Harry held onto Skull's and Hendrick's hands as they walked through the thick crowd, he grinned widely at everything. Floating boxes, self cleaning brooms, he saw a glass ball that had rainbow smoke spinning in it. So many new things, he gasped as someone's hair changed color, another made that elephant sound where they used their long noses. His head followed the sight of a store that held brooms. "What are those brooms for?" He pointed at them.
Skull looked over and smiled, Hendrick snorted when he saw the store. He wasn't surprised when Skull dragged them over or bought three of the best brooms there. Leaving a gaping cashier, he thought it was wasted of money, but he knew that they were the fastest ones there. A part of him ached at the thought of flying without enemies behind him. (After the first time, losing Hedwig, he made it a point to never lose in the air. Where he ruled, where he became something else. It was his field, even Tommy Boy knew it.)
"Let's go to the book store!" Skull pointed to the opposite way of the book store. Hendrick pushed his finger towards it with a sigh, causing Skull to laugh sheepishly. Harry smiled and ended up pulling them to it. Skull must have gotten his love of stories from Ron-Hendrick's small smirk dropped at the thought of him. His Ron had loved stories of any kind and did Skull's Ron share his love for them before he showed his true colors?
Does Hendrick truly know Skull when Skull knows nothing of him? Was their bond built on a mask? Was his fondness really for the real Skull or was it for a mask he made for them like Skull-sama for his fans? "-drick! Hendrick, are you okay?" He blinked as bright purple eyes looked into his with concern.
He opened his mouth a couple times, before a small yes came from his mouth. Skull's eyebrows furrowed as his lips tugged down before he nodded, not really convinced, but willing to let it go for now. Skull grinned, "let's go. Harry is looking at the books for dragons, I want to look at the children's aisle for story books."
-x-
They were in the air on the new brooms, simply gliding across the cold night. Harry was put to sleep in their house, Hendrick felt a ping when he thought about how they were leaving in less than a week's time for the next job. Skull looked at the full moon, his eyes seemed to fill with childlike wonder. "How could you be so... you?" It slipped through his lips before he could register it.
Skull blinked before he scratched his cheek confused. "Can you be more specific with that? Is it an insult, a compliment or something?"
"It wasn't an insult, I am just confused honestly." Hendrick admitted as they flew higher up. He gripped his broom as he looked at the forest below them. "You are so carefree, it's like your past didn't happen. You aren't..." Stuck in your memories of it.
Skull smiled bitterly, "but it did, didn't it? I was abused, used and thrown away when they were done with me. It's not that it didn't happen, it's that I moved past that to look to the future." Hendrick looked at him, the more he talked, the more Hendrick felt guilty. "I am not going to lie, but the first few months were horrible. I didn't take care of myself, the only thing that kept me alive during that time was Death's reapers. When I jumped into the Veil, I wanted to die, while taking the money with me as some petty form of payback."
"I didn't know I would survive, that I was Death's Master. " Skull scoffed at his title, Hendrick waited for him to continue. "It took a couple years to be able to function, those years 'working' for Death was me trying to heal and move on with the help of a few reapers. Hendrick, it's been five, almost six years since then. I am still feeling it, but it's not like how it was at the beginning. I had time to heal."
Hendrick nodded, he looked around before words started to spill from his mouth. "The war officially only last eleven years, but we were fighting it for five years before that. At first it was just raids and small fights, then Riddle decided he should just take over the Ministry. He passed ridiculous laws, no one did anything because it didn't affect them. Until he started to make laws about humans. While he was doing that, we started to train others. Most-most of them were only seventeen, there-there were younger ones too, we were only a year or so older." He swallowed the lump in his throat. He could picture them so clearly, remember them so clearly. Lined up so neatly, eyes hardened as they got ready to fight.
"Hermione was against it at first, until they caught a group of younger ones without anyone to defeat them. We found them," he paused as he tried to calm down, trying to pushing away the images of the tiny first years. "Hermione always felt guilty after that despite Ron and I trying to convince her it wasn't her fault. We were kids, barely adults and we were trying to win against people who had years of experience on us." He didn't say anything as he simply flew, Skull patiently waited for him as he stared at the full moon.
"Riddle of course heard about us, he came at us without remorse. Killing people without caring about who it was and how young they were. Finally, people started to fight back, he pushed back again." Hendrick puffed out a stream of fire to heat the air around him as he continued. "The war finally started when he killed Kingsley in front of a crowd of Aurors. They were furious and it ended with half of them dead, both Death eaters and them."
Skull looked at him worried, Hendrick's voice became flat as he continued to talk. "We had a flow of angry people after that, I had thought someone more experienced would've taken over, but they looked to me. I was twenty-six when they called me the General, I felt like I was mocking the real ones with the title that was forced on me. For years, it felt like the war would never end, moments where he would win. I always felt like screaming at everything, while I sent off talented children into war. But I couldn't think of them as that, I had to think of them as fighters. Ron hated it because he thought he was a reason they were sent off." He was rambling at this point, getting lost in the past so easily.
"Hendrick? It's okay, we don't have to talk right now." Skull touched the silent man, he tried to smile as he gripped his arm lightly. "I can wait, okay? Let's go back to the house."
When Hendrick went to sleep, Skull snuck into his room as he started to have a nightmare. He put up the silencing charms as Hendrick screamed. Skull felt useless as Hendrick started to thrash. Skull quickly left back to his room, where he grabbed his Dreamcatcher from his bedpost and went back into Hendrick's room. Screams ringing in his ears as he made it inside. He hung it over Hendrick, trying his best not to touch him or wake him.
It glowed as Hendrick slowly start to calm down, his body was pale and sweating. His face was still screwed up as if he was in pain but slowly his body relaxed. Skull sighed in relief, glad that he had gotten the dream catcher despite Hendrick's disapproval. He moved closer to the man, his eyes searching for injuries despite knowing that it was pointless.
He snuck back out and into the night, searching for invisible enemies. He stopped as the first sunrays broke through the trees, checking on Harry and Hendrick not for the first time this night. After he got ready for the day, he chugged a pot of coffee. Later, he would ignore Ms. Pearl's attempts at trying to figure out if everything was okay, he would smile at the concern looks and questions from Harry. All while he avoid Hendrick as he tried to give back the dream catcher.
"Fine, just stop sneaking in to check on me." Skull grinned, both of them knowing that Skull wouldn't really stop until Hendrick stops too.
-x-
Ms. Pearl was an old assassin, she knew fighters when she saw them. Hendrick was one, a strong one who felt like he lost everyone. But Skull and Harry were there, he just couldn't see them as they looked at him with an unbelievable amount of fondness and love for him. They were adorable together, seeing them with each other were the highlight of her day in the past few weeks. She was disappointed that they were leaving, but a cloud wasn't meant to still in place and his family didn't seem to be people who would let anyone leave them.
"Dragon, you are a Sky, a protector by nature. But he is your cloud, family, let him help even if it's something simple." She told him, talking to him like she had at first until he showed himself to be a cheeky shit. Then, like a proper storm, she fought back without hesitation. Hendrick looked at her before he turned away.
"Take the medicine, old hag. Don't want you to die from fragile bones, what a lame way to die." She laughed at his words. The odd medicine was horrible in taste, but they had her feeling better since she started to take them a couple weeks ago. Her bones weren't aching from old age as much as they used to.
"Please, I am probably going to be here when they bury you," she told him amused. He snorted before he left, going back to the guess house. She sighed wearily as she looked at the blue sky, she prayed the words wouldn't be true. She had seen too many bright souls be stuffed out before they could truly shine, regrettably she was the reason for more than a few of them.
