The Animator (Larry Stylinson)

CHAPTER SEVEN - THE KING'S ARMS

Unfortunately reading the book didn't seem to answer any questions, and instead all they realised was that Louis had some very strange visions.

"I'm pretty sure he makes some of these up to make it seem like his power is more impressive than it is.." Niall sighed as he closed the book and placed it on the bed away from them.

"That wouldn't surprise me," Harry said with a sigh, "We should head to bed or something, get back to Louis' as soon as the sun rises."

"We've not even eaten. I refuse to sleep with an empty stomach." Niall said and Harry bit at his lip his pocket touching the tin in his pocket. He wanted to look over them again, see if he could understand why Louis would have kept them all.

"You go get dinner then. I'm not really hungry." Harry said moving to get off of Niall's bed and go into his own but Niall stopped him.

"No way, you may not be hungry but I'm not letting you go to bed without anything to eat. We've probably got another long journey ahead of us and I'm not going to let you starve yourself to death. You need energy."

"Fine, mum." Harry said rolling his eyes and Niall pulled him towards the door. "Wait, I've not got shoes on!"

"Me either, who cares." Niall said marching them out of the room and he pulled them both down the stairs. Harry allowed himself to be dragged through to the dining area where Niall took them to a corner table and sat down.

They were quite quiet as they sat looking over the menu, it was like they were both trying to get their heads around the fact Louis hadn't been there. That this whole time they'd been going under the assumption that Louis was going to help them.

When a woman walked over to take their order Harry realised he'd been staring at the menu without even paying attention to it and so he ordered the soup since it was the first thing his eyes focused on.

"I'm sure he's fine." Niall said after ordering his own and watching the waitress walk away from the table. Harry looked down at the table, he hummed and turned to look out of the window, not that he could see anything out of it. It was pitch black now and he could see more of a reflection of the pub.

"His shop was burnt, everything was turned upside down and we don't even know when it happened." Harry said looking over to Niall who's shoulders sagged.

"I was just trying to think optimistically," He said fiddling with his cutlery. Harry turned back to the window and allowed himself to zone out slightly.

When their food arrived Harry looked down at the bowl, his mouth dry and a his stomach twisting with the nerves he'd felt since they'd walked down the street to Louis' shop.

He stirred it aimlessly as Niall started eating his own slowly. He ate a spoonful no and then, not enjoying it at all.

"How is it?" Niall asked after a while.

"It's kind of bland," Harry said looking down at the soup, he wasn't sure if it was because of his lack of appetite or because the soup genuinely tasted like nothing and Niall nodded looking at his own plate of food.

"I can honestly say I never thought I'd miss Batty." He sighed and Harry bit his lip but took his bread and dipped it in the soup none the less. Niall was right about keeping their strength up.

They finished their food in silence, paid and returned to the room. They got ready for bed and both got into theirs and Harry turned towards the wall as Niall opened the book they'd looked through already.

Harry once again couldn't sleep, and he knew if he did bad dreams would haunt him. So he stared at the wall until he heard Niall start snoring.

He turned around to check Niall was asleep and he reached out to his coat and he reached into his pocket he turned away from Nialls bed and looked at the picture in the limited light they had. Harry ran his finger over Louis' smiling face, he frowned as he continued to look at it.