Thunder and lightning the next morning had woken Brooklyn who still felt rather weird without his stone sleep, giving a yawn and a stretch after being rather grateful to Harry for letting him stay here. It really had been a while since he slept on something comfortable.
Soon he heard the door to his room get knocked on, tensing slightly and hoping it wasn't any of Harry's relatives before breathing a small sigh seeing his little friend show up with what looked like breakfast. Brooklyn eyed the plate that had some eggs and toast on it that Harry managed to sneak from the breakfast table.
Harry gave a smile when putting the tray on the bed for Brooklyn. "Hey, hope you like some eggs. I personally don't really know what gargoyles actually eat." He said in greeting. Brooklyn gave a shrug. "Well, we're usually omnivores so eggs are fine." The gargoyle replied, taking one of the pieces of toast off of the tray. "What about you? Haven't you eaten?"
The boy wound up nodding but he only ate a small portion since his relatives say he shouldn't eat more than Dudley. But then Brooklyn eyed Harry's clothes which were rather baggy now that he noticed them further, his eyes narrowed. "And what is up with your clothes? Aren't they a little big for you?"
Harry flushed, looking away. "Uh, my aunt makes me wear my cousin's old clothes. She says she doesn't have time to buy me my own." He said, sitting down on the floor while Brooklyn kept eating his food, still stunned at how horribly Harry gets treated. His ears were lowered in a sad way. "I wish I can help." Brooklyn said, anger growing in his heart at Harry's aunt.
His friend shrugs again. "That's nice of you but I really have nowhere else to go. And I don't want them to take you away to a lab. But what about you Brooklyn? You haven't told me about your clan."
Brooklyn nearly choked on his toast, not really wishing to reveal every little detail about his past but eventually was willing to since he and Harry were pretty much friends now. "To... to be honest, my clan at the moment is still in their thousand year stone sleep since... I'm really from the year 994. A man named Xanatos had found us and brought us out of the stone sleep in New York."
He soon found himself talking to Harry who was the most eager listener, his eyes widening from the stories of Brooklyn's beginning at that he was actually his leader's second in command later on. He put a comforting hand on Brooklyn's arm who looked away. "I'm sorry about the rest of your clan Brook. Losing a lot of your family that way."
The beaked male's eyes watered when remembering the mothers he had in his clan, and his fathers, nodding sadly. "I now feel like I'm the only gargoyle left after being sent back in time like this. And who knows if Elisa or Xanatos are still around right now."
Harry then had an idea. "Maybe you can try using the phone to call them while Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia are gone." He suggested then, making Brooklyn's face brighten, then ruffle Harry's hair which made him laugh. "Wow, that would be great. I just hope it works. If you ever meet my clan I know you would like my brothers Lex and Broadway. Broadway gets along with pretty much everybody." Brooklyn said, recalling his brother's gentle demeanor sometimes.
That was when though Brooklyn recalled that horrible time with Demona in his younger years, swallowing thickly. He had chosen to leave that moment out of his story, not wanting to cause Harry to distrust him. Ever since that time it had violated his sense of trust.I will tell him, but not yet. It has to be the right time...Brook thought to himself as Harry smiles picking the tray up. You can tell me everything more about your clan while you stay here. Though eventually my cousin's birthday is in two weeks which is always 'great fun' for me." Harry grumbled, recalling last years.
The red gargoyle figured that Dudley was the biggest spoiled brat in the family hence the broken presents, wondering how many more presents he would get that day, curling up on the bed again. "Is there any way I can glide and warm up my wings without your relatives seeing me? I really can't be grounded like this for too long." Brooklyn asked, his wings already having begun feeling stiff. Harry tapped his chin. "I'm not sure. But maybe whenever my uncle is at work you can at least try gliding from the house to the tree."
Soon Brooklyn agreed to that idea, nodding his head and laid back, one of his biggest plans in this house is to avoid Harry's relatives as much as possible, Harry smiling when leaving and feeling happy he had found his first real friend after so long.
...
Over the next week things for Brooklyn in this weird little house had gotten quite interesting; including seeing Dudley for the first time. Harry wasn't kidding when he mentioned how fat Dudley was with thick and smooth blonde hair on his head. Dudley was perhaps the grossest human next to his parents. Uncle Vernon was like a walrus with a mustache while Aunt Petunia had a horse looking face. Over time too Brooklyn knew that this house was gonna be his new home for a while until he figured out what to do.
One day when it was just him in the house during Harry's school hours Brooklyn had gotten brave enough to go downstairs to once in a while get himself food and even watch tv. He had found a phone on the counter as well and attempted Elisa's phone number. But when the phone rang, it eventually gave him nothing but a dial up ring tone. Maybe Elisa hadn't moved into her apartment yet. A small groan escaped Brooklyn, setting down the phone again, wishing he could see someone familiar. But that was probably going to be taking quite some time.
Harry once had told Brooklyn about how most often Dudley would invite a few of his goon friends from school to use him as either a punching bag or for a game they called Harry Hunting. Hearing that made Brooklyn furious, vowing to take his frustrations of being stuck in this time period out on those bullies. So far he and Harry had gotten quite connected with each other even if it was just a couple weeks. Brooklyn told Harry even more about his adventures (the good ones at least) when telling the boy about Demona as well as the mutates.
It made Harry rather curious about what being part bat and part cat would be like until Brooklyn warned him how insane Sevarius was. Harry gulped. "Wow, I'm kinda glad Sevarius now isn't here in England. I really wouldn't want to be a mutant forever if I couldn't heal myself with stone during the day. You really do need that back." He said to Brooklyn who nods. "We call it the concrete cure. It works great with small wounds." Hearing that name made Harry chuckle but he liked it.
Brooklyn had eventually made plans to prank Dudley and his friends one day, often using his tail to trip them, yanking rugs, or just hiding in the dark with his eyes glowing along with a low hiss coming from his beak. Piers Polkiss was one brat friend who had been the most scared of Brooklyn whom he had called the 'shadow monster'.
After all that Brooklyn snuck back into his room, feeling satisfied while Harry felt rather awkward for him doing this. "Please, you really don't need to do this. I can handle them."
Brooklyn however put a gentle arm on Harry's shoulder like how either a brother or father would, his heart having warmed up to Harry further. "It is in my warrior's blood to protect innocents, Harry. And those brats didn't deserve to treat you like this. Especially not from your own family like Dudley."
Just from hearing those words it made Harry beam, taking Brooklyn's hand as well.
...
Brooklyn on another day had even more alone time to himself where he could finally give himself a much needed shower after everything he'd been through since Harry was staying at his neighbor Mrs. Figg's house. He managed to brush his hair as much as possible before soon going down to try watching some tv for himself. Mostly Brooklyn flickered through the channels until he was startled by the door opening.
"Aw, sh..." Brook gulped in the middle of a swear, turning about in fear at the sight of Uncle Vernon, quickly ducking. Vernon huffed, seeing that the tv was still on. "Little tyke, leaving the telly on."
Vernon went over while Brooklyn snuck on the floor as best he could, hoping he wouldn't be spotted, just barely managing to reach the hallway and stairs right as Vernon turned the tv off, breathing a sigh of relief, knowing he was gonna get lectured by Harry later, getting to the safety of his room.
Harry was angry alright when Brooklyn told him about the close call he had. "You gotta be more careful! My uncle would probably send you to a scientist where they can dissect you!" He snapped.
Brooklyn flushed. "I'm sorry but I do need entertainment once in a while." He said meekly, wrapping his wings around himself. Gliding was alright but he missed watching tv at his home. Harry's face softened then before having something he had to say. "Well, you'll be lucky while we're going to the zoo tomorrow for Dudley's birthday so that means the whole gang will be together."
The gargoyle gave a grin at that, though he was worried he wouldn't be there in case Harry got jumped on by Dudley. Harry noticed. "I'll be fine Brooklyn. It's just for an afternoon since Mrs. Figg can't watch me at the moment."
Soon Brooklyn agreed to it, hoping Harry would be able to survive this trip. At first he had to suffer the morning hearing Dudley screaming about not getting as many presents as last year. He had peeked down the stairs to see what looked like almost 30 presents. How rich was the boy's family to not give Harry any proper clothing and yet waste their money on the other brat?
Soon he heard them leaving, breathing a sigh of relief at the quietness of the house but after a while felt the pang of loneliness for his clan, wishing he can be home with them right now. In his mind he thought of Angela who had chosen his brother Broadway. Some tears threatened to come. Why was it always this type of bad luck to leave him stranded in a strange world and still mateless?
He had some tv to cheer him up until the car came coming back again, making Brooklyn turn the tv off and go upstairs only to hear yelling from Uncle Vernon. Narrowing his eyes he spotted the large human dragging Harry indoors by his scruff and waiting for the Polkisess to leave before shouting; "There's no such thing as magic! Go... cupboard... stay... no meals!" He threatened, making Brooklyn bristle in fury. How he wanted to teach this guy a lesson.
After waiting for it to get dark enough Brooklyn soon snuck downstairs, unlocking the cupboard for Harry who quickly ran into his arms. Brooklyn gently took him to the second bedroom where he had some leftover non refrigerated food he could give. "Hey, easy, you're ok." Brooklyn said, handing Harry a banana which he accepted. Harry looked a little bit petrified but bewildered. "I-I dunno what happened at the zoo. One minute I was staring at a snake's glass cage then the glass vanished..."
Brooklyn blinked from that, wondering how glass could vanish at all but then had a wing around his friend. "We'll figure that out after you rest, Harry. You can stay for the night until I somehow 'convince' your uncle to let you free." He said with a little wink, making Harry wonder what Brooklyn would do, feeling rather nervous but was glad he was here to help him.
...
Looking forward to writing the letter chapter again and Diagon Alley!
At the moment I'm going through a phase where I only want to watch Gargoyles and no other new animated show, lol.
