A Tale of Two Brothers

Chapter 29

His last ride back to Hogwarts was uneventful. The only note-worthy thing was seeing his parents' send-off his little brother on the platform, as he looked at them through the closed blinds of the last coach of the train. Maybe in a different world, Harry would be right there with them, with a hand around Jason's shoulders, promising his parents that he'd look out for him. That's what a better brother would've done rather than joining the army whose leader was set out on killing off his loved ones.

Harry carried a small black journal around with him the whole time, in which he'd written every possible way he could kill Dumbledore. It was foolish of him, but Harry was sure he'd go mad otherwise. The task felt surreal. The whole world around him felt false. Sometimes, when Harry looked at his bare left arm after he finished applying muggle make-up on the mark to hide it, he could almost make himself believe that everything that happened on his seventeenth birthday was just a bad dream. That he was not a Death Eater and had never met the monster of his nightmares. That he was just a normal kid who'd graduate and leave this prejudiced, claustrophobic school behind. That he never heard the names Nance, Jeremy, Will and Lauren. That he had never killed the nameless man with his dad's face.

Snape was one of his biggest apprehensions. Harry had no idea on whose side the sly snake was on and nothing in the man's demeanor gave him away. Sometimes, Harry felt like Snape knew what he'd done, that he was reporting his every move to the Dark Lord. Or Dumbledore. Or maybe the Ministry. Harry had no idea. But one thing remained constant. The man still hated him.

The other Slytherin's had got a hint that something big had happened to him during the holidays. He had not openly declared it and had denied every word, but his long sleeves during the hottest days and the obvious reek of dark magic from his left arm was confirmation enough for them. Harry had cursed over five students who had spread the rumour about him being a Death Eater throughout the student body, which had almost threatened his position of being the Head Boy. Even though he knew that it would mean nothing in the long run, that batch was the only thing he was proud of lately.

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"Harry!"

He kept walking, ignoring the boy. Jason had been following around like a puppy for the past two months. At the start, he had indulged the boy a bit, knowing that his coldness was hurting his brother, but it got to the point where Harry was ready to curse the daylights out of him.

"Do you want us to take care of it?" Higgs asked, his mouth stretched into a sneer.

"Forget about it. After what happened last time, am I not sure whether I trust you two with such simple tasks." Higgs and Flint had left the youngest Weasley boy and Jason hanging upside down in the Great Hall overnight, which had got the two boys suspended for two weeks and Harry had got a warning of losing his batch because his brother had babbled out that it was him who had told those two idiots to 'take care of it'. He still questioned himself why he still allowed the two boys to be near him.

"It was just–"

"Be quiet."

"Harry, wait up!"

All around them, whispers started rising. Fingers were being pointed at them. Why did Jason Potter's older brother not talk to him? Why did he keep ignoring him? Was he jealous that his brother was famous? Or had he really joined You-Know-Who?

Harry turned around quickly.

"What do you want?"

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Jason froze on his way. Behind him, he heard Ron and Hermione stop in their steps too.

His brother was glaring down at him angrily. Jason did not know whether it was his eyes or his own imagination, but Harry looked ready to kill him then and there.