Breaking The Ice

Not Even Then

TJ's POV

I shot up in my bed immediately, the sound of screaming echoing across the hall and waking me out of a deep sleep. I quickly turned my head to see it was only midnight, stumbling out of bed after I'd only been asleep for three hours, the desperate cries coming from outside my room striking fear through me down to my bones.

The terrified sounds cut through the silence of the dorm, shattering any sense of peace that would have allowed sleep, and I suddenly realized that I nobody else had emerged from their rooms. I felt a natural instinct to run towards it, to help whoever seemed to be in such distress, but I was shaking as I stepped out into the hallway.

It wasn't long after I opened my door that I realized that the sounds were coming from Harry's room, and my heart dropped as I heard him whimpering and crying out for help.

"No, no please, NO!" He screamed, and I immediately reached for his doorknob and flung his door open.

Adrenaline was pumping through me as I entered his room, my eyes scanning the darkness until I saw him on his bed, writhing around on the sheets as his entire body contorted like he was in physical pain. I'd never seen anyone like that before, so obviously distraught and desperately crying out for help, the veins in his neck popping out as he clenched his jaw so tightly that he was practically growling through his teeth.

Before I even realized I was moving, I had gone to him and began shaking him, desperately trying to wake him up.

"Harry! Harry, wake up!" I cried as he gripped his sheets in his hands, the sweat that was dripping off him soaking through them as he continued to scream.

"Please, no! God, no don't do this to me!" He cried, not waking up no matter how hard I shook him.

I began to panic, watching him sob as he pleaded with whoever he was dreaming about, and out of sheer instinct I just climbed on top of him. I straddled his waist as I grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him as hard as I could and screaming for him to wake up, breathlessly pleading with him to open his eyes.

I felt the wind fly from my lungs as his eyes shot open and he gasped for air, looking up at me with wide eyes as I prayed he was actually awake. He stopped moving and became completely still, never taking his eyes off of mine as we continued to breathlessly stare at each other, and his eyes slowly began to scan my face for a few seconds before he spoke.

"TJ?" He asked, barely above a whisper.

"Yeah, it's me." I said softly, instinctively reaching down and running my fingers through his hair. "You're okay, you had a bad dream."

He stared up at me for a few seconds, before he closed his eyes tightly and swallowed hard, doing his best to catch his breath. I suddenly realized I was still straddling him, so I swung my leg over to the other side and just sat down beside him on his bed. As soon as I was off him he sat up, putting his feet on the floor as he sat on the edge of his bed and rubbed his face with his hands.

His hands were shaking as he tried to compose himself, obviously distraught from whatever it was he was dreaming about. He was so obviously shaken up, and I didn't know what to say or do to help him. It was such a strange contrast from the confident, strong Harry I'd come to know, and it was hard to believe I was seeing him look so scared.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I softly placed my hand on his back, feeling how completely wet his skin was with sweat.

"Uh, yeah." He said as he awkwardly cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm good."

We sat in silence for a few minutes while I let him calm himself down, but I couldn't get the images of it out of my mind. Whatever he was dreaming about must have been horrific, and I knew there was very little chance he'd wanna talk about it, but I asked anyway.