Chapter 21
“Hello?” came Rob’s slow voice.
“Hi, it’s me Blaise. I need your help, Harry- he’s overdosing I think, he’s not waking up,” Blaise rambled.
“Woah man, stop, start from the beginning, how long has he been like this?” Rob’s voice sounded alert and concerned now.
“I got here a few minutes ago, I don’t know how long, I found him on his couch passed out next to a needle,” Blaise said, “I didn’t know he did that.”
“He doesn’t,” Rob swore on the other end, “Okay it’s gonna be fine, get him in the shower, run some cold water on him, pat his face, and keep trying to wake him up, I’ll be over as fast as I can.”
Blaise nodded and Rob hung up the phone. Blaise scooped Harry up and ran as fast as he could to Harry’s bathroom. He set him gently on the floor and turned on the spray. He crouched down next to Harry, not caring if he was getting wet.
“Come on love, wake up for me, I know it’s been hard lately but you can’t go yet okay? I need you, I love you, please wake up,” he said to Harry, patting his face like Rob had told him too. He started getting louder when he was getting no response.
“Harry please, wake up, please,” he said loudly. He heard Rob floo into the other room. Or at least he hoped it was Rob, if it was Darla or Tyler, he might end up in Azkaban. If Harry died, Blaise would not hold himself responsible for his actions.
Finally, Harry’s eyes twitched a bit, even if they did not open.
“That’s it baby, come on, come back to me,” Blaise encouraged, rocking Harry slightly.
“Is he awake yet?” Rob asked as he came into the bathroom and set his bag down on the floor.
“No, but he’s trying I think,” Blaise said as Harry’s eyes twitched again. Rob joined him under the spray and felt for Harry’s pulse.
“Shit,” he cursed and got his bag to rummage around. He got out a small bottle and took off the cap. “Bring him over here.”
Blaise shifted Harry to where Rob had instructed. Rob placed the nozzle of the bottle under Harry’s nose and squeezed.
“What was that?” Blaise asked anxiously. Rob started rubbing Harry’s chest a bit.
“It should counteract the opioids in his system,” he said tightly, “I’m guessing that’s what this is. He might need more, depending how much he had. I’m going to kill whoever gave them to him. They weren’t from me.”
After a few minutes, Harry’s heart rate began to speed up to a more normal pace. His eyes fluttered open. Finally, Blaise let out a small breath.
“Welcome back love,” he said thickly, trying not to cry. Harry coughed a little bit before he spoke.
“Blaise?” he croaked. His eyes looked around the room slowly. “What…?”
“You overdosed Harry,” Rob said firmly, “You’re gonna feel like shit. If you’re going to throw up, tell me so you don’t get it on our clothes.”
Blaise blinked at the anger that he heard in Rob’s voice.
“What were you thinking? Needles? I’ve told you not to touch those!” Rob exclaimed. Then Blaise detected an undercurrent of fear in his voice, “What would have happened if Blaise hadn’t checked on you?”
Harry shut his eyes, “I’m sorry.”
Rob visibly deflated, “We can talk about this later, let’s get you cleaned up.”
Then he turned to Blaise, “I’m not the best at wards, can you put some up so that none of his stupid team can come in here and fuck anything up?”
Blaise nodded but didn’t move. He was slightly… in shock. His heart hadn’t stopped pounding from when he thought Harry was dying. Rob must have noticed.
“Take a deep breath, this shit’s scary, but he’s going to be okay. You did everything right, he’s going to be fine,” Rob reiterated, “I’m not going to leave. We can watch him to make sure, but he’s going to be fine. Breathe.”
Blaise did as he was instructed. Eventually his heart calmed slightly, and the two of them worked to get Harry up off the floor and into his bedroom. Blaise cast a drying spell before casting the wards that Rob had suggested. When he got back into the bedroom, Harry was retching.
He climbed into bed next to Harry to help hold him up and smooth back his hair.
“Is this normal?” he asked, surprised that his voice was still shaking.
“Yes, basically, withdrawals start immediately. It only lasts 30-90 minutes though, so depending on how much was in his system, he might need another dose,” Rob explained from the other side of Harry. Harry was now done, but trembling violently. Rob handed him a glass of water.
“Just take a sip to rinse your mouth,” he said. Blaise was relieved that Rob knew what to do and seemed so confident. He didn’t know much about Harry and Rob’s friendship but he could tell Rob was extremely protective over Harry.
They laid Harry back down in bed and covered him with blankets.
“Feel a little better?” Blaise asked Harry. He needed to hear Harry’s voice to reassure himself that he was okay.
“A little,” Harry said weakly.
“Can you tell us what happened? Why were you all alone?” Rob asked. Harry yawned and then answered.
“I c-can’t remember a lot, but I woke up this morning really hungover, and earlier than normal. No one was here yet. S-someone had sent me the Daily Prophet and… I was upset when I read it, and I felt like shit. I saw that someone had left some s-stuff out on the table,” Harry paused, “I- I wasn’t really thinking. I think I was still- last night, I don’t know.”
“You decided to shoot up?” Rob asked with a hard tone.
“I guess…” Harry said, “All I know is I j-just…I was still high but it wasn’t enough… I needed everything to stop. I- tried not to do a lot though.”
“Were you taking opioids last night?” Rob asked.
“Maybe? I d-don’t really remember. I don’t… I have no idea what I’ve been taking l-lately,” he admitted.
Rob got out a syringe from his bag, “Show me where you filled it to.”
Harry pointed, it didn’t seem like a lot to Blaise, but he also didn’t know anything about this stuff.
“They must have been giving you something strong then, you wouldn’t have overdosed on that, unless it was laced, I’ll test it,” Rob stood to go out to the living room, “You weren’t trying to overdose though right?”
Harry didn’t answer right away and looked at Blaise for a moment before looking back at Rob, “No… I don’t think so. I didn’t really care if I did, but I don’t think I was trying to.”
Rob nodded and left to check the living room.
“How did you get in here?” Harry asked Blaise. Blaise noticed his trembling had gone down a fair amount.
“I figured, if you had seen the article that you would have been upset,” Blaise admitted, “I came to check on you one last time, and… I took down your wards. I’m sorry if that violated your privacy, but I knew something was wrong.”
“It’s okay,” Harry said, shaking his head, “Thank you.”
“Harry, we really need to talk about what’s been going on lately,” Blaise said.
Harry closed his eyes, “I know.”
He yawned again. Silence fell between them for a few moments.
“I don’t… I don’t really know what’s been going on lately,” Harry whispered.
“That tends to happen when you’re high 24/7,” Blaise bit out. Harry flinched.
“I know,” Harry whispered again, “I’m sorry.”
Blaise wanted nothing more than to accept Harry’s apology and lay down and cuddle with him, but he had too many emotions to sort through first. He was still terrified by what had just occurred, and was still repeatedly convincing himself that Harry was alive. He was also angry at so many people. Dumbledore, Darla, Tyler, and yes, even Harry. He was angry that they’d all made decisions that led to Harry almost dying.
Most importantly, Blaise was hurt. He couldn’t help but feel stung by the way Harry had blown him off, ignored him and his letters, and then broken up with him. He knew that Harry hadn’t been in his right mind, and that he was extremely manipulated. He didn’t even really blame Harry at all, but he still felt hurt by what had happened.
Blaise blew out a breath, “What happened Harry? What happened while I was gone that made this all… go so down hill? I thought we were in a good place. I thought you were getting better.”
Harry was silent for a few moments, “I wasn’t lying to you. I was getting… well better I suppose. I wanted to get out of this lifestyle, I wanted to be healthy.”
“So then what happened?”
“I just… I started going out again, like I told you I would. And I don’t really know what happened to the original plan. I thought I’d told everyone I wanted to be sober, but I woke up the next morning not knowing how I got home…” Harry said, “I’m not going to make excuses or blame anyone else for what happened. I’m just trying to be honest and tell you that I don’t remember. Everything’s so blurry. It still feels like only a few days have gone by but I know it’s been weeks.”
Blaise nodded and sighed. He didn’t blame Harry at all, and knew he wasn’t trying to make excuses, but he appreciated that Harry was trying to take responsibility, even if it wasn’t his to take.
“Harry, I know it’s not your fault, your team, they’re not good people. I know you probably couldn’t see it, but they’re drugging and manipulating you,” Blaise said, “I saw it both times I came here, and I saw it in Madam Malkin’s.”
Harry looked at the ceiling, and in the smallest voice said, “I don’t know what to do.”
“What do you want? Do you want to keep living like this?” Blaise asked.
“No, I-I don’t. I know that. I want to be… normal. I want to try to be healthy. But I just don’t know if that’s possible for me,” Harry said, “I’m so…I’m fucked up Blaise. I thought I could get over it but I can’t. It’s so hard to act normal. The whole world wants me to be someone I’m not and I just can’t. And…”
“What?” Blaise prompted when Harry trailed off.
“I kind of like it this way. It’s sick… but it feels like… I know I’m not supposed to treat myself like this. Everytime I have a headache or I’m sick or I’m weak or whatever, I feel like I deserve it. Everytime I almost overdose, it’s like... I don’t know, I feel like I can make myself feel really good, and then I have to face the consequences, and I like that it hurts,” Harry said so quietly that Blaise had to lean in a bit to hear him, “I deserve to hurt.”
“No Harry,” Blaise whispered, “You don’t have to feel bad all of the time. That’s like… self-harm. That’s just your brain trying to cope but you don’t need to do that.”
Harry looked at him, uncertainty in his eyes.
“But I’m not… I’m not a good person. I don’t even deserve to be alive,” Harry whispered.
“That’s not true, Harry, you’re one of the best people I’ve ever met, okay? You have had a lot of people in your life treat you horribly but that doesn’t mean that you have to treat yourself horribly. You deserve to live. You deserve love. Comfort. Time to heal,” Blaise said passionately. “You deserve to be taken care of. And not that version of care that your team claims they give you.”
Harry only stared at him.
“Harry, I love you. I know you’re hurting. I want to help you, but I can only do that if you let me, let me take care of you,” Blaise pleaded.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Harry’s voice broke.
“You won’t. You only hurt me when you hurt yourself. Did someone tell you that you would?” Blaise asked gently. Harry nodded slowly.
“Well they lied, Harry, I want you and I want to be with you. I want to see you happy and healthy because you deserve it. I want to help give it to you,” Blaise said.
Harry’s eyes filled with tears.
“I don’t know how to get better,” he said.
“Let me help you figure it out then,” Blaise said, and brushed a tear from Harry’s cheek, “You have as much time as you need.”
Harry yawned again as Rob came back into the room.
“So it’s not laced, I’m going to beat whoever gave you enough to overdose last night,” Rob said. Harry shook his head groggily.
“Don’t do that-” he was cut off by another yawn. Blaise looked at Rob with a silent question.
“Yawning a lot is really normal, but Harry, you need to tell us if you start feeling weird again or that unnatural tired feeling okay?” Rob said. Harry nodded, eyes closing.
“Like maybe…” he yawned, “Like something’s making me really sleepy?”
“Yeah, like that, do you feel like that now?” Rob asked, concern now evident on his face. Harry nodded without opening his eyes.
“Harry, I’m going to need you to stay awake for me,” Rob checked his watch, “Shit, it’s probably wearing off, I need to go get my bag.”
Harry didn’t open his eyes, and Blaise felt the panic return to him. Rob ran out of the room and Blaise shook Harry a bit.
“Harry wake up okay? Stay awake,” he said urgently.
“‘M wake…” Harry slurred.
“Open your eyes babe,” Blaise instructed. Harry didn’t respond, so Blaise started rubbing his chest the way that Rob had been doing before, “Harry, come on, stay with me.”
Rob rushed back into the room, “How’s he doing?”
“He’s not responding,” Blaise said.
“Check his pulse, his breathing,” Rob said, “I don’t have any more of the spray, I need to prepare it to be injected.”
“It’s there but it’s slow,” Blaise said. Rob came over to the bed and firmly pushed the syringe into Harry’s upper thigh, in a rip in his jeans.
Harry’s eyes fluttered open almost as soon as Rob disposed of the needle.
“Thanks for the scare,” Rob told him, but Blaise could tell he was relieved, “You must have a lot in your system.”
“Sorry,” Harry said quietly as he blinked a few times.
Rob sighed, “What you took really shouldn’t have been enough for any of this, you must have been loaded when you woke up. You might have overdosed anyway. You should never have been given as much as you were, and you should never have been left alone.”
Harry shifted a bit on the bed, an unpleasant look passing over his face.
“What’s wrong?” Blaise asked.
“I’m fine,” Harry immediately said. At both Blaise and Rob’s dark look he said, “I just… I feel like shit.”
Rob laughed, “Well yes Harry. You would. What are the symptoms?”
“Headache, I feel like I might throw up again, I’m hot, and cold, and I’m just sore,” Harry admitted. Blaise could tell he was shaking pretty violently again, and he was sweating.
“Well, I’m going to need you to stay awake for a little while so we can tell if you’re going to need another dose or not, but after that you’ll probably want to sleep all day,” Rob told him.
Harry nodded, “Thank you, both of you, for saving me.”
Rob sighed and sat down on the end of the bed, “That’s what I’m here for. I’ve been worried something like this might happen. I shouldn’t have said anything to Darla about it… that’s when I stopped getting invited to things. I never would’ve let this happen if I was here last night.”
“Wait… I thought you were just…” Harry trailed off.
“The dealer? I was one, I am one I suppose. But when Darla hired me and I started watching how they were treating you…” Rob said, “Someone needed to look out for you. I’ve been watching what they give you for years. It’s only been recently though that things have been getting really out of hand. I heard you were even using during the day?”
“Yeah, she started giving me some pills, she said they were prescription I think, to help with my head, but they just made the days go by in a blur. I couldn’t think,” Harry said.
“Those weren’t from me. I’ve been very careful to only supply you with things that aren’t as dangerous. Or as addictive. I’ve kept it on a rotation so that you’ve never gotten the same thing two nights in a row,” Rob said, and then laughed, “This all sounds so ridiculous though. I should’ve just tried to stop it all those years ago. There’s no ‘safe’ way to live like this.”
“I wouldn’t have listened to you, and then I probably wouldn’t even be alive right now, I wouldn’t have made it this far,” Harry told him, “Thank you. I can’t express how grateful I am.”
“I appreciate that Harry. But… I can’t stand by and watch this anymore. If you just go back to them, I think I’m going to have to quit,” Rob told him, “I won’t watch you let them kill you.”
Harry nodded deeply, “I understand.”
“You don’t need to go back to them either Harry,” Blaise told him, “Fire them. Quit. Do whatever you need to. You won’t be safe if you’re under their thumb.”
“I agree Harry,” Rob nodded.
Harry sighed, “Yeah, I know. I’m actually furious at them all now that I can think. They completely went against what I said. They kept saying that they were taking care of everything and that I would be okay and feel better, and I believed them.”
“Well you don’t need to do anything today, wait until you’re more clear headed,” Rob said, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go pass out in your guest room, it’s way too early for me. Harry, if you feel tired like that again, or Blaise if he passes out again, come and get me. If it’s passed two hours from now, then it’s probably fine, but I’ll come check on you by then. Maybe try to eat something, walk around, take a bath.”
Blaise and Harry nodded, and then Rob left them alone.
“Are you okay?” Harry asked softly, reaching out for Blaise’s hand. Blaise took it and nodded.
“I will be, that was just… I was really scared for you Harry,” Blaise admitted, squeezing his hand slightly.
“I’m sorry,” Harry whispered.
“Harry, do you want me here? I mean, I’m staying until I know you’re good, but I’ll leave if you don-”
“Please don’t leave,” Harry said, eyes wide, “Blaise, I’m so sorry for the letter. I don’t really remember what I said, but I didn’t mean any of it. I want to be with you. I love you.”
“Okay,” Blaise said, relieved, “I’ll stay.”
He became extremely concerned again when Harry’s eyes rapidly filled with tears. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” he fretted. Harry shook his head.
“I’m sorry, I’m just, this has all been so out of control and I didn’t realize and I treated you so badly, and you’ve still stayed and I didn’t want to hurt you and-” Harry rambled as tears fell.
“Shh, shh, love, it’s okay now,” Blaise said, scooting in next to Harry and gathering him up in his arms, “There were a lot of misunderstandings, and we’re working it out. I’m ok. You’re going to be okay. We’re figuring it out.”
He sat and soothed Harry for a couple of minutes, and smoothed his hair down. Harry calmed down and sat quietly in Blaise’s arms.
“Okay love, no falling asleep now though,” Blaise said, looking down to see Harry’s eyes closed. Thankfully Harry opened his eyes before Blaise could panic too much.
“Sorry, you’re just comfortable,” Harry said sheepishly, “I feel fine though. Well, not fine, but not like I’m gonna pass out again.”
“Maybe we should try to get up and get you some food,” Blaise suggested. Harry’s face turned sour, “Or maybe just tea?”
Harry nodded. Blaise helped him out of bed, Harry started shaking aggressively again, so Blaise supported him all of the way to the living room. He helped Harry sit down at one of the kitchen tables. He noticed gratefully that Rob had cleared up all remnants from the night before.
“So how was your trip?” Harry asked as Blaise made him tea. Harry sipped on his tea dutifully, hands lessening their trembling just a bit as he listened to Blaise explain their various adventures on their travels.
When Harry was done, Blaise helped him to the couch where they put on a muggle T.V. show, but they continued talking through most of it. Blaise enjoyed catching up with Harry, even if he was a bit groggy. He felt a strong sense of relief from all of the stress that he’d been under in the last week.
Eventually Harry began shifting uncomfortably as he grew sorer, so Blaise suggested a bath. He helped him to the bathroom. Harry couldn’t undress on his own so Blaise helped him. Harry blushed, but their contact stayed strictly unsexual. Honestly, they were both too tired to get turned on, and Harry’s obvious weight loss made it difficult for Blaise to feel anything but concern.
Harry hesitated before stepping into the tub, swallowing hard. Blaise followed his gaze to the water and suddenly remembered what Harry had said about his panic response to it.
“Have you taken a bath since…” Blaise trailed off carefully. Harry shook his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think-”
“No it’s okay, it’ll be fine,” Harry took a deep breath and stepped in to slowly lower himself down. He was stiff as a rod.
“It’s okay, I’m right here, it’s not going to hurt you,” Blaise soothed. Eventually Harry relaxed bit by bit.
Blaise sat next to the bath and helped Harry wash his hair. He enjoyed the simple act of helping Harry with the basic task and making him feel better. Harry started closing his eyes a little bit towards the end of the bath.
“Feeling alright there love?” Blaise checked. He was proud that Harry had been able to relax so much, but he was still nervous about another scare.
“Mm yes, the bath is just really helping me feel better and it’s making me want to take a nap,” Harry said, “Don’t worry though, it’s not like a drug induced tiredness, I’ll stay awake.”
“We should probably get you out anyway,” Blaise decided. He helped Harry out of the bath and toweled him off. He found Harry some comfortable clothes, and he noticed Harry still had the t-shirt that Blaise had let him borrow. He brought it out.
“You still have this?” he asked, smiling. Harry blushed.
“Yeah… I like it,” he admitted, reaching for it instead of the other t-shirt Blaise had picked out. It was extremely oversized on Harry, but he didn’t seemed to mind at all. When Harry was dressed, he cuddled back into the bed.
Rob came into the room then.
“How’re you feeling?” he asked Harry.
“I’m good, I feel better than I did, I’m tired but in a normal way,” Harry told him.
“You can probably sleep for a little bit now,” Rob told him, “What time does your team normally get here?”
Harry frowned, “I honestly have no idea. I think it depends on what time we get in the night before.”
“Well it’s almost two now, and they haven’t tried to get in,” Blaise said.
“Then I’m guessing maybe around four or five?” Harry said.
“What do you plan on telling them?” Rob asked.
“Well… I’m going to fire them, but… I don’t know if they’ll listen, I don’t remember a lot but I remember once I tried to tell them that I didn’t want to take the pills that day. I think I was upset about Blaise or something, and Tyler kind of just pinned me down and fed them to me anyway. They get kind of physical…” Harry told them, and Blaise heard fear in his voice, “With these on, I can’t really stop them. Not that I tried very hard, I was out of it already.”
He had gestured to his wrists which were almost horrifying to look at. Blaise had been trying to ignore them because he figured that they weren’t going to be able to take them off for a little while yet.
“Well, I’ll stay then,” Rob said. Blaise nodded. He was enraged at the idea of Tyler forcing Harry to do anything. He hoped that Tyler had not forced himself on Harry at any point. He wasn’t sure if Harry would tell him, or if Harry even remembered but it didn’t feel like a stretch.
“Harry, do you want to come live with me for a little bit? I know it’s early, I could get you your own room, Theo could move out a few weeks early, he already has a place with Pansy. I don’t like the idea of you staying here by yourself where they can get to you,” Blaise offered.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude,” Harry said worriedly.
“I’ve wanted you to come stay with me for a long time Harry,” Blaise admitted, “I just didn’t want to pressure you. I still don’t, you can say no.”
“I think I’d like to come stay with you,” Harry said.
“Okay,” Blaise smiled.
“So let’s stay here until we can meet with your team and fire them, and then we’ll move most of your stuff to my place,” Blaise said. Rob and Harry nodded.
“Rob, I’m firing them, and I’m not going to be going out anymore, but you can still come around, I enjoy your company,” Harry told him.
Rob nodded, “Thanks Harry, I’ll take you up on that. I might stick around them a little bit if I can. I’m worried about Molly, she’s a good girl, I want to try to get her out of that lifestyle now that I know that you’re safe.”
“That’s a good idea, but that might be tough,” Harry said, “If you can get her out, I’d be happy to see her too, maybe talk to her a little bit once I’m more… recovered myself.”
“I appreciate that… I care about her too, she needs someone,” Rob said, “Anyway, you should take a nap until that wonderful team of yours decides to show up.”
Harry nodded, and turned to Blaise, “Will you stay?”
“Of course,” he said and slid into bed next to Harry. It didn’t take long for Harry to fall asleep on Blaise’s chest. Blaise couldn’t do the same, still a bit too preoccupied with checking Harry’s breathing to relax.
After a few hours had passed by Rob reentered the room.
“It feels like someone just tried to get in. Wake him up and then we’ll take down the wards,” Rob said gravely. Blaise saw controlled anger underneath the surface that mirrored his own. Blaise would stay calm and quiet during this meeting as long as no one tested him, for Harry’s sake.
Blaise nodded.
“Okay love,” he murmured, rubbing Harry’s back, “Time to wake up. There’s some people who want to see you.”
Harry grumbled and attempted to bury himself deeper into Blaise’s chest. Blaise chuckled.
“You can sleep all you want later,” he said, “Right now we need you to be awake.”
Harry gave a heavy sigh and opened his eyes slowly, “They’re here?”
“They’re trying to get in,” Rob said.
“Okay, give me a second.”
It took a few minutes before Harry was able to fully wake up and make his way to the living room, with Blaise’s help of course. They situated him on the couch, Blaise sitting protectively on one side, and Rob standing slightly in front of him on the other. Harry wasn’t going to be able to stand for the whole meeting, so they wanted to make sure he wasn’t in a vulnerable position.
Blaise lowered the wards and they didn’t have to wait long before Darla came bursting through the fireplace, followed by Kristine and then Tyler.
“Harry! I was so worried!” Darla exclaimed, “Why on earth would you lock us out? Rob what’s going on? And what are you doing here?”
Blaise narrowed his eyes at her.
“Harry, I thought you broke up with this fucker,” Tyler seethed, glaring at the way Harry was slightly curled into Blaise’s side. Blaise could tell that Tyler was under the influence of something already, his pupils were dilated and he looked unsteady.
Rob interrupted them before they could say anymore, “Would one of you like to explain why Harry was alone, overdosing on extremely high amounts of opioids this morning?” he asked in a deadly calm voice that sent chills down Blaise’s spine.
Darla whipped around to glare at Tyler, “What?? He was alone? You said you were going to stay with him every night to prevent him from-” She abruptly cut herself off and glanced at Harry.
“To prevent me from what Darla?” Harry asked tiredly.
“We didn’t want you to get the wrong ideas, or get upset Harry, that’s all,” Tyler tried to soothe.
“You mean you didn’t want to chance me getting sober,” Harry stated bluntly.
“We wanted you to feel good, Harry, I wanted to take care of you,” Tyler said sweetly, “You know, being my boyfriend and all.”
“You are not my boyfriend,” Harry growled, and Blaise had to take every ounce of self-control in himself to stay quiet.
“Back to the more important point, why the fuck did you give him opioids? And so much?” Rob interrupted.
“Chill dude, it’s not that big of a deal,” Tyler said, “He’s fine.”
“He almost died,” Blaise seethed, “He would have if I hadn’t come to check on him.”
“He wanted to feel better,” Darla said, “He needs a lot to… overcome all of his issues.”
Blaise felt Harry flinch ever so slightly against him at the jibe.
“You don’t seem to care that he almost died,” Rob said.
“He knows the risks, and he’s sitting right here, he’ll be okay,” Tyler brushed off, “Anyways, baby, we’re running late, we need to get ready to go.”
“I’m not going tonight. I’m not going tomorrow. I’m not going anymore. I’m done with that, with you, all of the drugs, all of it,” Harry stated firmly.
“Harry dear,” Darla laughed nervously, “You can’t be done with all of it… your contract-”
“Will be broken. I’m done,” Harry said, no room for question.
“But Harry, you know we’re the only people who understand, the only ones who can take care of you,” Kristine tried to interrupt, “We can back off the dosage if you want, maybe try some new clubs?”
“No. I’m done. You’re all fired.” Harry said, and there was silence.
“This is your fault,” Darla said after a moment, looking directly at Blaise, “You’ve confused him, put ideas in his head.”
“Harry is a perfectly capable adult who can think for himself, I didn’t do anything,” Blaise defended calmly.
“You all need to leave,” Harry said.
“The fuck I’m leaving, you’re mine,” Tyler growled and started approaching Harry. Rob stepped in front of Harry protectively.
“You will not touch him. He told you to leave,” Rob said with a voice that was quiet but full of promise of what would happen if Tyler did not leave. Either Tyler was stupid, or too high to comprehend, but he tried to push past Rob anyway. Blaise stood as well, as Rob shoved him back, and Tyler fell.
“Harry is mine.” Tyler roared, “I take care of him, I have for years! I have earned the right to have him.”
“He is not an object,” Blaise said as Tyler clambered to his feet.
“You’re just jealous. You just want to fuck him. Well the only person who will get to fuck him is me, I’ve waited long enough, I’m done with the just touching, I will have him, I will play with him however I wish.” he demanded and tried to shove past the two of them again. At the reminder of all Tyler had done without Harry’s consent, Blaise was unable to restrain his anger any longer. He swung his arm back, and decked Tyler across the face, sending him crashing back down. He turned back to Harry and saw that his face was white and his eyes were almost vacant, like he wasn’t even seeing what was in front of him.
Suddenly, Blaise remembered how Harry had told him that Bellatrix liked to “play” with him. He wondered if Tyler’s aggression over the subject and word choice had sent Harry into a flashback that he had mentioned he sometimes had.
He turned back to the others, “You need to leave now. Or I will make you.”
“Harry will send an owl with the details of the end of your termination, but for now, leave.” Rob reiterated.
Kristine left without an argument.
“This is not over,” Darla hissed before she left, clearly not wanting to fight the two men protecting Harry, “Harry will see that I am what is best for him.”
Then they were left with only Tyler, who was beginning to realize that he was not going to be able to physically beat the other two. He grumbled threats under his breath and left without another word. Blaise blew out a breath and turned back to Harry, whose face had not changed in the slightest.
“I’ll go pack his things,” Rob said quietly. Blaise nodded, and sat down slowly next to Harry, not wanting to spook him. He gently took Harry’s hands in his own, trying not to look at how his wrists seemed to be even worse than a couple of minutes ago.
“Hey love, you’re alright, they’re gone now,” Blaise said. He didn’t really know what to say, he’d never seen Harry during one of his flashbacks before, “You’re safe.”
After a few more minutes of coaxing, Harry jerked and looked around, breath coming in pants.
“Hey, hey, shh, you’re okay,” Blaise said, staying calm.
“I- where, I,” Harry looked around frantically, clearly disoriented.
“I think you had a flashback,” Blaise said calmly, “Tyler, Darla, and Kristine left, Rob is packing your things. You’re alright. You’re safe.”
Harry looked at him and slowly calmed down. He was trembling again, though less severely than he had been earlier in the day.
“Okay,” he said after a few moments. He then leaned forward and Blaise took him into his arms.
“I got scared, I just remembered what she would say,” Harry confirmed Blaise’s suspicions.
“I figured,” he murmured into Harry’s hair, “It’s okay.”
The pair sat embraced until Rob came out with Harry’s bag.
“There’s the basics, I’m going to head home, but text me if you need anything alright?” Rob said, the pair nodded, Harry thanked him for everything once again, and Rob left through the fireplace.
“Ready to go?” Blaise asked. Harry nodded.
“Yeah, let’s go.”