Freak [Zianourry] - COMPLETE

Chapter 3

When Harry finally let me go, I realised what I had missed. "It's like home here... Somewhere safe. For once." I started.
"But..." Harry prompted.
"But, my family back at home doesn't know - doesn't know I came here. I need to at least, you know, tell them." Sighing, I stood up. "Are we allowed to leave?"
"Yeah. But you haven't got a pass. I'll come with you." Harry offered, going and putting his shoes on, as I did the same. "Let me just write a note to the guys."
"What about our next lessons?" I asked nervously. "We can't miss them."
"It won't matter, trust me." Harry said, scribbling down something in his notebook and tearing it out, leaving it on the coffee table. "People skip lessons all the time. You don't have to go, but you don't have the notes or knowledge if you don't, you know?"
"Yeah. Do you think I can ask Zayn or Niall what happened?"
"Sure, they'll probably know already and make double notes. Zayn might foresee our leaving." Harry pressed the button for the lift as he locked the front door, slipping the keys into his pocket. "Come on."
We walked across the grounds towards the gate, with Harry acknowledging the few people who were about. "It's probably their frees, or they hate class." Harry nodded politely to someone else who shouted a greeting.
"Heading out?" The old man at the gate asked, and Harry nodded. "I'll need your pass." After Harry showed the man a card, we were let through to the woods, where Harry told me a quicker route through.
"Why do you need a pass?" I asked curiously. "Surely they know you have one."
"Yeah, but a shapeshifter could imitate me, or someone else." Harry pointed out. "Like, oh shoot - OI! Get back to the school!" He was yelling through the trees, but I couldn't see anything. "X-Ray vision."
"Right." I noted, as two people slunk past us and to the gate. Harry watched them go in, before he set off again. "And this curfew?"
"It's just for protection. It's not a good idea to go out into the woods at night, so no one hardly does."
"But you were alone when you found me." Confused, I tried to place everything Harry had told me.
"I'm trained to. Everyone with X-Ray vision takes a class on it - we're ideal to find anyone who sneaks out." Harry explained, stepping over a log and continuing our walk. "You up for running? It could take hours to get out of here."
"I'll probably fall over." I warned.
"And I've caught you before." With his final tease, Harry broke into a paced run, me hastening to follow. "You'll need to build stamina anyway, so this is a good idea. Training's tough, sometimes."
"Training?" I asked as I sidestepped a showering of pebbles.
"Yeah, pretty intense physical stuff." Harry shrugged, weaving his way elegantly through the thick trees. "Ideal for missions. Basically, we fight evil."
"Great." I muttered, trying to sound more depressed. Seriously, super powered missions? Didn't seem too bad.
"It's not all sunshine and rainbows." Harry said gravely. "There's some pretty bad stuff out there." A branch did leap out at me, and I almost fell over, regaining my balance at the last second. "Well done."
"Shut up." I grumbled, imagining myself as a more graceful creature, something that could run fast. Several animals popped up into my mind, when I thought of an adorable white tiger. Grinning, I felt my body twist and I yelped, as my vision became sharper, my body more lean, hearing, smell - how had I not noticed these things before?
"You're a shapeshifter." Harry smirked, crouching in front of me. "And that's one adorable tiger right there." Not having another option, I resorted to growling out my indignant complaints, pushing my head against him lightly. He smelt of raspberries. "Are you smelling me?" Amused, Harry beamed, causing me to glare, as I shook myself off. "At least we can move faster now."
"Wait!" I gasped, thinking of my human form and turning back into it. "Couldn't I just... Fly us there or something?"
"As what? A dragon? I don't know if shape-shifters can turn into mythical creatures." Harry scrunched his nose up, deep in thought. Thinking a dragon would be too big, I concentrated on other flying creatures I knew. With another surprised yelp, I felt my body change again. "A... Pegasus. How practical." Harry grinned at me. "Mind if I hop on?" I crouched down, but Harry managed to mount me with no problem, settling just in front of my wings. "Try not to crash."
My wings were powerful, I could tell with a few test flaps. Harry wove his fingers into my mane, as I reared, jumping off my back legs and into the sky. "Bloody hell." I heard Harry whisper, as I rose above the trees, skimming the tree-line.
The town was just about in my sight, and I flew as fast as I could, my wings beating harder and harder. Wind rushed against my face, and I could feel Harry grinning against my neck as he leaned against me. "This is awesome!" Harry yelled above the sharp wind.
Some time later, the town was close enough to make out individual houses, so I flew down to the ground, where I transformed into a normal horse without warning, almost unsettling Harry. "Good idea."
With a huff, I started to trot towards the tree line. Five minutes later, we reached the edge of the woods, so Harry jumped off my back, and I turned back into a human. "That was... Probably on the top ten epic things I have done list." Harry laughed.
"Number one." I grinned back, leading the way towards the familiar streets of my home town. We walked in companionable silence. "Eh... This is the house." 'The house' was exactly as I remembered it, so we walked up the drive, and knocked on the door. Harry stood next to me, alert.
"Yes?" The door swung open. Her face froze. "BOY! How dare you?! How dare you?!" I cowered, and Harry gripped my wrist loosely, sending her a glare. "What have you done? I give you a roof over your head, food, water, everything you need, and you betray me like this! I expect better in the future!"
"Expect nothing!" Harry said sharply, his voice icy. "Louis was not happy nor well looked after here. And that was because of your selfish judgment of his amazing gift."
"He's a freak." She spat, making me flinch.
"He is not. Louis is a talented person. What amazes me is how he could be so selfless and courageous to make the journey back here to tell you that you will never see him again. He lives with me and three other boys now, in a school purely for people like us - people with mutations. He's worked tirelessly for you for years, despite your awful treatment of him, and now he's free. Have a bad day." With that, Harry took a step back, breathing heavily out of anger.
"How could you be so rude?" She hissed, taking a step towards us. A familiar click made me freeze. "Yes, little boy. Come here."
'Stay where you are. Actually, run. I've got this.' Harry's voice danced in the back of my mind. 'Run!'
'No.' Despite my terrified body, I stepped in front of Harry, shielding him. It was my fault this was happening.
"Louis..." Harry growled darkly, placing a hand on my shoulder. The woman who was supposed to love me leered, and pain erupted in my hand. "No!" Harry dragged me backwards, beating out the flames on my hand, before knocking out the woman with a blow straight to her head. "Louis!"
"Ahh..." I groaned, my hand burning terribly. "She - they -"
"God... I've got to get you back to the school." Harry looked at the burn on my hand worriedly. "That's really bad."
"It's worse than she normally - does! Normally, it's just my... Feet..." A pained moan slipped past my lips and Harry started to lead me away.
"Hop on." Harry crouched down, and I jumped on his back, careful not to hurt my injured hand any further. "I'll run." With that, Harry broke into a quick sprint, running past shocked people, as he made his way towards the woods.
"Stop!" Someone yelled. "Whatever you've done, stop!"
"We've done nothing wrong." Harry growled quietly, even though they couldn't hear. He ran into the trees, making his way swiftly towards the school with brilliant accuracy. Harry didn't stumble, or slow down, once.
"Uhh..." A whimper fell past my lips as the pain in my hand didn't ease, and Harry sped up the tiniest fraction.
"We'll be back within the - hour." Harry dodged a small animal quickly, continuing. "You probably can't shift in that form, and no one knows where we are."
An hour seemed too long, but there was no chance of speeding up the journey. My head fell onto Harry's shoulder and I bit my lip, trying to block out the pain.
********************
"Louis!" A voice cried faintly, but the burning was all I could feel. "Louis, you have to get up. Come on, it's not much further."
I opened my eyes, meeting green ones. "Huhhh..."
"Louis, get up. You fainted, but you have to get up. The school isn't too far away, but your hand isn't going to heal itself." Harry helped me up, but I felt numb. After a few moments hesitation, Harry picked me up and jogged towards the school, having to take extra care not to hit me against anything.
"Harry? Louis?" Faint voices were shouting in the distance.
"Liam? We're over here!" Harry yelled back. Thirty seconds later, Liam, Niall and Zayn appeared.
"What happened?" Zayn was staring at my hand, which was dripping blood everywhere and hurting more than ever.
"Here." Harry put me down, and I shook my legs out. Niall came over, and held my wrist. My hand started to heal, but slowly.
"It's a real bad injury, it'll take a while." Niall explained, and we headed in the direction of the school again, Niall still holding my wrist. "We're really close."
"I saw you in danger." Zayn said softly. "But I couldn't make out a lot. Just Harry trying to wake you up, when you fainted."
"He's a shapeshifter." Harry interrupted. "And you'll never guess what got us there so fast."
"Go on." Liam asked, amused.
"Turned into a bloody Pegasus." Harry laughed, as everyone stared at me in surprise.
"That's awesome." Niall grinned.
"Dead useful." Zayn hummed.
"Oh, look, we're here." Liam waved to the people guarding the gates. We were let through, and started back off towards our room.
"We need to get changed." Harry sighed, looking down at his clothes. "At least I missed geography."
"You didn't miss anything interesting. Just studying why we're mutated, and everything behind it... Again." Niall rolled his eyes.
"Utterly boring." Zayn sighed.
"It's a good idea to take the classes and pay attention." Liam said tiredly. "You're going to have an exam!"
"Not for five years, Liam. Geez."
"Stop bickering." Harry smiled. "I can't deal with it."
"What happened, anyway?" Liam asked.
"She's a b*tch." I said quietly, making them all look at me. It was the first proper thing I'd said since I left my old house. "She ruined my life." Everyone fell silent at my words, so the lift journey was also quiet when we eventually reached the dorms.
When we went in, I finally explained. "She used to burn me all the time. She burned my feet so I had to crawl. She used me to do all the work, then threw me out of the house most days so I was forced to sleep in the woods. I never went to school, I never had any lessons, nor friends. All because I asked her how she knew what Santa was getting me for Christmas, all because I read her thoughts one December. I never had a life since I was four years old. Fourteen years. Fourteen years I lived through that abuse!" My voice rose to a yell from a quiet tone. "Fourteen years! And no one noticed! Why? Just, why?!" Chest heaving with heavy breaths, hands shaking and trembling, clenched into fists, I glared at them all.
"Why?" Voice cracking, I fled into my room, tears falling down my face. Footsteps ran after me, piling around my bed where I sobbed. "Why didn't she understand?"
"Ssh, it's over now." Harry soothed me, rubbing his hand over my back. Everyone just said comforting things to me while I cried, finally releasing the pain of everything in the past.