The Kids Aren't Alright

So, I don't own Harry Potter...Damn.

Thanks to those who have followed, favored and/or reviewed.

Note: Possible triggering moments.

Previously...

"You know, Al, I've been meaning to visit my cousin lately," Delphi said as she started to walk around Albus again, taking pleasure in the dark look on his face. "Though, I probably won't," she smirked when Albus looked less tense. "What about your siblings though? I haven't met them yet and, well, I think we shouldn't keep things behind closed doors as you and Scorpius do."

"If you go near them, I'll-

"You'll what?" Delphi challenged. "Have your Daddy come and save the day? Not this time, love." She eyed the Potter boy as she started to walk away. "I'd walk you home, but I don't want to be early."

Albus scowled. "I'd walk you back to Azkaban, but chances are they would keep me there too."

Delphi laughed. "You're probably right, Alby." She waved her fingers as Albus started to leave. "Until next time, love."

Albus said nothing as he left. Delphi smirked as she picked up the parchment the teenager had dropped. Unfolding the parchment, Delphi's smirk grew wider than before.

1 August, 2023

Harry kept his eyes on the kitchen clock. Tick, tock, and tick, tock. Over and over again, always ringing out at the beginning of the next hour, every bloody hour.

Every hour Harry neglected, every tick, tock he failed to see.

"Things need to change," Ginny told her husband, causing him to look back at her. She was looking at him with dark circles under her eyes. She was tired, Merlin, he was too. They wouldn't sleep though, not until Albus was home. They didn't even know that he was gone until everyone had left.

"Is there even time left to change?" Harry said. He rubbed at his wedding band, unsure of what else to do. "How would we even change?"

Ginny looked away as she spoke, "it has to happen or else everything will fall apart."

"Hasn't it already?"

"No."

Harry didn't know if he could believe that, but he would for now. "We start with the kids first."

"Of course, where else would we start?"

"Can we please not-"

"We're not," Ginny cut him off. "If we were, we would both know."

"Just like we know everything about our children."

Ginny sighed. "What else is supposed to be said?"

"The truth, perhaps?"

"And whose truth is that? Mine or yours?"

"How about the kids?" Harry suggested as the clock ringed out again. Three in the morning and Albus still wasn't home. "We start off with the kids. They're more important at the moment."

Ginny nodded, though Harry can tell that she doesn't agree.

"What about us?" She said as the ringing stopped. "How are we to help our children if we can't help ourselves? If you're off at work dreaming of your glory days, and I'm here finding the messes our children made."

"Who says you'll be the one dealing with it all?"

"You're not going to stop until those bloody prisoners are back in their cells," Ginny said with her jaw clenched. "You know it, I know it, and the kids will too." She then frowned. "Where would we even start? We know nothing about what's been going on with them."

"We know that James has been-"

"Yes, but why?" Ginny stares at her husband as her emotions break free. She lets her guard down, and the tears break loose. "We know nothing about why he did it, why he's still probably doing it! And that's not right! We don't know why our son tried to kill himself. We don't know why our other son does what he does. Merlin, we don't even know what Lily does when she's out of the fucking house! It's not right." She attempts to wipe her tears away, only for more to come down. "It's not right at all."

No, it wasn't right at all, Harry realized as he looked away from his wife.

"They grew up too fast," Harry said, bitter at every word he was saying and thinking. "They grew up too fast, and it's all our fault. We couldn't protect them, I doubt we even tried."

"We didn't," Ginny affirmed. "And that's why they grew up too fast. It's why they do what they do because they weren't taught otherwise on why they shouldn't do it. And we're to blame for it all."

Harry didn't want to believe it, he didn't want to admit it either, but he couldn't do that. Not anymore.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow," Harry said as he stood up. "When all the kids are here when we've had time to think about it."

Ginny looked away, up at the clock that ticked and tocked every second until the next hour ranged. "We should have thought of it years ago."

Harry knew that he should respond to that, but he doesn't. He left the room instead, opting to respond to it when he had the correct answer for it. Was there a correct one though? Harry didn't know, not at that moment, and maybe not tomorrow either. He hoped he would know it though, one day possibly. If only there was more time to waste. They've wasted enough as it is.

Harry and Ginny weren't in the house when Lily woke up. Neither was Albus, the bloody fucker.

Dressed in a pair of shorts that barely touched her fingertips when her arms were at her sides, and the halterneck shirt she wore yesterday, the 15-year-old left her room as she ran a hand through her thick and tangled hair. She winced as her fingers were woven around the knots in her hair. She pulled her fingers through them before repeating the process. She didn't feel like grabbing her hairbrush, not that it would matter at the moment. She wasn't expecting anyone but James to be home today. Not to mention Albus, if he ever fucking showed up today. She wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

She saw James' door wide open. It was strange to Lily, before remembering how Teddy had magically kept the door at the spot where it's now. It was that, or the older wizard taking the door out completely. She's secretly relieved to see that it was only James' door that had this bloody charm on it.

Her eldest brother was on his bed, curled up in on himself. Lily couldn't tell if he was asleep or not since his comforter was covering his head. She wouldn't risk waking him up though, so she walked down the stairs and entered the kitchen.

She looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was barely noon. Brilliant.

Walking over to the sink, she grabbed the kettle and filled it up with water. She placed the kettle on one the burners on the stove and turned it on.

Her fingers drummed on the counter until she heard a knock at the door. Bloody Hell, it was too early for her to be dealing with people. Hopefully, it wasn't Ian, she wasn't ready to see him yet. He didn't know about her being pregnant, and it would probably be the best if he didn't know. Not yet at least. At least, that's what Lily tells herself as she opens the front door.

Luckily for Lily, it's not Ian, but a witch wearing healer robes. Her dark hair's pinned back, but the redhead could see that her hair had silver tips at the end.

"Hello, are you Lily?" The healer asked, looking at the teenager. Her smile was wide, but not too wide that it would be rather uncomfortable to look at.

"Yes, who are you?" Lily questioned, making sure to keep only her head visible while keeping the rest of her hidden behind the door.

"My name's Del, your brother told me about your," the healer leaned in closer and started to whisper. "Little issue," she leaned back and lightly bowed her head. "He spoke to me this morning about your problem and asked if I could come over when your parents weren't here."

Lily frowned. "And where did he hear about you?"

"From a mutual contact, Draco Malfoy," Del stated. "Often, we work together when a witch has a little issue that needs to be taken care of, but has no idea on what to do, and how to handle it." She smiled again as she kept both of her hands on her medicinal bag. "If you'll let me, I can make sure that both you and the little one are in good condition and then we can go over your options."

"All I want are the potions to get rid of it," Lily stated, frowning at the witch in front of her.

"Yes, but we need to know how far along you are," the healer said, not irked by the girl's blunt attitude. "Without proper care, it could cause problems for you in the future. The current development of the fetus will determine the number of potions you will need."

Lily frowned, but believed the healer and let her in. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting for it all to be...to be so complicated."

Del waved the Potter girl off. "It's not trouble, honestly. Now, let's get started."

Lily looked down at the vial of potion in her hands. Del had left after a quick examination, saying that only one potion would be needed for her. Lily was relieved by this. She didn't want to take a bunch of potions. This also meant that she wasn't too far along, another plus for the Potter girl.

She stood inside the bathroom. The door was closed, but not locked. She wouldn't be in here too long. She'd have complete privacy in here, versus anywhere else in the house.

The kettle was whistling loudly, she would get that once she was done though.

Looking up at where the mirror once hung, Lily smiled at the wall as though she was looking at her own reflection. She unscrewed the top of the vial, and without any hesitation, she brought the red colored potion to her lips and drank it all in one gulp.

Grimacing at the sour taste, she placed the empty vial on the little shelf next to the sink that held their toothbrushes, washcloths and other little toiletries.

She clenched her fingers around the sink as she started to breathe heavily. This was normal, Lilly believed as she looked at the differently shaded paint on the wall. The mirror was once there before her brother smashed it with her fists.

Gulping, Lily started to massage her throat, which started to tighten. This was normal, it had to be. Her breathing became heavier, but at the same ragged as she started coughing. The whistling from the kettle was getting louder as Lily spat out blood.

If her face wasn't already pale, it would have done so the moment the blood hit the sink.

Fuck, she wanted to say, but couldn't. Her coughing continued until it stopped completely. Lily crashed to the ground as she struggled to breathe.

This wasn't normal, Lily had to force herself to realize as the door swung open. She didn't see who it was though as everything faded away just seconds later. Hopefully, it was James. He'd help her, after all, she had helped in the past, didn't she?

Fuck, how the tables turn.

The whistling from the kettle was driving James bloody mad, well more bloody mad than he normally is.

"Fuck it," James muttered as he threw his covers off from over his head. He was wearing a pair of dark grey joggers and a dark navy long-sleeved shirt, something Lily had given him yesterday when Teddy forced him to shower.

He got out of his bed and stalked out of his room, only to stop when he saw that the bathroom door was closed. He could hear Lily hacking on the other side. He was going to leave, but then the coughing instantly stopped, and for some reason, it worried him.

Not caring to knock, the 19-year-old opened the door harsher than he had intended but stopped thinking about that the moment he saw his little sister on the ground. Blood was covering her mouth and her eyes were open, but she wasn't there. She was looking at him, but she wasn't.

Blood drained from James' face as he dropped to his knees, taking Lily in his arms. Blood continued to come out of her mouth but she didn't appear to be choking on it, as far as James knew at least.

"Lily? Lily, come on," he tapped her cheeks, tempted to hit her with a bit more force before shaking the thought off. "Lily!"

Nothing, he receives no answer. He presses his fingers up against her neck, her pulse is weak. Far too weak for his liking.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

With some difficulty, he scoops her up into his arms and shakily stands. He runs as fast as he can down the stairs, careful not to injure his sister as he rushes towards the front door.

He tears the door open and walks forward, only for him and his sister to be thrown back. James crashes into the ground, with his possibly dying sister on top of him.

"Fuck!" He yells out with a strained voice. He struggles but manages to get off the floor with his sister barely in his arms. He looks at the door, wondering why they can't pass through it before remembering Lily's punishment. She can't leave the fucking house.

Fuck. The young man saw the fireplace and half-dragged his sister over towards it. Merlin, this better fucking work.

Grabbing a handful of Floo powder after starting a fire with the matches that were on the mantle next to the green powder, James threw it into the flames and watched as it turned green.

"Harry Potter!"

James watched as his father's face appeared in the green fire.

"James-

"Lily's injured!" James exclaimed before his father could say anything else. "You need to lift this bloody charm that's keeping her here or else she's going to-

The flames suddenly went out and James heard a loud cracking sound. Turning around, he saw his father rushing forward towards him and Lily.

Without saying anything, Harry disapparated with Lily in his arms, leaving James on the ground in the sitting room.

The whistling from the kettle was still going when James dragged himself into the kitchen.

James stared at the kettle for what seemed like ages, but in reality, was only for a fair few minutes. Without anything else running through his head, he grabbed the kettle by its metal sides. He hissed in pain as the kettle burned his hands. He threw it across the room in anger. Or was it anguish? James didn't know.

He let himself drop to the ground as he started to sob. Not because of the hot kettle, but because he hadn't been quick enough. He didn't even want to get out of bed, and he only did so because of the fucking kettle.

He shouldn't have been in bed, but he had been. His sister shouldn't have been on the ground, suffering from Merlin-knows-what, but she had been.

He looked at his trembling hands. There were fresh blisters on his palms and finger and blood. Lily's blood.

Clenching his fists despite the pain, he didn't react as he punched himself in the face.

"Run away from it all."

He didn't care as he did it again.

"Never look back."

It's his fault, he thought as he punched himself again.

"Just you..."

He didn't care that more blood started seeping between his fingers and ran down his face without anything to stop it.

"James-What the fuck!"

He simply punched himself again, and again, and again.

"I don't know where Li-James?"

He continued even when he started to feel tired. He didn't want to sleep though, he just wanted to punch himself.

"James!"

He didn't stop doing what he was doing. Not until someone made a grab for his wrists.

"Stop it, James! You're hurting yourself!"

James tried pulling his wrists back, but everything stopped for him all of a sudden. He could barely see anything, and nothing made any sense, not at that moment. He didn't react when someone wrapped their arms around him. He didn't care as the person started to cry. He simply pressed his face into the person's neck and cried until he felt nothing as everything faded away.

So, what do you think?

I know there might be some mistakes, so I apologize.

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Until next time...