Freaks: Year Two

Alabaster Jackson...JACKSON?!

"My name is Alabaster Jackson."

Alabaster Jackson.

Alabaster.

Jackson.

Jackson.

Harry suddenly felt quite sick.

It couldn't be right. It couldn't be. Not a Jackson. Not a bloody Jackson. Why out of all the Slytherin first years it had to be someone related to him? Not Theodore. Not a Jackson. Why?

The thought scared him out of his mind.

"I-I-I," Harry was trying to get a sentence out, but all that was coming out of his mouth was stutters. It was like his breathing capabilities had been taken from him and he was just staring in terror, probably looking like an idiot.

"Are you alright?" Alabaster asked.

No. No he wasn't alright. Not at all. Why a Jackson? Why him? It seemed like a cruel joke. A very horrible, cruel, evil joke. Right when he had started up literal therapy because of Theodore Jackson's attack at the end of last year, he had to tutor his younger brother? Or cousin? A relative? Why? Was the universe against him? Was this kid going to make his life a living hell? Why did it have to be him? Why couldn't it have been anyone else? What had he done wrong to be put in a situation where he had to tutor a Jackson?

What if he tortures you? Stop. Stop. Don't think that. He's eleven. The kid is eleven. He is a Jackson. He is related to Theodore. Theodore! Who knows what the hell he is capable of? Why...why...why...why does it have to be him? What if this is just another excuse for Theodore to use to corner him again? No...no. No, he could not do this. He was not going to be tortured again. No.

"Um, I-I need to...uh," Harry was trying to get his words out, but it was like he could barely breathe anymore. Not that the kid cared, he was sure. He probably thought it was funny to see him suffer just like Theodore had thought so all those months ago.

"Do you know English?" Alabaster asked as Harry was just stuttering out syllables. "Sorry, silly question, you were just speaking it."

"Wa-Washro-room," he finally choked out. "I-I need to go. B-Be b-back."

Harry quickly got out of his seat and he ran out of the library, and rushed down a corridor as quickly as he could, the world seeming to spin around him. He rushed into the first empty classroom he could find, putting his hand against the wall to steady himself so he wouldn't collapse on the floor.

A Jackson?

Harry felt like he was going to die.

You're being dramatic, you're being ridiculous, he thought, his mind being clouded by all these horrible thoughts and reminders of last year. Image after image after image and it wouldn't stop. Stop thinking about it...stop. You're not going to die...I just can't breathe...I can't breathe, you're so stupid, why...

All he knew is that he could not be around anyone who was related to Theodore.

He had his textbook clutched against his chest, feeling his heart pounding against it, and he was trying to remember the breathing exercise that his father had said to him after all the nightmares he had during the summer. In one one, out two, two–

A hand touched his shoulder.

A filthy halblood deserves a little torture now and then don't you think?

Harry shrieked, terrified out of his mind and swung his textbook, turning his body towards the person and it hit them square in the face, and Harry heard them let out a shout of surprise.