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Spencer fled the house after an extremely difficult morning with his mother who hadn't recognised him, he'd finally managed to sedate her and she'd sleep for at least seven hours. He needed help to bandage the wound on his back, and his mother had destroyed the first aid supplies he kept at the house so he either needed to go and ask Harry for help and admit to him how sick his mother really was, or go to one of the free clinics and see the doctor. A doctor that would take one look at this burn and want to call in CPS since it was blatantly obvious that he couldn't have injured himself by accident. The choice was easy so long as Harry could help him, he thought Harry might be quite experienced at bandaging up his own wounds and would understand the need to avoid seeking medical assistance.
Harry was asleep when he arrived but willing to help once Spencer woke him up and explained the situation, "I'd do it myself but I just can't reach and burns get infected really easily if they're not cleaned up properly," Spencer said apologetically.
"It's fine. I don't mind helping you and I'm quite good at patching myself up, even if I do say so myself, but what would you have done if I wasn't here?" Harry asked curiously.
"Gone to the medical clinic just off the strip, they'll see street kids and stuff without an ID. It's not the best medical care and I'd have to wait hours and risk being truant or falling asleep at school tomorrow but it's better than having a nosy Doctor or nurse call CPS and tell them that my mother threw hot oil at me," Spencer said. "She didn't throw it at me, you know. She threw the oil at one of her hallucinations and I was just in the way. It wasn't her fault, she didn't mean to hurt me. But I'm glad I didn't have to go to them, this may have been an injury too far even for their keep their nose out of things attitude."
Harry didn't really understand Spencer's mother's illness but he wasn't about to argue with his friend, instead he reached for the first aid kit and then started helping Spencer with the slow progress of getting his shirt off, it had already stuck to his burnt skin. He carefully and thoroughly cleaned the wound, becoming more upset that his friend had been hurt like this with every flinch and gasp of pain Spencer tried unsuccessfully to suppress.
Spencer could feel the air getting heavier and starting to swirl around the room in spite of knowing that the weather was still outside. He wondered what exactly was going on then lost his track of thought as he felt a moment of intense pain across his back. It faded and he was surprised his wound no longer seemed to hurt at all, he thought that maybe it was just relief that the pain of cleaning it out was over.
"Um I don't think you need to bandage it..." Harry began, sounding frightened.
"What do you mean, it will get infected for sure, use the antibiotic cream and bandage it the best you can," Spencer said.
"It's healed," Harry said shakily. He rubbed his hand across where the burn had been and it didn't hurt at all. "It's totally gone. There's not even a scar."
"How?" Spencer asked.
"I didn't mean it, it just sometimes happens when I'm cleaning and dressing wounds, I wasn't trying to hurt you," Harry said still sounding frightened.
"You mean you made it heal itself? Like the other inexplicable things you told me that you sometimes do?" Spencer said, beginning to move and stretch his shoulder, pleased with the results. "Whatever you did, thanks! You've done a good job of it, it feels like it was never hurt at all. Will it stay healed or will it come back?"
"I think it should stay healed, mine never came back until next time," Harry said.
"Next time?" Spencer asked.
"Not until Vernon hit me in the same spot. Sometimes if it was within a day or two the bones seemed to break easier than they normally did but after a week they were back to normal," Harry admitted.
Spencer looked at his younger friend in horror before wrapping his arms around the boy and hugging gently.
"Thanks for healing me Harry, that's wonderful, but I wish you hadn't had to learn to heal yourself like that," Spencer said smiling sadly.
"You're not going to send me away?" Harry asked.
"Why should I? You didn't hurt me. In fact, you saved me from weeks of pain and the risk of infection and needing a doctor and worrying about the risk of CPS. I just wish you could teach me to do it myself for next time."
"I would if I could! I can't always heal myself and I have no idea how I do it or why it works sometimes and not others. It happens without my control when I'm upset or desperate, but not always even then. I'm just glad whatever it is healed you instead of hurting you," Harry said, still shaken.
"Harry, I know your relatives are scared of this thing you do, and they've made you afraid of it as well. But has it ever hurt anyone?" Spencer asked softly.
"It's pushed Vernon and Dudley back away from me a couple of times, and they fell backwards. They weren't that badly hurt but they did both hit their heads and were dazed for a bit," Harry replied.
"Why would you want them pushed back? Were they hurting you at the time?" Spencer asked, intuitively knowing they were.
"Vernon was trying to choke me and Dudley was trying to hold me down so his friends Piers and Gordon could hit me with their cricket bats," Harry said.
"So on both occasions it sounds like you may have saved your life pushing them away like that. And they weren't hurt anywhere near as much as you would've been if they weren't pushed away, were they?" Spencer asked.
"No," Harry said slowly. "They had a few bumps and bruises but nothing serious."
"So then it's safe to say that whatever is happening this isn't violent or trying to hurt people. The only time it's hurt anyone was when it was protecting you from serious harm. Both Dudley's friend and your uncle could have easily killed you if you didn't stop them, and the wounds you healed could have been quite serious if the Dursleys refused to take you to a doctor," Spencer said. "But I don't want to harm you so there's no reason for me to be afraid you'll hurt me."
Spencer saw that Harry still looked worried that he'd lose his friendship and decided actions might be better than words in this case. He moved to lie on the mattress. "Come on, let's get some sleep," he said moving close to the wall and holding the blankets open invitingly.
"What, you want to share?" Harry asked in astonishment.
"Yeah I sleep in with Mom all the time when one of us is feeling sad or scared, haven't you ever snuggled in with someone? Not even after a nightmare?" Spencer asked.
"No. They never touch me other than to hurt me, I don't even remember being tucked in for the night until you did it the other day," Harry replied.
"Well I'm sure you'll like sharing a bed even if it is a little small and cramped. We're both thin enough to fit, and you can trust me not to hurt you deliberately," Spencer said encouragingly.
Harry hesitantly climbed in and lay on his back. Spencer lay beside him almost but not quite touching.
"Thank you for healing me," Spencer said. "I need to be home in time to clean up the oil on the floor before Mum wakes up in the morning so if I'm gone when you wake up that's all it is. I'm not leaving you. I'm not rejecting our friendship and I'll see you later."
"Will your mum remember hurting you? Will it frighten her or make her delusions worse that you've healed overnight?" Harry asked anxiously.
Spencer sighed, "No it'll be fine. She won't remember hurting me because in her mind I wasn't me when she threw the oil. She would've been really upset tomorrow or next time she's well enough to notice that I got hurt but she doesn't remember or think that she might have done it," he tried to explain.
"You would've tried to hide the fact that you were hurt from your mum? It's happened before?" Harry asked.
"Yes, but she would still have noticed this time, if she had a good day. I could barely move my arms," Spencer replied.
-o0o-
Harry had thought it would be hard to fall asleep with Spencer beside him even if he did trust the older boy not to hurt him or take advantage of him letting down his guard but the aftereffects of the adrenalin spike when he realised he'd used his freaky whatever it was to heal Spencer, and the energy the healing took soon had him sound asleep. Spencer stayed awake a little longer trying to make sense of what had happened. They way Harry healed him went against everything he knew about physiology and wounds, just as Harry's previous anecdotes went against the laws of physics, but he couldn't deny that it had happened and that it had to have been Harry that did it somehow since he said it happened to him before. He fell asleep still trying to puzzle it out and woke at first light spooned up behind Harry with his arms wrapped around the smaller boy. It shouldn't've been exactly comfortable, both of them were too thin and bony and Harry's spine and scapulas pressed hard into Spencer's ribs but neither of them really noticed.
"I've got to go," Spencer said reluctantly getting up and pulling on his shoes, early next morning. Mom's meds will be wearing off and she'll wake up soon. I need to clean up before she wakes up and be there to make her take her morning medication before she's awake enough to object so she doesn't have another bad day."
"Good luck, I hope she's better today," Harry said tiredly. "I'd offer to come with you and help clean up but I guess that would make your mum worse if she sees me."
"Yes I'm afraid that it would. Are you okay?" Spencer asked, the morning light enabling him to see exactly how drawn and exhausted Harry looked.
"Yeah I'm fine, I'm always tired for a while after the freaky stuff happens, particularly when it's healing, I'll be good as new with a bit more sleep," Harry replied tiredly, lying back down.
Spencer gave him a worried look but decided that Harry must know what he's talking about and left to go and clean up the house before his mother woke up and reacted badly to the mess if she didn't remember what had happened, resolving to check on his friend as soon as he could.
Harry was still sleeping when he arrived back after school that afternoon but he looked better so Spencer woke him up. "Harry are you okay, did you have any lunch? Do you want to go and try to get in to the buffet for an early dinner?"
"Yeah just give me a minute to tidy up a bit but I don't have any clean clothes," Harry replied. "They're not going to let me in like this." He gestured to his ratty outfit showing signs of being worn at least one time too many since its last washing.
"I brought you some extra water, soap and a towel and some of my clothes I've grown out of," Spencer said. "I'm sorry I should have thought about it earlier. I'll take your stuff home and run it through the washer with my stuff."
Harry stripped off unselfconsciously and washed himself thoroughly, shivering slightly with the cold water though the room was warm. He pulled on Spencer's old shorts and button up shirt and brushed his hair as well as he could. "How'd I look?" he asked. His hair was still greasy and he was still pale and way too thin to look healthy, Spencer's old clothes were still a little big but nowhere near as bad as Dudley's cast offs had been.
"Good and respectable," Spencer said smiling. "Let's go."
"They look like a good couple to follow in. They'll be paying for a family anyway so it wouldn't cost them any more to be charged for us as well," Spencer said gesturing as they waited outside the hotel trying hard not to appear as if they were loitering. They approached a family and tried to follow them close enough to look like they were with them without the family noticing. They were successful but one of the waitresses grinned at Spencer as she handed the two boys their plates.
"Enjoy your meal, boys."
"Thanks Ma'am," Spencer said politely and Harry copied him trying to use the same accent.
"She's seen me here often enough to know that I'm not really with them," Spencer whispered to Harry.
Spencer and Harry followed their chosen family straight to the buffet and loaded their plates before looking around for somewhere inconspicuous to sit. Suddenly Harry paled. "The Dursleys are here," he said.
"Where?" Spencer asked. "Let's sit away from them and don't worry too much they probably won't notice you in my clothes."
"There right next to the buffet," Harry said groaning.
"Okay then, we will sit over on the kids table and I'll get your meal. Is there anything you don't like to eat?"
"Not really but there's a lot of things on the buffet that I've never tried," Harry replied.
"Which one's are the Dursleys?" Spencer asked.
"The blonde kid in the red t-shirt with the fat man with the moustache and the skinny woman in the blue dress," Harry described.
Spencer looked and grimaced, he understood now why Harry had felt so safe in their hideout and why his clothes fit so very poorly. The larger boy would never fit into the pipe entrance let alone be able to crawl through it, and Spencer was actually surprised that they made children's clothing that large, he wondered whether they'd had to have them custom made to fit, not that they fit him very well.
"He's huge, practically as big as the guys on the football team at school though not nearly as tall," Spencer said.
"But nowhere near as fit, it looks like he's put on weight since arriving here. That shirt fit last week, I'm glad we're not home or I'd be blamed for shrinking it in the wash," Harry said.
"You don't think it shrunk?" Spencer asked.
"No if they've been eating at the buffets everyday he's probably nearly literally eaten his weight in deserts this week," Harry said. "We're going to get home and I'll get the blame when none of his school clothes are going to fit."
"I thought when I first saw him with what you'd told me about his eating habits that he could have Prader Willi syndrome but there's no way that a parent would let a child with that have as many helpings as they wanted, they'd never stop," Spencer said.
"I've never heard of it," Harry said.
"It's a genetic defect that causes extreme obesity in children and adults, they just do not experience the feeling of being full that normal people get. They will literally eat themselves to death if they are not stopped by someone in time. He has some of the other characteristics according to you as well though Prader Willi children are normally short for their age," Spencer replied.
"What other characteristics?" Harry asked.
"Low IQ, blond, fair skin, delayed development, and excessive appetite, which can lead to obesity if not carefully managed, and temper tantrums" Spencer replied.
"I don't know that he's intellectually disabled, he's just stupid and doesn't want to work to learn," Harry said.
"And he isn't short sighted or short in stature, nor have you told me about him having any obsessive-compulsive behaviours. I don't think he has it but it would've explained why his parents hadn't managed to prevent him from overeating to the point he does," Spencer said.
"Managed! They don't even try. I've never heard either of them suggest that he couldn't possibly still be hungry or that he had to wait for dinner to be ready rather than having a dinner sized snack immediately before dinner," Harry snorted. "I'll bet good money that even after six helpings of dessert when they pass the candy shop, he'll whine for candy and they will go in and buy him what would be a month's supply for anyone else, and buy him more tomorrow after he's eaten it all."
Spencer chuckled disbelievingly. "You know they're not doing him any favours spoiling him like that, in fact they're abusing him as badly as they abuse you just in a different way. Being that overweight would make it difficult for him to enjoy a lot of different activities and experiences and it must affect his self-esteem."
"I suppose you're right, I hadn't thought about it," Harry admitted.
Spencer steered clear of the larger boy which wasn't difficult as Dudley was pushing and shoving his way to the desert table yet again as Spencer filled his and Harry's plates with roast beef and pork and a healthy selection of vegetables, more than he would normally have chosen. Harry had chosen a lot of vegetables last time they came, he'd said they sat more easily in his stomach. Spencer wondered whether that was a result of not getting enough to eat on a regular basis or a psychosomatic reaction to Dudley's choice in foods.
"They're on the desert course they won't be here much longer," he said to Harry as he handed over his dinner.
"Don't bet on it, Dudley can easily eat a dozen helpings of desserts and Vernon isn't far behind him. I doubt they will leave here until the buffet closes unless he they run out of desserts or they have something else planned," Harry said cynically. "Besides Dudley's so spoiled that I bet he was allowed to start with dessert."
"There's nothing wrong with starting with dessert. I sometimes do it myself," Spencer replied.
"Then why didn't you do it today?" Harry asked curiously.
"Apart from not wanting to get near your cousin while he was pushing and shoving his way to the desserts, I thought you looked like you needed a proper meal first," Spencer replied, adding quietly.
"I was worried how exhausted you were after healing me and I noticed that you haven't really gone for sweet stuff when we're scavenging."
"I'm fine," Harry replied automatically, but Spencer noticed that he quickly finished the large meal he'd dished him up and was looking back towards the buffet and the Dursleys as if considering whether it would be worth risking running into them to get more food.
"I'll get you some more. There's also spaghetti bolognaise, carbonara, fish and chips, pizza and some prawns if you'd like some," Spencer offered.
"No, eat your meal while it's warm," Harry protested. "Having a break before eating more will do me good. I don't want to risk making myself sick."
Spencer obliged and took his time finishing his meal as Harry looked around the area. "So this is set up for kids who don't want to eat with their parents?" he asked amazed.
"I think it's designed more to cater to the parents who don't want to put up with their children whining about being bored while they enjoy a few drinks with their meal. They don't make a lot of money on the food but the drinks are pretty pricey," Spencer said. "There's toys and stuff in those bins over there if you want to look. They're mostly for younger kids though"
"No thanks I don't want to be caught off guard if Dudley comes over, we don't know that what you saw him getting wasn't already his fourth or fifth dessert helping," Harry replied.
"Well at least we don't have to worry about being the reason the buffet doesn't make a profit today," Spencer joked.
"Are they more likely to kick us out because of them though?" Harry asked worriedly, not wanting to be the reason his friend was embarrassed like that.
"No it will make too much fuss now we're here, especially when we are behaving ourselves," Spencer replied. "What do you want to eat, more roast, some of the other mains or are you ready for dessert?"
"Some of the other mains, but nothing fried or too creamy," Harry said. "I'm still really hungry and desserts aren't really filling." Harry was very rarely allowed anything rich or sweet and was afraid it would make him feel ill if he ate too much fatty food or sugar on top of the biggest meal he'd ever eaten.
"So at least one of the laws of physics seems to hold true, whatever you do requires a lot of energy to make it happen," Spencer said speculatively.
"I'm always exhausted and super hungry after doing whatever it is, but I haven't learned any physics yet, so I don't know if that's what you meant," Harry replied.
"I was talking about the conservation of matter and energy, where nothing is ever really lost or gained. Healing requires a lot of energy to do, however it works and then you sleep and need to eat more to replace the energy you've used," Spencer explained. "In simple terms, you used all the energy you got from the food you'd eaten yesterday to heal me which is why you need to eat enough today to make up for using all the food yesterday to heal me instead of to do the normal things your body does with the energy you eat."
Spencer brought back two more plates of the healthier offerings from the buffet and Harry ate another full helping of main meals, trying a lot of foods he'd never tried before and deciding that he liked barbeque ribs, prawns, and spaghetti but that American pizza didn't seem as nice as the scraps he'd gotten one-day Dudley had had his friends over for a pizza dinner, maybe it was because by then he wasn't as hungry as he'd been that night when everything would have tasted amazing.
Petunia was watching her son calmly, seeming not at all embarrassed by the scene her family were making as Vernon complained loudly and Dudley was throwing a tantrum about his favourite dessert tray being empty (because he had already eaten the entire dozen servings) as Harry and Spencer left and Harry breathed a sigh of relief when they escaped without the Dursleys coming over and making a scene about him being there.
The staff were trying to placate Vernon who had come over to add his complaints as the kitchen staff rushed out with another tray of the pudding.
"I'm sorry you didn't get any sweets," Harry said apologetically. "I know you love them."
"Don't worry about it Harry. It was my decision not to go near your cousin and the dessert table. I could've if I'd wanted to," Spencer reassured him. "Seeing the way he eats actually turned me off the idea of eating sweets today."
"Seeing him eat turns most civilised people off eating anything at all," Harry retorted. "Don't let him spoil something you enjoy. You're never going to be like him. If you want to be different don't change your diet, work on your table manners." He backtracked hurriedly. "That wasn't a criticism, your manners are pretty good, especially when compared to Dudley's."
Spencer grinned. "No offence taken Harry, I know my manners are pretty ordinary. Dad used to correct me when he was home but Mom rarely notices what we're eating let alone my table manners and having more than one knife or fork each is just providing her unnecessary weapons. Still maybe we should get a book on it since nobody else is going to teach us."
Harry laughed then sobered. He thought that Spencer's habit of looking things up in books when he realised other kids seemed to know things he didn't, was what hid the fact he was pretty much totally bringing himself up from his teachers.
"Maybe that's why your aunt is so skinny, because Dudley's eating ruins even her appetite," Spencer said.
"She doesn't think she's skinny, she's always on a diet, but that could be why she lets him eat like a pig at a trough, if it helps her diet," Harry said thoughtfully. "It doesn't make a lot of sense otherwise she puts a lot of emphasis on how good her manners are compared to the neighbours, and praising Dudley's good manners in social settings that don't involve eating when they have guests. I don't know why she doesn't care about his table manners too."
"I think she's just spoiled him to the point she's incapable of correcting his behaviour about anything," Spencer replied. "She's got to at least have tried to teach him manners because you had to have learned your good manners somewhere."
"Yeah she did, she's been teaching Dudley how to greet important guests and insisting he practices acting like a gentleman and stuff, but she didn't know that I was listening and she pretty much gave up about a year ago. Dudley can pretend to have perfect manners and sip his tea like a gentleman until she brings out the food. She doesn't even see it as much of a problem though, she never tells him off for bad manners, just praises his healthy appetite and says he's a fine growing boy," Harry said.
"She doesn't think that letting her son hit you, or tell lies to get you in trouble as a problem either does she?" Spencer asked. "She has to know that encouraging him to hurt you was encouraging him to be a bully not just to you but to other kids too, and encouraging dishonesty. He was far too young to understand that you were to be the only exception to treating everybody else properly. Surely, she is aware that if he continues that way, he's going to end up escalating to breaking the law."
"She doesn't see that because I don't count. I'm not a normal person to her, I'm a freak and how they treat me is appropriate for a freak," Harry said resignedly.
"You're not a freak, no matter what that unique gift of yours is you are still a normal boy, but it suits her purposes to think of you like that to excuse her treatment of you. In her own mind at least. Like Hitler got away with the atrocities against the Jews by dehumanising them in the public eye first, " Spencer replied nodding his understanding.
Harry resolved to read up on Hitler and the Jews to better understand what Spencer was talking about. He didn't want to admit ignorance again but he was building up quite a list of things to look up in the library when he got home.
"Or maybe she actually knows what makes you able to do the unexplainable things you've told me about," Spencer suggested. "It might be a specific family gift and she's jealous that you got it and she and Dudley didn't. That could explain why she's so horrible about your mother too, if she had the gifts you do."
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed, favourited or followed this story for your support.