Claustrophobia | By : KitBaiu Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 3541 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story. |
A/N: This fic is dedicated to my Subconscious, who came up with the idea. Thank you, Subconscious. :)
*****
Harry’s body fell limp, the desire to pursue the fight he started receding as pain and fatigue set in. Rough hands from two Death Eaters dug into his underarms. Old blood stung Harry’s tongue. His left eye swelled shut, and the right lens of his glasses held a crisp crack down the middle, while the left shattered out completely.
Metal black doors lined the aged brimstone walls. Dim lights flickering from small torches that barely lit the damp corridor, reeking of mildew and blood, allowed Harry to see enough of the narrow hall as he passed. His bum scraped across the rough, neglected floor as he was dragged carelessly across.
The Death Eaters stopped. "Open that one," said a man with a harsh, scratching voice.
"Someone’s already in there," the other replied.
The first man let out a low rumble of a chuckle. "I think Potter will enjoy the company, especially in that cell."
"But the Dark Lord said-"
"I don’t care! Open that one!"
One of the Death Eaters let go of him; the other lifted him to his feet, jabbing the end of his wand into the side of Harry’s neck. Harry’s contorted gaze remained at his feet. A rusty creak cut through the silent corridor.
With a grunt, Harry found himself on the ground, his cheek smacking into the cold stone floor. The door slammed behind him. He pushed himself to his hands and knees, curiously looking up and able to see enough to make out four brackets in each corner, each containing a small candle with a soft flame.
A low groan sounded from the corner. "What are you doing here?"
Pushing himself to the opposite wall of the other occupant, Harry took off his glasses or what remained of them. The semi-blurred, semi-sharp disfigurements gave him a headache; he’d rather see everything blurred than as a cluster. Enough light from the candles shined for Harry to see the figure’s blond hair, but he didn’t need to. He already recognized that drawling voice. "I should be asking you that," he grumbled.
"Well thank you, Potter," Malfoy continued. "You have given me my death sentence."
Harry desperately wanted to rub his swollen eye but soon realized the most minute touch shot a sharp pain to the back of his head. "What’s that supposed to mean?"
Malfoy scoffed quietly. "Everyone knows the fate of the wizarding world is between you and the Dark Lord. We’re not stupid. If you’re caught, then the rest of us are doomed."
"I’m sorry I was outnumbered, disarmed, then captured," Harry growled. "You’re a Death Eater, Malfoy. You should be fine. What are you even doing in here?"
He didn’t answer. Harry vigorously rubbed his tongue against the roof of his mouth to try and dissipate the blood. No matter how much he did, he could still taste it. "How’s the healing service here?"
Malfoy snorted, "Are you kidding me?"
"Obviously," Harry sighed. "I don’t suppose you have your wand?"
"Don’t be stupid."
"Know any wandless healing spells?"
"Of course," Malfoy chided, sounding particularly amused. "I know a few wandless tricks. Remember Potter, I’ve known I was a wizard my whole life. Just because I couldn’t have a wand didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try."
"Bollocks," Harry replied. "You’d get in trouble with the Ministry for using underage magic."
"Kids are always accidentally doing wandless magic at that age, so the Ministry doesn’t bother them," Malfoy explained. "But I’m not going to heal you, if that’s what you want."
"Why?" Harry huffed.
"Why should I?" Malfoy replied incredulously. "We’re all going to die. Once you get thrown in here, there’s no getting out, and it’s your fault."
"My fault?!" Harry shouted. "You were obviously captured before me! You still haven’t told me why you’re in here!"
"It’s none of your business!" Malfoy shouted back. "But before you were captured, I at least had hope. Hope that you would win. Hope we’d all be saved. Where’s that precious Order of yours?"
"They weren’t with me!" Harry clenched chunks of material on the bottom of his trousers. "I was by myself!"
"That’s completely idiotic! Why the hell were you by yourself?!"
"I didn’t want to endanger my friends!"
"Well, how noble, Potter. You’ve not only doomed us but them, as well. You really thought that one through."
"I don’t need to justify myself to you!" Harry snarled, dropping his forehead into his palms. He hadn’t expected to be thrown in a cell. As soon as the Death Eaters apprehended him, he assumed they would take him to Voldemort to be killed. Now he had no wand, could barely see and to top it off, had to share a cell with Draco Malfoy of all people. He’d just as soon be contained with Fenrir Greyback.
Pushing his feet against the ground, his back pressed into the wall, wanting to get farther away from Malfoy. He lifted his head from his hands, looking over at the blond. He thought there had been more of a distance between them but realized he couldn’t accurately judge without his glasses on. "Well, we should think of a way to get out of here."
"Oh, yeah," Malfoy drawled. "Maybe we can crawl out of one of the windows?"
"There aren’t any windows," Harry muttered.
"Perhaps we can open the door?" Malfoy continued as if he wasn’t interrupted. "Better yet, let’s call the Dark Lord and ask him to let us go. I’m sure he’ll understand if we ask nicely."
"Sarcasm isn’t going to help, Malfoy."
Malfoy sighed, "You are thick, Potter. I already told you; there is no getting out."
"That doesn’t mean we can’t try," Harry said. "Better than just sitting here, whining away."
"I’ve accepted my fate. It’s time you accepted yours," Malfoy replied. "Of course, be my guest and try. If you find a way, I may even follow. Maybe the Dark Lord will come and kill you first, and I can slip by unnoticed."
"Voldemort."
Malfoy gasped.
Harry grinned.
"What the bloody hell was that about, Potter?"
"You act all high and mighty, but you’re just a namby pamby when it comes down to it."
"Wanker."
"Twat."
Harry stood up, feeling his way across the wall to the door. He pressed his palms against it; it was certainly secured well, but perhaps it had a weakness. Drawing his palms down, Harry pressed in certain areas to test it. It wouldn’t budge. Harry growled in frustration, crushing his knuckles into the door. He pulled his hand back with a sigh. Just what he needed, another sore spot.
"Having fun?" Malfoy smirked.
Harry grumbled, walking back over to the area that he originally inhabited and sat back down. "Piss off."
The two sat in silence. Harry stared at his knees, thinking intently on ways to get out. If he could convince Malfoy to cooperate with him, perhaps they could get past a Death Eater or Voldemort when they came to get him. If they would . . . Would they? How long would it be before anyone came to check on them?
"Malfoy?" Harry asked, not taking his gaze away from his knees.
"What?" he muttered.
"How long have you been down here?"
"Wouldn’t you like to know?"
"Well, yes, actually!" Harry shouted, clenching the eyelid that still functioned shut. "I’m trying to come with ideas to get out of here, but I need you to work with me."
Malfoy tutted. "I’d rather be ravaged by Greyback than work with you."
"Fine!" Harry screamed, opening his eye and looking back up at Malfoy. As much as Harry wanted the distance between them greater, it truly appeared lesser than before. Harry had shrugged it off as poor vision before, but now he wasn’t so sure.
"You’re probably going to say I’m mental, but . . ." Harry strained to think, trying to find a way to put it. "I could’ve sworn there was more distance between us when I was originally put in here with you."
He expected Malfoy to laugh, call him mental or stupid. He certainly didn’t expect him to take his concern seriously. He also hadn’t expected him to stand up suddenly and gasp.
"You notice it, too?" asked Harry.
Malfoy turned his back to Harry, his hands scrambling against the wall. He twisted, returning his attention back to Harry, his tone of voice the most serious that he had heard it all night. "This cell is closing in!"
A jolt of fear shot through Harry, forcing his stomach to clench uncontrollably. He remembered the Death Eaters talking, and the emphasis one had used when talking about this cell.
Malfoy screamed and ran over to the door, rapidly pounding the sides of his fists against it. "Let me out of here! Let me out! Let me out, now!"
Harry stood up quickly, looking over to Malfoy. "Calm down."
"Calm down? CALM DOWN?!" Malfoy shouted hysterically, running over to Harry. His eyes widened, almost ready to pop out of his head. "The cell is closing in! We’re going to be crushed!" Malfoy ran around the room, stopping at spots on the walls for a moment and pressing his hands against it as if to find a secret passageway before running and finding another spot.
"I get it! But we’re not going to get out of here screaming and running around like mad!" Harry walked back over to the door.
"The door. The door!" Malfoy shouted, running over to Harry and standing right next to him. He brushed his finger tips down the metal frame. "Maybe it has a weakness or something . . ."
"Gee, what happened to accepting your fate?" Harry grumbled.
"There’s no time!" Malfoy bellowed. "We have to work together to figure a way out of here!"
Despite their predicament, Harry chuckled. "I thought you said you’d rather be ravaged by Greyback than work with me?"
Malfoy scoffed, grabbing Harry’s shoulders and vehemently shaking him. "Don’t you get it?! We’re going to be crushed to death! CRUSHED TO DEATH!"
Harry lifted an arm and slapped Malfoy across the face. "Get a hold of yourself!"
Malfoy blinked, remaining quiet and still, not shouting at Harry like he expected.
"Okay," said Harry delicately. "This is what we’re going to do. On the count of three, we’re going to throw our shoulders into the door, using all our weight."
"But that will hurt."
"It’s not going to hurt as badly as being crushed to death."
If it were possible, Malfoy’s already pale face grew paler. He nodded, turning to look at the door.
"One, two, three!" Harry shouted. The boys threw themselves sideways, their shoulders crushing into the metal door. It didn’t budge.
"Again. One, two, three!" The boys repeated the process, but the door stood unaffected. They threw many more attempts, but the door didn’t show the faintest sign of giving way. Backs against the door, the boys slid down, their heads bowed, panting heavily.
"Can you Apparate without a wand?" Harry rasped.
"I don’t know. I’ve never tried," Malfoy whispered, taking notice to how much smaller the room was from when they started. He out a small sob. "I-I think they have it enchanted so we couldn’t Apparate out of here, anyway."
"Grab my hand and think of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place," Harry said, offering a hand to Malfoy.
"I don’t know where that is," he replied with a whine. "You have to picture the place to Apparate there."
"Well, I can do that," Harry explained. "If I think about it, and you think of it, then maybe it will work."
Malfoy said nothing and grabbed Harry’s hand. Closing his good eye, Harry envisioned he and Malfoy standing before Grimmauld Place. Yet, the sensation of being forced through a tube never came. Harry clenched his eyes shut tighter, crushing Malfoy’s soft hand within his own, as if the more rigid his body went, the more likely the two were to Apparate.
Nothing happened.
Malfoy jerked his hand away from Harry’s. "Dammit, this isn’t working!"
Harry sighed, opening his eye and bringing his fingers to his forehead.
"This is your fault!" Malfoy snarled.
Harry jerked his head up, scowling at Malfoy. "How could this possibly be my fault?!"
"The cell wasn’t closing in when I was in here by myself!"
With a sigh, Harry looked around. He knew that pretty soon, they weren’t going to have the option of standing apart. "You don’t know that," he said. "Maybe it was just going too slow, and you didn’t realize it."
Harry took notice to the edge of the floor and the opposite wall. He could see it shrinking, when before he only noticed Malfoy getting closer to him. It was as if the room knew they were trying to escape and was shrinking faster.
Malfoy abruptly stood back up, turning around and pounding the sides of his fists against the wall again. "Help! Help! Someone get us out of here!"
"Malfoy," Harry groaned. "The only people who might be out there are Death Eaters. And even if they do hear you, they’re probably laughing."
Standing quiet for a few moments, Malfoy burst into tears, burying his face into his hands.
"Er-" Harry blinked, not quite sure what to make of that. He stood up, extending his hand and patting Malfoy on the back awkwardly. "We’re going to figure a way out of here. It’s going to be all right . . ."
"N-No, it’s n-not!" Malfoy sobbed into his hands. "W-We’re going to d-die!"
"You sure talk a lot when you’re not in immediate danger," Harry murmured. "Is that what happened? Were you all for joining the Death Eaters when it was initially proposed? Then you realized what it entailed and couldn’t do it?"
"S-Shut up!" Malfoy cried, his voice still muffled by his hands. Harry took that as a yes.
Harry shook his head. "You’re even a coward when it’s for the right reason."
"How can you just stand there and be so calm?" Malfoy asked, dropping his hands.
Harry shrugged. "I lived in a broom cupboard for ten years. Small spaces don’t bother me."
"Lucky you."
"I wouldn’t exactly call it that."
Malfoy yelped, hunching down some. "The ceiling just touched my head! The ceiling just touched my head!"
Harry looked up, the ceiling had lowered and would probably touch the top of his own head soon. The area grew considerably brighter.
"Oh, Merlin, the candles! The candles are going to burn us!" Malfoy said frantically, heaving frequent, deep breaths.
"Then put them out," said Harry.
"But then we’ll be in the dark!" Malfoy moaned.
Harry shook his head and snapped, "Would you rather be in the dark or be burned?"
Malfoy gulped, looking at Harry in question as if wondering if he had some solution to how they could still have light and not be burned. Seeing as Harry did not, Malfoy turned, licking his fingers and pinching two of the candles out.
Harry turned around, doing the same thing, hardly having to move as they were so close together now.
As the shrinking cell fell into stark darkness, Harry turned back around and felt two slender arms wrap around his waist. "Don’t you ever tell anybody about this," Malfoy muttered through gritted teeth.
"I don’t think I have a choice in the matter," Harry whispered, loosely wrapping his arms around Malfoy’s shoulders. Even if they hated each other, Harry didn’t mind that at least someone was there to comfort him.
Malfoy hunched even lower, and Harry gasped, feeling the ceiling brush the top of his own head. "Let’s sit down," he whispered.
The boys sat with their backs against the wall, facing the door, their arms still wrapped around each other. Gentle fingers brushed across Harry’s swollen eye, causing him to jerk his head back with a gasp. "What are you doing?"
"You asked if I knew any wandless healing spells," Malfoy whispered.
"Don’t bother, it won’t matter if my wounds are healed now," Harry sighed. "We’re going to be crushed."
With a whimper, Malfoy dug his face into Harry’s chest. Harry sighed, rubbing a hand against the back of Malfoy’s head. "Sorry. You still can, if you want to."
Harry felt his fingertips brush against his eye. He struggled to resist the urge to pull away. Malfoy whispered an incantation, and Harry blinked both of his eyes, all the pain from his injury gone.
Harry shifted, feeling the wall to his left side press into his shoulder. With his legs together, he slammed the bottom of his feet into the door, which remained as firmly in place as ever. He did it over and over again, but nothing happened.
"Malfoy, help me," Harry said, but Malfoy didn’t reply. He just tightened his embrace and kept his head hidden in Harry’s chest. "Malfoy . . ." He stopped, realizing it wasn’t going to work.
Resting his feet back against the ground, Harry felt the tips of his trainers being pressed into the door.
"I’m sorry," Malfoy mumbled.
"For what?" Harry whispered solemnly.
"Everything," replied Malfoy quietly. "Always being mean to you and your friends, being an arrogant jerk, making your life hell at Hogwarts . . ."
"Forget about it . . ." Harry bowed his head, the shrinking cell forcing his knees closer to his chest.
Using his freehand, he roughly rubbed his forehead. What would Hermione do? She’d figure something out. You have to think like her. Hi, I’m Hermione. I like books, homework, Ron and house-elves . . .
"KREACHER!"
Malfoy jerked in surprise. A faint pop sounded in what was left of the room, and Harry felt a small weight against the top of his knees.
"I ORDER YOU TO TAKE ME AND MALFOY TO NUMBER TWELVE GRIMMAULD PLACE, NOW!"
Malfoy’s grip around Harry tightened as he felt as though they were being forced through a narrow tube. Harry opened his eyes. He didn’t need his glasses to see they were sitting on the doorstep right outside Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
Drawing away, Malfoy looked around his surroundings in wonder, then back to Harry. The boys stood up, and Harry half-expected Malfoy to round on him for not thinking about that earlier, but he didn’t. Instead, Malfoy laughed loudly, his voice injected with a tinge of hysteria that he sounded almost mad.
Harry grinned, watching as Malfoy danced around in a circle, calling out, "Woo hoo!"
He came to a stop, staring intently at Harry. He almost thought he saw a twinkle in Malfoy’s eye. Before Harry had time to react, he threw his arms around his neck. "I swear. I will never be mean to you again!"
fin
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