Salem Falls

Harry sat on top of his bed with his eyes hooked on the ceiling. He held a baseball in one hand and continuously tossed it in the air before catching it again. It was a mindless task, but it somehow helped Harry to focus all of his thoughts.

A soft knock on the door made Harry miss the ball, causing it to land on the floor beside his bed.
“Come in,” he said, as he picked the ball. He rolled it around in his hands, while the door opened, revealing Zayn behind it.

Zayn gave Harry a soft nod, and Harry knew immediately that something was up. He and Zayn had been best friends their entire lives, so he always knew when something was wrong. He noticed the changes in Zayn when his father passed and when he began seeing Maggie. He could tell when Zayn was worried and when he was happy, and he was sure Zayn could do the same with him.

“What’s up?” Harry said, standing up from his bed. He moved over to the computer chair beside him, while Zayn sat in the armchair in the corner of the room. Zayn’s head fell to his hands, while his elbows were perched up on his knees. His eyes were off in the distance and he paused for a moment before looking up at Harry.

“It’s Maggie,” he said, pausing for a brief moment before speaking again. “She’s in danger.”

Harry’s eyebrows furrowed as he shot up in his seat. He was expecting bad news, but nothing like that.

“What do you mean?”

Zayn reached into his back pocket and pulled out a stack of photos, tossing them to Harry. He flipped through them, seeing that they were all of Maggie, before landing on the bottom one with the writing on it. His eyes widened when he saw it and he knew exactly what it meant.

“Where did you find these,” Harry asked, flipping through the photos again. This time, he was looking to see if Alexa was in any of them, because he knew how close she and Maggie were.

“Someone left them on my doorstep. They were gone before I could see who it was.”

Harry flicked his eyes up to Zayn, nodding at him, and looked back at the photos again. Maggie was wearing several different outfits in them, so she had been followed for at least a few days. Harry wondered if she was being followed at that moment.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ve got to protect her,” Zayn said, standing up from the arm chair and moving back towards Harry. “I already cast a spell over her, but I’m not sure if it’s strong enough to do anything. I’m meeting her tomorrow to talk and I’m gonna try to watch her place tonight.”

“You going to sit outside her window or something?”

Zayn gave Harry a sideways glare and he couldn’t help but laugh at the awkward joke he had made. Despite what was going on, they still picked at each other. It was one of the best parts about their friendship.

After a short pause, Zayn looked back to the ground, shaking his head. He looked so confused and uncertain, and Harry could only begin to imagine how that felt, especially since the entire fate of the Sixth Circle rested on Zayn’s shoulders. It was more than he had asked for and much more than he could handle, and on top of that, he had to worry about everyone else being in danger.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do, Harry,” Zayn said, his hand muffling the sound of his voice. “Nothing my dad told me ever prepared me for this.”

Harry sighed, clicking his teeth with his tongue. He was never good at advice, especially in situations like that one. “You’ll figure it out. Just give it time.”

“I don’t have time, Haz,” Zayn said, looking up from the ground and right at Harry. “What if something happens to her? What if she gets hurt because of me?”

“You won’t let that happen.”

Zayn sighed, biting his lip. “How can you be sure?”

“I know you, Zayn. We’ve been friends our entire life. If there’s anyone who can protect Maggie, it’s you.”

Zayn’s lips twisted as he looked back at the ground, his chin falling into his hands again. He looked like he was mulling over what Harry had said and deciding whether or not he could believe it.

Harry felt awful that Zayn had to deal with everything that he did, because he didn’t have to deal with much himself. The biggest thing he had to deal with was Alexa and that only amounted to about half of what Zayn had to face, if that.

Sure, there was the chance that he and Alexa were in just as much danger and didn’t know it, but it seemed like all the attention was focused on Zayn, and even though he felt bad, Harry was happy to be out of that spotlight.