Mad World |ALBUS|

Cassie played with the hem of her black dress- she was never very good at these things. Death made her uncomfortable and the fact that she had just been to a "hero's" funeral...it was sad. That hero just so happened to be one of her closest friend's dad, too; Albus. They weren't supposed to be friends. They should have never come across each other, but he was the first person she saw the first day of school- tears and all. Her mother had just been murdered...by her father...and he still forced her to go to school on time. She was a mess. Albus didn't say anything, though, he just invited her into their little compartment. She owed him a lot, but she wasn't sure how she could ever repay him. She figured that being there for him during a time like this was a step in the right direction. Cassie glanced over at a cluster of his family members, all wrapped up in their grief to notice her. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she stood up, walking outside to sit on the steps of the small building. She didn't need to stay, but she felt obligated to as a friend. But it was more than that. She didn't know Harry...but she knew how close Albus was to him. A part of her heart ached, remembering what she went through when her mother died. She felt helpless and that was a feeling she didn't like. Not one bit.

She didn't really care how long she had to wait, even if it was hours. Having a jacket would be nice right about now, but that's okay. She wouldn't think about it...or how quiet it currently was. It was eerie. Cassie ignored the rude looks she got from people leaving that she didn't know. To many people, her last name was enough to make her an enemy- something that was irritating. She understood it, though. Her father helped contribute to many innocent lives being taken away. He was the bane of her existence, but he was also the reason she existed. She hated him. Cassie scowled at the ground, wrapping her arms around her waist lightly. She wondered what it was like to have a normal family and she often dreamt about it. She never told anyone about that, obviously. To some people, having money was enough. To most people with a heart, money didn't buy happiness. If it did, she'd have her mother back, because that's what would make her truly happy. However, that wasn't even in the realm of possibilities. Sucking it up and moving on was her only option and she had been trying to for six years. Six years that would have been pretty awful if it wasn't for Albus. "I really do owe him." she mumbled to herself.

Thinking of what she was going to say to him was starting to give her a headache. She was certain that as soon as she got the chance to speak to him, she'd forget everything she'd went over in her head. Or there was always the possibility of word vomit and being unable to stop rambling. Sometimes that happened and it was embarrassing. It was a rare occasion, however. It was then that she saw a figure exiting the building. Cassie stood up, offering a small smile, knowing that it couldn't have been much help. Over the past years they had known each other, she was never one for PDA in any form, even a hug for friends. This was certainly an exception, however. It felt like she was hugging him for a long time, but she knew that he needed it. She let go after a few moments, but reached for his hand instead, lacing her fingers through his. "I'm not going to ask if you're okay, because I know you're not." She said softly. "But I'm sorry...I understand if you'd rather talk about something else."

Growing up in the Potter house, it was a welcoming household. The family all got along very well, they had a bunch of other relatives as well. Relatives that easily got along with them and were always over at the house. Even Teddy Lupin would visit the home multiple times a week to join the family for dinner. Everyone was real close to each other, everyone having their own best friend. Unlike most of his family members that had a cousin or sibling that they could talk to, Albus had his father. The two had always been close since he was a young boy. Growing up, James would pick on him constantly just as any older brother would. As for Lily, the two were close though Albus didn't go to her a lot for talks considering their age difference. Plus, the fact that boys always preferred having their father or older brother to talk to. If anyone had seen the three Potter children, they would have known that Albus was the quieter of the three. He made the family think of Harry when he was smaller, considering their identical looks. Plus, the identical personality it would appear that they shared. It would have been considered strange to some kids for him to consider his best friend to be his father, but he was someone that would always have Albus' back in anything. The one moment that had confirmed that was when Harry had told him about the sorting hat considering him to go into slytherin. Neither of his siblings had heard about that and Albus had kept it as a secret between the two. His words about being sorted into slytherin were what helped Albus come to terms with being placed in slytherin.

Not only did he get along with his father, he also got along with his mother. She was there for him just as Harry, both of them together. However, that would soon change. Harry had been killed, while out on a job for the aurors. Being the head auror, he had gone out by himself to investigate something and never returned. It wasn't until a day later that the news had spread across the nation. Boy who lived had been killed, who did it? When Albus had been told the news, Hogwarts was just starting to get into full swing. A month had passed since he had seen his father when he had boarded the train on platform 9 3/4, unknowingly, it being the last time that father and son were to see each other. As soon as he was told the news, the Potter children had left the castle to be with their mother. Normally boys crying was not an acceptable sight to see because they had to be considered the strong ones out of everyone around them. He didn't care much for those stereotypes. When Albus had gotten home that night, he had laid on his bed and cried quite a bit. Not only had he lost a best friend, but his own father. As he had laid on his bed, there was certainly some anger which had caused him to even kick the nightstand next to his bed when he had finally sat up. While he appeared to be a Harry clone to some, he had infact gotten his mother's temper. It was nowhere near as bad as Ginny's, but it was still noticeable at times. His frustrations were over the fact that no one had gone with his father to investigate anything considering his father was always a sought after target. Even with the death of Voldemort, people were always looking to avenge the dark lord. The funeral was quite large, considering the size of the Weasley family. The guests were mostly family members, loved ones that weren't family members, and some friends of the children. Despite all the amounts of loved ones and friends, Albus was sat with his family as expected. He had on a black suit with a black tie, on his feet were black sneakers considering he was never one to like the dress shoes. The funeral was slow in the beginning though had sped up as people started saying words about Harry.

Had he not been afraid of talking in front of crowds, he would have gone up to speak about his father. However, he did not go up to speak about him. When the funeral had come close to a close, people were told that they could come up to see the body one last time and mourn. The guests and friends had gone up one by one or in groups, depending who they were with. His eyes were on everyone as they went up, their reactions to saying goodbye to a fallen hero. Albus' hands were in his pockets, sweating as the line began to get smaller meaning that he would have to go up soon with his family. His own face was tear stained even though he hadn't been crying recently, but rather before they had arrived at the building. It was a little embarassing for him considering he didn't want everyone to put their attention on him due to how his face looked. Next to him, sat his mother, who was already putting a tissue to her eye, stopping yet another tear. Unlike him, she had spent pretty much every waking moment trying to avoid any mention of her deceased husband. It was quite hard on her more so than him since for the present time, he had managed to stop crying. When the line ended and the Weasley family going up in pairs, had ended, it was their turn. The family of four had gone up to say goodbye to their father and husband. It took quite a while for the family to leave his side though they eventually managed to. With his mother, sister, and brother being comforted by the Weasley family, he had walked back over to the coffin. In his pocket, he had the snitch which his father had caught in his first quidditch game. Albus had managed to find it in his father's desk, something that had played a key role in the horcrux hunt according to his father. Laying it inside next to his father's hand which he had used to catch the snitch, he took one last look at his father before turning around. He began to walk out of the building, already feeling his eyes water up though he just blinked back the tears for now.

Reaching the door of the building, a man opened the door for him. Walking down the set of stairs that led up to the building, his eyes caught a hold of Cassie Lestrange. Despite the fact of who her father was, he didn't hold anything against her. The two had become close friends when he had invited her into his compartment on the train during their first year. Reaching the bottom step, he walked over to her. She had been the only friend of his to have shown up considering she was the only one that he had asked to come. During the course of six years, he had tried to help her with the grief of losing her mother. If anyone would understand what he was going through, it would have been her. While, he was never the one to admit anything to a girl, he had to admit to himself that he felt feelings towards her. Those feelings, he wasn't entirely sure of considering he had never had any game with girls. She stood up, offering a small smile to him. He took his hands out of his pockets which were no longer sweating considering he had managed to go up in front of the crowd. The crowd that was surely memorizing every moment to tell the daily prophet, if they were offered the correct sum. Yes, some people had managed to sneak into the funeral, no doubt. If Albus remembered correctly, he had seen a bee flying about the building. She hugged him for a rather long time, it felt like. When she had hugged him, he didn't put either of his arms around her. He appreciative of the hug, yes, but he just felt quite miserable. As if a hug would not bring anyone back nor any happiness at the present time. Cassie brought up talking about something else in a soft voice. He said in a broken voice, "We can go for a walk, if you want." His voice was a broken mess, meaning his words weren't not together as they normally would have been. She had reached for his hand, lacing her fingers through his. While he did not respond to the hug at all, he simply squeezed her hand to let her know that he appreciated her coming. Cassie may not have read it that way, but it was something that he meant. His blue eyes weren't on her, but rather out on the street where some people had started walking down towards the cemetary. If one thing was for certain, it was that Albus did not want to go to that part at all. If he did go, that would have been when he would really be broken down.