SNAPSHOT FOUR: SCHOOL DAYS

Harvey's primary school education consisted of one-to-one tutoring with his Father. True, his Father was a busy man, running his own school to the top quality, but he always made time for his son. Harvey had his own little desk set up in the Headmaster's office, stationed in the far corner with his eyeline centring on whoever dared to walk through the door. The mornings consisted of the Headmaster, in and around his schedule, teaching Harvey a subject per hour through various methods of: explanation, reading out of textbooks and tests. If Harvey ever became stuck, (Mathematics seemed to be a particular struggle), the expectation was for him to ask for help, as the Headmaster never offered any further support, believing that supporting the child needlessly would delay the flow of his work.

His son was allowed to have a break with the other older children, and due to his younger age, his following of the rules were less… rigid than the other pupils in the school. Whilst circles chanted, Harvey, dressed in his own fitted St Champions uniform, raced around the playground. The Headmaster disapproved of such recklessness to his tightly-run ship, however, a benefit was that his son was participating in a physical activity instead of gorging on extra plates of lunch. Although Harvey had no 'friends' at the school, all the children being far older than him and unbeknownst to his son, hypnotised, Harvey liked all the children and would chat to them. His favourite person was Sarah, and despite her Prefect duties keeping her with little spare time, she ensured to play with Harvey, allowing him to access the computer in the Prefect's room to play games under her supervision.

After lunch, Assembly would take place. When Harvey was still little, the Headmaster would often bring him into the Hall, supplying him with toys and colouring books to keep him quiet, the words to 'close your eyes' falling on young ears. By the time Assembly was wrapping up, Harvey would be closing his own eyes, but tiredness caused his eyes to close. The Headmaster, clicking his fingers in dismissal, would scoop Harvey up and carry him back to the office, placing him lightly on the floor whilst he set up the small mattress to lay his son on. When Harvey grew out of his mid-day nap, the Headmaster debated whether to still include him in the Hall or to isolate him. His plan to test his power on his son was brought forwards by an argument that sparked up between the Headmaster and his six year old son.

It had all started when Harvey had begged to go to the park by himself, the Headmaster too wrapped up within his work to spare a moment. His son had stamped his foot and screamed, uncouth behaviour, causing the Headmaster, raging at the child's disobedience, to yank off his glasses and pierce Harvey with his hypnotic green eyes.

He had crooned… and there had been no reaction.

Which led to a realisation. The child was Immune.

Thus, Harvey's afternoon schedule changed. For the next four and a half years, he spent the hour after lunch participating in a PE session, one of his own choosing. His favourite activity was swimming, and at least five times a week, Harvey would swim several lengths, finishing off with cannonballs and small dives that he sometimes begged his Father to come and watch. The last hour of the school day would be spent either baking, painting, learning to play chess or drawing, all supervised by a teaching assistant employed to help Harvey whenever the Headmaster was in a meeting.

The first day of a brand new school year, the Headmaster allowed Harvey to stay at home with a hired babysitter, not wanting his son to walk in on his meetings with the new pupils. Regardless of how young the child may be, if he were to find out the real reason behind the perfect behaviour at school… The Headmaster had to admit to himself that Harvey wasn't a naughty child, he sometimes misbehaved, but over the years, had picked up the school rules and did obey them. A treat for him at the end of each school day was being able to watch two hours of television, whilst the Headmaster locked himself away in his home study.

The set-up worked, until Harvey finished his primary school education and was soon approaching the age of twelve and a new school year. Keeping Harvey at St Champions was far too risky, he was starting to realise that he was different to the other children, and was lamenting how he had no 'true friends.' Thus, the Headmaster decided to send him to the best boarding school in the country, as he was his son. Harvey was pleased to be going to a school where support was offered and they had a gigantic swimming pool, but he feared leaving the Headmaster. He would miss his Father, this was the man who had cared for him since he was a baby, but once his fears had been aired, he was reassured by the man who promised him that they would see each other outside of term time.

Before leaving for his new boarding school, Harvey had squeezed Sarah tightly, the twenty year old former Prefect turned teaching assistant blushing, fist-bumped the newest set of Prefects, (all reluctant to such a friendly action) and waved the other children good-bye, smiling as rows upon rows of children stiffly waved back at him. The car ride to the school took two hours, and as soon as Harvey entered the main school building, he was in awe. Ornate carvings on the walls, the dormitories full of warm colours and comfy furniture and the people… they were all so friendly and Harvey, alone for all of two seconds once he had hugged his Father goodbye, quickly notched up several friendships with other boys in his year.

He excelled at his school-work, only requiring support for Mathematics, and needing to slow down sometimes during P.E. sessions when his asthma kicked in, but the camaraderie within the community was joyous. Rare instances of bullying and teasing were squashed quickly and Harvey enjoyed each day, chatting to his Father on the telephone a mile a minute every Sunday, recalling the past week's events. His calendar marked down the days until each holiday, awaiting the arrival of his Father to whisk him home where they could be together again.

As Father and Son.

When Christmas holidays arrived, St Champions finished for the term, the Headmaster sporting a heavy coat and leather gloves, drove to pick his son up, unable to stop the genuine smile that crossed his lips when he parked the car by the front steps to the school.

Harvey, bundled up in a winter coat, scarf, hat and gloves, beamed, his red cheeks glowing. His bags, dotted around his feet in the snow, were soon shoved into the backseat of the car and as Harvey clambered into the front passenger seat, shutting the door behind him, he wasted no time in throwing his arms around his Father.

"Dad!" He squeezed him tightly. "I missed you so much! School has been awesome, I made it on the swim team and George said I can go round his on 23rd, can I, please? He doesn't live far from us! We did an experiment the other day, it was wicked! How's St Champions? Is Sarah a fully fledged teacher yet? Can we put the Christmas tree up?!"

Usually, inane chatter pounded the Headmaster's mind, but his son's reaction to him made him feel triumphant. Despite the ability to overpower his hypnosis, this child was still his.