Glory and Gore || l.s. ✓

Chapter 6

"Why have you suddenly moved into the stables?" Louis asked as he stepped inside, a cigarette between his fingers.

"I was waiting for you."

"Why?"

"To say thank you. I don't know if it was intentional or not but thank you for announcing dinner at that time."

"Oh, yeah. It's alright."

"I thought you were only the stable boy though?" Harry asked.

"No, if help is needed I'll do other things. Gets me more money at the end of the day. I have a question of my own, why don't you stand up for yourself?"

"Because he's the King."

"You're the Prince."

"He's my father."

"You're his son."

"What are you you doing?" Harry tilted his head.

"The reasons you're giving me are stupid.  They're just titles."

"But they hold reasoning."

"That's like asking 'why is he smoking?' then getting a reply of 'because he's Louis'. See, it doesn't really answer the question."

"My father is a powerful man. He can do as he pleases and very little people can do anything about it."

"That's corrupt."

"That's how it works." Harry shrugged sadly. "I'd rather try to remain on his good side. Surely you know how harsh of a man he can be."

"I've heard rumours. Your family is fucked." Louis spoke easily.

Harry's brow furrowed, "you don't know my family."

"Your dad's a psycho and your brother's a psycho. What else is there to know? If that's anything to go by, I'm sure you are too. You people are all self obsessed. You think you're more important than anyone else because of the title you possess."

"That's not fair. That's not fair at all. First of all, it's cowardly that you speak about my brother like that when he is not here to defend himself, secondly, he's not a psycho. He's just not what people think of as 'normal', but he wouldn't dare hurt a fly. Thirdly, it's incredibly rude to judge people with no actual evidence. If I were to do the same, I'd deem you as someone who cares about yourself only." Harry held back tears as he spoke, pushing past Louis as soon as he had finished and trudging back up to the castle.

Quietly he made his way to Gemma's room, knocking on the door lightly. She called for him to come in. He did and Gemma smiled at him in the mirror.

"How was dinner? Wait, Harry, are you crying?"

Gemma hadn't been allowed to attend, their father saying it was no place for girls.

"Dinner was alright." He shrugged, his voice kept low.

"Come here." She placed the hairbrush down, turning around to look at him through soft brown eyes.

"I'm okay." He sighed, "I just want to see you."

"What's father done?" She wrapped him up in her arms.

"It wasn't father. It was a boy, I thought perhaps I could be friends with him but he called Jack a psycho and he said I would be one too. He said that we didn't care about anyone but ourselves."

"In that case he doesn't sound worthy of your time."

"But he talks to Zayn and he's nice and he's funny. He gave me his jacket when I was cold and that was kind of him because I didn't even ask."

"If he's not going to put effort in, there's no point in you putting effort in. It will just wear you out."

"But I want to at least try." Harry told her.

"If you think it's worth it then try. But I don't want to see you crying because of him."

"He helped me earlier. I think he's a nice person, but I don't know. Father was making me uncomfortable at the table but he managed to bring the attention away from me."

"What's father done now?" Gemma sighed.

"It's nothing. He just made me stand up and he wanted me to take off my jacket and waistcoat. It's really not a big deal, I just didn't feel comfortable with everyone staring at me. It was embarrassing."

"I'm sorry Harry." Gemma wished there was something she could do to prevent the treatment her brother received. But all she could do was be there for him afterwards.

"May I sleep in here tonight? I don't feel like being alone." He asked quietly.

"Yes, of course you may."

"Thank you." Harry smiled, though tears were still on his cheeks.

"You've got a heart of gold Harry. Don't let anyone get to you."

//

"Boy, I will be meeting with several important men today. Their sons will be accompanying them and you are expected to accompany them. You are friends with them anyway, so I expect no trouble. If you even think about embarrassing me, you will be in trouble." The king spoke from his throne.

"Yes father." Harry nodded. He was often called to see his father for things like this. These were the announcements he enjoyed. He got to spend time with people his own age rather than old men.

"Go and get ready. They will be outside."

Harry rushed to his room, getting changed quickly. He was smiling to himself as he pulled on a pair of lavender trousers and a white blouse- one with puffy sleeves and adorned with frills and ruffles. Quickly he tied a lavender neckerchief around his neck, adjusting it before running outside.

He smiled brightly, waving as he saw his friends. There were 4 of them, each broader and stronger looking than him. Harry sometimes felt intimidated by them, feeling tiny in comparison.

He greeted them kindly, but in response got "what on earth are you wearing? You look like a girl."

"Why do you say that like it's a bad thing?" Harry tilted his head, "plus, it's not like clothes have a gender."

"You look ridiculous." The blonde one said. Frederick.

Harry tugged at his clothes self-consciously, bowing his head. "I thought I looked pretty." He mumbled.

"You sound like a fag." One with black hair, slicked back from his face, spat. His name was James.

Harry didn't quite know what that word meant, he just knew it wasn't nice. He had never been raised around such language, so the word confused him.

"Um, what would you like to do today? I could take you to-"

"Why don't we all have a game of hide and seek? You can count." Bug-eyes suggested. Harry had called him that in his head for as long as he could remember. He had never liked bug-eyes, not with his judgemental stares and his evil nature.

"I'm not sure..." Harry chewed the inside of his cheek.

"Don't be such a pussy. It will be fun."

"Okay." He gave in, "what shall I count to?"

"100. That should be plenty. There's no going inside allowed."

Harry gave a short nod as he sat down on the wall, covering his eyes with his hands and beginning to count.

come on more of you need to follow my twitter