Broken

Broken

Lucius stared at the photograph that was before him. It was his mitress's son. But instead of the raven-black hair and the almost identical appearance to James Potter, he saw a blonde boy with forest green eyes, not his mother's or his father's, but reflect the darkness of the situation he was in.

It was almost like the still photograph could see into his soul. No wonder why they created a spell to make them move. He put the photograph down. He had seen the blood test. He had even witnessed the transformation while under the Polyjuice Potion. He had kidnapped the Weasley boy.

He went into his study. He opened the dresser, one that he had never opened before. One that belonged strictly to his father. What he found in there amazed him, as well as frightened him. There, right on the top of his things, was a picture of him and Lily.

Lucius took the photo in his hands, it too was still. Lily and he were smiling, without looks of pain faced directly at the camera. The picture was taken in black and white, almost as if it had been intended to be taken that way. The way he held her, the way he...

He suddenly could not fight back the waves of sadness that washed over him. He broke into crying. The memories suddenly flashed through his head. The day he met Lily, the day he told her his feelings, the day he stood up to his father, they could not go away no matter how hard Lucius struggled.

"I wanted you to know, that I love the way you laugh, I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away, I keep your photograph, and I know it serves me well, I wanna hold you high and steal your pain..."

Lucius could not bear the pain of what he had done to her. To all the people he had hurt. His best friend, the only one that could see through him, the only one that risked everything to be with him. Severus, he had betrayed him and revealed he was a spy for Dumbledore. How he had made mistakes. His wife, he had hurt her. He had beaten her and tortured her. He had betrayed everything he ever cared about, and that betrayal had destroyed him.

"Cause I'm broken, when I'm open, and I don't feel like, I'm strong enough, cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome and I don't feel right, when you're gone away..."

Lucius stared at the cold hard steel of the muggle gun he had acquired from some muggle he had tortured. It had two rounds left in the magazine. He pulled the thingy back, and loaded a gun into the chamber.

He could not bear the pain. He had tried. For weeks he had tried. And then at Hogwarts visiting his son Draco... to see the boy he had hurt... Lucius begun to cry again. He pulled the trigger, thinking to himself, he had only killed something that was suffering.

"The worst is over now, and we can breathe again, I wanna hold you high and steal my pain, away, there's so much more to learn, and no one left to fight, I wanna hold you high and steal your pain..."

He opened his eyes, there was carnage all around. Curses he knew all too well were flying around, and he quickly dropped to the ground, not realizing he still wanted to die and could easily have been hit. In the centre of the battlefield, stood Lily, smiling, next to her son. James Potter was there, and so was Sirius, and Remus, and everyone that had ever mattered to Harry.

Lily walked towards him, and as the duel continued, neither his illegitimate son that he would have given everything for, or Voldemort, had given edgeway, it was a stalemate. As Lily approached him, he started crying, he could not bear to look in her eyes, they were so... but Lily forced his face up, and staring into the grey orbs of his soul, did he finally he understand. Everything that had happened. He smiled.

Cause I'm broken, when I'm open, and I don't feel like, I'm strong enough, cause I'm broken, when I'm lonesome, and I don't feel right, when you're gone away..."

They looked towards their son, fighting as bravely as he could against the one person that he was so alike. The one person that their son mirrored in similarity. Not by looks or behavior, but by personality and pain, and then he saw faint lines around Voldemort as well. They were the traces of Tom's family as well. There was no hatred or rivalry between them as their sons had with each other, and mentally, they all decided the outcome of this battle. Has Teresa and Riddle, Sr. nodded, Lucius, James, Sirius, Remus, they faded, and in the head of the boy, their last message, was there,

"We'll always be with you!"

Harry decided that it was no longer time to battle, but to end it, Voldemort had wanted to torture him, so he hadn't yet fired the curse, he looked towards Voldemort, and said, "Tom Marvolo Riddle, be at peace! Avada Kedavra!"

He could see the people staring at him, with looks of sympathy on their faces. They had cared for Tom as his family had cared for him. And he realized, that they had to sacrifice too.

He said what he said to Tom, not to cause pain, but so that the tragic figure of Tom Riddle, Jr. may not linger in pain. As the curse emerged from his wand, it came out not in the vibrant green that plagued his dreams, but of a colour incomprehensibly to any human, for it had no name. It was not dark, nor was it grey, it was light, unbinding love, that shot from his wand, killing the evil man of Voldemort, and letting Tom free.

~-~-~-~-~-~

Harry stood at the window of the Hospital Wing, staring out at the fields, where just an hour previously nothing short of full scale war had erupted. But Harry smiled to himself, they were all soldiers, and the pain that they have to bear from this is over. The pain of the survivors will go away, we've gained that. We've all gained the right to live.

Just three months ago he had found out James Potter wasn't his son. Three weeks later, Lucius had committed suicide. He had no idea why he felt so pained by this, yet to realize that he, regardless of how much they knew of each other, he still considered Lucius his father. He was here that day, in the battle, he had heard his voice. The voice of many telling me not to give up, that they will always be there, he smiled.

Lucius no longer bears the pain, and he, and everyone else, can finally move on.