CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Shuffling forwards, Harvey peeked at the Headmaster from under his lashes, not daring to divert his gaze onto the clock on the wall, in case it revealed that he had arrived late, something which Harvey was terrified of happening again. Although he had not been late to the sessions since his first one, Harvey always feared that he would be. And that fear, along with the natural terror that associated itself with the Headmaster, resulted in Harvey being an utter mess and as he slipped into a seat, in the first centre row, he winced as the chair creaked under his weight.

The Headmaster, silent disapproval radiating from him since the boy had entered the room, let loose a mirthless snort at the noise, rolling his eyes behind his glasses when Harvey sniffled, a tear flashing down his cheek. Scowling as the boy's chin wobbled, an indication that he was about to erupt into noisy wailing, the Headmaster muttered:

"Why are you upset?"

"I-I'm not."

Surprised at the boy's abrupt and somewhat confident retort, the Headmaster raised an eyebrow, Harvey's eyes widening as he winced at how his reply had sounded. Thankfully, the Headmaster did not comment on Harvey's tone, instead continuing to mutter softly:

"You are, Harvey. Why? Is it because your chair creaked when you sat down?"

He nodded to himself when the boy hung his head, the tips of his ears burning.

"So that is the reason."

Harvey raised his head, sputtering: "N-No, it's….."

"You can tell me, Mr Hunter."

At this soft croon, Harvey cracked. Bottom lip trembling, he whimpered: "Y-Yes, I'm upset b-because of the chair c-creaking!" He hunched in on himself, exclaiming: "This just s-shows that J-Jeff's right! I am f-fat!"

Sighing, the Headmaster resumed crooning, knowing that this was the best way to get Harvey to open up. For if he spoke to the boy like he usually did, then he would have more crying and other irritating noises to contend with and a frightened child spouting out rubbish regarding their weight.

"You are not at all overweight. You are merely… stocky."

Harvey's face crumpled even more and he wailed, burying his head into his hands. "SO I AM FAT! YOU AGREE WITH HIM!"

The Headmaster gritted his teeth, his soft croon sharpening to a waspish snap at the boy's misunderstanding.

"What I mean is that you are stocky, not overweight. There is a big difference, Mr Hunter. Compared to your brother and your… foster sister, you are stockier. I have seen your father before and to me, you take after him in your build."

The Headmaster was pleased that his words had resulted in Harvey meeting his concealed gaze once again, albeit with terror, and that the boy had stopped making so much noise. The Headmaster continued:

"Besides, if you happened to be overweight, do you not think that I would have informed your parents and referred you to a health expert?"

Biting his lip, blush slowly fading away, Harvey nodded. The Headmaster coiled one half of his lips up into an imitation of a smile as he murmured:

"Feel… better now?"

At the boy's nod and hesitant smile, the Headmaster rose to his feet and used his cane to point at the whiteboard behind him, announcing that Harvey would be working on the next topic in the textbook. As Harvey wiped his eyes and opened the textbook, he cringed as another creak was heard.

The Headmaster narrowed his eyes, snapping: "Ignore that noise! Concentrate!"

Harvey flinched and settled on the correct page, jotting down the title of the topic on the paper before him. As the Headmaster started to teach, Harvey leant back in his chair, aiming for a more comfortable position. However, this move backfired spectacularly as the chair promptly collapsed, Harvey ending up on his backside on the floor, wincing at the rough impact.

Thick eyebrows raising at the noise and the mess that had been made before him, the Headmaster ordered:

"Get up boy, and come here."

Fear seizing his heart, Harvey obeyed, climbing to his feet weakly and staggering over to the Headmaster. As soon as he was within distance, the Headmaster grabbed onto the boy and quickly examined him with his vision.

"Are you hurt?"

Harvey shook his head, whispering: "No, Sir. My backside hurts a b-bit, but apart from that, I'm f-fine."

The Headmaster nodded curtly and brushed an imaginary piece of dust off of Harvey's blazer before striding over to where the collapsed chair lay, inspecting it with a snort.

"As I believed, this chair was creaking not due to your weight, but to the fact that it was half broken anyway." As Harvey gawped at him, the Headmaster concluded: "No matter who sat down on it, the chair would have strained either way."

Happy that the issue had been resolved and that the Headmaster had been sort of nice to him, Harvey allowed a cheeky comment to be hissed under his breath.

"So even if a stick insect like you sat down on it, the chair would have struggled!"

The Headmaster suddenly loomed over him, nostrils flaring. As Harvey recoiled, squeaking like a frightened mouse, the Headmaster hissed, his glasses sliding down to the bridge of his nose so that his ominous green eyes could be glimpsed.

"I suggest you keep comments like the one you just uttered to yourself, Mr Hunter. Now, before you anger me any further, you would be wise to obey me."

"Y-Y-Yes, S-Sir."

A smirk curled the Headmaster's lips. "Good." The smirk morphed to a snarl within a flash. "Now…. sit down and do your work!"

Harvey squealed, flinging himself into the nearest available seat and dragging it over to the desk, where his work was located. The Headmaster pushed his glasses up to the top of his nose, pounded back to the desk at the front and whacked his cane against the whiteboard.

"Listen closely, boy. I shall not be repeating myself at any moment in this session, so concentrate."

Too fearful to verbally answer, Harvey nodded frantically and picked up his fountain pen, poised to write. As soon as the Headmaster's cold, brisk voice began snapping out facts, Harvey scribbled them down in his scruffy handwriting, not daring to look up. He had angered the Headmaster and to him, that was signing his life away.

Gulping, Harvey finished jotting down the facts and craned his head up, glancing at the clock. His shoulders slumped. It was only four pm.

'Urgh… kill me.'

The clock ticked down to six thirty and Harvey was currently spouting out the facts that the Headmaster had taught him an hour earlier and to both of their shock, Harvey was coping very well.

At the end of the boy's stammering, the Headmaster nodded slowly, murmuring in approval.

"Well done, you managed to remember forty of the fifty facts that I taught you today."

Harvey smiled, releasing a silent sigh of relief as the Headmaster checked his watch, resuming with his soft, spoken manner.

"On top of that, for the majority of the session, you understood the subject and was able to complete equations to a satisfactory quality and without any extra aid from me."

Smile widening, Harvey sang in his mind: 'Mum, Dad, your boy done good!'

The Headmaster stared long and hard at Harvey before waving a hand to the door. "Just this once, I will allow you to leave a few minutes early… Enjoy your weekend and I shall see you Monday morning."

Harvey whispered: "Yes S-Sir, thank y-you, S-Sir. See you t-then."

He packed away his belongings and stumbled out of the classroom, still blown away at the evidence of the Headmaster being kind to him and that the man had been helpful as well. Also, Harvey was pleased as punch due to the impossible having come true. HE had understood some Maths!

Cheerfully, the youngest Hunter whistled as he emerged into the playground, texting his mother that he was on his way home. Upon receiving her reply:

'Ok, sweetie. Better hurry up, pizza should be delivered soon! ;) xx'

Harvey grinned and jumped in the air, round face illuminated by the street light. This day, a thoroughly miserable one, was now becoming better and better! And it had all started to in the Maths session!

'Something I thought would NEVER happen.' Harvey thought as he broke into a sprint, wanting to get home before the pizza arrived.

Fortunately, he did. Harvey banged into the hall-way, dumping his blazer, shoes and bag by the door and slid into the kitchen in his socks. Mrs Hunter glanced up from her book, smiling happily at the sight of her youngest son.

"Hello, sweetheart. How was your tutoring?"

Harvey smiled back. "Good, Mum. When's the pizza arriving?"

Mrs Hunter chuckled. "Always thinking about food, aren't you?"

"No, I don't! I think about a lot of other things…"

"Like Ingrid?"

Harvey jerked, turning his head to observe his father leaning against the doorway of the kitchen. His face flushed and he whined:

"Dadddddd! I do not!

Mr Hunter laughed, flapping his hands. "Yeah, yeah, son. Whatever."

As their son pouted, Teresa stood up, placing her book down and sidled over to her husband. Admonishing him with a sharp flick to the chest, Mrs Hunter simpered at Harvey.

"Take no notice of Daddy, sweetie. Now, pizza should be here in ten minutes. Why don't you get changed?"

"Ok, Mum."

Bracing his father with an evil glare, Harvey padded out of the kitchen. As soon as he had gone, Teresa giggled, sliding her arms around Bill.

"Oh, bless him! It's so obvious he likes her!" She gazed up at her husband, murmuring: "Makes me think of the time when I fell in love with you…"

Mr Hunter smiled down at his wife, lowering his head slowly as he whispered: "And makes me think of our first kiss…. It was something like this…"

Connecting Teresa's lips with his own, Bill kissed her slowly and gently, hugging her to him more as the kiss deepened. A few seconds later and there was a cough, causing them to break apart, both faces flushing. Lloyd stared back at them, disgust plastered on his face. He stated:

"The delivery boy's just pulled up. Do you want me to get cutlery?"

Mrs Hunter smoothed her clothes down, shaking her head. "No thank you, Lloyd. We're going to be eating in the living room, this evening."

Mr Hunter grinned cheekily. "Yeah, going to watch a movie as well!"

Lloyd grinned at this, piping up: "Cool. What are we watching?"

"Whatever we decide upon, son."

Lloyd nodded, whispering to himself as he vacated the kitchen and strolled into the living room. "Please be something good and not a soppy film. Those are for sissies!"

As Mrs Hunter went to deal with the delivery boy, Mr Hunter grabbed glasses and joined his eldest son in the living room, dragging over a small table to place in the middle of the room, reachable from the sofa and the two armchairs, in case anyone sat there. A short while later, Mrs Hunter came in, a bag of garlic bread, two bottles of coke and three boxes of piping hot pizza in her hands.

Whilst the adults set out the mini feast, Harvey thumped down the stairs, clad in his pyjamas like his brother was. Dinah followed behind him, still in her uniform. She smiled slightly as she entered the living room, Teresa offering her a glass of coke.

Accepting it, she said politely: "Thank you, Mrs Hunter."

Noticing that Lloyd was glowering at her, Dinah waited until Mrs Hunter had declared that she was welcome before perching on one of the armchairs, sipping at her coke from time to time. Lloyd sat on the other armchair, scowling at the blank television screen as Mr Hunter slipped a disc into the DVD player.

"The first Harry Potter film. Is that alright?"

"Yep!"

"Yeah, Dad."

"Yes, Mr Hunter."

Smiling, Mr Hunter passed the remote to Lloyd, then settled himself on the left side of the sofa, Harvey in the middle with Mrs Hunter on the right side of the sofa. Harvey bounced up and down in his seat as Mrs Hunter flipped open the pizza boxes, aromas of different flavours wafting to everyone's noses.

As she started cutting slices, her husband on garlic bread duty, Lloyd clicked 'Play' on the main menu, the five of them soon becoming transported into the world of Privet Drive, then Hogwarts.

At the climax of the film, the living room in the Hunter house was peaceful. All of the food had been consumed, and Harvey was fast asleep against his father, who was stroking his son's hair. Lloyd had wedged himself between his younger brother and his mother, leaning his head against Mrs Hunter's shoulder. Dinah was still in the armchair, but was now curled up, eyes focused on the screen. Although she had seen the Harry Potter saga beforehand, parts of the film they were currently watching had hit her, and hit her hard.

The beginning, where Harry had been isolated and heckled by his family, struck a chord with her. Like Harry, Dinah was an orphan and though her foster family, barring Lloyd, were nice to her, she felt like an outcast and assumed that for as long as she stayed at their house, she would continue to be one.

For Dinah knew that, within a few weeks, the Hunters would get fed up of her and send her back to the Children's Home. Foster families always did. Claiming that she was 'too boring' for their children to play with, or 'too intelligent' thus, making their relatives jealous, or 'too weird' for reading books instead of playing or socialising.

Dinah sighed, finishing off her coke. She set it down, catching Mrs Hunter's eye. She blinked as her foster mother beckoned to her and instantly obeyed, standing in front of the woman nervously. As Lloyd grumbled that she was in the way, Mrs Hunter patted the empty spot next to her, opening her arm wide enough to allow Dinah to move in.

With only a moment's hesitation, Dinah moved forwards, settling herself back against the sofa, smiling as Mrs Hunter nestled her arm around her. Dinah felt a warm glow radiate her body and soon enough, she summed up the courage to rest her head against Mrs Hunter's shoulder.

The Hunter matriarch beamed, cuddling her son and foster daughter to her as her husband hugged their youngest. As the film ended, the Hunter parents, Lloyd and Dinah fell asleep, all snuggled together like one big family.

And they stayed like that until the next morning.