." Albus was getting tired of this argument already.
James stopped suddenly, holding an arm out in front of Albus to stop him. Ahead of them lay Knockturn Alley – neither boy had ever ventured down there, not since their father had told them about the horrors within one of the shops. Would Lily dare?
"Can't hurt to check…" Albus said, swallowing a lump in his throat.
"Right then, off you go." James shoved him forward. "I'll keep looking here."
"Oh no!" Albus grabbed James by the collar. "I still have to get stuff for school."
"I'm on my lunch break!"
"Oh George won't mind," Albus rushed. "I'll tell him you're looking for Lily, he'll understand."
"It's one of the busiest times for us –"
"I'll tell mum about the broomstick."
James froze. "You wouldn't…"
Albus pulled his phone from his pocket, and from where he stood James could see him pulling up their mother's phone number and –
"Fine! Fine! Merlin, just don't… bloody tell her…" She'd never forgive him if she knew he'd broken her beloved old Comet. Shite broomstick, but she was very attached to it.
Down the winding, dark and narrow streets of Knockturn Alley James went. He tried to look nonchalant, like he belonged there. But he supposed the bright purple tee-shirt with the words 'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' in loopy black writing gave him away. Five times, shady looking witches or wizards beckoned him down even darker alleys, promising him everything from the most potent of love potions to exotic and illegal animals.
A familiar flash of red hair caught his eye, and without thinking, he tore after it. He grabbed their shoulder and –
"Lily Luna – you're...not…" Whoever this was, it wasn't his sister.
"You're lookin' for Lily?" They tilted their head to the side. Was this a boy? A girl? James couldn't tell. Their voice didn't give anything away, either. There was something desperately familiar about them all the same. "She's in Carkitt Market, gettin' a present for...uhh, Ed, isn't it? Are you Ed? Or was it Ted?" They didn't wait for him to answer, "Ah, no! You're James aren't'cha? Your da's mad dark curly hair and your ma's eyes. You really are a pretty boy." They laughed.
James was still trying to process the last couple of words they had said. "Right… where's Lily then?"
"Shutterbutton's Photography Studio, same buildin' as Concordia and Plunkett Musical Instruments and Gladrags Wizardwear. I'll take ya there, you look dead lost." They turned on their heel and beckoned for James to follow them. "I'm Leucippus - prefer to go by Luca, Leucippus has too many syllables, right?"
"Uh-huh…" James looked around him as Luca led him down winding streets and up narrow staircases. "You… come here often?"
"Live here. My family has for years. Lots of history around here, y'know. Got a bad reputation, sure, and there's good reason for it, but you can't blame the dark arts for bein' inherently dark – it's the arseholes that use it that way you should blame. It's all very fascinatin', I think." They said wistfully.
"How do you know my sister?" James focused on where his wand was, tucked in his back pocket. He didn't like this one bit. He didn't like Luca.
"We met at the market just there, really interested in learning about the place. Inquisitive young thing, isn't she?" They laughed. "So many questions, really makes ya think."
"She's a real Ravenclaw, yeah." Just like Lily to make friends with an ambiguous, weird stranger like this. "Are we almost there?"
"We're in the market now. We're almost at the shop, why? Gettin' spooked back there?" Luca stopped suddenly. "Ah…"
"Ah? Why 'ah'? What's…" He shoved past Luca to see a large gate with a padlock on it. Without a thought, he pulled out his wand. "Alohomora," the lock shook and rattled, but didn't open. James checked his watch. 17.39 "The shop is closed, isn't it?"
"Well..." Luca licked their lips. "They must've closed early... She's probably around though, maybe the post office?"
James swallowed. He didn't like this. Not one bit. He took another breath, "Fine, let's go."
Luca looked a bit sheepish as they walked past James, "Sorry, mate…"
"So, you live here? Do you go to Hogwarts? Or do you work? What's your family name?"
Luca laughed, "Full of questions, you Potters!" They grinned back at James, and he couldn't deny that something stirred in the pit of his chest – maybe they were alright, maybe they weren't from a family of former Death Eaters or something. "I used to go to Hogwarts, got caught up in a mess with fairies two years ago and… well, had to leave. Wand got snapped." They shrugged.
All too suddenly James was swept up in the memories of his final year at Hogwarts. Lily, Albus and himself had all ended up taking it upon themselves to investigate the disappearances and reappearances of students all year. It was the fairies, of course. As the siblings made their get away, a student was left behind to explain to the Ministry what had happened – it was a dark and merciless move on James' part to save his own skin. His siblings never knew, and he never knew their name.
"Oh…" he breathed, "Shit…"
"Yeah, but I was never much good at magic anyway." Luca shrugged. They knew, they had to. "I prefer making potions, my mum helps if I need any magic."
They were here for revenge. They had to be. They were going to lead James astray and… and… do something. Lily was just bait. He stopped following Luca and pulled out his wand. "What did you do to Lily?"
Luca turned, and jumped at the sight of James' wand. "Woah! Woah! Chillax!"
"Where is my sister?!"
"She's –"
"Merlin's soggy knickers – James!" Lily seemed to leap in front of Luca, dropping a few brown paper packages which Luca very skillfully managed to catch.
"Lily!" James grabbed her and held her tight. "You and your fucking wanderlust! We've been worried sick!" His heart was pounding hard in his chest.
"Ugh, that gross cologne, lemme go!" Lily struggled against him and he let her go.
"Well." Luca cleared their throat. "There she is."
James glared at them. Had their plan been foiled? Or was this all part of it?
"Yeah." James kept his wand out, watching Luca like a hawk as they chattered away to Lily and led them out of Carkitt Market and Knockturn Alley. Albus and Ted were waiting for them, and James felt slightly more at ease. As Lily skipped on ahead to present Ted with his unbelievably belated birthday gift, James grabbed Luca's arm as they tried to slip away.
"What happened that day had nothing to do with them. It was all me," he said. "If you're going to have your revenge, then have it with me."
"Revenge?" Luca frowned. "What for? Won't bring my wand back, or my place at Hogwarts, will it?" There was a note of bitterness in their tone, before they managed a smile. "It's all history now. At least you get the chance to meet me." The student who lost it all because of James' selfishness.
"Well, you are a looker," he joked.
"Thank my ancestral nymph blood." They shrugged, and made to walk away again. James couldn't find it in himself to keep them from leaving.
They were right. There was no way to turn back time and fix it. Or, there was… but all the Time-Turners had long since been destroyed. James' actions had the most dire of consequences on that person – someone he hadn't even thought to meet ever again. He got away with it, and someone else had to take the fall.
He looked to his siblings and Ted, chatting and laughing, unaware of what he'd done. What good would come of it if he told them anyway? It wouldn't make him feel any less guilty. No doubt Lily would try to find a way to fix it – and get in who knew what kind of trouble he and Albus would then have to get her out of.
No, this dark page of their history was to stay with him, kept under padlock and key, to eat away at him and him alone, for the rest of his life.
James had his face in his hands. Albus had a hand over his mouth as he tried to hide his laughter, Lily buried her head in her arms on the table as she too broke into convulsions of laughter.
"I was hardly going to let an innocent student get expelled for your mistake, James." Hermione said calmly, "It is they, by the way."
"Stop sniggering!" James snapped at his siblings as he furiously dried his eyes. One too many butterbeers and he ended up confessing to his entire family, in the middle of the Leaky Cauldron, what he'd done all those years ago.
"They own the apothecary in Caskitt Market, did very well in their N.E.W.T.s as well, I think."
"Weren't they in your house?" Lily tittered.
James stormed off before his family could ridicule him anymore. He really thought he'd ruined someone's life. Instead, he'd been made a fool of. He slowed his pace, then started to laugh, "This, this is your revenge, isn't it?" Humiliation. How very Slytherin of them. To James, it still slightly stung, but he almost admired their creativity and foresight. He'd never admit it aloud. Not without more butterbeer anyway.
With a great heaving sigh, James managed to swallow his pride to return downstairs to his family and more waves of mockery and ridicule.