Touch

Safe (1st Year)

      After about an hour of nothing but complete silence, Madam Pomfrey decided it was ok for Rose to go back to the dorms, "Now boys you must not let her out of your sight. Since we don't know what's happened and how much it's affected you Rose it's probably best that you stay with them for the night. Now remember dear if you feel up to talk about this at all you can come to me or to Professor McGonagall. I also suggest you owl your mother whenever you feel like talking, ok?" Rose nodded as did the boys. "Alright now off you go."

     The walk back to the common room was so quiet you could hear a pen drop. Once they entered they were immediately bombarded by Roses roommates with tons of questions and concerns, "what happened?" "Is she alright?" "Where were you?" "We were worried sick." "Are you hurt?" talking over one another, Rose couldn't tell who's as asking what but it made her overwhelmed so she turned around to hide her face into Remus's chest as Sirius spoke for her. "Hey quiet down will you? She's not up for talking. And as far as we know, no she isn't ok. But Madam Pomfrey said she could stay with us tonight so don't expect her in your dorm tonight. Come on guys" Sirius finished and they walked up to the dorm. Leaving the girls confused.

When they reached the boys dorm it came to an awkward silence before James spoke, "Rose you can sleep on my bed tonight. I can sleep on the floor or stay with one of these guys if that's alright." "Yeah you can stay with me mate." said Sirius and James smiled. "Alright well we should get ready for bed. We still have classes tomorrow" stated Peter. The boys nodded in agreement. There was just one problem. "I don't have any clothes." said Rose in a whisper that was so quiet it was barely heard. It was the first time she had spoken since they found her.

They looked at her not knowing what to say and she just shrugged. After about a minute of uncomfortable silence Sirius spoke up, "Well since Lily and them are probably asleep right now you can wear something of mine. I would suggest one of you lads but let's face it I have the best taste." he claimed with a sense of arrogance causing the other three to roll their eyes. "Is that alright with you Rose? Because if you'd rather go back to your dorm to get something one of us can go with you." Rose gently shook her head and answered with a quiet "it's alright". Sirius smiled softly and went to his dresser to pull out one of his muggle shirts and sweatpants to wear and handed them to her. She left to change in the bathroom then came out and sat on James's bed while she waited for the rest of the boys to get ready for sleep as well. Though Sirius was a bit taller than Rose none of it fit her improperly. When Remus came out of the bathroom he took one glance at Rose and gave out a small chuckle, "You look like a mini Sirius." He stated and though he didn't see it she smiled for a split second at his comment. After everyone finished getting ready for bed and laid down. Rose slowly felt herself drift off into a deep sleep, but I didn't last long since she began to have a nightmare. But a different nightmare.

'She woken up tied to a chair in a small dark room. 'Hello? Let me out!! She screamed when out from the shadows. The two boys had appeared. 'Oh don't worry sweetheart we're not gonna hurt you. We just want to have a little fun' the smirked. As Rose began to scream louder and louder til she heard a very loud "Rose! Rose wake up. Hey wake up."

She woke up to herself screaming with staggered breathing and her heart racing. When she turned to her left she saw James, Sirius and Remus sitting there Sirius being the closest, sitting next to her on the bed and attempting to get her breathing back to normal, "Hey Rose it's ok. Calm down. Breathe. In through your nose out through your mouth. It's alright. It was just a bad dream you're safe." After a few min of encouraging words and slow talking Rose calmed down enough. She turned to look at the boys and started bawling.

   "Shh shh it's alright you're ok let it all out." Sirius said reassuringly as he looked to the other two boys who looked just as worried as we did.Rose looked back to them and then to the clock next to her that shined '3:15 am' , "I'm sorry I woke you guys." she said her voice still sounding a little shaky. "Nonsense we're here whenever you need us. Except maybe Pete but he sleeps like the dead. You don't have to apologize for a thing." James said as he went around to sit on the other side of her. She nodded slowly. "Do you wanna talk about it?" asked Remus receiving looks from James and Sirius that said 'why the hell would you ask her that' They were so focused on glaring at Remus they almost didn't hear her say in a small voice, "Yes" The three boys looked at her in unison. They didn't expect her to want to talk about it so soon. If I don't tell them now I'll never be able to, Rose thought to herself while she gestured for Remus to sit down in front of her on the bed.

    She was silent for a very long time and kept looking around feeling nervous that they were getting annoyed with her being quiet. "It's alright take your time. If you don't want to do this tonight you don't have to." said Sirius. She slowly nodded and thought for a another minute. How do I tell them this? Will they believe me? I guess it's now or never she thought to herself. She took a deep breath and began.
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     "...That's when Pete found me in the closet shaking and brought me to Madam Pomfrey. And that's when you guys showed up." she finished trying very hard to avoid their gazes. When she finally looked up at them she  didn't see disbelief. She saw anger and rage. "Guys? You believe me right?" she said with a tint of nervousness in her tone. The silence was finally broke with Remus, "I'm gonna kill them." He said in a very dark in serious tone. "Remus-" she started but was cut off. "No you don't get it Rose. I wanna kill those guys for doing that to you." She looked down to see Remus's hands clenched his knuckles turning white. "You're gonna have to beat me to it." said Sirius in an equally angry tone. Rose didn't know what to feel about them saying this. On one hand it was nice to have them look out for her. But on the other threatening murder seemed like a bit much.

    "Ok as much as I wanna hurt them. We can't. We'll get expelled and Rose will be here left alone. We don't want that do we?" said James in a rather calm tone. The two boys looked at Rose then back at James and shook their heads. "Good. Here's what's gonna happen. We're gonna figure out who these guys are and tell Professor Dumbledore. If he does nothing about then we will. And then I will gladly get expelled for it. Hell I'll gladly go to Azkaban for her. Until then Rose you are not leaving our side for the rest of the year. We'll try not to hover. But I'm not letting you go anywhere alone. I swear we will never let those guys touch you again not over my dead body. Ok?" Rose looked at James speechless. Though he was the one making the most sense he surprised her. She said nothing but reached her arms out and gave him a look. James looked to the boys for guidance as he was confused. They gestured their heads towards Rose that said she was asking for a hug. Nodding in understanding he turned back to Rose and slowly wrapped his arms around her.

    Though she has technically received a hug from him before back at the hospital wing this one felt different.She felt like she was hugging a big brother. Someone who never let anyone harm her. She felt safe and protected she didn't want to let go. Finally gave him a tight squeeze and whispered, "thank you". He nodded softly to say you're welcome as she began to let go. "So are you feeling better now that you've talked about it?" asked Remus. She slowly nodded her head, "Yes. Thank you. Really I don't know what I did to deserve you boys. Though you still get on my nerves sometimes." she stated and they all laughed.

   "Alright well we do have classes tomorrow so we should get some sleep." They all slowly got up but stopped when Rose said, "wait." They turned to look at her questioningly. "James take your bed back." "No way I'm not letting you sleep on the floor." "I was actually wondering if I could sleep with one of you guys tonight. Anytime I'd have a nightmare or panic attacks at home my mom would come into my room and stay with me all night so it wouldn't happen again. It usually helped." The boys looked at each other and nodded. "Alright well if that's what helped who do you wanna sleep with?" She thought about it for a minute. In reality she didn't know. She felt safe with all of them so she just said the first that came to mind, "Remus. If that's alright." He felt his cheeks become warm and from the smirk on Sirius's face he knew he was blushing but nevertheless he nodded his head.

     She got up from James's bed and slowly walked to over to Remus's bed. It wasn't too small but not too big either but it managed to fit them both with a little bit of space in between which Rose was grateful for, "Night Rose" Remus said softly. "Night Remus" she replied in the same tone. "And goodnight to you others as well I guess." She said a little louder so the other boys could hear. "How rude." said James and Sirius in unison from across the room causing Remus and Rose to chuckle as they all slowly drifted off into sleep.

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A/n: Hey guys this is my last chapter I'm gonna post for a while. I'm currently on spring break and I've been rather stressed lately with school and stuff so I really need this break so I'm going to take advantage of it and spend time with friends and family. And just relax in general. My break only lasts a week. I hope you guys understand. I promise I'll be back :)