Severitus twitch streamer au part three (interlude)
Harry has been non-stop preparing for the match, and, other than streaming related things, he hasn't been taking care of himself. He was desperate to win, desperate to know what his family was like. Was he like his mum or is his dad? Did he look like them? Where were they from? What were they like? Were they kind? would they be proud of him?
He had always felt the absence of where family was supposed to be. Sure, legally he had a family, but weren't really one. They never really taught him anything. they taught him to fear It's the reason he started streaming in the first place; he needed to be seen, to be heard, by something that wasn't the owl that would sit by his bedroom window who he talked to for all hours of the night.
So yeah, according to his friends he "had indisputable and palpable issues with family." Speaking of friends, on day four of his self imposed exile to obsessively train causing him to neglect his friendships (alongside everything else in his life) he heard the pounding sound of knocking on his door. He sighed and resigned from his chess match to see who was bothering him.
His chest feels tight and suffocating when he opens the door to see Hermione, Ron, and Ginny at his door looking mildly pissed and obviously concerned.
Ron: "Harry James Potter, where the hell have you been??"
Harry: "Uhhhh training....?"
Hermione: "We know, it's all over Twitter but that's no excuse to not care about yourself. So, Ron is going to make you something nutritious and satiating, you're gonna take a shower, we're going to clean a little, and once everything is done, you can rest."
Harry: "But ‘Mione, I can't lose this; I need to be better than him."
Hermione gently cups Harry's face, examining it for a second and finding something in there that was telling enough for her to understand why he was doing this.
Hermione: "There's something more to this than just the charity isn't there?"
Harry opens his mouth to speak but the words just won't come. His voice cracks and his eyes start to water before he scrubs at them furiously. He suddenly finds himself enveloped in a hug from all sides. The tight knot of emotion that had been trapped in him for the past four days finally burst and he collapsed into their arms with the exhaustion from it all hitting him simultaneously.
Ginny: "It's okay Har, you don't have to tell us right now; we just need you to shower then eat, and we can all watch a movie while you rest, okay?”
Harry nods dumbly and stumbles away to his bathroom, showering as quickly as he could with cold water, though he really couldn't feel the temperature. He feels cold without the reassuring touch of his friends, and he vaguely notices that he is shaking as he forgoes drying himself in an attempt to get back to the warmth as quickly as possible. His rushes out of the bathroom, dripping water everywhere and soaking the clothes he had just put on and sees Ginny and Hermione cleaning up the living room and setting up a bunch of pillows and blankets.
They turn to face him and once they see his soaked appearance they have a silent conversation with each other and Hermione goes to get a towel whilst Ginny leads him to the couch. Hermione comes back with a towel and slowly goes about drying every part of his body that she can easily access. When she gets to his hair she starts softly humming and scratching his scalp gently. Harry feels like he is melting and he lays out a rather pleased sigh.
Harry snaps back into focus when a streaming bowl of some sort of soup was placed in front of him with a slice of toasted bread on top. He struggles to recognize the signs of hunger in his body most days, but right now he think he would kill someone for the food in front of him right now.
Harry manages to rasp out a thanks before diving in and holy fucking shit. How did Ron manage to make everything taste good? He probably eats faster than he ever has. Before he knows it his plate was empty and all that coldness he had felt was driven away by the warm food and even warmer company.
He lets out a yawn and a stretch in a sort of cat like manner, and Hermione snorts at his tired antics. She grabs him and gently lowers his head into her lap where she starts playing with his hair in that mind-melting way. He feels his legs get picked up by a pair of muscled hands and deposited into another lap.
Hermione is braiding and unbraiding his hair when she murmurs out: “go to sleep, Harry we can talk in the morning”
Harry: “mkay, night ‘Mione, night Gin, night Ron.”
He falls asleep not knowing about the outcome of the tournament, but he doesn’t really care because he has the people he needs with him right here. The people who know when he’s being stupid and pull him out of it. The people who choose to take care of him. The two amazing women whose laps he is sleeping in, and the man who is going around his apartment tidying up so Harry won’t have to deal with it in the morning. He’s never been so damn grateful.