Black Roses {James Potter x OC}

The Hero Releases The Villain

Harry Potter's classroom was everything but neat. There was always something fluttering around or lying in the centre of the room.

The cabinets heaved with effort as they tried to stay closed after being packed to the brim. There even seemed to be more assignments than desk by the end of the day.

Although Harry Potter seemed to understand perfectly how to cope with his messy environment. Waving his wand left and right as each paper got graded and flung towards another corner of the room.

It had taken nearly two months for James to work up the courage to confront his father about his seemingly inexistent relative.

The rest of the gang had offered to go with him to show support, even going as far as to mention the situation to Albus or Lily so the family matter could stay as such.

Yet James refused them all, the secret was between his father and himself, he would not drag his siblings into something that could very well be a prank and a mistake. They should have the privilege of enjoying their childhoods a little longer.

"Dad?" Harry gently let the papers fall back onto his mess of a desk. Standing to face his son.

"James! I don't think you came here searching for extra credit work, did you?" James gently shook his head.

He had planned a speech for his father where he confessed it all, but words seemed to drown in his throat and he no longer was able to use such idea.

"No. I came to ask a question" Harry leaned casually against his desk, his hands hidden in his pockets.

He seemed to be in a state of calm before the truth that was a storm would be revealed.

"Sure thing. What is it?" James gulped, clutching firmly the fabric from inside his jacket to prevent his hands from shaking.

"Who's Cedric?" Harry's confident self seemed to stutter at the mention of a name he had not heard or spoken of in years.

"Cedric was a friend of mine back in Hogwarts. He sacrificed himself for me in the face of Voldemort.... Neither of us would be standing here if it wasn't for him" Harry thought his words would put James at ease, but he was far from at ease.

He hadn't answered his question properly.

"Not Cedric Diggory. Who's Cedric Rubeus Potter?" And finally, all the confidence leeched from Harry. Leaving behind a pale ghost of a once hero.

"Who...Who told you that name?"

"It was them who did that stuff to Zoe and Scorpious. That's why you didn't want us to say anything" The truth Harry had fought to hide was unravelling itself before his eyes, at the hands of his own son.

"James..." James was growing angry, images of what his relative had done to the people he loved flashing through his mind.

Zoe's pleas and cries as he tortured her in front of his eyes. Scorpious' puffed up face after crying a river. Lily and Albus' eyes filled with fear for their friends. He couldn't allow those images to go any longer, or far worse ones to replace them.

"Who are they dad? A cousin? Because I know uncle Dudley would never be open to receive someone into the family unless they were directly related to him, he's still a closed-minded-"

"-He's your brother!" And so the truth finally saw the light of day. One that had been hidden for a little over decade.

James froze, the best way to describe what he felt was complete shock. He had been betrayed by someone who in any other situation would've been like his best friend. His own brother.

"What...I..."

"You were three, Lily could barely walk. Albus would cry all day. And Cedric had just begun learning how to harness his powers to not harm muggles...

We put you to bed after Cedric and you fought over who should be carried by your mum longer. You were always fighting, always at each other's throats...

I knew you didn't mean any of it, you were just biting back at whatever Cedric said. But Cedric meant every word he said in every fight. He said that the love we all claimed to feel for each other was just a ruse to piss him off" Harry choked up, his eyes welling with tears as memories flooded through him.

"We were downstairs, we thought you were all asleep. Until we smelt burning. We ran upstairs and into your room.

Cedric was at the foot of your bed, glaring at you as the flames slowly went towards you. You were screaming, begging for me and your mum to help you.

We tried putting the fire out, but your brother was too strong for both of us. So I ran into the flames and got you out of there while your Mum got Albus and Lily"

Harry slowly unbuttoned his shirt, peeling off the fabric carefully from his body.

"That's how I got these" He turned around and James got a whole view of his scarred back as his breath hitched.

It had probably been burnt to a crisp at some point, but in that moment it was only a pattern of pink and healed bumpy tissue.

"What happened to Cedric?"

"He said it was all your fault, that your love was what would kill us all. So we did what we thought was best...

We left him in the middle of the burning house"

James' own eyes filled with tears, he didn't wish to understand his brother. But he did.

"Zoe's Mum helped us erase every official record there was of him. We erased him from your memories and every picture. We thought he had died in that fire, apparently not.

That's why I came, I heard rumours of him reappearing. And from how things ended, I was sure he was going to come after one of you, I couldn't let him...

There was something evil inside your brother James, and I hope you understand that your Mum and I didn't want to be the ones responsible for releasing it"

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a/n: FINALLY! I am proud to present, Cedric Rubeus Potter 😌 The craziest and probably most underrated Potter 🤷‍♀️

Im kinda sad I decided to name the "villain" of the story after Hagrid and Cedric, but Harry would've DEFINITELY named one of his kids after the person who took care of him when he lost his parents and the person who died because of him 🤷‍♀️

Anywayssss vote and comment if u weren't expecting that plot twist 😉 I'm 99.9% sure u weren't