When Harry got home, he noticed nothing unusual at first. Ms Curtis was cooking dinner in the kitchen; he decided to go in and say hi after dropping his bag off in his and Louis' bedroom. The boys were outside kicking a football around. Harry walked down the passage, into his shared room.
That was when he knew something was off. There were no mounds of clothes on the floor, no junk spread about on Louis' side of the room. Louis' bed was made up neatly, and that was it. There was nothing else to indicate Louis' presence in the room. Harry quickly looked at the corkboard and breathed a sigh of relief. Louis' athletics and skateboarding ribbons were still hung up, the postcard from Jason who had gone to France over the last summer holidays, the bits and pieces he pinned up from time to time. For some reason, he'd obviously just decided to be tidy.
Harry dropped his bag off, changed, and went back to the kitchen. "Hi, Mum!" he called. He'd started to call Ms Curtis 'Mum' ever since she'd decided to adopt him.
"Hello, Harry." She left off chopping onions to hug him. "How are you?"
"I'm good. What's for dinner?"
"Spaghetti bolognese. You can set the table if you've washed your hands."
"I've washed them." He was used to Mum's rituals by now.
"Only set five places. Louis won't be here."
"Where is he? At Emily's?"
"You don't know yet." Mum left off her chopping once again. "Of course you don't, you weren't home. Harry, Louis' court case was decided today. The judge's verdict was that he should live with his father."
Harry felt his stomach drop. "What?"
"I know, it's a shock. I must admit, I thought the judge would find in our favour. It seems he was swayed by the extra privileges Louis would get at his father's home."
"Huh, but... it doesn't make sense. What extra privileges?"
"His own room, a half-sister, regular outings that his father can afford; the judge described me as an overburdened woman who would clearly benefit from having less children in my grossly overcrowded home... Harry, I can't believe it." And Mum started crying.
Harry felt his own tears beginning to fall. He ran up to Mum and hugged her. Mum hugged him back. "Oh, it was awful, Harry. I had to bring Louis back here to pack, which he point-blank refused to do, so I did it all, trying to soothe him, but he wouldn't be soothed, he was crying, he was refusing to go to his father's; so when his father came to pick him up, he wouldn't go anywhere, so his father ended up calling the police, and showing them the court order when they arrived, and the police dragged Louis off bodily... it was so traumatic."
"He's left all his ribbons behind, from athletics and skateboarding," sobbed Harry.
"Oh darling, that's not all he's left behind. He didn't take his skateboard, his football... I was so hopelessly unprepared for this. I really didn't think it would happen."
"Do the boys know?"
"They know."
With a deep inpull of breath, Harry stepped back. "Do you have Louis' new phone number?"
"Yes, I do. Do you want to call him? Let me get the number." Mum washed her hands, dried them on the kitchen towel, then took Harry out to the hallway where the phone was. There was a cork board there, too, and on it was pinned Louis' new phone number. "This one, Harry. You should call him now. They wouldn't be having dinner yet, unless they're particularly early."
Mum left, and Harry dialled the phone. It was a cordless phone, so he took it off to Louis' and his bedroom and lay down on Louis' bed.
"Hello?" a girlish voice answered.
