Chapter 57

Alex could only watch as the psychotic rage took over his younger twin.

"No..." he gasped, coughing blood up.

He raised a hand, reaching towards Harry.

"S-stop it, Harry," he could barely speak without coughing up blood.

"Alex!" he heard Hermione's voice.

Someone knelt down beside him. Alex weakly turned his head over.

"You're going to be okay, Alex. I'm going to help you!" Hermione said, tears in her eyes.

"Why? I'm your enemy," Alex said weakly.

"You're still my friend. You may've never seen me as a friend, but I did. Friends help friends, all right?!" Hermione exclaimed, leaving no room for argument.

Hermione waved her wand over him.

"Vulnera Sanentur," she said.

As she repeated the song-like incantation, Alex could feel his wounds slowly closing. He felt a little lightheaded from the blood loss, but the spell was working. Several moments later, the cuts were closed.

"Don't sit up just yet. You need to rest for a little while," Hermione said, placing a hand on his chest to prevent him from getting up.

"No, I have to stop Harry," Alex said.

"Alex, you just had a near death experience. You can't just get up," Hermione said. "Besides...Harry's too far gone. I don't think anyone can get through to him at this point."

"You're wrong," Alex said. "Harry's been like this before, when we were younger."

"He's not even acting human anymore," Hermione said. "Are you saying you've dealt with this before? How?"

"When he's provoked enough, Harry will go into a psychotic rage. Nothing can stop him, not even if you fling a dozen curses or spells at him," Alex said. "But I discovered I can calm him down by through my voice and touch. Most of the time, I'm able to calm him down before he goes into the psychotic rage."

"How? And why?"

"Harry...he was always attached to me when we were only children," Alex said. "When he learned something new, he would run to me and tell me about it. He used to run to our father, but he stopped doing that when we were five years old. Instead he told me everything; he could never keep anything from me. Our father tried to keep us separated since he wanted me as his heir and not to always be paying attention to Harry, but Harry always found a way, so our father just gave up, especially after he realized how talented Harry was at potions."

Alex coughed a little, wiping blood from his chin.

"Then Harry grew obsessed with experimentation. He experimented on himself a lot, turning parts of his body into animal parts. His claws, eyes, teeth, muscles; the more he experimented, he also grew more mentally unstable. His mind is on a delicate balance and anything can make him snap."

"So, with all those experiments, he grew more unstable and insane, but in the process, he also grew more attached to you. You're what grounds him, keeps him sane," Hermione said, understanding.

"Yeah, at least partially; his unstable mind also has to do with our father continuously casting the torture curse on him when we were children." Alex said. "I can't abandon him now, Hermione. I'm...sorry for betraying you, but right now, you have to help me stop Harry. I'll never ask for anything else, just please...please help me."

Hermione bit her lip and nodded.

"I'll help you, Alex," she said. "Even if it was just for a mission, I do have good memories with you. You were always a good friend to me."

Hermione helped him up, supporting his weight.

"Damn it, it'll be harder than I thought it would be," Alex said, gazing towards where his twin was ruthlessly fighting against Eric.

"Eric's exhausted. He won't last much longer," Hermione said. "Come on, we have to hurry before Eric gets killed."

Alex nodded and they walked forward. Alex, still recovering from the massive blood loss, stumbled a little, his feet a little uncoordinated. Hermione steadied him.

"Save your strength, Alex; I'll get you there," Hermione muttered to him. "You know...you're a good brother."

Alex huffed humorlessly.

"I'm far from a good brother. I've never truly known how to express my emotions." he said. "Sometimes, I end up letting them get the better of me and I do something terrible to Harry. I almost strangled him to death once, all the way before first year started. I've also cursed him a couple times, all because I was annoyed at him."

"And yet, despite all that, he still adores you," Hermione said. "You've changed over the years though. You're more mellow now and Harry...well, he's something else."

"Yeah," Alex snorted. "Several years ago, if he had asked me to do something that was even remotely hinted to be an order, I would've cursed him. But now?"

Alex smiled slightly.

"I owe him a lot. He's saved my life many times with his crazy experimentations, like his healing potion. I would follow him anywhere now; he's my little brother after all. But he can be pretty reckless sometimes, so I have to clean up his mess. Nobody else will." he said. "I've always denied caring for him, but people always seem to see right through me."

"That's because you're always fussing over him." Hermione said, smiling slightly. "Whenever you think nobody's looking, you glance over at him to make sure he's all right. It's no wonder people can see so clearly that you care about him. It's the same with him too, probably why he invented that healing potion too."

"Never really thought about it like that," Alex muttered. "But then, I was the first to know about that potion and the first one besides him to use it after I got impaled on a piece of wood."

They looked up at the battle. Eric had been blasted into a rock, smashing right through it. Dumbledore was stalling Harry for as long as possible, but he was quickly tiring. Lily and James were heavily injured with cuts and burns. Harry only seemed to get stronger as his psychotic rage took more control over him.

"Damn it," Hermione growled. "Alex, you need to get his attention right now and calm him down! Sorry about this, but I'm just going to drag you the rest of the way. It'll be quicker that way."

"That's fine," Alex said, wincing in pain.

Harry flung Dumbledore aside and lunged forward, his claws aimed to rip out Eric's throat. Hermione cursed even more and hurriedly dragged him over while Alex took a deep breath, gathering all of his strength.

"Harry!"