Someone's Gotta Go ((Derek))

[Professor Adam Greene]

Only one more to go. Adam had settled down for the night to write up his lesson plans for the first week of the school term. Arithmancy had taken little time, but it was the Ancient Runes plans that were a bit more involved. He had a decent sized N.E.W.T.s class, and so he wanted to be sure to have enough material to challenge them. That meant longer hours for him, and harder planning, but he was up for it. He needed something to keep his mind occupied. Without Jamie running (or rather crawling) around the cottage, it seemed so much quieter. Not to mention, Sierra was back to living in the castle for the start of the school year. He couldn't believe she was in her sixth year already! Time surely did fly.

With just the light coming from the flickering flames of the fireplace, Adam felt himself start to drift into a light sleep. It was late, and he couldn't fight the urge to let his eye-lids droop. And, once they were closed, he couldn't stop his mind from wandering. He dreamed for a bit, some of which included Jamie and... Dixie. And then he even dreamed about Hermione. None of this really registered in his mind though, and when he woke (which he did), he didn't remember hardly any of it. What he did remember though was that someone was knocking at his door. Oh... wait... that wasn't a dream!

Adam jumped to his feat, spilling the papers that were on his lap. Quickly, he used his wandwork to organize the papers again as he glanced at the clock. Ten fifty-two. Who the hell would be at his door at this time of night? He went to find out.

At the moment he opened the door, his natural instinct was simply to stare. Maybe this was still a dream. Standing in front of him, he looked into a pair of eyes that were scarily a mirror image of his own. In fact, the person standing in front of him looked too similar to Adam that he was certain he was still dreaming. Either that, or someone had made a polyjuice potion with his hair. "Who are you? And what are you doing at my door at this hour?" Adam demanded, starring at his mirror image.

[Derek Alsbrow]

Derek knew how late it was, but he wasn’t about to let this opportunity go to waste. After months of searching around this worthless town and finding that Adam was indeed a professor at Hogwarts now, he intended to confront the man that was his long lost brother, a man he had never met before in his life. This was it. Months of work to come to this point. He had followed, tracked, and stalked his prey. He had planned it out thousands of times, how it would play out. But what was next no one could plan for. After years of assuming he was on his own in this life, he was about to walk into the house of his biological brother.

Standing outside of Adam’s cottage, there was a single light on. Then it went out. Obviously the man was readying himself in for the night. It was now or never. Keeping his wand down by his side, he hesitated. What was wrong with him? This was what he had been waiting for. Why couldn’t he just get the gumption to go up and bang on the door, demanding the money he was rightly owed? Thoughts flew through his mind of how this could completely go wrong. But Derek was stronger than he sometimes gave himself credit for, and in the past few months of stalking Adam, he was sure that he was the stronger brother. Unless Adam knew Derek was coming for him. But that was impossible. Adam had no idea that his brother was coming around town for him. It was time to shake off everything and go in for the kill, so to speak.

His cloak blew up in the wind that was created as he walked briskly up to the small cottage door. His wand still at his side, he used his other hand to bang loudly on the door. Derek heard footsteps coming to the door quickly, and the door flung open. Suddenly he was face to face with his mirror image. At first it surprised him, then after a second, he smirked. Of course they would be brothers. No wonder he had spent this much time and effort to find the man. The man stared, obviously from disbelief. Good. He was spooked. Then his voice bellowed angrily, “Who are you? And what are you doing at my door at this hour?” Quickly, before responding, he scanned his brother, noticing he didn’t have his wand on him. First mistake. Answering the door to a stranger without your wand. He chuckled under his breath.

Running his hand through his hair, scratching the back of his head. “Don’t you recognize me? That hurts. But of course, not like anyone ever wanted us to meet.” He watched Adam’s eyes, searching for the realization to come clear. He didn’t want to have to come right out and say it, but he might have to with Adam being as thick as he seemed. He was still trying to get over the fact that they looked alike, he could tell. “This isn’t any magic, Adam. This,” he pulled on his hair lightly, “is all real. Take a good look. Any ideas floating through that mind of yours?” He took a short step closer to the man, daring him to make the connection.

[Professor Adam Greene]

The man only laughed at Adam's demand for answers. It was a dark and twisted sort of laugh too; one that suggested that the man was getting some sort of pleasure from the confused look Adam was giving. And then... then he started to talk, to say things that only confused Adam more. Not like any one ever wanted us to meet? What was that supposed to mean? What was any of this supposed to mean? Adam was ready to just wake up from the dream at this point, seeing that it was quickly turning into a nightmare. A crazy guy, who looked just like Adam, and no answers. Adam's head started to hurt.

When the man stepped forward, Adam's instinct told him to pull his wand. And so he did. And in that moment, the two of them were standing toe to toe, almost identical in height as well, though Adam felt that he might have had at least half an inch on this mystery guy. "I don't know who you are, or what sick game you are trying to play here, but this is my house, and I didn't invite you inside." Adam's voice was steady, lacking the indication of the slight bit of fear he was feeling. A piece of him was thankful that Sierra was back at school. If this guy was some mass murderer, at least she'd be safe.

Adam's wand tip was pressed firmly into the side of the guy, enough that it'd probably be a bit uncomfortable. And, while Adam wasn't kill-happy, he'd have no problem stunning this guy into next week if he didn't provide some answers soon. "I'm going to ask you again, and this time, you're going to answer. Unless of course you prefer that I curse you." He couldn't help but feel like the guy was there for more than a robbery or vandalism. The way he seemed unaffected by Adam's threats. "Who are you, and what are you doing at my house?"

[Derek Alsbrow]

As Derek spoke to his brother, the man he’d come all this way and sacrificed so much to finally find, he could see the confusion setting in. Phrases he was saying were permeating Adam’s mind, as it tried to make sense of the situation at hand. But the connection was failing. Things weren’t clicking the way Derek wanted, as Adam acted like he had never heard of such a man as the one standing in front of him. When he took his one step forward, surprisingly a wand was pressed (uncomfortably) against his side. Clever, he did grab his wand. Need to watch out for that next time. Pushing his instincts aside, he kept his own wand at his side, since his spell hand was on the opposite of where Adam’s wand was firmly placed.

Adam spoke again, this time obviously flustered and annoyed with Derek’s lack of answers and how he had just appeared without warning. But that was part of the fun, wasn’t it? Seeing his prey squirm with anger, trying to push Adam to do something that was totally not characteristic of the man. Even if he didn’t know how Adam normally acted, this was the real man, right in front of him. The way a man acted when threatened was the real, authentic characteristic and he was sure he would see more. Fear was present, despite how Adam spoke. Truthfully, there was an ounce of fear in the pit of Derek’s gut, but he didn’t let that fear control him. Adam was already letting his fear out, even if his voice didn’t give it away. The fact that his wand was pressed hard against Derek’s side was evidence enough.

Adam asked Derek again who he was, but not before threatening him with a curse. “Threatening me will do no good, Adam. Besides, as far as I’ve heard, you’re the good one, aren’t you?” Deciding to pull his wand out, he moved swiftly, in one solid motion, and his wand was against Adam’s neck, pushing the man’s chin up a bit, showing Adam who was in charge of this confrontation. It would undoubtedly put Adam into a tizzy, since he was already pretty frustrated with Derek’s simple presence at his front door. “You wouldn’t test your…” he stopped himself as he let Adam speak once more. “Who are you, and what are you doing at my house?” Poor Adam. It appeared he had been duped into believing the same thing that Derek had been convinced. Indeed, it hadn’t been very long since Derek had known that he had even had any siblings. But Adam had to have known, didn’t he?

“Can’t you see it in my eyes? In my face? In my entire presence?” Derek searched Adam’s eyes for some sort of recognition, but it never came. Frustrated, he dug his wand further into Adam’s neck, pressing the skin hard. “You don’t recognize your own brother? Your own flesh and blood?” It was possible that Adam had no idea, but that was absurd. Confusion washed over Derek, yet he kept his composure. Maybe he was bluffing, and was trying to convince himself that Derek wasn’t who he was. “Do I need to spell it out to you? Are you really that thick?” Derek fired away, not caring what was going on anymore, he began to lash out. “I didn’t spend this long trying to find you to come to your house in the middle of the night and be threatened! You know exactly why I’m here. Look at me! Face your brother.” His eyes widened, and his wand bowed slightly from the force he was exerting. He didn’t want to wait for the man to respond, but he decided to, seeing if Adam was bluffing about not recognizing him.

[Professor Adam Greene]

The good one? What the hell was that supposed to mean. If this man was referring to Adam as the good one, then who was the bad one? And, even if he knew what that was supposed to mean, Adam really wasn't sure if he understood the 'what'. Was he the good person? The good wizard? The good professor? No, it was a lot more complex than that. There was a truth so hidden and yet so obvious, but Adam was still completely taken back by the man's next words.

The eyes were familiar... the face eerily comforting. Everything about this man made Adam both skeptical and comfortable at the same time. But why? Perhaps Adam was that thick.

Between the force that Derek was exerting on Adam's neck and the reality of what he was saying, it was enough to cause Adam to choke when Derek finally spit out the explanation in the plainest of terms. His brother. His own flesh and blood. But how was that possible? At that point, Adam could have cared less that the guy had his wand digging so painfully into his neck. He found it difficult to mind the fact that the guy had came at such a late hour. Adam was too busy digesting this information to care about much of anything else in that moment. But then... then he snapped.

"You're a liar!" he shouted, using all his strength to push the man away from him, drawing his own wand and pointing it threateningly as he continued in his irate fit. "You're a liar and an imposter! I don't even have a brother!" If he only knew how wrong he was. "I don't know how... or... or why you look so damn similar to me, but that's not what matters. There's magic to fix that. For all I know, you may look nothing like the person that you appear to be, standing in front of me. How do I know you didn't make a polyjuice potion? How do I know you're not a metemorphagus or using some other form of dark magic to make yourself appear so similar to me?" He was walking forward slowly at this point, eyes focused intensely on this stranger of a man. This stranger who claimed to be his brother! How absurd!

"I don't know why you're here, what you want, and why you're claiming to be my brother, but it's going to take a lot more than you're pathetic claims to make me believe it. And, even then, my belief will come at a hard push. Whatever sick game you're playing, just stop. Take what you want, I don't care. Take my valuables, take my money, but just get out of my house. If you really were my brother, I'd expect a bit warmer of an introduction. But you're not. So GET OUT!"