Like Hamlet, I seek truth in a world of lies, and comfort in a world that’s too cold. My heart bleeds. I crave healing, but I’m not sure I’m ready to accept it.
“Was,” another man interrupted, “your responsibility. Multiple colleagues—Dr. Hannibal Lecter among them—reportedly approached you about their concerns. Behavioral changes, erratic judgment, disorientation. We have documented accounts of him being visibly ill at crime scenes. What action did you take?”
Jack’s fingers tightened slightly. “I monitored the situation.” He paused, annoyed with the bureaucracy, acting like they would have noticed. “He was a grown man. Not a child. He didn’t ask for help. He did his job.”
“You monitored,” the woman repeated flatly.
The man to her right leaned forward. “He couldn’t ask for help. You’re his superior—your role is to notice when someone’s not well. You had him in high-stress field situations, armed, working cases involving extreme violence. Meanwhile, he was—” he opened a folder and pushed it toward Jack, “—self-harming to such an extent that his entire torso, arms, even legs, were covered in scars and open wounds. Intake photographs, post-arrest.”
Photographs—taken after Will’s arrest—spilled in front of him. Shirtless intake shots. His torso, arms, even the ridges of his hips were a roadmap of deep, healed scars and fresh, raw welts. Some deliberate. Some desperate. All unmistakable.
Anyways, one of my favorite parts from my fic I just wrote. https://archiveofourown.org/works/70729826
Characters: Will Graham, Hannibal Lecter, Jack Crawford, Beverly Katz, Brian Zeller, Jimmy Price, Alana Bloom, Dr. Frederick Chilton
Additional Tags: Self-Harm, Cutting, Graphic Description, cutting scenes, Will Graham Has Encephalitis, Sad Will Graham, Depressed Will Graham, Jack Crawford Being an Asshole, Alana Bloom Bashing, Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Hallucinations, Restraints, Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, mentioned csa
Summary: "Photographs—taken after Will’s arrest—spilled in front of him. Shirtless intake shots. His torso, arms, even the ridges of his hips were a roadmap of deep, healed scars and fresh, raw welts. Some deliberate. Some desperate. All unmistakable.”
OR After Will’s arrest, HR interviews his colleagues about his sanity. Meanwhile, we get a glimpse into the things that irked Will again and again in flashbacks.
Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: M/M
Fandom: Hannibal (TV)
Relationship: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Characters: Will Graham, Hannibal Lecter
Additional Tags: Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, no bite mask, Pet Play, Dry Humping, Blow Jobs, Desperation, Brat Will Graham, Sub Will Graham, Dom Hannibal Lecter, Puppy Play, Praise Kink, Degradation Kink, Rimming, Oral Sex, Kissing, Biting, Dirty Talk, Anal Fingering, Doggy Style, Light BDSM, Power Dynamics, Muzzle Kink, Orgasm Control, Heavy Petting, Will Graham is a Tease
Language: English
Summary: The muzzle. The no-bite mask.
Hannibal held it between them, unhurried, as though presenting a rare artifact for study. “You embarrassed me tonight, Will. You toyed with me.”
The sight of it hit Will like a blow. Memories slammed into him—prison walls, cold chains, the taste of metal and shame. Branded, displayed, caged like something dangerous and other. Rage rose hot in his throat, clashing with the sudden, traitorous pulse of arousal that coiled in his gut. His breath came faster, caught between a snarl and a moan.
Hannibal let the silence spool out, luxuriating in the storm crossing Will’s face. He waited until Will’s eyes burned with both fury and hunger before speaking again, his voice silk drawn over a blade.
“If you are going to act like a bad dog…” Hannibal lifted the mask with slow, deliberate weight, the gesture as inexorable as judgment itself. “…then I will treat you like one.”
OR Part 2 to ‘Can you Handle Me the Way I Are?’ where Will spends the night teasing Hannibal and being a slut. Hannibal knows Will is seeking punishment and decides to give it to him—with an erotic item from their past—the no-bite mask, treating Will like the pathetic dog he is.
Rating: Not Rated/Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: M/M
Fandom: Hannibal (TV)
Relationship: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Characters: Will Graham, Hannibal Lecter
Additional Tags: Will Graham is a Tease, Post-Fall (Hannibal), Will Graham is a Little Shit, Crack, Crack Fic, Weddings, Age Difference, Age gap relationship, Will & Hannibal go to a wedding and Will is a slut, He makes Hannibal do the cupid shuffle, Dog Motif, Dirty Dancing, Will teases Hannibal, Slow Dancing, early 2000s club music, Out of Character, Will sits on Hannibal's lap, Lovebites
Language: English
Summary: Hannibal’s eyes dropped instantly. His hand followed—slow, deliberate, covering the reveal. Beneath the shift of fabric, the faint crescent of a bite mark glowed red, unmistakable in the low light.
Will smirked, lips curving as he leaned close enough that his words brushed against Hannibal’s ear. He hadn’t even remembered what was hidden there until Hannibal’s fingers pressed it. “What? Afraid they’ll know what you do to me?”
“You are my husband,” Hannibal murmured, composure intact though the steel beneath it rang clear. “Not a harlot.”
Will laughed, sharp and delighted. “Could be both.”
OR Will is dragged along to a wedding for one of Hannibal's coworkers. Bored, he finds a way to make it interesting for the both of them. (He acts like a slut).
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: Explicit
Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Category: M/M
Fandom: Hannibal (TV)
Relationship: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Characters: Will Graham, Hannibal Lecter, Jack Crawford, Alana Bloom, Beverly Katz, Brian Zeller, Jimmy Price, Freddie Lounds
Additional Tags: Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Rape/Non-con Elements, Rape Recovery, Graphic Description, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Flashbacks, Dissociation, Hypersexuality, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Slow Burn, Dark Will Graham, Will Graham Has Encephalitis, Will Graham is a Little Shit, Eventual Smut, Blow Jobs, Frottage, Codependency, Hannibal Lecter is the Chesapeake Ripper, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Blood Kink, Gore, Sex, Rough Kissing, Background Case, Crime Scenes, Unethical Medicine, Jack Crawford Being an Asshole, Alana Bloom Bashing, Mental Breakdown, Cannibalism, Minor Character Death, Masturbation, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Whump, Dreams and Nightmares, Hallucinations, Seizures, Wendigo, Stag - Freeform
Language: English
Summary:
““If you wanted to be touched,” Hannibal said, slowly approaching, “you could have simply asked.”
Will didn’t speak. He reached instead—fingers brushing Hannibal’s hip, then drifting to the front of his shirt. He untucked the hem with two fingers and tugged, working a button loose.
Hannibal’s gaze flicked down, then back to Will’s face. “You’re not very good at playing dead,” He murmured, stepping closer. “You breathe too evenly when you’re pretending.”
Will met his eyes then, and smiled faintly—thin and deliberate. He met his eyes fully, deliberately. His fingers paused at the third button. “Did you prefer when I was pretending?”
“No.” Hannibal’s answer was instant. “But you’re more honest when you lie.””
OR Will is raped while sleepwalking, and Hannibal seizes upon that vulnerability to guide his becoming. What began as a design to frame him shifts into something else when fondness takes root. Hannibal discards the original plan, and begins to press Will toward revelation, toward the knowledge of who he truly is before ever making his move. However long it takes, he will wait. And the irony is that Will was already ready to play his games, long before he even knew he had entered them.
Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: M/M
Fandoms: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Relationship: Todd Anderson/Neil Perry
Characters: Todd Anderson, Neil Perry (Dead Poets Society)
Additional Tags: Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Canon Compliant, Dead Neil Perry (Dead Poet's Society), Grief/Mourning, First Kiss, Post-Canon, Character Study, Neil Perry's Death Scene, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide
Language: English
Summary:
“He was going to kiss Todd.
He’d already written the note—left it waiting on his dresser. Something to hold Todd over until they could get back to Welton and say it all out loud. Say it right. Todd had stood just beyond the reach of the lights, fidgeting with his tie, eyes wide and fixed on Neil like he wasn’t sure he was allowed to blink. His shoulders were tense. His lips slightly parted, as if caught mid-breath—still suspended in the spell of the final scene. He looked like he’d forgotten how to move.
Neil had moved for both of them.”
OR Neil is frozen in time and Todd is forced to grow. Neil’s memories and Todd’s reflections on their last kiss.
Someone guessed the song correctly—I’m genuinely impressed, especially since I didn’t even use the original lyrics.
The end note: Bonus points if you can guess any of the songs I based this off of. There's 2 and they're both popular. One is trending now, and the other I would qualify as a '2010s pop classic.'
Here’s the paragraphs that correlates with the lyric:
I still remember the look on your face/Lit through the darkness at 1:58
“A soft click interrupted the silence. Neil turned his head just slightly—enough to peek over the edge of his blanket.
Todd had turned on his desk lamp, its low golden glow pooling on the wood like a spotlight on an empty stage. He sat hunched forward, elbows resting on the edge of the desk, one hand at his mouth, the other holding something folded. One of his letters.
He watched from across the room, hidden in shadow, as Todd unfolded it with slow, careful hands. Todd’s eyes flicked across the page, his brow furrowed, lips parted just enough to catch his breath. He was chewing on the neckline of his sweater, a nervous tic Neil had learned to spot.”
You told me you loved me/So why did you go away?
“If it was a suicide note, how could Neil kiss him and still leave? How could someone kiss like that— so certain, so alive —and be planning to die? Todd had kissed him back. He had held onto him. He had gripped Neil like he was trying to root himself in something real. Neil had looked at him like he mattered. Like he was wanted .
Todd had been in the palm of his hand. And he let go.”
I never thought we'd have a last kiss/Never imagined we'd end like this
“They had everything in front of them. They had time. Maybe not safety, maybe not ease—but something. A chance. If Todd had known, if he had understood what that note meant, he would’ve done anything. He would’ve stolen a bike, found a bus, run through the snow if he had to. He would have gotten to Neil’s house and pounded on the door and begged him to stop, to wait, to just talk to him.
He would have told him that they didn’t need anyone else’s permission.
They could’ve gone anywhere. They could’ve left Vermont behind and started over. Todd didn’t care where, as long as Neil was there, as long as there was another day, any day.
But Neil had thrown it all away.”
How you'd kiss me when I was in the middle of saying something/There's not a day I don't miss those rude interruptions
“Todd felt the words gathering in his throat, crashing into each other like waves. He had a hundred things to say. A thousand versions of I saw you. “You were—”
Neil stepped forward and kissed him. Not nervously. Not like a question. Like he’d made up his mind.”
So I'll watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep/And I feel you forget me like I used to feel you breathe/And I'll keep up with our old friends just to ask them how you are
“Years pass and Todd often finds himself staring too long at the old photographs. Neil’s smile—open, alive, brimming with something Todd still doesn’t have words for. It was the kind of smile that made the world feel like a secret only Neil knew, and he was just about to let you in. He smiled like he truly believed, with every part of himself, that you were worth his attention. It made you want to follow him anywhere. It made Todd feel seen.
Even now, Todd tries to capture that smile in poems he never finishes. He has stacks of them—half-starts, fragments, metaphors that collapse under the weight of trying to name the unnameable. Because the truth is, there is no word for it. There never was.
He still sees that smile, but only in those still hours just before dawn. In those dreams, he’s seventeen again. Neil is beside him, alive. Smiling. Not sad. In those dreams, Todd walks to his bed without fear, sits beside him, and tells him everything: about the poems, the fear, the love. Neil listens. And Todd says all the things he never could. But then he wakes up. And Neil is gone.
The other Dead Poets have faded too, one by one. Todd feels it like quiet erosion, a slow forgetting. And he’s scared. Scared that if enough time passes, if enough voices go quiet, Neil will vanish entirely. I’m still here, he wants to say. I remember. I loved him.”
And I hope the sun shines and it's a beautiful day/And something reminds you you wish you had stayed
“Now it’s mostly silence. Names on envelopes. Static on dead lines. Todd is the one left remembering, haunted by their ghosts. By the echo of Neil’s voice in the cave. By the truth that Neil cracked something open in him, gave him language and courage and feeling—and then left him to carry it all.
He sees flickers of Neil in his students now—a way of standing, a burst of laughter, a question asked not for the answer, but for the thrill of curiosity. And every time, Todd’s heart clenches with a bittersweet ache. You could’ve been this. You should’ve been here to see this.”
Your name, forever the name on my lips/Just like our last kiss/Forever the name on my lips
“Sometimes Todd thinks he wasn’t built for this kind of endurance. But then he remembers how Neil changed him.
And so he teaches. And so he remembers. And so, in the quiet, he keeps whispering Neil’s name like it still means something holy.”
AND
“His first and last kiss had been Todd. And somehow, that felt fitting.
There would never be another moment like it. No echo. No reprise. Just that single, imperfect, beautiful flicker—held now like a pressed flower between memory and regret.
He thought of Todd, standing backstage, lips parted, eyes wide. The grip on his sleeve. The question in his touch. Stay. He hadn’t.
But maybe Todd would still be okay.
Neil closed his eyes, and for a moment, he pictured it—Todd older, taller, his voice steadier. Standing at the front of a classroom maybe, reading aloud with that quiet fire of his. Writing poems no one else dared to. Loving someone without needing to hide.
And then, softly, barely audible, he whispered, “Todd.”
Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: M/M
Fandoms: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Relationship: Todd Anderson/Neil Perry
Characters: Todd Anderson, Neil Perry (Dead Poets Society)
Additional Tags: Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Canon Compliant, Dead Neil Perry (Dead Poet's Society), Grief/Mourning, First Kiss, Post-Canon, Character Study, Neil Perry's Death Scene, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide
Language: English
Summary:
“He was going to kiss Todd.
He’d already written the note—left it waiting on his dresser. Something to hold Todd over until they could get back to Welton and say it all out loud. Say it right. Todd had stood just beyond the reach of the lights, fidgeting with his tie, eyes wide and fixed on Neil like he wasn’t sure he was allowed to blink. His shoulders were tense. His lips slightly parted, as if caught mid-breath—still suspended in the spell of the final scene. He looked like he’d forgotten how to move.
Neil had moved for both of them.”
OR Neil is frozen in time and Todd is forced to grow. Neil’s memories and Todd’s reflections on their last kiss.
Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: M/M
Fandoms: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Relationship: Todd Anderson/Neil Perry, Todd Anderson & Knox Overstreet
Characters: Todd Anderson, Neil Perry (Dead Poets Society), Knox Overstreet, Charlie Dalton, Richard Cameron, Steven Meeks, Gerard Pitts, John Keating (mentioned)
Additional Tags: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Feels, Todd Anderson-centric, Letters, Poetry, Love Letters, Period-Typical Homophobia, Closure, Eulogies, Tragedy, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Summary:
Todd turned slowly from the window, the pale winter light casting long shadows behind him. Something had shifted. He still trembled, but it wasn’t from fear anymore. The frozen lake outside, the pier where Neil had once stood laughing in the cold, now looked empty, hollow—a stage without its lead. “That’s not true, Cameron,” Todd said, his voice quiet but cutting. “You know that. He didn't put us to anything. Neil loved acting.”
Cameron’s smugness flickered like a candle caught in the wind. “You didn’t know him, Todd,” he said, pushing the words like armor. “Not like the rest of us.”
Todd stepped forward. “No,” he said, his voice catching. “No, I didn’t.” He paused. Then, almost in a whisper, but with a weight that made the whole room go still: “But I loved him.”
OR After Neil's death, Todd finds the courage to share what they had kept quiet. With the help of others, he holds a memorial in the cave, reading the notes that Neil left behind.
Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: F/M
Fandoms: The Batman (Movie 2022)Batman - All Media Types
Relationship: Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne
Characters: Selina Kyle, Bruce Wayne
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Selina Kyle Takes Care of Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle Loves Bruce Wayne, Vulnerable Bruce Wayne, Protective Selina Kyle, Angst
Language: English
Summary:
"Selina wondered what had brought him to this point. What made him lean into her now, after years of self-reliance and restraint? Bruce was built on self-denial—of pleasure, of comfort, of connection—she ached for him, knowing he would have to let some of that weight go if he ever wanted to breathe again. But that was the thing, wasn’t it? Bruce didn’t know how to let go. Had anyone ever held him like this before? Had he ever allowed them to?"
OR Selina's thoughts as Bruce breaks down and finally receives the comfort he deserves.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: Explicit
Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Categories: F/M, Gen
Fandoms: The Batman (Movie 2022), Batman - All Media Types
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne
Characters: Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Alfred Pennyworth
Additional Tags: Depressed Bruce Wayne, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Sad Bruce Wayne, Self-Harm, Cutting, Crime Fighting, Wounds, Graphic Description, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Alfred Pennyworth is Bruce Wayne's Parent, Good Parent Alfred Pennyworth, Caring Alfred Pennyworth, Selina Kyle is Catwoman, Protective Selina Kyle, Selina Kyle Takes Care of Bruce Wayne, You can tell I think Selina Kyle is a soft dom but this fic isn't about that
Language: English
Summary:
"When they finally arrived at the Cave, Selina dismounted gracefully, tossing her whip onto a nearby workbench. Bruce was slower, his movements stiff as he swung off the bike.
“You okay?” she asked, her voice softer now, less playful. She glanced at him with those sharp, discerning eyes, the ones that saw too much.
Bruce avoided her gaze, pulling the cowl off as he moved toward the bathroom. “Selina, I’m fine,” he said brusquely. “I’m going to shower.” He was already peeling off his gloves, blood smudged on the tips."
OR Bruce cuts again, Alfred is disappointed, and Selina is unaware and concerned.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: Explicit
Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Category: Gen
Fandoms: The Batman (Movie 2022), Batman - All Media Types
Relationship: Alfred Pennyworth & Bruce Wayne
Characters: Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Mentioned Selena Kyle - Character
Additional Tags: Depressed Bruce Wayne, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Sad Bruce Wayne, Self-Harm, Cutting, Fighting, Wounds, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Alfred Pennyworth is Bruce Wayne's Parent, Good Parent Alfred Pennyworth, Caring Alfred Pennyworth, MENTIONED: rape, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Character Study
Language: English
Summary:
"But it couldn’t wash away the guilt. That always lingered.
It gnawed at him. He caught a glimpse of his body in the mirror, a reminder that this is the body he thinks can save Gotham. It’s pathetic. Underneath the suit, he’s just a man. To become the perfect tool of justice, he needs to sacrifice his identity, shed this humanity. He knows what he needs to do."
OR Alfred finds that Bruce has started to cut himself again.
anyhow, the reason why i've always been particularly defensive about the status of fanfiction as a medium that can and ought to stand on its own (rather than its common perception as a lesser form of original fiction; a three-wheeled bicycle for aspiring writers, if you will) and, consequently, its deserving to be judged by its own standards (because it should be judged! anything worthy of respect is also worthy of criticism, and i don't think that fanfiction is any exception; i simply believe that such criticism calls for its own paradigm) is that it's inherently and innately a labour of love – storytelling for storytelling's sake. its grey legal status is therefore both its greatest weakness – it's a thankless job, more often than not! – and its greatest strength: as it is, it happens to be one of the few remaining outlets of creative expression that is not bound and limited by any copyright laws or marketability concerns. telling the very story its author wants to tell – for no other reason than the itching need to enter into a dialogue with or expand upon another story – is the purpose in and of itself; there's nothing more and nothing less to it (& nor should there be!).
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: Not Rated
Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Categories: F/M, M/M
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, Euphemia Potter/Fleamont Potter, Sirius Black & Euphemia Potter & Fleamont Potter & James Potter
Additional Tags: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Feels, Character Study, Hurt No Comfort, Heavy Angst, Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Song: champagne problems (Taylor Swift), Title from a Taylor Swift Song, Depressed Remus Lupin, Remus Lupin Needs a Hug, Remus Lupin is Bad at Feelings, Established Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Pining, Post-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Post-Marauders Era (Harry Potter), First Wizarding War with Voldemort (Harry Potter), Canon Compliant, Coming Out, Canonical Character Death, Bashing of Remus/Tonks but NOT Tonks herself
Language: English
Summary: On Remus Lupin’s 30th birthday, he sat alone on a night train with no destination. He was slumped in one of the two weathered cloth seats, clutching a familiar bottle of champagne.
OR Remus struggles with his feelings for Sirius after his betrayal. He reflects on the good, the bad, and what could have been.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: M/M
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Relationship: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Characters: Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter
Additional Tags: Mentioned Lily Evans Potter, Mentioned Peter Pettigrew, Dom/sub, Dom Remus Lupin, Sub Sirius Black, Sadomasochism, Bruises, Accidental Voyeurism, I believe this is called a 'crackfic'?
Language: English
Summary:
“James, I begged him to do it, seriously. Remus didn’t hurt me—”
James shook his head, refusing to look away from the bruise. “You don’t have to be scared of him, Pads. Pete and I are going to—”
“James, stop,” Sirius said more forcefully, his voice rising. “You’re not listening."
OR Remus and Sirius have not kept the power dynamics of their relationship subtle, at all. James is worried.
Characters: Albus Severus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, James Sirius Potter, Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger
Additional Tags: Coming of Age, Coming Out, Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Suicidal Thoughts, Self-Harm, Depression, Redeemed Draco Malfoy, Food Issues, Bullying, Age Regression/De-Aging, Dissociation, Minor Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Homophobic Language, Harry is a dick, Ginny is trying
Language: English
Summary: Albus Severus Potter, the son of Harry James Potter or the boy who lived, was a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, or so we thought. Little did we know he wasn’t pinning over girls, but over boys, and at home he’s deprived of the love and attention he needs from neglectful parents. The younger Potter has struggled through a childhood filled with mental Muggle illnesses known as depression and anxiety. Seventeen-year-old Albus thought that he had found solace in his steady boyfriend at Hogwarts, the son of former death eater Draco Malfoy, head of the Ministry of Magic’s Department of Mysteries Research Committee, Scorpius Malfoy. But unfortunately, Albus didn’t know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss.
