Chapter 8
Sirius smirks,"of course he stole that!" Professor Armstrong and Mike look at each other, very confused. "Someone who broke into the Black ancestral home," Zak says, staring at the p bass as if the guitar offended him by simply existing. "Mikey was being seeing it, and immediately thinking about you, master zaky!" Mikey says. "Sirius, are you referring to the locket stealing idiotic excuse for a human being?" Regulus asks. Sirius snorts and nods. Zak wheezes," We love this one! Thanks, Mikey!" "Zak, what happened to your other one?" Mike asks of Zak. Zak blushes," the neck broke because I played it too much..." Professor Armstrong blinks in surprise. "It's true!" Nico says. Zak looks from Professor Armstrong to Mike to Britney. "Honey?" Britney asks. "Ummmmm. I think it's an autism thing. Playing the same bass line over and over again is calming for the whole system" Zak says. Mikey asks,"is you feeling safe when you playing yous bassy guitar?" Zak nods,"even if I'm not playing any specific song, it still helps." Regulus looks at Zak,"hang on. Is autism the reason you don't eat in the great hall sometimes?" Zak sighs, "yes, or one of my protectors is co conscious, and I don't want my magic lashing out. I go sit in Professor Armstrong's office when that happens, because he knows how to handle both of them if something bad happens." Zak frowns, with a slight grimace on his face. "Bud, are you ok?" Mike asks, patting the seat next to him. Zak shakes his head and walks over to sit next to Mike, looking upset. Mike puts an arm around Zak,"wanna talk about it?" Britney walks over and sits on the other side of Zak. "Well shit. That's a difficult memory to be thinking of... this is bull shit" Zak mutters. "Bud?" Mike asks, looking concerned. Professor Armstrong realizes what's going on, and crosses the room,"Mikey can you get the calming draught from Zak's drawer in my office? Mr. Black, I'm not sure who's trying to front right now, but I am absolutely one hundred percent positive that no one here is trying to hurt Zak. What memory are you talking about?" Sirius blinks, watching the interaction carefully, trying to learn. Zak leans into Mike and begins sobbing hysterically. "I don't think Zak was trying to switch" Mike says, rubbing Zak's back in small circles. Zak is too deep in this memory to respond. "Nico, do you know what's going on?" Regulus says, looking at Nico. "Help! Zak!" Zak says. "Zak, can I help you?" Mike asks. "Anyone but me" Zak says. Mike nods,"go calm down. Breathe, it's ok." Zak wonders off to find something to do with MK. Nico shakes his head in denial, "no sir." Mik blinks a few times, looks at Mike and says,"he wasn't but I convinced him to find MK and go do something. He's convinced the spirit of Penny has been following us for a while now."