"The Potter Curse?"
"The Potter Curse."
"Are you trying to tell me that this curse is the reason why I'm marrying the love of my life?"
"No, its the reason WHY you fell in love with her. What happens afterwards is your own doing."
"Stop playing games James."
"I'm not playing games, Al," James said, looking his younger brother in the face with a serious look. "You have been touched by the Potter Curse, just like all Potter men have." Albus was not buying it.
"What is the Potter Curse?" he asked, looking bored as he did so.
"You don't believe me?" James asked. Al just stared at him. "I was just trying to warn you about what might come up in your love life."
"By telling me on my WEDDING DAY?"
"Yeah, not my best timing."
"Ya think?" Albus asked, with an annoyed look on his face. "Just tell me what the Potter Curse is, please." James nodded.
"The Potter Curse is a curse that affects only the Potter men," James said, walking across the room to look out the window at The Burrow.
"So Lily's not affected?" Al asked, clearly still skeptical.
"Yeah," James said, turning around to face. "Pretty lucky for her."
"So what does the Potter Curse do?" Al asked. "How does it affect the Potter men?"
"It affects them by making them..." He paused, looking like he did not want to continue.
"Makes them what?" Al asked. he was starting to worry. He had never seen his brother so scared.
"It makes them..." Once again he couldn't finish and turned around again to face the window.
"It makes them WHAT?" Al said, wishing his brother would finish. "You're a Gryffindor. You're not supposed to be affraid of anything. Tell me about the Potter Curse." James smiled.
"Okay," he said. "The Potter Curse makes the Potter men fall..."
"To their death over a waterfall."
"No."
"Into a pit filled with snakes, lizards, and giant spiders."
"No."
"Over head-first into a pile of unicorn, threshal, and Blast-Ended Skrewts..."
"NO," James interupted, turning around again. "And how is any of that bad?"
"Uh, is that a trick question?" Al asked.
"No, we're wizards, we can prevent all of that stuff."
"But we cannot prevent the Potter Curse?"
"No," James said. "The Potter Curse makes the Potter men fall in love...with red-heads." James paused, waiting for his brother's scared cries. Instead he heard laughter.
"Are you kidding me?" he asked, in between laughs.
"No," he said. "And stop laughing this is serious. Haven't you noticed that all of the non-Potter women are red-heads?"
"Total coincednce," Al said. James raised an eyebrow.
"Is it? Is it really?" James asked. "Grandmum Lily, married to Grandpa James."
"Red-head," Al answered, matter-of-factly.
"Ginny aka Mum, married to Harry aka Dad,"
"Red-head," Al answered again, realizing where James was going with this.
"Addison, married to yours truly, James Sirius Potter."
"Red-head," Al answered once again.
"And last but not least, Katelyn, fiance to none other than our very own Albus Severus Potter."
"Red-head," Al muttered, realizing James had a point. "But that still doesn't prove anything."
"I see you still need more proof." Al nodded. "All right then, how about a story?"
"A story?" Al asked. James nodded. "Okay."
"This is how the story starts..."
There once was a man named Arnold Potter. He was a powerful wizard. He could turn a teacup into a horse at the age of nine. He could battle anyone and win, even those twice his size and twice his age. Not only that, but he also had good looks. Glasses gave him that intellectual look while messy, black hair gave him that bad-boy image.
"Messy, black hair?" Al timidly asked, running a hand through his own messy, black hair.
"Yeah," James answered as he ran his hand through his messy hair. "That's another part of the Potter Curse. Potter men are cursed with red-headed women and messy hair that cannot be combed straight. Now may I please continue." Al nodded.
Now Arnold could get any woman he wanted. They were all over him. One woman completely fell for him. Her name was Alethea and she was a red-head. She wanted a man who would love her for who she was and not by what she looked like. Unfortunately for her, Arnold wanted Clare, the blond witch who was a close friend to the Potters.
Alethea was angry. She told Arnold she would be the best wife any man would ever ask for if he would just give her a chance. He still told her no. Furiated, she demanded to know why. Being the brave and self-centered man he was, Arnold told her the truth. He thought she was not beautiful and that red hair was not attractive.
Alethea was upset and she wanted to teach Arnold a lesson. What Arnold did not know was that Alethea was a powerful sorceress, which is more poweful than a witch. She was also the last one of her kind, yet another reason she needed to marry. She decided to put a curse on Arnold and all of his male desendants. Any male Potter would fall madly in love with a woman with red hair. She told Arnold what she had done but he only laughed, saying he was certain he loved Clare.
All Alethea did was smile. He certainly had no clue how much power she truly held. She left him alone, saying he will learn that it does not matter what someone looks like. Once again he laughed. A few months later, he announced his engagment to Clare. However, a few minutes before the wedding, he fell in love with his fiance's friend Anna, a red-head. He liked her smile, her laugh, and the way she talked to him made him feel like he was just like everyone else, nothing special about him. He ran off with with Anna, leaving Clare at the alter and with every new male Potter, came another red-head for him to fall in love with.
"Wait a second," Al interupted, "What is wrong with red-heads?"
"Nothing," James answerd. "All I'm saying is that it is not allowing us to chose what our love looks like."
"Isn't that the reason why the curse was put in the first place? And by the way where does the hair come into play?"
"I don't know and trust me, if I did, I would find a way out of it," James said, grinning. "But it does not allow us to chose who we fall in love with."
"We're not supposed to chose who we fall in love with, it just happens." Al was getting annoyed. James just did not get it.
"Not true, its the curse."
"Fine. But what about Addisom?" Al asked. "Do you love her?"
"Yeah, of course but..."
"But nothing," Al said. "What is the main reason why you love Addison?" James blinked, clearly taken back by the question.
"Because, uh, because she treats me like a human being, and not like the boy-who-lived's son."
"And does that have anything to do with looks?"
"Uh, no."
"Exactly, so there is no curse. It is just a huge coincidence."
"Oh yeah"
"Yeah"
"Janet Selwyn, married to Julian Potter...red-head."
"James."
"Catherine Gamp, married to Radford Potter...red-head."
"Dorea Black, married to Charlus Potter..."
"Blond."
"What?" James turned around to look at the figure who said that.
"Blond," the figure said again. "Dorea Potter was blond."
"No she wasn't Dad?" James said, watching as his father moved into the room.
"Yes, she was," Harry answered, matter-of-factly.
"But we've seen portraits of her after her marriage to Charlus," Al said, trying to help James. Because if James was wrong about Dorea, he would also be wrong about Dorea. "She's a red-head."
"Yeah but she charmed it red," Harry said.
"She charmed it red?" Al asked. "But why?"
"Because of the Potter Curse."
"I knew it!" James exclaimed.
"But there's no real curse, is there?" Al asked, unsure of whether James was telling the truth.
"Of course not," Harry said. "ALL Potter men know that." Harry stared at James as he said this. "This didn't stop the rest of the world from believing in the curse."
"I don't understand," Al said.
"Dorea's parents wanted their daughter to marry a pure-blood. Charlus was a good choice. He came from from a good wizarding family. But the Potter Curse was keeping them from getting together so she charmed it red."
"She did?" Al asked, intrigued.
"Can you say desperate?" James asked, annoyed.
"That's not nice, James," Harry said. He turned to Al. "Listen Al, the Potter Curse does not exist. Nothing can affect true love. Not a spell or a curse." He put his arm around his son.
"Thanks Dad," Al said. "I never had doubts about my love for Katelyn."
"That's good," Harry said. "Now there is a smart, kind, beautiful young lady down there waiting to walk down the aisle and you'd better get down there before..."
"ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER!"
"Your mother starts screaming," Harry finished, giving his son a reassuring grin. Al returned the smile and walked out the doorway to his future. And nothing about some stupid curse was going to stop him.
So there is the end of my story. It was in my head and I spent eight hours working on it. It was just supposed to be the story of Arnold Potter but then it developed into something else. Hope you like it, if you don't, I don't care. I just needed to get my creative juices flowing. Sorry for any grammical/spelling mistakes. They are not my strong points and spell check is not working too well now. Review 8)
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