Drabble the first
Happy Thanksgiving, a little early, to all the Americans! And since tomorrow officially kicks off the holiday season, I'm kicking it off here with the first of the drabble requests fulfilled-- and I hope they all satisfy!
*hugs*
For lil_pixiedevil, with the prompt of the song, 'Chasing Cars' by Snow Patrol.
Forgetting the World
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
“Harry, what are you doing?” Hermione kept her voice quiet as she sank to the ground, crouching beside where Harry was lying flat on his back. She had come out into the rather small garden behind Grimmauld Place to find Harry simply lying there, not moving. At first she’d wondered if he’d fallen asleep but now she could see that his eyes were open.
He didn’t turn to look at her, only reached out with one hand to grasp hers and tugged her down to sit beside him in a wordless invitation to linger. “Nothing,” he said softly. “I’m just lying here, watching the clouds, thinking, doing nothing.”
Hermione’s expression softened. He needed this time to just relax a little, a fleeting moment of rest before the daily round of darkness and dangers and fears began again. Thinking he would want to be alone, she started to get up again but he stopped her with a word.
“Stay.” It was the simplest, most terse, request but his tone made it eloquent and so, she did, slipping down to lie beside him.
He said nothing more and Hermione was struck with how comfortable the silence was. She felt no need to talk; there was no need to wonder and worry about what he might think of her silence; there was simply the peace of steadfast friendship and complete trust.
When he finally spoke, it was only to point at a cloud. “That one looks like a car.”
Hermione smiled and fell in with his whim, her heart lightening at this show of Harry enjoying these few moments when he could simply be himself, a boy of 17, and not the hero on whose shoulders the fate of the wizarding world seemed to rest. “And there’s a dragon,” she responded, gesturing to another cloud.
“A hippogriff.”
“I see a cat.”
“It looks like Crookshanks when he’s in a tizzy,” Harry quipped and Hermione laughed, loving Harry’s humor and delighting in glimpsing it again. He smiled and joked so rarely these days, his eyes always shadowed, and she missed Harry’s smile, missed his laugh, missed seeing the way his eyes would sparkle with amusement…
There was a moment of silence and then he said, very quietly, all traces of levity gone from his tone, “I think I see a Grim.”
The word shattered the calm like a stone tossed into a pond, leaving ever-widening ripples in its wake.
Hermione inwardly flinched at what she heard in his voice, the unspoken fear, but kept her voice carefully matter-of-fact. “It looks like an owl to me.”
Another pause and then she could sense the sudden tension leave him and heard the slight smile in his tone. “I think you might be right.”
“Of course I’m right,” she responded lightly and was rewarded by his laugh.
Neither of them said anything more but Hermione was happy, knowing she had helped Harry and given him a measure of ease.
He reached over and slipped his hand into hers where it lay on the grass between them and gave her hand a slight pressure. It was a gesture of gratitude, of friendship, of affection, a gesture that spoke of many words left unsaid but understood by both…
This interlude could not last very long, Harry knew, but it had happened, offering him a brief respite from the fears and the worries and the darkness that haunted his days and his nights-and it had happened in large part because of her…
He had come out to the garden seeking a few moment of peace-and he had found that peace, that comfort, in her…
It would not last long but, lying there holding Hermione’s hand, he felt calm settle over him like a blanket…
And just for that moment, that was enough.
*hugs*
For lil_pixiedevil, with the prompt of the song, 'Chasing Cars' by Snow Patrol.
Forgetting the World
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
“Harry, what are you doing?” Hermione kept her voice quiet as she sank to the ground, crouching beside where Harry was lying flat on his back. She had come out into the rather small garden behind Grimmauld Place to find Harry simply lying there, not moving. At first she’d wondered if he’d fallen asleep but now she could see that his eyes were open.
He didn’t turn to look at her, only reached out with one hand to grasp hers and tugged her down to sit beside him in a wordless invitation to linger. “Nothing,” he said softly. “I’m just lying here, watching the clouds, thinking, doing nothing.”
Hermione’s expression softened. He needed this time to just relax a little, a fleeting moment of rest before the daily round of darkness and dangers and fears began again. Thinking he would want to be alone, she started to get up again but he stopped her with a word.
“Stay.” It was the simplest, most terse, request but his tone made it eloquent and so, she did, slipping down to lie beside him.
He said nothing more and Hermione was struck with how comfortable the silence was. She felt no need to talk; there was no need to wonder and worry about what he might think of her silence; there was simply the peace of steadfast friendship and complete trust.
When he finally spoke, it was only to point at a cloud. “That one looks like a car.”
Hermione smiled and fell in with his whim, her heart lightening at this show of Harry enjoying these few moments when he could simply be himself, a boy of 17, and not the hero on whose shoulders the fate of the wizarding world seemed to rest. “And there’s a dragon,” she responded, gesturing to another cloud.
“A hippogriff.”
“I see a cat.”
“It looks like Crookshanks when he’s in a tizzy,” Harry quipped and Hermione laughed, loving Harry’s humor and delighting in glimpsing it again. He smiled and joked so rarely these days, his eyes always shadowed, and she missed Harry’s smile, missed his laugh, missed seeing the way his eyes would sparkle with amusement…
There was a moment of silence and then he said, very quietly, all traces of levity gone from his tone, “I think I see a Grim.”
The word shattered the calm like a stone tossed into a pond, leaving ever-widening ripples in its wake.
Hermione inwardly flinched at what she heard in his voice, the unspoken fear, but kept her voice carefully matter-of-fact. “It looks like an owl to me.”
Another pause and then she could sense the sudden tension leave him and heard the slight smile in his tone. “I think you might be right.”
“Of course I’m right,” she responded lightly and was rewarded by his laugh.
Neither of them said anything more but Hermione was happy, knowing she had helped Harry and given him a measure of ease.
He reached over and slipped his hand into hers where it lay on the grass between them and gave her hand a slight pressure. It was a gesture of gratitude, of friendship, of affection, a gesture that spoke of many words left unsaid but understood by both…
This interlude could not last very long, Harry knew, but it had happened, offering him a brief respite from the fears and the worries and the darkness that haunted his days and his nights-and it had happened in large part because of her…
He had come out to the garden seeking a few moment of peace-and he had found that peace, that comfort, in her…
It would not last long but, lying there holding Hermione’s hand, he felt calm settle over him like a blanket…
And just for that moment, that was enough.