Helter Skelter
2023
When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride till I get to the bottom and I see you again
Marlene entered the living room and plopped herself down on the couch between Sirius and Remus, "What are we watching?"
"Documentary," Remus said reaching for the remote.
"God, you two are boring." Marlene rolled her eyes.
"It's about the Potters," Sirius responded.
Marlene grinned, "You should have led with that! Regulus Potter is totally my role model."
"Marlene!" Sirius hissed. "He was a serial killer!"
"Get off your high horse, pretty boy. If it weren't for him, all of us wouldn't have half the respect we have as surgeons. Plus with the number of procedures and research they did, they saved thousands more than they killed." Marlene lectured.
"I don't know. We say 'do no harm' for a reason." Remus argued.
"I mean, if they were alive right now I'd be all for throwing them in jail but they did way more good than bad." Marlene rationed.
"Whatever-just- can we watch the movie?" Sirius whined while pointing at the tv.
"Fine." Remus rolled his eyes, pointed the remote at the tv, and pressed play.
Do, don't you want me to love you I'm coming down fast but I'm miles above you
A black and white video started to play on the screen. It showed two handsome men and a small boy running around in a yard playing and laughing. Then the voice-over stated, "You might be surprised to hear that this happy, lovely family contained two of the most notorious serial killers that the United States has ever seen." The screen started to zoom in on the thinner man laughing with his hair blowing in the wind.
Tell me, tell me, tell me, come on tell me the answer. Well, you may be a lover but you ain't no dancer
"This is Regulus Potter, once Regulus Black." They began to show a montage of pictures of him as a child. "Born in 1935 to Walburga and Orion Black, he was known as a sweet, well-behaved boy, looked over by many. No one thought to suspect any darkness about him, even after his parents abruptly placed him in Hogwarts Boarding School in the middle of the second grade. Hogwats was an all boy's Catholic school known for its strict rules. Although no one can say for sure what the reason for his transfer was, it is widely suspected that he had recently started showing his psychopathic tendencies. There are police records of complaints about missing pets in the area."
Helter skelter, helter skelter, Helter skelter
The screen then showed an elderly man, with a sign under his face that said 'Barty Crouch Jr., Friend of Regulus Black. "I guess you could say I was the closest thing to a best friend Regulus ever had. He was a cold boy. Never felt the need for other people. And he was incredibly gifted at lying and pretending. He could be smiling one second and in tears the next.
Neither of which would be genuine. But he was as smart as a whip and beautiful."
Will you, won't you want me to make you, I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you
The montage came back and the narrator started, "He continued at Hogwarts at the top of the class until the age of sixteen when his parents suddenly died in a break-in. Regulus told the police that he had been staying with a friend when the tragedy happened, but upon further research, it was found that Regulus didn't currently have a friend in the area. He had instead been checked into a local hotel, and the autopsy records show that Regulus Black most likely murdered his own parents."
Tell me, tell me, tell me the answer you may be a lover but you ain't no dancer
"Once he was orphaned, he became the sole heir to his father's substantial wealth. He filed to be emancipated from the orphanage that took him in and started his life as an independent man. He paid his way through college and med school, then became the first openly gay surgical resident at St. Godrics Hospital, where he met Dr. James Potter, his future husband, and accomplice."
Look out, Helter skelter, helter skelter, helter skelter
The montage shifted to pictures of the man. "James Potter, born in 1928 to Fleamont and Euphemia Potter, was a charming boy. He grew up as the perfect, all-American boy until he witnessed his father being shot in front of him at the age of ten. His father was a pharmacist at a local drugstore when two men came in. They shot Fleamont Potter and his two coworkers and left all three sprawled out for dead on the ground.
Neither of the robbers were aware of the child that sat in the corner. James did his best to stop the bleeding but it was no use. After this incident, James continued to be the all-American boy except he now had what would now be defined as a severe case of PTSD."
Look out, 'cause here she comes
The screen showed a different elderly man, with bright blue eyes and a sign under his face that said, 'Peter Pettigrew, Childhood Best Friend of James Potter.' "James was a good man. There was a mistake with this whole murdering business because I knew him my entire life. And he was a good man!" He announced with an agitated tone.
"Peter. Peter." A calm voice tried to reason with him. "I believe you. Just talk about how you knew him."
Peter took a deep breath then continued. "After his father died, James became the man of the house. He was always doing his best to collect money for his mother. And he was obsessed with becoming a doctor. It was his dream. James was the smartest person I have ever met. Every person who met him would go on and on about how charming and kind he was. There was a line a mile long of women who dreamed about marrying him. Of course, he ended up with that wretched queer. But he was a good man. I don't care what evidence you have, James would never hurt a fly."
When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide and I stop and I turn and I go for a ride and I get to the bottom and I see you again, yeah, yeah
Another woman appeared on the screen with the label, 'Dr. Poppy Pomfrey, Psychologist.' "Drs. Regulus and James Potter are an interesting, one-of-a-kind case. Regulus Potter is usually categorized as a psychopath. He had most of the common signs: hurting animals, little to no empathy for others, extreme ambition. But the reason some psychologists doubt that diagnosis is, by all counts, he truly loved his husband and son. An ability that psychopaths don't have the capability of. The general consensus on Regulus Black was that he lived on a spectrum, where he could mostly be defined as a psychopath except in very specific cases. While James Potter would be defined more as a sociopath. We suspect he was born a completely normal boy, but after the traumatic incident, he got PTSD and his brain made a strange connection with doctors."
"In one of his entries in his private notes, he wrote about how he believed that he was the only doctor and everyone else were 'the patients.' Then after he met Regulus Black, he wrote about meeting a 'second doctor.' His diagnosis is quite complicated, but to put it into simpler terms, we believe that he was almost similar to Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde. He would be perfectly normal until he suddenly felt the urge to murder someone that he couldn't ignore."
Well do you, don't you want me to make you
The narrator came back onto the screen, "Both of their lives were changed in 1968 when they met each other.
They were an extraordinary couple. This is Bertha Jorkins, a retired doctor who was volunteering as a candy striper at the beginning of Regulus and James's relationship."
I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you
"They were what everyone was talking about. For the first year of their relationship, you couldn't pass a nurse's station without hearing some sort of gossip about the two of them. And none of the gossip was positive. For most of us in the hospital, it was our first experience with a homosexual couple, and those two were so blatant about it. They weren’t even trying to hide it. Before Regulus Black, or should I say Potter, showed up, James Potter was a beloved man. Every single nurse at that hospital had hopes of catching his eye, but none were successful, guess we now know why. He would never give them a second glance. Dr. Potter was always polite, smiled at everyone, but he never flirted or showed interest in any woman. Until Regulus showed up. The second he started, they were all over each other. They didn't even try to hide the fact that they were having sex with each other, even in the hospital. The noises that came from Dr. Potter's office caused half the gossip. You couldn't pass it without blushing."
Tell me, tell me, tell me your answer you may be a lover but you ain't no dancer
"And everyone hated Dr. Black, he was rude and impolite to everyone. Completely blunt, and he only wore what people then would call 'women's clothing' to the hospital. No one would deny that he was talented, all the men in his class were jealous of him. So they obviously would say that he only got surgeries because he was sleeping with Dr. Potter. But they never phased him. He lived in his own world that only Dr. Potter was invited into. Then a few years later they came in claiming to be married. Obviously we all knew that wasn’t legal but telling them that didn’t help. Trust me, people tried. Regulus stopped responding to ‘Dr. Black’ and would only respond to ‘Dr. Potter’ which was very confusing because we already had a Dr. Potter in the neuro department. Some people even tried to get them fired, but the hospital wouldn’t get rid of them. They were saving too many lives and making too many discoveries."
Look out
The narrator once again appeared on the screen. "The couple married soon after they started their relationship. They became well known in the surgical community as two of the world's best surgeons. They did tons of research on all aspects of nerves, the spinal cord, and the brain. Their research is why hundreds of thousands of people can see, hear, walk, and stay alive today. They both worked into the late nineties, then retired together and spent the rest of their days living in the house they had built together on a large parcel of land they owned. Regulus Potter was later diagnosed with Parkinson's, and James took care of him until he died in 2005, at the age of seventy. James died two months later at the age of 77. Many people who knew the couple claimed that he died of a broken heart."
Helter skelter, helter skelter, helter skelter
"Three years later, their only son, Harry Potter decided to sell the land. While surveying the land, an inspector found a bunker, and immediately called the police when he saw what it contained."
Look out, helter skelter
Then a middle-aged man appeared on the screen with the label, 'Argus Filch, land inspector.' "That sight was the most horrifying thing I've ever seen. I was sure I was going to get murdered. I've spent a lot of time surveying different land, and I have never ever seen anything even close to that. I called the police, quit my job, and moved to New York City. There are no hidden murder bunkers in the middle of the woods in New York. That bunker had hundreds of jars with human brains in them! What kind of sick person- There were spines and skulls and a table with all sorts of terrifying tools and straps. You couldn't pay enough to get me back anywhere near that land."
She's coming down fast
Another man appeared on the screen with the label, Alastor Moody, Detective.' "From the evidence found in the bunker, the Potters had been doing unauthorized surgeries on many people. For thirty years there had been disappearances around the area. Young women and men would go missing. We don't know the exact number but it is over a hundred. The Potters would kidnap them, bring them to the bunker, and from the notes found at their private desk, they would do surgery on their victims without any anesthesia. All their victims would die during their procedures. Sometimes they would be kept alive for days, some mere hours. We're not sure at this point what they did to dispose of the bodies."
Yes, she is
The man was replaced with another middle-aged man, 'Harry Potter, son of the Potters.' He had a hard, sullen face. "I don't care what they did. My parents were good people. They loved me, and they loved each other. So what if they killed a few people, every surgeon kills people. They saved so many more people than they killed. None of these people will tell you that they calculated their mortality rate. Both of them had about a three percent death rate. Three! That was ten percent lower than the other neurosurgeons at the time. They were better than anyone else. They weren't monsters! They were heroes!" Harry yelled. "The world was lucky to have them! They-"
Yes, she is
The screen went black and Marlene and Remus looked over to Sirius who was holding up the remote. "I'm sorry but this is just too freaky."
Marlene rolled her eyes. "Stop being such a wuss, pretty boy. You heard their son. They were heroes. They are the reason why hundreds of thousands of people can hear, see, walk, and be alive."
Sirius glared at her. "You can’t go around murdering people." He stood up.
“you can if you’re gay.” Marlene shrugged “that should be the new law, gay people can do whatever they want.”
"I'm going to my room."
Coming down fast
Marlene grabbed the remote and said, "That's fine by me." Then she flicked the remote, turning the documentary back on to hear more details of the Potter's terrifying escapades.
I got blisters on my fingers!