THIS FANFICTION IS CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN AND UPDATED.
THINGS HAVE BEEN CHANGED AND I WOULD RECOMMEND REREADING THIS TITLE IF YOU HAVEN'T IN A WHILE.
THANK YOU FOR READING x
[START]
Define 'Normal'
Chapter 20:
"Didn't Potter say himself that he cleaned off the desk, I remember that in your report of the situation…" A gruff and masculine, yet harshly nasally voice declared tiredly. The rough sound of flesh on a more solid surface hit Harry's ears,
"That would only explain the mess. However, the girls attacked the desk with knives but there is no actual damage. It is as if Potter got an entirely new desk and replaced it." A feminine voice that oozed both authority and exasperated desperation.
Both were familiar voices, that of the Headmaster and the schools Guidance Counsellor. Their voices coming from under the door, freezing Harry like ice as his mind whirred,
'Merlin dammit.' He snapped at himself. He was still forming and dismissing excuses when he was called inside. Sat on the other side of the pale desk of the headmaster, the man himself sat on the other side (adjusting the buttons of his cyan shirt after fiddling with his scarlet tie), whilst Kunahito-sensei sat off to his left with a few more buttons done up since their last meeting.
She opened the meeting,
"We received a report that you were involved in an… altercation with a few men outside of school."
This was what he expected, he gave a reply he hadn't really rehearsed however,
"Yeah, it was just some wannabe muggers, I think." Harry tried to brush it off, but Kunahito-sensei continued. The clear concern on her face and in her voice gave Harry pause as she spoke,
"Saikou-san gave a somewhat different report after speaking with you on Thursday. She mentioned that you believed you were being targeted?"
He sighed, subtly grinding his teeth together and scrunched up his trousers in his hands. He couldn't blame her; she was the Student Council president after all. If he'd have kept his mouth shut this wouldn't have happened after all,
'What possessed you to speak to her in the first place? She said herself if you'd have been more patient-' He stopped that thought there. No use dwelling on what he'd done whilst his emotions had been running loose, he needed to smooth things out in the here and now.
His voice was crisp and careful,
"They mentioned working for that loan shark, Ronshaku. So I went to him after school last week to see what the issue was, and we resolved it then and there." Harry stated brusquely. Tight lipped at Kunahito-sensei's subsequent niggling and interrogation,
"Despite your rather uncouth remarks about an upstanding member of our community," Harry snorted and the Headmaster visibly scowled, "Do keep such reactions to yourself, Potter-san."
Portly, short, definitive frown lines accompanying a myriad of other wrinkles and signs of age. His headmaster had not aged well and was a periodically unhappy man. But his eyes, those were what drew Harry's attention, they were behind similar circular spectacles to his own and utterly lifeless. Hollow and empty in a way that had Harry's teeth on edge.
The teacher pair shared a few words and asked a few questions about Harry's wellbeing and homelife. Fortunately he was able to answer honestly, but was still left to wonder why they were so hurried...
Harry quickly remembering the conversation he had overheard and braced himself when his headmaster drew himself up in his chair and addressed him somewhat imperiously,
"There have been reports that you are exhibiting some rather… inappropriate and troubling behaviour." Shuyona-sensei spoke, narrowed eyes and a hard-set jaw. Kunahito-sensei sat to the side with a narrowed gaze that sharply developed into a sidelong glare, not at Harry though. "Students have reported that you are giving off a very intimidating persona that makes them feel afraid or uncomfortable. And I will not accept that."
"I-I don't really know what I can do about that, sensei." He spoke. If he intimidated people what could he do? This not... exactly what he had been expecting,
"You can stop." He declared with a bit of a sneer twisting his lips, "If you think you can go about punching walls and snarling at other students like some sort of barbarian, then you are in for a rude awakening, young man."
Harry shifted a little in his seat as the Headmaster leaned ever forward in his seat,
"I don't know what… behaviour you were able to get away with in your home country." The derision in his voice (particularly with those last to words) had Harry bristling, "But in Japan, we are civilized. And if you don't want to be carted back to whatever hovel you were in before you got here-"
"HEADMASTER!" sharp, affronted, disgusted. Kunahito-sensei was on her feet, eyes wide behind her red spectacles and her pale hands clenched into harsh, shaking fists.
Harry wasn't much better.
'Clear your mind.' A mantra, imparted into him by a man he despised, but one that had proven effective in helping deal with his temper (to a degree, he would always be a… 'passionate' person most likely) as he was roughly taught Occulmency,
"I haven't harmed any students or damaged school property. Nor have I broken any schools rules or laws." Harry replied respectfully, receiving a scowl in return that had Harry desperate to smirk smugly as well as scowl back, "Forgive me, but I am confused as to what the issue is. I have utilised non-violent means to escape bullies. Bullies I, and other students, have previously reported to the staff."
The headmasters scowl deepened, and Harry was unable to keep an entirely passive expression, his own eyes narrowing just a little at Shuyona Kocho as his irritation rose,
"I will not allow a student to go around with the idea that they can heedlessly and recklessly threaten-"
"When have I done that?"
"Do NOT interrupt me!" He snapped, and Harry outright dropped the façade, glaring with open loathing at his headmaster. The man flinching for a moment before returning the look as his face reddened in rage as Kunahito looked on from the side and chose then to step in.
"I KNOW you didn't just shout at me after calling me a barbarian and disparaging my homeland..." Harry snarled, nostrils curled up as he levied an unblinking glare at
"I apologise for the Headmasters choice of words Potter-san. We are merely reporting that your behaviour has made people uncomfortable." She declared as gently but authoritatively as she could manage, "From the outside, it looks like you are some kind of bully."
He turned his glare towards the Counsellor but lessened it at her expression,
"I… understand your perspective." Shuyona began to flare up and Harry snapped his eyes to him as he continued, "However, I don't see it the same way. I'm not running around scowling, growling and threatening people at a random and I don't think that the idea that I am is accurate or fair. I haven't done anything wrong."
He returned his gaze to the headmaster; a man tremored in fury. It was not lost on him that an apology had not been offered, thus Harry allowed his glower to intensify,
"Potter-san. I will not be disrespected in my office or my own school. If I catch any further reports of you acting like a thug… what are you doing?"
Harry had whipped out his phone, a new flashy and silver smartphone to replace his prior flip phone. A few taps and flicks of his fingers navigated him through webpages and the like. Ignoring a snarl to put his phone away, Harry eventually happened upon the documents and pages he needed.
"Are you that desperate for suspension that you would-"
"I merely want you to have a better idea of who it is you are insulting, Shuyona-sensei." A shudder ran up his throat as he replied. The teen placing the phone on the desk between them. The action accompanied by a dark glare and a cold order of, "Read that and threaten me again."
The Headmaster's eyes darted across each word, skin steadily paling with every passing second. He was dismissed silently, a hand flick only. Kunahito-sensei looked between them in confusion.
The door click closed quietly behind him and sighed in fatigue, he absently wondered if Sayori was available. He felt a bit bad but the bright-eyed girl just… made him feel better. The warmth of her smile and just the idea that she seemed so happy to see him for reasons that he did not know.
Resolve in place, he turned to head towards 1-C, but a female voice (the one who'd actually gotten him into the mess he'd just escaped from) turned his head and halted him in his tracks.
Saikou Megami was a few feet away, eyes on him expectantly with her arms folded behind her back and her shadow Ryugoku.
"Potter-san." She called again, throwing her silvery hair back over her shoulder and holding up a rather conservative looking coin purse up for him to see, "Would you like a drink?"
'What's this about then?
…
The day was over and Harry was knackered!
None of this madness happened at home, only whilst he was at this blasted school. He was quick to slip into his outdoor shoes as the bright light of the sun lunged aggressively through the glass front doors.
'I just want to go home before-'
"Erm, Harry?"
'Morgana's tits, WHAT NOW?!'
His aggressive turn was all but missed by the person Harry froze in front of.
Monika.
Stood with her hands overlapping at her waist and her eyes downcast. The white ribbon that held her long hair in its high ponytail was tied a little loose, more of her gentle brown bangs framing her face than usual.
She didn't look up from the ground when she addressed him again, and Harry softly wondered how long she had been stood there working up the courage to speak to him,
"C-Can I ask you a question?"
Harry, for some reason that escaped him, was suddenly intimately aware that they were alone. The summer sun casting long shadows from them and the lockers as it travelled ever westward,
"Erm, of course."
She did not speak immediately; her fingers fidgeting and curling around her skirt.
Harry had to admit that he had missed Monika's interactions with him, she teased and flirted and just made Harry both happy and exasperated. Her sudden distance had left Harry feeling almost cold, he wondered if she was,
"Is everything okay, Monika-san?" He inquired gently, he resisted the urge to rest a hand on her shoulder and lean down to try and catch her gaze (aware now that he stood a little taller than her), "Are YOU okay?"
"I… think I saw something I shouldn't have." Her voice was a cut above a whisper, "A… a secret of a... friend of mine that…"
He racked his brain, his mind not making any leaps, focused entirely on how vulnerable the usually confident and extroverted girl usually was. He was never a treat at comforting the fairer sex, but he was never one not to try,
"Was it something… serious?" She nodded, "D-Does it change how you see them?"
She stiffened, his answer.
"Do you still think of them as your friend?" He probed gently, her wide eyes on for the first time, her gaze was searching. Harry took a physical step back at the speed of the gesture and the intensity in her stare,
"I- I just don't understand wha- how they can just... keep walking around as if they are j-just like everyone else!" Monika's chest was heaving, Harry was quick to note tears forming in the corner of her eyes, "I- I just don't understand. I don't want to think of… them… any differently, but they ARE different. I want to be f-f-friends, but I don't feel like I know them at all!"
The volume was high, Harry suppressed a wince as his ears were bombarded.
His mind made up on his next words, Harry spoke slowly (working to regain the veneer of confidence he liked to exude),
"I think, in some ways, everybody is similar. No matter the bits of you you keep from others, it doesn't change that you're still human." Harry spoke sincerely and shrugged a little, "I mean, do you have to tell everyone you say is your friend every last secret you have?"
Monika shook her head, disagreement clear but not just to Harry's point,
"I'm not saying that that's something you have to do." Still shaking her head with a bit of a sigh and a piercing look, "But I don't think that you can keep things that are massive parts of themselves and actually express themselves authentically."
Harry fidgeted uncomfortably,
"Maybe… maybe whoever it is… maybe they don't consider whatever it is as a massive part of themselves?" He felt a bit lame as he spoke, thinking that perhaps he should have kept his stupid mouth shut and just let Monika walk off unsatisfied. Yet something seemed to light up in her eyes and Harry tried to continue, "And one day, they could feel comfortable to share more of themselves to you if you show that you are ready and patient enough to be there for them."
The pause lasted seconds, but her eyes were a bit more piercing than before,
"Is that how you feel?"
"Huh?"
"I can assume you haven't told me or your friends every part of your life?" Her tone almost accusing, Harry paid it little heed as he thought about how he really had told his friends nothing about himself,
"Heh, no, I guess I haven't." he shrugged, his laugh was humourless. As was the smirk that curled up his lips, "But would you be patient enough to let me get there? Eventually?"
He doubted he'd ever be able to tell her everything. She was a Muggle after all.
He was born and raised a wizard; the magical world was his home for most of his life (barring those years when he'd been sent away and his past few months in Japan) and he knew it was a fantastical and horrifying place. Yet there was still so much about it even he knew nothing about. Adding on to the fact that it was illegal to just tell Muggles about the magical world, could he ever tell anyone?
A jarring thought ran through his mind,
'What am I going to do?' A vague one, but this thought came with images of a chapel. Of rings and white dresses and black ties. Little ones with his green eyes or his atrociously messy hair.
He had no intention of returning to the magical world, and had never met a witch there with whom he'd fallen head over heels. With his current self-imposed exile something he wished to maintain until his death, he doubted he ever would as well. Thus, it was most likely (a thought he entertained with both embarrassment and scepticism) that he would marry a Muggle, maybe have an entirely non-magical family,
'No. I'll have magical kids.' He KNEW. Not because he was too strong of a wizard, his bloodline too ancient and entrenched in magic, not to produce magical offspring.
But because it would most inconvenience him, having to explain the magical world and re-enter it eventually with any children he would later have to his wife to be.
He schooled his face and suppressed a sigh and scowl when he remembered he was in the presence of Monika, his friend very clearly in thought also,
"I… I think I can do that." She murmured, she didn't sound sure and Harry couldn't help being a bit perturbed. But then she smiled, a sweet friendly smile that Harry was oh so used to seeing on the Class Representatives face, "It's… It's the least I can do for my partner, right?"
And Harry felt a weight he hadn't noticed prior lifted from his shoulder, and the world seemed to right itself.
Back to normal, so to speak…
[TO BE CONTINUED]
TO NEW READERS, WELCOME!
TO OLDER READERS, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND CONTINUED SUPPORT!
AND TO EVERYONE, THANK YOU FOR READING x