James led his shaking and crying wife away from the portkey chamber, and to one of the lounges in Potter Manor. A confused and slightly angry Charlus followed on, asking questions.

The three Potters had been shaken to death by the encounter with Harry and Holly, who was adopted by the Potters living within the MACUSA. James and Lily had assumed that Harry was a squib, partly from the results of the checks when the boys were babies, and they'd survived Voldemort's attack. When Dumbledore told them they had to protect their family, it justified their decision to send Harry away, and by the time Holly was born, the Potter parents could have kept the young girl, and she could have grown up in the magical world instead of living with her brother, but James and Lily were still spooked by the attack and the need to keep themselves safe and sound from any more Death Eaters out for revenge.

"How can he not be a squib?"

James didn't reply as he cradled his wife to his chest, and let her cry.

"Why did you send her away?" Charlus didn't know Holly's name, he had been reeling from shock that he had a little sister.

"You told me he was a squib!"

James suddenly lost patience. "Charlus, that's enough!" He snapped, his nerves fraying dangerously; he was falling apart from the shock he had sent away his own son, and any plan for making things up with Harry and Holly had gone up in flames. The decision to send both Harry and Holly away had been one that ate at James and Lily, and it had resulted in them being forced to tell lies Harry had died or kept Lily here in the Manor, while she was pregnant so she wouldn't become a target. Not even Remus and Sirius knew about the pregnancy, which made it easier to cover it all up. "Just…shut up!"

Charlus squeaked and took a few steps back. He was used to his parents indulging and spoiling him, and while his mother occasionally stopped him from going too far, his father was the one who encouraged him the most. As a result, it was very rare for James to punish Charlus.

"D-Dad?" He said weakly.

But James was not touched by his son's pleading tone. "Just shut up, Charlus," he whispered tiredly, no longer in the mood to shout. "Go to your room," he sighed, not having the mood to have his only child, it seemed, nearby anymore. "Play games, read, I don't care which, but leave me and your mother alone."

Not giving his son the chance to even respond, James took Lily away and sat her down before he realised Charlus was still there. With a huff of frustration, James took out his wand without thinking about it and banished him from the room. He then locked the door and cast several spells on it, to keep their son - their only son, now, he thought painfully - and to give them some privacy and peace.

Once he was finished, James nearly collapsed as the reality of what happened today, at Gringotts, and now with Charlus, came and slammed into his chest with the full force of a killing curse following sixteen bludgers slamming into his chest and head.

While he had no regrets in taking the Potter family's stance to fight against the Dark Side led by Voldemort, especially after learning of the disgusting acts committed by diseased Death Eaters, some of whom were schoolmates of his at Hogwarts, James did regret the fact he and his wife had gotten involved to the point where they were ruthlessly targeted by the Dark Lord.

Looking back, James wished he had taken his wife and children away from Britain just to save them, and he wished they had gone to the MACUSA so they could start afresh. The MACUSA had made it dangerously clear to the Death Eaters they weren't the pushovers led by Bagnold. No, their zero-tolerance policy towards attacks made their country feared by Dark Wizards since their history was steeped in attacks from inside and outside.

But Lily and James had stayed put. It wasn't until Voldemort attacked him and his family, while Lily used her mastery of runes and her fascination with blood magic to create runes that protected both boys as well as themselves, James wished he had followed the advice of his parents before their deaths.

Not to get involved.

Now it was too late. He and Lily were involved up to their necks, and Charlus was apparently destined to be the one to end Voldemort now he had been marked by the Dark Lord, although neither Potter parent had bothered to inform Dumbledore of the truth of the lightning bolt-shaped scar.

But in the aftermath, Lily and James were just….stunned and horrified by what happened. They had listened to the advice of Dumbledore to protect their family, but when they heard Harry was a squib, they had justified it by saying they were keeping themselves, and Harry safe, but Merlin - it had killed them so much to send their son to Petunia's, but they'd believed that she and Vernon would love the boy as their own.

Clearly, it had never happened, he reflected darkly, and James felt sick as he closed his eyes. In his mind, he conjured the images of Harry and occasionally Holly being slapped around, by that fat piggish oaf.

But Holly…

When it came to sending the girl away, his little girl, James and Lily had only done it to protect her, as there were still Death Eaters running around. But they had always planned to make it up to Holly, and Harry should the need arise. But now they would never get their chance, and James wasn't sure what to do next.

"You shouldn't have done that."

James looked up and found his wife staring at him sadly, her beautiful eyes bloodshot, and reddened. Her voice was low, hoarse. "What?"

"You shouldn't have banished Charlie like that, but we're going to have to tell him the truth, James," Lily explained.

James ran a hand through his hair in a manner that told Lily he was nervous. "I know, but it's not going to be nice."

"None of this is. I still have nightmares of what that thing did when he attacked, going to St Mungo's, taking Harry to my sister's…," Lily's face crumpled, her eyes welling up with tears as she remembered what she had seen from those memories.

Harry and Holly were right, did she really know her own sister?

Lily was tempted to storm Privet Drive and discover what other horrors Harry and Holly had gone through. But she decided not to bother; she wanted nothing more than to make her sister pay for her arrogance and Vernon for his brutality. But she was too shaken by the knowledge Harry and Holly were gone. Lily had always harboured a strong hope the Healer's findings were absolutely wrong, but now she had discovered Harry really was a wizard, that he'd been using advanced wandless magic for years without any effort while most witches and wizards didn't have the means to even use magic like that, Lily was not happy.

She had never wanted to give either of her children up, but she'd felt Harry would be safer in the muggle world. Later, when it came to Holly, Lily had hoped she could keep her baby girl, but James and she had agreed they had to focus on Charlus, and they had to keep him safe. Lily had never thought she could ever hate anything - not even Severus, or Voldemort, or Rookwood as she had done with that damn prophecy, or the destiny hanging over Charlus's head. That was why she and James were determined to give him the best childhood they could muster. They had high hopes that Charlus would end Voldemort, as the Dark Wizard was just too dangerous to live, but they wanted him to be happy. But they knew if Harry had stayed with them, he would have looked on in jealousy.

He would have been envious of Lily, James, and Charlus, who could use and work with magic while he didn't have any himself. He would never go to Hogwarts, and Lily remembered with a jolt that they had cancelled Harry's placement at Hogwarts. Was that one of the reasons why he had decided to contact the MACUSA Potters?

She would not be surprised. But Lily had had high hopes she could have made it up to both of her children, but now it seemed it would never happen. She could not get over the look of loathing in Harry's eyes or the sorrow and anger in Holly's eyes; she hoped both of them would forgive her and James, but she had never forgiven Snape for his actions. In contrast, Holly and Harry had suffered much worse.

Xxxxx

Charlus paced up and down in his bedroom. After he had gotten over his shock over how his own father had just treated him, he had spent a few minutes thinking about Harry and Holly. Charlus was smart enough to admit his parents had lied to him, saying Harry was dead since they had said nothing about him being a squib and he had picked up on that from the confrontation at Gringotts. Charlus had never even seen his sister; he remembered how tense things in the manor were a few years ago, but he had assumed his mother was just getting fat for some reason. His parents never told him anything.

But while he was numb with shock, he was furious. Charlus was a spoilt boy, sheltered and he loved the life he had. Harry and Holly had wrecked that illusion. Turning the blame to where it deserved to be pointed never once entered Charlus's head, not once. It never occurred to him his siblings might be innocent, that they had been forced to do this because of their unhappy lives. All Charlus cared about was himself. It didn't matter to him if Harry and Holly had both been taken to the MACUSA.

All he wanted to do was make them both pay, and he didn't care what he had to do.

One way or another, he was going to make Harry and Holly pay.