A Run-In with a Clown
mannd
AN: Harry is 9 1/2, and it is the second half of the GW series. Just before Duo gets captured, Quatre goes Zero. I know in the series that Trowa is already in OZ, but not here.
Trowa Barton stood on a branch of a tall tree and watched the thin figure that he was supposed to meet, shiver with the cold. He trusted Quatre and Duo, but he would rather be cautious and alive than foolish and captured. The messy haired boy sat on the bench under a tree, watching the few other people in the park avidly, and resisting looking at his watch. He pulled his knees to his chest, and pulled the large coat over his legs and patiently waited, his chin on top of his knees.
Harry wondered if Trowa forgot, or something happened, he had scolded himself that morning for being excited about meeting Trowa. He wasn't that important, definitely not as important as the war, he swallowed hard as he pulled his arms inside the large but drafty coat and rubbed them, then settled in to wait. He was going to wait until dark if he had to.
Trowa continued to watch the surrounding area; no adults looked like they were even coming in to contact with the kid. In fact, those that saw him, curled their lips and pulled their children away. Another ten minutes went by and Trowa looked back at the boy and watched as a nearly blue hand reached through the large neck opening and wiped at something on his face, then he lowered his forehead to his knees his thin shoulders shaking slightly. Trowa realized the kid was crying and felt a pang of guilt at making him wait so long.
Making up his mind, Trowa waited until there was no one in the area, then casually leaned off the tall branch he was standing on, and fell forward. After preforming a mid air flip, landed cat like on his feet and moved to the bench, sitting down. Harry stiffened then hastily wiped at his cheeks again before raising his head, "Mr. Barton?" Harry asked his voice filled with hope.
Trowa looked at the kid before answering, Quatre was right his eyes were just as green as his were. Harry bit his lip when the boy staring at him didn't answer and began to look away when Trowa finally spoke, "call me Trowa," he said. Harry gave a hesitant smile, "sorry I am late; we have enough time for your appointment."
Harry's smile grew brighter and he hastily pulled his legs out of the coat and stood up not wanting to keep the pilot if he had somewhere else to go. Trowa stood as well and on a whim ruffled the boy's messy black hair. Harry grinned and ducked, causing Trowa to chuckle then motioned for the boy to follow him. Harry quickly fell into step, wondering if Trowa would mind if he asked him a few questions. "Trowa?" the tall teen looked at the boy, "Duo said you worked in a circus..."
"That's right," Trowa said nodding, "I'm a clown."
Harry looked at the teen, unable to see him as the clown that had come to Dudley's sixth birthday party, "so you have make-up on, wear a big wig, and a red nose?" He tried to see it, but couldn't, and if he was truthful to himself those kind of clowns always gave him the creeps.
"No," Trowa clarified, "I wear clown pants," He motioned with his hands the style of the pants, "and a half mask."
"Oh, so what do you do?"
"I let Cathy, one of the other performers, throw knives at me," Trowa smiled as Harry gaped at the calm way that Trowa risked his life, and then he shook his head, "I also help with the animals."
"Really?" Harry's eyes lit up, "what kind?"
"Our circus has lions, elephants and horses," Trowa smiled at the child's enthusiasm, "but I generally deal with the lions, I understand them."
Harry gaped at the teen wondering if he was teasing him, then smiled, deciding he didn't care, understanding lions was cool. The two continued to walk in silence until they came to a small medical building; Trowa opened the door motioning for Harry to go in before him. Harry scampered by grinning back at the teen when he ran into someone who roughly pushed him onto the floor. "Well, well," Harry looked up his eyes growing huge as Dennis Green (one of the members of Dudley's gang) grinned down at the boy, "if it isn't Chicken Harry," Dennis raised his foot up to stomp on Harry's hand, but Harry was hauled to his feet by his collar, and Dennis stomped hard on the tile floor causing him to hiss at the stinging pain that radiated up his foot.
"Dennis!" A woman's flustered voice came from behind the boy and Harry recognized Dennis' mother her hands filled with a squirming toddler.
"I suggest," a soft voice said from behind Harry, and Dennis gulped when he met the cold green eyes staring into his, "you might want to watch who you are calling a coward and forget you ever tried to hurt Mr. Potter or else..." Dennis swallowed hard and nervously nodded his head. "You might want to consider, ma'am, that your son is a bully who apparently has no problem almost breaking someone else's fingers just because he can."
Dennis' mother gaped at Trowa for a moment before rounding on her son, "you and I young man, will have a talk about your bulling tendencies and whether or not you will be permitted to hang round Dudley Dursley if you think it is okay to hurt someone for no other reason than because you ran into them." Dennis opened his mouth to protest, but she grabbed his collar and began to pull him from the office, "don't think I didn't see you purposefully get in his way and push him to the ground. If that young man hadn't help Potter up, you could have seriously hurt him." Her lips thinned, "I will not put up with you becoming a bully like your father." The boy paled at the comparison and meekly let his mother haul him away.
Harry was looking at the floor, his face red from embarrassment and shame, 'Trowa must think I am a complete coward." Harry thought miserably to himself, 'now he'll leave...'
"Harry," Harry looked up and noticed a clipboard in front of him, "can you fill this out for me please?"
Harry stammered an agreement and took the board and pen and following Trowa to the standard hard chairs that seemed to be in all waiting rooms. Harry tried to hide his tears, and keep his sniffling quiet as he filled in the information that he knew. He could really only fill in a few lines, his name, address, street and some of the medical information about himself, he didn't know anything about his parents and only a little bit about his relatives. "I don't know anything else," Harry said mumbling as he handed back the clipboard. Trowa silently took the board from him, handing Harry a handkerchief and calmly filled out the insurance information as well as next of kin information. He put himself and Quatre down as Harry's next of kin, crossing off Harry's Aunt and Uncle, then patting Harry on his knee gave the clipboard back to the flirty receptionist.
Harry was fidgeting with the scrap of cloth when Trowa sat back down, and was surprised when Trowa put a casual arm around the boy and pulled him a bit closer, "don't let that bully get you down, if he does he wins," Trowa said softly in the boy's ear.
"It's hard," Harry said looking up into Trowa's face and Trowa used his other hand to gently move his bangs from his forehead, frowning slightly at the lighting shaped scar there.
Trowa again met Harry's eyes and gave a small smile, "I know, but if you show them you are not afraid, they eventually will back down." He tilted his head, "is he part of the gang that picks on you?" Harry's flush came back but he still nodded, and Trowa frowned, "Is there an adult..." He trailed off as Harry broke eye contact to look down and shake his head and Trowa decided to drop the subject for now.
HPGWHP
Harry was currently holding tightly to Trowa's hand as he was led through the small second hand store close to Surrey Mall. "How about this one, Harry?" Trowa asked handing him a worn but clean shirt. Harry held the shirt up as he squinted at the logo, his glasses were currently at a One-hour eyeglass store, new lenses were being put in and the frames fixed and stabilized.
"I like it," Harry said, recognizing the logo from a popular sports team that the Dursley men had gone to several times, Harry knew that they had several T-shirts from the games. They were careful to pick up clothes that were still too big for Harry and the pants would require a belt, but now only one of him could fit in the clothes rather than two. Trowa smiled as he took the boy through the circular racks and towards the shoes quickly selecting several worn but serviceable pairs and motioning for Harry to remove his own shoes. Trowa's mouth tightened as he helped the child easily slip off the boat-like shoes as well as several pairs of socks and he slipped the shoes on Harry's now one sock clad foot. Harry grinned in delight as he wiggled his toes and walked. He didn't feel like the shoes were about to fall off or that he was about to fall. He bet he could run from Dennis in these shoes and get away! Trowa quickly noted the size and picked up a serviceable pair of winter boots, which he had Harry try on.
Trowa picked up a worn back-pack, a small sewing kit and a winter coat and paid for all the items while Harry brushed a finger over a book that he had only the first half of (Dudley had torn the book in half when he found out that Harry was reading it.) Trowa nodded to the sales girl who winked at him and added it to his purchases. 15 pounds later, and Harry now had a pair of shoes, boots, a book and clothes and a coat that fit him. Trowa quickly packed his purchases in the backpack and the two headed back to the Mall and Harry's improved glasses.
GWHPGW
At the food court, while Harry ate some chicken and chips, he looked around in obvious delight, he could see, not just see, he could read all of the signs with ease! He was so excited but kept quiet not wanting to annoy the quiet teen. "Are your glasses not correct?" Trowa asked the silent child.
"They are perfect," Harry enthused as he mouthed the words on the signs he could see and Trowa gave a small smile, "thank you! and please tell Quatre thank you as well."
Trowa nodded then took Harry's thin winter coat and the 'new' coat he had purchased and swiftly made cuts into the lining of the old coat, and inserted the warmer, smaller new coat. His stitches to sew the lining shut were neat and swift and within fifteen minutes Harry was trying on his old coat, that now fit him. "You are just quiet, and I wanted to make sure they were fine."
Harry flushed slightly, and said in a small voice, "I didn't want to annoy you..." he looked down at his hands and was surprised when gentle fingers raised his chin.
"You are not annoying me," Trowa promised the child, "I like your chatter."
Harry flushed again, but this time with happiness, "did Duo fix Quatre's suit?" he asked as he took another bite of his chicken, watching as Trowa ate his lunch.
"Yes," Trowa said, "Although I wasn't able to get what caused all the damage."
"Duo said it was the new Mobile Dolls," Harry said, "all muscle no brain, or something like that. I remember he was concerned about how to fight them." Harry looked up at the uni-banged teen. "Do you think they are okay?"
Trowa ruffled the boy's hair, causing his cheeks to pink again, "yes, they are fine, I heard from them this morning. Duo said to tell you not to let the Dursley's get you down and that Quatre's all healed, thanks to your help."
HPGWHP
Laughter caught Petunia Dursley's attention from the book that she was reading about Obsessive Compulsive Disorders that had been highly recommended, she recognized that laughter, it was her nephew. It was something she hadn't heard in a long time, but had been hearing a bit for the past few weeks as she saw him sneaking letters into his cupboard that she pretended not to see. She looked around the nearly full food court and quickly spotted the black hair of her nephew. She could see his profile and she was surprised and pleased to see his cheeks flushed with pleasure and happiness. She looked at his table companion and frowned deeply, she had never seen that boy before in her life. What was her nephew doing with a complete stranger? Surely he knew better than to be with unknown people, considering the current political climate and war going on. Besides, Vernon's drill company was keeping a sharp eye out for any suspicious teens, given that four known terrorists from the colonies were in that age range and they were sure there was a fifth pilot. The parts his company supplied not only went to drilling precious materials on and off planet, but Vernon had confided in her recently, they were starting to make parts for the new Mobile Dolls.
She watched the two, but instead of being afraid, Harry seemed to be happy, and the other boy didn't seem to be coercing him. Cool green eyes flicked over to hers, and she hastily looked down then shuddered as she looked at the table, her hands itching to find cleaning products. Her psychiatrist had recommended coming to the food court once a week, eating on the 'filthy' tables. While her mind knew the tables were clean, she always followed the cleaning crew before she sat down, her subconscious told her that there were germs and viruses and... she shuddered again, before quickly picking her book back up.
She had been going to a Psychiatrist for almost seven years, a severe case of Postpartum Depression, then grief over the death of her parents then less than a year later her sister, on top of taking care of their precocious son with no one to contact in that 'world' to help her deal with several bouts of accidental magic had developed into a severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Behavior that resulted in an overly-sterilized home. She knew she needed help when she almost put both three year olds in scalding water to wash them after they had played in the mud.
Vernon was convinced that Harry had affected her mind with his 'Freakishness,' and the only thing that kept Vernon from putting Petunia into the nut house and chucking the boy out had been his insistence that the child's bedroom now be under the stairs and all the money that they received from the government and from Potter's estate be spent on their son. She was not to worry about the boy, only Dudley and the house, he would deal with the brat. A hysterical Petunia agreed, and spent over several years in a heavy haze of medicines and counseling.
Five months ago, her old Psychiatrist retired and Petunia had started seeing a new one, who had complete changed her medicines and she had finally been able to notice anything outside of that single focus. She was horrified to see what she had let happen, but Vernon was still watching her like a hawk, and she knew Dudley would run to his father if she changed too much. The surprised and grateful look in Harry's eyes when she handed him four extra water bottles and crackers when they went on vacation had haunted her the entire trip, she was never more relieved when Dudley fell and broke his leg, cutting their trip short by two days.
"If you cause him any problems," a soft voice said and Petunia looked up into hauntingly familiar green eyes.
Petunia gave a small smile, "as long as you don't hurt him either," she said then looked around for the boy.
"He is in the restroom," the teen said and she relaxed a little, "does he know about your condition?" he asked, his chin indicating the book she was reading, and Petunia drew in a sharp breath that sounded like a sob shocked that he had put the clues together so quickly, and Trowa quickly sat down covering one of her hands with his, "I'll take that as a no," he said softly and she shook her head.
"Only Vernon," she choked out.
Trowa frowned slightly, but than his frown deepened as the link in his pocket sounded and he pulled it out reading the display. His frown melted into a scowl and a sigh than he looked up at Petunia and asked, "will you make sure he gets home, I need to leave."
Petunia nodded and Trowa stood noticing a concerned looking Harry at the table where they had been sitting. Harry looked around and spotting the teen quickly made his way over. He froze when he saw his aunt, a panicky look in his eyes. "Your aunt is going to take you home," Trowa said softly. He knelt in front of the boy, "I will see you sometime in the next few days."
Harry nodded then watched as the tall teen disappeared in the crowd. Harry looked nervously over at his aunt. "did you wash your hands?" she asked and he held up the still damp limbs and Petunia nodded putting a marker in her book and standing up. Harry picked up her tray without being asked and took it away, she noticed a book bag at her feet, picking it up, held it out to him. The two walked out of the mall together, Harry shyly chattering to his slowly changing aunt.
Comments and Criticisms welcomed.
AN2: A huge thanks to Ammie who helped me with a part I was completely stuck on. Her and Bella's betaing skills made this chapter much better.
