A/n- Written for the music prompts challenge, using the theme- 'Fear Of Failing'.
Disclaimer- Nope!
Somehow
Even though the weather was extremely pleasant, she couldn't stop shivering.
She tried to ignore the rest of the world and tried to concentrate on calming herself down. She closed her eyes but she could still see the horrifying visual that had chilled her to her bones. She was terrified, more scared than she'd ever been before and her heart was beating so fast she was afraid it might jump out of her chest.
Hermione Granger had faced trolls, three headed dogs, one of her best friends was always in some sort of life threatening danger and yet still, the thing that still scared her most was failing all her classes.
She would later, when she finally calmed down and could breathe normally, wonder what it said about her priorities.
But right now, all she could do was try to concentrate on the simple act of breathing normally.
"Hermione," a familiar voice called from behind, but she didn't have it in her to turn around.
"Are you alright?" Harry said, as he came around the corner and his curiosity turned to concern as soon as he saw her face.
She still couldn't breathe normally, and she was pretty sure her pain was etched upon her face.
Harry, seeming to understand that she was in no shape to talk, awkwardly wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back in effort to calm her down.
Considering they were both thirteen year olds, and she was a bit taller than he was, the level of awkwardness was extremely high.
But it still seemed to soothe her, her heart beat slowed down a bit, and her breathing normalized.
She tried to step out of his hold, which he realised a second too late and it seemed for a moment as if she saw trying to step away and he was holding on.
Which was even more awkward than before.
"You... you okay?" he asked, and she nodded, surprised that it was actually true, and that she really was okay.
They stood in silence for a couple of beats before he asked, "Do you want to talk about what happened?"
"My boggart," she said, clearing her throat when her voice cracked a little, "It was... it was professor McGonagall. She said... she said that I had failed all my exams and that they were going to throw me out of the school."
Her heart beat started to act up again a little when she thought of what had happened during her Defence Against the Dark Arts practical. She could still hear the thunder of McGonagall's voice announcing that she didn't belong to Hogwarts anymore.
Harry looked a little confused, she knew what he was thinking, she knew that he was wondering why it had affected her this much, and to her own surprise, she wanted to tell him the reason.
"I went to a school in London before the letter from Hogwarts came, and I never fit in there. I was the odd girl, a little bossy, okay a lot," she amended when he rolled his eyes, "I never had any friends until I came here. And it scares me that one day they'll decide that I'm not good enough, and I'll have to leave the only place that has ever felt like home to me,"
Hermione looked away, she couldn't see the pity she knew she would find in Harry's eyes, but to her surprise, he didn't tell her that he was sorry, like many others would have, instead he said.
"Hermione, even if they threw you out of Hogwarts, you wouldn't be alone, because I, and knowing him- Ron, would leave right with you,"
And somehow that was all that she needed to hear, because those words stole all her fears away.
In that moment they hadn't known that four year later, Hermione and Harry would stand alone again, in a dark forest somewhere, far, far away from the castle that they were fighting for, and this time it would be Harry who was scared.
"What if I can't do this, Hermione?" he would ask, "What if we can't find the Horcruxes ? What if, because I couldn't do what I am supposed to, many people lose their lives? What if I fail?"
"I don't have the answers to those questions, Harry," she would say, "but I do know this, that you would never be alone," she would slip her hand in his and squeeze, letting him know that she was not going anywhere.
"But honestly I don't think you would fail, Harry," she would answer with a straight face but a mischievous voice.
"And how can you be sure?" he would ask her with a frown.
"Because you have something they don't-me," she would say with a smile.
And somehow, that would make it all better, at least for a little while.
A/n- All reviews would be appreciated!