A/N: Important notice at the ending section author's note.
I hope this chapter's better than the previous one. Enjoy!
Harry casted another worried glance as he heard Claudette coughed. Again.
The girl had been in a coughing fit since early in the morning. Apparently, she had fallen asleep without shutting her window closed. Who would open their window at night at this time of the year, anyway? He was glad that it hadn't come with a fever, though.
"Miss Rutherford, are you certain you don't fancy resting for today?" their World History teacher, Mrs Potts, paused her lecture and asked his friend in concern, though Harry did not missed the hint of annoyance lacing her question. He could not blame their teacher, though. The sound of rustling leaves outside the class was distracting enough. They really could do without someone coughing every once in a short while.
"Pardon me, Mrs Potts, but I prefer sitting the class, if it's alright," replied Claudette hoarsely after unsuccessfully trying to clear her throat several times.
Harry understood that Claudette's reluctance to leave the class was most likely caused by their school's strict requirements when it came to attendance. But then again, there was always exception for some circumstances, and having their teacher offering her to take a rest as she was obviously under the weather, Harry believed that it should be okay for her to leave.
He took a glance at his watch; only a ten minutes left for the fourth period, and after that they would have an empty period before lunch time. He was so going to force the girl to get some rest before lunch and took some medicines after, then hope that it would not get any worse. He was not looking forward to calling her parents and told them that their only daughter had caught flu for the God-knew-how-many times on this term alone.
Cold and flu were something that happened seasonally for Claudette; most of them would be gone after a few days of good rests, but sometimes, those more serious, would last even more than a week and at the worst case, would require her to take a week off school and stayed in the bed, driving her into boredom.
And extremely bored and sick Claudette is also not someone he looked forward to be dealing with.
Why would he when the last time he had to deal with it, he was forced to learn that–
Forget it. Even recalling what he had to do was enough fuel for his determination to get Claudette impeccably healthy as soon as possible.
"Blimey, Harry. Do you have to be such a mother-hen?" Claudette whined weakly as he dragged her back into their house, "Even Mum has never been this insistent to make me rest when I'm sick."
But then again, it might be because Mrs Rutherford was rarely (or never) in direct contact with her when she was sick.
Harry ignored her protest as they reached the entrance to the girls' wing and flash a polite smile at the holographic security system to register his visit to the girl's dorm. For younger boarders, crossing to the opposite gender's wing was strictly prohibited, but the rules were much more flexible for those older than fifteen, as long as they kept their personal discipline. After all, one did not simply forget years of self-control drilled into their daily life.
"Harry Osborn: Requesting permission to visit Claudette Rutherford's room to take care of her while she's sick," he stated, waiting for the security system to process.
"Permission granted. Welcome, Mr Osborn. Please uphold the house rules and report back if you are staying for more than three hours," came the monotonous reply from the AI as the automated glass door opened for them.
Claudette snorted at Harry's politeness even toward a hologram image; granted it looked human enough (if you could ignore the fact that it was semi-transparent) and even capable of beholding basic facial expression such as smiling politely, but still, it was just… well, a hologram.
Not to mention that it was a product of Oscorp Industries.
"Would it not be easier if they just give you unrestricted access to any facility using your father's company's service?" she asked, followed by a subdued cough, as they reached her room, "especially here, in which you are a student as well."
"That's not ethical, don't you think?" Harry motioned her to scan her fingerprint on the scanner and followed her inside as the door opened, "And it's not like my father even knows that my school is paying for his service."
It was quite recent–just starting from the beginning of the school term, actually–that their school had adopted Oscorp's security system in the houses, mainly those housing long-term students. While it felt weird at first (because reporting to a hologram was not that common), but the older students found it enjoyable because asking permission from a hologram was definitely less unnerving than asking the House Master/Mistress; and even more entertaining when the more rebellious students decided to test the system's response to loutish languages (to their surprise, the system seems to have extensive knowledge of coarse languages, including those of French, German, Italian, and Spanish.)
Claudette wondered if Harry had been surrounded with that kind of security system before he came to the school, but she knew better than to talk about anything related to his father for more than one question, so she shoved the question to the back of her mind; save it for later, or even never.
"Where did you keep your flu medicine?" Harry asked his best friend, casually tossing his navy blue school blazer onto her desk and started opening her drawers, in one of which, he knew, was where she usually kept her stack of medicines.
Claudette groaned at that and plopped herself down on the window-sofa. "Harry, please. It's just cough. I am sure drinking bloody lots of water will be enough to do the trick."
The copper haired male raised an eyebrow, but kept on rummaging through the drawers. It should be either the top or the second one: He remembered storing them away somewhere about.
"You know that I'll honestly tell your mom when she calls tonight, don't you?"
If there was one thing that Claudette (light-heartedly) regretted the most during their five years of friendship, it was probably introducing Harry to her parents (and let them met twice, at that). Her parents were quite attached to the boy and trusted him to actually point the truth if she was ever in trouble.
Worse was that her mother believed there was something romantic going on between them.
Sure, Harry was an attractive guy. And Claudette definitely was not blind about that. People saw that the two of them had been in each other's company for about five years: of course there would be people thinking that they were in an exclusive relationship (to which Harry agreed to: their friendship is exclusive. He did admit that he would not welcome anyone who came between them. Spoiled brat). But they had been the best of friends for years, and merely thinking of having a romantic relationship with Harry seemed... weird.
"Mum will not make that much of a fuss; I think she will likely ask you to stay away so you won't catch whatever germs I'm spreading instead," the raven haired scowled at the capsules Harry had finally found and prepared for her to drink after lunch, "Dad, however, will definitely pester you until you relent to admit that it was probably your fault."
Harry chuckled, agreeing to Claudette's statement to some extent. Putting the fact that Mr and Mrs Rutherford were rarely there in person aside, the pair was very affectionate: Mrs Rutherford was very warm and caring, yet she expect her daughter to be an independent woman while Mr Rutherford, on the contrary, was the one who loved spoiling their daughter. Harry envied his best friend for that, for he barely remembered his own mother and his father never cared about him; but yet at the same time, he respected and adored the Rutherford parents, and was happy for his best friend will never experience the bitterness he felt toward his own.
"Anyway, just take a rest, okay? I'll bring lunch up for you," Harry ruffled her hair and headed out. Lunchtime was due in five, and if he wanted Claudette to have her lunch before going to the afternoon class, he'd rather hurry before the dining hall was overly crowded.
However, Claudette merely shook her head, "Don't bother. I'll just see you in the afternoon class," and as she saw that Harry was about to protest, continued, "I'll make sure to eat something just so I can eat the med before going to the class, but now, I just wanted to lay down a bit. Off you go, Osborn," she gave him a playful shove toward the door.
Truth to be told, she could feel her body getting more and more uncomfortable, starting to get little shivers here and there, but she had no intention to make Harry hassle more than he already did, so she was glad that Harry agreed to leave her room quickly. The moment her room's door closed with a click, she opened her laptop and logged into her student's account, informing to her teachers that she would be missing the rest of her classes for the day.
She would deal with Harry's annoyance after supper.
On the second period of the afternoon classes, Harry Osborn was torn between the feeling of annoyance and worry.
He was worried because Claudette did not show up like she said she would, and annoyed because while she did notice their teachers about her absence, she tricked him into going to class without telling him that she was feeling worse than she did in the morning.
He would make sure her parents heard about this later.
When someone rapped on her door not long after supper, Claudette was not surprise to see that it was Harry with a basket of dinner roll in his hand. Even the annoyed glare of those prefect blue eyes could not diminish the adorableness of the sight before her, so Claudette could not resist but to offer him a thankful smile and a peck on his cheek to silently tell him how grateful she was for his consideration.
And Harry could not stop the majority of his annoyance from ebbing away.
"You should have told me. I was terribly worried about you throughout the afternoon," he exhaled, offering Claudette a bowl of cream corn soup that he brought back from the dinning hall.
"I know, I know. But if I told you before lunch, I know you will make a fuss and probably insist on staying with me instead of attending classes; I can't have you do that, Harry," Claudette rebutted, "And after having extra naps, I'm feeling so much better now. Well, the cough's still there, but it is better."
"I am still telling your parents," Harry said with mock irritation, smirking as Claudette let out an audible groan.
Thankfully, Claudette was well enough to join the prep session. Harry, being the genius of the two, took the responsibility of helping her catching up with the lessons she missed today. It was really fortunate that she only missed the afternoon ones and not the whole day, so they managed to wrap it up in the first half of prep time. They spend the second half previewing tomorrow's lessons before heading to the internet corner to call Claudette's parents on the free time.
"You really should not coddle her that much, Harry. Claudette should have known better how to take care of herself," was the expected reaction from Claudette's mother. The woman was still in her working suit, having just gotten back from work.
Harry could not hide his amusement as Claudette shot him a 'see-I-told-you-so' look.
"I told him that already, Mum," Claudette complained, "but he just won't listen. Anyway, where's Dad?" Claudette swiftly steered the conversation away. She was not in the mood of being lectured because her Mum seemed to prefer Harry better.
"Be glad that he is not home this time. He had a late meeting and probably will not be home until an hour or two," Mrs Rutherford heaved a sigh, "I'll tell him that you catch a flu again. Expect an extra lengthy text from him in the morning, dear."
It turned out that her attempt was not really successful.
A/N: I'm sorry for the late update. I had minor exams this week; But that's not actually why I'm struggling to write a decent chapter. I know that I shouldn't be having reasons not to write, but this is bothering me like crazy.
I'm having a fall-out with (supposedly) a good friend of mine. We used to joke around all the time, and suddenly she acts like she despises talking to me, to the point that she'll just leave me if I ever approach her in the class. At first, I thought it's because she's currently preparing for a very important exam and it's pressuring her; but then, I notice that she has no qualms in chatting with my other friends, perfectly okay when my roommate makes a visit to her room.
The hardest part is that we are in a same peer, and while I really want to ask our mutual friends whether I'm just being paranoid, I know that they are closer to her than to me and will definitely brush me off if I do ask. It's really eating me out, considering that before this, we have the closest relationship compared to others in our small group.
I know that this may not seems like a huge ordeal, but still, being a few countries away from home and suddenly receiving a cold-shoulder treatment from someone so close is really starting to take its toll on me. And while I usually tell my parents about whatever happened here, I can't bring myself to tell them about this for fear that they'll get overly worried.
Luckily, I have another group of friends that I'm starting to spend a lot of time with lately (after finding out that one of them also loves Loki, Sherlock, fanfictions and Marvel related movies), and we start hanging out together a lot. While my heart still worries about the falling out, at least there are people who I can have fun with without worrying about whether or not I'm being too fangirly.
I'm so sorry for ranting out like this in the author's note section, but I was on the verge of breaking down and really, really need to get it out. If any of you does read this, I thank you so much. The reason why this affects this fic is simply because At The Beginning, With You is revolving around Harry and Claudette's friendship; imagine trying to write a friendship blooming in a boarding school while you can barely knock on your best friend's dorm room without the fear of being turned away.
Anyway! I'm sorry I posted such unsatisfactory third chapter. I can't blame you if you thought that it was unworthy of a review. Still, I'd like to thank you all for those favourites and followings. I tried my hardest to write a longer chapter this time, and hope this one'll worth more than two reviews ;)
-Aria+