Moments | hs au

twelve

Charlotte

"Get in, get in!" Harry ushers me inside his house, the rain pounding onto the roof above us.

Mud trails from wherever I step and I feel terrible for leaving such a mess in his foyer. But Harry doesn't seem to mind as he dashes inside after me, his shoes bringing in an almost identical trail. He slams the door shut just as a large crack of thunder rumbles outside, and he wastes no time in locking it.

Harry stands still for a moment, and I do as well, recollecting what we just had to go through in order to make it here safely.

Taking the trek back to Harry's car, during the storm, was probably one of the hardest things I've had to do in a while. It was something like a mud run, if I have to compare it to something. By the time we actually made it back to the path that led to the field, the dirt had been transformed into thick mud. Harry felt horrible, of course, and he offered to wait out the storm under the bridge. But I turned him down.

So we decided to go ahead and step into the path, knowing that we'd end up covered in who knows what. The rain was relentless, and the tree branches around us offered no sort of shield from it. We were at least ankle deep in the mud, our boots entirely coated, but we somehow managed to reach his car in less than twenty minutes.

Instead of letting up, the storm seemed to be getting worse as we drove back into the city. Harry noticed this and immediately insisted that I come to his house, which was closer overall. It would have been stupid of me to deny his invitation, so I accepted it without hesitation.

Both of us are breathing heavily, drenched from head to toe, but as soon as we lay our eyes on each other, we both break into large grins. We look absolutely ridiculous.

I cringe at my sopping mess of a hair and slowly pull off my jacket, which offered hardly any protection anyway. Harry does the same, and pulls off his drenched beanie. He takes a step back from me and bends his head down, shaking out some of the water from his saturated hair.

I try to hold in a laugh as much as I can before I let out an involuntary squeak. Harry perks his head up and quirks an uneasy smile, his hands still tangled in his curls.

"What's so funny?" he straightens himself out and fixes his hair so it's not in his eyes.

"Nothing, nothing," I pull my lip between my teeth to hide my grin and look away from him, my focus on untying my filthy boots.

We go on like this for the next few seconds, shaking off as much mud and water from our clothes as possible. It doesn't do much good though, no matter how hard we try. Both of us are still drenched by the time we finish taking off our exterior garments.

I gaze down at my soiled clothes and desperately try to keep my embarrassment at bay. Wet mud stains cover the bottom of my jeans and my white shirt is completely soaked with rain water. I mentally thank myself for deciding to wear one of a thick material. Who knows what could have happened if I chose to wear a thin one.

"I'm a mess," I laugh out, pointing down to the stains scattered on me.

"Me too," Harry chuckles along, his hands wringing out the end of his sweater, "'M sorry about that by the way. Had no idea it was going to storm like this."

"It's okay, it was actually kind of fun. Felt like an obstacle course," I want to slap myself at how idiotic I sound as Harry lets out a small laugh.

He picks up both of our coats from the floor and nods his head towards the stairs, "I'm going to go put these in the wash. Pretty sure you don't want to be smelling like wet dog any time soon."