Chapter 8
Almost two weeks had passed and they had barely found anything.
Almost two weeks of watching Harry go to the kitchen every night to try to talk to someone; It wasn't just Sirius anymore, he had tried talking to different people.
Professor Dumbledor.
Professor Lupin.
Mr. Weasley.
Hagrid.
Professor Moody.
Professor McGonagall.
All with equal results, the fire never reacted.
Every day Harry was more depressed and apathetic, two nights ago they both heard him cry, it broke their hearts, and they couldn't help but go to comfort him, but as soon as he saw them he avoided them and went to lock himself in his room, they didn't talk about it.
Shouta and Hizashi were in the staff room, neither of them having classes at the moment; They were in front of Shouta's computer, looking at the information they had found with Tsukauchi.
It was difficult, but they had found the location of the castle, they were limiting themselves to only England, once they decided to expand their search range to the rest of the countries of the United Kingdom, they were able to find and next to it, the forbidden forest or that's what they think.
The castle was located in the Highlands, a mountainous region in the north of Scotland, it was difficult to find; The infrastructure matched Harry's drawing, but was visibly more worn and crumbling in some places.
The drawing was vivid, as if it had just been built; It was a great contrast to the photos they found of the place.
But the castle had never been a tourist attraction, it had been abandoned for hundreds of years and access was restricted due to dangers of collapse.
What they think to be the forbidden forest was located on the castle grounds, more specifically in the back.
They didn't find anything like the drawing of the golden ball, nor of the people Harry was trying to talk to; They still hadn't found anything about his father.
To say they were worried and bewildered was an understatement; The progress they made with the food had been lost, Harry had fainted twice, the first was during lunch, he tried to get him to drink some tea with rice crackers, he ended up vomiting it all up and collapsing, He hadn't woken up until late at night.
The second was during training, All Might had been in charge and the idiot let the boy participate without noticing his state of health; He fought Sero, the encounter was almost quirkless, as Harry never used his wand and the other was too worried and scared to hurt the tired boy, in the end, Sero kicked Harry's feet causing him to fall face down, he didn't get up…
The one with the adhesive quirk looked at the boy lying on the mat, after he didn't move after 7 seconds he panicked, he turned to the other and saw him unconscious with his nose bleeding a little, and he immediately took him into his arms and ran towards the infirmary.
He doesn't blame the boy, he hadn't even hit Harry, he only made him stumble, besides, he already looked mortified enough about that.
Today they had left him in the infirmary with Recovery Girl, the woman started him on an IV and let him sleep.
“Do you think this is really the place?” Hizashi asked, zooming in on the image.
“It's the only one that matches Harry's drawing.”
“I know, it's just…” he thought for a moment, “I don't think they let kids anywhere near this place.”
“He talked about the place as if he knew it inside out, maybe he and his friends sneaked in” Shouta consider.
“it's possible, but it doesn't explain how he could know what he looked like when he was still in good condition, maybe he saw it in a photo or something his parents had, but there's nothing on the Internet.”
They both sighed, it was all the information they had, but most things were still in the shadows; They still didn't know anything about Azkaban or the school.
He was following someone through what looked like the ministry of magic, he didn't know who, a female voice echoed through the halls with a chant, but he couldn't identify who it was or what it was saying, he saw himself cast the cruciatus curse, The woman fell to the ground and he approached. He couldn't see her face, but he did see her black dress and wavy hair of the same color. He pointed his wand at the woman and heard a voice coming from her side. The muscles in his neck tightened. They contracted painfully, and when he turned in the direction of the voice, he saw Voldemort.
Harry opened his eyes groggily and breathing quickly, looking up at the white ceiling of the infirmary and squinting at the bright sunlight streaming through the window, he put a hand to his forehead with a groan, his scar burning and throbbing.
“Harry?” a soft voice came from the other side of the curtain, it slowly opened and he saw… Recovery Girl was she? “How do you feel?”
“Like a bulldger hit me and then a centaur walked all over me” he let out another moan as he pressed on the scar.
“Buldger?” he heard her whispered, she stared with a frown at his scar “does it hurt?” He gently removed her hand.
“No, well, yes, but it's more like it's burning,” he felt as she gently brushed the edges. “It sometimes happens, it's nothing.”
“Sometimes? How long have you had this scar?” concern spilled from her voice.
“For a few years now, it's kind of like when your knees hurt when it's going to rain, really, it's nothing” that only made the woman's brow furrow deeper.
“It's not normal for it to hurt like that, Harry, much less if it's one of this size, if it were bigger it wouldn't be strange, with large scars healing usually takes longer, the skin usually adheres to the membrane that covers the muscles and causes pain when they contract,” she explained patiently. “You said you've had it for a couple of years, but it looks like it only healed a few days ago.”
“I…” he let out another moan.
“Does it usually open again?” Harry denied “mmm… It's strange, the skin isn't even irritated, it looks the same as last week, I know they treated you at the hospital, but that didn't solve the pain either, do you want to tell me? How long exactly have you had it? It looks cauterized, and the shape is also… Curious.”
“I…” he hesitated for a moment before continuing, “I was a baby, one-year-old.”
“How old are you now?” Her eyes were wide open.
“15,” he said before letting out a sigh and relaxing, the pain subsiding. “What time is it?”
“It's almost 2 in the afternoon, do you think you can try to eat something? I can tell Lunch Rush to make you some soup, nothing heavy” her voice was kind, but he could see that the frown didn't even disappear.
“I don't know, I don't think it's a good idea,” he sat up slowly.
“It doesn't hurt to try, you were doing well the first few days, the faster you can eat, the better you will feel” the boy hesitated a little before nodding, and the woman returned to her desk, typing something on her computer. .
He stared at the wall for a few minutes before the door opened, and Lunch Rush came in with a tray with a bowl of soup, he left it on the table next to Harry, they both thanked him and the hero left again with a wave.
The portion was small, barely enough to fill a medium coffee cup, he managed to eat almost half of it before he felt the protests of his stomach, the heroine did not insist that he eat more and left it at that.
Harry closed his eyes again and quickly fell asleep.
Hizashi felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, he was in the teacher's room, he didn't have classes until the next hour, and he was correcting the essays for his last class.
Chiyo: We guessed right, Harry is 15 years old.
Chiyo: There's something wrong with the scar on his forehead, he's had it for 14 years, but it's like it's new, it hurts too, but it didn't have anything. It's probably just a phantom pain or something, but I'm intrigued that it's shaped like a lightning bolt.
Chiyo: I thought it would have something to do with his quirk, since it is related to energy, but it took 3 years before it manifested.
He frowned as he read the messages, Harry has never said anything about his scar, if it was chronic pain they would know.
Hizashi: Thank you for telling me and taking care of him.
Hizashi: I'll talk to him when we're home.
He put the phone back and looked at the essays, he's sure the older heroine sent the same message to Shouta so he would be aware too. He hopes Harry is in the right state of mind by the time they get home, he really worries about the boy; he will also see if he can get something out of the one that is in his hand.
He felt his heart squeeze, he let out a sigh and went back to correct his work.
Shouta took a chair from the kitchen and sat across from the boy while Hizashi sat to his right on the couch.
“It still hurts?” the blonde asked.
“Not anymore, don't worry.”
“When we went to get you, Recovery Girl told us that you had a nightmare” Shouta said trying to relax, if he gets nervous Harry will notice.
“Do you want to talk about that?” Harry denied “you can tell us anything, we can leave it between us, no one else has to know what you tell us.”
“We won't force you to say anything, but it might help you.”
The boy looked into their eyes, then looked at their hands and pressed them tightly, the adults were patient and waited for him to organize his thoughts.
“I… I don't think he can” he sighed and buried his face in his hands, Hizashi gently caressed his back.
“It's okay, we can wait.”
“Listen…” he took a deep breath before continuing, “you guys are very kind, I appreciate everything you're doing for me, but it's not something you can just say like that.”
“Do you trust us?” Harry hesitated.
“I… I'm not sure, I mean…” he looked again at the scar on his hand “this is not a matter of trust, it doesn't matter if I trust you or not” they both felt their chests contract “I can't involve more people, much less muggles.”
“Can you tell us what that is? We've tried to figure it out, but we haven't found anything” Shouta said.
“Muggles are… Normal people,” he said simply.
“So we're normal people,” the boy nodding. “What about you, then? If you're not a muggle, what are you?” Harry remained silent.
“Okay,” Hizashi said, “you don't have to tell us for now, but why can't you get us involved?”
“Your quirks are incredible” he raised his head again “the… These people have quirks like mine, they interact differently than yours” they both encouraged him to continue “in the hospital, when I attacked the guard, he was only able to repel it because it was a weak one, the things that can do this quirk are dangerous, if the attack had been stronger, the guard would not have been able to repel it.”
“You said your quirks are the same, you guys… Are you related or something?”
“No, why would we be?” he asked puzzled.
“Similar quirks are due to mutations between DNA, however, even if there are some that resemble each other, it is almost impossible for a quirk to be repeated in its entirety” Shouta explained.
“I…” the boy remain silent, not knowing how to respond to the information.
“Harry,” the boy looked at the blonde, “we know you escaped from somewhere, you just have to say yes or no, that place… Was it some kind of laboratory or some kind of facility of that type?” He waited a bit for Harry to think about his response.
It would not be the first time that they have encountered cases of experimentation and peculiar smuggling, furthermore, if they took him when he was little, that would explain why they will not find information about him and the people he was trying to communicate with, perhaps they are the ones who managed to escape earlier, but it doesn't explain why Sirius claims to be his godfather and knows his father's name, unless they had taken care of the boy while he was growing up and decided to take those places in his life.
“No, nothing like that. Why would he be in a laboratory?”
“People who have weird quirks or no quirks are often… Kidnapped or sold for experimentation” Harry made a disgusted expression.
“There is a group, it's called the league of villains and as of late they have been experimenting to replicate the quirks and create creatures called Nomus, they usually have between 5 and 8 quirks.”
“And you think they had me captive, right?” They both nodded.
“We've been facing them for a while, so you don't have to worry if they…”
“No,” said the boy, interrupting him, “it's not them, I don't even know about that group, I wasn't a laboratory experiment, and nobody didn't kidnap or sell me either,” he said quickly.
“Okay then, your quirks… How do they work? Are they that dangerous?”
“Yes, some of them can kill directly, this is not your fight, you don't have to participate in it” he looked at them both, daring them to refute his words, and of course they did.
“It's ours too if it involves innocent civilians, if it involves you.”
“Why?” was all he said.
“Because you became our responsibility two weeks ago when I saw you in that alley, Harry” he took the boy's hands “you are only 15 years old, practically a child, you are not a soldier, you do not have to fight this battle alone, we are heroes, our job is to help people.”
“And we don't do it just because it's our job,” the blonde said as he placed a hand on Harry's knee. “We became heroes because we wanted to help, we don't want to see people suffer, that includes you and if our help can do a difference, no matter how small, we will give it to you.”
Harry was silent for a moment, looking into their eyes as if he were dissecting their souls; His eyes were dull, but there was a spark of something, he blinked and that glow spread, the room felt different, lighter, a little warmer, the lights brighter, they thought it was just relief in believing that Harry would accept, and he would finally allow himself to be helped… until the spotlight above them exploded.
Both heroes went on high alert when they heard Harry curse, and then he was the one checking to see if there were any injuries.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry, are you okay?” They both nodded confused, why was he apologizing?
“We're fine, what…?”
“I'll repair it, give me a second” he turned and stood in front of the broken glass on the floor and under the spotlight, he took out his wand pointed at the support that was throwing out some sparks “reparo.”
In less than a second, the glass came together and returned to its place in the holder, they closed their eyes as the room lit up again.
“Do you repair things too?” Hizashi said.
“Yes, there are many things you don't know about my quirk” smiling a little.
“Why did you apologize? You didn't break it” this time it was Shouta.
“Well… Actually, yes,” she rubbed the back of his neck and his smile turned into a sorrowful one.
“How? You didn't have your wand.”
“Well, there are a couple of things I can do without it, something more instinctive, we call it accidental use, it usually happens with younger children, but I haven't completely broken the habit, it seems.”
“Did this happen often?”
“More when I was still little, yes” they sat down again “but the last time I did it was when I was at the zoo with my uncles.”
“What happened?”
“My cousin was being annoying, I mean, he always is, he's my personal bully,” the adults frowned, “we were in the reptile enclosure, and he kept banging on the glass of one of the snakes to make it move.”
“How old were you?”
“It was his eleventh birthday, there was almost a month left until I also had my birthday, what happened was really an accident, the crystal disappeared, and he ended up falling into the snake's habitat screaming like a girl” he said conceited “Nothing happened to him, just a bruise on his knee, the snake didn't even approach him, it simply left the habitat and went down the hallway.”
They didn't think it was right for Harry to drop his cousin into a snake's habitat, but the boy was fine, he was also a bully and Harry said it was an accident; They couldn't hide the smiles that formed on his lips, sue them.
They decided that was enough for today, Harry seemed to be in a good mood, and they didn't want to ruin it.
They had dinner and went to bed, they still didn't know what to do with the castle thing, they didn't think that asking him directly would do any good, maybe they could go see, after all, the holidays are approaching, and they could take a few days in their hero jobs to go, although they don't know if they will tell the boy.