Reader discretion is advised.

This story means a great deal to me on a personal level. Writing it has sustained me through some hard times. If you are enjoying please consider reviewing. If you don't like something please let me know why. Either way this is a major turning point in the story. Hope you enjoy.


Voice of Evil, Visions of Death

A chill gripped Al's small frame, shaking it violently as an alien laugh sprang from his lips.

"You've lost old man!"

The voice that came from Al's mouth was definitely not his own. It was too cold and malign to ever have belonged to Al. The second it started Harry froze in shock.

"NO!" Al's father screamed horrified. "YOU ARE DEAD!"

"My soul spent nearly twenty years inside you savior's head Dumbledore, did you not think a human horcrux would be any different? That flesh and blood would be different? Did you not conceive what could have gone wrong?" The voice continued mockingly as every one stared wide-eyed at Al. Every word he spoke caused black ash and hot embers to spew from his mouth. The veins throughout his body turned bright red, as though fire flowed inside of them.

"FOOL! My blood lives not only in my son, but in his as well! This kind, loving, misunderstood child has already cultivated the fear of his entire family! They will scorn him and one day they will try to kill him! When his family has abandoned him there will be only one thing that remains. And then… When Scorpius Malfoy lies dead! and Albus loses that last person who loves him, cherishes him. When he watches his closest companion, he who had been named brother, slip from his fingers in a pool of blood and tears, I will come. When Scorpius Malfoy is dead, and Albus goes mad with grief! Then and only then will I steal his mind and with it his life! So you see Dumbledore, Harry's victory was meaningless. I will claim his son's body as my own. And should I fail… there is always the girl… I may have been gone for more than twenty years but now the only thing standing in my way will soon be dead..."

The voice stopped suddenly when I made contact. It was like falling into a pool of half frozen ice water. All I could think about was how cold Albus must have been with something like that inside him. So I did the only thing I ever seemed capable of doing for Al. I hugged him and the voice stopped. What else was I supposed to do?

As soon as I did, Albus collapsed in my arms. Harry and Ginny rushed over through the crumbled barrier. As did everyone but James.

"Scorpius! He's going to kill you! I have to stop him! Scorpius where are you?" Al asked crazily looking blindly around in the air. He couldn't see! He couldn't see!

"Shhh shh shhh... Al. I'm here! Al I'm safe! Lily and your mum and Dad and everybody are right here! We're all ok!" I said cradling the frightened mass.

"It all started with Hugo. That must have been it. James!" Al screamed "Please James don't leave us! If you leave us we'll die! … aunt Hermione we'll die! Hugo wasn't our fault! You know we wouldn't do that! He was my cousin! Please I love you, why would you do this?" Al asked crying blindly into nothingness.

Al cried out again and again, sweat coating his soft skin. Nobody could believe what we were hearing. The future.

"You wouldn't! Get away from him! I WILL KILL YOU ALL IF YOU TOUCH HIM! If you lay one finger on Scor, I will burn you away into naught but dust and ASH! Hurt him and not even your souls will survive my flames! WE ARE THE SEVENTH FONT! MY FIRE WILL BURN THE WORLD AWAY!" Al screamed hoarsely into the air, igniting the surrounding trees. He couldn't hear our pleas or reassurances. He couldn't feel my arms around him. Al grew very quiet before he started to speak again. That was when the real horror started…

"Scorpius…? Dad, Scorpius isn't moving… why... isn't he... moving? Scor…? Get up… You have to get up." Al whimpered, shaking limply at the air in front of him. "We need to go... you need... to ... get... up."

"We just ... we just passed Warlock quals… we're the youngest wizards in history to do that… your dad... he... he invited us to celebrate in Japan… You have to get up. I mean… we just figured out this stupid telepathy thing right… so why can't I hear your thoughts anymore…? I can't... hear ... anything... Scor. Why aren't you moving!?" Al shrieked uncontrollably. "WHY!"

"Dad! don't just stand there! Help me! Help me get him up! Someone find Mr. Malfoy! Someone has to help me get him up! Please! Please! NO! We can't go without him! Scor you have to get up! I won't leave you! I love you more than anything in this world you stupid snake! Do you hear me!? More than anything! How could you leave me like this, you selfish SHIT!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was so terrified by what Al was saying. He wouldn't stop screaming my name, telling me to move, that my future was for him to watch me die in his arms. I was trembling violently, unable to tell any longer whether it was myself or Al.

"You can't be this cold. Remember Scor? We got you better! They tortured you for days! Mad aunt Hermione made me watch every second, but I saved you. Remember? I killed every ministry dog that hurt you! I burned whitehall to the ground for you!"

"Al please wake up! We're here Al! I'm here. I promise."

"I saved you... so... why... can't... I... hear... your thoughts? See... see... all these scars? I pulled them right off of your skin! I healed you with forgotten magic and took all of your pain onto myself! Every stab! Every burn! I saved you and we are going to Japan with your Dad for hols so why aren't you MOVING!" AL SCREAMED to the heavens, shaking the very air with his voice.

Nobody could get him to stop. The sobs were so powerful they must have come from someone who had known years of madness and cruelty. Some of the adults had rushed the children inside but I couldn't tell who had moved away. It only grew worse. I couldn't breath either. Years of the future unveiled. Death… torture…darkness.

"Dad? We ... we... have... to... we have to help him." Al barked towards an invisible figure.

"Why... am I... wet? What? Why… ? Soo much… Why? Why… is there so much… blood? I… I don't… I don't understand? I don't… He … is never ... this pale. In the… years I've… I've know him… he has… never been… this… pale." Al was sobbing so uncontrollably that he could barely breathe or speak. I could no longer tell what were gasps for air or pleas for help.

"NO! NO! let go! I'm not going! He ... he ... can't leave me! Scor ... isn't ... a coward. Why ... why would he... leave us? Why would he leave me! He promised!" Al whined, pleaded, begged.

"He… he told me… he… told me... he loved me too. He kissed... me... promised me... forever... so how… how... HOW CAN HE BE DEAD?!" His voice was completely raw, as though he had swallowed sand, swallowed glass, swallowed death. I was going to be sick. I could taste the bile rising from my gut.

Fire and lighting flashed from everywhere around us. The sky itself was awash in red roiling flame.

Suddenly he burst out into frenzied laughter, cackling like a maniac. I couldn't understand this kind of madness; It was alien and horrifying. I was crying, so much that I couldn't see. The world was coming apart.

"You're messing with me... right Scor? You're taking the piss right?" Al offered still half laughing. "Because its not funny anymore. ITS NOT FUCKING FUNNY!" There were tears of blood streaming down his face. He looked like something inside of his mind had shattered completely and utterly. He looked like he would never again be Al. As if his love and very nature had been twisted into something so black and foul as to be unrecognizable. He was entirely beyond repair.

"I'M RIGHT HERE!"

"I am… the most powerful wizard… that has... ever... existed… and you mean to tell me... that I couldn't... stop this? Ooooh! I KNOW DAD! I'll bring him back!" Al squeaked excitedly. He was almost… giddy. There was madness lit deeply in his eyes, like dancing flames in the deep dark void. To even suggest resurrecting me...

"Its quite simple." Al chuckled. "I'll trade my soul for his! Blood for blood, Life for Life! I am a Peverell, I know how to breach the archway! I've done it before. I will wrench his soul back from the other side" Al shot up towards the invisible form of his father. His wicked smile seemed so twisted against the drying blood on his face. The ruby tear tracks were too frightening to look at without shivering. He took something from his pocket then and raised it high into the air, as though he were proud of its power, as though he were elated by its presence.

"The stone, we found it in the forest. Dad all I need is to use it as a catalyst." Al continued wildly, frantically, beyond saving, beyond the light of life itself. All I could do was pin his arms at his sides so his flailing couldn't harm himself. Nobody could think to save him from his own mind. Nobody knew how. All I could do was hold him tightly. It was all i could ever do.

"Dad I already know how this works, just help me draw the circle! If I have to burn London to the ground, if i have to destroy all of Europe, If I have to drain the world dry of every last ounce of life, I will bring him back! I won't live without him…no matter the price. I will have him back!"

All of a sudden there was silence, except for the sobs and crackling fires. It looked like finally the worst had passed.

"Dad… ? What are you…?" Al asked tilting his head, sobs pausing only slightly enough to make way for utter confusion. His face went from confused to terrified, contorting in ways I didn't imagine were possible.

"Dad?" He gulped. "Why are you pointing your wand at me? I don't… I don't understand…"

"What do you mean 'you have to'? … Why are you… looking at me like that…? Dad? Why are you …"

The pause was long enough for Al's face to fall into horrified understanding, with the singular exception of his beautiful moss green eyes. They grew as wide as saucers.

"Scor—"

"—AVADA!"

Al began convulsing, flailing, constricting on himself before the words were finished. He was crying out in pain, clutching at me wildly before finally bursting into flame himself. His eyes were white and empty, his skin blistered and cracked. I held him despite the fire, despite his writhing, despite the horrible sounds.

Al's final scream was like ice in my veins. The cry of a broken soul. The wail of lost love. The shriek of carrion crows gorging their fill on the cold corpses of war. The bleat of a mother losing her only babe to the vicious jaws of winter hunger. The yelps of the jackals tearing into the flesh of the living. The bone chilling howl that calls only upon the breaking of the world itself.

"Stupefy!" I sobbed through heavy tears. It was the only thing I could think to stop it.