never let me go

sacrifice

Ruelle – Madness

"Cut me deep, these secrets and lies."

"I still think this is a terrible idea."

Next to him, Draco jumped, and Harry tried not to laugh. It was late at night, and they'd been wandering the dark halls for a little while now but had seen no sign of the Slytherins yet.

"Will you be quiet? You're going to give yourself away."

"Alright, alright, just don't forget that I'm right here if you need."

"I know. Just don't come out unless you absolutely have to."

"I won't," Harry said with a resigned sigh. He was definitely coming out at the first sign of trouble.

He continued to follow Draco down corridor after corridor, weaving his way through the quieter parts of the castle. Harry was about to suggest trying another night, when up ahead three figures rounded the corner. Draco immediately came to a halt and tensed up, and Harry stopped a safe distance behind him, still hidden under the invisibility cloak.

"Malfoy!" boomed the tall one in front from the other end of the hall. Draco stood his ground with his chin high, though Harry could tell by the slight shifting of his feet that he'd rather run. He wondered what these guys could have done to Draco to make him so scared he had nightmares, and the ideas that popped into his head made his blood boil with anger. If only he could reveal himself now and stupify them all.

"Snyde," Draco addressed the boy, their leader apparently, as he and his entourage approached. Harry thought the name vaguely rang a bell, perhaps from the Death Eater Trials.

"Thought you wouldn't be stupid enough to keep wandering these halls," Snyde said with a cock of his head. "Although it did seem last time like you were looking for a fight. Is that what you're doing now? Itching to have us rough you up again?"

Snyde faked a lunge forward, and a wicked grin spread over his face when Draco flinched. Harry's heart ached at the implication that he had gone looking for trouble. Draco's hands curled into fists at his sides, and Harry had to control the urge to take his hand.

"I did actually come looking for you," Draco said, and Snyde raised his eyebrows. "You said you wanted me to join your cause. I want to know more about it."

"No, I don't believe that. I think you'll run to that Harry Potter with whatever information you get."

Draco seemed to freeze at the mention of Harry's name. "That's right, the two of them are mates now, aren't they," said one of the boys behind Snyde.

"If you don't want to tell me anything then I'll just be on my way," Draco said, taking a step back, but Synde whipped out his wand and levelled it at Draco's chest.

"Not another step."

Draco froze, except for his hand which Harry saw twitch at his pocket, a second away from grabbing his wand. Under the cloak, Harry took out his own wand. For a few strained seconds, Draco and Snyde stared each other down, neither making a move. Then Draco grabbed for his wand, but before he could raise it there was a shout of "Expelliarmus!" and Draco's wand sailed through the air.

Harry was about to throw the cloak off, when Snyde and the others pocketed their wands. Maybe he didn't need to reveal himself after all.

"How about we do this without wands?" Snyde said with a sneer as he and his cronies advanced on Draco. "More of a fair fight."

"A fair fight?" Draco's eyes were darting around frantically, and too late Harry realised he was looking for him. "Three against one?"

Snyde shrugged and punched Draco across the face, throwing him to the floor. The cloak was off Harry in an instant, his wand raised.

"Stupify!" Snyde went soaring backwards, landing hard. He started to get straight back up, however, as the other two recovered from their shock and took their wands back out. They immediately had to defend against the onslaught of hexes and jinxes that Harry threw at them, but once Snyde re-joined them they quickly went on the offensive. Harry was pushed back, until one of them got in a lucky disarming shot and his wand flew from his hand. Snyde swept his wand in a wide arc, and Harry was thrown against the wall and held there, immobilised.

"Now, where the hell did you come from?" Snyde drawled.

"He must've been here to look out for Malfoy," one of the others piped up.

"Interesting, very interesting," said Snyde with a glance back at Draco, who had gotten to his feet and was nursing a cut lip. His left cheek was already swelling with a mighty bruise.

"Leave him alone," Harry said through gritted teeth.

"Protective now, aren't we?" Snyde continued to look between Harry and Draco, both disarmed and pretty much unable to defend themselves. Snyde looked like a kid on Christmas day. "And I thought my night was made when we found Malfoy. But now we have a betrayer of the Dark Lord... and the one who killed him."

Snyde raised his wand to point it directly in Harry's face.

"Don't!" shouted Draco, surging forward. The two others grabbed his arms and held him back, but he struggled against them.

"Very protective..." said Snyde, calculating. "I think that the cruciatus curse should do nicely, don't you?"

"No!" Draco struggled more against his captors, and Harry could only suck in a sharp breath as Snyde pointed his wand straight at Harry's heart, a devilish grin on his face. He braced himself for the pain.

"Crucio!" he yelled, and at that exact moment Draco freed himself and jumped forward, in between Harry and Snyde. Harry screamed as he watched Draco take the full force of the unforgivable curse, collapsing to the ground in spasms as it racked through his body. Harry cursed and shouted at Snyde to stop, but he ignored him, his face lit up with glee as he trained his wand on Draco writhing in pain on the floor.

Harry was sobbing when it finally ended. Draco lay motionless, and Harry pulled uselessly at the invisible restraints holding him against the wall, desperate to get to him.

"Well that was entertaining. I guess we've had our fun for the night boys. And I think we learned a thing or two about certain people's weaknesses." With that, Snyde turned and headed back down the hall, the others following behind. "We'll see you 'round Potter, Malfoy."

As soon as they disappeared around the corner, the binding spell lifted and Harry fell to his hands and knees. He crawled over to where Draco lay and rolled him over, a sob heaving through his body at the sight of him. He was pale as a sheet, almost grey, and his lip and cheek were swollen and dripping blood. His eyes fluttered, and he let out a small groan of pain. Harry cushioned his head with his hand and tilted his face towards him.

"Draco, can you hear me?"

"Harry..." Draco's voice was a weak croak.

"Hey, hey it's alright," Harry assured him, relieved to hear his voice. "They're gone. I've got you."

Draco's eyes cracked open a bit wider, and Harry's heart shattered at the pain he saw there. He knew exactly what the cruciatus curse felt like. He cursed himself for letting this happen, for failing to protect Draco like he had said he would.

"I'm sorry," Harry said with a sob, letting his head drop onto Draco's chest and bunching his shirt in his fist.

Draco let out a huff of air. "What for?"

"I was supposed to protect you. This is my fault."

"No, it's not." He drew in a shaky breath. "It was my dumb idea, remember?"

"Believe me, I'm angry at you for that too." Draco chuckled weakly, and Harry raised his head to see that a little bit of colour had returned to his face and his eyes were clearer. "But I'm just glad you're okay."

Harry kissed him on the forehead, then gently laid his head back down. He got up and retrieved their wands and the cloak, stowing them away, before returning to Draco and carefully scooping him up bridal style.

"I can walk, you know, I just need a minute," Draco grumbled, but he wrapped his arms around Harry's neck as he was carried towards the eighth year dormitories.

"Too bad," said Harry.

Draco fell asleep on the way.