Protector (Harry Styles)

Chapter 7

The man in the ground has dirt all over his face and scraggly grey hair. He wears the biggest grin, showing off yellow teeth and gaps where some are missing. I've never seen anything by the likes of this old man. He clambers up a the rest of the ladder he was standing on and straitens up when he reaches the surface. The man busies himself with beating the dirt off his pants and I look over at Harry with what is probably the most penetrating stare. The little shit is just standing there with the most amused fucking smile on his face. It almost looks as if he's reliving a great memory with this old man.

"Well hiya Harry!" The old man yells snapping my attention back to him. With a cackle he embraces Harry and from what Im seeing it looks like it hurts. Harry groans when he's finally let go of. "You haven't changed a bit boy!" He yells with a gruff voice.

Harry laughs, "You sure have old man. Your even older and balder than you were seven years ago." And the old man cackles again.

"Alright alright lets go inside and you can tell us all about your new girl and what your plans are." the old man says. He ushers us towards the ladder. Harry goes first, he faces me and starts to step down. The old man is standing behind me tapping his foot and whistling a tune that sounds vaguely familiar but before I go down I stop and chew on my lip. What is Harry getting me into? Harry is all the way down when he looks up the five foot hole and gives me a questioning look. "You coming?" He asks.

"Oh yeah because this is totally normal, hell I do this every day." I retort. He rolls his eyes.

"Do you trust me?" He calls up.

"Is that a rhetorical question?"

He scoffs. "Just get your ass down here." I stand there for a second longer fumming but finally turn around and head down the creaky wooden ladder. And the old man follows right behind me.

My feet hit the ground and the man jumps off the last two steps with a whoop. "A sassy gal you got yourself laddy." he says to Harry with a clap on the shoulder as he passes us.

Harrys green orbs meet mine and his face softens a bit when he sees how confused I am. He puts both hands on my shoulders and he holds me at arms length. "Hey are you okay? I'm sorry you just have to trust me." his eyes search my face. I just nod.

"Get y'alls sorry butts in here" yells the man from the room that opens up past the hallway were in.

Harry swings his arm around my shoulder and leads my toward the room. "Yeah shut up Jake." Jake. That must me the old mans name. We enter a cozy living room that is connected to a dining room and a kitchen on the right with hallways leading off in every direction to who knows what all around. Nothing in here is modern. The couch is brown and made of what looks like old worn leather. No one has leather couches. Those went out of style a hundred and twenty years ago. Everything in this place looks like it went out of style a hundred and twenty years ago. Theres even a bear skin rug. I've never seen one in real life

A plump old woman with short greying hair and a dirty apron over a flowery dress waddles up to Harry and takes him into another what looks like bone crushing hug.

"It's so good to see you again Harry. We always enjoy your company don't we Jake." she says looking at the old man. Who grunts in reply. "Oh, I've just put on a pot of stew sit down you must be hungry it's almost lunchtime." she says as she waddles over to the dining room and pulls out two chairs for us. Harry puts his hand on my lower back and leads me to sit down.

The woman scurries into her cozy little kitchen and fills up two bowls of delicious smelling stew. She scuttles back and sets a bowl down in front of us along with a spoon and a napkin. Just as I pick up my spoon my stomach rumbles loudly causing me to blush. The woman chuckles and pats me on the back. "Dig in dearie." she says. She waddles off and comes back a minute later with a bowl for herself. She looks at me. "Tell me sweetie, whats the name?" She asks.

"Im Lana. Lana Aden." I say offering my hand. She shakes it with both hands.

"Well Im Marry. It's so good to meet you. Harry's new girl." She says with a laugh.

"Ohh no no it's not like that. He's just my Protector." I quickly say.

She giggles, "Just generation one Protector? That's all? You know it wasn't like that with Harry and Em-"

"Marry, that's enough with the pleasantries. Let's cut to the chase. I didn't prepare Emily fast enough last time. And thats one of the reasons she died. The first thing I want is for Lana to have and be able to handle a gun." Harry cuts in.

"What!" I yell. I whip my head around to him. What kind of world does he think we live in?

He looks at me from across the table. His eyes meet mine. His face is stony and his eyes are serious, "What you have to understand Lana is that the world isn't as safe as you think it is. Okay. You've seen it. Even if you didn't understand it. And you need to be prepared for whats to come. You're special and the sooner you realize that the sooner the searchers will come for you."

There is an awkward silence after he finishes talking. "Jake! Get yourself a bowl of stew and seat with us!" Marry yells. Jake comes up carrying a steaming bowl and sits at the table. Everyone digs in, I look up and se Harry staring intensely at me. Probably hoping I understand where he's coming from. I don't but I can tell he's sincere and I can't help but trust him. The rest of the meal I stare at the chipped, blue painted bowl in front if me to avoid looking at Harry.

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It's short but I haven't updated for a looooooooong time and someone commented telling me to update so here ya go