Chapter 3: Guns, Plans, and Bottles of Wine

(Albus)

I didn't exactly know what to do. I mean what do you do when someone has a gun to your head?

I thought about kicking him in the shin, something I might've done last year to prove I'm brave, that I'm a true Gryffindor. But dating Cassy had proved to me that I didn't need to be a "brave" idiot for people to like me.

Everyone in the room was frozen. No one moved a muscle.

"Did you not hear him?" asked a different man that I couldn't see. "He said to hand over your wands."

The man holding me reached into my pocket. He grabbed my wand and tossed it to the other guy.

"See, Albus did it," the man who collected my wand pointed out. "Now I'll point to you and then you go to the room I direct you to, understand?" Nobody moved. "Let's start with the famous Harry Potter."

I couldn't see my father from this angle. I wanted to turn my head but I couldn't. I was too aware of the gun on trained on me.

I heard footsteps and then a door opening. "There we go. Your turn, Ginny Potter."

And he kept calling people. Sending them to a room that I couldn't see. I assumed there had to be at least three men. One holding the gun to my head, the one collecting wands, and another directing people to the rooms. Perhaps more.

Finally they had called all the adults and only kids were left.

"James Potter," the man called.

James didn't move.

"Did you hear me, James?" asked the man. "I said hand over your wand. Now."

Do it, James, do it. I told my brother in his mind.

Albus, are you okay? I could tell he was focusing really hard to communicate these words.

James, I am fine. Just tell me what he's doing, I can't see.

"James Potter hand over your wand now!"

And then James made a very stupid decision. "Expelliarmus!"

The spell hit the man holding me. And it had absolutely no effect.

"You didn't obey my orders," the man said. He was angry. Very angry.

He shot me.

Quite a few things happened at once. Right before the bullet was shot James handed over his wand. I heard a slapping sound and Cassidy shouting "You idiot!" presumably at James. Then I felt the pain. I had been shot in my foot.

Albus, are you okay? James said in my head.

Yeah, it doesn't even hurt that much, I said doing my best to ignore the pain.

I had definitely lied. My foot hurt a lot. In fact it hurt so much that I had pretty much missed all the names that were called after James'. I was only brought back to reality when the man holding me let go.

"Move it, Potter," the man said poking me in the back with his gun.

For some reason I felt brave. Maybe it was the pain driving me insane of maybe I just felt like following James' example. But whatever the reason I said something incredibly stupid that probably saved my life. " How do you expect me to move when you shot my foot?"

"What?" the man snapped. "Just limp or something."

But I didn't. I refused to move and so he carried me. And as he did I formed a plan in my mind. It was stupid, it probably wouldn't work, but it made me feel safer to know that I was trying. If I was going down, at least I was going down fighting.

The man led me into a room. In there were all the kids who attended the wedding.

Automatically I looked for our wands. I saw them on a table next to the man- no men, there was two of them. The table also had bottles of wine on it. I figured it must've been a store room.

Then I noticed all my cousins and friends. James was in the corner with his heads in hands whispering quietly to Alice and Fred. Lily, Liam, Hugo, Lucy and Roxanne were off to the side next to Molly and Dominique who were trying to console them. Rose was with Luke, Thomas and Alec, Finnegan trying to stop a distraught Dylan Corner from crying. Emily and Katie Thomas were huddled together with Zack and Theo Finnegan. Jace Corner and Cassidy were both pacing the room muttering to themselves.

All these kids… they were so young. What kind of people would do this to poor innocent kids?

When the man who had been carrying dropped me onto a chair off to the side Cassidy came running over.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Are you hurt? God, Albus, what did he do to you?"

"I'm hurt. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out. Cassidy I just feel like I might die any second."

After making sure the men's backs were turned, I stomped down with my foot to show her that I was actually okay.

Cassidy gave me a confused look and I nodded slightly and mouthed the word plan. I didn't know if she really understood my plan but she was a Ravenclaw I was confident in her abilities.

Everyone had looked up when I entered the room. They all made to rush towards me put the man with the gun pointed it at them. "Don't move!" he shouted.

Everyone backed off except James, who had to be dragged back to the corner by Alice and Fred.

"Perhaps we should explain ourselves," the man said. "You see me and my friend have a job to do. We need something and we know one of you have it."

"How do you know it's us?" asked James ignoring the elbow in the rib Alice gave him.

I started groaning hoping my plan would work before James ended up getting himself shot.

"Because we have an eye witness-"

"If you had an eye witness wouldn't he know who has whatever you're looking for?" This time Fred kicked James in a certain spot that made my brother shut up and double over.

The man shrugged. "It's not really any of your business. But anyway we will be interviewing each of you personally until we find out which one of you has the item we're looking for."

"And if we don't?" The stupid question came from Jace.

The man shrugged as if what he was about to say was no big deal, "We kill you."

Albus, are you okay? James asked in my head,

Quit asking me that. I already told you I'm fine.

I know. I'm just… I didn't mean to get you shot.

It's fine. Just try not to get yourself shot too. That won't help anyone.

You know it actually might. I could tell by James' tone of voice that he had a plan and he was thinking hard about it.

I didn't even have to ask what the plan was. You are not risking your life to be a distraction.

Think about it. I distract them and then you attack him from behind. Or get a hold of the wands or-

James, no. I have a plan and it doesn't involve anyone's possible death.

And so I told James my plan. He liked it a lot. Despite the fact that I didn't really trust James' judgment on this type of thing, having his approval made me feel better. Like the plan actually had a twenty percent chance of working appose to five.

"Let's start these interviews," the man decided. "Albus, you can go first."

Time to put my act on. "I… I … I can't… do it," I gasped. I tried to fill my voice with as much pain as possible.

The man with the gun pointed it at me. I gulped in fear but tried to focus on the pain in my foot instead. "Don't do it, Grayson. We need him alive."

That worried me. They needed me alive? For what? But I completely ignored them and just groaned clutching my foot.

"Fine, Potter, we'll deal with you later," Grayson sneered. "James Potter, you're up."

Please don't be reckless. I begged my brother.

James didn't reply to me in my head but he gave me a grin that told me he had heard me and chose to ignore every word I said.

Unfortunately Grayson and the other man didn't leave the room to conduct these "interviews." If they had I could have communicate my plan with Alice who hopefully would've had a better one up her sleeve.

It seemed Grayson had made sure to keep the interviews as far from the other kids as possible. But he didn't seem too worried about me hearing. Probably thought I was in too much pain to focus. Good, it meant my plan was working.

"James, how are you doing today?" asked Grayson.

James cocked his head to the side. "Hmm, being held hostage by Psycho and Crazy on my brother's wedding day? Not my best day no."

I could see the gun twitch in Grayson's hand. It seemed he was the more aggressive one. He was definitely the leader and it seemed the other man was there to keep him under control.

"Don't sass a man with a gun," Grayson warned.

James grinned and put his feet up on the chair next to him. "You'll find that I don't fancy following orders."

I felt nervous and tense. How could my brother be so calm? They had a gun on him. He knew what a gun did, didn't he? That thing would easily kill him.

They kept asking James pointless questions. How old he was, what year he was at Hogwarts, what his favorite activity was. And with each answer James got bolder and bolder. Sometimes Grayson dropped his voice so low I couldn't hear him but James would always respond loudly.

Finally Grayson sighed and turned to his partner. "I'm done with him, can I shot him now?"

James grinned very widely. "You see that's the best part about this. You can't kill us. You need us. You need to know whatever you came here for. So kill one of us, you know none of us will talk and you'll leave here with a guilty conscience and no information."

Grayson looked at his partner for a second and the man nodded. Grayson grinned. "Sit down, boy and be quiet or I'll shot the lovely Miss Longbottom. Now you wouldn't risk her life would you?"

James didn't say anything. Grayson grinned wider. "That's what I thought. Now go sit down."

For once in his life James did as he was told.

I cursed silently. They had found James' weakness. There was nothing he wouldn't do for Alice. And they could use that if they were smart enough.

But instead they just continued to conduct their interviews. They went through everyone. And soon they had actually let people go. They sent everyone away except me, James, Alice, Lily, Hugo, and Jace.

Jace tried very hard to be brave. He did. But once his big brother left he lost it. He was bawling. Right now he was currently being consoled by Alice.

"Do you know why I why you six here?" asked Grayson.

"Cause you're an arse?" came the shaky voice of Jace Corner.

With much effort Grayson ignored Jace's comment. "Because you are all suspects."

The only person who looked alarmed by this was Hugo. Lily was sitting next to him and they were leaning against each other for support. But when they said this Hugo looked like he'd been electrified. His body shook and then he went so still for a minute that I thought he might have passed out. But he moved again seconds later. Besides the look on his face- which I could only tell was not natural because I knew Hugo so well- he was fine.

"Well, let's start with you Hugo, shall we?"

And they interrogated Hugo again. This time they were harsher. Once they even hit him with the butt of the gun. Not enough to make him bleed but enough that James tried to come changing at them. Enough that I wish Grayson and what's his face would burn in hell.

And about three second after I had that thought Grayson's partner fell to the ground.

"What's wrong, Alexander?" asked Grayson abandoning his interrogation and leaning beside his partner.

"It's-it's burning!" shouted the man- Alexander.

This was when James tried to make a move. Grayson pointed the gun in his direction and let a bullet fly. It grazed Jace. Just on his arm, nothing that would kill him. But still enough that it hurt.

Alexander was still on the ground moaning. Grayson stood up and faced Lily, James, Alice and James… which meant his back was to me.

And suddenly I saw my chance. I not sure how I was able to stand up. It didn't matter, I grabbed a bottle of wine off the table and I hit Grayson over the head with it. He fell to the ground clearly knocked out.

I took the gun off him and pointed it at Alexander. It seemed the burning in his arm had stopped because he had gotten up off the ground his hands up in the air.

He really must've been dense. I was a fourteen year old wizard. What made him think that I knew how to control a gun?

But I still used his idiocy to my advantage. "You go tell your friends in the other room to abandon your mission. You give us all our wands back. And then you get the hell out of here and you never come back again, you understand? You disobey my orders and your friend here is going to have more than a headache."

He nodded and scrambled out of the room. I watched him and I gave everyone their wands back. Soon Alexander, Grayson and three other guys who were working with them were gone.

Once we met up with them, I gave the parents their wands back. They gave their respective kids hugs.

"Are you okay, Albus?" asked my father.

It wasn't until then I remembered I got shot in the foot. My dad used a healing spell but it still hurt.

"Let's go back to the burrow and give you a pain killer potion," suggested Ginny.

It sounded like the best idea I heard all day.

(James)

Everyone who was at the wedding went to the Burrow. It was crowded since we had the edition of the Longbottom, the Corners, the Finnegans, and the Thomas' but we made it work.

After they had fixed up Jace and Albus, the parents sent the kids to their rooms so they could have an adult chat.

Of course I wasn't in the room that I shared with Fred. I was with under the Invisibility Cloak spying on the parents.

The adults- including Teddy and Victorie- were seated in the living room. They didn't speak, seemed to be waiting for someone to start the conversation. Finally Uncle Ron took the initiative.

"I don't suppose anyone recognized the men?" he asked glumly.

Aunt Hermione and a few other adults snorted. "Don't you think we would've mentioned that if we had, Ronald?"

Ron shrugged. "Just trying to start an impossible conversation."

"Those men, whoever they were, shot my son," Dad said shakily.

I felt a pang of guilt knowing Albus getting shot was my fault. I had just been trying to protect him. But apparently my brother didn't need any protecting because his plan to act helpless and have Grayson forget about him worked.

As relieved that I was that everyone was safe, a part of me couldn't help but feel like it was supposed to be me. I usually came up with the idiotic plan that ended up working. But this time… it hadn't been me.

I had been distracted and missed a small part of the conversation but the next thing Teddy said brought me out of my own thoughts.

"Do you think those were the men who killed Grandpa Weasley?" he asked tensely. He seemed to be doing his best to stay calm but his hair was turning red at the very ends, something that happened when he was frustrated.

"Teddy, sweetie," Grandma Weasley whispered kindly putting a hand on his shoulder, "Your grandfather died of a heart attack."

Teddy shook her hand of his shoulder. "I'm not a child," he said. "You can tell me the truth."

"Teddy, that is-"

"No, Molly," said George. "It's time he knows the truth. It was never confirmed that Dad was killed that way."

"What happened then?" Teddy urged.

"We don't know," Harry replied. "They can't seem to quite identify it the source of his death. But…"

"But what?"

"Teddy, you have to understand we didn't tell you because we didn't want to give you or the kids any false beliefs."

"Just tell me!"

"There was traces of magic, but also signs of a heart attack. He… he could have been murdered."

Teddy shot upwards his hair began turning completely red but he didn't say anything. He sort of just stood there. And then he sat back down. His hair turned to a sad blue colour.

"I understand," he mumbled.

I didn't. I didn't understand how they could betray us like that. This was proof. Proof that Code murdered Grandpa Weasley. And they didn't tell me?

He was my grandfather, I was closest to him out of the entire family. He would've wanted me to know. But did they care? No. They only cared about themselves. They were just a bunch of selfish pricks who were set out to hurt me in any way possible.

I was about to storm in there. Start mouthing off my parents so bad my mum would wash my mouth out with soap multiple times, but I was grabbed from behind.

"Don't be an idiot," hissed Luke Thomas in my ear.

In all honesty I was surprised it was him who restrained me. Why hadn't Alice came down here to check on me yet? Or Fred?

"Let's just listen to the parents."

"-don't be an idiot, George," Mum was saying. "That's impossible."

"Despite what all of you may think James is not a mental patient," Uncle George was saying angrily. "He wouldn't just make up some stupid story for no reason."

"I'm inclined to agree with George," Uncle Ron said quietly. "Why would James urge us to believe this story if it was just a stupid prank?"

"You don't understand though. I knew the Code family," Dad insisted. "They were good people. Ryan's sister Lauren died saving James' life. His mother was a great person. They are not bad people."

I grabbed Luke's arm and turned around. I couldn't take this anymore. Couldn't take my own parents bad mouthing me. And to know that Code hadn't lied… that his sister's death was actually my fault.

"Hey, James," Luke whispered putting a hand on my shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Do me a favour, Luke," I mumbled fighting back tears.

"Anything, James."

"Get me Alice."

"Okay, but just know that I believe you, and I'm here for you whenever you need me." He gave me a smile and then ran up the stairs.

I put my hands over my ears. I didn't need to listen to my own father trying to convince my Uncles that I had some sort of mental problem. I was sick and tired of people, including my family, accusing me of making up stories. I was not insane and the story I was telling was not made up.

Someone grabbed my arm. Is it weird to say that I knew it was Alice just by the way she touched me? It was like she was the only person in the world who let off a warm feeling of happiness and sunlight wherever she went.

I didn't acknowledge Alice. I was too busy trying my best not to cry.

"James, let's go outside," she whispered in my ear and led me to the door.

Once we were outside and away from the parents she looked at me. But it wasn't just any look, it was a look of concern.

"Don't," I said. "Don't give me that look. I don't need your pity, Alice. I'm fine."

"It's not pity, Jamie," she responded touching my shoulder. "I'm just making sure you're all right."

"I'm-" I began. I was going to say I'm fine, but I changed my mind. There was really no point in lying. Alice knew me inside out. She wouldn't fall for it. "I'm feeling sorry for myself again."

Alice sighed. "Do you want Honest Alice or Reassuring Alice?"

I thought about it for a minute. Alice always told me what I wanted to hear. She knew if she told me what I needed to hear I would lash out. But right now… I was done hiding from the truth. I just nodded but Alice could tell I wanted to hear the truth.

"You need to start being James Potter again," she said.

"I wasn't aware I was anyone else the moment," I replied with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

"James, when we were younger you never thought about yourself. It was too much. And now you think too much about yourself. I'm not going to say not everything's about you, because I know you know that already. I'm going to say stop blaming yourself for everything."

I smiled a little. "Sometimes you are the most helpful person in the world."

Alice smiled. "Only sometimes?"

(Code)

It wasn't fair.

He got to go on living his life, being happy. It's like he didn't even care. He was so full of himself, he couldn't even consider the feelings of others once in his life.

"What are you obsessing over now?" asked my little sister as she sat on the couch and watched me pace.

I just glared at her.

"Ooh let me take a guess… is it getting a girl to go on a date with you? Or whether or not you made the Quidditch team? Or… wait a second," her tone went from very eager to very sarcastic, "You're not a normal teenage boy. The only thing you ever worry about is James Potter."

"Shut up, Claire."

"You know what I find funny?" she said putting her elbows on her knees and resting her head in her hands. "I think it's hilarious that you want revenge against this boy and you've had so many opportunities to kill him but you haven't. For heaven's sake, Ryan, you slept in the same dormitory as him for two years."

"I don't want to kill him. If that was my main goal I would have done it a long time ago. No, I want him to suffer like I did. And once we find the damn wand and give it to you know who I can make that happen."

"Sometimes Ryan you are such an idiot."

"Care to explain why?" I asked though I really didn't care.

"Getting the wand can take who knows how long. It might be years before you could get your revenge that way. But in the mean time you could do something that actually makes sense. Deprive James of what he took from you." When I just stared at my sister blankly she gave a way too exaggerated sigh. "How can you not get this? Kill his sister just like he killed yours."

My sister was an idiot. But sometimes she was an idiot with a great plan.

A/N: So did you enjoy this chapter?

1: What do you think? Any predicts or questions or suggestions PM me or review.

2: So sorry I'm late again but at least it's only a day this time, right? Hopefully updates will be every ten days now. So nest update.. Monday November Tenth.

3: Question of the chapter (which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the chapter): What do you think of Albus right now? I've been developing him a little but I'd really appreciate if you guys had any suggestions to make his character more interesting.

4: I'm not sure if I made it clear enough but Albus' plan was to pretend to make Grayson and Alexander forget about him due to his injury. He was acting like a baby on purpose so that Grayson and Alexander wouldn't hesitate to turn their backs on him. Make sense? Good.

Questions to leave you with: Who were those men? Why were they interviewing the children? Why did Hugo have what seemed to be a mental breakdown? Did Grandpa Weasley really have a heart-attack? How will James deal with this news? Will he take Alice's advice and stop feeling sorry for himself? Will Ryan Code ever get a life and give up on his revenge? Will he follow Claire's advice?

(I'm going to stop doing quotes just from books and expand it to movies, TV shows, and quotes by famous people).

"I know what it's like to be afraid of you own mind," Spencer Reid, Criminal Minds.

-Monkeywoman14