APOV
I sat hunched low in our afternoon Charms classroom, spinning the adamantium orb round and round on the desk before me. In my boredom, I contemplated the faeric runes I'd laser-etched onto its surface, trying to solve the mystery of how to connect the sphere to the Founders' Wall without frying it. Try as I might, even intense rumination on my shield matrix spellwork couldn't drown out the sound of Professor Patil droning on with her lecture.

As the whirring of the glistening orb slowed, I spun it again, injecting new momentum into it. The twelfth time I tried to spin the metal bauble, Rose's hand invaded my space to stop it. She'd reached over from the neighboring desk, wanting to still the annoying thing. I gulped at her impressive glare, suddenly reminded of Aunt Mione, or even Grandma Molly.

"What are you even doing here if you're so unstimulated? We all know you've been exempt from class. Why not take the example of fearless leader number two and tend to other business? Ashera knows you have other work you could get to," she whispered covertly, our position at the back of the class helping to obscure the sound of our chatter.

"It would draw too much attention if we both missed all the same classes at once. Never mind that. Aren't you bored too? You're way past this fifth-year crap yourself. At least in Charms."

"I am... but not so far ahead that this revision isn't helpful. We're not all knowledge sponges like you."

I lay my head on the desk, rolling the orb back and forth between my left and right hands. A stray strand of my chocolate hair drifted in front of my eye, and I paused to regard it against the backdrop of sunlight spilling through stained glass. The dust in the classroom floated through the rays, a glint of all the residual charms magic it had seen giving the particles a nearly iridescent sheen. Then a cloud drifted by outside, and the light that filtered through the window was abruptly extinguished. My attention lapsed, and I blew the hair out of my face, managing to make the breath sound like a deep sigh. Then I looked at my nails and wondered if they'd look cool with a mirrored chrome polish.

Several of my classmates turned back to stare at me, and I suddenly realized why. Professor Patil was standing in the aisle, tapping her foot impatiently.

I shot up quickly, stupidly attempting to seem attentive.

"Give us a look at this trinket that's so consumed your attention, Mr. Potter. Since you seem so utterly uninterested in the sound of my voice."

She stuck out her hand for the object I'd been playing with.

I hesitated for too long, and her waiting palm shifted to try and grab the sphere itself.

As soon as she moved, Uncle Charlie stepped forward from his seat in the corner of the room.

"I apologize, ma'am, but that is a state secret."

My professor startled at the glimmer of the warlock's crimson armor, though I held up my hand for him to sit.

"Until it's finished, it's not. Here, Professor, have a look if you think my distraction is so unwarranted."

She pulled a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles from a chain around her neck and placed them firmly on her nose. Her elegant blue sarong trailed airily over the stone floor as she retreated towards the head of the class.

"Since our resident genius would like to concern himself with... holy Shiva's shit, Albus," she cursed impressively, forgetting herself as she plopped into her own seat. "Protection latticework? Yes... and you've also reinforced the adamantium by... oh, how extraordinary... the spell shield will have a honeycombed dome structure when it... activates... okay, and you've... yes... I see... the beta sheets making up the frame are tied together in layers with alpha helix strands... fortifying spell circles... and something I don't quite understand meant to... reduce brittleness... no... yes... and for dampening force attenuation... Albus... how do I?"

"Just Protego," I offered, watching the Indian woman withdraw her wand. She hadn't looked up once during her analysis of my invention. She turned the sphere this way and that, her tongue pressed against her lip as she focused through a handheld magnifier.

"Okay then, Protego Maxima!" she exclaimed, creating a shield of pure energy around the classroom. It made ordinary defensive magic look like a toddler's finger painting. The magical frame hummed with a resonance that simple protection spells did not—could not. It was as if a surgical-grade three-dimensional printer had machine-constructed a molecular dome, spells woven this way and that into an indestructible backbone. "WOOOOPH. Holy moley. That takes it out of you, doesn't it? I daresay this shield is impenetrable, if not exhausting to maintain for very long."

I watched her sever the spell, content with a quick glimpse to assuage her curiosity. She brought the sparkling object back to me, depositing it into my hand.

"Carry on if you must, Albus, though I'm exempting you from your O.W.L.S. Leave the governors to me. You'll receive an Outstanding with a distinction from Hogwarts."

Everyone either groaned or glared.

"Why does the Slytherin Prince get a pass? For the next two years?"

"The fact that you don't understand even that much, Mr. Frei, bodes ill for the results of your own examination."

"He's off producing music and playing fairy prince to the snobby purebloods! How can he possibly keep up with classes?"

"Keep up, Mr. Frei? I don't think you understand. That shield will, in all likelihood, be installed to defend our country's Ministry itself. It is limited only by its power input. I have six subspecialties in Charms, and I could not replicate—let alone conceive of—creating such an object. You'd be wise to transform your indignation into something a little more grounded, like humility. I'm certain if you asked for some pointers, Albus would be happy to teach you something beyond the care of your own hair."

The class laughed, but I didn't care. I saw the cute Gryffindor boy get flustered on the other side of the aisle, but that too failed to interest me. I merely put my head back onto the desk as Professor Patil's Indian accent resumed in the background. I fought with all my might to stifle another sigh as my thoughts wandered once more.

TWO WEEKS! I whined in the privacy of my mind.

Two weeks had elapsed in which Scor and I were rendered utterly magicless. Two long, exhausting weeks where we had to do every excruciating thing by hand. Not even during my youth—when wandless wizards usually grew up in a similar state of powerlessness—had I been so reliant on others.

It helped that, since I'd led our mission to Japan and word of my fighting prowess against Fate's Guardian had spread, all those within the Order had begun treating me with an elevated level of awe. I'd always been Albus, their fearless leader, but now I was something else—a prince of magic, a true contender to the throne. I seemed almost exclusively attended by either the Scamander twins, Matheus Goyle, Aurora, or any other available rabbit that found themselves in my immediate environs.

Scor insisted he needed no such aid. He hated that his father had taken to assigning him golden mercenaries when we left school grounds for Ministry training or to inspect the progress on the nightclub. To have any of our friends trailing him at school on top of that seemed too much for his ego to handle.

It would be my first real mistake as a leader. My first costly blunder. The first failure that would teach me how real the stakes could be.

If I'd truly known the trauma that little decision would cause, I'd never have allowed Scorpius to operate unguarded. How could I have known Hogwarts could be so dangerous? To this day, it is one of the decisions that has haunted me the most

/!\~(ADULTS ONLY WARNING)~/!\

GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE

/!\~(ADULTS ONLY WARNING)~/!\

No seriously, if you are not 18+ i advise you skip this portion

/!\~(ADULTS ONLY WARNING)~/!\

NO REALLY REALLY. Read at YOUR OWN risk.

SPOV

"Pretty little Scorpius, all alone," cackled Nott.

This didn't look good. Four Slytherin boys, in an enclosed space...

'2:30 PM…' I thought, analyzing the scene in front of me. 'Which means 95% of students will be in class…'

'Likelihood of reinforcements coming to my rescue down in the dungeon passageways... 1.9%.'

"We heard you had a little accident recently," snickered Zabini, thinking himself clever.

'If I sidestep towards the left and keep the wall at my back… maybe, just maybe I can maneuver my way—'

"—The rumor is that you and Al are having trouble using magic…" Martin Bole added, closing in with the others.

I merely kept backing up, edging toward my only escape route when Nott had the foresight to cut me off. He had realized almost immediately what I had been trying to do.

"How long is that going to last, I wonder? You know, you shouldn't walk around so defenselessly while in such a state," shot Blake Carrow. "Someone might hurt you." He shoved me in the chest, knocking me back into the corridor wall.

I was about to string together a collection of curses to throw back at the troll when I froze instead.

All my confidence had drained away when I realized my wand wouldn't work. I had no magic to back me up. If I'd had a sword, or any weapon at all, I could have bested them… but like this, I was helpless. Lily could have ninja'd her way out, but I wasn't as confident in my close-quarters combat abilities as Al or his sister.

"What's wrong? Are you confused about what it is we want?" Nott had fury and disgust blazing in his eyes. "Oh, it's so simple. I want to wreck that pretty little face of yours. I can't stand the sight of it."

"Well, it was never difficult to figure you out, Nott; you are ridiculously simple after all."

He slammed me against the wall, pushing his mouth against mine. He tasted like rotten flesh. The others laughed like hyenas at the display.

I was nearly sick when I felt his tongue probing around. I tried to bite down on it, but the larger boy shoved his arm against my throat. The force of the gesture had me coughing, a pained grimace marring my expression.

COUGH COUGH

"None of that. You see, we can do whatever we want to you now. We know magic has failed you. We know all your little friends are off in class right now. You'd think we'd risk hurting you if there was a chance big bad daddy would ever find out?"

I laughed in his face. "You've been thinking of doing that long then, have you? Planned it all out and everything? I didn't know you liked blokes. You a poof then?" I asked before he punched me in the face. Waves of pain shot through me like needles when his fist made contact.

APOV

Oww... why was my heart racing? My face was starting to tingle too.

"Who can tell me the proper method of creating a superior locking charm..."

SPOV

"You didn't like that then? Is Albus a little gentler when he does it?"

I glared hatefully at the troll, letting his words fall harmlessly against me. Albus was by far gentler… that much was true…

"So defiant. Always so defiant, you Malfoy scum," Nott spat as the other Slytherins circled like vultures.

"Well, defiance isn't that hard when people beneath you so persistently presume to reach above their lowly station… Uhhhhh..." I managed as he punched me in the stomach this time.

The wind rushed out of my lungs like gas shooting out of a high-pressure canister. I was left utterly paralyzed by the sheer force of the blow.

I was breathless.

"I was thinking that we might beat that defiance out of you once and for all? It's only fitting that since you can't use magic, we do this the old-fashioned way. Out of… respect? Maybe if we hurt you enough, you'll start to act as soft and angelic as that face of yours."

This was disgusting; he was tracing the line of my jaw like Rory would, pinning me so that I couldn't turn my face far enough to get away.

Was he merely trying to unnerve me? What game were these idiots playing at? My father was in charge of their trusts. How could they think this was a good idea?

The moment I could breathe again, I turned to look at Nott with a scowl.

"Maybe... or maybe we could train you to act like a troll to fit yours? Oh wait, you already do act like a filthy fucking Cqhhhhhhh..." I tried as his hands closed vice-like around my neck. He was squeezing so hard that I thought my windpipe might simply collapse under the pressure. He had actually lifted me clear off the ground.

My eyes opened wide as I slid upwards along the wall, trying to cough but unable.

I could feel the rough stones pressing sharply into my back as I was dragged against them. Just as the blackness began to fill my vision, he smiled and laughed.

It reminded me of a hyena.

"Don't worry. We aren't quite there yet," he finished, releasing my throat dramatically. I nearly collapsed, coughing and gasping for air as my head swam. I felt wretchedly weak without my magic... "We need to break you twelve different ways first. Then maybe we'll find Albus and do him too."

"If you…" I paused, coughing harder, "touch him... I'll kill you all."

"You what now? You'll cough on us, will you?"

"If my magic doesn't come back in time... I'll have my father do it... you'll all die penniless... in ditches or cells... on fire... tortured… I'm the richest heir in the world… unless you'd forgotten…"

"You'd tell mean old daddy on us? Well, that is assuming we leave you alive or sane enough to speak," he chortled, rubbing my crotch with the palm of his left hand.

"Is that really what you want? You fucking wretch. A little unoriginal, don't you think?" I asked, a little disappointed by the simplicity of their tactics.

"No... I couldn't care less about you that way…"

"You thought it might unnerve me then? You're quite dumber than I thought," I added, about to laugh again. I couldn't escape the hold of the other two boys.

Nott merely grabbed my groin and crushed as hard as he could, summoning within me a pain so blinding, so unrelenting that it clouded through me like a fiery smog.

I squirmed but couldn't escape the tight grip. It was so horrible, and there was absolutely nothing I could do to make it stop. When he finally released me, I fell to the floor in a heap, clutching at myself as my mind and body screamed at me. Zabini and Bole had released my arms the moment I collapsed, allowing my knees to hit the floor with a crack. Why were they doing this? They were taking it too far.

"Maybe we should rape your precious Albus right in front of you. You are both quite helpless right now. Maybe that would finally break you..." I didn't even let him finish his sentence. I used all my energy to tackle him, bashing my fists against his head and face, over and over as soon as I'd gotten him beneath me.

"Touch Al... Try it! I'll KILL YOU!"

Before I knew what had happened, the other boys had wrenched me off of him. Carrow had hit me in the side of my face with the brick he'd brought with him...

My sight went foggy in my left eye as everything wheeled and spun around me...

Electronic ringing...

Swimming…

PAIN.

Little tendrils of shadowy purple lines danced like electricity in the darkened window of my vision.

"I'm going to teach you a fucking lesson, you filthy blood traitor. Zabini, Carrow, stand him up. Now!" Nott screamed, with blood dripping from a cut on his brow. He extended my left arm then, grabbing both ends in a vice-like grip. He seemed to pause momentarily... as though he weren't sure this was a line he was willing to cross. My head still rang from the blow I'd received. It was like the world itself was humming… the air and light vibrating angrily.

I managed a smile... although I didn't know how... feeling the blood trickle over and down my lips as it began to drip onto the floor.

"Go on! You sack of shit!" I yelled as he twisted and snapped the appendage at the elbow...

I...

Red…

Seventy-three decibels...

Nnnnhhhaaaaa...

Storm clouds...

FIRE…

STOP IT!

Please...

So much white...

I could...

See…

White bone...

Sticking out of my skin...

"PLEASE!" I squealed, forgetting my courage and pride. I had squealed like a piglet. a piglet primed for the slaughter. Though in truth my face still hurt more than the broken arm. And my vision... my eye… was it gone?

'I can't see…'

"Begging... that's a good start... we'll know you mean it when you start thanking us for this instead..."

He grabbed the hand of my other arm...

"One..." He started, pinching my pinky with two of his fingers. He pressed it back slowly, farther and farther until I heard it snap...

"AHHHHHHHHHH..." I screamed into the corridor louder than I thought possible...

I was crying...

so loudly...

somebody help me!

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

"Two..." He continued with a smile, snapping my ring finger like a twig...

"NO! NO! HAHAHAHAHAH..."

I don't know what possessed me to laugh through the tears... somehow I did though…

He looked at me then, ugly and angry.

"Three and four!" he counted, dissatisfied by my response, breaking my middle and index fingers at the same time.

NO STOP!

I was sobbing and whimpering so badly that I myself didn't know what I was saying. I nearly collapsed again, and would have had they not been holding me up limply.

I gurgled through the pain, wanting to die. I wanted it to stop... anything for it to stop. I almost thanked him then, thinking it might end the pain.

"You want to say something? Go on..." He paused then, waiting for me to catch my breath.

I looked wearily at him... managing another defiant smile. For Al... for my Father... I am a Malfoy and we do not BEG!

"I just... huff... thought i'd... cough... cough... cough... tell you... you're an ugly, FUCKING, troll!" I cried, spitting blood into Notts face.

I prayed they would kill me for it, I prayed for an end, a release from this horror. He smacked me across the cheek, pushing me onto the floor with a rough jerk. The pain I felt when my broken arm smacked against the cold stone nearly sent me into the void. If only it could have been that simple.

My subsequent screams were so loud that they had to spell the corridor silent.

My head was still shaking from the brick that Blake had hit me with... or the fall... I couldn't tell which...

colors were swirling... swirling… nothing was right anymore.

Nott was the one that started kicking me...

one... cough...

two... black...

then Zabini three...

C major... four...

ribs... broken...

Carrow... stomping...

collar bone... fracture...

diaphragm...

five... japan, spring festival... spleen... rupture...

Six… Bole… shin... knee... blood... blood... ocean waves and palm trees...

Seven… to the FACE… ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

AHHHHHHHHH... i couldn't... aloud anymore... even scream… dying…

'i'm dying…' i realized, frightened for one of the only times in my life...

"Are you having fun Malfoy? Should we go get Albus? Have him join in on the fun?"

I... didn't... energy enough... to defy anymore... tried... pleading... but only... came out... as a girgle...

bubbly.. bloody.. bubbles... frothing at my mouth…

"Al… help… me…" i managed, turning my head... to the side...

blood spittle... dripping down... chin... only could see... one eye... left broken... or gone... nose shattered... everything was screaming...

screaming…

Loud waves... crashing like a storm... swirling… dancing. Seaside gulls cawing over the violent chaos of surf…

Nott descended, whispering in my ear "You're not very pretty now, are you."

He turned towards the others... barking orders.

"Pull down his pants... Now!"

"Excuse me? i'm not about to rape Draco Malfoy' son. Not to mention he could still—"

couldn't... who... spoke... not Nott...

"—DO IT NOW... We have orders from on high. They said to finish it... whichever one we caught first… break their minds and their bodies. Do you think I want to do this? Acelin ordered it. It's us or them! Understand! Perhaps you'd like to explain why we failed? He agreed to pay us the full value of our trusts! We have no choice! We'll be free if we do this!"

I felt... shirt rip... then... sound of buckle pulled open… belt off... buttons… zipper, rough jerk… pants and underwear pulled down… skin touching... on skin…

disgust…

moist…

Nhhhhhh… please…. Nhhhh... no...

"This should help you loosen up a little... Crucio!"

"ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!"

The electrical spell wasn't active for long before a shadow... came behind... Nott... raised the discarded brick off the floor…

The shadow brought the brick down on Nott's head… caving it in… it was the last thing I saw before the blackout consumed me.

APOV

"Now under what circumstances is it possible and permissible to charm living organic tissue?" asked Professor Patil.

"Albus let's try and give someone else a chance at answering this time shall we?"

I put my hand down disappointedly, it had been the only question that had interested me until that moment.

Without warning I heard a shriek like a dying pig EXPLODE into my brain. As I sat clutching at my head over the waves of pain that raced through my body, I realized the shriek had been mine. The searing sensation assaulted me like a volcanic eruption.

Everyone had raised their hands to cover their ears, eyes squinting in horrific discomfort.

The sensation bolted me from my seat so fast that I knocked my desk onto the floor, spilling my ink and all of my books with it over the stones of the charms classroom. The roundish vial rolled as if in slow motion as pain became the only truth i recognized.

"CHraji... asa Ji! MESH hesshesh!" I screamed in parseltongue… wincing... "IT BURNS!"

my blood was boiling… my body trying desperately to release magic from inside. The red thread glowed like molten wire the more i struggled.

I continued to flail about… my hands still gripping my head as the sensation swelled and overflowed.

"Albus!"

"Severus?"

"Al!"

"Whats wrong Mr. Potter? Mr. Potter? Mr. POTTER!"

"Scorpius!" I shrieked his name like a mandragora, shattering the glass of the windows for my effort. "He's in pain!"

"How can you know that?" Rose asked…

"I don't... know..."

I didn't finish the sentence. I knew only that I needed to run as fast as possible.

So I did...

I ran from the classroom and down the corridors...

I ran as fast as my tortured limbs could carry me.

I didn't wait for the shifting stairs to realign themselves, I merely vaulted my way across the open spaces or leaped down from landing to landing... ignoring the cuts and scrapes I received as I impacted awkwardly against the hard stone.

It wasn't fast enough.

So i flew.

I used Niime's secret to fly the entire way down to the lowest floor of the castle. All the students in the halls stared in shock as I glided passed. Truthfully I didn't care If i gave away my secret. I could make something up later.

wait I flew? How could I have used that magic? I asked myself through the din of pain and confusion. 'Figure it out later' i cursed to myself, forcing my body to move faster and faster. I followed the flaming red thread that wound through the halls of the castle. The fate tether that would lead me to my idiot. It was glowing so hot I didn't wonder how it wasn't melting the castle floors.

I raced to the lower dungeons, not knowing what id find, questioning my every thought and action. Only instinct pushed me onwards. Like a hunted animal pounding its hooves frantically forward in the wake of gnashing jaws and hungry pursuers.

"Baron... follow me... please its an emergency..." i screeched when i'd spotted my house ghost on the way. I don't know how I was able to shut out the bonebreaking pain that assailed my mind. Every step I took blistered and burned.

Still I ran, and ran... feeling blow after blow land against the veil of my soul bond... punches… now kicks…

I don't know how I made it to the dungeons as fast as I did, but what I discovered there broke me entirely.

I saw them all bent over a half naked Scorpius... a pool of blood spreading from beneath him... I heard someone shout the Cuciartus curse... and my mind snapped...

I saw a bloody brick...

picked it up...

raised it...

came behind...

and SMASHED his head in...

others grabbed me... Baron flew off...

for help?

maybe?

struggling... struggling.

"Nott isn't breathing..."

"Fuck this... nobody was supposed to see us..."

"Zabini get back here you coward!"

"Bole... don't even think of running!"

"SCORPIUS! ARE YOU OK?" I shouted at the limp form, ignoring the others. It didn't even look human anymore... just a bloody mess... but i knew it was him...

My eyes welled with tears when I noticed that Notts pants were down and his grubby dick was hard…

Scorpius's clothes were torn… his ass exposed.

If I thought I had snapped before, I didn't know what I was feeling now.

"Voldemort… Tom wake up! I SUMMON YOU" I ordered loudly.

Rage…

Ire…

Fury…

Wrath…

Ruin…

Hate…

HaTe…

HATE…

"You have whatever freedom you desire… as long as you kill these WORMS for me… save Scorpius… kill them…"

I whispered... losing consciousness and letting the serpent's blood take over.

Voldemort POV

"He's seen us... we have to kill him..."

"Kill Harry Potter's favorite son? Are you insane?"

"What other choice do we have? The Valois demanded it! Acelin's hatred for them is unmatched. Augustin will soon be King of France. We must obey."

"Owe!" The brown haired one squealed, releasing me with a limp push."He burned me… The fucker burned me."

I liked the way he'd squealed… oh the filthy little pig was going to squeal some more. Vile weak creature, too base and wretched to be allowed to live in my presence.

"Fucking KILL HIM! CHkkkkkkk" The sandy haired one started before he began to choke. I tilted my head smiling, rising from the floor with only the strength of my magic and the boy's limitless power. Fate's threat shattered and power flooded into me.

Harry's son was a hundred times more powerful than I had ever been… even I was not so arrogant as to deny it.

"All this time... anger… hatred... what a beautiful thing to feel again. How fitting that it should be the first emotion I should feel in twenty some years."

"He wasn't supposed to have magic!"

"No words, no wand, no movement, this isn't magic... i don't know what it is..." squeaked the black skinned one. It was Blaze's son... hahahahah… the irony.

"Ire... ire... rhymes with FIRE!" I said... setting the boy alight.

I was high off of the hate... such beautiful hate made me crazy. Albus Potter wanted them dead, and it was his body I had borrowed.

So much power… so much beautiful hate! I watched the shrieking boy flail like a demented bird, attempting to take flight until he crashed into a wall at top speed.

"The least I can do is pay Albus back for this moment of freedom. You're next I believe."

This Carrow looked like his mother, i realized.

"No please! We ... we were only following orders..." he whined as I advanced.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA just like a Nazi guard I suppose. Well I am Discount Hitler."

"Please! Marvolo told us the valois children ordered it. He told us not to do it but Nott insisted we would be killed if we didn't!"

This was an interesting turn of events… another Riddle to be solved.

"Marvolo... what an interesting name. The creature survived his miserable birth? Maybe when I'm done with you I'll go find him too. The boy's blood might prove useful in resurrecting me."

"Who are you?" He demanded as I closed in, peering deep into my eyes.

"Take a wild guess you pathetic creature. Disgusting, and here your mother was one of my best lieutenants too. What a waste of good blood."

"Holy Goddess! It's you! Please don't! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

He shrieked, his voice screaming monkey-like as I tore him apart.

More animal than man.

Max POV

I had raced after Albus as fast as possible, losing him somewhere on the first floor. I couldn't understand the look in Al's eyes. The torment i'd witnessed was unbearable.

"Where are they?" Cried Lou who had finally caught up to me, using magic to enhance his speed. He was panting so hard I thought he might collapse.

"I lost him... I don't know... go get help now!" I shot to the blond, watching him dart towards the Headmistress's tower. I have to find him... something is very wrong.

I was about to head off towards the Kitchens when a ghost flew right through me.

"Murder! Murder! Student's have been murdered!" Cried the Bloody Baron, phasing through the castle walls.

"Stop! Where are they?" I shot at the startled ghost. "Bloody useless!"

I ran again, this time as fast as my legs could carry me. I did not know how I knew they were in the dungeons. My only hope was that I would reach them in time.

When I got there, the horror was already over.

I came upon a crippled mass mumbling like a madman. Albus was hunched over an unrecognizable form, chanting like a dark monk entranced in his mountainside shrine.

It was the most gruesome sight i'd ever seen.

There were four... bodies… if thats what they even were anymore.

One was impaled through the face on a knights spear, harpooned to the ceiling like some trophy prey. The boy's emerald robes hung sodden where blood dripped from the corpse like a faucet left running. Another was still on fire... immolated against the side of the wall, his fat cells sustaining the flames even as his flesh crackled and sputtered. This one was completely charred, curled in on himself as though he had died screaming. The third was squashed... like jelly... or as though... ughhh... all of the liquid had been pulled out of him.

And there, against the far side of the wall, was—

I couldn't hold in the contents of my stomach… I emptied them shamelessly in my horror. It was a corpse who had been pulled inside out... like a monkey that had been skinned alive.

Had Albus done this?

"Al!" I screamed rushing over to the hunched figure. "Oh my God is that Scor?" I asked, starting to shake and tremble. I knelt down to listen intently towards the boys chest. "Come on Come on…" I listened and finally a barely audible rasping sound blurbed out… he was still... "He's still breathing! SOMEBODY HELP US! PLEASE! HELPPPP!"

I didn't know if anybody would hear us, but I shouted nonetheless. I yelled and yelled until the air had emptied from my lungs and my throat could no longer sustain the roar. "Merlin please, somebody help."

Albus was speaking in a language I'd never heard. Muttering incoherently over and over.

"Al, your magic is still gone right? I can... try to… I mean… just tell me what to do!" I managed, barely coherently. He merely turned to me with a sickly smile. I wasn't ready for this. I couldn't handle how horrible this all was.

"You stupid child. What on earth lead you to believe that I was Albus?" The thing said in a voice as cold as ice, before it collapsed.

"Albus!" Cried the headmistress, rushing over alongside Victoire and Louis Weasley. Thank god he'd reached her.

"Louis get professors Patil, Slughorn and Lupin. Go! It will be faster if you tell the portraits... Hurry!" The headmistress yelled as Lou ran off upstairs once more, his hair drenched in sweat.

"Headmistress you need to contact Saint Mungo's now. This is too much for me. Have them send Master Healers, we can't transort them farther than the Hospital wing."

"Vicky, you can save Scorpius right?" I asked terrified.

"We'll do our best, but with injuries like these..." Victoire offered uncertainly, before stabilizing Scorpius for transport "I would not trust in hope. A miracle alone can save him."

"I need... to announce this... the emergency system..." The headmistress stammered, too stunned to act. It took her a few moments but she finally steadied herself and put her wand to her throat.

"Attention Hogwarts. This is your Headmistress speaking... we are in a state of emergency... All professors: students have been murdered. Amelia Bones, head of security... we need to lock down the school, contact the Aurors office. Deputy Headmaster you are to contact Saint mungo's immediately, we need a team of their best healers now! Potters, Weasely's and any of their immediate family or supporters are to be secured in the Hero's tower... all purebloods will be secured in the Great Hall…"