Harry was walking back from the front gates when the heavens quite literally opened. It had been dry all afternoon, then suddenly, it felt like she'd had a bucket of cold water poured directly over her head. She started off running, but the Sun dorms were too far away, so she took shelter under a small cluster of trees instead. It didn't help entirely - the rain was still escaping through the leaves and hitting her head in cold splatters.
She hugged her sodden blazer around her and shivered. Was she best to make another run for it or try and wait it out? Usually, the rain storms that started this suddenly never actually lasted for long. But it would be just her luck that she'd stand waiting, cold and wet, for a downpour that wasn't going to blow over.
At least the horrible weather had chased everyone else back inside. She must have looked a state. Her hair was beginning to separate into wet strands, dripping trails down her neck. Though she generally steered away from the romance genre in literature, she still knew all the classics and she'd read enough to know how much people romanticised rain scenes. She'd never got that. There was nothing attractive about looking and feeling like a drowned rat.
The thought had barely passed through her head when she heard, "Harry? What are you doing out here?"
Oh no, no, no! she thought desperately, as Takuma jogged over to join her under the trees. Why did he always have such horrible timing? Why did he have to come and find her when it looked like she'd just been dragged backwards through a river? And why did he look like he'd come from a photo shoot where he'd had to bathe fully clothed? How did some people pull off the wet look without just looking bedraggled like she did?
She remembered that she was supposed to answer; not just look horrified by his presence. "I went to post a letter. I got caught in it coming back and figured I'd see if I can wait it out."
Takuma looked up at the sky through the trees. "Hmm... It looks more like storm clouds - I don't think it'll be stopping any time soon. You should really get inside before the lightning starts."
"Oh, great." So she'd stuck around under the trees, got dripped on and had Takuma see her looking all soggy and pathetic for nothing. She really wanted the summer back.
"Come on; the Night Class building is closest. I'm afraid I don't have an umbrella, so this will just have to do."
Harry realised that he was taking his blazer off, leaving only a black shirt that now clung wetly and deliciously to every angle of his chest and shoulders. He'd gotten soaked through too - he just looked much better for it. Suddenly, the idea of Mr. Darcy felt very real.
She found herself blushing and quickly averted her gaze. "Oh, err, it's okay. I was thinking I'd just make a run for it and..."
The next thing she knew, Takuma had stepped right up close to her, holding the blazer aloft over their heads - low enough to protect them from the rain, but not so much as to muss their hair further. He smiled down at her. "It's no problem. Let's go."
They timed it together and made a dash for it, hurrying across the wet grass towards the nearest building. Takuma easily kept both of their heads covered with his blazer, staying so close to her that the lines of their bodies never stopped touching. Even through the wet shirt, he felt very warm, like he'd been sitting directly beside a hot stove before he'd found her. Or maybe it just felt like that because she was so aware that they were touching.
I get it now, Harry thought as they ran. I get why rain is romantic.