Chapter 5
Harry was leaning against the car window, they said they couldn't leave him alone in the apartment and therefore decided to take him to the school where they apparently worked; They said that it was known mostly for his heroics department (he was starting to reconsider the idea that he was still unconscious because this is ridiculous), they were both supposed to teach classes, but there would be some teachers who could take care of him while they work.
He wasn't expecting the campus to be the size of a damn city, from the parking lot he could see the different buildings that were within the grounds; They got out of the car and headed inside the main building, the hallways were high, and the doors were big enough for a troll to pass through without problems, it didn't take long before they reached the teacher's room.
“Good mor… oh, who is this cutie?” said a woman in a too tight suit, Harry opened his eyes and looked away from her.
“Good morning, Nemuri,” they both said as they guided him to a sofa that was next to a huge window. “All the school staff are heroes, you'll be fine,” Hizashi said.
There was less than an hour before classes started, and he saw the other teachers arrive one by one; a tall man with furry clothes and a muzzle appeared (who honestly looked like Lupine in mid-shape), Shouta approached him, and they spoke in low voices, he couldn't hear the conversation, but the man gave him a look before nodding and saying something else before going to his desk.
He saw everyone leave the room, each one said goodbye to him, only he and the dog man remained; He approached and took a seat on the other sofa that was in front of him, he put a deck of cards on the table in the middle of them.
“Harry, right?” He nodded slowly “my name is Ryo, Aizawa asked me to keep you company while they were in class, do you know how to play stolen house?” he quickly shuffled the cards doing tricks that made him laugh.
“More or less, I've seen people play it, but I've never done it myself” the man told him to split the deck “I know the basics, put the cards with the same number together and get the most cards.”
Ryo explained the rules of the game to him, and they started, now he understood why the others played so much, it was fun; In the end, he ended up winning, although he believes that the other just let him win.
He thought it would be awkward to be with him, but strangely it wasn't, Ryo was quiet and tried to make casual conversations, in the end, no topic lasted long, Harry didn't have much to say about.
After the third round, they ended up finishing the game.
“Do you like to draw?” Ryo asked suddenly.
“Draw?” he asked, tilting his head.
“Yes, I like to do it in my free time, I have one I'm finishing, and I thought that while I'm with it, maybe you'd like to do something too,” he said as he walked to a large cabinet that was in the opposite corner of the room.
He took out a large folder and a wooden box that looked like a briefcase, he returned to his place in front of the boy and opened the box, it was full of pencils of different colors (the largest amount of pencils he had seen was Dudley's box of 24 colors, this one had over 200), he gaped at the monstrous amount of colors, he couldn't even see the difference between some of them.
He heard the man laugh as he opened the folder, Harry looked quickly and saw him turn the pages, the drawings were incredible, they almost looked like paintings or photos.
“Did you really make them?” I ask, bringing my hand closer but not touching.
“Yes, at first they were horrible, but over time I improved them” he moved on to the last drawing and opened the rings of the folder and took out a white sheet, “here.”
Harry took the paper and stared at it without knowing what to do, the only thing he had drawn were doodles during boring classes, his drawings were nothing like what he had in front of him.
“I don't think he can do something that good” I point to the incomplete drawing.
“Don't worry, I told you mine were horrible,” he smiled, “just draw whatever comes to mind, anything.”
Harry picked up a pencil and looked at the page for a while, thinking; He saw Ryo take a few colors and put them in front of him, he decided on one and started to paint, it was a forest, you could see some animals between the trees.
He looked back at his own paper and began to draw.
Lunchtime finally arrived, Shouta left the classroom and quickly went to the teachers room.
He opened the door gently, he saw some other teachers already eating their lunches, he looked for Harry and could see him leaning on a piece of paper, his brow was furrowed as he erased furiously and then tried again, Hound Dog looked at him with a smile on his face.
He went to his desk, took out a small box and opened it, inside there was some rice with boiled chicken; He approached and put it on the table in front of the boy in silence, Harry looked at the food, he hesitated for a second, but he started to eat. Shouta took the opportunity to see the sheet he had, different drawings scattered all over the surface, some looked like animals, others, buildings, he could also distinguish one that was clearly the stick he was carrying.
He thanked Hound Dog for taking care of him, he said he would take it from here and went to get his own lunch, it was a couple of minutes before the boy stopped eating, he didn't even eat half of it, but that was enough for now. He continued to look at him as he continued drawing, despite the frown, he looked much more relaxed than he had been until now, as if he no longer had to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.
It had been lucky that the other man didn't have any appointments in the morning, he might not be so lucky in the following days; He had thought about it while he was in class, he had expelled Mineta last week, but they hadn't assigned another student yet, so there was a free spot.
He should talk to Nezu about having Harry in his class temporarily (or permanently, depending on the boy's situation), he is completely sure that the principal will say yes, but he doesn't know how the younger one will take it. .
He will tell him later, once he has finished the drawings of him.
“Are you going to introduce us yet?” Nemuri said to one side of him.
“It's none of your business,” he said, taking a bite of his sandwich.
“You're right, but I'm interested if the day before you practically vanished as soon as school ended, and then you bring a child without prior notice” she stood in front of him “so, who is it? Your new son?”
“Temporarily, yes,” he leaned over so he could look in the boy's direction.
“Temporarily? New case?” her expression changed from amused to serious in a fraction of a second, she took a chair and sat in front of him without blocking Harry's view.
“I found him last night during my patrol, he's not going to tell us anything, at least not consciously, I managed to get a little information out of him with casual conversations, but nothing more” he leaned back in his chair “I hoped Hound Dog could get him to say something, but I haven't asked yet. I hope his drawings give us a clue.”
“What is his name?” The woman turned in her chair to see the child.
“Harry, he won't tell us his last name,” he saw Harry straighten up and stretch his back before going back onto the table. “He seems like a good boy, I want to help him, but he's not going to let me, he said I can't help him.”
“He must have been through a lot,” she said sadly, “if he thinks he can't be helped, or he thinks he doesn't deserve to be helped, or he thinks his situation is too much for others to help.”
“He said there are more people involved” the woman turned to look at him “he tried to escape several times and said that the more time he spent here, the more likely they were to do something to… his friends or family, he did not want to specify.”
Before they could continue talking, Shouta's phone started ringing, he looked at the ID and saw Tsukauchi's name, he gave Nemuri a glance before answering.
“Nothing,” he hear the detective on the other side say.
“What do you mean by nothing?” he ask, frowning.
“There is nothing, the list that the embassy sent me did not have anyone who looks like Harry, they also sent me lists with the names you told me, they are not common names, but even so I can't show the boy a list of more of 50 photos and ask him if he knows anyone” he heard him sigh “the breeders and exotic sellers didn't give results either, they had snakes, tarantulas, one even had monkeys, but none of them had owls.”
“Okay, thanks for looking,” he said exasperated, “I looked for the school, no luck either, none of them accepted exotic animals on campus, much less boarding schools. I'll try to get him to say something else, but until then that's all we have.”
They said goodbye and Shouta let out a tired sigh, they weren't getting anywhere, they were practically back at square one.
Hizashi was about to leave the classroom when Midoriya called him.
“Hey, is something wrong?” he asked, watching the boy jump from one foot to the other.
“Is everything okay?” His eyebrows rose in surprise.
“Of course yes, yesterday was only a small inconvenience, but there is nothing to worry about” the other seemed calmer, he appreciated the concern.
“I know this has nothing to do with me, but… Who was he?” He sounded unsure.
“His name is Harry, I'm afraid I can't tell you anything more than that,” he said apologetically and smiled, “although… he doesn't know many people his age here; you already met yesterday…
“More like chasing him,” he whispered, interrupting him, Hizashi let out a laugh.
“Yes, you're right, but still, they already know each other” he put a hand on the boy's shoulder “Why don't you talk a little? He's here, in the teacher's room.”
Midoriya hesitated a little, but in the end he said yes, it was obvious that he was curious about Harry, even more so because the only interaction they had was a chase and subsequently preventing him from jumping out of the car again.
The walk to the room was silent, Midoriya played with the strings of his backpack nervously; he hoped Harry would be more willing to talk to someone his age.
When they entered, they saw the other heroes preparing to leave, he greeted them and led the boy to sit on the couch in front of Harry. He saw the boy draw various things (most of them painted poorly, but the effort was noticeable), he looked up and tried to say something, but he stopped abruptly when his face turned red, and he tried to cover the page. .
“Hey, don't do that, they're pretty good,” he said as he tried to straighten the corner that had been bent.
“They are horrendous” he moved his hands away to see the drawings.
“It's not true,” said Midoriya, “they're actually similar to mine.” Harry raised an eyebrow and the other boy started looking for something in his backpack; Finally I take out a notebook, “here, look at them.”
Midoriya opened the notebook to a random page and could see a drawing of Ojiro followed by several things written, that surprised the man; The boy was normally shy about his quirks analysis, but now he saw him open his notebook and show it to him as if it were any math or history assignment.
He stood up and walked over to Shouta, leaving the boys alone to talk quietly; They greeted each other with a short kiss before having their own conversation.
“Did Hound tell you something?” the blonde asked.
“Not yet, he still has some appointments to attend to, he said he will call me later,” he said tiredly, “would you see him for a moment while I go talk to Nezu?”
“Of course, don't worry, what is it about?” He tilted his head a little.
“I'm going to ask if Harry can be in my class, it's the best way to keep an eye on him,” he said as he got up from his chair.
“Yes, plus I think he's already getting along well with Midoriya.” He watched both boys talk, he thought Harry would be more cautious considering their previous encounter.
“See you in a moment,” Shouta said as he left the room.
Hizashi approached his desk to organize the paperwork, he had to review the homework of one of his upper classes, he would take care of that while he waits for Sho to return.
Harry didn't expect to get along with Midoriya, he thought the boy was going to be annoying, but it turned out to be the opposite.
He was like the combination of some of his friends, he seemed as smart as Hermione, just as eager as Neville, he seemed like a more eccentric Luna and his unwavering smile was like… Cedric.
He can still see him lying in that cemetery in his nightmares. His ears began to ring with white noise, his vision became a little gray at the edges, he felt everything and nothing at the same time, he didn't know how long he was like this, it was like being outside his body, like he was seeing himself in third person, but it was blurry and suddenly everything came back to him at once.
He saw the other boy's smile fade and put on a worried face, he was saying something, but he couldn't hear him; Midoriya moved one of his hands back and forth in front of his face while the other gently patted the back of his left hand, his touch feeling… absent, like he was touching him on several layers of fabric.
He blinked a couple of times and tilted his head to get rid of that feeling of weightlessness, he was slowly able to hear the other again.
“…ry…ood?…do” he felt the slapping stop, and instead it became a tight squeeze “…me?…arry…ca?…hear me?” the words became a little clearer, he couldn't hear the complete sentence but could understand it.
“I'm fine,” he said slowly, his mouth feeling dry; the other frowned.
“Sure?”
“I'm fine, Midoriya, I just got a little dizzy.” He looked away and could see from the corner of his eye how Hizashi sat back down in his chair.
“Call me Izuku, it's not fair that I call you by your first name and you by my last name,” he said with a small smile.
“Ok, what were you saying before?” Izuku dropped his shoulders and concern flooded his face again.
“It wasn't anything important, don't worry” he said softly.
Harry leaned back on the backrest, closed his eyes and ran his hands over his face, the dizziness was not an excuse, ever since he woke up in the hospital his head felt strange, maybe he should get his eyes checked, the dizziness just increase the longer he wore his glasses.
He took them off and threw them on the couch with a sigh, he could feel the gazes of the other two burning holes in his skull.
“Can I have some water?” He barely finished the question when he heard a chair dragging on the floor, the clinking of glass, followed by a bubbling sound, a second later he felt the sofa sink a little to his left. .
“Here,” Hizashi's voice came almost as a whisper.
The minutes that followed while they waited for Shouta were silent, the only sound in the room was the breathing of the three of them; When the man arrived he had a bag with him, they went together to the exit and once they said goodbye he could feel the other boy's eyes fixed on his back until they disappeared from his vision.
Harry practically collapsed in the back seat once they got to the car, it seems that sleeping for almost a full day does not compensate for the fatigue of not sleeping for several days, and it was already taking its toll on him.
When the car started moving, he closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.
Shouta had been watching the boy most of the way to the apartment, they had barely gotten into the car, Harry fell into the seat exhausted and fell asleep, he was glad that the boy was resting, but he hadn't done any strenuous activities (at least not physical) for it to end like this.
It wasn't so easy to wake him up, he was still staggering sleepily as they walked to the apartment; Upon entering Bean and Trashy immediately wrapped themselves around his legs meowing loudly, Harry waved weakly at them before heading to the couch.
He took the uniform to Harry's room and hung it on a hanger inside the closet that was in the room. Inside it was empty except for the newly placed uniform. They should go to the mall to get things for the boy, some clothes, and a pair of shoes; They'll take care of it tomorrow, for now you have to find out what's wrong with him.
When he returned to the living room he could see Hizashi in the kitchen doorway looking worriedly at Harry, the boy was hunched over with his elbows on his knees, one hand was pressing his eyes while the other held his glasses.
“Headache?” he asked, getting a little closer.
“A little, my head has been feeling weird since yesterday, my eyes feel weird too, and looking at that leaf for so long I think it just making it worse,” he said before letting out a tired sigh.
“Your eyes?”
“Yes, the glasses make them hurt too” both adults looked at each other, might it be…
Shopping won't be the one thing they'll do tomorrow, Harry could use a visit to the ophthalmologist, maybe the prescription on his glasses needs an adjustment; It is possible that the quirks of the hospital staff had improved the boy's eyesight and now his glasses caused him pain because of that, it was not unusual for that to happen from time to time.
"Try not to wear them for the rest of the night, tomorrow we will have them changed" the boy didn't even protest, he just nodded meekly.
They decided that they would have dinner early, they wanted Harry to rest as much as he could before tomorrow; Furthermore, they still had to talk to Hound Dog and Midoriya; He didn't have the same luck as yesterday, his patrol started in a couple of hours, and he didn't know if he had time to talk to both of them. In the end, he ended up talking to Hound Dog and Hizashi to the other boy.
What the man told him was not really anything surprising, it just reaffirmed what they already knew, that Harry had gone through a traumatic event (or several) and it was harming him in an emotionally functional way, but that it did not completely prevent him from interacting with other people.
From what Hizashi had explained to him about his call with Midoriya, it seemed that it had been more useful, perhaps him being with kids his age wouldn't be a bad idea. When they were having dinner they had told him that he would have to go to school with the other students, a grimace crossed his face, but he quickly resigned himself and accepted that he would go to class.
Apparently, Midoriya had made Harry talk about his drawings, not all of them, but he had him talk about almost half of them before the whole interaction went south; Apparently Harry had dissociated during their conversation, the boy said that he was so excited and focused on explaining to Harry about his analysis that it took him almost 7 minutes to realize that the other had not spoken or moved for a while and when he tried getting his attention he couldn't achieve it until several attempts later.
They are still not sure what caused the episode, but they would try to prevent it from happening again, this time it was calm, but they did not know how he would react if it happened again.
Midoriya had asked him to explain the most striking drawings on the paper.
The stick was apparently a wand, which made sense, maybe the boy was a fan of fantasy movies and books from the pre-peculiar era, he had seen a couple of them himself when he was in elementary and middle school, he didn't know how he had not related them.
The castle in the center of the page, the largest drawing, was one that was in some mountains, he said that they visited it every year with his friends; He did not want to say where it was, but the infrastructure was well represented, and perhaps they could look for it through images.
The one in the corner, a forest mostly painted black and in the middle of the trees, was what seemed to be a half-horse man with a bow in his hands, he hadn't explained much about that one, only that it was called the forbidden forest and, excuse the redundancy, their teachers always told them that they were prohibited from entering.
The next one was a kind of golden ball with wings of the same color, he said it was called a snitch, and it was used to play something called Quiddich, he didn't explain what the game was about, but he said it was the one with the greatest value and the team that catch it was the winner.
Then it was a mirror, it had an old frame, and it seemed like it was a full-length one, there was a figure standing in front of it, he assumes it is Harry and the reflection is blurry, but he can see that there are two other figures besides the boy; he call it the mirror of Erised, a mirror that shows you your greatest desire, but only the person of the desire can see what is reflected.
And lastly, a completely black building with figures of the same shade flying around it, Azkaban, he didn't say it explicitly, but he said it was a dark and horrible place where they sent you to wait to receive a kiss from a dementor (he didn't want to explain what that was); That was enough to understand that he was referring to some kind of prison and the dementor's kiss was the execution. It was a kind of Tartarus, from what he came to understand.
The next drawings that were on the sheet were some animals, a broom, and a hat that seemed to have a face if you looked closely.
Both men looked into each other's eyes with frowns, certainly the drawings could help the search, especially the castle, the forest, the snitch, and Azkaban; but, they didn't like the context in which they now found themselves at all, Harry had mentioned that they would put him in Azkaban when they were in the hospital, at that moment they had had a bad taste in their mouths even though they didn't know what it was, but Now… Now that they knew what it was, that bad taste in their mouth turned into a disgusting and putrid one.
They didn't know who would be able to put a child in jail, much less have him executed, but this only made his determination increase; Whoever the bastard is after Harry, they will make sure that they are not able to touch a single hair of the boy, he was in a situation that is too brutal and sinister for someone his age, but they will make sure that Harry is able to live without fear one day.
For what it's worth, they'll make sure Harry never suffers another second, and if anyone objects, well… pry the boy from his cold, dead hands.