Interlude [h.s]

seventy-five

It takes Harry six days to start feeling like himself again.

On day three he starts walking, slowly, building up his strength again without having to lean heavily on both Alouette and Anthony to be taken to the other room. The first time he gets to his feet on his own he blanches and she only barely manages to catch him a moment before he falls to the floor; he doesn't say a word about it, not during nor after, and it's no secret that he hates every moment of it. Knowing how much he hates feeling powerless, Alouette does his best not to overcrowd him, only offering her help when he seems to be willing to take it. The experience puts him on edge enough for him to spend the next few hours on the bed, and only towards the evening he dares to try his luck again.

Anthony starts to slowly ease him back into eating on day three as well, which gives Harry all sorts of mixed feelings and makes day three a moderately bad day.

By the time day six rolls around Harry can mostly walk on his own, albeit slowly, only needing to lean on Alouette's shoulder periodically. Because of it, Anthony finally clears him for washing up as well, even though he recommends his bandages stay dry.

Alouette locks herself in the bathroom with Harry—after checking that he's okay with being locked in a small windowless room, and he seems to be because he wouldn't be alone and they have a key. Still, she lets him keep the key in his hand as he slides out of his grey sweatpants, and then helps him take his shirt off. There's a bathtub in the bathroom, and she holds his hand—the one clenched around the key—as he steps inside. She doesn't let go of him until he's safely sitting on the ceramic bottom of it and the risk of him slipping and falling is nonexistent.

"Your meeting with Ezra is in eight days," she reminds him as she sits on the floor against the bathtub, taking the key from him and gently tapping it on the ceramic frame as he starts washing his body slowly. She doesn't ask if he needs help even though she's quite certain this whole process would be a lot less painful for him if he let her help him, because she doesn't want to stress him out even more.

He lets out a hum. "I'll need clothes," he replies.

"Hoodies don't work?" Alouette muses with a smile, putting her elbow on the bathtub and her chin on her hand.

Harry sends her a side-glance. "It's a power game," he explains. "He gave us two weeks on purpose. He knows it's the soonest I would agree to, it's enough time for me to get out of bed, but not enough for me to fully recover. He intends to make me look weak in front of everyone, and it's a risk I'm not willing to take." He gives her a dark smile, one that has just the smallest hint of exhaustion in it. "On the other hand, if I look how I usually do during that meeting, it'll incite the opposite reaction."

She narrows her eyes, trying to imagine what she'd think if she was in the situation Harry conjured up. If she didn't spend the entirety of last week looking after him and all she knew was that he was rushed between the walls of the Revolution at night, and then saw him for the first time seemingly unaffected and untouched, what would she think? "You're trying to make them think you're invincible," she says out loud.

"Yes," he only replies.

"But you aren't."

He pauses. "People's minds work in peculiar ways, my Lark," he says after a moment. "They're too eager to confuse the truth with what they believe to be the truth. It doesn't matter if I'm invincible or not as long as I can make them believe I am." He goes back to washing his legs. "If they believe I can't be killed, they'll feel fear and hopelessness when they think of me. The first allows me to control them, and the second keeps them from trying to kill me."

Alouette would love to open her mouth and tell him there's no foundation to his theory, but she knows it isn't true. She still remembers the way she felt about him at the Palace, that knowing he couldn't be taken down and that she was only signing her death warrant, that... hopelessness, indeed. It sends a shiver down her spine to know it was a sensation he consciously inspired in everyone around him, a preventive measure of control efficient enough to dissuade most people from going against him. Even though Harry has claimed he plays the role of director in the world, she can't deny he makes a wonderful actor.