Harry sighs, frowning at his reflection in the mirror. His fingers run repeatedly through his hair, trying his best to get some resemblance of a style with his curls, but they refuse to cooperate with him.
He gives up after a minute, backing away from the mirror. He grabs his backpack on the way out of his room, heading downstairs. His best friend, Niall Horan, is at his kitchen table, his mouth stuffed full of pancake. His mother is at the refrigerator, pouring orange juice in four cups; one for herself, one for Harry, one for Niall, and one for Gemma, Harry's older sister. They both turn to the doorway when they hear Harry enter, his mum giving him a warm smile. "Make yourself a plate, love. You need to be getting to school soon, or else you boys will be late."
"Can't we just skip school today?" Niall asks. Harry spares his friend a glance, seeing his friend's mouth in a perfect pout. Right before he stuffs another forkful of pancake in his mouth. Harry rolls his eyes, grabbing a plate. He plants a kiss to Anne's cheek as he passes by, stealing his glass of juice.
Anne rolls her eyes fondly at Niall's antics, not even bothering to respond to the foolish question. Harry takes a seat in the chair across from Niall, copying his friend's lead and putting a forkful of the pancake in his mouth. He chases it down with a sip of orange juice.
The food is devoured in no time, Niall even going back for a second plate. "Alright, you boys better be heading out now, or you're gonna be late to your first class." Anne reminds them, subtly ushering Niall out of the chair.
"See you later, mum. I love you." Harry bids his mother goodbye, grabbing Niall's arm when a pale hand darts out towards an apple. "You don't even like apples." The curly haired boy sighs, dragging him out of the kitchen.
"But I'm hungry," Niall moans, glancing forlonly back at the kitchen table.
Harry doesn't bother wasting his time by answering, just keeps leading his friend out of the house.
"Can we stop at a bakery on the way to school?"
-
The school day is long for both friends and when the last bell finally rings, they meet up at Harry's locker. "Can I stay the night at your house tonight? My mom's working late and I really don't want to have to listen to my brother call his girlfriend all night."
"I don't care, Ni. You still have clothes over from last time, unless you want to swing by your house and get some other ones." Harry answers, barely managing to dodge a girl chasing another girl through the crowds.
"Nah, I'll make do with those. Can we stop at that bakery again though? I'm craving a donut." Niall asks his friend, puckering his bottom lip out as he lets his gaze fall on the boy.
"Sure, Ni." Harry sighs, way too fondly for his own liking.
-
"C'mon, H. Your mum isn't here right now, and I really want to go back out. We haven't went out in the woods in years." Niall begs his friend, looking between the emerald eyed boy and the woods on the other side of the glass.
"Niall, I don't know." Harry responds, his teeth sinking in his bottom lip. He nervously eyes the treeline, groaning slightly. He knows his friend is going to talk him into it. Really he knows there's no point in even arguing with him, but he's going too. For a moment, anyways.
"H, come on." Niall groans loudly, falling on Harry's bed, the wind leaving his lungs when his stomach collides with the mattress. He props his elbow up on the bed, leaning his chin in the palms of his hands. His blue eyes bore in Harry's, until the green eyed boy finally nods with a sigh escaping his lips. "Let's go. Let me get a sweater on first."
"Hurry up. I'll meet you downstairs."
The blond clambers out of the room, not even bothering to pull the door shut behind him. Harry rolls his eyes, he does that movement a lot being Niall's friend, and walks over to his closet. He pulls out the first sweater he sees, a baby pink one that his mom had made especially for him. It even has his name embroidered on the chest of it. The sweater is slid on after his t-shirt is pulled off, and he pulls at the sleeves until they make sweater paws that he loves so much. Harry bounds down the staircase, finding Niall at the backdoor not-so-patiently waiting for him to finish getting dressed. "Let's go now!" Niall cheers, yanking open the back door. A big gust of wind races through the house as soon as he does.
Harry follows him out into the cold air, shivering when the coolness seeps through his sweater. "Niall, can't we wait for a warmer day?" He asks, pulling his fingers even further back into the sleeves.
"No, I wanna do it today. We won't stay for long though, I promise." Harry's sure he's lying, but he doesn't call him out on it. Niall's always been obsessed with the woods. Specifically the woods behind Harry's house. He follows Niall out to the edge of the forest, stepping through the bushes.
Harry doesn't know why his friend likes the forest so much, but it honestly scares Harry a little bit. It didn't use too, but there's been so many stories of humans getting attacked by wolves here lately, Harry's scared he's going to run into one.
That thought brings Harry's mind back to that wolf he seen when he was a little boy. That wolf was nice. But Harry hasn't seen that wolf since, and any other wolves, he's terrified of.
Rustling sounds behind them. Harry freezes, as does Niall. He feels the blond's hand grip his upper arm, fingers squeezing instinctively. The two boys turn around together, right in time to see a giant wolf walk out from the underbrush. Blue eyes look at Harry first, then land on Niall, a growl slipping out of it's mouth as it's lips curl back.
Niall yelps, scurrying back. His grip, still locked around Harry's arm, pulls the boy back with him, which pulls another snarl from the wolf. But there's something familiar about the owlf, something that doesn't make Harry feel scared. It's something about those eyes...
Harry's mind goes back to when he was a child, that same wolf that he ran into. It takes him another moment to connect that this is the same wolf, just more grown. The same colored fur lines his body, a bit darker in some spots. He's taller too, his eyes almost all the way up to Harry's shoulders. When he's standing. But other than that, it is definitely the same wolf.
The wolf stalks forward two steps, blue eyes locked on Niall. Harry gently shakes Niall's arm off, ignoring the boy's confused noise, and steps forward towards the wolf, his hands held up. The wolf focuses on Harry then, it's posture instantly becoming less menacing. The wolf stops in front of Harry, collapsing down right in front of his feet. A low whine emits from it's throat, and it's then that Harry notices the red matted in his fur.
Harry frowns, crouching down in front of the wolf, his hand tangling in the fur on the top of the wolf's head. "Harry, what the hell is happening?" Niall asks, and Harry's reminded of his friend's presence.
"I've seen this wolf before." Harry tells him, looking up for just a moment to spare a shrug. He looks back at the wolf, chewing on his lip nervously. "He's hurt though. I can't tell how bad. I wonder if he'd follow me back to my house." Harry thinks out loud, eyeing the wound. He can't tell how deep it is, and he'd really like to patch it up before the wolf takes off. But he has nothing with his to patch something. How do you tell a wolf to follow you?
The wolf stands up though, like he undestands what Harry just said. His frame towers above Harry, who's still crouching down, a wet nose nudging Harry's forehead gently until the culy haired boy stands up with a laugh. He waits patiently for Harry to start moving, which he does. Niall follows behind, his hands stuffed in his pockets, his eyes looking off to the side where another wolf sits in the leaves.
"I'll be right back boy, okay?" Harry coos to the wolf when they enter his backyard, holding one finger up to signal for the wolf to wait here, before he takes off into the house. Niall follows him inside, rather than staying outside with the wolf who clearly doesn't care much for him.
"Explain please." He demands, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He leans against the nearest wall, his gaze boring into Harry.
"I'll do it later, I need to patch him up right now."
"Harry."
Harry ignores his friend, crouching down to get everything he needs to patch up the wolf from the cabinet. He turns around, walking around the blond to get back outside.
The whole time Harry cleans and patches up the wound, the wolf just lays there, his tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth. Pants leaves his mouth, his head propped up on his paws. Occasional whines leave his mouth when Harry accidentally presses too hard, but other than that, the wolf makes no move to stop Harry.
Once Harry is done, the wolf stands up, his tongue darting out to lick a fat stripe up his cheek. Harry squeaks out a laugh, cringing as he wipes the slobber off of his skin.
The wolf turns then, and runs off into the trees, pausing once just on the edge to look back at the human boy.
Harry sighs, standing up and dusting off the knees of his jeans. He nearly jumps out of his skin when he sees Niall in the open doorway, his arms crossed over his chest.
He opens his mouth to speak, but Niall cuts him off with a shake of his head. "You don't have to explain." The blond boy says simply, turning back into the house.
---
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