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 26:
The door across from him flew open.
"What have you been telling people?!"
Not hello, Lily Potter flew into the Entrance Hall of Potter Manor (barely giving her son time to collect himself from the floor after the Portkey), bellowing her interrogative as her husband followed closely behind. Charles Potter's shoes still in hand as his parents tore across the colourful tiles towards the stone entryway,
"What?"
"Charles-" James began slowly, his voice firm and deep but cut off by his incensed other half,
"Your father got a Howler from Mrs Weasley not five minutes ago, screeching about how ashamed she is, how dare we treat Harry as we have," Her nostrils flared and her eyes flashed with every few words, Charles actually taking a step back at the image of fury that was his mother's fury. The angriest he'd ever seen her, "AND how YOU told her everything in that article was true."
Cold fingers travelled down his back, that sensation on his spine only intensifying under his parent's gaze. Though his mothers were a fiery glare that demanded reply, his father's expression was far calmer. However, those hazel eyes of his were every bit as accusing as his wife's, even as he tried to seem more relaxed,
"…I didn't say everything." A murmur, his socked feet shuffled and dragged on the floor as his eyes were fixed on them. A silence, thick and heavy, settled on his shoulders as he felt (rather than saw) their aghast expressions,
"Charles!" James, a bark of a shout. A hairbreadth quicker than Lily as he took a half-step towards his son,
"WHAT?! It's not like anything in there is false, is it?" Charles couldn't hear a thing over the pounding of his heart. His body red hot and shaking as all he could see was the incensed faces of his parents, "You did give him Draught of Living Death the night before our birthday. You did scream and hurt him in front of all the guests at the party. You did treat him like a House Elf all the time he lived with us and you did SELL HIM TO THE DURSLEY'S!"
His teeth flared; bottle green glare snapped up from his feet to stare down his incredulous parents. Mother's fury frozen as her eyes flew wide and her jaw hung open a smidge. His father's expression pinched, brows furrowed as he shook,
"Charles, come on." James's voice was gentle, imploring, eyes misty with tears unshed, "Do you really think we sent Harry away and sold him off to Vernon and Petunia? Do you really think we signed off on Harry being treated like a slave? Is that really the people you think we are?"
Lily nodding along with her husband's pleas only served to fire Charles up more,
"I think you knew EXACTLY what they were going to do to Harry and that's why you sent him there."
"We sent him to the Dursley's so he could be put under strong blood wards, where no one could find him and still be somewhere we could easily reach out to him." Lily's tone was steely firm, a no-nonsense delivery that snapped past her lips like the crack of a whip,
"And in all that time, when exactly did you reach out to my twin brother?" Her son just as piercing, waiting for a reply and only being met by the guilty gaze of his parents, "In all that time, did you not send letters to Vernon and Petunia to make sure things were going 'as agreed'?"
The response was lukewarm. Handwavy and insincere, Charles's fists balling by his sides until his skin whitened and his whole body shook,
"Why does it matter, Charles?!" Lily's voice cracked, tears pricking but not quite falling. "Harry hates us. He hates us so much that HE went to the papers to ruin us. Why are you taking his side?!"
Despite the sight, he scoffed,
"He doesn't hate us; he doesn't care about any of us. He just couldn't sleep at night if we didn't feel some accountability for RUINING HIS LIFE!"
His throat was sore and ragged after that, a scream louder than anything he'd ever uttered. He was aware, in this quiet moment of reflection, that not all of this rage was his own. The lingering pain, anger and confusion of his brother still leeched through the bond, piggybacking off of his own.
He tried to count back from ten (and it cleared his head somewhat) but his tone still tremored with barely concealed fury,
"Tell me where my brother is."
"We… don't know, Charles. Honestly."
"If I'm not the first one who finds out, and if I don't by the time term ends, then I'll spend Christmas trekking across Japan until I find him." Charles growled, his parents wide eyed and sharing a sharp look, "You and I have a lot to apologise for. I can't live with the idea that my twin brother doesn't want anything to do with me."
For the briefest of moments, he wasn't there. He was at Godrics Hollow
A snake had appeared in the back garden, and Harry had toddled in between the two of them when he'd frozen in fear. A big smile on his face when he told him that it was just lost.
The last day he'd hugged his 'big brother'. Just before the looks of horror and hatred on the faces of his mother and father…
Then Charles wasn't in the garden, the scent of grass and the baking sun replaced by the cold of the foyer and the pain of his parent's glare,
"I'm going to my room." A snapped comment as he breezed by. He heard their voices, but their words didn't register, "Leave me alone or I'll hex you."
The only sound he heard after the fact was his door slamming closed behind him.
…
Music, Natsuki drowned out the sound of music downstairs (blaring through the sound system her dad had hooked up to the TV with the bass reverberating through the house) with music in her pink and white earphones. She still heard the thump of the beat and the occasional loud voice, but for the most part it did its job. She was able to pretend that her life didn't suck ass for a few minutes.
A rattle and a thump at the door caught the girls attention, sat on her bed in summer pyjamas with her knees hugged to her chest. Reflexively, her nails dug into the pale skin of her calves at the attempted intrusion, even though she had little to worry about.
Despite her size (her diminutive stature one of many sore points that came from this household) she was fairly strong. Not only had she locked the door, but she had moved her desk to block the door from even opening. Whoever it was that wanted entry, wasn't getting in.
Once upon a time, she would have been scared to do even that much. Memories of Papa slamming fat hands on the door and ordering it to be opened before he tore her to shreds, but she was a big girl now and knew better. He'd drink himself to oblivion and wake up barely remembering his own name, not a threat as long as she kept out of his sights.
And at the end of the day, Papa would only knock her around a bit if he got in here anyway. It was the guests he called over that she knew couldn't be let in here.
A familiar tone and vibration drew Natsuki's attention back to reality. She unlocked her phone to see who had texted her,
[UNKNOWN] Hi Natsuki, I hope you're having a good night.
Her eyebrows narrowed together and she glared down at the message,
"What the hell?" She muttered aloud and was five seconds away from just ignoring the random message and moving on with her life.
But curiosity and all that,
[Natsuki] Who's this?
[UNKNOWN] This is Potter Harry, you kind of shouted at me in the nurses office a few weeks ago.
'Oh…' Natsuki scowled as her eyes looked back and forth over the words and she wondered if she should have just not responded in the first place. Though it did not stop her from clicking away at the phone with her next message.
[Natsuki] How did you get this number?
[Harry] Sayori gave it to me, we ended up talking about you and I kind of wanted to bury the hatchet.
Natsuki had no idea what that last bit meant, she assumed it was some kind of idiom from England (that was where he was from, right?) and its meaning did not come across in translation.
As the music thumped under her she pondered. She had spared very little thought over the boy, only ever having seen him when he was hovering about Sayori and the two had not spoken after their meeting. Her fault of course, she did tell him to leave her alone.
However, she was still annoyed at him and his actions. She didn't need some random poking his nose in her life and trying to 'make it better' on some wild whim and she was tempted to make him aware of that far less politely than she had thought it but a niggling bit of guilt stayed her hand.
She really could count on one hand all the people who were nice to her just for the sake of being nice, and (potentially) this Potter guy could be one of them. Which is why instead of closing the messaging app and going back to her music, she scooted back so she was upright and leaning back on her headboard and typed out an appropriate response.
…
[Natsuki] Why the hell are you texting me?
"Ouch! You sure you didn't do anything to her?"
"Shut up, Budo-san." Harry's snippy retort and turned to Najimi, "Now what?"
"Remind me again why you're asking me?"
Budo shrugged but Sayori cheerfully piped up,
"You're the resident tsundere. If anyone can help us break through to the sweet heart I know Natsuki has, it's you."
Najimi was not impressed, and her irritation only grew at the snickers from the others. She didn't give any advice and Budo and Hanako's orders for him to express his true deep feelings for the girl were just as unhelpful. Yuri, however, interpreted their words a little differently,
"Just be honest, Harry." Her voice was gentle but Harry noted what might have been bitterness in her eyes, "If she does not accept your truth then you have done all you can."
Motivated, Harry texted back,
[Harry] I just wanted to talk really.
[Natsuki] I haven't got anything to say to you.
It was here that the group formed ranks around Harry, peeking over his shoulder and around him to get a good glimpse of the screen of his phone. It seemed that although he had turned down Budo and Sayori's offers to talk to their pink haired year-mate on his behalf, they still were heavily invested in what he was actually saying to her.
[Harry] I just don't understand, please can you tell me why you won't talk to me.
Harry briefly wondered if the girl had put down her phone and walked away, because it was a full minute before she deigned to give him a response,
[Natsuki] I'm not going to talk to some douchy guy who looks down on me.
[Harry] I've never looked down on you!
[Natsuki] Yes you have! Literally since the first time you saw me apparently!
Harry shook his head and was quick to fire back,
[Harry] If I was looking down on you, I would have said something.
There was a collective wince from behind him and he turned his head to see Budo and Taro shaking their head and Najimi now refusing to look at the phone screen. Harry didn't want to think about how Natsuki may have taken that reply (as honest as it was) so quickly floundered to salvage the conversation,
[Harry] Look, Sayori says you're pretty cool, she's constantly saying that you're a really nice person and I just want to make more friends to be honest.
[Harry] I'm sorry if I've creeped you out or made you feel like I think less of you because of whatever circumstances you are in, I didn't mean to. What do I need to do to make it up to you?
Another fearful sixty seconds, leaving Harry to contemplate why he was so scared in the first place. Yes, she was Sayori's friend and yes he did just want to be friends and get to know her, but he'd had exactly one (very poor) conversation with the girl. So why did he care about her opinion so much right now?
Her response was simple and gave Harry and the others pause.
[Natsuki] Stop leaving change under the machine.
There was a long moment for Harry as he stared down at her short and blunt demand. Even when she'd ripped him a new one in the nurses office he hadn't stopped, and he'd still seen her take it at times (with a loathful look on her face at the smattering of coins). She was clearly not doing well for money, and Harry couldn't just stand by and watch her struggle like that, but he still looked at her request and shortly responded with,
[Harry] Are you sure?
[Natsuki] I WOULDN'T ASK IF I WASN'T!
[Harry] Okay! I promise!
It was fine, he'd find another way to help. Obviously being just a little subtler than he had been before.
[Natsuki] Good. If you stop treating me like some kind of charity case, THEN I'll consider talking to you.
[Harry] Thanks for giving me a chance, Natsuki.
There was a long pause before the next text popped in,
[Natsuki] Don't say weird stuff like that! I'm still not convinced you're not some kind of perv.
[Harry] You'll let me convince you otherwise though, right?
Subconsciously, the group crowding around Harry's phone held their breath as the application indicated that she was typing a response,
[Natsuki] Whatever.
"That's close enough!" Budo decreed and the group erupted in obnoxious cheers at their perceived victory. Harry and Natsuki were on speaking terms. The night went on with a cheery air over it all, the teens not falling into Morpheus's hold until just prior to sunrise.
[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