Madness in the Rain

The crashes of thunder and sudden cracks of lighting were making it quite a job for Hermione Granger to fall asleep. It was late August and she sat in her bed wrapped in her covers despite the fact that she was not the least bit cold. The truth was, she had an eerie feeling that something was about to happen. Being a witch with amazing intuition, she doubted it was just the thunder making her jumpy.

Sharp rapping on Hermione's window followed a sudden boom of thunder. She tried to convince herself that it was nothing, but she heard the knocking again. She tiptoed to her window and spread the lavender curtains in one quick movement. She fought back a scream as she saw a face peering back at her. She unlocked her window and pulled it open. "Harry Potter, you great prat! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" she whispered half angry and half laughing. "Don't you ever do that again!" Her best friend smiled back sheepishly and ran a hand through his soaked black hair. "So am I going to drown at your window as punishment or can I come in?"

Hermione held up her hand to quiet him and whispered, "Wait just a minute, I'll get you some towels." She ran out of her room and returned momentarily with a pile of bath towels. She laid one down for him to step on and helped him through the window. She handed him another to dry his hair off and motioned for him to sit down. He collapsed into a chair and looking quite exhausted he closed his eyes.

"No you don't Harry... I want an explanation... my mum and dad are going to... how the bloody... DID YOU WALK ALL THE WAY HERE?!?!" He looked up and nodded silently. "You live like... 50 km away Harry." He nodded again. "Come here Har." Hermione said quietly as she leaned over and hugged him. "You'd better change and get some sleep."

She left and returned with a pair of boxer shorts and a T-shirt and faced away as Harry quickly changed. She turned around to see Harry looking tired and damp but taller than she had remembered him. The boy grows like a weed. He didn't look as skinny as he usually did after a few months of summer, he had obviously not been starved at his horrible uncle's home. That or he had been able to sneak food better than last year. She noticed he had a bruise near his right temple. "Harry..." She decided she would ask in the morning. He looked very tired and she gave him a blanket and a pillow. "If you sleep next to the bed on the floor, mum won't see you if she comes in to wake me in the morning. I can tell her you came over and she just didn't notice..." Hermione yawned loudly. "Hmmm I think your sleepiness is contagious Harry..."

Her feelings of jumpiness seemed to go right out the window when she had seen Harry. Knowing him and this she did, he would never have come if it wasn't important or he wasn't in danger, which was why she didn't even ask for an explanation. He smiled a big lopsided grin and he simply said, "Thanks Herm." She smiled back and jerked her thumb at the gap between her bed and the wall, where she had thrown some pillows and blankets. Then without another word she lay down and went to sleep, as did her best friend, the boy who lived.