LACRIMOSA

Chapter Four


Harry had been off ill for three days.

In that time Host Club activities had carried on as usual though there was definitely an increase in curiosity regarding his absence and a number of the girls asked Kyouya if they could designate him when he returned so they could express their concern and well-wishing. Takashi and Mitsukuni had exchanged bemused glances at this; they were under the impression that Harry was rather ill thought of by the majority of Ouran.

At least he was by the other Hosts who weren't exactly keen on his abrupt and semi-hostile nature.

Armed with cake and Get Well wishes, Takashi and Mitsukuni had actually dug out their classmate's address and paid him a visit one evening only to be ushered away by an apologetic Meg as she explained that the night had been rather rough and he was sleeping now. That had been two days ago now and they were getting more and more concerned.

The two Senior Hosts were sat at their usual seats, pondering how they were going to force Meg-san's hand into allowing them to see their classmate when they heard something of a commotion outside.

"Potteru-san! Are you alright? You look positively frightful!"

"Dude, you look like death. You sure you should be in?"

"Oh my, Potteru-san perhaps you should go back home."

"I'm fine," the familiar voice of their classmate broke through; he sounded absolutely ghastly, "Honestly, I'll live. I'm going crazy at home, I want to be here."

Mitsukuni launched himself from his seat and scampered to the door just as their fellow Host pulled it open, the littlest Host promptly burst into tears and hugged his legs, wailing about Harii-chan still being sick and how he shouldn't have come in. Takashi had to admit he agreed with his cousin.

The Third Year looked awful.

He was pale with a slightly yellow tinge to his face, his eyes were bruised and sunken in, he was trembling ever so slightly and judging from the slow and careful way he walked his joints were in a fair bit of pain as well. They could see Meg hovering behind him with a disapproving scowl on her face as she carried his bag.

"If Healer Akisame hadn't given you the all clear..." the brunette girl was grumbling as she followed her bestfriend, she gave Takashi a look, "He's being completely unreasonable. If he gets worse, drag him to the Nurse's office if you have to. I'll be picking him up at half-past five. Don't let him leave before then. God knows he'll try to," she complained bitterly as she set his bag down beside his desk and gave him a thorough look over, "I'm giving the kitchens Akisame's letter so you can't wriggle out of that either Potter. Try it and I'm calling Molly and giving Romilda unlimited access to your grundies."

Harry nodded, too tired and achy to argue, "Alright, alright. Go on, you're going to be late."

"I already am late. Another five minutes won't change that. I'm picking you up at half-five, I'll see you then," she told him, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his forehead and sighing, "Damnit, you didn't deserve this," she whispered.

Harry's smile was a trifle bitter, "No one did. Doesn't change the fact it happened."

The girl nodded and stood straight; ruffling his hair as she stepped back, "Keep out of trouble at least. See ya," she called as she made her way out of the classroom – no doubt heading to where her bike was so she could get to work, something that confused Takashi, she was the same age as them and yet she was already working, same age as Harry who admitted that he was actually a Teacher of Self Defence (and he really wanted to know what that was) and had only attended because his friend seemed to think he needed to learn how to be social. Not to catch up on various subjects.

What a mystery.


School was even more difficult than usual as Harry's temper was on a short fuse and he was in pain every time he moved or remained sitting in a certain position for too long. He just couldn't win when it came to Lycanthropic Joint Pain.

He was somewhat ashamed to admit he did allow it to get the better of him at one point during their History lesson when the Teacher made several snide comments in very swift Japanese – still labouring under the mistaken belief that Harry's knowledge of the language was sketchy at best. The young Lycan ended up clawing the front of his desk so hard he left alarmingly deep furrows in the wood before getting to his feet, ignoring the Teacher's spluttered protestations and simply left the room.

Perhaps not the best way to handle things but he had learned that butting heads with Teachers when they were so assured of their superiority was just a recipe for trouble – at least Umbridge taught him something, even if that something was 'Discretion was the better part of Valour'. He informed the Vice Principle of the matter through an e-mail using the Library computers before carrying on his History lesson through reading in the library, which was where Takashi and Mitsukuni found him just in time to haul him off to lunch.

At least they had been thoughtful enough to remember his things after he had left them in the classroom.

Lunch was a labour as well.

Healer Akisame – as Kurosaki was apparently on leave for personal reasons – had recommended he get more protein and iron in his diet, meaning he found himself with a rather rare steak for lunch along with a sauce he couldn't begin to pronounce the name of, some vegetables and a glass of fizzy water and a small box of pills.

Harry hated stake.

Actually, he hated beef if he was completely honest. He had yet to find a beef dish that he could enjoy – and Cottage Pie didn't count as it was mostly potato and tomato sauce if done right.

He choked it down none the less. Food was food and he may have hated it but he wasn't going to waste food – and this meal looked to be something the Dursleys would have paid upwards of £50 pounds for. Yikes. The medication almost revisited the world once he swallowed it, they were some kind of special Potions Caplets, a little like a bottomless bag they were tiny little capsules that were enchanted to hold the needed volume of a potion and dissolve upon contact with stomach acid. Meaning that after he took the tablets, he suddenly had a goblet's worth of various potions bursting into existence in his stomach.

That had been... not so fun.

What was it with the magical world and making their medicine the most horrid and difficult things to take in existence? And he knew for a fact that sugar made almost every medical potion completely useless – 'Spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down' huh? Mary Poppins you dirty rotten liar.


After lunch was Gym, even though he was ill Harry still intended to sit in and watch.

Today was Tennis which they would be covering for about two weeks according to the Teacher. Harry had never played Tennis before but it looked a lot like that game he and Ron invented 'Spell Volley' which was basically them throwing around a harmless Charm and bouncing it to each other using Shield Charms. Something which became a Life saver during the War, being able to cover your allies and conserve your magical strength by creating a very small localised shield just above your wand and hand to bounce back a spell to it's sender – who was usually so gobsmacked over what they'd seen they didn't get out of the way quickly enough and were struck by their own spell. Last Harry heard the Aurors were trying to figure out how he and Ron had done it, but they weren't having much luck. Ron was staunchly refusing to tell them how due to the Ministry's behaviour towards Harry and they weren't going to ask a Werewolf even if Voldemort rose from the dead and paraded his pasty white snake-butt for all the world to see. (For some reason Harry could also imagine him farting at Dumbledore's Portrait.)

Still it looked like fun and Harry was looking forward to learning.

The only downside was...

"Potteru-kun, look out!"

When something small and yellow in colour came shooting at him, Harry's first instinct wasn't to smack it away...

"Whoa!"

It was to catch it.

Startled out of his thoughts, Harry glanced to his hand – which had annoyingly moved of its own accord – which was wrapped firmly around a tennis ball that had previously been zooming towards his face.

Damn Seeker reflexes.

Even after several weeks training with Moody not to automatically catch objects thrown at him – there was the danger of Portkeys – he still couldn't shake himself of the habit so the old man had just given up, clonked him on the head and told him he would die eventually. Nice guy, good at poker.

"Ah, sorry." He handed the ball back to his classmate with a sheepish look on his face.

"Are you alright? You look dreadful," the other teenager pointed out flatly and Harry for a moment couldn't stop the wry grin that crossed his face.

"I know. And yes, I'm fine. I've just been off sick for the past few days," he explained with a negligent wave of his hand.

The other teenager nodded, "You must have what Tarumi-kun has. He's been off sick as well, apparently there's some kind of bug going around."

Harry could almost feel his whole body come to attention, "My illness is... complicated but rest assured, I will have it for the rest of my life. Does this Tarumi-san fall sick often?" he asked carefully, he knew there were other werewolves at the school, he just hadn't thought he would ever come across one within the first month of school.

The orange haired (almost the same shade as the Chudley Cannons he was amused to note) teenager hummed, "No not really."

"Oh." Obviously not a werewolf then.


After Gym was Club Activities, which Harry really wasn't looking forward to – apparently they were having a Cosplay event, a glorified costume party/'Let's play dress up – YAAAAY' kind of thing.

He could only stare in stupefied horror at the suits of armour – especially when Kyouya pointed him to a set and said that was his.

They were recognisable as suits of armour but... they weren't. They were too light, too thin, too decorative. They weren't armour, they just looked like it. And what the fuck was Tamaki blathering on about? Harry made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat, chewing mutinously on a biscuit as he watched everyone make idiots of themselves – he had refused, on the grounds that he was already sore and feeling rotten, not to wear the armour.

"What a load of tripe," he muttered scornfully under his breath, watching the Host Club King recite his proverb of the day. He turned back to the girls and did his best to ignore the lunacy happening behind him, "Would you like some more tea Daisy-san, Silverbell-san?" he asked politely, he noticed their eyes narrowing on Tamaki, "Ignore the village idiot. He comes from another planet that doesn't seem to realise that not only is it a dumb idea to leave the woman you love behind – because she can and she will follow you – but she's probably also better at fighting than you are." He snorted then at the memory of Ginny doing just that, complete with yanking on his ear and kicking his shins right before she hexed Avery's head clean off its shoulders and turned it into a turnip.

Silverybell's eyebrow slowly lifted towards her hairline, "You sound as though you have experience of this," she said slowly.

Harry snorted, "Ginny had six older brothers, no way in hell am I picking a fight with her," he told them seriously, a wry grin on his face, "She'd kick my ass."

Daisy giggled, "No doubt." She smiled at the obviously foreign boy, he was an odd one, nothing like what she had heard this Host Club represented, "Have you been a member of this club for long?" she asked.

Harry shook his head, sipping at his tea; thank god he had actually paid attention when Meg and Remus went on one of their herbal Tea binges. It was a good thing too; Meg was surprisingly knowledgeable on the subject as she actually had old fashioned Gypsy Blood and learned the old ways sat at her mother's feet. Right now he, and the two girls who had ended up sitting with him, were drinking Alfalfa tea, also known as Trefoil, which was said to be good at purifying the blood, boosting the immune system, helping with arthritis and help to lower cholesterol levels. He had added a little peppermint and ginger to it as well, not the sweetest of blends but it wasn't unpleasant and he could already feel the aches in his joints fading – and the girls weren't complaining, even if the Hosts gave him a really odd look when he was making it.

"No, this is only my second meeting. I had to take a few days off for health reasons, hence the herbal tea. I hope you don't mind."

"No, it is quite alright. It is a very interesting blend. I can't say I recognise it," Silverbell admitted, sipping delicately at the brew, she had tried it first with a little milk and sugar before setting it aside and trying it black. She had to admit she preferred it without the milk and sugar to mess with the taste.

Harry smiled, "My bestfriend Meg, her family come from a very traditional Romany Gypsy clan. They still follow the old ways, wagon pulled by horses, fortune telling, tarot cards, herbal remedies. She and my uncle went off on a major tea binge once and I learned how to make a few teas just from listening to them. This is Trefoil, ginger and peppermint."

Daisy made a sound of surprise, "Such an unusual mixture!" she exclaimed sipping at her own mug, "Why on earth would you mix them together?"

Harry shrugged with a wry smile, "Pain and a little bit of stupidity in the kitchen," he admitted sheepishly.

They were, however, no longer paying attention and instead observing the spectacle Tamaki was making of himself. Harry felt his eyebrow climb up his forehead at the twisted look of scorn that painted itself across Daisy's face and the slight titter of mocking amusement from Silverbell.

"Pfft," the long haired girl snorted, bringing her tea up, "Is that so. 'Even sacrifice my own life'?" she echoed, taking a sip, "Isn't that an egotistical emotion? Are you under the impression that the woman left behind would be happy with just those words?"

Daisy shrugged and nibbled on a biscuit, "There's nothing you can do about it Silverbell-oneesama. Men are lower forms of life who place honour above all else," the little first year sneered flatly. Harry probably would have protested but yeah, she had a point, he had seen far too many guys put their reputations before everything else. Usually got them killed too. (coughcoughvoldemortcough)

"Pretending to be gallant by repackaging it in those sweet words of their own ineptitude of not being able to preserve his own life." Yup, Harry still couldn't find anything wrong with what she was saying, she had a damn good point and he had thought that those idiots from the Founder's Age constantly trying to protect their women and children had it all backwards. If they died, who would be there to protect the women and kids? Teach the girls how to fight and that way the kids would at least be able to survive if the men died – because their mother's would be protecting them, and if there's anything more badass than a momma protecting her babies, Harry had yet to meet it and he never, EVER wanted to. Molly Weasley versus Bellatrix Lestrange was a memory he would have enshrined in his mind for all time.

Silverbell giggled, taking note of the amusement on Potter-kun's face as he listened, "Oh my, Daisy is just too smart."

Tamaki laughed a little, "You are very acrimonious individuals I see. Which type of words would you prefer?" he asked, actually genuinely interested to Harry's slight surprise.

"If it were me," a voice announced from the doorway, "I would never leave her."

A tall woman wearing the Ouran boys' uniform stood there, one arm around Haruhi and clutching at the smaller girl's shoulder protectively, Harry eyed her carefully before nodding slightly. She may not have been an Amazon like Hermione, Luna or Meg, but she could handle herself, even if it was just an unwavering confidence in herself and her abilities – whatever they may be.

"If you're going to fight, then do it together," she continued proudly, "If you can't accomplish it then you should end your life together." Harry frowned at that one, now that he didn't agree with. He had seen too many families completely wiped out because they decided that if they couldn't fight, then at least they would die together on their own terms. Poison Dinners had become something of a common occurrence during the Dark Days, couples sitting down to what they knew was a poisoned dinner, having one last romantic night together, telling each other that they loved them before going to sleep and never waking up.

Harry ignored the ruckus happening around him as he moved to go and put the tea and cups away, Daisy and Silverbell having vacated their seats to greet the other woman and fondle Haruhi – he didn't care what Takashi said, he was buying that girl something alcoholic and strong, she so needed it. Shuffling slowly and painfully to the kitchens he quietly set about washing and trying the things he had used before putting them away and shuffling back out to see the strange woman hit Tamaki.

"Oi, please refrain from hitting the idiot. That's my job," he called over to them flatly, "Plus, its kinda rude."

But he was ignored, Silverbell did however glance apologetically in his direction but he just shrugged and eased himself into one of the couches with a soft groan of pain.

He did have to wonder though how they could fit another uniform under their current one before deciding that he didn't want to contemplate Japanese Magic – because it had to be magic as they showed absolutely no sign of discomfort or any extra clothing hiding beneath the folds.

He had been quite happy to ignore the goings on around him as he tried to rub the aches out of his elbows and finger joints but his ears zeroed in on the conversation the moment the familiar and much loathed word 'halfblood' hit his ears.

" – using good looks to pile on false love to mock a girl's pure heart," and at this Harry had to refrain from snorting, he had yet to meet any girl who possessed a pure heart, any human than possessed a pure heart. "That right there is degradation of women, it's not enough that you must fill your greed using a Club activity as a front!"

"I'm going to have to protest the 'degradation of women' thing there, Miss," Harry called from his seat, Benio glanced at the ragamuffin who Daisy and Silverbell actually seemed to have developed a fondness for, "The girls come here knowing what they're getting. True enough I wasn't too keen on the whole thing but that's more because I hate people in general." He shrugged and a spasm of pain crossed his features, "You've got a brain there, Miss. Use it, after the first meeting the majority of the girls here would have known exactly what to expect, hell, look on the internet and you can find the definition of a Host Club. I think you're not giving the girls here enough credit, they're smarter than you're pretending they are."

Benio stared at him before turning away and pretending he didn't exist, Harry couldn't help but shrug, he had expected that – well not really, he had expected a slap which would have been a stupid thing for her to do because then he would have hit her back. He had no distinction between the sexes when it came to a fight.

"I swear I will shut this garbage down!"

Thank god! Harry nearly burst into a song and dance routine, as it was he only grinned excitedly.

Kyouya and the others however, were less than pleased.

"I see now." That, was a very cold look, hm. But then he smiled and it was more than a little mocking, "But since the Club President is now lying down due to culture shock – " and Harry could see him bundled up on one of the Couches, the other Hosts clustered around him he couldn't help but feel their dismissal of the other girls was more than a little arrogant and disgustingly rude. " – would you mind coming back next time, yes?" the bespectacled Host chirped happily.

Benio seethed, "Drag him up right now!" she snarled furiously as she caught the other male moaning about 'lesbos'. Harry frowned at the words; did Tamaki have a problem with homosexuals? Green eyes narrowed, if he did then Harry was about to have a problem with him.

But it seemed that the 'tea party' invitation to Haruhi was just a step too far for Tamaki to handle, he practically launched himself out of the blankets and wrenched the down to earth girl away from the cluster of Lobelia students, pointing and shrieking at them.

"You guys are under the wrong impression about something!" he practically howled, Harry leaned back and took a sip of tea, enjoying the show, "What kind of productivity is there when women make love to each other? Then why did god create Adam and Eve – ACK HOT!"

It was only twenty minutes later, after Haruhi had left, did any one notice that Harry was no longer in the room and the tea cup he had been drinking from was shattered and covered in blood.


It was a good thing Meg wasn't home when he got back.

Harry's black mood, coupled with the woman who 'black mailed' him into joining such a horrid club, was just a recipe for disaster as he threw his bag roughly to the floor and climbed the stairs, digging through the bathroom cabinets until he found the first aid box.

When he had heard Tamaki's demand, that foul loathsome homophobic demand, his temper just snapped. His hand tightened spastically on his cup and he crushed it, sending shards of sharp white porcelain into his flesh and getting blood everywhere. Mitsu-kun and Takashi would worry when they saw the mess he left on the table but he just had to leave before he said or did something that would possibly get him expelled or arrested for grievous bodily harm.

Wriggling out of his shirt and tie, the Werewolf ignored the dull throb of his muscles as he ran his hand under the tap and dug out a pair of tweezers from the box and began to pick out the pieces of white from his skin. It took a while and a little bit of help with a scalpel blade but he managed to get all of the shards out, they were currently sat on a fold of toilet paper while he used some Antiseptic potion on the wounds – they'd run out of Healing potion already.

He was just bandaging up his hand when the doorbell rang.

Grumbling, he got to his feet and darted into his room, dragging on the first article of clothing he found – green tank top – he made his way downstairs and pulled open the door to glare coolly at Takashi and Mitsu-kun.

"What?" he asked.

Mitsukuni wailed and promptly latched onto his waist, "Waaaaaah! Harii's hurt Takashi!" the Third Year shrilled, making Harry's still rather enhanced hearing throb with pain.

"Ow." Takashi nodded and, ignoring the fact that his cousin had probably just ruptured his bestfriend's ears, calmly pushed Harry back into the house. "Takashi, what are you doing? Stop pushing me please," Harry groaned, allowing himself to be shepparded towards the kitchen by his classmates, "C'mon guys, I'm fine. It's just a little bit of china, I'm not going to bleed out."

He was, however, ignored and forced to sit at the breakfast bar, Mitsukuni hopping into the countertop with Usa-chan clutched tightly to his chest as Takashi silently examined his half bandaged hand with critical eyes. Harry just rolled his and tried to tug it away, the silent senior was having none of it and lightly bonked Harry on the forehead before unwrapping the bandages.

Huffing, Harry gave it up and just allowed the other two to do whatever they wanted. It would probably be the last time they associated with him like this, after all, Tamaki had made his opinions quite clear today and Harry would probably not be welcome at the Host Club anymore. No matter, he hadn't even liked it there to begin with – social was not his thing. Maybe he would join the Tennis Club? Equestrian? He knew he smelt horses at some point while wondering around the school and despite his current werewolf/lycan status the animals were always docile with him.

"First Aid box." Harry blinked, startled out of his thoughts at the sound of Takashi's voice, the British teenager stared at him wordlessly for a moment, "First aid box," he repeated meaningfully.

Harry sighed and pointed to the sink, "In there." It was the muggle friendly one in any case.

A quick glance at Mitsukuni sent the little blond scuttling to the cupboard and brandishing the green box enthusiastically as he returned. Apparently the taller male wasn't happy with the way Harry had sorted himself out and was now endeavouring to do it himself. He was more of a mother hen than Hermione was – which was an exaggeration of the greatest proportions but at this point in time Harry just wasn't feeling all that charitable to him when the harsh sting of the muggle antiseptic burned at the cuts.

"Ne, ne, why'd you leave early Harii? Meg's gunna be mad you went home on your own," Mitsukuni pointed out with Usa-chan perched floppily on his shoulders.

Harry glanced to him and weighed his options, "Because Tamaki's homophobia pissed me off and I was an inch away from breaking his arm." At least he was honest about it.

Mitsukuni's chocolate eyes went wide and even Takashi's hands paused in cleaning Harry's cuts as the flow of blood got a little quicker now that the potion he had smeared across them was being wiped away.

"You're gay?" Takashi asked, eyeing Harry without hostility or any other kind of identifiable emotion on his face that he could tell.

Harry tried to pull his hand away but the Japanese teenager held it firmly as he waited for an answer, "Bi actually. But Luna, one of my friends, is a lesbian and she's had to go through a lot of persecution for it simply because there is no 'productivity' in women being together," he added with a nasty sneer. There was also the added problem of her girlfriend being none other than the Slytherin's Dragoness, Millicent Bullstrode.

There was a moment of silence before, "I don't think Tamaki meant it like that," Mitsukuni pointed out but Harry just shrugged.

"Not my issue anymore. I'm leaving the Club anyway. I said it was only for a probationary time and really, social just isn't my thing. Never has been. Its hard to identify with people like you guys in Ouran when you grew up living like a slave." He tugged his neatly wrapped hand out of Takashi's grasp before the other Senior could prevent him and smiled appreciatively, "Thank you Takashi-san. Now, since you're both here and Meg would have my guts for garters if I didn't at least offer, would you like to stay for dinner? Its cheese and tomato Pasta bake with baby potatoes."

Mitsukuni nodded enthusiastically cheering while Takashi merely nodded once.

The longer they spent with Harry the better chance they had of convincing him to stay in the club. And find out what he meant about growing up as a Slave.


And Finito.