Authors Note: It's been a while since I'd written fan fiction, and this was the first fan fiction I wrote when I started writing again. The story was written for the 100quills prompt challenge at LiveJournal. The prompt was Broken.
Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, and do not own any of the characters, Hogwarts or any other part of the Harry Potter universe. If you recognise it, it's not mine.
Broken
His father looks so fragile, so broken. Like a porcelain doll, he could break so easily. He's just wasting away, in front of his eyes.
James can't do anything. He's tried, of course he has. It's not a situation he likes being in. He's always been a practical person, and to be able to do something is hard for him to deal with.
It's not fair that his father should suffer. He hasn't done anything. But here he's got a disease that's slowly killing him, and neither James, nor any of the St. Mungo's staff can do anything to stop it.
He finally breaks in the early hours of the morning. Just like that, he dies. Most of him is relieved. His father won't suffer any more. He's not in pain now.
Another part, a smaller part of him breaks a little. Now, he doesn't have a father. But really, when he thinks about it, did he really have one while he was suffering?
James doesn't think so. His father broke the moment he got sick and started wasting away.