never let me go

plummet

TW: PTSD, self harm (mentioned).

//

Ruelle – Until We Go Down

"Erase darkness 'til the break of day

I need that fire just to know that I'm awake."

Harry woke to a lingering ache throughout his body. His head pounded and he was shivering. Opening his eyes, he saw he was in a large, windowless room and in the dim candlelight he could make out someone standing at the other end. No, not standing – their arms were bound above their head and they were hanging from the ropes.

"Draco?" His voice was barely more than whisper, but he saw Draco's head lift. 

Harry tried to get to him, but quickly realised that his hands were tied behind his back with rope. He tugged at the bonds, the remnants of the cruciatus curse sending sharp shooting pains through his arms and torso.

Trapped.

He was trapped in this dark room, so alike the dungeon beneath the Malfoy Manor where he was once imprisoned. Harry could feel his breaths quickening as the two places blurred into one, the past and the present converging until he was once again at the mercy of Death Eaters, a sitting duck waiting for Voldemort to arrive. It was happening all over again.

"Harry..."

The voice was a weak rasp, piercing through the fog of Harry's mind.

Draco. Draco had been at the Malfoy Manor too, had lied to his father so that Harry might get away, or at least be bought some time. And Draco was here now, pulling him back to the present. He needed him.

Harry forced himself to slow his breathing, to fight through the pain to sit up and get his feet under him. His legs screamed at him as he stood, swaying violently, and made his way over. 

His breath caught when he saw Draco up close. His sleeves had been pulled down and the wrist that bore the Dark Mark and his cuts had been sliced to ribbons. There were more gashes on his other arm and his chest, and his eyelids fluttered weakly as he tried to keep his head up.

"Draco..." Harry wanted to reach out to him, but with his hands tied behind his back all he could do was press his forehead against Draco's.

"They weren't too happy..." Draco rasped. "When they saw the cuts."

Harry closed his eyes in anger. No more. He wasn't going to let Draco go through any more pain. "I'm getting you out of here." He started making his way around the edges of the room, looking amongst the broken bits of stone. Eventually he found a rock with a sharp enough edge and got to work on his bounds. It took an excruciatingly long time, but he got them off. He made his way back over to Draco, who was watching him with glassy eyes, and started on the ropes holding Draco up. They had dug into his wrists and rubbed them raw, so he was careful not to make it worse.

Finally, he broke through the ropes and Draco collapsed. Harry caught him under the arms. "Are you okay? I'm here."

Draco nodded. "I'll be fine. We can only disapparate from outside the building."

"Okay. We'll find a way out." He lifted Draco up with an arm around his waist and together they made their way to the door. Harry tried the handle and was surprised to find it unlocked. This was starting to feel an awful lot like a trap.

He opened it anyway, and carefully stepped into the next room. The first thing Harry noticed was that one side was open, a railing along the edge seeming to be the only thing that separated them from the nothingness beyond. He could hear the crashing of waves, however, and assumed it dropped down to the cliffs below. He spotted another door on the other side and started towards it.

"Stupify!" came a shout, and Harry and Draco were thrown apart, Draco pushed towards the railing and Harry back against the wall. His head slammed against the stone and his vision crowded with black spots. Through the haze, he saw Draco pulling himself up by the railing to face...

Lucius Malfoy. Flanked by several other Death Eaters in dark robes and masks, Draco's father tapped his cane and cocked his head, looking from his son to Harry, who was still sitting against the wall with a hand on his head.

"It seems there's really no disciplining you is there?" Malfoy drawled. "Such a shame."

"Father," Draco started to say.

"You're no son of mine."

"Then let us go," Harry said, using the wall to push himself to his feet. "If you have no use for us then what's the point in keeping us here?"

"I think a better question would be why am I keeping you alive? And frankly, I think I've run out of reasons." Lucius raised his wand and pointed it at Harry.

"No!" Draco shouted, and Lucius whipped his wand around to train it on him instead.

"You first then, Draco?"

It was Harry's turn to shout, and as he tried to run forward another Death Eater stepped in his way, wand raised. He locked eyes with Draco, saw the desperation there, but he couldn't see a way out.

"Harry..."

"Please, please no," Harry begged.

"I love –"

"Avada Kadavra!"

"NO!"

Harry's scream ripped from him as green light shot from Lucius's wand. Harry felt his raw power reach out for Draco in a last desperate plea to save him, and as the curse hit it ricocheted outwards in an explosion of light. The magic blasted outwards in all directions, throwing everyone back.

Harry was knocked down, but immediately scrambled back to his feet. All around him Death Eaters lay motionless, but when he looked to the space where Draco had been standing, it was empty. There was only the railing and the open sky.

He was gone.

//

I know, and I'm sorry. But trust me, it's not over yet! Despair not! (wow that's cringe) Just stick around for the last three chapters and you'll forgive me. (I hope) Thank you for all the support, I love you all! xx