Chapter Thirty-Six: No One Is Allowed To Hurt You
Here is the next chapter for you all.
I hope you all enjoy and have a Jesus filled day.
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Previously:
He didn't know where Edith was but he definitely knew that he needed to thank her. He had forgotten when Harry touching his burn lessened the pain. "Shang, speak to me." His sister asked worriedly touching his face.
"I…I'm okay."
"No, you are not." Harry said in disagreement, "You didn't send Edith to get me did you? I though you said that you would talk to me about this."
Glitch felt guilt build up in his chest hearing how upset his twin was at him, "I'm sorry."
Harry shook his head, "We'll talk about it later. Let's just get you through this first."
The look in his sister eye dared him to deny the two of them so he quickly nodded in agreement, "Y…yeah, we will talk. Promise." Internally he was kind of scared by how the conversation would turn out now that he had two against him. He was happy that for now they were more concerned with getting him through the pain he was going through.
Now:
Green eyes looked between his twin brother and his adoptive sister. Both of them still looked very upset with him. Part of him wanted to start talking but he was kind of scared of how the two of them were to react if he did. In his lap he moved his thumbs around each other as he waited in bated silence. It was very tempting for him to try and make himself smaller than he already was but the very action might cause either of the two to react in a way that was not in his favor. The moment his sister looked at him heatedly Shang let out an unintentional squeak and stiffened, "Shang Parker, what in the world were you thinking not telling any of us this was going on with you? Do you have any idea how upset that makes me?"
"I'm quite aware of how upset you are and I am extremely sorry." The younger dancer managed to say as quickly as he could.
"Tell me what you were thinking."
"Clearly I wasn't thinking clearly." Glitch replied, panicking internally at this point. The use of speaking properly was useless to him at this very moment.
"Shang you said that you would talk to me about this. Why did you try to hide it from me?" Harry asked. The look alone his brother had made Shang feel even guiltier than he was already feeling.
"I don't like causing people to worry. I told you that last time." The male dancer replied wringing his hands together.
Emilia sighed and placed her hands on her face while Harry rubbed his temple. Looking at him, his brother spoke up, "We are always going to worry. Especially me since I now what it is like to go through that kind of pain. You told me real family care for each other no matter what the other is going through."
Shang felt Edith crawling up his arm though he didn't give her the attention since he didn't want to upset either of the other two in the room with him. Finally his sister looked up as his eyes went down cast, "Shang,…the care you show for others goes both ways. If we have to deal with you butting in when we are going through something you have to allow the same thing. We care and love you the same way you do us." She pointed a finger at him when Glitch glanced up nervously, "Don't you make me force my way in to make sure that you are okay. Because you know I will. And as a witch I am allowed to visit the school to make sure you are okay."
"If I have to I'll start writing her letters to make sure that she visits." Harry stated in agreement.
Wide green eyes looked at his brother, "Do you have any idea what my sister will do to Umbitch if she hears her talk?"
A harsh flick on his ear caused him to wince and rub where Emilia had done so, "I'll ignore her then kick her ass later. What has mom and dad told you about cussing?"
"Not to I get it, I get it." Shang replied glancing up at his sister with a small frown, "Did you have to flick me that hard?"
"If you didn't cuss then I wouldn't have to. Besides after the scare you gave me tonight I could do a lot worse." His sister replied, her eyes narrowed in on her little brother.
Glitch internally groaned, he hated that it was his sister and brother against him. It was hard enough when it was just one of them keeping an eye on him. The teaming up thing they were doing against him was never going to work in his favor. He wanted to say sorry but he knew for a fact that it was not going to cut it. After this he knew that Emilia and Harry were going to be in contact with each other to make sure that he didn't do anything stupid again.
"Well?" His sister asked looking at him her eyes practically drilling into his gaze.
"I'll…try."
Harry looked unconvinced while Emilia spoke up, "You will not try Shang Parker. You will tell us when something is going on. I will not have this scare happen again. Do you have any idea how terrifying it was to see you withering on the floor with a pain I couldn't help with?"
Shang was starting to get nervous again as Harry joined in, "Even from my perspective what you are going through is worse than what I am. I can actually help when your scar is burning. Let me help you."
He didn't know how to respond to them. He had said why he didn't let them know and they had not accepted it. Their logic was better than his own though. He just hated bringing more problems to others around him. He preferred to help fix them on his own. Emilia sighed and rubbed her face speaking gently, "Shang, you are putting more stress on yourself than you need to. You are going through enough on your own. I know you won't let me deal with the people at school that you are not fond of and I accept that." Her hands dropped to her lap as she stood up and walked over to kneel in front of him. "I won't lie; I wish you would talk to me about those things. Like the bullies from your last school."
Wide green eyes looked at her in shock. Glitch's mouth was moving but no words were coming out. Harry looked at his brother shock overtaking him. He had thought that he would be considered cool with what he did with his friends. Harry thought it as cooler than him playing Quidditch. While he himself had to be fit, Shang had to be more so due to the fact that he was moving his body in more ways than riding a broom. Emilia nodded resting her arms across her brother's lap, "Yes, I've known this entire time that you were being bullied. I would go to the school about it but you have been handling the situation well on your own. You even have the principal believing you do to how honest you are being."
"To make it better you are not allowing yourself to end up anywhere where they can't be caught if they decide that they want to hurt you more than they have been trying." Emilia continued, forcing Shang to look at her when he tried to glance away. "But the pain in your back is something I will not stand you keeping from me. The moment you are in any amount of pain, that is the line I draw. If those bullies had actually been hurting you mentally then I would be at that school in a heartbeat to take matters into my hands. So long as the school wasn't doing something about it first." She looked into his eyes finding uncertainty, "Have they hurt you?"
"They have tried but I have always gotten them in trouble before they could succeed."
Emilia gave a tiny sigh of relief pulling him into a hug while looking at Harry, "You keep me informed if this Professor Umbridge and Malfoy are causing him problems he can't handle on his own."
Harry nodded feeling a slight concern about the female. He was starting to see why his twin attempted to keep the knowledge of his pain away from her. She acted in a way that she didn't want Shang to. Where she didn't want her brother to get into fights she would happily get into them just to try and protect him. In that way Shang was attempting to protect her from herself. It was why he always saw his brother being mouthy but it was calculated. He made sure that he was not going to get into trouble in the long run for what he did. As much as Shang was all about action, he liked to think. That had been why he had been put in Ravenclaw.
"Sis, please don't do anything drastic."
"If it is for your safely, I will gladly put myself on the line." Emilia pulled back, "Are we clear on the back pain issue?"
Shang sighed looking at his sister with an unimpressed expression, "Yes, it is clear as crystals."
"Don't you sass me." The woman turned to look at Harry, "Keep an eye on him."
Harry nodded and followed Shang to their shared room, "Your sister is terrifying."
Shang nodded rubbing his temples, "Yes, I swear my sister doesn't know how to cool off when it is me that is getting hurt."
"At least she loves you."
"You should know that she is upset by the thought of our aunt and uncle." Two pairs of green eyes met, "If she had her way, she would take you to live with us."
"I wish she would."
"Even if she became overprotective like she is over me?"
Harry weighed the pros and cons at the thought. While he would be safe from the punishments that his aunt and uncle were doing to him he would have to deal with Emilia acting in the same way when someone bothered him in a way she perceived to be unacceptable. He wasn't sure that this would be a good thing. He would enjoy the love that she would bestow upon him though.
Shang must have read his expression because he was chuckling, "Yeah, it seems like an easy choice but it isn't."
"To be honest the pro isn't that bad, I just don't know how I would handle it. It feels like it might be overwhelming."
"How about you think about it in the morning? You must feel as tired as I feel."
Harry nodded and lay on the bed, his eyes feeling heavy but was unable to fall asleep all that quickly. He really wanted to no longer go back to their house, but he had no idea what he would do in a house that didn't treat him like that. School had been his getaway place from all that the moment that he was aloud to go to Hogwarts. Now that he knew he had a family that was willing to actually let him be happy if he lived with them he had no idea what to do. He used to think that when the choice finally presented itself he would change over easily. Why was it so hard for him to pick the clearly better path if he got that choice?
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Shang woke up to Edith flicking her tongue at the side of his nose. Still a bit groggy he eyed his pet with a raised eyebrow, "What are you doing?"
"The sun is up. Your family is waiting for you." Shang sat up looking at the other bed that was in the room with him. Finding it empty he rubbed his eye and looked around confused. "They were up earlier. Both of them were talking."
"Of course they would." The dancer replied getting to his feet and pulling off his sleeping top. Edith crawled underneath the shirt and clung near his left pectoral. With his shirt off he made his way to the bathroom, carrying his hair supplies. Ignoring the looks he was getting from his siblings he continued on his way and made it to the bathroom. Setting his things on the counter he turned on the sink faucet and dunked his head under the water spray, not caring that the water was cold.
Edith jumped down to the counter top and looked at him with inquisitive eyes, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired is all." Shang replied, running his fingers through his hair to make sure that all of it got wet.
"You seem sad."
"More upset at myself more than anything."
The lizard tilted her head as she settled comfortably on the counter top, "I don't want you to. You say even you can make mistakes."
"Just because I know I do doesn't mean that they don't get to me at times. Sometimes we humans dwell on things we do wrong." Glitch reached blindly for the towel that he knew was within his reach. When he couldn't grab it he turned his head and sighed seeing that it was not where he had placed it last. Letting out a sigh he complained, "Dang it."
"Sorry that was me." Harry said walking in and handing him the towel. Watching his brother drying his hair he frowned seeing the exhausted expression on his face. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, I just had a hard time falling asleep." The dancer replied draping the towel over his shoulders, small droplets of water running down his face, "My mind wouldn't shut up."
"Was it the conversation Emilia and I had with you?"
"Not entirely." Shang admitted rubbing the water off his face though new ones followed, "I thought that it was going to start up again. Sometimes it happens like that. I don't know who Voldemort thinks he is but I am going to kick his ass when I meet him face to face. I am tired of him playing these games with me."
Harry gave a tiny smile, "So you are going to help me?"
"Of course I will." Shang turned his attention to his twin, "Not only is he messing me and thinks it is funny, he is screwing with my brother. I'd beat him if he messed with my sister or any of my friends too."
"What were you and Edith talking about?"
"She is worrying about me." Two pairs of green eyes looked at the silent lizard watching them with interest, "It is so weird that she can understand the English language as well as she does."
"Well she was probably around the castle a lot before you got there so that is probably where she picked it up." Edith bobbed her head in confirmation. Harry leaned against the wall as his twin started to get his hair in order, "It is weird to hear you talking to her. I don't understand anything you are saying."
"I can imagine it will be the same with you talking to snakes. I can't understand them to save my life." Shang replied using the towel to dry his hair a bit more. "I can see them trying to talk to me but no bueno." The shorter twin leaned forward looking his face over in the mirror.
"Do snakes like you?"
Shang nodded as he pulled the temporary green dye to him and squirted some in his hand. "The like goes both ways. I think snakes look awesome and I've always loved reptiles. They fascinate me."
Harry looked at Edith walking up to some of the green dye that had dripped down onto the counter sniffing it. Almost instantly Shang's spoke to her stopping her from attempting to poke her nose into it. Once again he couldn't understand what had been said. He was surprised how gentle the language sounded. From the way Ron and Hermione described when he was speaking parseltongue it sounded creepy. But the lizard language was soft and gentle. He would probably never know if Shang and Edith were arguing or not. The lizard walked away from the green dye and settled near the wall.
"What other animals have you talked to?"
Shang glanced at Harry as he washed his hands, after pulling off the gloves he had used, "A turtle, gecko, and even an alligator once. I mostly end up talking to lizards."
"So if you visit a zoo it gets a little overwhelming?"
"Not really, most of the animals in the zoos seem to understand that I don't talk to them due to the fact that they understand what it is like to be looked at all the time. The most I get out of them is a thank you. They seem to calm down in my presence." Shang replied pushing himself away from the counter. Reaching for Edith he placed her on his shoulder and made his way to his and his brother's shared room. Harry heard the question posed to him as he followed his brother, "Have the animals been fed?"
"Edith ate. Hedwig and Bell weren't hungry." Harry replied. Reaching the room he closed the door so that Shang could go ahead and get dressed. Edith jumped off Shang and landed on the bed, where she crawled her way up to the pillow and settled herself there. Harry sat on the other side of the bed and pet Edith's back. Hedwig let out a hoot making the twins laugh as she looked at them with her big eyes.
The dancer walked over to the open cage and pet her across the back, "Are you feeling alone girl." Hedwig closed her eyes happily. She opened them once more when Glitch walked away and started to get dressed. "How is Emilia doing? Is she still mad at me?"
"She's upset but overall seems to be fine. When I left she was giving Bell attention." Harry replied putting his hand in his lap watching his brother. "How often has it happened more than once in one night?"
"Honestly not very often." Shang replied with a sigh, buckling his belt, "It just happens more than once when I least expect it. I'm not sure why you are not getting it but I get the feeling you were the intended recipient. Only instead of going to you it attacked me instead. I'm not even sure if he even knows that he is doing this to me. I truly think he thinks he is getting both of us when he is only getting one."
"That's is scary to think about." Harry replied with a small shiver.
"Tell me about it."
The two fell into silence, lost in their own thoughts about their situation. Edith looked at the two of them tilting her head as she eyed them. She wondered what was going through their heads. Was it the man that was causing her human friend pain? And if it was what about him were they thinking about? She had never heard of the man until she decided to stay with Shang. At most she wondered around the castle, eating the bugs that were around.
The day she picked Shang was the very day she had to find out why she felt drawn to the table with those humans wearing blue. Even when she got there she instantly had locked onto the humans she was fond of. He had an energy about him that was bright and happy. She could pick up on some troubles but none of that really seemed to bother him. He was laughing and talking with a wide smile on his face. So she approached him and happily decided to stay with him when he started talking to her. She loved that he could understand her and that only made her want to stay with him all the more.
Even though he had been speaking with the human tongue she understood him. It wasn't long that he started talking in a language that was easier for her to understand. He didn't even mind that she spoke in a more simplified way. It was true that that it was easier for her to convey what she was feeling and thinking with simple words. Though she could understand the use of more complex words she didn't really want to learn how to do that. Her simplified speech was her preferred way of talking and she wasn't going to change that.
Letting her eyes land on her human companion she saw him dressed and ready to go put his hair up in that style that he liked. She simply laid there while he picked her up and placed her in a comfortable position near the crook of his neck. She loved his shoulder as a place to perch herself. As much as she loved to see the world from his head, his shoulder was comfortable to her. His hair, even though it was gelled to stay in place, was not a texture that she was fond of lying on.
Her eyes continued to look at Glitch as he made his way to the bathroom to do what he needed to do. She could feel it, his pain that he was suffering on his own. She wanted to help him in some way so that he could get through it. He didn't seem overly bothered by the two brats that irritated him at school. But when he had talked about the fact he was upset by the pain he had caused his family, it hurt her. She'd stay by his side. She was not going to let him beat himself up if she could find a way to help. So far the pain he was feeling was not the worst, but when the time came she would made them that cause it pay. No one deserved to hurt him in that way and she'd make them see that.
