Nevermore Academy
“Okay so we didn’t have a Christmas tree but then Pugsley said he wanted one and I just said I’d never had one before and then Gomez took us to the forest to cut down a tree! Can you believe it? We cut down a real tree and took it back to the house and then Morticia found a bunch of decorations for it! We put a skeleton head on the top, isn’t that amazing? And then on Christmas—”
“Breathe, Harry,” Wednesday murmured from behind her book. “You’re rambling.”
“Sorry.” Harry took a deep breathe and ducked his head, only for a moment, to hide his blush.
“I don’t mind,” Xavier said. He was sitting on the bench beside Harry, grinning placatingly at him. “It sounds like more of an interesting Christmas break than I had.”
“Ditto,” Tyler drawled. He had his head in Harry’s lap and his eyes closed while the sun shone on him and Harry carded his fingers through Tyler’s curls. He looked peaceful, but Harry knew he’d had a rough go of it with his dad since transferring schools.
“Did you go home at all?” Harry asked Tyler tentatively.
“Nope,” Tyler scoffed without opening his eyes. “I stayed here and celebrated Christmas with Principal Weems, Ares, and a couple of dumbasses that didn’t even talk to me.”
Xavier frowned just as Harry did to hear that. Harry knew kids were scared of Tyler, with the whole Hyde thing, but Harry thought maybe it would get better with time. Of course, Tyler hadn’t been there long, so Harry still had to hope he’d eventually feel more like one of them.
Tyler already started with more friends than Harry did though, and he didn’t complain too often, so Harry just needed to be patient. Eventually people would see Tyler as the witty and kind person that Harry knew.
“Sounds peaceful,” Wednesday said blandly in response to Tyler. “Harry and Pugsley were determined to make our home as loud and chaotic as possible.”
Our home.
Harry was beaming.
He’d never had a home before.
And he certainly didn’t try to make the Addams home loud or chaotic, but Pugsley had been excited to show Harry every inch of the grand house and Harry had been just as excited to show him his magic. Pugsley said they were brothers, and Harry figured they had years of brotherly things to catch up on.
“It was actually kind of gross because Ares and Weems are fucking, I think,” Tyler laughed.
“Ew!” Harry and Xavier both screamed with laughter at that idea.
Before anyone could argue over if Sirius was sleeping with their principal though, a boy came striding up to them looking straight at Harry. He was probably one of the new magical students, Harry thought he would have remembered seeing someone with his pale and pointed features and slicked back blonde hair.
“Hi,” Harry said when the boy came to a halt beside their table. “Are you new?”
“I am,” the boy said in a posh drawl. “My name is Draco Malfoy and you and I are roommates. You’re meant to show me to scheduling and to our room.”
“Great!” Harry was so happy - all of his life had clicked in place recently and he thought nothing could bring him down. “I’m Harry, this is Tyler, Xavier, and Wednesday.”
Tyler and Xavier raised their hands when Harry introduced them while Wednesday made no outward indication she could even hear them.
Draco curled his upper lip up in the corner and nodded his head. “Charmed, I’m sure.”
“You are,” Tyler said snarkily from Harry’s lap. “I’m sure.”
“Quit,” Harry admonished him gently. “Hop up, I need to go show Dracko our room.”
“Draco,” Draco corrected Harry while Tyler slowly lifted his head from Harry’s lap so Harry could get up.
“Sorry,” Harry said pleasantly, determined to get along better with Draco than he did Ajax. “Are you from Surrey? We’ve got similar accent, except Morticia says mine’s become more American. She says it’s charming, but I think she’s just saying that because she likes me. Oh, Morticia is Wednesday’s mum, but—”
Draco made a noise in the back of his throat while Harry guided him from the quad toward the recently repaired dormitory building.
“You talk a lot,” Draco said, giving Harry an unimpressed look from the corner of his eyes and causing Harry to deflate quickly.
Harry knew he talked too much recently, but he’d died twice and Dr. Kinbott said Harry was a success case and Harry was just so happy.
Plus, Gomez told Harry he was too quiet and that he should share his thoughts, and that was all that Harry had been doing.
“Sorry,” Harry murmured. “Er… where are you from?”
“Derbyshire,” Draco said stiffly. “And you?”
“Surrey, then Westshire, then Feltham,” Harry said, listing off the places he lived previously. He had went from the Dursleys to St. Brutus’, then ultimately the detention center in Feltham before being shipped to Nevermore.
“Now I live here during the year and New Jersey in the summers with my family,” Harry explained, focusing on the perfect present instead of the past. “It’s a long drive, like eight hours, but Lurch drives fast so it only feels like maybe five hours. Oh, Lurch is—”
“Merlin, Potter, shut up,” Draco groaned.
Harry bit his lower lip and nodded, feeling incredibly stupid. He reached up out of habit and smoothed his dark hair down, admiring the blue streak that was still vivid even months after adding it.
Xavier said Harry should change it to purple, but Harry was rather attached to the blue.
Harry stayed quiet while he took Draco to get his schedule and he didn’t say anything at all until he got him to their dorm in Apollo Hall.
“This is our room,” Harry told Draco, waving his hand around. “All the rooms in Apollo are painted red because it’s our dorm color. Ophelia, one of the girls’ dorms, is black. Nyx Hall is purple and Ares Hall, the other boys dorm, is green.”
Draco looked around their spacey room and didn’t look very impressed by his bare half of the room. There was a wooden trunk at the foot of Draco’s bed and a stack of folded sheets on his mattress.
“I’d prefer to be in Ares Hall,” Draco said with a sneer. He looked back at Harry’s side and Harry saw when his eyes snagged on the photo on Harry’s nightstand.
“Those are my parents,” Harry said proudly. He walked over to grab the photo to show Draco. “They’re dead now, but they were a witch and wizard,” he explained. He grinned down at the photo of his dad and mum that laughed and blew kisses on a magical loop. They were just as lovely and just as happy in their photo as they’d been in the afterlife when Harry met them.
It still ached to think of losing his opportunity to be with them, but Morticia reminded Harry over break that they’d be happier if he joined them when he had more stories to share.
“You must think I have sludge for brains if you thought I needed you to inform me that those are your parents,” Draco scowled.
Harry frowned at Draco before smiling down at his parents and carefully putting them back on his nightstand. Just because Harry looked like them, he wouldn’t have assumed they were his parents.
It was good manners to explain things. Nobody did for Harry when he was new to Nevermore, but Harry was trying to help Draco not feel as lonely as Harry used to.
“Do you want help making your bed?” Harry politely offered. “I have work at five, but I’ve got time to help you get unpacked.”
“I’m not a muggle in need of your assistance,” Draco snapped, causing Harry to rear back. “I can make my own bed.”
“Fine,” Harry said, rather hurt by Draco’s cold indifference to Harry’s offer. “I’ll just be going then… I work until eight, so I’ll see you tonight.”
Draco didn’t say anything else so Harry changed from his school uniform to the red polo he wore for work and slipped quietly out the door.
So much for making a good first impression.
*****
“Are you coming by the Weathervane after your session?” Harry asked Wednesday while she accompanied him on his walk to Jericho.
They could have taken a cab, but the cold had never bothered Wednesday and Harry was bundled up appropriately and they both preferred walking.
Harry was in his ridiculous barista uniform beneath his thick coat and Wednesday wore her Nevermore uniform, the custom one in all black and dark grey to suit her disposition.
It was a familiar sight and a familiar path they took.
“Don’t I always?” Wednesday said, turning the question back on her cousin.
“Not if I’m not working,” Harry said with a grin that made Wednesday roll her eyes. Harry was as bad as Enid recently with his smiles and cheer and nonstop gushing.
It was a shade more acceptable than the meek boy Wednesday met back in September. Apparently all Harry needed to emerge from his shell were two deaths and two idiots to constantly shadow him.
“Why would I expose myself to that overpriced and stifling cafe if you aren’t there to give me free espressos?” Wednesday said factually. “Seeing you break the rules is the only balm that my soul accepts after dealing with Kinbott.”
Harry looked around them quickly, as if concerned that anyone would overhear Wednesday mention Harry giving away free products from his place of employment.
“It’s not breaking the rules, not really,” Harry insisted quietly. “Ty used to give me free stuff all the time.”
“Because Tyler was attempting to seduce you through coffee and cookies,” Wednesday said drily.
Harry grinned again and hooked his arm in Wednesdays. “Well it worked, didn’t it? Better to be seduced by caffeine than snoods.”
“Mention the snood once more and I will kill you,” Wednesday said with a glower that made grown men cower.
It didn’t make Harry cower, he had became entirely too confident since his most recent death.
“Again?” Harry laughed. “I was hoping we’d get through this semester without killing anyone.”
“Pity,” Wednesday sighed. “I need to outshine you quickly before I become the passive cousin.”
Harry laughed brightly and Wednesday certainly didn’t smile, she simply stopped frowning for a moment.
While Wednesday told Harry that she only went to the Weathervane after having her weekly therapy session to get free espresso, it had been a partial lie.
Watching Harry during a rush also provided quite a bit of amusement to her.
Wednesday sat at a booth near the door, the perfect place to watch her cousin as he became overwhelmed by the after work crowd.
Harry stammered his way through greetings and he became visibly flustered when customers were snappy. With one or two orders waiting at a time, Harry was perfectly adept at filling them. Once there were more than three though, Harry began getting sloppy.
Wednesday tried to tell him that he would despise working at a coffee shop, but he wanted to work with his Hyde so badly and now he was reaping what he sowed.
“You could wipe the amusement off your face,” Harry muttered when he brought Wednesday her espresso that would doubtlessly be incorrect.
“This is my only form of entertainment,” Wednesday told him. She took a sip of the scalding drink and smirked at Harry. “You’re terrible at your job.”
“Go read a book,” Harry said snappily.
“Other authors bore me.”
“Work on your book then.”
“I finished it.”
Harry looked surprised. “Did you?”
Wednesday nodded while she took another sip of the drink. “I did. It was simple to transcribe the ending once I killed the protagonist.”
“Killing your characters off doesn’t count towards your total murders,” Harry grinned, mocking her.
Wednesday sniffed haughtily. “I killed you, that’s quite the accomplishment.”
Harry laughed as he began walking toward the counter where others waited their beverages.
“You didn’t do very good,” he called to her. “I’m still walking around, aren’t I?”
“By my own grace, I assure you,” Wednesday said petulantly.
Damn Harry and his long list of murders.
How was Wednesday ever meant to measure up to her cousin if the only person she successfully killed came back to life an hour later?
*****
“Jesus, Tyler, again?”
Tyler kept his face tilted up and his nose pinched, which unfortunately made him sound like an idiot when he responded.
“I think they’re warming up to me,” he said, his sarcasm lost to the stuffed up voice he had.
Xavier had climbed off his bed the moment Tyler walked in the door with blood dripping down his chin and covering his shirt, and he wasted no time before getting a warm rag for Tyler.
“Who was it?” Xavier asked while he gently wiped the blood off Tyler’s face while Tyler tried to stop the bleeding.
“I’m bad with names,” Tyler lied gruffly. “Some kid in a stupid uniform.”
“That clears it up perfectly, thanks,” Xavier said, rolling his eyes. He finished cleaning Tyler off and gave him the rag to clean his own sore nose with.
“Are you going to tell Weems?”
“Oh yeah,” Tyler scoffed. “‘Excuse me, ma’am, I know you didn’t really want to let me in your school since I killed all those people, but now I’m being bullied. Can you help me?’”
Xavier didn’t laugh, he just sat on the edge of Tyler’s bed with a solemn look and pity Tyler didn’t want or need in his eyes.
“It’s not like you’re the only one here with a shady past,” Xavier said, causing Tyler to scoff at the polite term for being a monster. “Harry’s actually been convicted of murder and Weems loves him.”
“That’s Harry,” Tyler said, waving him off. “Everyone loves Harry.”
Xavier got up and carefully kissed Tyler on the cheek, a small sweetness for a shitty day.
“They’ll get to know you and it’ll get better,” he said encouragingly. “But if you don’t want Harry to know what happened, you better change before dinner.”
Tyler sighed and nodded before he began peeling off his shirt, taking his time to not bump his nose and to bother Xavier a bit.
It was an unspoken agreement between them that they didn’t tell Harry every time someone decided having a Hyde in Nevermore was a personal problem. Harry saw it the first time it happened, when some stoner took a cheap shot and shoved Tyler in the wall, and Harry went nuclear.
Sure, it had been hot as hell to see Harry so furious on Tyler’s behalf that he shot some blue spell at the kid that had him crying from pain, but Tyler wasn’t going to let his problems get Harry in trouble.
He’d done that enough, thanks.
Luckily, kids seemed as terrified of Harry as they hated Tyler, so nobody did much when Harry was around. And they were all damn lucky that Tyler knew he started Nevermore on thin ice or he’d show them that he didn’t need to Hyde out to kick their privileged asses.
It was worth dealing with dicks who hated him though when Tyler could sit down for meals with Harry and Xavier.
And Wednesday Addams and Enid Sinclair, both of whom Tyler mostly tried to ignore.
“How was work?” Xavier asked Harry when they all met up in the cafeteria.
Judging by the smirk on Wednesday’s face and the frown on Harry’s, probably not great.
The store manager, Wayne, kept muttering about firing Harry, he really sucked as a barista when he was on shift by himself, but Tyler thought Harry would get better with time.
“Fine,” Harry said lightly. “A bit busy and Wendy called off, but I think I handled it okay.”
“And by that he means that he spilled a cup of decaf in the middle of the floor and someone slipped before he could mop it up,” Wednesday drawled.
Harry shot a glare at her, one Tyler was internally copying, but then sat up straight and plastered a smile on his face.
“Draco!” Harry waved toward one of the new kids, some pasty white kid with blonde hair and a cocky strut to his walk. “Do you want to sit with us?”
Draco hesitated a couple of tables away then curled his lip up at Harry. “No, thank you,” he said coolly. “I’ll sit elsewhere.”
Tyler watched the kid randomly sit down at the end of a table where the sirens usually sat and snorted.
“Not going so good with the new roomie?” Enid asked Harry after they all saw the way ‘Draco’ shut Harry down.
“I don’t know what I did,” Harry said, a pucker between his brows. “I tried being friendly and he just seems to not like me.”
“You have an overwhelming personality, it takes time to get accustomed to,” Wednesday said.
That was one of the reasons Tyler didn’t like Wednesday, she always seemed to just brush off Harry’s problems like they meant nothing. Tyler couldn’t imagine why Harry liked being around her, she drove Tyler up a wall.
“Maybe he’s just nervous and lashing out,” Xavier offered, ever the peacekeeper. “I’m sure he’ll come around.”
“And if not then you can sleep in our room any time you want,” Tyler whispered to Harry, getting a blush and small grin in return.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Harry said, sounding more like himself than he had. “Oh, hey, I saw your dad.”
“Leave it,” Xavier breathed.
If Xavier was the peacekeeper, then Harry was the fixer. But some things couldn’t be fixed.
“Cool, hey did you finish your piece for the show?” Tyler asked, guiding the conversation to a new topic. It wasn’t subtle, but it was effective.
“Yeah, but I thought maybe we’d do a duet,” Harry said while he started eating fries like he’d never ate before. “I don’t really fancy performing alone and you know it by heart at this point.”
Shitty topics like Tyler’s shitty dad carefully avoided, the five of them were content to discuss the upcoming open house for Nevermore. It was such a private school thing, Jericho High never had open houses, but all the students were expected to participate.
Even students that were begrudgingly admitted and bothered every fucking day.
“Things will get better soon,” Xavier murmured when they laid in their dorm on their separate beds that night.
“Yeah,” Tyler agreed absently. “In about two years when I graduate and can get the hell out of this fucking town.”
Far, far away. Where there weren’t any reminders of his dead mom, his dad who wouldn’t answer his calls, or the people he killed.
Somewhere sunny and warm where Tyler could serve coffee and surf and Xavier could paint and Harry could do whatever the hell he wanted.
That was the future that Tyler was holding out for.