Protect Him L.S. (Slow Updates)

Chapter 8

Louis -

I guess you could say I'm happy. Harry spoke for the first time since the Incident and I should be glad for that. And I am.

But after he spoke, he immediately shut down on me. He refused to listen to me, let me touch him, and he didn't try anyway to properly communicate again. He just went on and took his shower.

So when he went to bed after that, I can really do nothing but lay here and watch him sleep. It's pretty much the only time I ever have to see him at peace. Seeing him like this, you'd never know the scars he hides under his clothes.

After the whole terrible incident that Harry went through, it literally took a whole year for his wounds to heal. Surgeries, stitches, more stitches, and not to mention even more stitches.

The worst of the damage was done to his thighs and his stomach. Though hardly any of him got away from the knives that those little demons carried with them. His face, amazingly wasn't hurt by them, though the swelling and bruising took weeks to disappear.

I can still remember little young Harry when we'd first met.

I knew from the moment I saw two boys push him to the ground during recess that he needed protecting. He's always hated any kind of violence. I walked him home that day and helped explain why around his eye was black and blue to his mom.

As the years went on, the bullying only got worse. Unknown to me.

Harry always did his best to hide his hurt feelings and never "burden" anyone with them. But sometimes I wonder, if he had told me about those boys and their threats I might have been able to save him from all that happened to him.

Quiet, frightened whimpers pull me from my own thoughts and I roll over to see Harry gripping the sheets like his life depended on it and a pained expression on his face.

I gently run my hand against his arm, trying to slowly being him out of his sleep, but not frighten him.

Slowly, his eyes flutter open and tears fill his eyes as he stares at me, with fear and sadness in his eyes.

"Bad dream. That's all it is, Harry. I'm here. I'll keep you safe." I wrap my arms around him, as I always do in these circumstances, but then something different happens.

He pushes me away.

His fists beat against my chest as he starts to struggle to get free. And he's fighting me harder than ever before. He manages to knee me and I leap out of bed and land hard on the floor, only for Harry to run out of the room.

"Harry! Stop!" I run after him and follow him down the stairs where he slips and hits the floor hard enough to break bones. But he quickly jumps up, just as I catch up to him.

"Harry, calm down. It was just a dream -hey!" He doesn't calm down. He flat out punches me in the face and I push him against the wall.

I don't understand what is going on with him, but he seriously needs to calm down.

He hits the wall as I hit the opposite wall still pushed back from the punch he'd given me. I'm quicker than him to recover though and I grab his wrists and hold them together but suddenly a sharp pain hits my head and I'm sent to the floor once again.

He head-butted me.

My eyes seem to have stopped working and everything is black, but I know I'm awake. Harry's pained breathing can be heard from across the room and the darkness slowly fades away and he's running for the front door.

"Harry!" Somehow, I don't know how, I get up from the floor on shaky legs and follow him as he runs out the front door and across the yard.

He'd run quite a bit ahead of me, and I was already panicking trying to think of how to catch up to him. Why did he get the long legs and I got the average ones?

But he suddenly hit the ground hard, and I managed to reach him before he started to get back up.

I tightly wrapped my arms around him, preventing him from much movement and we sat in the cold ground in the dead of night.

"Hey, hey, calm down. It's okay. It's just me. I've got you." I whispered as he struggled for a moment before trembling and whimpering.

"You're okay. I promise." I whispered and he finally relaxed against me, his struggling ending.

"Couldn't..." He said quietly, his voice breaking.

"Couldn't what, babe?" I asked, trying to hold back the sheer joy for him speaking again.

"Couldn't...stop them." He sobbed and clung to me tighter.

"Hey, look at me. Look at me, Harry." I ordered and his sad green eyes met my blue eyes.

"You are safe. You hear me? I swear that I've got you and I will never let you go. There's no reason for you to ever be afraid. I've got you." He nodded and I wiped the tears away from his face.

"Want to go back inside?" I ask, rubbing my hands against his bare arms.

He shook his head and held closer to me.

"Just hold me." He whispered.