"Dude, are you sure that you're alright?" Peter asked Harry midway through their field trip after Harry had sneezed for what felt like the twenty-fifth time.
"I'm fine," Harry insisted before coughing slightly.
"You don't look fine." Gwen frowned as she looked at Harry who was looking a lot paler than he normally did, not to mention the fact that he looked like he was sweating quite a bit. The fact that he kept sniffing and rubbing his now red nose didn't help matters.
"Really, I'm okay." Harry insisted once more before he was hit by another coughing fit. 'Damn it, why is my own body trying to prove me wrong?!' He mentally raged.
"No, you're not," Gwen placed a hand on Harry's forehead. "you're burning up. We should tell someone."
"I'm fine," Harry pulled her hand off. "besides, I don't want to make a fuss." There were few things that Harry hated, and being confined to a bed in a hospital wing was one of them.
"Harry, I.."
"If I get worse then I'll tell somebody," Harry cut her off. "I promise, but the way I see it, there's only a couple of hours before we go home."
"Fine," Gwen lightly tutted as she stared at him. "but you had better tell us if you get worse."
"Aw Gwen," Harry lightly laughed as he placed an arm around her shoulder. "it's so nice to know that you care, I'm flattered."
"Ha, ha." Gwen let out a fake laugh before she pushed his arm off.
"you're as hilarious as always."
"I know." Harry grinned at her.
"See, he can't be all bad if he's still cracking jokes." Reasoned Peter, joining Harry in trying to lighten the mood.
"Don't encourage him, Peter," Gwen rolled her eyes. "honestly, I swear the two of you are going to drive me mad one day.
"You love us, really." Harry moved forwards to jokingly kiss Gwen's head but she quickly jerked her head out of his reach.
"I'd rather not, thank you," She said as politely as she could. "no offence, I'd just rather not catch whatever you've got."
"I.." Harry stopped and turned his head away from the two of them before he began coughing violently. " ...fair enough." He croaked.
"Dude, dude, wake up." Harry heard Peter say before Harry opened his eyes and saw Peter standing in his room.
"What?" Harry blinked repeatedly before he began rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, noting that he was lying down in his bed.
"Well, you fell asleep on me." Peter began explaining.
"Huh?" Harry blinked once again before he recalled exactly what happened. "Oh yeah," He nodded, he remembered him and Peter coming back to his house after the field trip. They had gotten started on their homework before Harry had lied down on his bed, that was the last thing he remembered before being woken up.
"How long was I out for?" He asked.
"About two hours, give or take a few minutes," Peter answered. "I finished my bit of homework and then I played on your PlayStation for a bit. I would've left you to sleep but l've got to go home and your mother is making food."
"Hmm, food," He said in an impression of Homer Simpson, a smile appeared on his face. "I could go for some food right now." His stomach chose that moment to rumble.
'I can see that," Peter said in a dry voice. "anyway, I'll be going now, see you later." Peter gave him a little wave before walking out of the room.
Harry let out a sigh before he laid back in bed, it was about ten minutes later before Harry was able to muster up the energy to sit up, he rubbed his eyes once more before he looked down at the back of his right hand and saw the bite mark from the spider that had bitten him. A part of Harry knew that it was better to probably tell someone, but another part of him couldn't help but feel like he should stay quiet and leave it alone. He was positive that he'd be fine eventually.
It was another five minutes before Harry felt ready to stand up, even then he was more than ready to go back to bed. Harry let out a deep yawn as he walked downstairs where he found his mother laying out dinner on the kitchen counter.
"Hey Mum," Harry gave her a small smile as he took his seat.
"Hello, Harry, how are you feeling? Peter told me that you weren't feeling well," She replied as she sat down with him. "do you need to go to a doctor?" She asked.
"I think it's a virus or something," Harry coughed. "I'm sure l'll be better by morning."
"You're alwavs so stubborn about being sick," Emily complained.
"with you, I can never tell if it's something minor or major because you treat them all the exact same." She sighed, remembering that time that Harry had slipped down some stairs and ended up banging his head on the floor when he landed wrong. Any other child would have been bawling their eyes out but he had tried to wave it off as a minor bump.
"Sorry," Harry said in a sheepish voice. "I just don't want to make a fuss.
"Harry, your health is important to us, it is not making a fuss if you tell us that something might be wrong." Emily admonished. "What do you think makes more of a fuss? Telling us early that something might be wrong or letting it get worse and making us take more time and effort." She gave him a look, the same one that she would occasionally give his father. Harry felt himself wilt slightly under her gaze, something that was fairly impressive when you consider the other things that Harry had stared down over the years.
"Sorry, Mum," Harry apologised.
"That's fine," Emily rubbed her forehead as she looked at him. "I'm not trying to nag you, Harry, but it is important that you tell me these things. Now, are you okay?"
"Well," Harry paused, indecision on his face before he was interrupted by a particularly violent cough. "not really."
"Well, what's wrong with you?" Emily asked, somewhat pleased by his admission, but also not entirely happy given the fact that her son was i.
"Well, on our trip earlier I was bitten by a spider and..."
"What?!"
"Is this really necessary?" Harry asked for what felt like the seventh time, lying down on a hospital bed with his mother and father standing on one side while a doctor and nurse stood on the other side.
"Yes," The doctor said with a nod. "it's better to be sure than not find out later."
"You two read from the same book or something?" Harry asked his mother as he gestured to the doctor.
"Wisdom comes in all shapes and forms, but it more or less sounds the same," Emily smirked.
"Indeed," The doctor agreed with a smile.
"Is he fine?" Norman cut in, the doctor turned to the nurse who handed him a few papers.
"He seems to be," The doctor nodded after skimming through the papers. "we contacted the people responsible for the spiders and they've confirmed that none of the spiders there are actually harmful to humans, their venom might have been deadly for their prey but thankfully not for your son. He has a fever, and I'II give him some medicine for that, but other than that, he's perfectly fine. You can take him home, if he feels bad then maybe give him a day or two off of school to rest, but he won't need more than that "
"Hmm, good." Norman smiled. "May we please have a moment alone, doctor?"
"Of course, sir." The doctor nodded before he walked out along with the nurse.
"Good, now, when we get home, you're grounded," Emily told Harry.
"Grounded?!" Harry blurted out. "For what?!"
"Oh, let's see what I can think of." Emily hummed thoughtfully.
"Perhaps because you lied to me and maybe also because you didn't immediately seek medical attention straight away after getting bitten.
"But l've got a fever," Harry pointed out. "isn't that enough punishment?"
"Because I'm feeling a bit sadistic, no." Emily shrugged.
"Wow, see if I ever tell you anything about my health ever again,"
Harry said, shaking his head in disbelief.
"If something like this happens again then I won't be so nice,"
Emily warned before turning to Norman. "I blame you for this, he gets this stubbornness from you."
"That's debatable," Norman argued before pulling out his phone.
"now, if you'll both excuse me, l'm going to go and talk to our lawyers.'
"Dad, no," Harry spoke up. "it's fine, really, I..."
"It's not fine," Norman cut him off in a firm voice. "if it wasn't you then somebody else could have been hurt, but quite frankly, you're my priority here."
"Dad, one of the reasons I didn't tell anybody about being bit was because I didn't want to make a fuss," Harry complained.
"Perhaps, but quite frankly, if these scientists are incapable of stopping spiders from escaping and biting children then quite frankly they deserve to be sued," Norman argued. "besides, this is beneficial to us anyway. I was going to buy the place anyway, once I sue them they'll need the money more and I can lower the price I'm willing to pay if..
"Are you kidding me?" Emily cut in, staring at him with disbelief.
"Just making the best out of a bad situation." Norman defended.
"Well, to be fair, that is what a good businessman would do." Harry jumped in.
"You're on his side now?" Emily blinked.
"You grounded me, quite frankly I am on whatever side you're not," Harry shrugged. "besides, he's too stubborn to listen once he gets an idea in his head."
"Takes one to know one, son." Norman chuckled.
"You two are going to give me grey hairs before I even reach the age of fifty." Emily groaned.
The next day Harry woke up with a yawn, he shifted himself into a sitting position and ran a hand through his hair before he suddenly winced as a large flapping sound assaulted his ears, his hands instinctively shot up to his ears.
"What the fuck?!" Harry hissed as he turned his head and saw a flock of birds fly past his windows. "What on..." Harry found himself cut off by a large buzzing sound, the sound being followed along by another set of wings. "Bloody hell!" Harry cursed under his breath as he tightly covered his ears with his hands for what little good it did for him.
"Harry!" He heard his mother yell for him.
"Ah!" Harry gasped out and fell back on his bed.
"It's time for breakfast!" She called again.
"I'm coming!" Harry yelled back, desperate for her to be quiet, only to wince as his own vell made him feel like his head was about to explode.
A moment later at least one of Harry's problems was solved when his hand suddenly reached out instinctively and grabbed something out of the air, Harry shook his head and saw just what he caught. His eyes widened with amazement as he stared at the fly that he was holding by its wings. Unfortunately, Harry could still hear the sound of its buzzing, he quickly got up and rushed to his window. He tossed open the window before throwing the fly out and quickly closed it again, wincing when the window slammed down. Unfortunately, Harry's troubles didn't stop there, a second later he spun around quickly as his ears were assaulted by the sound of something crawling in his room.
He looked around and - a moment later - found the source, a spider crawling on top of the wall opposite him, snapping its fangs as it did so.
"Oh just shut up and stop moving!" Harry groaned, closing his eyes. It took a few seconds but eventually, Harry realised that the crawling and snapping noise from the spider had stopped. He opened his eyes and spotted the spider in the exact same spot as before. 'What?' Harry thought intelligently before he nearly fell to the floor when he heard the fly from earlier flying outside his window, Harry's face twisted into an angry expression before he opened the window and grabbed the fly with ease before crushing it in his hands. Though Harry instantly regretted it a second later when he nearly collapsed as the noises intensified as he was assaulted with a variety of sounds from people yelling to car horns.
He fell to his knees, letting out a short cry of pain, it took a considerable amount of effort for him to reach up and close the window.
'Ah, fuck!' Harry internally cursed, not willing to speak out loud, even the sound of his breathing was torturous for him. 'Please, stop!' Harry mentally begged, not knowing what was happening, just that he wanted it to end.
Five minutes later Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he was finally able to get his hearing to bearable levels, he let out a gasp as he pushed himself off of the floor to a standing position. He blinked and shook his head before he noticed two very weird things, firstly the spider from before still hadn't moved, Harry could see it from across the room, positioned in the exact same spot as before. The second weird thing was the fact that Harry could see a small spider across the room despite not putting in his contact lenses.
"What's happening to me?"