Burn

The court room was not a place Harry liked to be. He also didn’t like being within ten feet of Leon, who was sitting on the bench. His blonde head turned to look at Harry, a smirk forming on his lips. Harry gave him a nod, as if to say he was going to do what Leon wanted him to do. Leon had know idea that Harry was fanaticizing about beating him until his blood paint Harry’s hands.

Harry was to sit quietly on the witness bench until he was called upon, which is where is own lawyer was standing, her sandy colored hair tucked delicately into a bun. He was looking through papers, making sure everything for Harry’s immunity was set in place. She looked up at him with beautiful, light colored eyes when he approached.

Though Harry was not thankful for many things his father had done for him, he was thankful for him lending Angela. Angela was absolutely brilliant, and did not falter one bit when asked questions. She believed in her clients, and she would fight ruthlessly for them to get what she thought they deserved. He was thankful for that.

Handing him papers, she very quietly went over what he was going to say on the stand. She also mentioned that Leon’s lawyers were bound to be very upset when he was finished recounting the countless laws Leon have broken, but that it didn’t matter. Harry was untouchable from the law stand point. But that wasn’t the stand point he was worried about being attacked from.

Rae was very safe in her home, with Harry’s various friends to surround her. He knew that part of Leon’s threat was bluff; Leon had too many enemies, to have enough people to bother with Rae. But there was always that ‘what if’ factor that Harry did not fancy dawdling around with the idea of it.

“You’re brilliant, Angela,” Harry assured his lawyer, giving her a thankful smile before taking a seat. Leah and Louis filed in the back, sitting down quietly. As Harry settled in, he became absolutely stoic, not letting an ounce of emotion on his face.

It was a trying task, to sit still and listen to facts and details that he already knew. Leon had been running drugs all around London, and he was pretty good at hiding it. But Harry was the single thing that could prove he had done it, the only person who was willing to step forward and speak.

Harry had simply been the middle man. Telling people where to meet, and leaving threats if they fucked up. His job wasn’t that intricate, but Leon had always treated Harry liked he were some important part, giving him far too much information.

And when that part of Harry’s life had come to a close, he kept that information with him. Leon never knew that it would be his downfall. And it surely would be, since he had decided he wanted to threaten Rae.

Just the thought of it made Harry clenched his fists and breathe irregularly. Rae was Harry’s. She was his one good thing, his one thing that he had not ruined. Everything Harry touched had a habit of tarnishing, but he knew she was different. She wouldn’t wither under his touch, and that gave him some sort of strength he didn’t understand.

That was what made her different from the others. It wasn’t her ability to calm him; on the contrary, it was her ability to stand her ground with him, to not bend when he pushed. Rae was durable, and that’s what he needed. But Rae was also fire, which was in itself dangerous. They were fire fighting with fire.

“We’d like to call Harry Styles up to the stand.”

Harry looked up at his name. He paused for a moment before Angela jammed her pen into his hand, making him stand. He walked to the stand, straightening his suite. He almost smiled, remembering how taken Rae had been when she saw him dressed that morning. He liked when she looked at him like that. It wasn’t with lust like most girls looked at him. It was a mix of lust, adoration, and pride.

Sitting down, he went through the process of swearing, his hand on the bible. Leon’s eyes glittered all the while, and Harry almost laughed out loud. That little fucking prick thought he had this in the bag. He honestly thought he had scared Harry Styles into doing what he wanted. Leon was about to learn that Harry Styles was not so easily defeated.

“Mr. Styles, may I call you Harry?” Leon’s lawyer questioned, cocking his head to the side. Harry nodded once, although he didn’t liked being on familiar terms with him. “On the night my client was arrested, you were at the scene, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And it is true, that my client was caught with drugs in his possession, and held at gun point by the so called, ‘buyer’ correct?”

Harry thought about it. “Yes, but-"

“And my client was threatened to give the drugs back, correct?”

Harry smiled slow and predatory then, his eyes ghosting over to Leon. Leon saw the smile and began to narrow his eyes, straightening as if suddenly uncomfortable. He knew what was coming. “Leon threatened to kill the man on the spot, if he didn’t have the correct amount of payment for the amount of oxy codone that Leon was selling, and the man in return pulled a weapon.

Leon and his lawyer both sputtered. “We withdraw.”

The opposing team jumped up, ready to question Harry. “Can you explain, in full, what your job for Mr. Braxton was?”

So Harry did. In full detail, not a single thing left out. The uproar that was bursting out of Leon’s eyes was one of the most satisfying things he had ever seen. And he knew that the boy was done for, that it was the end of him. It was glorious.

But it was not as glorious as watching Leon cuffed and sentenced to a long time in jail. And it was greatest, when Harry murmured as he walked by Leon to leave, “You will never touch her again.”
Leon said nothing, but smile and shook his head.

*

“You have pretty eyes,” Zayn commented, as he moved a chess piece across the board. Rae and Zayn were sitting on the floor of the living room. He looked up at her, giving her a kind grin. She returned it while contemplating where to move her pieces next. She was never good at the game.

“Don’t let Harry hear you say that,” Niall joked, shaking his blonde hair with his hand. Niall was yawning, clearly bored with lounging around the house. He was now busying himself with a bag of crisps. “Harry doesn’t care who you are, he’s quite particular about people complimenting her.

“He’s just got quirks,” Rae supplied, moving her piece. Zayn snickered slightly, moving his piece into check. Rae frowned, knowing he had her yet again. He was pretty good that the game. “What are you laughing at?”

“Besides your bad chess play? You defend Harry as easily as you breathe.”

“Or does she breathe as easily as she defends Harry?”

Zayn and Rae both looked at Liam, who looked up from his book, cracking a smile and shrugging. “Sorry, not a very good joke.”

“Finally!” Niall said as his phone beeped, drawing the attention of them all. He was typing a quick reply back on his phone, looking quite satisfied. “You won’t believe what Harry’s sent me.”

“Porn,” Zayn said at the same time that Rae said, “A poem.”

They exchanged glances, laughing. “A pornographic poem,” Rae suggested, letting her sarcasm get the better of her. “Or a poem about pornography?”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“No, Liam, tis not.”

“Do you fuckers want to know what Harry said or not?”

Rae apologized, nodding her head quickly. After she had spent the day painting in her study, she had come down stairs to be social. Her way of hiding how nervous and worried she was through sarcasm and replying with sass and a bitchy attitude. It was not often she behaved like that, though.

Dealing with nervousness was something she had dealt with before. But this was different. She was deliberately being held captive in her home for what they thought was safety, and she was worried for the well being of someone else.

Being worried for others was always the worst. Often, there was nothing you could do for anyone, nothing you could offer them. Sitting and waiting was the most you could do, but it was the worst thing in the entire world.

“Leon got ten years!”

Ten years. Ten years wasn’t the longest time in the world, it wasn’t forever. And it wasn’t what she though Leon deserved. But ten years was long when you were in jail, and it would keep him away from her.

It was enough.