"It's okay," she whispered soothingly, a hand running through his thick hair as she pulled his head to her chest. "I'm right here. Everything is fine."
He didn't reply with words, but his breathing slowed back down to a normal rate and his heartbeat that had been pounding so hard in his chest that she could feel it quieted.
He nuzzled himself into her and drew in a deep breath as Daphne's hand left his head and began to trace lazy circles between his shoulder blades. She bent forward slightly to kiss the top of his head and by the time she pulled away and whispered an "I love you." He was already asleep again, his breathing deepening by the second.
She held him gently and began to contemplate as she often did when this happened. Nearly everyone else saw Harry Potter as invincible. 'The man who won' they christened him before they made him the youngest auror in modern wizarding history.
She couldn't blame them. He looked the part. Tall and strong, his body chiseled from the physical demands of his work and his face hardened by war and tragedy. He looked every bit the storybook hero, and so, she didn't blame them when they treated him as though he were indestructible. Hell, she had thought the same at first.
She had been so taken aback the first time this had happened. The first time the unflappable Harry Potter had squirmed and cried out in his sleep as they shared a bed together. The first time she had heard him plead in a childlike voice for the monster to spare his parents and his friends.
On a whim she had held him. Drawn him into herself and cuddled him close. Instantly the squirming had stopped, and the whimpers quieted. He had woken up, apologizing for the nightmare, but she had shushed him and played with his hair as she whispered soothing nothings into his ear.
The next morning, he had graciously thanked her. She in turn had graciously dismissed his thanks. He had saved the world; soft words and gentle touches were the least she could repay with him. When she told him as much he had blushed and looked away from her, but his eyes expressed the gratitude that Daphne refused to let his mouth speak.
The nightmares never came with any rhyme or reason. They were infrequent and sporadic, but whenever his brow furrowed, and his breathing accelerated Daphne was there to pull him into her arms, and almost as if she were an antidote the tension would leave his body, and peace would overcome him once more.
Harry snored softly and Daphne held him tighter, so full of love that she thought she might burst. She couldn't wait to spend the rest of her life cuddling the nightmares away. He could protect the world and she would protect him.
A/N: Life has been busy and I haven't had much time to write, but we can thank Sip for the prompt. No promises on when I'll post next but it'll hopefully be sooner than this last break :)