😚😚 i got another one if you're willing. Gonna make it a triple so; terror #13 that leads to anger #20 and ends on bliss #14
13. “No, please! No, no no no no no!” -> 20. “Let go of me.” -> 14. “I’m really happy that you’re here with me.”
Pairing: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Tags: Angsty angst, Magically powerful Harry Potter, Happy Ending, no beta
Harry was sitting, dead tired and falling asleep into his long-since cold coffee, when the alarm went off. He blinked warily, glancing around as every other Auror on duty began standing and throwing their robes on. Glancing across the aisle, he spied Ron's empty desk and wondered where his partner had run off to.
He sighed, blinking a few times before standing and grabbing his own red robes. He was struggling with getting his arms into their proper locations when two Aurors had practically sprinted full speed down his aisle. Then, he realized the alarm was still going off. Blinking and rubbing an eye, he glanced up to the lights circling above his head. Dark blue and yellow swirled in circles and he tried to remember exactly what the colour code meant. Dark blue- an Unspeakable was involved. Yellow... yellow...
Harry finally finished buttoning up his robes and had made to open his drawer to grab his Auror booklet before finally the meaning had popped into his head. Yellow: kidnapping. An Unspeakable had been kidnapped? This caused Harry to straighten up a bit, a kick of adrenaline waking him up slightly. This was bad news. Unspeakables knew too much, they knew things that would throw the common population into chaos.
Harry ran out from behind his desk, following the last dregs of the crowd before entering one of the larger conference rooms.
"Where the hell is-" Robards voice was booming from the center of the room before their eyes met, and he began gesturing wildly. "Auror Potter, get over here!" Harry began his push through the crowd, hearing shouts of fear from some Aurors and a few squad leaders trying to calm down and organize the chaos. Harry finally makes it to the center next to Robards, looking down at the map on the table.
"What's happened? Which Unspeakable was captured?"
"Doesn't matter," Robards replied quickly, prompting a raised eyebrow from Harry before his attention was diverted back to the map. He recognized- "This is the map of Godric's Hollow. I was told you were the most knowledgeable about the area. Now, the Unspeakable's wand was pinged here-" Robards tapped a point on the map, then began dragging his finger around it in a circle, "Its accurate up to half a mile, although he could've dropped the wand or had it taken from him when it happened. He managed to send the alert that said he was being kidnapped, but we should be ready to find anything. In a moment of crisis, one might just send any alert, especially if they're being hunted."
Harry nodded, glancing at the surrounding buildings. He did know this place, even better than when he was a kid. There was the coffee shop that his favourite cappuccino served, and where he had pictured taking Draco on their first date; if he ever gathered enough courage to ask. There was the flower shop across the street that always had vibrant flowers on display, the shop where he would buy little narcissus flowers to place on Draco's desk down in the Unspeakable ward when he has a bad day.
Harry took a deep breath, clearing his mind. He needed to focus on this mission. He had missed a few words Robards had said while daydreaming, but it seemed like there were at least five of them, and suspected to be neo-DEs. Nodding slightly, he finally spoke, turning his head to catch Robards gaze, "Alright, what's the plan?"
"First, we'll need to set a perimeter-"
"Why bother with this high level emergency shit?" Harry flinched slightly at the loud voice right behind him. He turned to spy Zacharias Smith sneering at his squad leader and crossing his arms. Harry just rolled his eyes and looked back toward Robards, but the git still continued to be the loudest person in the room. "All these flashing lights and alarms are giving me a headache. And for what, to rescue some Death Eater? I've said it once and I'll say it again, Draco Malfoy should never have been allowed to become an Unspeakable."
Draco Malfoy. The name rolled like a bell in his mind, and suddenly nothing else was reaching his ears. Draco Malfoy, an Unspeakable- he knew this already, of course, but he hadn't thought-
Slowly, Harry's eyes began to trace the room. He finally noticed what he hadn't in his tired but wired state: everyone in the room was a mix of red and dark blue robes. But he didn't see a flash of white hair anywhere.
The Head Auror sighed, hesitating and stopping his speech. The few others nearby that had also been listening began shooting wary glances toward him, but he chose to ignore them for now. "Auror Potter, don't-"
"The same procedure goes for everyone, regardless of-"
"Is it Unspeakable Malfoy?" Harry could hear the danger lacing his voice, could feel a slight rumble in his chest. He tried his best to contain his magic, but even so he began to feel small invisible tendrils lick up against his fingers. When Robards remained quiet and staring directly at the map, Harry slowly placed a hand on the table, glaring down at the man. It was an Unspeakable on the other side of the table who spoke, and finally answered his question.
"Yes. Draco Malfoy has been kidnapped."
Harry barely had time to see the Head Auror glare at the Unspeakable before a loud tearing sound followed by a bang sounded in everyone's ears. Lights flashed quickly before Harry's eyes, disorienting him for a moment before he landed in a puddle surrounded by darkness.
Well, not quite darkness, but it was night and there was only one streetlamp and a muggle car's headlights to guide his way. It took him a moment to gather himself, but the heavy rain pouring against his head and shoulders helped to stabilize him. His eyes adjusted, and he found himself standing outside a slightly less decorative flower shop- all the colorful plants had been moved inside to protect them from the awful weather.
Harry took a few steps until he was in an alleyway out of sight before closing his eyes and opening his mind. He felt his heart pumping quickly, and could hear the blood flowing in his ears. The adrenaline helped to open his mind more and pour his magic outside of himself before stretching it and shooting it out in all directions as far as it would go. His magic would recognize Draco's, he knew it would. It had to.
Memories flashed through his mind of the few times they went on missions together, feeling both of their magics licking against each other and they both cast spells to keep the enemy at bay. The time when Harry had been cursed and Draco was assigned to break it, the man casting spells that slide against Harry's skin in such a way that he was glad it was Draco and no one else. More memories kept flashing, circling in his mind before everything stopped.
He was in the present time, he was stretching his magic to unbelievable limits, and he had found Draco Malfoy. And not only had he found him, but Draco's magic pulsed, and pulled, and he knew Draco felt him. There was a spark of something there, like hope and a million other emotions, before Harry finally retracted his magic. He gasped quickly, as if dying for air, and his eyes flew open. A hand pressed against his stomach, a burning flare of heat rising in his core before finally settling again.
It doesn't matter, he has found Draco. Harry immediately turns and takes off at a run. He decides to stay near buildings, and darts through alleys as much as he could to remain undetected. Harry didn't exactly place his faith in a hastily cast Notice Me Not to keep him from detection, but he wasn't exactly worried. Whether they saw him coming or not- he would save Draco.
The rain kept pouring on Harry's head, plastering his unruly hair to his head and fogging up his glasses. After tripping over uneven pavement he hadn't seen, he growled and pocketed his glasses, casting a hasty eye correction spell that Draco had taught him before resuming his sprint. Before too long, a long abandoned storehouse came into view, with one lone guard standing under an awning at the door, seemingly smoking a cigarette.
Harry slowed his run to a fast paced walk, staring directly at the man that hadn't noticed him just yet. As the man flicked the ash off of his cigarette, Harry flicked his own wrist and felt the slide of wood that was his wand falling into his hand. He was within five feet when the man finally turned his head and noticed Harry. Not sure exactly what the man had seen, it was enough to put a full blown look of fear onto the man's face, his mouth opening to suck in a gasp. Harry raised his arm and slashed, casting a wordless spell and causing the man to crumple into an unconscious pile on the floor.
Harry cast a few more spells quietly, one to tie up the man on the pavement and restrict his magic, and another to notify Robards of his location. Then he pushed open the squeaking metal door and entered.
"I don't know why you're so enamored with those damn muggle smoke sticks, Josh. They smell disgusting and-" A woman had been speaking nonchalantly, unworried, when she heard someone enter. Until she had seen Harry, walking and dripping onto the floor and glaring directly at her. She was sitting alone at a table in the middle of an empty room, one lamp lighting up her nearby vicinity and a book lying open on the table, an empty chair across from her. She had frozen in her spot, a similar look of fearing crossing her face that had been on Josh's own, before she stood quickly and wiped her wand out. "Aurors!"
Her shout echoed through the building before she shot a curse that whizzed by Harry's ear and exploded against something behind him.
Harry, unworried but furious, raised his wand and slashed again, causing the woman to crumple to the floor as well. He made sure to toss an Incarcerous at her before three sets of footprints approached. The heads appeared from a disillusioned floor and Harry waved a shield in front of him for their first volley of attacks. And then he had felt it again- a surge of magic licking against his feet that could only be Draco.
The next moment were quick, with a multitude of colours flashing in his vision, rage and desperation fueling his veins, and he somehow ended his volley of spells to find himself somewhere he hadn't remembered coming to. Bodies lay on the floor around him, some bleeding and others struggling against magical bonds. And then he felt it again, but it was so much more faint and Harry felt nothing but worry as he chased the magic, turning corners and running through yet another disillusioned wall before finally, finally finding him.
He was tied to a simple wooden chair, alone in the room after everyone had left to attack Harry. But he his eyes were wide, focused on Harry, and his skin was so much paler than it should've been. Running toward him, Harry saw the moment that Draco lost conciousness, and Harry began the painstaking process of removing curses and magical binds that kept Draco rooted the chair. By the time he finished, Harry was breathing heavily and could only see Draco, and Draco's skin was beginning to turn a light shade of green.
“No, please! No, no no no no no!” Harry chanted, shaking his head and pulling Draco into his lap, his dead weight pinning Harry to the floor. "Wake up, Draco, please. You have to wake up, you have to." Harry tapped his cheek lightly to no response before closing his eyes and reaching his magic out once again.
Draco was close, his magical core right next to his own, yet Harry could barely feel it anymore. It felt muddied and fragile and Harry let out a sob as he clutched at Draco. "No, you can't leave me, not you too."
Another tearing sound, not as loud but slightly painful, along with a boom like a strike of thunder, and Harry found himself sitting in the middle of a hall in St Mungos. Doctors rushed past, nurses calling out to one another with medical jargon, and one child that had been sitting in a chair peacefully had startled badly and clutched at her stuffed rabbit.
Harry felt tears in his eyes and a frog in his throat, glancing at the little girl with frightened eyes before gathering Draco in his arms and standing. He called for help as he walked slowly down the hall until someone finally noticed him, conjuring a stretcher to place Draco down on. He followed, keeping his hand on Draco's arm, always standing next to him, until they ended up in the Curse and Disease ward.
There were so many voices, many calling his own name, but he couldn't hear any of them. Draco was fading from pastel green to a deep blue that was worrying Harry, and it hurt him to not know what was wrong. He began feeling a tugging on his arm, and he yanked himself away from them, huddling closer to Draco on the stretcher, practically ready to climb on top of it with him.
"Mister Potter sir, we need to to remove your hand."
"Fuck off," Harry whispered warily, staring down and reaching a hand out to brush a strand of hair from Draco's forehead. After even more insistent tugging, he felt a growl well up in his chest, turning and shouting at a nurse dressed in yellow scrubs. “Let go of me.”
"Mister Potter," An older lady spoke harshly, snapping her fingers in front of his face. "If you don't want him to die, you will remove any skin contact with him within five seconds."
Harry flinched, raising both hands to his side and watching the old woman throw a spell that seemed to shock Draco, making his body lift slightly from the cot but also halted the progress of the blue tint covering him.
"If you want him to live you will go to the waiting room and wait. Having you here will only hinder my ability to heal him." Her eyes were strict, but he also could see a strange sort of affection in them. "I also recommend seeing a Healer yourself, Potter, while you wait. I can feel how magically exhausted your core is from here. Now, leave us."
Harry stood still, in the midst of chaos, as the stretcher and everyone with it sped away and disappeared into an adjacent room. Exhaustion finally caught up with him, the tiredness he held before that had been kept at bay from adrenaline now tugged at his limbs. He wanted to sit right then, but after receiving glares just for standing, his eyes began scanning the rooms around him. As he read, they became blurry, and he had to walk closer to read some signs. When 'Waiting Room A' finally came into his line of sight, he let out a relieved sighed and sluggishly entered the room, finding the first chair he could see and slumping into it.
Harry awoke slowly to a quiet room full of pastel yellow walls and plenty of natural sunlight making them bright. He felt sore, magically exhausted (like the Healer before had said), and had a hankering for a nice hot cup of coffee. He remembered no dreams, he didn't even remember sleeping very long, as if he had only blinked. Though the sunlight and a lazily cast Tempus told him otherwise.
Sitting up in the stiff plastic chair he had fallen asleep in, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and took a moment to wonder why his entire outfit, including his shoes, felt stiff and rough. Then he remembered being soaked from the rain, and thought perhaps the nurses before weren't glaring at him for standing the hallway so much as dripping and leaving a trail in the hallway. He reached into a robe pocket, sliding his glasses back on and finally getting a good, non-blurry look at the room. There were two other people sitting and talking quietly in the corner, but otherwise he was alone. Taking a breath, he stood, making to leave before spying a muggle coffee maker sitting on a counter next to the door. At least he could fix one of his problems, then.
Taking a styrofoam cup, he filled it with coffee and left the room, not bothering to add anything. He just needed something to wake him up, and he doubted adding anything to it would make it taste any less like hospital coffee.
He approached the main desk of the floor, watching a nurse immediately duck behind the desk quickly after seeing him. He raised an eyebrow, but leaned against the desk anyway, sipping at his bitter drink. Suddenly a note was slid across the desk to him, the nurse handing it over refusing to meet his eyes. Sighing, he took the note and tried to decipher what looked like a doctor's handwriting.
I know by the time you wake your only thought will be to see your friend. Anticipating this, I told everyone you're not allowed in until you've been treated yourself. Room B3 is available, just enter the room and the nearest available doctor will come and look you over. After, my nurses will tell you where to find Mister Malfoy.
Blinking slowly, Harry remembered the little old woman who had yelled at him harshly while also looking at him fondly, and sighed. "This Healer Dorret, is she-"
"About five foot tall, full head of gray hair, piercing blue eyes that can see into your soul." The nurse murmured before shivering, pointing at the note. "You can fight that all you want, take legal action if you must, but I am not getting on her bad side."
Sighing again, Harry was too tired to argue with anything. He shrugged, dropped the note back on the desk, and made his way to room B3.
His checkup was quick. The Healer that had entered his room seemed to know exactly what to look for, and handing him a potion to drink with a quick "No magic for twenty four hours," before leaving and attending his own patients once more. Harry downed the potion, drank bitter coffee to wash out the sour taste, and returned to the main desk. The nurse pointed toward a hallway, murmured a room number, and Harry began walking.
Swallowing around a lump in his throat, Harry entered the room and noticed a few things. One, it was bright and had a window that a lot of other hospital rooms didn't have. Two, there was only one bed, Draco lying propped up on it, his hair shining brightly in the sunlight. And three, Draco was awake and staring directly at him. Harry approached, reaching out and taking Draco's hand as soon as he was within reach.
“I’m really happy that you’re here with me," Draco whispered, and his eyes seemed to shine with extra moisture. Harry leaned closer, using his other hand to place against Draco's cheek.
"There's nowhere else I'd rather be."
"Harry, I was so scared. The entire time, I was terrified." Draco blinked, a tear falling down his cheek that Harry immediately brushed away. "But then I- I felt your magic, didn't I? I didnt know if I was just imagining it, but it felt like you."
"It was me," Harry reassured, leaning closer to place his forehead against Draco's and closing his eyes. "I called for you and you answered. So I was able to find you."
"When they called out that the Aurors were there, they had injected me with some kind of poison." Harry tightened his grip on Draco's hand, breathing in his scent like Amortentia. "Healer Dorret said she was able to extract all of it out thanks to your speedy arrival. I have you to thank for my life."
Harry wasn't sure why he whispered it, but standing there with his eyes closed and the feeling of Draco in his hands, of Draco safe and there made him want to confess everything. He kept it to that one confession, the root of it all, and waited. Draco wasn't pulling away, but he wasn't talking either. He stayed for as long as he dared before Harry lifted his head and opened his eyes to see Draco.
He was met with a brilliant smile and bright gray eyes before being pulled against the man and assailed with a kiss.
Harry kissed back immediately, removing his hand from Draco's hand to wrap around his hip, his other hand sliding from his cheek to behind his neck. He poured everything into it. The love and hope he had felt before, the devastation at hearing of Draco's kidnapping, the anger he felt when he came across the men responsible. Draco had to pull back, gasping for air, and Harry followed his lips as if they were magnetic but backed away after a moment's hesitation to give him space.
"Harry, you idiot, I love you too."
