CHAPTER ELEVEN
[Someone to Stay]
HARRY
Harry's face was smashed against the freezing glass, The only thing separating them being a thin pence held up by his nose. He could see his uncle standing right behind in the mirror waiting for him to drop it. He never missed a chance to punish Harry, even if he had no idea what he had done wrong.
His seven-year-old body's eyes began to droop from exhaustion and hunger. He hadn't had food in what felt like years. His brain wandered into a daydream of gooey pies and cakes waiting for him once he had succeeded. Of course, he never had before. Uncle Vernon always said he didn't ever do it right. But Dudley did. And he got all the food he wanted, all the time. So maybe if he was good... Right, he'll just have to try harder.
The thought gave him enough energy to straighten up his back, refusing to give up like the older man expected him too. He was careful not to drop the coin in the process. Last time he got really really mad. His face would go purple and his mousy mustache would twitch and Harry would know he would get it really bad. Sometimes he would hurt for days while stuffed in his tiny cupboard.
Uncle Vernon grabbed his head and shoved it harder against the glass. It pushed his nose up roughly and Harry had to stop himself from calling out in pain.
"You earned yourself another hour, boy. You're ungrateful, lazy ass will be in an orphanage just like it should have in the first place if you keep up this act."
Harry tried to shake his head to acknowledge he heard him, as he wasn't supposed to talk. His tiny lip quivered slightly at the sight of the large hands at the back of the neck. Harry hated the most. When he felt so worthless and pathetic when he failed to get away from the hands wrapping around his throat.
To get lost in his thoughts, he failed to notice the small coin slipping. It fell to the washroom's tile floor with a small clink. Before he fully knew what was happening, he was thrown to the floor while his uncle toward over him.
"You worthless boy! Not even able to hold a coin! Why the hell should we keep you under this roof and take care of you if you can't even do that right!"
He amplified his last word with a hard kick to his back. Harry's face scrunched up in pain and effort not the yelp aloud. Harry was not only scared, he was mad. Not only at himself for messing up such an easy task and sabotaging his only chance for food in days, but at his uncle. He wouldn't have messed up if he didn't push him! His game's were unfair. He always won. He began to think that maybe his uncle didn't want him to win. But why would he do that? He didn't do that for Dudley...
Tiny hands did the best they could by covering his head and the rest of him scrunched up in a ball.
"Your parents were right to go off themselves in a car crash. I would have too if I had a son as pathetic as you."
He grabbed the closest item off the counter, which happened to be the glass toothbrush holder, and chucked it at him. Harry could feel a large gash cut across his cheek and another on his forearm.
"But who knows? They were freaks too. Did you know that? You're just like them! They knew they were unwanted, yet stayed and made everyone else's life worse in the process! They didn't have an ounce of purpose and neither do you!"
He bent down this time and gripped the child's wrist. Harry began to rash around wildly. If you listened enough you could hear the soft gasps coming from his chest as he panicked.
Vernon finally wrapped both of the child's hands apart and pinned them on both sides of his head. Harry rushed to meet his eyes and continued to kick with his feet but it was no use. He was trapped.
Vernon spit in his face. Harry immediately wanted to wipe the disgusted saliva off him, yet was forced to leave it there as his uncle gripped his jaw to force him to meet his cold and ruthless glare. Harry felt his soul shiver up inside him in shame.
"Never," he spits in Harry's face again, "disrespect our generosity. We are all you have and will ever have. Don't you forget that."
Vernon pulled away just as the scene changed in a misty haze
Harry was in a large room this time. He was at the head of the long, elegant black table. Nearly two dozen pairs of eyes were on him waiting for his next move. Some filled with fear, others filled with admiration. Harry immediately felt the change in the atmosphere
"Where is he!" He shouted. "Where the boy!"
The people closest to him flinched. Harry felt himself sneer at them. He spotted a mop of blonde hair near the end of the table. "Lucius...." He drew. He stood at up his chair and walked closer and closer. Harry's body seem to grow at the fear radiating off the Malfoy. "Lucius, Lucius..." He placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Yes M'lord?"
"You know where the boy is, yes?" He placed a cold, pale hand on his shoulder. His fingertips dug in almost threateningly.
"I...have no idea M'lord. He vanished his room the night prior."
Harry looked to the second blonde on his right. She had long black streaks in her hair and lips red enough to challenge a candy apple. Harry recognized her as Narcissa Malfoy.
She looked towards him, carefully not to make eye contact, and nodded timidly to confirm her husbands words.
"The apparition wards showed no sign of a breach. If he had escaped magicly we would have known. Measures were even taken to permanently seal his bedroom windows. If you would just allow us a little bit of time-"
"Silence!" Harry roared. "I was promised a boy capable of completing the task. I've only allowed you this much leanincy so far because a willing pawn was the last piece I needed to turn over the board. But seeing that you've failed to control him..." he tsk'ed his tongue. "I'll just need to take matters into my own hands, won't I?"
Harry's long black robe slipped down to his elbow exposing the inky snakes slithering in out of a skull on his forearm. The tattoo seemed alive and contagious by the way it made your skin crawl.
It was all silent as Harry pressed his finger on the mark. Searing fiery bursts pulsated around the mark, intensifying with each dragging twist of his finger, jarring and brutal. With each breath the pain amplified, the muscle quivered, his consciousness ebbed. He let loose a yell of agony. He could tell something was wrong. The call had backfired.
~~~
Harry gasps out of his abysmal nightmare. His cheeks were wet and his body was bathed in a cold sweat. The sheets were twisted around his limbs, probably because he was thrashing in his sleep. His heart pounded against his chest. Harry trembled. The room was entirely dark. No light anywhere. The remnants of his nightmare still clung to his mind, haunting him. Harry had no trouble imagining Voldermort or his uncle lurking near . A loud rustling came from the other side of the room. Harry let out a frightened cry and forcefully pushed his eyes back into his knees. Even his breaths trembled. He swallowed and once again turned to see the endless darkness of the room. He couldn't see anything.
"Harry?" A confused calls out. Harry had to bite his thumb to prevent himself from whimpering. "Potter. Salazar's name- are you okay?"
Harry was in too much of a frantic state to respond. He waited until he heard a soft whisper and the room's warm candle light's flickered on.
The tall figure slowly came out of the shadows and Harry pushed himself harder against the headboard. He caught a glimpse of the blonde hair and bit down of thumb to suppress a whimper. I thought I escaped him. I thought-
"Potter? Bloody hell. Potter, it's just me. Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you."
He couldn't make sense of what he had said. Everything was so jumbled up in his head he couldn't even breathe right, let alone respond. So when the lanky figure finally sat down in front of him on the bed, his entire body revolted. His stomach felt like it was being pulled from every direction and his chest burned as if a blacksmith's hammer had struck him straight through the heart.
He finally looked through his red, tear soaked eyes to meet Draco's own wide and confused ones. "Hey...Hey look. Potter...Just like before, okay? In. out. In. out. Yeah?"
Harry tried to follow along but in was hard to hear with the blood rushing in his ears. His shaky hands suddenly grasped onto Draco's, which had been previously laying in his lap. Draco started at the two interlocked hands for a moment. He came back to his senses when Harry squeezed. He squeezed back.
Draco seemed to get the idea and squeeze his hand at every 'in' and 'out.' Harry felt his breath very slowly start regulating itself. It allowed his brain to clear up a bit and the logical part of his brain started to break through the darkness.
Hot tears were still streaming down his face. When whatever spell Voldermort had done backfired, it felt like he was the one under the cruciatus curse. The aftereffects were still racking through his body with painful sobs. He couldn't help but to think of the last time was put under the curse. In the graveyard. The same place he had lost...
He let out another particularly painful sob and Draco grabbed something off his nightstand, he didn't bother looking what, he only had one thing on there.
"Poculum!" Draco whispered loudly. The soft pillow that they were resting their interlocked hands on slowly morphed into a cool glass goblet. He lifted it up again and whispered, "Aguamenti!" Fresh drinking water sprouted from the end of the wand and into the cup. He cut the water off with a flick of his wand and handed the cup to Harry.
"Drink it. Your body can't cry and drink at the same time."
He took it graciously and threw it back instantly. It went down smoothly in his throat, and, miraculously, what Malfoy said was true. His tears suddenly stopped as if focusing on the task alone. The large, angry thunderstorm in his head began to clear away as well.
It was quiet for a moment as Harry began to calm down from his nightmare. Draco sat there, still squeezing his hand and replenishing his cup as necessary. Harry didn't know why he didn't let go of the Slytherin's hand. It was warm and ...comforting. Everything Harry had dissociated him from in the past. Most of all he thought it was because he didn't want to be alone.
"So...are you going to tell me what that was about?"
Harry rapidly shook his head no. He hated telling people about his nightmares. It was like reliving it all over again. Plus, he had seen Draco's own parent's in the vision. He didn't want to spark an agruement right now. He just wanted...Well he didn't know what he wanted exactly. But some peace and quiet was probably at the top of the list.
"Okay....what about something else? We're on a truce now, right? So just talk about something you like. To get your mind off things. We can take turns."He nodded his head nervously. Draco went first.
"Remember that other safe house I mention? The one while we on the broom?" Draco asked. "It's in France. A tiny muggle village called Colmar. You've probably never heard of it, but... It's really nice. Almost something right out of a children's book."
Draco paused to let Harry say something. He didn't. He didn't trust his voice to not sound like a squeaky mess right now.
"My parents still have no idea about it. I bought it with my allowance money I had saved up when I was fourteen. Before you asked, yes, I forged the documents. I have a little rebellion in me."
A small smile made its way upon his lips. Draco Malfoy had an allowance? The idea was ridiculous to him, even if the amount was enough to buy an entire house.
"The first time I had stepped in the village it felt surreal to me. Everything was different there, like all my problems could easily be solved with a freshly baked pie and a cup of tea. You can't tell anyone I told you that, though." Draco jokingly furrowed his eyebrows at the last statement in an attempt to lighten the situation.
Harry let out what might have been a loose chuckle. "What that you fell in love with a village and want to run away and live like a muggle?" He croaks, a wisp of smile dancing across his face. Whatever Draco was doing, it was working. His heart rate was nearly back to normal and the nightmare was slowly slipping away from the front of his mind.
"I did not say-"
"You totally did."
Draco huffed then softens his voice "It's just beautiful there. I think you'll like it there... Anyways, it's your turn. I shared something personal about me and now it's your turn. You aren't going to to off easy either."
Harry thinks for a moment. There wasn't any place that he really liked to visit. Unlike Draco, he had been pretty much confined to the same four or five places his entire life. Privet drive, Hogwarts, the Burrow, and Grimmauld place. Maybe Diagon Alley and Hogsmede a few times a year.
"I don't know really know...." says Harry. "I haven't been to many places."
Draco tilts his head. He was obviously still tired. Harry suddenly felt guilty for keeping him up. "It doesn't necessarily have to be a place. Just talk about something you enjoy."
"I- I like astronomy." He bursts out before really thinking about it. He could have gone with anything, something he would have already known, but..."The stars. They just...They look like fireflies only they burn brighter. And against this glowing black satin behind layers and layers of serene clouds above my head that makes even the infinite seem possible somehow. It's so surreal and it makes me want to reach up for one, keep it in my hands for warmth and pocket it and keep it in a jar."
Draco was watching his curiously as he talked. His mouth twitched, and he was pretty sure he was fighting off a smile.
"What?"
"You're really animated with your hands when you talk. I don't think I've ever noticed that before."
"Well probably because you hated my guts up until a couple days ago."
Draco sighed. "Potter, I've never hated you-"
A loud crack cut Draco's sentence short. Harry yelped, letting go of the blonde's hand and nearly flying off his bed.
A small figure was standing in the doorway. Harry could have recognized the wrinkly skin, wide eyes, and baggy clothes from anywhere.
"Dobby...?" Draco drawls.
The elf brightens. "Mr. Potter has a letter sir!"
~~~
Hear you falling and lonely, cry out
Will you fix me up? Will you show me hope?
The end of the day, I'm helpless
Can you keep me close? Can you love me most?
~~~
bro holy shit did I update twice in one WEEK? Probably cause this is a filler chapter. Yikes, sorry yall. It has some cute fluff in it though so???
Published: 12/5/19
Words: 2616