Brute.

The family dinner that day was quiet. Harry hadn't joined them for their meals recently, and he was normally the one to start up many conversations. Albus was always quiet during family dinners, but this time it was different. He didn't even look up at his family, or eat a single bite of his food.

"My apologies about Rita, she is an odd one." The Queen spoke up, laughing awkwardly to start up a conversation.

Albus tensed up, straightening his posture as he made eye contact with Scorpius. Scorpius was stood opposite him against a wall, near the infamous family painting. Scorpius discretely shook his head to signal Albus to just stay quiet. Rose was an intelligent girl and had removed the single memory from Rita's mind. Where Rose and her family ruled, magic was allowed and so Rose and Hugo were both taught it. They were more experienced than Albus and James.

"She reminds me of a beetle." Rose joked, earning a gasp from her mother and a laugh from her Father - who had already ate all of his food.

"Funny you say that." Hermione then grinned, looking at the Queen with amusement.

The Queen just laughed silently and shook her head, trying to remove the thought.

"Boys." Ginny spoke up, making the two Prince's look up at their Mother, "You two are oddly quiet."

"I'm just in my own thoughts." James gave a tight smile to Ginny, cutting up his food.

"Albus?" Ginny questioned, "You're not eating?"

"Not hungry." He mumbled, looking at his Mum who didn't seem to catch what he said, and so he repeated it.

"You love lobster, Al." She was sort of in disbelief to her sons behaviour.

Albus Potter hated lobster. He hated all the meals that were given to him, he hated the stew, the fancy eggs, the sandwiches, the drinks and definitely lobster.

Scorpius took this moment to walk towards the queen, whispering something in her ear. The Queen only just nodded in an agreement of some sort.

"Albus if you are feeling unwell you can return to your sleeping quarters." She stated, "I will get Scorpius to watch over you after he has eaten something himself."

Scorpius chuckled at this, watching Albus smile gratefully at him and rush out of the room.

"Is it not best if I watch over him?" Scorpius questioned, raising his brows to the Queen.

"The other Knights know their priorities, please, sit yourself down." She pointed to the end of the table, where the King usually sat. Today it was empty.

"Oh no-" Scorpius let out a nervous laugh, "I appreciate it but I cannot sit there."

"I insist, Scorpius."

Scorpius just let out a sigh, guilt weighing him down before he had a plate of food before him. It did look so appetising. Too appetising to just stare at it with guilt and not eat it all.

Albus found himself not in his room like his Mother expected, but in the library. It was a room full of neutral colours, cedar brown for the bookshelves that reached the rather high ceiling. A darker wooden colour for the ladders that seemed to help anyone go to the unreachable places. The carpet was a deep salamander green colour, it made something in the room pop. The chairs were a hue of different reds, some a neon red that was bold and others were a darker red that almost looked like a shade of nothingness if you squinted.

The Prince took a deep breath, almost as if he had no control over his own shaky breath. He took a seat on a deep red armchair, sinking himself in it. He felt so lost, he felt like a misery.

He casted an unforgivable curse on a woman.

He didn't even know the simplest of spells.

Suddenly, he found himself back onto his feet. He never liked to read, but he knew the whole library and where every single book was placed. With a gulp, he walked towards a far corner of the room - finding a small bookshelf. The blue book was always out of place, and he had seen his father once pull it out before. So, Albus pulled it out. The bookshelf collapsed within himself, revealing a double door in the wall. Without hesitation, Albus opened it.

This room was smaller, something Albus had barely knew about. The ceiling was low, the walls were close together and the room smelt severely of damp. Which, in Albus' mind, meant that it hadn't been touched in years. The dust piled up was definitely support his assumptions.

There was a wooden polished desk in the corner, a black book placed on it. Curiously, Albus found his way towards the desk that was squished in the corner. The surface of the desk was almost completely covered in the light grey dust, and the book. The book was submerged into it. However, the black leather glowed in Albus' eyes. As far as he was aware, black couldn't glow. At least, he had never seen such a dark hue glow before.

The Prince picked up the book, blowing gently on it. The majority of the dust came off, revealing a name carved in a metallic gold.

Elddir Olovram

"Elddir Olovram." Albus spoke in a hushed voice, repeating the pronunciation of the strange name.

He gently opened the leather book, flicking through every individual empty page. Every sepia coloured piece of paper was empty. Albus rolled his eyes, putting the book back down with a very deep sigh, from truly, the bottom of his lungs. It only took a moment, but in that moment he took his eyes of the book, it had flicked many pages into the middle of the book.

Now the book was open wide, words written on the page.

Hello Albus.

Albus furrowed his brows, blinking heavily a few times before actually realising what the words on the page said. His eyes scanned the desk, landing on an ink bottle and a quill. He could've sworn that it wasn't there before.

Albus quickly dipped the quill in the ink, leaning over the desk and writing a greeting in response. A few moments later, words were yet again written on the page.

My condolences go out to your family. Such a tragic accident.

His mouth fell slightly agape, quickly closed when he felt the need to gulp. Albus felt uneasy, apart of him wished that Scorpius was here. Scorpius would know what to do and would probably tell him to stop. Albus' heart was telling him to stop writing in the magical communication book, but Albus' head was staying curious.

And Albus had a tendency to follow his head.

So, he picked up the quill, writing thankful words.

My name is Elddir Olovram

Albus had no reply to that, he didn't know how to reply to 'Elddir Olovram'. And so, he changed the subject to whatever else was on his mind. To this day, Albus wished he never did what he did.

'Do you know what's going on with me?'

Yes.

'Can you tell me?'

No.

Albus groaned at the very quick answer, biting his tongue that suddenly became was uncomfortable in his mouth.

But I can show you.

The Prince was confused, squinting to the page and even flicking throughout them to see if there was anything that could 'show him'. Of course, the book flicked back to the middle page to the newly written words.

Believe me. Let me take you back to years ago.

A golden glow came from the spine of the book, lighting up the room and almost blinding Albus. Suddenly, he felt faint. And before he knew it. He was stood up, in a dark room.

In the dark room stood two men, a taller one and a shorter one. Albus felt himself in the room, however, unable to move. Perhaps this was a memory Albus was watching, a memory from the past.

"What is this, Elddir?" The taller male spoke, ripping a narrow wand out of the shorters hand.

"My wand, father."

"What is this behaviour, boy?" The Father spoke in a spiteful tone, argumentative and sounded ready to kill.

"Behaviour? I'm sorry, I don't understand." The shorter raised his brows, snatching the wand back which earned him a slap on the hand.

"Casting crucio on an innocent woman? As far as I'm aware you barely know the simplest of spells!"

"As far as I'm aware you don't know that some people are born with the power of Salazar." Elddir quickly spat back, "I have the power of his as his heir."

"And this power is?" The man spoke, clearly not believing the explanation of the younger.

"You can cast anything if you are worthy enough. It appears this power is unknown to many, including you."

"You will not use that sort of magic ever again! You hear me, boy? It is dangerous and as a young Prince of Geoginyth you must present yourself as the future King!"

"I am more powerful than any in the Kingdom! After the rebels are killed nobody can stop me from bringing peace to Geoginyth, Father."

Suddenly the shorter teen began walking towards Albus, making direct eye contact with him. A smirk was on his face, proudly dancing on his lips. Then, before Albus knew it. He was back. He was back in the cramped room with little space.

"Al?" A voice came from in front of him, making Albus look away from the book.

Scorpius.

Albus stayed quiet. It was the only thing he knew how to do in the moment. Salazar. The power of Salazar. He was worthy. He was capable of magic like no other. He had used the magic to cast crucio on Rita. Elddir had used the magic to cast crucio on an innocent woman.

"I think I'm cursed." Albus spat out in a shaky voice, his head being held in his hands whilst he ignored Scorpius. He couldn't do that right now, he couldn't tell Scorpius.

"Cursed?" Scorpius repeated Albus' words rhetorically.

"I casted crucio on Rita. I'm a monster, Scorpius! I'm going to become evil and be alon-"

"Albus." Scorpius rushed over to Albus, removing Albus' hands from his face and resting both of his own hands on Albus' shoulders, "You're no monster, okay? Look, I can try and help you figure out how on earth you casted the curse as much as I can but I've never seen anything like this before."

"I know how." Albus mumbled, his breathing still shaking as he spoke.

He became scared of himself. It was like a curse was growing in him.

"You know? Did somebody teach you it?"

"Salazar's curse. He cursed me and-" Albus rushed his words out, cutting himself off when he noticed that he shouldn't of said anything.

"Salazar's curse? Look, Al, you really need to explain everything to me. Your mother doesn't have to know, James doesn't either. This can easily stay between you and me." The Knight comforted, his voice softer than Albus' panicking voice, "Breathe, okay? Gather your thoughts and talk to me."

Albus nodded to Scorpius' voice, suddenly aware that he was indeed breathing at a way faster pace than usual. It took a few minutes, and Scorpius was quiet through them minutes.

"A book talked to me." Albus looked up at Scorpius, who looked confused as ever.

"Albus, tell me it from the start."

The Prince sighed deeply and stood up, walking towards the door. He didn't leave, though it was most definitely in his mind to.

"I walked in because I saw my dad come in here once. Then, I was looking for spiders because it looks like spider territory," Albus looked at Scorpius, who had a very unimpressed expression on his face. Albus knew it was due to his rambling so he decided to skip a few points, "I saw a diary on that desk and opened it and it said my name. I started writing stuff to the diary and I was getting responds from it. So, I asked it why I casted crucio and then it sort of like..teleported me into a memory..? This guy, Elddir, had the same issue as me and he was a Prince of this Kingdom and he said it was to do with Salazar and being a heir to him and such-" He breathed, out of breath at the very quick pace he was speaking, "He casted crucio on a woman without knowing how to even cast it, he said he was worthy and not many people knew about this power and I don't even know if it's real or if it's just came out because Lily's died or-or-"

"Albus."

"Or maybe it's just because i was really angry because she was really pushing my patienc-"

"Who is Elddir!" Scorpius shouted, snapping Albus out of his rambling.

Albus looked awkwardly around the room. He knew all of the people who were royalty to the Kingdom, he had never heard of Elddir.

"I don't know, his name is on the diary." Albus walked over to it, picking it up and passing it to Scorpius.

"And this diary speaks to you?" Scorpius raised a brow with uncertainty, examining the leather book and its pages.

"Yes, Scorpius. Look!" Albus picked up the quill, dipping it into the ink and passing it to Scorpius, "Ask it something."

Scorpius stared at Albus for awhile, before sighing and taking the quill. He opened it to a random page and started writing.

'Who are you?'

He had written, Albus bit the inside of his cheeks.

"I swear, Scorpius."

Scorpius hushed him quickly, looking at the page with patience.

You know who I am, you're a Malfoy.

"How?" Scorpius looked up at Albus, he was trying to read from upside down at what the words were.

"Magic, obviously."

Scorpius groaned and closed the book, biting his tongue whilst he stared down at the golden words. His eyes slowly widened, his free hand rising up to cover his mouth in shock.

"What?"

"You saw Elddir, right?" Scorpius removed his hand, hoping that his realisation wasn't a reality.

"Yes, Scorpius." Albus crossed his arms, walking next to Scorpius and looking at what he was looking at.

"And? What did he look like?"

"Quite handsome, really." Albus shrugged, smirking up at Scorpius.

"A description, Al." Scorpius looked down at him, ignoring the Prince's snarky comment.

Albus groaned, rubbing his forehead as he tried to think, "Brown hair, but it was nearly black it was that dark. Maybe he had black hair. He had a very defined face, around the same height as you. He was pale, and I think he had dark eyes. But normally with blue eyed people their eyes sort of glow and it is quite creepy, but his eyes looked very dark. He spoke very posh."

"Tom Marvolo Riddle." Scorpius breathed out, putting the diary down and grabbing another book from the shelf, ripping a piece of parchment from it, "Look."

Scorpius wrote down Elddir Olovram on the paper, making sure that Albus was watching.

"Can you see, Al?" Scorpius questioned to the very confused Prince.

"I see Elddir's name, yes."

Scorpius groaned, writing Riddle Marvolo under it, then under that Marvolo Riddle. Under that, Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"Elddir Olovram is Marvolo Riddle backwards, Al. I think you may of just spoke to Tom Riddle."

"What..?" Albus' mouth quickly fell open, his hand was rested on his forehead - pushing his curls back.

"Shit."

"What-" Albus stared at the piece of paper, and then a panicked Scorpius, "What do I do? I-I just spoke to Tom Riddle? The maid who killed my sisters father!"

"Wait, Al." Scorpius dropped the piece of paper, turning towards him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. He guided him out of the room.

"What do I do? I just spoke to Tom Riddle, he most likely knows where we are and who I am and what I'm doing and he probably now has some weird obsession with me because now he knows I'm like him and I have a weird curs-"

"Stop rambling!" Scorpius raised his voice, however, Albus questioned how it was even possible to raise your voice without it being rude, "Look, we're going to go up to your room and seriously talk, Ok? We don't need to jump to conclusions immediately."

"Ok." Albus breathed out, "That's fine."

The duo walked to the room in silence, Albus was internally panicking about what he had just done. Tom Riddle had Salazar’s curse, or gift. Albus had that too, he was similar to Tom Riddle - he was like him. The two eventually reached the double doors to Albus’ room, which Albus opened and immediately made his way to his bed at the back wall of the room.

Scorpius locked the door behind him when he had entered, standing against the glass blurred glass panes beside each door. The blond glanced towards Albus, who patted the spot next to him.

“Sit.” The Prince spoke to him, Scorpius furrowed his brows in response. “Please.”

A sigh left the tallers mouth, looking through the glass panes before walking towards Albus’ bed. The Knight felt guilt being so comfortable around a Prince, who Scorpius believed, wanted to befriend the Knight.

“Is he going to come after us?” Albus looked up at the blond, who was leaning his back against the tall bed frame - unlike Albus who submerged himself in the many pillows around him.

“Shouldn’t do, it’s too dangerous for him.” Scorpius smiled down comfortably to the brunet, who let out a shaky breath.

“I don’t want to die.”

“I told you this before, Al.” Scorpius continued looking down at Albus, “As long as I’m here you won’t die. I won’t let anybody hurt you.”

“Why?”

“Because I swore my life to you.”

“I’m not worth another persons life, I’m a Prince. If I was anybody else I wouldn’t have this protection all the time.”

“But you’re not somebody else, you’re royalty.” Scorpius watched the boy stare up at him, “Al, I would rather die knowing I protected you than leaving you to die alone.”

Albus sighed and started to sit up, he rested his head on Scorpius’ shoulder.

“If I have a curse that could make me evil, I don’t believe that you could protect me forever.”

“It’s not the curse that makes you evil, it’s the person that has control of it, Al.”