Harry Potter One Shots & Reactions

9: HPBR to you having a panic attack

TW: anxiety, panic attacks

Harry:

Has had maybe one or two himself but still panics when you have one and is very awkward/clueless. Malfoy and his goons were once again bullying you and this time, it seemed like they just wouldn't go away. Like they were suffocating you. You began having a panic attack but they just continued their mocking, blocking you from walking away. You were about to scream when you saw a fist collide with Draco, distracting the group. At that, you ran for it until you couldn't run anymore and sat in an empty hallway. Harry ran after you after giving Draco a few more punches. Once he caught up to you, he hesitated before sitting beside you and wrapping one arm around you, moving your head so it was on his chest and the other hand was holding your hand. He didn't want to bother you with too much talking so he drew circles on your back "feel my breathing love, copy it. I know you can get through this, I love you so much." He let you play with his hand, hoping it would help you ground yourself. He kept asking you what he could do for you and was willing to do anything to help you.

Ron:

Definitely clueless but tries his best to help you. Today in class your teacher started picking on you, quickly escalating into yelling at you. Ron tried his best to be quest because that was a teacher but he saw how badly you were struggling so he went off on the teacher, not caring about getting detention. He was about to continue when he looked over at you and saw how badly you were shaking so he pulled you out of class, telling you that everything was okay now. He was panicking and that only seemed to make you worse so he called a nearby student to get Hermione and sat beside you, rubbing your back and occasionally telling you that you would be okay. When Hermione got there, she helped you through it while Ron went to get you some water and food. After things had calmed down, he asked you what he could do next time and also went to the library to learn about it.

Draco:

He's had them before and somewhat knows what to do. You and Draco were arguing when it all started and he knew those symptoms all too well so he stopped arguing and ran to your side. "I'm so sorry- follow my breathing darling, in and out. Look at me, look at how I'm breathing. Copy me, I know it's tough but I'm right here." He whispered affirmations in your ear and held your hand, not wanting to make it worse by overwhelming you with physical affection. "Do the 5-4-3-2-1 method with me darling" and he does it with you, having a surprising amount of patience the entire time. When you complete the exercise, he tells you how proud he is of you and stays with you longer if you need. Once you're mostly okay, he runs you a warm bath and sets out one of his hoodies for you so you could wear it and cuddle later. From now on he really tries to avoid getting heated in arguments.

Cedric:

He knew you had panic attacks so he always knew what to do and watched out for any signs of one about to happen. This time, you both were with his friends when he noticed your breathing start to shift and the way you held his hand changed. Before anything could escalate, he quickly made up an excuse to whisk you away. Normally when he noticed, he would sit you down, starting a small conversation to distract you which usually stops the attacks before they get bad. This time though, it got really bad so he sat with you, going through the 3-3-3 rule slowly while trying to keep eye contact. "Okay baby listen to my voice, what are three things you can see?" "You're doing so well, what are three things you can hear?" "Just one more, move three parts of your body for me love" "I'm so proud of you beautiful. I'm always going to be here." He then brings you to the kitchen with him because he doesn't want to leave you alone and he makes a tea with calming herbs in them so you could feel more okay. I just know this man loves adult colouring books so after making the tea he brings you back and colours with you while playing soft music.

Tom:

Realistically he would get annoyed and kill you so we're going with the nice Tom that the fandom has created for us. He cares about you and wants to help but he's just not good with comfort. Nonetheless, his calm demeanour and well-thought-out solutions always helped. This time, Tom was waiting for you in your dorm and realized you were late so he went to look for you. He found you and quickly realized that you were having a panic attack so he knelt down beside you, asking you questions to ground you. He then gives you a potion to make you feel less panicked for a bit. Once you were calmer, at least enough to talk to him clearly, he hesitantly hugged you, rubbing your back. "I'm glad you're okay... don't tell anyone about this." That night he sleeps in your dorm and holds you close. After this, he's even more protective over you, if that's even possible.

Mattheo:

You had told Mattheo that you previously had panic attacks but had never before had one with him there. The both of you would often go to new places, some of them being a bit riskier than others. This time you went to a really crowded and dangerous party that you were immediately off-put by. You tried to push those feelings back and go on like nothing was bothering you but it came too much so you went to find Mattheo, who was talking to someone there. When you first told him about your attacks, you both agreed that you would tug on his sleeve 3 times if you were having one so he could know that you really needed him without you having to speak/explain when you couldn't/didn't want to and that's what you did this time. He immediately told his friend he needed to go and took you to the side. "Baby do you want to go back to Hogwarts?" If you tell him you want to go to Hogwarts, he brings you to your dorm "You're safe with me love, I'm not gonna leave your side. Follow my chest rising and breathe, I won't let anything hurt you." When your breathing is at least a little better, he does some grounding activities with you "Let's play the category game, I'm gonna name a category and you've gotta name 2 things you can see or hear that fit in the category. Okay, let's start with sleep." When he's doing it, he also plays and sprinkles in some jokes because he loves to see you laugh. Once you're feeling better, he runs you a warm bath and while you're in there, he sets up food + a movie.

Note:

This video is not to glamorize mental health issues or panic attacks but it is rather meant for comfort. I would never glamorize it and personally am disgusted by the people romanticizing the issue. Especially for those struggling with this issue, such videos can be a form of comfort to make it feel like someone is right there rooting for you- even if it feels like no one is there in real life (p.s. I'm always there rooting for you and you can always contact me if you need someone to talk to. I'm not a professional but if you need someone to listen or to offer advice to you then I'm here). One more thing, panic attacks are very broad- they're different for everyone (I tried to keep the symptoms as vague as possible so it doesn't generalize and you can use this for your own comfort if you want) and there is no single right way to deal with them so please don't be commenting about how this is inaccurate because it doesn't match your personal experience or how the characters did terrible in handling it because this isn't how you would want someone to handle it. The way you should handle it depends on who is struggling and it's normal to be nervous/clueless when someone else is having a panic attack. I tried to make this as realistic and helpful as possible!