Disclaimer: No money is being made.

Author Notes: I'm going to Egypt on tuesday and will be gone for a weak so there will be no updates during that time, just so you know (and mostly because I just want to brag).

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Chapter 10 – No Peace And Quiet

She is startin' to damage my calm.

- Jayne, Serenity

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"Bloody hell, are you lot never quiet?"

Harry closed his eyes and rubbed his temples in an attempt to fight of the increasing headache. Here he was, just trying to read his book in peace and quiet when the whole dysfunctional Cliffhanger-group just had to assemble on the couches and chairs around him. God or Faith or Mother Nature or someone surely was out to get him.

"Now, where'd the fun be in that?" Ezra said with a smile.

He could strangle him. He was sure no-one would mind all that much and even if they did they would probably get over it pretty quick.

"This is the rec' room," Scott said and when Harry looked over he would not met his eyes. "We have every right to be here."

Since Harry had blown up on him the other day Scott had avoided him at all costs and only talked to him when forced to, and even then it was short, to the point and without any traces of friendliness. Scott acted indifferent, as if he knew that Harry was there but did not really care enough to acknowledge him. He had never wanted a friend in Scott, in any of them, so it was only for the best that Scott had realised it to. Harry tried to tell himself that it did not hurt.

"Yeah, but you got to be so loud?" Harry said and frowned when Scott still refused to met his eyes. "Some people are trying to relax."

"You want quiet? Go outside."

Harry glared at him. It was nine in the evening. Pitch black outside. Raining. Blowing a fucking storm.

"Right comedian, you are," he said, hands clenching around his book as he tried to control his temper.

"Yeah, that's not funny, Scott," Shelby said. "Scrawny here might be blown away. We might never find him again."

Harry turned his glare on her. If Scott acted indifferent towards him then Shelby was downright bitchy. He figured she was still pissed over that whole chair-incident. He also thought she was not used to be turned down and being a bitch was her way of pretending he did not get one over on her.

"Stop it, all of ya!" Jules cried and glared at Shelby when she opened her mouth to say something else. "Acting like children!"

"Well, considering the size of some here . . ." Shelby trailed of, smirking at Harry.

He had had about enough of her bullshit and his size had always been a bit of a sore spot, even if he would never admit it out loud. He knew the reason for his small frame was the Dursleys fault, not getting enough to eat while growing up did that, but he considered himself a little lucky to at least have been moved out of the cupboard before he suffered more damage. Being small and called a kid was at least better then getting a croaked spine and being called an old man.

But still, he did not like when people brought up the subject because it held too many unpleasant memories for him. Nights locked in the cupboard with a painfully empty stomach, cooking huge delicious dinners for the Dursleys and only getting a dry slice of bread for himself and Dudley stealing his lunch in school and stuffing it in his mouth right in front of Harry with kids laughing around them. No, Harry really did not like when people brought back those memories.

Opening his mouth, ready to take Shelby down a peg or two, he closed it again with a snap as Jules banged her fist against the table.

"No, I said stop it!" she screamed and the whole room went quiet as every single student turned around to stare at her.

She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, and if Harry had not been so shocked himself he would have laughed at the way Auggie's jaw almost touched the floor, and then she collected herself and looked up at Harry with a big smile. "So, what you reading?"

The room was quiet a few moments more before a soft murmur went up as everyone else went back to their own business. But Harry could only keep staring at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Excuse me?" he said at last.

"That book," she said, still all smile and pleasantries. "Which is it?"

He stared at her, his mind working in slow-motion as it could not keep track of such crazy mood-swings. "What?"

Ezra laughed. "The English language got a bit too hard suddenly?"

Harry shook his head to try and clear it. "No, it's," he started and looked down at his book in confusion, "Watchers by Dean Koontz."

"Oh, is it any good?"

He frowned, still not quite comprehending how they got to this point. "Yeah, it's real good. One of Koontz best."

"Maybe I could borrow it some time?" Jules asked. "After you're finished of course:"

"Um, sure. I guess."

"Good!" she said and her smile almost split her whole face in two.

"I think you broke him, Jules," Ezra said with another laugh. "Poor guy's not used to your randomness."

Auggie put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him. "No one ever gets used to Jules randomness. It's what makes her Jules."

Her smile was positively blinding as Auggie leaned down and kissed the top of her head and Harry had to turn away. It was all too lovey-dovey for him, made his stomach feel all weird.

Looking away his eyes for the first time in days met Scott's. The other boy had been staring at him and for a second looked surprised when Harry's eyes met his but he did not turn away. There was a question in his eyes now, some longing for an answer, but Harry could not tell what it was. He frowned.

He really did not get Scott. The guy acted friendly but distant to people, as if he tried his best to be an outgoing kind of guy but deep down did not want anyone to get too close. Harry could not understand the reason for it. Either you wanted to let people in or you did not. Harry, for one, did not and tried to make that as clear as possible to others. He would never try to be friendly just because that was what society expected of him and if that was the reason that Scott tried, well, maybe he was not the kind of person Harry thought he was.

With that conclusion Harry sneered at Scott, who was still staring at him, and turned away. People like that did not deserve respect and he told himself that he was done feeling guilty over how he had treated the blond earlier in the week. Too bad feelings did not always respond to rational thoughts.

"God, I could use a beer," Harry said with a weary sigh and rubbed his eyes. When he looked up again he found the whole group staring at him. "What?"

"Nothin'," Ezra said but his eyes were a little wider then usual, "Just didn't peg you for an alcoholic."

Harry stared at him. "Say what?"

"You know, tryin' to drown your sorrows in Heineken."

"I said I could use a beer," Harry said slowly, raising his eyebrow in question. "How does that turn in to me being an alcoholic?"

Ezra shifted forward in his seat, hands clasped in his lap. "Well, you're here aren't you? And we're all a little crazy here but so far I'd only got you as a cutter, not a drinker."

Harry did his best to suppress his flinch at the casual mention of why they had locked him in here but from the corner of his eye he saw that Scott noticed it. He was alright with what he was – hell, he was fine with it – but he always felt odd and cornered when others mentioned it. It was his body and he could do what ever he wanted with it but others should learn to mind their own business.

"I'm not an alcoholic," he said at last. "I just wanted a beer."

"No sorrow drowner?"

Harry glared at him. "How 'bout I drown you?"

Ezra leaned back in his chair again and raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, no need to get nasty."

"Sorrow knows how to swim."

Daisy's voice had taken on that creepy tone and Harry knew, even before he turned around to face her, that she was staring at him again.

"What?"

"Someone said that once. That people who're trying to drown their sorrows should be told that sorrow knows how to swim."

He stared at her a moment longer before he turned away with a shake of his head. "You people really are crazy," he said. "I said I could use one beer and you all act like it's the worst thing you ever heard. Like none of you have ever had a drink."

"'Course we have," Shelby said and Harry thought she almost sounded a bit offended.

"Then what's the big deal?"

"You're new," Auggie said and he looked like he thought that explained everything. When Harry just kept staring at him he continued. "We don' know you or why you're here. We kinda figured you were a cutter, pretty hard not to notice when you've seen it like we've done, but how should we know you're drinking habits?"

"So, what?" Harry asked. "You expect the worst?"

Auggie shrugged his shoulders. "All of us? We are the worst."

"You don't come here if you don't have it bad," Jules said. "Whatever it is that brought ya here, it's too out of control for the nice normal people to deal with so they send ya here. Last resort."

Everyone was silent after that and Harry knew that they were all thinking about what ever it was that had brought them here. Quick flashes of images he desperately wanted to forget filled his vision; blood spread over the road, familiar faces twisted in agony, cold eyes that scared him to his very bone, darkness as the cupboard-door slammed in his face, the purple face of his uncle as he raised his fist, Cedric's smile replaced by surprise before he vanished, the glimmer of a knifes edge as it trailed across his wrist . . .

He shook his head to wipe the images away. "Well, that was fun," he said and tried to force a careless smile on his face. He thought it came out more as a grimace.

"If ya wanted Disneyworld you took a wrong turn," Shelby said and examined her nails in an attempt to look unbothered but Harry could clearly see how tense she was.

"I think this is starting to sound way too much like Group," Ezra said and turned to Daisy with a smile. "Anything creepy to add to break the tension?"

"With sufficient vacuuming systems you can drain the body of blood in 8,6 seconds."

"Right, good to know," he said with a serious nod. He shot a quick look at Harry and then down at his arm. "Or maybe not, considering the crowd."

"Just 'cause you wanna bleed don' mean you wanna be drained," Daisy replied. "Sometimes it's just good to have control."

Harry glared at her. "Don't you start that again."

She smiled at him, big and blinding. "Wanna change the subject?" she asked and Harry knew that whatever came out of her mouth next it would be something that he would not like. "How's the love-life?"

He wanted to smack her, he really did. Right in the face or maybe in the gut. No, most defiantly in the face to wipe that stupid smile of her face.

Shelby snorted. "Like anyone would wanna have him."

"I don't know, he's kinda cute," Jules said and just patted Auggie on the head when he yelled indignantly.

"Boy's aren't cute, Jules," Ezra explained patiently. "Don't offend the man."

"Don't matter if he's cute, he's still in need of some serious attitude adjustment."

"Right one to talk, Shelby," Ezra said with a smile.

"What's wrong with you people?" Harry asked incredulously when he finally managed to stop gaping like a fish out of water.

"All sorts of things," Ezra replied. "Take a pick!"

"But we're getting sidetracked here," Jules said and stared intently at Harry, looking him up and down. "So what kinda girl do ya like?"

"That's none of your bloody business."

Ezra laughed and Daisy smiled beside him. "Back to square one again."

"Scott," Daisy said and turned towards the blonde who had been staring at Harry for the last few minutes looking deep in thought. "What do you think Harry's type is?"

Scott stared at her a second longer before he turned towards Harry who knew he looked like a deer caught in the headlights but could not quite help it. When Scott opened his mouth to say something Harry finally snapped out of it and jumped out of his chair.

"That's it!" he yelled and turned towards Daisy. "I've had enough of you. Just leave me the fuck alone!"

When she just continued to smile at him he snarled and spun around. "I'm going to bed, can't read here anyway."

Right before the door closed behind him he heard Ezra's muttered "Touchy subject".

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