Cults & Contention
“Did we lose our boyfriend…?” Xavier asked blankly, unused to seeing Harry surrounded by so many students.
Sure, Harry told them that he’d became friends with all the new magic students, aside from his roommate, but Xavier hadn’t expected them all to sit with them at every meal.
Except they were.
And they were all looking at Harry with big smiles and talking eagerly to him and Xavier was kind of confused.
Harry was cool, funny and interesting, cute as anything, but… but Harry used to be something of a loner.
“He’s like their leader,” Tyler whispered to him with a grin, not bothered at all by all the new students that sat with them. Xavier figured that Tyler was just relieved that none of the new kids had any reason to dislike him. In fact, every time the new students sat with them, it was like they went out of their way to include Tyler and Xavier both in their conversations.
They all learned pretty quickly that Wednesday wasn’t going to chat with them and that Enid didn’t stop talking once she started.
Currently, they were all having dinner and one of the girls, Ashley, was in a rapid fire conversation with Harry about the difference between two magic spells while Xavier watched.
Harry was cute, all bright smiles and hands waving around. He was way more confident and happy than he’d been at the end of last year. Xavier wondered how much was from the Addams family taking Harry in and how much was due to Harry suddenly becoming a minor celebrity with the other magic students.
“I think he’s started a cult,” Xavier whispered back to Tyler playfully. “They worship him.”
“We can hear youuu,” Hannah sang from across where the boys sat. She rolled brown eyes at them and huffed. “Nobody worships Harry, but, like… he’s the Boy Who Lived.”
Xavier bit his cheek to keep from laughing when Tyler nudged him, mouthing ‘Boy Who Lived’ mockingly.
“Yeah, this totally isn’t a cult,” Tyler said. He grabbed a fry off his plate and threw it at Harry’s head playfully. “Hey, if you’re not too busy being famous and leading a cult, are we rehearsing tonight?”
Harry looked up and the smile he had shifted to something softer, something that sometimes made Xavier worry that Harry preferred Tyler over him.
“Course, Ty,” Harry said. “Music room after dinner, right? I’ll be there.”
Tyler rolled his eyes exaggeratedly when Harry turned and went right back to talking with Ashley, the two of them getting louder and louder in both their tones and hand movements.
“How famous, exactly, is Harry?” Xavier asked the others students that kept sending Harry impressed looks and tried to cut in his conversation with their own insights on magic.
“Dude, famous enough that he’s got his own episode on Unsolved Cases!” Brantley answered with a ringing laugh. “Nobody knew that he moved to the US, they thought maybe he was killed by no-maj’s and dumped in a river.”
“My abuela thinks that he was taken by evil spirits,” Nicholas added with a smirk. “I can’t wait to tell her that he’s alive. She’ll probably be praying for weeks, worried he’ll infect me with the evil spirits that she thinks haunt him.”
“Harry is protected by evil spirits, not infected,” Wednesday said.
Harry laughed quietly and shook his head at her.
“Quit calling my dad an evil spirit,” he told Wednesday. “He’s your cousin too, you know.”
“I am well aware of the fallacies of our family tree,” Wednesday said drily. She flicked her eyes above her book to study Harry for a moment. “It’s an acceptable tree, most days.”
“Hear that?” Harry said in a mock-whisper to Xavier. “I’m acceptable.”
Xavier melted some at the mischievous grin on Harry’s lips and the sparkle in his eyes.
Even if the cult of witches that worshiped one of Xavier’s boyfriends was weird as hell, it was worth it to see Harry finally become so comfortable at Nevermore.
Xavier happily tagged along with Tyler and Harry when they went to rehearse for the open house that Nevermore would be hosting. Technically Wednesday was a part of their performance as well, but she only rehearsed with them once a week.
Anything more than that and she claimed the boys gave her hives.
Xavier liked watching them rehearse. Harry was… breathtaking when he played piano. And Tyler got a guitar in his hands and he completely transformed to a God.
When they played music together, Xavier fell so much harder in love that it was painful. It made his fingers itch with the desire to try and recreate them on paper, canvas, sketchbooks.
So that was what Xavier did. He got comfortable in a corner of the room and pulled out a sketchbook to start drawing Harry and Tyler. No matter how much he worked though, how meticulous he was… Xavier could never get them exactly right.
No drawing could truly catch the softness of Harry’s eyelids when he closed them and let the music move him. No detail could show how Tyler moved so fluidly, swaying his hips in an unconscious and sensual movement.
Even with Xavier’s talent, his gift, he could never get his boyfriends exactly right. He never got sick of trying though.
*****
Unlike a lot of the students, Harry was excited for open house night. And that was saying something because Harry didn’t usually enjoy performing in front of people. But a chance to see Aunt Morticia, Uncle Gomez, and Pugsley? And this time without anyone getting arrested?
Yeah, Harry was excited for it.
“Hey, Pup.” Sirius intercepted Harry on his way back to his dorm. He cleaned up nice, honestly. He didn’t look anything like the scraggly and scrawny bloke that Harry met in the fall… Sirius had his hair trimmed and it was clean and glossy, pulled up in a messy bun on the top of his head.
With his black teaching blazer on, Sirius looked like any bloke in the world.
It was better that he was Harry’s godfather. Not quite as good as a father, but much better than a pet dog.
“Hi,” Harry said. Sirius was strolling around, probably getting ready for curfew checks, so Harry kept in the direction he was headed while Sirius fell in step beside him.
“Got a minute to chat or are you too busy with all your friends and boyfriends and cousin?” Sirius asked. He looked down at Harry and stuck his lip out. “We used to hang out together all the time.”
Harry laughed and was happy when Sirius put his arm around Harry’s shoulders and pulled him to his side. Harry scooted even closer to him, cuddling in his side some.
“You used to pretend to be a dog who bit people for me,” Harry reminded him. Truthfully, Harry sort of missed his pet. But Aunt Morticia said Harry could get a real pet that summer and she wouldn’t let Wednesday practice taxidermy on it.
“The good old days before I had to grade papers,” Sirius said. He wiped an imaginary tear off his cheek and Harry laughed again.
“You don’t even assign papers, Professor.”
“And I never will,” Sirius said with a shudder. “I’ve got loads of better ways I can spend my time than squinting at a bunch of chicken scratch.”
Harry knew Sirius was just being dramatic as he had pretty decent handwriting. It was an important thing to master at St Brutus’, as he would get the cane if his writing wasn’t legible.
“How’s it going with the new roommate?” Sirius asked when they entered Apollo Hall.
Harry shrugged and dropped his head some. “I don’t think he likes me,” he mumbled. “I didn’t do anything, I swear, but he just… the other students like me, I dunno what I did to him.”
Sirius hummed and pulled his wand from the messy bun on top of his head. He pulled them to a stop a couple doors down from Harry’s dorm and flicked his wand.
“Draco’s a relative of mine,” Sirius said. He turned Harry so he could put his hands on Harry’s shoulders and stare down in Harry’s surprised eyes. “I don’t know what he’s doing here, or why, but I don’t like it, Pup. Larissa - sorry, Principal Weems - knows about my past, but if Draco tells his parents…”
“Then you’ll have to leave?” Harry guessed. He swallowed down the heartbreak he could already feel welling. “You can’t go, we- we just started… we just started getting to know each other? And we- I—”
“Hey, calm down.” Sirius ran his thumbs over the back of Harry’s shoulders. “I’m not leaving, if nothing else then I’ll just have to hideout for a bit.”
Harry scowled down at the floor. “I don’t want you to have to hide.”
“I know, but… that’s what happens when you kill the rat that could have cleared your name. There’s a lesson about impulsivity in there somewhere, probably.”
Harry didn’t laugh, even though Sirius clearly wanted him to. All Harry wanted was a family and Sirius was a big part of it…
“I’m not trying to scare you,” Sirius said, his voice gentle. “I just- I hate to ask, but if Draco mentions me…?”
“I’ll tell you,” Harry promised. As much as Harry didn’t want Sirius to have to leave or go in hiding, he wanted him locked away even less.
They both spent too much of their lives locked away- even if Harry’s was deserved.
“Thanks.” Sirius grinned and ruffled Harry’s hair. “I’ve got a surprise for you next weekend and it’ll be easier to do if I’m not a dog.”
“Next weekend? Open house?” Harry asked, his heart sinking. “I’m not going to miss it, am I?”
“Nope.” Sirius mimed zipping his lips shut and he winked. “But that’s all I can say. Now,” Sirius cleared his throat and puffed his chest out, “it’s nearly curfew, young man, shouldn’t you be in bed?”
Harry finally did laugh.
“Alright, goodnight,” he said after Sirius gave him a quick hug.
“Night, Pup. Love ya.”
Harry slipped in his room, his positive mood restored, and then hesitated when he saw Draco sitting cross-legged on his bed, writing in a notebook.
“Hi,” Harry said, attempting to be polite. Just because Draco was a jerk so far and could ruin Sirius’ life didn’t mean that Harry was going to act like him.
Draco glanced up at Harry and narrowed his eyes. Harry hadn’t noticed it before, but they truly were a similar shade to Sirius’ grey eyes. It was a similarity Harry tried to ignore though as Sirius was his godfather.
“Why do you not use a wand?” Draco asked while Harry peeled off his blazer.
“Huh?” Harry turned back to his roommate in surprise. “Oh, I dunno. I didn’t know I was supposed to.”
Draco sneered, twisting his face to something ugly.
“What do you know?” he asked rudely.
It was impulsive and stupid, and Sirius just said not to be impulsive, but Harry wasn’t going to let one blonde-haired jerk ruin all the happiness he finally had. Harry was free, he had two brilliant boyfriends, he had a godfather, a cousin, a family.
Harry didn’t even have to go to therapy as much anymore because his life was finally so great. Which was a bit of a mixed bag, truthfully, as Harry liked Dr. Kinbott. But the point remained, Harry wasn’t going to lose even a single bit of the life he never imagined to Draco Malfoy.
Harry closed his fingers in a loose fist and then opened them, showing Draco a ball of green light that he’d used before.
“I know if you say anything about Professor Frump that I’ll kill you,” Harry said softly, meaning it. He watched Draco while the other boy paled, his eyes locked on Harry’s glowing hand.
“I know your parents are probably on speed dial on your phone, but I bet I can fling this at you faster than you can call them.” Harry bounced the light in his hand and tilted his head at Draco. “Professor Frump didn’t do anything to anyone, but I have, and I don’t mind to do it again.”
Harry let the light dissolve back in his hand and shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s what I know.”
*****
“No.”
“Pleaseeee?”
“No.”
“But I need it!”
“You don’t.”
Enid stuck her lower lip out as far as it could go and made her eyes go wide.
“But I—”
“If you say ‘but I took a bullet for you’ again, I will shoot myself to make us even,” Wednesday warned her. She turned back to her typewriter and continued typing, the sequel to her first novel was essentially writing itself in her head and she could not continue getting distracted.
“One picture is all I want!” Enid cried. “Because, and I’m totally not trying to make you jealous, but Hannah doesn’t believe we’re dating and if I could post a picture on my insta - like every other normal couple - then maybe she’d believe me!”
Wednesday’s fingers paused for a moment.
“Which one is Hannah?” she asked without turning around.
“The pretty brunette.”
Wednesday frowned and stood up. “Fine. One photo and I’m not smiling.”
“Yay!” Enid bounced on her feet for a moment, always the image of an overexcited puppy. She held her phone up high when wednesday went to stand beside her and Wednesday was faced with a small mirror image of them.
They truly were opposites.
Enid with her blonde hair with her colorful streaks, Wednesday and her black hair in its customary braids. Enid’s tanned skin, Wednesday’s pale skin. Enid’s wide smile with her glossy pink lips, Wednesday’s… not quite frown.
“Say cheese,” Enid said.
“No.”
Enid took the photo anyway and then surprised Wednesday by leaving a sticky pink kiss on her cheek.
“You’re the best,” she said. “I’ll be quiet now so you can work.”
“I highly doubt you’re capable of such a thing,” Wednesday muttered. She went back to her desk while Enid flopped down on her bed. Wednesday was unsurprised when Enid continued her chatter, it was nearly background music by that point.
“What should I caption it? Hm… best roomie ever? No… too vague. Soulmates? No…”
Wednesday continued writing while idly listening to Enid’s indecision on how to caption a photograph. Finally, when she struggled with her own writing, she offered a comment.
“Why not just say ‘my girlfriend’?” Wednesday said drily. She looked over her shoulder at Enid and raised a slightly mocking eyebrow. “Since that’s the absurd title you’ve given me.”
“Can’t,” Enid said absently. “My mom follows my Instagram.”
“So?”
Enid looked up and bit her lower lip while she stared at Wednesday for a long moment.
“So… she doesn’t know,” she said. “And I don’t want to make it some big deal, you know?”
“I don’t know.” Wednesday put her writing to the side, entirely distracted, and spun around to cross her arms over her chest. “Am I an embarrassment to you?”
Not many people would admit to being so much as acquaintances with Wednesday, but it never bothered her. Relationships should be kept private, it made it less likely for them to be used against someone, but Enid had never implied that Wednesday was a secret before.
“What? No, of course not!” Enid cried. “I love you! I’m not embarrassed by you!”
“So why can’t your mother know about me?” Wednesday demanded.
“Do your parents know about me?” Enid asked.
“Yes,” Wednesday said curtly. “Harry took great pleasure in informing my parents that I let myself be convinced to explore romance.”
“Oh.” Enid seemed surprised, which was absurd. Harry left no secret in place over the holiday, Mother’s fault. The woman had a knack for making people that were not her daughter comfortable enough to spill their secrets to her.
“My dad probably wouldn’t care, but my mom’s weird,” Enid said. Her eyes were pleading with Wednesday to drop it, as if Wednesday had ever dropped a single thing in her life.
“I’m supposed to wolf out, graduate school, and join a pack,” Enid said. “Then I’m supposed to marry an alpha, have a bunch of wolf babies, and be a den mom, like my mom is.”
“I didn’t realize we had an expiration date,” Wednesday spat. “That’s good to know. As you said, Hannah is rather pretty. Perhaps she isn’t planning on marrying an alpha.”
“I’m not going to!” Enid said hotly. “I just- I haven’t told her yet. You don’t get it!”
“You’re right, I don’t.” Wednesday turned her back on Enid and began putting away her things quickly. “I’m going to practice for next weekend, do let me know if I should borrow Harry’s cloak so I can be invisible while your parents are here.”
Enid looked hurt when Wednesday stormed out to the balcony to practice her cello, which was good.
Wednesday may have been reluctant to agree to a monogamous relationship with the too-perky girl whose pink smiles followed her around, but she certainly never planned to be kept a secret.
And she certainly didn’t plan on having Enid leave Nevermore one day only to rush in the arms of some idiotic wolf.
“So you guys are fighting?” Harry asked.
Wednesday and Enid went to breakfast together the next morning, but Wednesday sat at the opposite end of the table from her. Harry, as the loyal cousin he was, sat across from Wednesday. And Harry’s boyfriends, as the clingy morons they were, sat at their end as well. Wednesday had filled Harry in briefly on the disagreement and he was appropriately sympathetic to Wednesday’s plight.
“We are not fighting,” Wednesday said curtly. “I’m simply being invisible, as she clearly wants.”
“I don’t think that’s fair,” Xavier said, as if Wednesday cared what he thought.
If Xavier had more than a single braincell, he would realize that Harry and Tyler were a perfectly suited partnership and leave them be. Wednesday had no issue with Harry having multiple partners if he wished, but what would Xavier do when Harry reached his full potential and continued his career as a killer?
Paint about it?
At least Tyler could assist Harry, keep him from dying again.
“Sounds fair to me,” Tyler said, proving his slightly higher intelligence. He waved a fork around that had a piece of Harry’s pancake on it that he stole. “It’s bullshit. Enid wanted them to be together but she won’t tell her parents? What’s Wednesday supposed to do when they come next weekend? Hide under Harry’s cloak?”
“Precisely,” Wednesday said. It was an event of astronomical magnitude that she would ever agree with Tyler Galpin, but stranger things happened frequently.
“She could still meet Enid’s parents, just not tell them they’re dating,” Xavier insisted. “Parents don’t need to know everything about our lives.”
“Mine do,” Harry remarked thoughtfully. He had a mouth full of food that was disgusting to watch him chew- Harry picked up the most horrid manners from his pet idiots. “Dad said he and Mum watch me.”
“I sure hope they close their eyes on occasion,” Tyler said with a smirk that added to the innuendo. Harry blushed and dropped his head, only causing Wednesday to frown that much harder.
“Harry told my parents about Enid, I expected the information to be reciprocal,” Wednesday said, planning for that to be the final word on the matter.
“I’d tell my dad about Harry and Xavier if he came, but he won’t,” Tyler said in agreement with Wednesday.
“I’m not telling mine.”
Harry lifted his head so he could stare at Xavier just as Wednesday and Tyler were.
“Because he’s not coming?” Tyler asked slowly.
“I doubt he would, but even if he did, I wouldn’t tell him.” Xavier fidgeted with his napkin, a clear sign of guilt. “He- I don’t… my parents don’t know I’m gay and it would be a big thing.”
Wednesday looked from Harry’s surprised eyes to Tyler’s irritated ones and made a snap decision.
“I’ll see you in math,” Wednesday told Harry. She grabbed her tray from the table and even found it in herself to be cordial to Tyler. “And I’ll see you in English,” she added.
With that, Wednesday quickly left the cafeteria. If Harry was anything like her - which he was - then he was about to have his own disagreement to deal with.
Xavier was a poor choice for Harry to date, Wednesday warned him from the start. The Hyde with no parental attachments was a much better partner for a serial killer.