Chapter Nine – Blur
Harry's House, Early Next Day
"Holy shit," Harry said noticing the time on his watch.
Lana looked up blearily, "What?"
"It's 6am," he told her looking surprised.
"Oh god, my boyfriend – I was supposed to meet him last night," Lana said looking panicked.
"You know you can't tell him – right?"
"I don't like keeping secrets from my boyfriend but I made an oath."
"This means about you as well," Harry warned her, "That wasn't covered by the oath just the stuff about me. It's up to you who you tell but the average rule of thumb is not to tell a partner until you're married."
"What do I tell him about staying out all night?"
Harry paused thinking it over, "He's already jealous of me so mentioning me – not such a good idea."
"You know who my boyfriend is," Lana asked looking worried.
Harry smiled to reassure her, "I think I do – not confirmed or anything but like I said with the way he was acting during the whole love potion thing – to me and Clark come to think of it well it was obvious who he was jealous about."
"Oh god, you can't tell anyone."
"I won't," he assured her, "I have no interest in being a rumor monger I assure you I suffered enough from unsubstantiated rumor a fair bit myself in my last school. I'm not about to spread it myself."
"Why? It would make a great article for the Torch," Lana asked looking at him steadily.
"It would," he agreed, then grinned, "But I'm not set on being a reporter or anything like that so I'm not likely to want to make my career on someone I'm trying to help either now am I?"
Lana got up and ran a hand through her hair, "I must look horrible," she commented.
"You really don't," Harry commented under his breath. Unfortunately just loud enough that Lana caught it, he was going to have to work on his sub vocal skills.
"If you want," Harry said after clearing his throat, "Feel free to use my shower I can do some magic on your clothes so they are different – though I warn you I'm not fashion expert."
"You can change my clothing?"
"With practice you can create clothing from scratch Lana," Harry told her amused by the gleam in her eye. "Now go on up you can have first shower."
"I don't want to use all your hot water," she said looking torn she could really do with a hot shower.
"Magic is a wondrous thing," he told her, "I never run out of hot water."
She smiled and then bolted up the stairs, she obviously was aware of where everything was in the house having lived there herself. Harry tried not to think of a naked Lana using his shower and instead did his morning workout, it took a good half an hour and she was going to be at least that long he was sure.
He then finished up as he heard footsteps above his head and walked up to greet her and stopped dead. She was in one of his shirts, and that was it, drinking coffee. "If Coach Teague walked in now he would try to kill me," Harry mumbled to himself, this time so no one heard him. In all honesty he had never wanted a woman as much as he wanted Lana right then and there from the men's shirt to the wet hair she was every bit the enticement to his libido.
"He…" he cleared his throat and tried again, "Hello?"
She turned, totally un-self conscious about her state of undress. Apparently sometime during the night, maybe because this was her old house or perhaps because he was helping her, he had been inducted into the people she trusted and that trust included being in the room with them virtually naked. He really needed to not think about the lack of garments that were likely on under that shirt or he was going to get into trouble.
Despite the fact that his mind was like a steel trap and one of the most organized things in the area his hormones were a mess and the girls in the area, in specific Lana, Lois and Chloe really had a habit of knocking him for six. At the moment of course the main perpetrator of that was Lana but then he had not expected to find her in one of his shirts and very little, if anything, else.
He gave himself a shake and tried to focus, "My shirt?"
"I hope you don't mind I figured you'd be in the master bedroom. I didn't have anything to put on until you do your magic on my other clothes."
Did he, or did he not, tell her he could have done that with her wearing them?
"Right," Harry said walking over to the counter and grabbing himself the strongest coffee he could make. He was tempted to fill the sink with ice water and dunk his head. Very few women made him react like that; he had tried to lock off his hormones after the few disastrous relationships he had partaken in over the years of his schooling.
Lana looked at his back admiring the sight of a sweaty Harry and inwardly crowing at the state she had put him into while trying to remind herself why she was with Jason. It was becoming harder and harder to remember the more time she spent around Harry. It was a doomed relationship, but then again so would anything be with Harry. He obviously had some issues himself with relationships, and she was going to be away for a year soon, very soon. She should come up with something to tell Jason about all that, as well as her other friends. She wondered what she was going to do about her apartment over the Talon. Would Lex keep it for her for when she returned or would she lose it? She loved that place it was one of the favorite places she had lived or stayed in her life.
"Breakfast?" Harry suddenly asked, obviously with more control over himself.
"Actually if it's alright could you do my clothes, I should really get back – I think I know what I'm going to tell him now."
"Right, bear with me." Harry said and looked around, "Where are they?"
"Your bedroom," she said.
Harry flushed, she had been naked in his room – he so didn't need that image in his head right at that moment. "Right," he said and made his way there to find that she had laid out her clothing on his bed.
He tried to think of the clothing he had seen her wear and then waved his hand, "Right – that's not going to work." He said as some provocative clothing appeared. "Bloody perv, here we go again," he said and waved his hand and some top quality clothing that she would actually be seen dead in appeared. "Thank god," he mumbled. Then he turned and left his room and walked back down stairs, "It's ready," he told her.
She left with a smile and gulp of her coffee, obviously in a rush to get back to Jason which Harry didn't like all that much. In his humble opinion the guy was a dick, but that was mostly because he was jealous and he was honest enough with himself to admit that.
She reappeared moments later and looked at him steadily, "These are amazing is this silk?"
"I dunno," he admitted with a shrug, "I wasn't really thinking about it when I cast just thought about the sort of things you wore and the colors and went with it. I put in enough power that it won't fade for a day or two. I'd put them in your closet for a while so no one notices and you're all set."
"Shame they can't stick around they are way better than the originals."
Harry waved his hand and she was encased in power for a moment, "There ya go," he said turning back to his coffee.
"Urh – you didn't need me to take them off?"
Harry's ear's went pink, "Urh – no, but by time I could tell you that it was too late."
Lana looked a little pink herself but then shrugged it off, "Right thanks Harry," she said leaning in and kissing his cheek gently before walking away and out the front door.
Harry swallowed and then smiled slightly to himself. Then he slapped himself in the fore head, "Lana!" he called out chasing after her.
She turned as she approached her car, "Yes Harry?"
"We can do the spell tonight if you can get away, I forgot to tell you."
Lana smiled at him, "That'd be great thanks Harry." She said getting into her car, "Be over about – 8pm?"
"Sure," Harry said standing in his drive way and watching her drive away. Then he let out a long breath and walked to his porch and gently banged his head into the support strut on the way to the front door. "Damn it Harry get a grip," he told himself.
The Torch, Later
"Chloe," Harry called out as he walked in the door of the school newspaper.
Chloe looked up from under her desk, "Harry?"
Harry tilted his head with a quizzical expression on his face, "Whatcha doing down there?"
"Trying to fix this stupid wiring, I got caught up in it earlier," she said with one of her amazing smiles.
"Oh – right I can do that for you," Harry said walking up and dropping down onto the floor beside her on his knees.
Lois walked in the room, "Chlo – I… hello"
Harry looked at Chloe and she looked back and they both blushed before Harry broke the tension by laughing and dropped under the desk.
Lois raised an eyebrow wondering what was going on since her cousin was wearing a skirt that day but shook it off; Harry was hardly likely to be doing anything like that while she was in the room. "I got my article."
"Oh so do I," Harry said from under the desk, muffled slightly.
"Say – why is English under the desk," Lois asked.
"He's fixing me up," Chloe said then blushed, "My wires – he's fixing my wires."
"Riiight," Lois said drawing out the word and handing over her article about the potions cheerleaders, "The expose of the school about our friendly chemistry cheerleaders."
"Oh bugger," Harry noted from under the desk.
"Something to add Harry," Chloe said.
"No – just forgot to check something last night." He replied, "Got a cable tie up there?"
"Sure, here," Chloe said passing him a few.
"Mine is done about the football thing you wanted," he said pointing a hand towards his laptop bag he had left beside Chloe.
Chloe helped herself to the article and the disk that went with it and then caught sight of the laptop in the bag, "That's not a brand make."
"Custom made," Harry said coming out from under the desk.
"Huh," Chloe said reading both articles with a quick scan. "Oh Lo, learn to spell already."
"That's what you're for – editor."
"Not bad Harry, some polish needed but I think you both get the job."
"Cool," Harry said with a smile. "All done by the way," he said with a wave at the underside of the table.
Chloe pushed back and looked under the desk, "Not bad – know much I.T."
"I.T.?"
"Technology – Computers?"
"Oh – sorry, yeah of course I do." Harry said, "Not that sorting out cables takes much technology it's really more like knitting."
Lois laughed, "You can knit?"
"To my eternal shame I can," Harry said, "I had a very boring Christmas at a friend's and she offered to teach me so I said yes."
"Anyway Harry this is good like I said but I'm surprised it's quite complimentary after the trouble you had with the football team…" she trailed off her meaning clear.
Lois looked innocent as Harry glared at her, "That was nothing I couldn't handle and it really wasn't their fault."
"Well everyone is trying to forget it I think. Coach Teague has forgiven Clark and he's not getting pummeled every practice anymore, though I did hear him complaining about you still." Lois said.
'If only he knew that I saw his girl in nothing but a shirt,' Harry thought to himself a smug smile appearing on his face.
"I don't like the look of that smile, what did you do?" Chloe asked curiously watching his face.
"Me – nothing," Harry said innocently. "Though, for his sake he should really stop annoying me by proxy and come to me himself."
"Annoying, I heard that Bret, Steve and Jake were found knocked out in a classroom one day and the next it happened to Bret again – three of the biggest on the team – how did you manage that again by the way?"
"I had a violent upbringing," Harry said in a tone that it was clear it was all he was going to say on the matter.
"I would have had trouble with that many," Lois admitted grudgingly.
Harry shrugged, it was obvious that Lois didn't know when to let go – so he would go the silent route instead. Chloe had already moved on mentally, but he had a feeling that it wasn't far from her mind either. Her eyes were moving over his article again, "No mention of that here. I notice you've written it as an outsider coming into the world of Highschool football and your experience and view on it – nice angle that by the way, but no mention of being attacked."
"It wasn't their fault, really, it wasn't and I don't know who I checked out that annoyed the coach but he wasn't really in his right mind either," Harry told her, "Why be making waves on this when it was the cheerleaders fault anyway."
"Can I trust that you will make waves if you see the need though," Chloe said looking slightly doubtful about her decision now.
"Oh hell yeah, that sounds like fun," Harry said with a charming smile.
Lois rolled her eyes, "That sounds more like what Chloe is looking for."
"I figure with Lois' article people will see why I omitted any of the rumors that may be going around," Harry said, "Do I still have my position?"
"Yes, as long as you're being straight with me," Chloe told him. "If you know anything else news worthy you had better tell me."
Harry smiled; Lana's private life wasn't newsworthy in his opinion so he could reply with total honesty, "Of course."
"Good," Chloe said looking at him seriously.
"Can I ask about an omission though," Harry asked, "I suspect you missed it on the tour."
"Oh what's that," Chloe asked, her eyes laughing at his jocular tone.
"What's this I hear about a Wall of Weird?"
Chloe looked surprised, "Where'd you hear about that," she asked.
"I have sources that must be protected," was Harry's glib reply.
"Uh huh, why the interest," Chloe asked.
"Journalistic curiosity," Harry replied making Lois laugh.
"You're as much of a journalist as I am," she commented.
Harry smirked but didn't deign to reply.
"Come on, I took this down once and then put it back up," Chloe admitted. Walking to a back room and opening the door, Lois crowded in behind them and then Chloe turned the light on.
The walls were covered with articles, some from the torch, some from other sources and right there in the middle was the cover of Time Magazine. It was gut wrenching to see Lana looking like that, to see any child looking like that knowing that their parent had just been ripped away. Harry walked from one end to the other his almost miraculous memory recording the details of each article as he went. He remained silent all the way through until he reached the end and turned back to Chloe with a serious look in his eye.
"What's going on with this town," he asked. He had come from a world full of magic and this wall said the town was almost as mysterious and he had come for some peace of mind and relaxation. There was no way he was going to get that if the articles were anything to go by. Some of them were unspeakably weird while others were just strange and that was going by a man who had fought a basilisk and a man called Voldemort who looked like a snake in a graveyard where he had just been resurrected.
Chloe was surprised by the harshness of his tone, "What's wrong?"
Harry waved her off, "It's not you – it's this," he said waiving at the wall, "I came here for peace and quiet to get away from the madness of my life. But it appears that I'm destined to be around the bizarre all my life."
"Remind me to look him up," Chloe said in a near silent aside to Lois who nodded as Harry ranted up and down the room.
"I've seen some weird shit in my lifetime and now this – Merlin on a bike." Harry said then his shoulders sagged and he thought over the night before with Lana and all that had happened there and what he was going to do later that night. It occurred to him that he was being childish and throwing his toys out of his pram about this. He had the power to help these people, this town on the whole and he wondered about Clark when he thought that. Did Clark feel the same way, and if so why? "Ignore me ladies," he said finally, "I'm being a prat."
"Sounds nasty is there a cream for that," Lois snarked.
Harry shot her a smile, "Not last I heard but here's hoping."
"Other than Lana, I've never seen someone so angry about this wall," Chloe told him.
"I'm not angry – not really – more shocked and slightly in awe of the strangeness of the universe," Harry told her, "But not angry as such."
"Well – just remember – you asked to see it," Chloe said with another one of her smiles.
Harry smiled back, "That I did – I was always a glutton for punishment. Come on It's coming up on the end of school and as I understand it the coffee shop is finally open."
"I can't I came with Clark today," Lois told him.
"You can come with me, I'll drop you back afterwards," Harry said.
"In your car," Lois said with a gleam in her eyes.
"That's my usual method of movement other than walking."
"Can I drive," she asked.
Chloe made a small negative movement of her head out of sight of Lois, but Harry didn't need to be told twice.
"Nice try Lois, but I'm really not insured for that."
"Damn," she pouted.
The Talon
Harry walked over to the table with several cups of coffee on a tray for his guests Chloe and Lois. Both of whom were as addicted to coffee as he was albeit with different coffee's. "I didn't know Mrs. Kent worked here," Harry said as he put down the tray.
"She's the manager," Lois said by way of an explanation, "They like them to turn up, I understand."
"Hmm," Harry said ignoring the jibe and enjoying a sip of coffee. Just then Clark walked in with a much shorter teen and looked around. He spotted them and led the teen over to them.
"Hey guys – this is Bart." He said introducing Bart to the entire table.
Bart seemed to be fixed on Chloe and a smile was appearing on his face. Harry then watched with great amusement as Bart proceeded to flirt with Chloe virtually ignoring Lois and Harry to do so. Then he frowned as he pulled an impressive magic trick or so he said.
"Meh," Lois said with a smirk, "Prefer Roses myself."
Bart ignored her but without even thinking about it Harry's hand dropped under the table and came back up with a single – perfect – red rose, "Here you go gorgeous." Harry didn't notice Lois' surprised reaction as he was mentally reviewing what he had just seen with Bart. The guy was no Wizard; he could sense that almost for sure just as he had with Lana. It wasn't a common ability but given how powerful he was naturally he was able to sense others of his kind quite easily. He wasn't worried about being detected though as he kept that side of himself so low it was undetectable by even Dumbledore himself. It was possible the guy had pulled the same trick of course but it was unlikely. Then there were the snippets of conversation to consider that he had heard when the two had walked in. He had not noticed at the time but with his occlumency he was able to mentally rewind and search through his sense memories and replay them.
If Bart was to be believed they had just been in Miami – with Clark. Harry wasn't good at finding his way around but he knew enough to know it wasn't easy to get to from Kansas and took several flights by all likelihood.
"Hey," Lois said punching him in the arm surprisingly hard.
"Okay – OW," Harry said tuning back in and looking at her, "What was that for?"
"You were obviously checking out someone again and after you just gave me a rose too," she sniffed.
Harry looked at her like she was crazy, which he suspected might not be too far off the mark.
"How'd you pull that off anyway?" Bart asked from across the table.
Harry smiled and shot his own words back at the younger guy, "Magic."
Chloe laughed into her coffee and Lois smirked while Bart looked steadily at Harry for a moment. "I hear that sweet car outside is yours – how fast is she?"
"Only about 163 mph-ish," Harry told him, "I've never had the occasion to take her that fast though."
"Right," Bart said eloquently. "Anyway guys – smell you later."
Harry watched him go with Clark on his tail and then his eyes widened as the guy blurred out of sight leaving Clark standing there looking annoyed. Before Clark darted a look around and did the same thing.
"Right," Harry said now fully interested in what was going on in the town. If not for his extremely amped up reflexes he was fairly sure he would not even have seen that much. Thanks to magic he was almost super human fast, but there was no way he was THAT fast.
"You okay there, or checking out more cheerleaders," Lois snarked at him.
"Why would I do that when I'm in the company of two of the best looking women in the school," Harry shot back before he could stop his mouth from working.
Lois looked shocked for a moment before smirking and Chloe was blushing lightly which wasn't a bad look on her.
