I See Dead People

Harry was weary the next day after Aurora had broken his toy soldier. Even though Harry had had a fun time building the Lego set with Kitsugaya, he just couldn't get over it.

He was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Aurora said she was telling on them. What if Ms. Elizabeth took her side? It was mean to call a girl names, and who was Harry kidding? He had been terrible the past few days!

He was so mean to that doctor—even if he had deserved it. Oh, and to top it all off, he had been absolutely nasty to Ms. Elizabeth herself. Harry wouldn't have been surprised if Ms. Elizabeth hated him forever.

That's what the teachers did at Harry's primary school. They would always take everyone's side over his and then be absolutely nasty to him afterwards.

Needless to say, Harry was nervous. He could feel his stomach fluttering around while he sat at the edge of his bed. It was then that Harry's stomach rumbled; he wasn't too sure if that was due to hunger or fear.

Whatever it was, Harry was not about to go out to the dining table to find out. No, he was planning on staying in his room forever. Harry's mind made up; he turned around and laid back in his bed.

"Why are you hiding?"

Harry flinched under the covers; he never heard anyone come in. At first, Harry thought that someone had snuck in, but Harry was good at listening. There was no opening of the door, no footsteps, and most importantly, no breathing.

Slowly, Harry pulled the sheets down and peaked out. He was very surprised at what he saw; there by the window was a little boy. But the window was kind of high up; Harry himself had to step on his chair to see out of the window.

Harry's eyes widened; the little boy was floating! Harry quickly kicked the covers and jumped to his feet.

"Who are you? How did you get here? Why are you floating!?"

The boy blinked and then frowned, before pointing at Harry.

"Nu-uh, you first! Answer my question, why are you hiding?"

Harry glared at the boy and studied him. He looked pretty young, but Harry wasn't actually too sure. People always thought that Harry was four or five, even though he was six. The boy had mousy hair and dark blue, round eyes. His clothes looked old, and his shirt was buttoned up all the way to his neck, like in history books.

Weirdly enough, his voice sounded different; Harry could tell that he wasn't from the country. Harry sighed as he realized that the boy wasn't going to answer him.

"I wasn't hiding; I just didn't want to get up, that's all."

The boy didn't look convinced and rolled his eyes. "What were you hiding from?"

Harry frowned and shook his head. "No, I answered your questions; you answer mine."

The boy sighed but nodded. "My name is Gregory; I got here cause I wanted to, and I'm floating because I can."

Harry's face turned red; that wasn't fair; he didn't answer the questions!

"You can't do that! There has to be a reason why you are floating; there just has to be."

Gregory smirked and nodded. "Yuh-huh, I answered your questions. I wouldn't be able to float if I didn't want to or if I couldn't. So that means I can, and I want to, because I am."

Harry was starting to dislike Gregory, to show his displeasure. Harry turned away from the other boy. Harry could hear Gregory stutter and sigh.

"Hey, okay, fine. You win, Harry, you win."

Harry smiled a bit before he paused. Slowly, he turned towards Gregory, eyes wide.

"Wait a minute, how do you know my name?"

Gregory blinked before sheepishly smiling at Harry. "Uh... you told me, yeah! You don't remember?"

"No, I didn't; I never said my name was Harry."

Gregory huffed and looked at his feet. "Fine, you didn't tell me; what does it matter?"

Harry tilted his head in confusion. "Of course it matters; I didn't tell you my name, but you know it. That means you know me, but I don't know you."

"Well, I do know you; you're my cousin! That's how I know your name." Gregory said with a huge smile.

Harry's eyes went wide before narrowing. "You don't look like Castor. Castor has blond hair, but you have brown. And your voice is weird."

Gregory frowned and then snorted. "You don't look like porker, do you?"

"Porker?" Harry asked, tilting his head.

"Yeah, Porker, the fat blond boy you lived with."

Harry blinked and could feel his lips tilt upward. "You mean Dudley? Of course, we don't look the same; he is my cousin. Cousins don't look alike."

Gregory rolled his eyes so hard. Harry was afraid that they would break out of his head.

"Exactly! I don't look like Castor cause he is my cousin as well."

"I can't have two cousins that are cousins; that doesn't make any sense!"

Gregory frowned at Harry and stomped his foot. "Yeah, you can, you dummy; you can have a lot of cousins from other aunties and uncles. Just cause your momma only has one sister doesn't mean others have to have one sibling! Your papa had a papa, didn't he?"

Harry tucked his chin into his chest and nodded. Gregory nodded and continued on with his rant.

"And your grampy had a papa as well! Well, your grampy's papa had a sibling, and that sibling is Castor's papa. Your family has family, and you have other cousins. Don't be hard headed and stupid."

Harry shifted in his place, heavily uncomfortable with the way Gregory had looked at him. "I didn't know; no one told me about my family before."

Gregory lost his frown and sighed. "Yeah, I know. My momma told me about my family too, and I didn't understand it until after everything happened. I believe I was seven, so I don't expect you to know much either. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

Harry looked at Gregory wide-eyed. "Wait, seven? So you're older than me?"

Gregory nodded, but he didn't look too pleased. "Yep, I'm older than you. I'm actually nine... although I don't look it. I was sick; I don't remember what it was, but it stunted my growth."

Harry made a small noise in understanding. "Well, at least you're okay now! You're just small, but I'm small, so it isn't that bad. I've been told that I'm very small for my age, but it's okay."

Gregory made a weird face and sighed a little. "Yeah... I'm going to be okay; at least I won't be sick anymore."

"Oh, is it like chickenpox? A kid at my old school had it, and now he can't get it anymore."

Gregory opened his mouth to respond, but stopped short. It was only a few seconds later that Harry realized that the other boy was looking over Harry's shoulder.

Harry slowly turned around and was met with the frowning face of Ms. Elizabeth. Harry's eyes went wide as he sucked in a breath; she looked so disappointed in him.

"Harry... who were you talking to?"

Harry stepped back a little and shook his head in denial. Her frown deepened as she put her hands on her hips.

"No, Harry, I was right here. You were talking about someone being older than you and sick. Who were you talking to?"

"No one." Harry whispered, eyes down.

It looked like Ms. Elizabeth was going to ask once more, but instead she sighed and closed her eyes.

"Very well then, why weren't you at breakfast? You know no one is allowed to skip breakfast."

Harry stuttered, trying to get his words out. He didn't think he managed it, but it seemed like the doctor had understood.

"It's because of what happened yesterday, isn't it?"

Harry looked at his feet but nodded. This was it. Ms. Elizabeth was going to tell Harry how disappointed she was with him.

Ms. Elizabeth's face softened as she studied her ward's downcast expression. "Don't worry about it, Harry; Aurora was punished accordingly. She broke your toys and went into your room. There is no need to starve yourself, trying to hide from her."

Harry's head snapped up to Ms. Elizabeth; he wasn't expecting her to say that whatsoever. He himself expected to be punished; that's how it always was done.

"Why do you look so surprised? Harry, she broke the rules, so she gets in trouble. If you break the rules, then you get in trouble; that's how it works."

"But I... we called her names." He murmured.

Ms. Elizabeth snorted slightly before shaking her head. "No, Kitsugaya called her names. He was very adamant that you hadn't said a thing to Aurora once. No matter if she said otherwise, it's unfortunate, but have you ever heard of the story about the boy who cried wolf?"

Harry frowned, not too sure what wolves had to do with anything. Ms. Elizabeth frowned and huffed.

"Well, I know what books you are getting for Christmas. Anyway, it is a fable about a boy who kept saying that there was a wolf that was attacking his sheep, even when there wasn't. After a while, the townspeople didn't believe him, and then a wolf actually did appear and take his sheep. Well, Aurora is that kid; she lies a bit too much. It is hard to tell if she is telling the truth or not."

Harry looked at Ms. Elizabeth with his eyes wide. "So you don't believe what she says because she lies?"

"Well, not exactly." Ms. Elizabeth said with a chuckle, "It's just harder to believe her; we have to make sure she is lying before we just say she is. Miriam saw her go into your room. Miriam is a bit shy and kind of scared of Aurora, so she would only tell me privately."

Harry opened his mouth to respond, but Ms. Elizabeth put up her hand before he could say anything.

"Now let's stop talking about this; you must eat breakfast. You shouldn't be skipping any meals; your health depends on it. Also, I think you should participate in some art today since you skipped out on last night's group activity."

"Can I draw in here?" Harry asked hopefully.

Ms. Elizabeth smirked at him. "Ha, nice try, but no. Besides, not everyone even prefers to do art. It's mostly just Miriam, Adken, Aanya, and Kitsugaya who do it. The others just sit around."

Harry sighed and looked at his feet before trying again. "Can I just sit around in here?"

This time, Ms. Elizabeth just stared at Harry with an unamused look. He knew immediately that he wasn't going to get his way. He would have to suck it up and sit next to people. Besides, how hard could it be?