Prequel
Albus Potter had just gotten off the train when he was greeted by his overly energetic sister, Lily, who ran into him at an unnaturally fast pace. After being reacquainted with her, Albus proceeded to say his hellos to his parents, where smiles and hugs where shared. Once, they'd gone off to find Albus's older brother, James, Albus gathered his belongings onto a trolley and made his way to the exit, waiting for his family as other parents, sons and daughters passed him.
When they'd all rejoined as a group, Albus's Dad lead the way to their car. It was a rather beast engine. He didn't exactly know how it worked but apparently the number of miniature horses under the hood indicated how fast the car could go. Albus never really cared for muggle technology, despite his grandfathers obsession with them. They loaded their trunks into the rear of the car, and then settled into the cushioned chairs within. They were all forbidden to use magic inside of the car, since the use of magic in the proximity of muggle technology was not entirely understood and most definitely caused explosions.
'Mum,' Lily whined, 'James stole my liquorice wand.' Albus looked around and sure enough, James had Lily's liquorice wand.
'James, give it back to your sister.' Mum scolded, turning around and eyeing them. Albus suspected that Dad was smiling, causing Mum to swat his arm.
'Now dear, do you wish for us to crash?' Dad said teasingly.
'If hitting you gently causes us to crash and die, then I'll raise us from the dead just to kill you again.' Mum replied, with a straight face though she was amused. Their banter was a never ending source, which was the reason their children were so quick and witty. Though James was the cleverest, Lily was always able to one up him, usually causing him to chase her around the house. Albus was the quietest but if he was being laughed at, he was still able to turn the joke around on them.
After Lily had reclaimed her liquorice wand via the means of blackmail in the presence of presumably oblivious parents, the chat flourished with everybody telling stories of their time while the others were absent. James spoke about beating Gryffindor in the Quidditch tournament; Lily spoke of the various pranks she had pulled on their cousin, Hugo; Albus spoke briefly about his second year at Hogwarts and his experience in Hufflepuff. That then prompted their parents to talk about how proud they were of James and Albus for being sorted into Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff respectively, because before that, both of their families had always been sorted Gryffindor. They said it was great to see some variation. Then Dad told them all that they were going to Diagon Alley tomorrow, along with Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron, Rose and Hugo, so that they could go to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.
The next morning Albus is woken by Lily barging into his room and launching herself onto his sleeping figure.
'Albus! Albus! Albus!' Lily squealed while shaking him awake. This resulted in a palm in Lily's face, prying her away.
'Ngggnn.' Albus moaned. 'Gerroff.'
Lily stuck her tongue out at him. 'Breakfast is ready. Mum told me to tell you that we're leaving in an hour.'
Albus, with his bedhead under the covers, pled, 'Then why am I awake now.' Lily rolled her eyes and left him to get ready.
Reluctantly, Albus crawled out of bed and into his ensuite bathroom, propping himself up onto the sink so that he could examine himself in the mirror. The harsh light caused him to squint. With a sigh, he regained his balance and got up onto shaky legs. He moved into his room to get dressed and go downstairs.
James was already downstairs, sitting at the table and looking perfect as always. Lily herself looked fine, but the space infront of her was chaotic, as though a tiny hurricane had come along and caused the food to land in places where it should not reside. Dad was sitting next to Mum, reading the Daily Prophet and mumbling to Mum about some escaped dark wizards.
Albus made his way to the table and was greeted by a warm cup of tea, given to him by his Mum. Thanking her, Albus drank plentifully before spreading butter on his toast.
'So, Albus. James tells me that you're romantically involved.' Mum asked nonchalantly, as though she hadn't just given Albus a heart attack. Albus looked up at James who was grinning, then to Mum who seemed disinterested, even though everybody knew she was curious.
'Umm… well… err…' Albus didn't know what to say. Truth was that he wasn't in the least bit interested in dating anybody, but this Hufflepuff girl in his year was adamantly stalking him and telling everybody who would listen about how they were going out. Albus didn't encourage her in any way; however, she seemed to misinterpret his silence as acceptance. 'Not really.'
James interrupted him. 'Oh, so Matilda is just a fuckbuddy then?' Following from that question several things happened. Albus went as red as tomato. Mum hit the back of James' head. Dad narrowed his eyes at Albus. Lily just looked confused and broke the silence.
'What's a fu-' Lily began.
'Nothing dear. James is just being crude.' Mum said, with a glance at Albus. Great, now everyone thought he was boning Matilda when in fact all he was trying to do was keep away from her.
In Diagon Alley, they met up with their extended family outside Uncle George's joke shop. Albus was immediately tackled by Rose, whilst Lily tackled Hugo. James stood idly by on his phone, texting, while the older generation caught up.
'I saw you just yesterday, Rose.' Albus complained to Rose, who rolled her eyes. 'Why are you so excited to see me?'
'You're my best friend. Am I not allowed to hug you?' Rose replied with a pout, hanging on to him. The thing is about Rose, she dislikes most people but if she likes you, she loves you.
After all they were all reacquainted, Aunt Hermione and Mum lead the way to the ice cream parlour. They had 230 different flavours of ice cream, 15 different types of cones and 30 different sauces.
Albus opted for a Jasmine Ice cream with a rice paper cone as well as some rippleberry syrup on top. Lily, being practically insane, decided to have a pumpkin ice cream with a pumpkin cone and pumpkin sauce on top; oh, and a pumpkin flake. Their parents were much more conservative in their choices, with Aunt Hermione having spearmint.
The conversation was quite joyful until Albus's Dad told James to get off his phone.
'Come on, James. Can you join the conversation, please? Get off that thing.' Dad scolded to no avail. James rolled his eyes and carried on texting.
'It's no use Dad. He's probably texting Scarlett Bones.' Albus teased, making James look up from his phone and turn to Albus.
'Shut up.' James gritted through his teeth while the adults were happily chatting. 'Or I'll tell Dad about your one night stand with Marvin Lockhart.' Obviously James was trying to be subtle and didn't actually mean it. Albus had been very drunk and Marvin was very persuasive. Albus went beetroot red in the face. Unfortunately, Lily overheard.
'Albus had a one night stand with Marvin Lockhart!' Lily cried in glee, clearly unaware of what she was really saying. James', Albus' and Rose's mouths dropped open while the adult's conversation dropped dead.
'Is that true Albus?' Mum asked him incredulously. Albus went even redder and was struck was fear. What if they hated him? What if they disowned him because he slept with a man? He wasn't even gay and they were going to outcast him just because James couldn't keep his fucking mouth shut.
Albus's fear turned into anger and he stood up and rounded on James. 'You think you're so fucking perfect! Why the hell do you have to fuck up my life when yours is already amazing!' Albus shouted as everyone watched. Albus didn't even care anymore.
Albus stormed off as Rose and Mum called for him to come back. Mum was saying that it didn't matter while Rose just tried to reason with him, perfectly aware that Albus wasn't gay and this was just a misunderstanding.
Albus carried on walking until he found himself in Knockturn Alley, where the colours seemed to fade from the world. He slowed down as his anger diffused into fear. People around him were looking at him like a cheetah about to pounce on their prey. Albus was about to back out, back to Diagon Alley when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
'Ah!' Albus jumped around to face his… Aunt Hermoine. 'Oh, thank Merlin.' Albus breathed out. He didn't even care about the Marvin incident as long as he got out of there alive.
'Are you alright, Albus? It can't be easy having everybody know without your consent.' His Aunt reassured, glancing at the strangers around him warningly, giving them the message that this boy was not on the free market.
Albus shook his head in exasperation. 'I'm not even gay, Aunty H. I was just very drunk and he was very available.'
'I believe you, let's just get out of this pl-' Aunt Hermoine started.
Suddenly, around them, 4 or 5 figures in dark cloaks apparated around them. They drew out there wands and Aunty H and Albus looked at each other with worry. Aunt Hermione withdrew her wand swiftly and spun to face one of the figures. She opened her mouth to say something when the figure she was facing casted a spell at her.
His Aunt blocked it with ease and sent a one back, which the figure blocked in turn. What Aunt Hermoine wasn't able to block, was the fist that slammed into her face, slamming her into a nearby wall, unconscious.
Albus raised his wand in horror but couldn't think of anything to cast to defend himself. He was too shocked and rooted in fear to move or attempt to run.
The figure nearest to him chuckled. 'I was expecting greater things from the Chosen One's son.' With that said, the figure grabbed onto his shoulder and disapparated with him.
The next thing Albus remembered was being petrified, before being levitated into a dark building. The figures around him had discarded their cloaks and escorted him through dark windowless rooms, lit only by candlelight. Through the labyrinth of despair they went as Albus could feel only one thing; his heart pounding against the confines of his chest.
For the next few hours Albus was left alone in a cell. Once the body binding spell had worn off, he curled up into a ball thinking about the probability of seeing his parents and family and friends again. One by one, he thought about the people he couldn't live without and the people he loved. Tears streaked down his face as he thought about Mum teaching him Quidditch. Dad carving pumpkins with him. James playing exploding snap with him until the early hours of he morning. Lily, his amazing little sister, always to bright and full of energy. He cried for the times they'd shared and the times they were supposed to be sharing. He thought about how he'd left things with them; shouting and calling James out. All of their shocked faces. Storming off. He didn't want that to be his last memory of them, and he didn't want that to be their last memory of him.
Perhaps he'd be rescued? He thought about that vain hope. Surely his Dad would be looking for him and he was Head Auror; he would have a manhunt out for him. Even so, how would they find him? Albus tried to think that they would, but he knew that they wouldn't.
There was a sound. Hope? Fear? What did he feel? He didn't know.
The door to his cell swung open and in marched a woman. A woman with mad black hair that went in every direction but down. Her face was a mask of pure evil. Her eyes penetrated his soul and her laugh rung out and made Albus want to claw out his ears.
'Hello there, sweetheart.' She spoke, every word more mocking than the last. 'It's funny how things turn out. Your dirty half-blood grandmother destroyed me. And now I'm going to destroy you.' Her piercing laugh echoed against the harsh, stone walls. She took one step forwards and Albus pressed himself against the wall behind him.
'Don't be scared.' She sung manically, as she withdrew her wand. 'This won't hurt one bit.' Albus knew she was lying before she cast the next spell.
'Crucio!'
Albus settled into a rhythm. He woke up every subjective morning, hoping for death. He would claw at the back of his hands, drawing blood and then he would drink it futilely. Then they would allow him a tray of muck. He wolfed it down, now more animal than human. At first he'd picked out the pieces of hair from the food, but now he reasoned that he could use the extra substance. His tormentor would come down every day and torment him, before torturing him. He found himself begging for death at her feet but she just kicked him away.
After that, he would reside to the darkest corner of the room until the penetrator would arrive. To begin with, Albus resisted the sex. Now, however, he crawled towards the man who hit him and let his primal instincts overcome his fear. Even though there was pain and blood and bruises, Albus became addicted to it. He loved the way he made his master moan, and found that he had a place in the world when his master congratulated him.
The rest of the day was silence. It was torture in itself, being confined to his room with his thoughts for hours upon end. He muttered to himself while he scratched the back of his hands and when his nails became long enough, he began to dig his nails into any bare skin. Where there weren't bruises, there was dry blood. At least this way he could feel… something.
One day, when the lady came down to punish him, she tortured him as usual and then she stopped. But instead of leaving as usual, she tortured him more and more until he broke. His mind broke off like a shattered mirror. And that was the last memory he had before he was engulfed by the peaceful darkness of his mind.
Harry Potter's eyes were bloodshot. They had no leads, no traces, no inklings of where his son was. It had been two weeks now. Two weeks and 16 hours.
Lily wept for her brother, in her mother's arms. James spent the days in the attic and the nights in his room. Ginny, oh Ginny. Ginny held her daughter as she consoled her with empty words and promises. At night, Ginny took out a map of the country and apparated to random locations. Harry knew her attempts were futile, but whenever he brought it up, she shouted at him, asking him what he was doing.
The truth was, Harry had lost all hope. At first he'd been filled with anger. Now he was filled to the brim with sorrow and soaked to the bone with regret.
Harry was in the study, studying the Map of the United Kingdom. He looked for new places they hadn't looked. He'd been at the Ministry until the other Aurors told him to go home. He was no use there, they'd said. He should grieve, they said.
Hermoine apparated into the room and looked around until she found Harry.
'Harry! The ministry found something!' Her sore voice cried out to him and it clung to his heart. Could this be true?
'Wh-what?' Harry turned to face his friend, who'd been unsuccessful to defend his son. He didn't blame her; he blamed himself.
'Albus had a magical outburst so they were able to trace his location.' Hermoine's eyes were full of hope, and it caught on like fiendfyre.
'Where?!' Harry was frantic now, he got up and approached his friend.
'Isle of Sperus.' Hermione cried out, she leapt on her friend and hugged him tightly. 'They're sending a team of Aurors now.'
Harry's face visible darkened with a realisation. Albus had had a magical outburst. He never had them. Only some magic-folk were prone the them, and even then it was rare at Albus's age. He must have had something happen to him.
Hermoine read him like a book. 'Come now, Harry. They're going to find him. All we can do is wait.'
So they did. They waited until Ginny joined them. Ginny waited with them until Lily came down in a fit of tears. Lily waited with them until James came down and latched onto his father. They all waited.
Albus's body had been found by the Aurors that night. He wasn't dead but he was barely alive. He struggled against them in the rags that had formerly been his clothes. They carried him then apparated to St Mungos, where he passed out. The Aurors had captured 6 death eaters and killed 3. Their leader was nowhere to be found.
At St Mungos, the healers worked around his body, healing the bruising and bleeding and curing the infections. They were able to stop the internal bleeding and make the pain stop. He still had scars, though. And they couldn't get rid of them. Albus was sanctioned to the curses wing, where he would undergo treatment for the Cruciatus Curse, because its magical signature had been found all around him.
After that, the Potters were allowed to enter.
Harry and Ginny held hands as they looked down at their son. Clumps of hair were missing from his forehead and he had a scar leading from his left eyebrow to his cheek. But he was alive. Harry sat by his son and held his bandaged hand. Lily held the other hand, but she was fast asleep now. Ginny sat at the end of the bed, holding James safe.
Albus woke the next morning. He felt uncomfortable because this clearly wasn't his bed. People were holding his hands, he could feel them. Slowly, opening his eyes, he made out the bright lights and winced. Where was he?
He looked to his right and saw his Dad, looking tired and worn even though he was asleep. Taking in his surroundings he realised he was in hospital? Albus tried to remember how he got there but all he could remember was Diagon Alley, then storming off and then… oh.
He remembered Hermoine being knocked out. He must have been knocked out too and then his Dad had rescued him. But why was he hospitalised? Maybe the dark figures had beaten him up badly.
He shuffled and shifted his weight lower and… holy fuck what was that pain? Why was his arse so sore? Albus winced, but slowly managed to sit up and take in the sight of his family sitting around him. Damn, he must have been beaten up really badly.
He didn't really want to wake his parents up, but he did want answers. So, gently he shook his Dad's shoulder until his eyelids opened. Dad looked around, rubbing his eyes until he froze and observed Albus.
'Albus?' Dad asked, worry on his face. What was going on.
'Err… yeah?' Albus answered. Dad got up slowly and pulled on a string by his bed, probably calling the nurses.
'Wha- How do you feel?'
'Well I'm pretty sore but I feel fine.' Albus answered nonchalantly. 'When can we leave?'
'Leave?' Dad repeated in shock. 'Son… how are you feeling so good? I'm not complaining but… what you went through…' Dad stopped, and moved to wake up Mum. Went through?
'Albie? Albie!' Lily cried out, noticing the conscious figure on the bed. 'I missed you so much.' She said and then started weeping, clinging on to Albus's hand.
Ok, clearly I'm missing something. This was supported by his family all stating their absolute pleasure that he was awake, proceeded by a lot of weeping and apologies.
This was interrupted by several nurses running into the room.
'Merlin, he's awake!' was followed by various utterances which demonstrated their surprise.
The head nurse came towards him and kindly asked his family if they could leave. Lily refused to leave as she started tearing up again, but Dad carried her reluctantly.
Once they'd gone, the nurse in charge began to question him
'First of all, how do you feel?' She asked.
'I'm fine I think. A little sore, especially around my… err… butt.' Albus replied, a little embarrassed to admit his arse was aching. The nurse just nodded, taking notes. The other nurses were whispering.
The nurse in charge ordered them to get doctor so and so, as well as consult doctor such and such about this and that. Then she faced him, again.
'What exactly can you remember about the last two weeks?' She asked carefully, unsure how to phrase the question. This wasn't her area of expertise but they really needed to know.
'Ugh, well yesterday, no two days ago, I got back from Hogwarts. And, err, yesterday I was in Diagon Alley with my family. That's when these people in cloaks attacked us. That's me and my aunt Hermoine. And then I blacked out, so they must have beaten me up quite badly since I'm in here. Before that I was in Hogwarts.' Albus replied.
The nurses face paled visibly. She withdrew her wand and pointed at Albus.
'I'm going to shine a light in your eyes, okay? Please just look straight ahead.' Albus nodded. 'Lumos Funinculus.' A bright light erupted from her wand and made Albus squint a little, but he adjusted and looked forward as instructed as the nurse moved her wand around.
After the nurse was done, she took some notes, which she passed to another nurse, who ran off out of the room. The nurse returned with Albus's Dad, before running off again.
'Dad, what's going on? What happened yesterday?'Albus asked. He was getting a little irritated about being left in the dark.
Dad sighed and then took a seat.
'Son, that attack at Diagon Alley happened two weeks ago.' Dad paused to let that sink in. What? Why can't I remember anything. 'You were taken by some dark wizards and witched. I looked for you son… I promise I tried everything. Your mother and I were searching for you but we couldn't find you. Not until yesterday…' Dad was rambling now. Albus paled. He'd been kidnapped. But he didn't remember anything. Maybe his kidnappers obliviated his memories before he was found. Yeah, that made sense.
Albus let his Dad ramble on until he was done. Albus really had nothing to say. How are you supposed to react to being kidnapped? For the rest of the day, baffled doctors came in to question him. He was informed that he'd been under the influence of the cruciatus curse. That just made him more silent. Were you still a victim if you didn't remember it?
The doctors let him go that evening, as they couldn't justify keeping him there. Mum was given the medicines he would need, as well as a balm that should be put on the back of his hands. He was also required to see a psychiatrist every week.
Albus let all of this happen but he kept telling everybody that he was fine. He told his parents that he didn't remember it so it didn't really affect him.
For the first few nights, he let Lily share his bed. She was still recovering from his disappearance. To be honest, it seemed like the only person who wasn't psychologically affected by this, was Albus himself. All of his extended family came by to see for themselves how Albus was doing, as if they didn't believe he was fine until he told them.
He was told that nobody had undergone that amount of Cruciatus cursing and was still sane. He argued that he didn't remember it, so it didn't matter. People ignored him, coddling him. It was only two weeks after the being rescued that his life regained some semblance of normality.
