Hold My Hand - Harry Potter (Book One)

You Give Me Something

Saturday, 27th of May 1995

It was evening, and Hermione, Ron and Ariana found themselves sat in the Gryffindor Common Room, surrounded by noise and laughter, though they didn't particularly feel like joining in.

Harry was outside somewhere, with the fellow Champions, finding out about the Third Task, and they were nervous as hell waiting for him to get back so they could find out how to help him prepare.

"How much longer do you think he'll be?" Ariana broke the silence, which she assumed had been going on for a while, as the sun had gone down since they first sat down by the window.

"Hopefully not much longer, it's getting late and I'm tired," Ron said, and though his words expressed selfish disregard for Harry, the shakiness to his voice betrayed his true emotions.

"Always about you, Ronald," Hermione glared at him, and he looked confused.

"What?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"Nothing, nothing," She said.

Silence fell once again, and it felt like an eternity before the portrait hole swung open, and Harry entered, looking shaken up. He found his three friends immediately, and sat beside them, not saying anything.

"Well?" Hermione eagerly asked, and Harry looked at her.

"What?" He asked, and the three friends shared a look of confusion.

"The task?" Ron asked, a look of 'obviously' written across his expression.

"Oh. That. It's a maze," He said, rather buntly.

"Harry are you alright?" Ariana questioned, and Harry shook his head.

"Barty's dead," He whispered, and Hermione gasped.

"Crouch?!" She asked, and Ron looked at her as though she had several heads.

"How many other Barty's do you know, Hermione?" He asked, and she smacked him upside the head.

"What happened?" Ariana asked, bringing the conversation back around.

"I don't know. I just found him on the ground, on my way back to the castle," Harry's voice was very quiet, and Ariana wished the world would just give him a break. Couldn't someone else take some of his mental load?

"Harry, I'm so sorry," She said, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it right.

"I'm scared, Ana," He whispered, as though scared to confess that to her.

"About what?" She asked, vaguely aware that Ron and Hermione were watching and listening, but trying to keep her attention focussed on Harry as much as she could.

"Everything," He said.

"Is there anything we can do to help you?" Hermione asked, also clearly concerned. Harry was always the tough one, never the one to get upset or anxious by things. After all, he had been through so much, it took a great deal to shatter his confidence.

"I'll think about that tomorrow, I need to go and see Dumbledore. I just needed to see you all, get some reassurance," Harry said, standing up to leave the tower.

"We're always here for you Harry, I swear," Ariana said, and he smiled at her.

"I know," He reluctantly let go of her hand and made his way out of the Common Room, heading to see Dumbledore to make sure he knew what he had found on the grounds.

He was shaken up, more than he had been for a long while, probably since he saw Ginny lying in the Chamber of Secrets almost two years before.

He didn't know where he would be without any of his friends, but especially Ana. She calmed him. And he couldn't quite explain how, but it felt like a strange kind of magic. One touch from her, and his anxiety levels lessened, his breathing levelled and his pulse seemed to slow. It was as though she was repairing him, keeping him sane.

He didn't know how it worked, but he did know that he needed it desperately, and he wasn't sure he would get by without it.

————

He sat in the dormitory that night, having a small catch up with Ron before the other boys ventured up to bed, and he attempted to explain the feelings he got around Ariana.

"It feels like magic," Was the only way he could describe it.

"I don't get what you mean," Ron shook his head.

"When she touches me. It's like she can calm me with her touch," Harry tried to describe it, but Ron simply frowned.

"Isn't that just what it feels like to be in love?" He asked.

"No, I don't think it's that," Harry disagreed.

"Well I've never been in love, I wouldn't know," Ron shrugged, climbing under the covers of his bed.

"Course you haven't," Harry rolled his eyes, hoping Ron wouldn't see, "it feels like magic. I don't know what magic it could be, but it feels like she actually has a physical effect on me, when I'm stressed or scared,"

"Maybe tomorrow you can ask Hermione? She might know something about it, maybe it's some weird love magic or something," Ron suggested, and Harry nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I think I will," He concluded, before settling down for a long, sleepless night of nightmares and thoughts about Ariana.