Chapter 20: Hatred, Sadness and Dead Bodies

(Code)

I hadn't meant for that to happen. I didn't mean to kill anyone.

"C'mon Ryaaan," Claire said in an annoying begging voice, stretching out the last syllable in my name, "Stop mopping around."

"Stop mopping around, Claire? Really?" I snapped. "If it weren't for you we'd be celebrating!"

Claire sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault you're over sensitive."

"Back off, Claire," I growled menacingly, "I mean it."

My sister shrugged and left the room. I glared at the door she exited through. I hated her. She was an evil, sadistic psychopath. There was no other way to describe her. She enjoyed other people's pain, felt no remorse for the results of her actions and laughed about it afterwards.

I wondered what Lauren would've thought of Claire. They'd never really met as Claire was only a year old when Lauren died. I imagine Lauren would hate our little sister. Perhaps not hate, because Lauren was such a bloody good person that she could ever hate anyone, but she wouldn't like our little sister. In fact she'd probably be terrified of her. I wasn't near as bad as Claire, and Lauren was always trying to convert me into some sort of Saint. It almost worked too, it would've worked, if James didn't kill her.

James. He killed my sister. He drowned her. From that day on I vowed to make James' life hell. I vowed to kill him. But I wasn't like my sister. I didn't want to leave a path of dead bodies behind while I got to James. I wanted to make his life hell, and his life only. But because of my stupid sister, that plan was already ruined. Right now a large family was grieving over the fact that their number had just been cut in half, and it was Claire's fault.

Hugo was probably crying in his room over the loss of Aunts and Uncles. Possibly even his parents; I didn't get the chance to see who died. I'd always liked Hugo. He was just an innocent curious little kid. Wasn't his fault he had a murderer for a cousin. And poor innocent Lucy. Her father had been killed, I'd saw his body on the way out. Both of Roxanne's parents were killed. These kids were thirteen and they'd lost parents, aunts and uncles. Putting more innocent kids through what I went through when my mom died was the last thing I had wanted.

My plan had been simple. I control James through Legilimency, Claire prompts him by giving him the match and gasoline. Then when James woke up, he'd see his childhood home burned to the ground and his family injured- key word being injured. They would've gone to St Mungo's and got their injuries sorted out just fine with a little bit of magic. But James would've felt bad. He would've realised he'd almost killed his family. That was all. I just wanted James to feel bad. Simple. Instead Claire took advantage of me and James. She gave him his wand! Then told him the Fiendfyre spell. And why, you ask? So she could have fun. Her words. "Aw, c'mon, Ryan, I was just having a little fun!"

How could you call dead bodies fun? How could you call death fun? No, Lauren would've hated her. Lauren, the dictionary definition of good, would've hated that little girl. I doubted she even felt any remorse at Lauren's death. I was in it for justice, Claire was in it to cause as much chaos and pain as possible.

And because she was who she was, I hadn't revealed what I'd discovered to her. For years she, my father and I had been searching for ways to resurrect Voldemort. Finally we found it. The Valley of Fear. We were able to communicate with Voldemort but he gave us one condition if we wanted him to rise, get the Elder Wand. So we searched. And searched. And finally we found it, or rather Lucius found it. And then he lost it. He couldn't remember anything except that one of the Weasleys had something to do with it. First we crashed Teddy and Victorie's wedding and had some of Father's friends interrogate the Weasleys/Potters. After that we realised it was Hugo whom had something to do with the disappearance of the Elder wand. Claire's first idea had been to torture the information out of Hugo. But I didn't want to hurt anyone, so I suggested going through his memories instead. Unlike with James, Albus and Lily, Hugo and I don't have a telepathically bond. So I decided to use Legilimency and Mens-Destruens. And in my most recent trip into Hugo's head I found the thing we'd been looking for. I'd found the Elder Wand. When Lucius went to take the wand from Dumbledore's grave, Hugo discovered him and disarmed him. The wand had gotten trampled on and buried a little underground. All I'd have to do is go to Hogwarts and dig around a little.

Yet, despite having this information I was hesitant to tell Claire. I felt her motives might be different than mine. I needed Voldemort for one reason and one reason only. I had a plan, and I wouldn't let Voldemort get out of hand. I would control him and use him and then kill him. But Claire? After today I didn't know what she'd do. What if she actually wanted Voldemort to rise… like for real? To become a living being again (I won't say human because I think Voldemort is far from that). That's not what I wanted, that's not what I wanted at all.

It was in that moment I realised I was alone. Claire and my father were psychopaths. They weren't going to help me. If I wanted to do this with minimal loss of life than I was going to have to do it myself.

(Albus)

"Please come out." No answer. "James!" Still no answer. "For the love of god James you can't hide out in that room forever," I called through the door.

When we got off the Knight Bus from Hogwarts all we could see was the house in flames. We watched two figures flee the scene and the fire die down, and when the smoke cleared out we saw James standing in the ruins crying over the dead bodies of Mum and Dad.

I still hadn't cried yet. It had already been three hours. I thought I'd have broken down by now but I was still fine. Well, depending on your definition of fine. I was fine in the sense that I hadn't fallen apart. I fine in the sense that somehow I was still whole. But I was really or from fine when you considered all the factors. My parents had just died. Half my aunts and uncles had been killed. My childhood home burned to flames. And the worst part? It was my brother who did it.

I know he hadn't meant to. I know he'd had no choice. But that didn't make it any less painful. It did stop the thoughts running thought my head. The built up rage I felt at my brother for being unable to learn Occlumency. Had he just focused, had he just tried harder this wouldn't have happened. Instead of mourning over our dead family we'd be playing Quidditch and laughing and having fun. Together.

But more than I was mad at James, I was mad at Code. How could he do that? How could he claim he wasn't evil and do that? He said he didn't want to hurt anyone but James! He said he didn't want people to die!

But I didn't say that. I didn't let my feelings show on my face. I kept it all inside. So, yes, I was fine externally, not fine internally. I didn't think any of us would be fine internally ever again.

"Albus."

I turned at the sound of my name. Scorpius and Rose were standing behind me. We'd invited Scorpius to come stay at the burrow with us for the holiday. I bet he was regretting saying yes now.

"Yeah?" I responded to my cousin and my friend. I was almost shocked at how exhausted my voice sounded. As if I hadn't slept in days. As if I'd aged a thousand years in the course of three hours.

"You can't just sit here forever," Rose said logically. She glanced at James' closed door. "He'll come out when he's ready."

"Ready?" I repeated lowering my tone to a whisper so James' couldn't hear through the door. "Ready for what? To face the sad faces of his cousins whose parents he killed? He'll never be ready for that, Rose, not in a million years."

"He didn't kill them," Scorpius argued.

I snorted. "Yeah, try telling him that."

I thought back to when I had first arrived at the Burrow today. It had looked normal. And then suddenly it erupted in flames. Teddy and Fred had both bolted to the house and tried to get inside but the doors were locked. They looked for other exits too, but there weren't any. James had done a thorough job of making sure no one escaped.

There was nothing else we could do but watch the house go up into flames. When we heard the screams everyone rushed towards the house. Teddy literally had to body-bind me and Lily when we heard Dad screaming. When I heard Mum's scream I had already feared the worst- that Dad had been swallowed by the flames because I'd never heard Mum scream like that before.

Both Jacob and Hugo clutched Lily tightly as she sobbed. Fred held onto Roxy tightly as we saw Angelina fall- and not get back up- through the window. Dominique had to hold Molly when Percy's screams echoed through the house.

It seemed like time was going on forever. And endless, pointless warp of screams and sobs and voices yelling for help. Help that would never come.

Teddy tried to open door but the lock was magically secured. It was apparently, impossible to open.

And then suddenly, the screams stopped. The flames died down. And bolting out of the house- or what was left of it- came two figures. Children. I had no doubt in my mind one of them was Code. I would've gone after him if I hadn't still been body-bind. Fred tried to chase after them but Alice held him back.

As suddenly as the flames had stopped the door opened. Apparently whoever stopped the flames, stopped the magic that was keeping the doors locked. Teddy burst inside and we all followed him. The first thing we saw was James. He was standing there looking so utterly lost and defeated that I almost couldn't stand to look at him. In front of James were two bodies. I didn't have to see them- not that I could have anyways because of how badly they were burnt- to know it was my parents.

A fresh wave of sobs took over Lily and Hugo and Jacob led her away. The parents bust in. Everyone sort of just stood still for a minute, not quite sure what to do.

Finally Alice said, in an uncertain tone, "James-"

"I did this," he said his voice barely above a whisper. In his hand was his wand, which he clutched so hard his knuckles turned white. "I did this!"

James stepped to the fireplace, grabbed the floo powder resting on top of the mantle, threw it in the fire and screamed, "Potter House!"

With a sigh, Alice followed James and she too was engulfed by the flames. Everyone was silent after that. No one knew what to do or where to go. There was certainly not much left here. It was a wonder the house was still standing at all. Everything inside it was burnt but although it was missing charred chunks here and there the house continued to stay upright.

Then as if jinxing my thought the house crumbled. A bunch of debris came crashing down. I saw a few of my cousins- Louis, Rose, Roxy, Dom- get hit by it. Teddy and the adults went around and preformed healing charms where they were needed.

"First things first," Teddy said with authority in his voice. "I think we need to get the adults to the hospital."

"Nonsense," Uncle Ron muttered. "There's plenty more to do around here."

"I think it's a good idea, Ronald," Aunt Hermione said softly.

"Glad everyone's I agreement," Teddy said. "I'll handle that. Victorie, Dom, can I ask you to watch after things over here. I have a feeling the Muggle Police might be on their way. I'm sure they saw that fire from Ottery St. Catchpole."

"Do we really have to stay here?" asked Roxanne, her voice barely audible. She sounded so broken, it was so unlike my cousin.

I took a deep breath. It was time I stepped up. "Everyone else can stay at the Potter house. We have plenty of room."

Teddy gave me a grateful smile. "Listen to Al, everyone else can head to the Potter house for now."

And so that's what we had done. When we arrived James was barricaded in his room. Alice was banging on the door, talking to him, trying to gain entry. He refused to let her in. She seemed exhausted and so I told her I'd take over in trying to get him out. So far, after around two hours, I had no success.

I turned to Rose and Scorpius again. "He's never going to forgive himself for that. Not ever."

Scorpius took me by the arm and pulled me up. I tried to resist a little but I was so exhausted I didn't really have it in me.

"James can grieve. He has Alice. When he's ready to talk, she'll be there for him. He'll be all right again, it might just take some time. When he realises no one blames him for this, he'll get over it."

"But that's the thing, Scorpius," I said slowly inching away from the door. "I do blame him. I can't help it. He held the wand, lit the fire that killed our parents. He locked the door to prevent their escape. He-"

"Albus, that wasn't James," Rose said sternly. "That was Code using James' body to do his bidding."

"I… I know."

"Al, you just need to grieve. You're trying to help others when you haven't even helped yourself. Just relax and let it all out."

Relax? No, that was impossible. But I did let it all out. After three and a half hours it really hit me and the tears started flowing.

Three days later nothing had changed. Everyone was still crying, James refused to speak to anyone, even Alice, and our lives were still a total mess.

The adults had come back home now. We were still all at the Potter house because no matter how much we tried to fix it, the Burrow was forever gone. And no one really wanted to leave each other and go to their respective houses.

It was still undecided what was going to happen to me, James, Lily, Roxanne and Fred as the five of us whom lost both our parents. James and Fred were both of age and could technically take care of us, but I doubted the remaining members of the Weasley family would let that happen. We'd find a new family home and all live there during the summers, maybe.

That is if we could ever get James out of his room. He'd magically locked himself in there. It'd been three days and he hadn't come out for food, water or to go to the bathroom. I was beginning to seriously worry about him. Even Alice couldn't get through to him.

And so again I stood outside my brother's door, calling to him, waiting for an answer I knew wouldn't come. The adults had tried to disarm his magical barriers but he'd used a spell the Debilitatus spell, meaning the door could only be unlocked by muggle means and since he'd lock it there was no muggle means to open the door. Fred had tried to pick the lock but James had also used a spell that made the knob too hot to touch.

"James, you're being a coward! Come out and face your problems instead of hiding from them!" I shouted through the door.

I'd tried everything. Sympathy, anger, insults, crying, begging… nothing seemed to work. It was getting me so frustrated I just wanted punch a wall.

…Punch a wall. That was it!

"Fred!" I called at the top of my lungs.

Five minutes later Fred and I stood in the doorway of James' room. Doorframe cracked, door lying in front of us.

"Kicking the door down," James said nodding. "I really should've thought of that."

Fred turned to me. "Help him," he whispered to me. "Please."

Slowly I advanced toward James, half expecting my brother to jinx me. He didn't though, and I sat down next to him on his bed.

"What do you want, Albus?" James asked. "To punch me? To hurt me? To yell at me? To blame me? Go ahead."

"James…" I said slowly. I couldn't even finish my sentence. He looked so broken. Damaged beyond repair. His checks were wet with tears. His normally hazel eyes were bright green, a sign of how unhappy he was. And although I wanted to pretend they weren't there, I could see cuts and bruises on him… he'd hurt himself.

"Don't give me that," he snapped at me, his face suddenly distorting into a snarl. "I don't deserve pity. I don't deserve anything."

"It wasn't you-" I began to say.

"Shut up, Albus!" he screamed at me. "I cast the spell. I locked the doors. I killed our parents, our aunts and uncles. Because of me Lily and Roxanne, barely even teenagers, will spend their lives as orphans. Because of me Mum and Dad will never have a 20th anniversary. Because of me you and Fred won't be able to have a parent walk you down the aisle on your wedding day. Because of me, Al! I did this!"

"No, you didn't," I shouted back, standing up. "James, you were being controlled. Your actions were not voluntary. You didn't do this, Code did."

James looked at me. His green eyes boring into mine. It was like I could see into his soul and all I could see was sadness. "If Code wanted to kill our family he could've easily done that. But he didn't. He had me do it. And whether that was my conscious decision or not, it was my wand who killed them. Their blood's on my hands."

"James-"

But he continued, completely ignoring me, "Code knew that's how I would feel. James shook his head and a sad knowing smile appeared on his face. "He never wanted to kill me. Not right away. He wanted to turn me into what I feared most. He wanted to make my worst nightmares a reality. He'd rather me have to live like this, in my own personal hell, than have me dead."

I didn't really know what to say. James wasn't going to listen to me. No matter how many times I told him it wasn't his fault, it wouldn't change his mind. There wasn't anything I could do and it made me feel like a lousy brother.

"I never told you about the Prophecy," James muttered, his voice barely over a whisper.

"What? What Prophecy?"

James smiled again, but this time it was more haunted like the ghosts of his past come to visit. "In my second year Trelawney spouted her third Prophecy. Beware. A great evil shall see this word. An evil greater than any other faced before. Many will die young Potter boy. Family will die, friends will die. It's up to you, James Potter, to prevent it, to slay the killer. Or to join the destruction and laugh upon the pile of ashes, among the bodies of the deaths you were responsible for. Beware, James Potter, for they can change who you are."

"You remember that," I said, somewhat shocked. Not so much by the fact that my brother memorized the prophecy but the fact that his tone, the depressed empty tone of his voice was scarier than the words themselves. James spoke as he'd already given up, accepted his fate.

"Well, when a crazy old lady tells you you're going to kill people and laugh on a pile of bodies you remember it," James snorted, a sarcastic tone to his voice, but still I could hear the depression and emptiness in his voice.

I smiled. The sarcasm was at least a little positive. "What makes you even think it's true?"

"C'mon, Al, now you're just being stupid. I killed half our family, with fire. And when Code released me from the mind-control I was laughing."

"Well, I'm sure you stopped once you realised what was happening."

"Prophecies aren't a straight out prediction of what's going to happen. It's more of a metaphor. The bodies weren't actually piled on top of each other either, but close enough, right?"

"Yeah, but… but…" I faltered not knowing what else to say.

"But what, Al?" James asked. "What do you want from me?"

"Just stop talking like that!" I demanded. "With that emptiness."

James looked down at the floor. I could see more tears forming in his eyes. "I deserve to sit here and suffer for the rest of eternity. The emptiness you hear in my voice? That final, depressed, finally given up tone that you hear, is not even half of what I feel inside. I was considering going to Azkaban, but the numbness I'd feel there would be better than what I feel right now." The tears began to stream down his face. "There's no feeling on Earth that's worse than this, Albee. None."

The use of my old nickname really got to me. I couldn't even remember the last time he'd called me that. Tears I didn't even know I had left in me pooled in my eyes and began falling.

"I don't know what to do, Albus," James croaked. "I just know that I can't help myself. I just know I don't deserve it."

"You can't live like that, James," I insisted. "I won't let you live like that."

James stood slowly, shaking his head. He put a hand on my head and stroked my hair for a minute. "It's not your decision to make," he said gently. Reluctantly he took his hand off my head and began walking towards the door.

"James," I said desperately.

He paused for a second and turned around. "I'm so, so sorry, Al. I wish things could be different."

"James, please," I tried again.

But my brother was already out the door.

A/N: Here's the chapter! Hope you enjoyed!

1: Damn, one day late! Maybe for some of you who aren't in my time zone it's still June 4th and I'm not late. Here it's the evening of June 5th. So next update will be 13th-17th.

2: Hope this chapter filled in a little information you needed.

3: QotC: If someone murdered the family member or friend you were closest with how would you react? Would you do what Code did? Would you go to the police? Do nothing? Personally I'd probably go to more extremes than Code.

"A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ," John Steinbeck.

-Monkeywoman14

Is Claire truly evil? What will she do next? What would've happened if Code's plan had gone the way he expected? Will Code successfully get the Elder wand? What exactly is he planning? Will the Potter family ever be okay again? Will Albus James and Lily get over the death of their parents? Will Roxanne and Fred get over the deaths of theirs? What will happen to James?