Brute.

Magic was once a thing, gifted to those worthy at birth. It could be controlled with wands, or just with your mind for those more powerful. Albus knew that killing somebody was the highest unforgivable curse, as his mother called them, and that it wasn't reversible. These past few days, Albus found himself isolating and having a lack of social conversations, he also found himself pondering on how to kill Tom Riddle.

If Scorpius was right, if Tom Riddle was returning, Albus felt as if he needed to know how to kill efficiently. Tom Riddle had ruled before, he killed James Potter I and Fleamont Potter II and took over the royal family. Albus' father had declared war when he had turned 18 and supposedly killed him. Clearly not. Back in them days, it was all about magic and spells - now its a crime to use or buy a wand. The Queen had locked up her and The King's wand, but it was no secret that The Dark Lord would use his old magic.

Scorpius had his eye on Albus all day, not letting him out of his sight. They had come to the agreement that Scorpius did indeed need some sleep, so when Albus would sleep, Scorpius would sleep on a huddle of unused blankets and pillows on the floor. It was annoying when Albus would be minding his own business and Scorpius would have his eyes peeled around the room for any danger. It was also annoying when James had knocked on his door and Albus wasn't allowed to answer it.

"Its obviously my brother!" Albus shouted, slapping Scorpius' face with a now closed book.

Scorpius hissed in pain and snatched the book from the brunet's hands, "You won't be saying that when Tom Riddle is waiting patiently at your door, will you?"

"Tom Riddle isn't going to come to my blimming door and knock, is he?" Albus tried once more to get past Scorpius, but the Knight clearly overpowered him in strength.

"Stop struggling and maybe I'll answer it!" Scorpius yelled back, earning a groan from Albus.

"It's James, for crying out loud!"

Scorpius rolled his eyes when Albus had taken a step back and opened the door, smiling at the older Prince. He held it open whilst James came in, muttering a 'Thank you' to Scorpius.

"See, his Knights not with him all the time." Albus muttered, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I can protect myself, unlike you." James sarcastically smiled at Albus, walking towards him.

They were always close, but after Lily's death it had weirdly brought the two brothers inseparable.

"You all make out that I'm weak, I'm not."

"There's a difference in being angry and strong, Al." James looked over at Scorpius, who chuckled at the remark.

Albus didn't respond, instead he gazed out of the window.

"Here," James passed Albus a piece of parchment, "From Mum."

"She can't even see us in person anymore?"

"She's trying, Al, she lost her daughter."

"We lost our sister and we can still talk to each other."

"Just read it."

Albus sighed whilst shaking his head, opening the tightly wrapped parchment.

Hello, My son.

After these past few days, I know that you will be struggling, just like myself. Your anger may be worse than before, or perhaps your sadness. But, Albus, you are a brave, intelligent and smart boy. I don't want you to suffer over the loss of your own sister.

The funeral will be in a weeks time, and then you will have your ballroom. It is a lot for one week, but I want to get things done in case a war is declared. If a war is declared, I want you and James to be prepared for it, it is greatly known that if a war happens - it will not be a man to man one. Everybody in the kingdom will be on a side, no swords will be used. It will all be spells.

Though, I'm sure you are greatly confused by this situation and the suddenness everything is happening - you must be prepared. You both will be going towards the edge of the village and go to the shrieking shack. Then you must say I sent you, then you will be at  Ollivanders, then you will be shown your wands. The wands pick you, so don't get any ideas of trying to find a powerful one, it does not work!

Knights will be there with you, including your personal ones. They will be waiting for you at the gate and will escort you on your horses.

Best Regards, The Queen, your mother.

"We're learning magic?" Albus had questioned, looking up from the piece of parchment with a somewhat grin on his face.

"Magic is a dangerous thing, it makes you power hungry." James answered, sighing at his brothers newly found excitement.

"But she forbid magic years ago, yes? So why is she now teaching us it?"

"Tom Riddle isn't going to use swords in a war, obviously. He will use any magic he can get his hands on, Mother just wants us to be prepared for the worse." James took the parchment from Albus' hands, scanning over what it said, "Besides, be grateful you're using magic and not a sword because that was not your strong point."

Scorpius chuckled at this, still standing by the door. Albus could feel his eyes on him ever since he looked down at the letter, Al felt like Scorpius was too protective of him.

"What are you laughing at?" Albus spoke in a slight nasty tone, which made Scorpius' chuckle turn into a grin.

"No wonder all this time you've been asking me to help you with your sword training." Scorpius spoke with a toothy grin, looking between James and Albus. James let out a laugh.

Albus stood up, hitting James shoulder before walking over to his dresser - grabbing his mantle from it. The mantle was a sable black, a soft silk that weighed lightly on Albus' shoulders. The Snow White fur sewed delicately onto the hem of the mantle, clashing perfectly with the ebony silk.

Scorpius walked over to the Prince, looking down at him with a soft smile.

"Let me help you."

Albus looked up, a confused look plastered onto his freckle-dusted face. Scorpius gently unwrapped the mantle from his hands, taking it and going behind Albus. Albus was oddly quiet, James had noticed and it was unusual for him to have a lack of sarcastic comments in a situation like this. The blond wrapped the mantle around Albus' shoulders, clipping it around the bottom of his neck.

James stood up and clapped his hands, walking over to the duo and ruffling his brothers hair, "Come on then, better get going."

][

The trio had made their way to the gates, Albus had his eyes peeled open for Delphini - he needed to have a word with her. He was determined to find out any information about his sisters death. Delphini was a lovely maid and a lovely girl in general, but she was bound to know something about whoever took such a sweet little girls life.

As soon as the trio had stepped outside, Albus felt an invisible wave of grief hit him. He hadn't stepped foot outside since he knew about his sisters death, last time he did it was a repetition of losing multiple sword fight training's with his own brother. It felt so ominous, not even the birds were singing in the winter light - no sound was heard apart from the soft neighs from the horses. Albus immediately sped up his pace when he saw his horse, Scorpius following closely behind him.

"Jarvey!" Albus emphasised, reaching his horse and patting it on his back.

Albus adored his spotted horse, Albus had seen Jarvey since he was a little pony. Even though cleaning the horse barn as a punishment was disgusting, Albus loved him nonetheless.

"You sure you remember how to ride a horse?" James sarcastically remarked, getting on his own Friesian horse, his own black mantle swaying with the wind.

Albus only rolled his eyes and mounted the horse, grabbing the reins and looking down at Scorpius. The blond was smiling, looking at the white horses that the Knights were given for occasions like these. He too got on the back of his horse, adjusting the rein ever so slightly.

{}

When the group had arrived close by to the area where they had been told to go, it had looked so unfamiliar to James and Albus compared to when they were children. They had once came to the edge of the village towards the shrieking shack, however they had both ran off due to the noises that came from inside. It once looked so lively, before whatever had happened on the outskirts of the village.

All the wooden buildings were black, at the verge of collapsing into nothing but ash.

"What happened here?" James called out, slowing down his horse to properly look at the buildings.

"A fire, obviously." Albus had replied to him when nobody was willing to answer him, "Probably recently."

Albus watched as James nodded, sighing before his dismounted his horse, walking to a cliff edge. Albus took this as a sign to follow him, and so he did. That must've meant that Scorpius had to follow Albus, as the blond also approached the cliff edge, however standing further back than Albus - who was standing next to James.

"At least that haunted thing is alright." James spoke, the shrieking shack standing proudly on the hill.

"No noises coming from it either." Albus nervously looked down at the building, before beginning to make his way down the cliff they were on via a very obscure path.

James watched as his brother made his way down with Scorpius staying close behind him.

"Watch the horses." James ordered, watching the direction the duo were going to.

"You think The Dark Lord did this?" Albus asked James and Scorpius and James just scoffed - unsure of why his brother would ask a such thing.

"Probably just a fire, like the one in London that lasted 4 days or something." James lied straight through his teeth, hoping the random fact would make Albus lose focus on his topic.

"On pudding lane?"

"Something like that."

"The one the foreigners set fire to?"

"It was some guys bakery, no?"

"It was a big fire, it wasn't an accident."

"Mother told me, Al, some mans oven caught flame."

"I think you're lying."

"And I think you're scared."

Albus scoffed, shaking his head, "Scared of what?"

"Tom Riddle."

He scoffed again, silently gulping before speaking again, "Right, well when I meet the chap I'll be sure to give him my best. Me and Tom are practically brothers."

"You talk too much."

"And you lie too much."

"Albus, shut your bloody mouth."

"Or what?"

"Or I'll tell Scorpius over here about the time when you kisse-" It didn't take long for Albus to turn bright red and stop walking ahead, running towards James and covering his mouth.

"You wouldn't dare."

Scorpius was enjoying the constant bickering towards the brothers, it was stupid - but he was intrigued about whoever Albus kissed.

James had then let out a yell of pain when Albus slapped him, resuming his path before.

"I'll be sure to tell you later." James chuckled to Scorpius in a whispering tone, but he made sure Albus could hear it.

"James Sirius!" Albus shouted, not bothering to turn around this time.

Albus was easily irritated, and even though he knew James would keep his promise on not telling anybody about that he was still annoyed when he brought it up to embarrass him.

A few moments, they had all approached the door of the shrieking shack.

"Will somebody be in there?" Albus asked, looking at Scorpius like he'd know rather than his brother.

"Why are you asking him?" James butted in, earning a shove from Albus.

Scorpius grinned at James, "Should be."

"You go first." Albus sort of hid behind Scorpius, after all he was the one wearing the armour.

"Told you he's scared." James stood behind Albus, flinching when Albus turned to look at him.

Scorpius let out a small laugh and opened the door carefully, the shrieking shack was a rather dodgy place and none of the three trusted it too much. Albus was practically hugging Scorpius' back by hiding behind him, which Scorpius just replied to by looking back and down at Albus - who had shot him a somewhat goofy smile.

"Excuse me?" Scorpius called out once he had entered, it was dark and did in fact seem abandoned on the inside as much as the outside.

"Nobody's even here?" James scoffed when he had entered, watching Albus cowardly peek around Scorpius - noticing that nobody was there and moving to stand next to Scorpius.

Noises where then heard from upstairs, that seemed to be coming closer to the trio. That was then Albus then hid behind his brother.

"For goodness sake, stop hiding." James mutted rather loudly, shoving his brother by the shoulder to stop hiding behind people.

"You three." A man came from the stairs behind them, making them all turn. Albus then scrambled to the back of the group as he was closest to the man. "Names."

"We were sent by the queen, sir." Scorpius made his way from the back to the front, somewhat guarding Albus and James if something where to happen. The man didn't seem to be the most trusty person.

"Ah, yes." Fumbling around in his pockets, he pulled out an empty glass - throwing it onto the ground and then digging into his pockets for something else, "Albus." The man had then called out.

"Yes?" Albus croaked out, showing an awkward toothy smile.

He then shushed Albus, signalling that he wasn't actually calling for Albus, but actually confirming the names, "Then James?"

James nodded, smiling at the man.

"Then who is this." He pointed at Scorpius, who raised his brows - which then made the man realise who he was, "Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, aye? You look an awful lot like your Dad."

"That's great, however we really need to go to Ollivander's-"

"Does he know you're now a knight for the Royals?"

Scorpius nervously looked around the room, letting out a laugh, "Yes."

"Ah, not sure he likes that now, does he?"

Albus furrowed his brows, glaring at the man and how he was stalling them from getting to this place.

"How do we get to the wand place?" James had taken the words out of Albus' mouth moments before he was going to speak.

"Down the stairs, kid." The man signalled them to go down the stairs, stopping Scorpius when the two had started walking - which they had stopped doing when Scorpius couldn't follow, "I heard you left the Malfoy's, why would you do that? Even after Astoria died-"

"Petrificus Totalus." Scorpius had muttered, after getting his wand into his hand.

The man had then froze in his place, in the exact position with his mouth open to say whatever he was going to say next.

"Merlin." Scorpius sighed, looking at the two brothers - who were shocked, "What? You two are getting wands."

"I've never seen magic in person! James did you see that!" Albus said, a bit more excited than he should've been.

James laughed, walking up to Scorpius and looking at his wand, "Willow wand?"

"Unicorn core." Scorpius smiled, letting James take it to examine it.

"Do you have wandless magic?" He asked, Albus trying to unsuspiciously peek over James' shoulder - he didn't want to seem too interested in Scorpius' wand.

"I wish, my mother did but no, not me."

Albus rolled his eyes, Scorpius noticed this and when James gave the wand back to Scorpius - the blond walked over to Albus.

"Don't be jealous, you're getting your own wand in a few minutes." Scorpius comforted, almost reading Albus like a book.

"He's jealous because you're getting attention." Everyone knew that was a lie that came from James' mouth, but it somehow managed to make Albus smile.

They all made their way down the stairs, it was a lot of stairs going down, but nonetheless they all thought that maybe it was worth it.

Once they had entered the door, it was yet again Scorpius who went first, Albus hiding behind the others.

"Do you not think this place is a little dodgy?" He whispered to James.

"I think you're a little dodgy, yet I still stick with you."

Surprisingly, there was indeed a barely put together wand shop underneath the shack. And somebody was actually waiting.

"Ah!" The man stood up from his chair, "You must be James!" He walked over to Scorpius, shaking his hand.

"No sir, that's James. I'm just a knight." Scorpius smiled, and to the mans surprise, he figured that the blond was right.

"Of course, didn't see this one here." The man looked at Albus whilst shaking James' hand - who was hiding in the doorway, "You can come in, Albus, I'm a good friend of your fathers."

Cautiously, Albus entered the room, the man eagerly shaking his hand.

"I am Mr Ollivander, mind the mess - ever since magic was abandoned I had to retreat under this place. I do hope Stanley didn't bother you all too much, he is an odd one. I do just choose to ignore him." James and Albus looked at Scorpius when Ollivander said that - who just nodded. It was then silent for a few moments - before the man clapped his hands together, "Very well, James, you're up!"

James looked at Albus before approaching Mr Ollivander. Who had seemed to be routing through unpacked boxes of wands, opening one up.

"Try this one, 12 inches, Yew wood and a Pheonix core." He opened the box, passing it to James, "Now give it a gentle flick."

James flicked the wand, maybe a little too gentle because nothing happened. James made a confused laugh, whilst Albus mockingly pretended to hold a wand and barely flick it.

"That's odd, try flick it a little harder."

James flicked it harder, which had only caused the end of the wand to spurt out odd flames of fire, which had ended up on the counter top and merged together to create a rather large flame.

"Merlin! Glacius!" Ollivander spoke in shock, freezing the fire to a halt with his own wand, "Perhaps not that one."

He had taken the wand from James, placing it back into the box and returning it into the larger cardboard box. The man had continued to route around, going from wand to wand. Albus was being driven to boredom, so he took a seat on the floor with a loud sigh. Just to notify everyone he was bored.

"Get up!" James mouthed to him. Albus shook his head with a smirk.

Scorpius had noticed this small communication and had then noticed Albus sitting on the floor, and with a flick of his own wand - Albus was now standing back up. Albus' was rolling his eyes at Scorpius, who was proudly smirking at himself.

"Perhaps a Spruce, Dragon Heartstring and 13 inches. It's a little stubborn, but I'm positive this is the one.″ He yet again passed it to James, who took it and gave it a flick.

A golden glow had illuminated from the wand, a gush of wind hitting James' face. Then all of a sudden it had stopped, James looked up in shock, his eyes darting in-between the wand and Ollivander.

"You really aren't wrong about wands." James muttered under his breath, almost impressed.

"I am a talented wand maker." He yet again clapped his wands together, almost making Albus jump, "Albus, you're up."

Albus took a deep breath and walked to where his brother was standing moments before.

"Your Dad told me you might need a wand that somehow represents your terrible temper."

"He said that?" Albus watched as the man nodded, "I assure you, I'm not poor tempered."

"I'm thinking a wood that goes well with dark magic."

"What?" Albus almost gasped out, "Just because I have a bad temper doesn't mean I need a wand capable of dark magic!"

"I am the wand maker, I know what goes with you." Ollivander almost bragged, "I'm thinking.."

He pulled out a wand, in a black case, "An elder wood, dragon heartstring and 11 inches."

Albus rolled his eyes, feeling somewhat insulted by the man. He had taken the wand from out of the case and gave it an aggressive flick. The wand had then started to illuminate a glow, but stopped before it should have been completed.

"It was thinking about it," Ollivander spoke, taking the wand back and placing it gently back into its case. Almost instantly, he found another wand, "Cherry wood, pheonix feather and 12 and a half inches."

Albus had no more patience left, waiting for the wand to be passed to him and immediately flicked it as soon as he got his hands on it. Then it illuminated the same glow as James' and the exact same gush of wind.

"Great!" James walked towards my Ollivander, "Thank you, it's much appreciated."

"Anytime, your grace."

Then the trio exited the shack, Albus clearly was irritated with the whole 'dark magic' situation.

"I can't believe he was going to give me an evil wand!" Albus shouted, storming ahead of the other two.

"Albus, you do realise that no wand is evil, some wands are just more accepting to dark arts than others - that's all." Scorpius walked slightly faster to keep up with Albus, who never responded to him.

"It's best just to leave him when he's like this." James whispered to Scorpius, to which the blond nodded.