The Inevitable Fate

Chapter Four: The Terrifying Truth

His eyes bulged in excitement when he peered at the very middle of the chamber. There were two dozen wands fixed with different shapes, sizes and coloured hairs, all lined up like dominos, swivelled to the shape of an S. Did that stand for Slytherin? Albus could not help but smirk, glowing with pride. It was as if the room knew that Albus wanted to brush up on his Defense Against the Dark Arts skills. Without hesitation, he picked up one of the many wands that were lying on the floor. He grasped the unicorn-haired wand.

His wand trembled violently with self-loathing and self-doubt. What if I mess up? What if it doesn't work? Then, another thought took over. Who cares? And for once, his thoughts seemed to be telling him the truth. Who cares if he could not conjure a spell? No one was here. No one was watching. No one could laugh.

He didn't want to utter the spell aloud, so he said it in his mind.

"S-Stupefy!"

But as predicted, nothing happened.

"Useless!" He said through gnashed teeth.

He launched the wand meters away from him and kicked the nearby hammock. Why did he even try?

"Oi!" James Sirius called from his hammock as he keenly gulped down the remaining bits of his pumpkin pie. "What was that for?" He stuck his head out and moved his brown hair away from his coffee-coloured eyes as a toying smirk birthed from the corner of his jerking mouth. James' skin was cool, russet brown, like the rich, umber sunlight that peeked from beneath the towering trees in The Forest of Dean. Both James and Lily's skin were of the same cool brown complexion, Albus noticed; for they spent majority of their time outdoors playing Quidditch, whereas Albus spent his days out of the sun, locked in his room. It was yet another reason why Albus seemed to stand out a lot; another reason why he was different from his siblings.

Albus casted his older brother a bitter look, wondering why he was here in the first place. Did the Room of Requirement not understand Albus? He wanted to be alone! He felt as though he were plummeting in slow motion and that nothing and no one could possibly break his fall.

He resented his brother. James Sirius irritably was everything his Father was. Whenever Albus looked at his brother, all he could see was someone he would never, in a million decades, measure up to. It wasn't bad enough that Albus was the Disappointing Son—he was the Disappointing Brother as well. The Disappointing Potter. He was rubbish at spells while James excelled at them. He'd rather stand in the bleachers of the Quidditch field, his head down in an intriguing paperback, while James was a Quidditch God who thrived in the spotlight. Albus was reserved and at times derisive, while James had a presence that demanded to be heard. They were complete opposites. How could James possibly help Albus? That was certainly out of the question. For once, Albus thought he did something right by finding a room he figured no one knew about, but no; James, as usual, was one step ahead of him.

Albus let out a swear word and began trudging away from his brother with unmistakeable conquest, his fists curled into bowling balls of frenzy.

"Oi! Oi!" James jumped out of the hammock and stood in front of his brother; brows raised like how their Mother looked whenever she was disappointed. He wore the same look their Mum had worn last week when she found out that Albus had been skipping classes to hang out with Scorpius. "Where do you think you're going, mate?"

"Getting far away from you as possible!" Albus said nastily. He ran his lean fingers through his hair, puffing hard. "I just needed...I just wanted a moment alone. I needed to be alone!"

A wayward smile made its way onto James' long face as he studied Albus' behaviour. Albus was so grumpy sometimes, it made James want to bother him even more. But it looked like bothering him wouldn't do the trick. This was serious anger—serious turmoil—and nothing cheered Albus up more than food. Well, that, books, and his best mate, Scorpius.