mhalachai | FIC: Inevitable 41: Headaches

Inevitable Forty-One: Headaches
by Mhalachai
Note: Another All Harry Chapter (AHC), because he's where the action is, baby! Full moon next time! But first...

~~~~~~~

Harry stopped dead in the middle of the kitchen, in front of the second-biggest woman he had ever seen. "Where's Anita?" he demanded.

Claudia, Anita's wererat bodyguard, gave Harry the once-over. "She's downstairs," the woman finally said.

Keeping a wary eye on the bodyguard, Harry headed for the door in the kitchen that led to the basement. I suppose asking her if she's part-giant is out, Harry grumbled to himself. The first time he had seen Claudia, he had been reminded of Madame Maxime, the headmistress at Beauxbatons, the French wizarding school. But Claudia had been a lot scarier and also a whole lot prettier than Madame Maxime.

In fact, there seemed to be a lot more pretty women around St. Louis than in England. I wonder if I can blame this on the werewolf? he wondered as he clattered down the wooden steps.

The door to Damian’s bedroom was closed. On the other side of the basement, Anita was knee-deep in scattered boxes.

"Lose something?" Harry asked, stepping over a pile of stuffed penguins and a winter jacket.

Anita growled at him. "About two hours of my life. I should never have let Nathaniel reorganize this place. I'm never going to find my suitcases!"

"Why not just wait until he gets back to ask him?" Harry suggested, hopping up on the large freezer.

"That would be too easy," Anita snapped. She stood up and stretched her arms over her head. "Plus, now he's going get all pouty that I made this mess." Eying Harry hopefully, Anita asked, "Can you do some kind of magic that would clean this place up? Like in Mary Poppins?"

"Who?"

"Never mind." Anita pulled a cardboard box off a shelf, and let out a sigh of relief. "Finally!" She dumped the box on the ground and pulled out three long suitcases.

"I thought you were only going for a couple of days," Harry said. "Are those for me, too?"

"No, all mine." Anita put the suitcases off to the side and started loading things back on the shelves. "You're meeting Jason later, right? Tell him to get you some suitcases from the mall tomorrow."

"Why do you need three suitcases for two days?" Harry asked, puzzled. He leaned over and put his elbows on his knees. "I can just shrink my clothes and stuff and put them in the suitcase I've got."

Anita gave him a look. "There is no way you're going to the airport with that tiny bag. You tell the customs officials you've been here for a month, they're going to take you aside and ask you some questions. Then they're going to open your suitcase and ask you why you've got doll clothes. Then we're going to miss our flight and make Christoff angry. I'd just as soon avoid the mess, and have Jason buy you a couple of suitcases. You've got enough to fill them."

"I guess..." Harry didn't really want to tell Anita how bad he felt about all the money he'd already borrowed from Jason. However, he had a plan to fix that. He had to go to Diagon Alley to get his books for the new school year, as well as new school robes. He could just go into Gringott's at the same time and get some gold changed into muggle money. Jason would have to deal with the British pounds. Although Harry wasn't sure of the exchange rate. Was one pound worth one dollar? All Harry knew was that things seemed more expensive in America, at least according to Uncle Vernon's mutterings when he had to pay for things.

"Earth to Harry."

"Huh?"

Anita shook her head at him. "Come give me a hand with this, it's awkward."

Harry slid off the freezer and helped Anita lift a sports bag, almost as long as Harry was tall, up onto the top shelf. "What's in this, a body?" Harry asked as he struggled to shove the bag into place.

"No, it's Noah's Christmas present." Anita went on tip-toe to tuck the bag's handle out of the way. "It's a snowboard Micah got on sale back in April. He picked it up and is keeping it here until Christmas."

"That's a long time to plan," Harry said. Jason had told him about snowboarding, that it was like skiing on one wide ski, rather than two thin ones. Harry rather fancied the idea, but hadn't let himself think much about it. When the snow began, he'd be far away at Hogwarts.

Anita smiled to herself. "Micah's like that. Now that he can, he likes to buy stuff for the pard that they'd really like. He got Vivian a set of watercolour paints for her birthday." The smile faded. "I didn't even know she liked art, but she was so excited."

"What's wrong?" Harry asked when Anita continued to stare into the distance.

With a start, Anita shook herself and went back to putting things back on the shelf. "It's nothing."

When nothing else was forthcoming, Harry started putting loose objects into a half-empty box. Even though it was before noon, the only light in the basement came from the overhead light bulbs. Nathaniel had explained to Harry that, the year before, they'd started to fix up the space above the garage as an apartment for Damian, but it wasn't light-proof enough, and the vampire had decided to remain in the basement under the house where the walls were a foot thick and the windows had been bricked up.

"I just don't get how Micah understands people," Anita said after a few minutes. "Like, he can find stuff to talk about with everyone. He knows what to get people for Christmas and birthdays. He even remembered what kinds of food they like." She looked down at the stuffed penguin in her hand, then shoved it into a box with its companions. "I can't do that."

Harry sat back on his heels. "I can't either," he offered. "The only way I got something good for Hermione was with Jason. Ron's the only person I can buy stuff for, and that's because I just get him stuff I'd like."

Anita put the penguin box onto a high shelf. "So you have experience at buying teenage boys birthday presents?" she asked hopefully.

"Well, just the one. Why?"

Anita shrugged. "My little brother, it's his birthday in a few weeks, that's all. I can't figure what to get him. I used to get him clothes that his mother hated, but that's sort of getting old."

"How old is he?" Harry asked. He vaguely remembered someone mentioning that Anita had a step-sister and a half-brother. "My age?"

"A bit older," Anita replied. "He'll be turning eighteen."

A birthday present for an eighteen-year-old muggle... Harry frowned at the jacket in his hands. The first thing that sprang to mind was a collection of presents from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, but he suspected that Anita would veto that idea in a snap. "What does he think of vampires and lycanthropes and stuff?"

"I'm not sure, but I think he's curious," Anita said slowly. "He always asks me questions about my job, but then there are no vampires where they live. Do you think that maybe I should get him a book on them?"

Harry grinned. "No. Take him to the Circus."

Anita stared at him for a heartbeat. "Are you fucking insane?" she demanded. "I'm not taking my brother into the Circus of the Damned!"

"You took me there," Harry reminded her.

"That's different!" Anita snapped. "You're a wizard and can protect yourself!"

"He'd be going with you!" Harry snapped back. "Byron said you're the scariest thing in this town, and there is no one at the Circus who would harm anyone under your protection!"

Anita pulled up short. "He said that about me?" she said in a small voice.

Harry nodded. "He was sort of joking, but not really."

Anita turned back to the mess. "Do you think I'm scary?" she asked, hanging a blue feather boa on the wall.

Harry picked up a box and put it on the freezer. "I don't think you're scary," he said carefully, "But I do think you're a very good protector. Everyone thinks that." He flipped open the lid on the box. The box held a jumble of handcuffs and whips and things that Harry couldn't assign a purpose. He closed the box quickly. He really did not want to know.

Anita was silent for a long while. Harry helped her clean up the mess in the basement, until the floor was bare and the shelves were packed. Instead of going back upstairs, Anita went over to an open lawn chair by the wall and sat down.

Harry was hot and sweaty and wanted to go for a shower, but he settled on laying down, starfish-like, on the cool floor. The basement was quiet. The occasional footstep sounded in the kitchen above.

"What are you doing tonight?" Anita asked after a while.

Harry had to think about that. "Um, Jason's coming to get me to give me a headache?"

"How's that?"

He raised his head. "We're going to the Circus so I can give it one last go at not being enthralled by vampires."

"Vampires?" Anita repeated, stressing the plural. "More than Jean-Claude?"

"Yeah." Harry put his head back down. "He wants to make sure it's not just him I can fight off. So tonight it's Requiem and... who was it? Someone with a weird name. Wicked Truth?"

"Jean-Claude's putting you up against Wicked and Truth?" Anita asked. She sounded puzzled. "They're powerful, but not as powerful as Jean-Claude is." Harry opened his eyes a crack to see Anita staring at him, frowning. "But they do come from a different bloodline. That might be it."

"Maybe." Harry rolled into a sitting position. "I can ask him tonight. He answers most of my questions."

Anita gave him a half-smile. "He likes you," she said.

"Huh?" That was... well, maybe not unexpected, but Harry hadn't really thought about it. He only thought Jean-Claude put up with him because of Anita.

"He thinks you're a good kid," Anita said.

"I do what I can," Harry said automatically. "Just... huh."

"A lot of people around here like you," Anita said. "They'll miss you when you're gone."

Harry examined his trainers, not really sure what to say. "I'll miss them too."

"Then you won't mind if Nathaniel has a going-away party for you here?" Anita asked.

Harry's head shot up. "A party? For me?"

Anita nodded. "Nothing fancy, just whoever can come by," she said. "One last chance for Nathaniel to use that grill while you're around." She paused. "I mean, if you want to. If you'd rather not, we can just, you know, do something else."

"No, I'd really like a party," Harry said hastily. "No one's ever given me a going-away party before. The Dursleys used to rejoice when I was gone, but not like this."

"Good!" Anita said. "I'll tell Nathaniel. He was worried that you wouldn't want a big deal made out of leaving."

Harry felt a tendril of worry growing in his chest. "Nathaniel's not going to do anything big, right?" he asked. "Maybe just some food, right?"

"I suppose so." Anita stretched out in the creaky chair. "But you know Nathaniel. He really likes to do things for other people. Maybe you should talk to him about what you'd like."

"Yeah." Harry scuffed his shoe against the floor. His rear-end was beginning to go numb, sitting like this. "It'd be the day before we leave, right?"

"I think so. The flight is on the thirtieth, unless Jean-Claude's changed things around on me."

Above them, the floor creaked again, and another voice blended in with Claudia's, vaguely familiar. Micah must be home. "Are your bodyguards going to go with us?" Harry asked.

Anita looked down at her hands. "No," she muttered. "They're staying here. Requiem and Jason are going to do enough body-guarding I'll need."

"So there's no possibility of Olaf being in England?"

Anita sat up so quickly that her chair cracked. "Who have you been talking to?" she demanded, struggling to her feet. "Did Nathaniel tell you that?"

"No, he didn't!" Harry glared up at Anita. "I'm not stupid, you know! Nathaniel doesn't want to talk about it, you don't want to talk about it, but suddenly you have a round-the-clock bodyguard after the subject of Olaf comes up?" Harry stood, crossing his arms over his chest. "What kind of danger are you in with him?"

Anita had gone pale in the bare electric light overhead. "You don't need to worry about Olaf."

"Why not?"

"Because he's my problem!" Anita yelled suddenly. "Not yours! Not anyone's but mine!"

Harry flung his hands out, then turned on his heel and paced the length of the room. He could feel the animal in his chest well up, certain that someone close to him, someone important, was in danger. The animal wanted to protect the pack. The part of Harry that was still human wanted to listen to Anita, but today, the animal didn't want to be ignored.

Harry paced across the room, concentrating on the part of his Occlumency that let him hold the animal in check. Richard and Jamil had talked him into letting the animal come up when this happened, but the animal had always before been frustrated or curious, never so... afraid.

Afraid to lose Anita. Afraid a predator will kill her and eat her and there will be no more Anita to protect me or anybody else.

Even with his eyes shut, Harry could smell Anita, whole and warm and breathing. As his pace slowed, Harry smelled another in the room. It wasn't as familiar a smell as Anita, and the safety Harry associated with the smell was tinged with a bit of something else that he didn't quite understand, but it was still a safe person.

Micah.

Harry opened his eyes. At some point, he'd sunk to his knees on the floor. Now, Micah crouched right in front of him, Anita at his side. But Harry only had eyes for the alpha male.

Micah leaned forward. His hair hung down in his face, framing his bright yellow-green cat's eyes. Power radiated off of him like a drug, and, mesmerized, Harry crouched down and rubbed his head against Micah's arm.

Micah pulled Harry against him, purring low in his chest. Although the animal in Harry wasn't a leopard, it reacted to the humanness and the power in Micah.

Another body pressed against Harry's other side. There was power there as well, but it felt a little like wolf and all like comfort. Anita. Slowly, the fear in Harry bled away.

Harry let out a long sigh and relaxed against Micah. The Nimir-Raj ran his hand down Harry's back. "Are you there, Harry?" Micah asked.

Harry nodded. "It's quiet, now," he said, meaning the animal.

"Good."

Gradually, Harry became aware that he could smell someone else in the room. The smell was sharp. Not unpleasant, but definitely a different flavour of creature than leopard or wolf.

Harry raised his head. Claudia, the wererat bodyguard, stood on the bottom step watching them. Her gaze was cool and professional. She didn't look curious, or even as if she cared. The expression was foreign to Harry, and oddly reassuring.

When he tried to sit up, Anita was slow to move back from him. Sliding out from under Micah's arm, Harry met her gaze straight on. "I'm not going to apologize for asking about Olaf," he said when he found his voice.

Anita pressed her lips together, but didn't have a chance to respond before Micah spoke. "Harry, we're taking care of Anita. We'll protect her against Olaf, if he comes after her."

"Oh, you will, will you?" Anita said coldly. "Why not just lock me in a box and only take me out for special occasions, won't that make me safer?"

"Anita--"

"Don't even start this again." Anita jumped to her feet and stormed over to the stairs. She glared at Claudia, who wordlessly turned around and mounted the steps, Anita in her wake.

When they were gone, Harry ducked his head and scraped his fingernails over the concrete floor. "Sorry about that," he said.

Micah shook his head, pushing his hair out of his face. "It's a continuing argument, never mind." He brought up one knee and wrapped his arms around his leg, looking completely at home on the hard floor. "What were you two talking about?"

Harry shrugged. "Stuff." At Micah's raised eyebrow, he clarified. "England and bodyguards and stuff."

"Ah. What was the consensus?"

Harry reviewed that part of the conversation in his head. He hadn't picked up on it the first time, but now that he thought about it, it seemed as if Anita had been on the verge of telling him something, when he'd started in on Olaf.

"Is the thing with Christoff all ready?" Harry asked.

Micah blinked at him. "What thing with Christoff?"

"The thing Nathaniel was talking about, the last bit of negotiations to make sure Anita was safe in England?"

Micah nodded, never taking his eyes off Harry's face. "Everything is all set and prepared."

So, Micah didn't want to tell him either. Harry squashed his irritation. "So Anita's going to be safe while she's overseas?"

"Anita and you," Micah corrected. "As well as Jason and Requiem. Jean-Claude would never let anything happen to his people. Any of you. Harry, you have to understand, there's going to be vampire politics all over this trip. If you have any questions, ask Jean-Claude now."

"I'm going to see him tonight, so I'll talk to him then," Harry said grudgingly. He still felt as if they weren't telling him everything.

"Good." Micah stood up. "I need to go..." he pointed to the floor above them.

"Yeah." Harry didn't envy Micah having to talk to Anita at that moment. As the man walked up the stairs, Harry dragged himself to his feet and walked over to the broken lawn chair.

Harry completely understood Anita's irritation at being protected. He'd gone through this his entire life... well, at Hogwarts. All the adults wanted to protect Harry, never understanding that by not telling him stuff, he only ended up getting in more danger.

Pulling out his wand, Harry muttered a quick spell. The lawn chair straightened out, folded itself up, and hung itself back on the wall. Satisfied, Harry stowed away his wand. Instead of going back upstairs, Harry went and sat on the bottom step.

Even Sirius wanted to protect me, Harry thought, all of his good thoughts evaporating. But at least he told me stuff, and let me sit in on the Order of the Phoenix meetings at the Black house.

Harry missed Sirius desperately. He wished he could have talked to his godfather, wanted to tell him about maybe being a werewolf and about Damian and Anita and Meng-Die and everyone. Somehow, Harry knew that Sirius would find the whole situation greatly hilarious and chalk it up to Harry's ability to get into the most interesting muddles.

At least one person in my life would have been on my side with the werewolf thing.

Harry couldn't shake the feeling that everyone he knew was going to be disappointed in him for becoming a werewolf. Remus, Mrs. Weasley, Professor McGonagall... Ron might find it entertaining for about a week, but Hermione would be horrified. Even Dumbledore would probably be disappointed that this was what Harry's life came down to.

It probably won't affect the prophecy, though, Harry thought glumly.

A shadow appeared in the doorway overhead. "Harry, you down there?" Jason called.

Harry twisted his head around. "Yeah. I thought you weren't coming over until tonight?"

"I was up early," Jason said. "Want to go for a run? Then were could swing by the Cafe, get some lunch and hang out and stuff?"

Compared with staying in the house with an unhappy Anita, that sounded like a great idea. "I'll go get my stuff," Harry said, hurrying up the steps.

"Get something to wear tonight in case we don't come back here first," Jason called after Harry.

Harry was packed and ready to go in five minutes. He grabbed his borrowed sports bag and hopped down the steps, dropping the bag by the front door before going in search of Jason.

The werewolf in question was on the living room floor, making strange faces at Anita, who was trying very hard not to smile. "Stop it!" Anita demanded.

Jason shook his head and stuck out his tongue at her. A laugh escaped Anita's lips. "See?" Jason said, putting his chin on her knee. "You're not as grumpy as you pretend."

Anita swatted Jason on the side of the head. Spotting Harry, she said, "This goof says you're going into town for the day?"

"That's the plan," Harry said. "Is that okay?"

Anita gave him a look. "Of course it's okay. Just stick with Jason, all right? And give me a call when you're done, I may be able to give you a ride home. I'll be at work tonight."

Harry's eyes flicked to the kitchen, where he knew Claudia was, but he didn't say anything. "I'll talk to you later, then."

"Come on," Jason prodded, tugging Harry along. "I was talking to Jamil, and you would not believe what Sylvie's doing now..."

~*~

"How could she even think that?" Harry demanded, wincing as the volume of his own voice set off the throbbing in his head again. "She's putting herself in danger for me, and she didn't even tell me about it!"

Jason was already on the other side of his bedroom, and if the wall hadn't been made of solid rock, would probably have kept going. "This isn't about you, Harry--"

"The hell it's not!" Harry shouted in frustration. "Anita's going to England because of me! Because Christoff hates wizards, she needs to put her neck on the line so I don't get killed! How is that not about me?"

Jason ducked his head. "Did Jean-Claude tell you that?" he asked nervously.

Harry growled and dropped to a crouch, burying his aching head in his hands. "Yes," he said after a minute. "After I'd successfully managed to fend off him, and Requiem, and those two brothers."

"Wicked Truth."

"Whatever their names were. I can avoid being enthralled by them, which is good, but then Jean-Claude tells me this!"

"You are completely missing the part of this where this isn't about you," Jason said, creeping closer.

Harry glared at the werewolf.

"No, really." Jason crouched down. "This is about power. How long were you in England? Christoff never did anything to you while you were there. Yeah, having Damian as your grandfather sounds like a nice way for him to threaten you, but it's not about that. It's about Christoff and Jean-Claude. Christoff saw an opportunity to make a power play on Jean-Claude."

"Because of my presence."

"Well, yes," Jason allowed. "But Christoff's not the only one to benefit from this. Jean-Claude gets an ally in England, and you can never have too many allies."

"But it's still Anita's neck!" Harry protested. "Maybe I can talk to Jean-Claude, maybe Christoff can bite me instead."

"No!" Jason exclaimed. "Don't you get it? We're still going to be in danger when we're over there! Jean-Claude knows Christoff, knows what he might do. If you break the plan..." He shook his head. "Bad things. You can't do that!"

"Then maybe I'll talk to Jean-Claude myself, maybe I can convince him."

"Good idea," Jason snapped back.

"I will."

"Great."

"Right now."

"I'll be right behind you."

Harry stumbled up. The last thing he wanted to was to face Jean-Claude again, but he had no choice. He had to convince the vampire that Anita shouldn't be putting herself at risk for him.

Jason trailed along after Harry, down the halls under the Circus of the Damned. They arrived at Jean-Claude's bedroom too soon. Harry raised his hand, then hesitated. He looked around at Jason, who made knocking motion with his hand. Right.

Harry knocked hard on the wooden door, then lowered his hand. The door creaked open dramatically, so much like in a bad movie that Harry had to swallow a nervous giggle.

Jean-Claude stood in the doorway. "A second visit in one night?"

Harry met the vampire's amuse gaze. "I need to talk to you some more about the trip to London."

"Really?" came a mocking voice from deeper into the room. Harry looked past Jean-Claude to see Asher sitting slumped on a chair in the room. "Are you having second thoughts about letting Anita protect you?"

"Asher!" Jean-Claude whipped out. Asher glared at Jean-Claude from behind a curtain of gold hair, then shot to his feet. He stalked across the room and brushed past Jean-Claude. To get past Harry, Asher could have just stepped out the door, but he glared down at the boy, his pale blue eyes glowing.

Harry hadn't been practicing fighting off vampires for nothing. Although he wasn't sure why Asher seemed to hate him so much, he returned the vampire's glare with one of his own.

Asher curled his lip up in an unhappy smirk, then continued down the hall, knocking Jason off balance on his way. Harry stared after the retreating vampire's back. What the hell was that all about?

"Please, come in," Jean-Claude said pleasantly, as if Asher hadn't just stomped out like an angry bear. Harry and Jason exchanged glances, but still went into the room.

Leaving the door open, Jean-Claude gestured for Harry to take the chair Asher had just vacated. Jason went and jumped onto the immaculately made bed.

"You wished to talk?" Jean-Claude asked, settling on the bed beside Jason.

"Yeah." The incident with Asher had shaken Harry a bit more than he wanted to admit, and he needed a moment to figure out what he wanted to say. It wasn't smooth or suave, like Jean-Claude might have said, but it was all he had. "Is there some other way, in London, other than putting Anita in danger?"

Jean-Claude raised his eyebrows. "What brings this on, mon moitié-loup?"

"I can't let her be in danger when I can stop it!" Harry said hotly. "There has to be something I can do! Some way I can help!"

Jean-Claude regarded Harry carefully. "And what would you do?" he finally asked.

"Something, anything!"

"Anything?" Jean-Claude asked quickly, leaning forward. "Do you mean that?"

Feeling trapped, but knowing he couldn't go back, Harry nodded.

Jean-Claude smiled. "If you are willing to do anything, to protect Anita in London, then we have much to discuss."
...tbc

Current Mood: energetic

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

stealthyshade.livejournal.com

Methinks Harry is getting in over his head... I think he needs to have a heart to heart with Jason about rotting vampire sex and such... headstrong little fucker, aint he.
Anyways, Goooooodd chapter.... FULL MOON SOON! Also nifty lycanthrope calming thinger with micah and anita...
"If you are willing to do anything, to protect Anita in London, then we have much to discuss."

Uh oh...
and didn't claudia die? or was that bobby lee? I forgot who died in Chimeras attack on anitas house, and my basement flooded recently and killed half my AB books *crying face* so I can't check it.

I still love this story. and Wicked and Truth are awesome.
*thumbs up*

From:

mhalachai was here

FIC: Inevitable 41: Headaches

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