AN: Prompts will be displayed at the bottom to avoid them potentially giving away things.

AN: In an AU where Harry Potter in taken into the Magical Care System after an incident with the Dursleys — not that that's really relevant to this little snippet.

Caylarium's Safe Space

AlwaysPadfoot

'We're on a quest, quest quest, to save the best, best best, from all the rest, rest rest,' Nancy sang, as Harry joined his new friends that he had made at Caylarium Institute. They were on a mission to find refuge from Luke — the new staff member. Apparently, Luke really wanted to meet the Boy-Who-Lived.

That was him; Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived.

'Shut up, Nance.' Ghost's voice was a hiss as he peered back over his shoulder to check if they'd been heard.

Harry liked Ghost a lot. He was only eight and Ghost was fourteen, but Harry thought he was cooler than anyone he'd ever known. He had this brilliant white hair that Harry would trade his for in a heartbeat.

'Nancy likes singing,' she huffed and substituted her singing for humming instead.

Harry had asked Ghost a few days after the Wizards had brought him here why Nancy always referred to herself in the third person. The white-haired boy had taught him his first Caylarium lesson: never ask anyone here why they're crazy.

Nancy lead the way, dancing and twirling in a way that way that made Harry beam. She was so happy; Harry liked that. Ghost brought up the rear as the three residents snuck across to the East Wing.

He had been told upon arrival that the East Wing was out of bounds, but no one here seemed to care. It was the most run-down part of the house; the Dursley's would have never stayed in a place like this. The wallpaper was peeling off and there were stains on the ceiling and carpets. It rather reminded Harry of a haunted house; he'd always enjoyed haunted houses. The East Wing didn't scare him. In fact, he wanted to explore it from top to bottom.

'What are we doing here, Ghost?' Harry asked.

'We're going to make a den,' he responded. 'That way Luke can't find us.'

Harry felt himself frown. 'What's a den?'

Ghost gave him a look that Harry had become familiar with very quickly. It was reserved for when he asked a silly question, ones that apparently everyone else knew the answer to.

'A den, Harry, is a safe space,' Ghost responded. 'We're going to make it with these.'

He lifted his arms, gesturing to the bundle of blankets, sheets and string he had been carrying since they had come to Harry's room earlier. Harry had never made a den before. All he could compare it to was sitting under the sheets in his cupboard with a torch to do his homework.

Ghost could see the confusion on his face; the corners of his lips upturned ever so slightly — Harry hadn't seen him actually smile. 'Wait and see, Harry. It will be fun; I swear.'

Harry believed him; ever since he'd gotten here Ghost had taken charge. He'd taken Harry under his wing and helped him survive in a new place — a new world. Harry hadn't had a friend before, and usually the older kids back at his Muggle School wouldn't let him join any of their games. Sometimes it was because he was too young, normally it was just because he was weird. Ghost was different; Ghost was like the older brother Dudley had never ever been.

'Come on, Harry' Ghost called over his shoulder, 'keep up.'

Harry hurried after him. Nancy was now humming 'Ring a Ring o' Roses' and skipping along the worn carpet, causing dust to spring into the air around her. They chose a room on the third floor to stay in — Ghost said there were staying until Luke's shift was over. Harry didn't want to meet this Luke; Ghost had said a lot of swear words when talking about him. He was thankful they were going to spend the day out of the way and having fun.

Ghost had let Nancy pick a room; she picked a room that still had half it's carpet which Harry was grateful for — he wasn't wearing any socks because he didn't have any of his own. The windows were boarded over so there wasn't a lot of light. The only sunlight squeezed in through the gaps and illuminated beams of dust that were now in the air because the three of them had disturbed it. There were tables and chairs stacked on one side of the room, and on the other, there was a large sofa. Without warning, Nancy ran over and launched herself onto it. Huge amounts of dust were expelled from the cushions and into the air. Ghost put his face in his hand and sighed when she started coughing.

'Nancy, you're a bloody asthmatic, for Merlin's sake.' He went over and lifted her up, bringing her to stand beside Harry as she coughed. 'Stand still and breathe; nothing else, okay, Nance?'

She nodded, wheezing heavily. Harry put a hand on her back and rubbed gently — he'd seen people do that to soothe others before.

'Thank you, Harry. Nancy likes you.'

'You're welcome,' he whispered back to her.

Ghost had moved into the centre of the room, inspecting the furniture. Harry watched as he took two chairs and brought them over to the sofa. He wasn't sure whether to really call them chairs, since they were only the frames, but Ghost wedged them into the back of the sofa. The chairs now stood like two pillars and the older boy checked their stability and frowned.

'Harry, pass me the string would you?'

Harry looked around and spotted that Ghost had dropped the sheets, blankets and string on a table by the door. He scooped the ball of string up and tossed it over to Ghost's outstretched hands. He did all the hard things, allowing Harry and Nancy to help when he needed it. Once he'd finished doing all of the complicated knots and stuff, he put Harry on his shoulders to help throw the sheet over the top of the den. Nancy laid the blankets underneath — that was where they were going to sit.

Finally, when everything was done, Ghost flopped down on the blankets inside and sighed deeply. His whole body was the same length as the den; had he been any taller his feet would have stuck out of the sheets at the bottom. Nancy, who had brought a flowery backpack with her, unbuckled her bag and pulled out several things. It was only a small bag, but Harry found himself wondering how she'd managed to fit in such an array of items in there. This included: colouring books, a chessboard, paints, her stuffed toy rabbit, a half-eaten packet of plain digestives, and several reading books, amongst other weird items (a lizard's tail and a sealed jar of fish eyes).

'Ghost, play chess with Nancy, please,' she asked, elongating the please until it became a little annoying.

'Fine, fine,' Ghost said, sitting up and crossing his legs, 'Harry, do you know how to play?'

Harry shook his head. No one had ever taught him; there had been sets in his school but since Dudley's gang had scared everyone off from being his friend, Harry used to sit and play with the pieces alone.

'Well, Nancy doesn't have all the pieces, she swallowed one white pawn and someone stole the black queen and a white horsey.'

Ghost and Harry exchanged a look; he was sure people shouldn't swallow chess pieces.

Nancy laughed at the looks on their faces. 'Don't worry — Nancy pooped out the pawn. Nancy didn't think anyone would want to play with it afterwards though.'

'Nance, you are such a troll sometimes,' Ghost said, shaking his head as he set the pieces out on the board, exchanging the missing pieces for knuts.

Harry watched in fascination the two played, drawing out the board and where all the pieces belonged on parchment so he would remember. Their game seemed to last forever, so Harry suspected they were both really good, even Nancy, who hadn't said a word since the first piece had been moved. He got bored eventually and asked Ghost if would be okay if he read instead.

'Of course, Harry,' Ghost responded, frowning at the chessboard whilst Nancy grinned widely, 'you don't have to ask my permission.'

Harry shrugged and selected one of the books Nancy had brought with her — a potions book. Unlike when he had read back at home, in the presence of Ghost and Nancy, Harry found himself sucked into the book. His attention was lost entirely to the world outside the den that they had made together.

After reading three chapters word-by-word, Harry dropped the book into his lap in absolute awe. Ghost and Nancy had finished playing Chess and Ghost had joined Harry in reading. Nancy was painting the exposed floorboards in the corner in streaks of blue and pink. Harry couldn't help but think about how he would have been locked in his cupboard for a fortnight had he painted the floor. Although, he wasn't scared that Aunt Petunia would chase him with a frying pan here. He didn't feel like anything like that would happen here — not in the den.

It was exactly how Ghost had described it — a safe space.

Competition: QLFC Round Thirteen / Hogwarts [Psychology]

Prompt: Queen - Write about a character that can be considered dominant. [Ghost] / Write fluff about a Mental Asylum

Word Count: 1543 — not inc. notes, titles, or ANs.