Work Text:
The Gryffindor common room was a safe place. Sometimes it was quiet, sometimes loud and bustling with students, but always it was safe, a haven, a home.
The common room was quiet now. Harry sat on the couch, leaning into the soft cushions like an embrace. The fire crackled in front of him, warm and comforting. The room smelled of wood paneling, and very faintly of smoke and the particular oils and greases from when Harry was tuning up his broom earlier.
The Gryffindor common room awas a safe place, not in the way that his old cupboard under the stairs was safe, with it’s cold hard walls closing all around him, too small for anyone to fit but him. The Gryffindor common room wasn’t safe because the bad people couldn’t get in. The wizarding world was full of dangers, far bigger and stronger than the Dursleys, and they probably could get into the common room, given Hogwarts’ track record. The Gryffindor common room wasn’t safe because no one could hurt him here, but because here, for now, no one wanted to.