Chapter 30

9.3K 373 38
                                    

The three 11 year olds stuck close together as they tip toed past the unconscious troll, sprawled out in the fourth room. Hermione looked at it with more fear than the others, Draco remembered hearing about the teachers having to save her from the troll at Halloween as she had been in the girls' toilets when everyone found out about there being a troll, admittedly he and Harry hadn't been there either, they were with Mme Pomfrey after someone had tried to curse Draco.

"You can wait in the previous room if you would rather," Draco said, turning to face Hermione, Harry still clinging onto his arm, but resolutely moving forward to the next door. "We'll come back for you."

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, although her face clearly made it clear she didn't want to continue. "What if you need me?"

"We'll be fine." Draco said, with a sense of certainty he didn't think he really felt. He leaned closer to Hermione. "If my parents come here, which they should, make sure you tell them where we went."

"Okay, take care you two." Hermione said, looking over her shoulder with worry as she walked back to the empty chess room to wait alone.

"We will, keep yourself safe too." Draco said, he and Harry then continuing on to the next room.

No sooner than the door had closed behind them than fire spurted up in front of the two doors. A table filled with different bottles with different substances inside with different colours. A small piece of paper with a riddle on it their only clue.

"Oh!" Draco said, his eyes lighting up, Harry admiring Draco's excited look, the different coloured flames also making Draco's eyes look even prettier than they normally did, and Harry felt himself being drawn to them as Draco circled the table. "Severus was the one who made this challenge, and he explained it to me, just give me a second and I'll be able to get the right potions."

Harry didn't actually mind how long it took for Draco to figure it out, he was happy just seeing Draco figure it out. While the situation was threatening, Draco looked like this was his favourite thing, being surrounded by potions, and while being near Harry.

"Found them!" Draco called out, holding up two small bottles filled with brightly coloured potions. "This one will let us go back." Draco said, holding out the fat bottle that contained a potion with a slight hint of blue to it's otherwise colourless contents. "And this one will let us progress forwards." He said, holding out the dark purple potion in a much thinner bottle, it almost looked like the test tubes of the crazy scientists Harry had seen in Dudley's programs.

'There's only enough in each for a mouthful.' Harry signed. Clearly they weren't going to be able to stay together, and if one of them was going to move forwards it was going to be him, it was his fault they were here, he wasn't going to let Draco get hurt for him. Besides, he could feel a pull from somewhere inside him to the next room, it wasn't a pleasant feeling either.

"I know..." Draco's voice making it very obvious he was internally debating something. "Look, Harry, don't argue with me, I'll take the one to move forwards, you go back and tell my parents which potion lets them move forwards and they'll come help me."

Harry knew there was no point to him trying to explain to Draco why he was wrong, he wasn't entirely sure of all the points himself, and Draco would always tell him that he wasn't causing any issues, even though he knew he was. He was definitely causing more trouble for the Malfoys and the other people around him after he left the Dursleys than he had when he was with them, but nobody seemed to comment on it.

Draco took his silence for agreement with him, walking closer and holding out the fat bottle, his grip on the thinner bottle not too tight as he wasn't expecting Harry to take it or even really look at it. He was wrong.

Harry grabbed the other bottle from Draco's hand, uncorking the bottle and putting it to his lips before Draco could stop him. It tasted cold, and caused a chill to run through Harry's body as he felt that the potion had taken affect.

"Harry, why did you do that? We don't know what's beyond that fire and I know more magic than you... Why did you do that?" Draco asked, looking at Harry with worry.

'It's too late now.' Harry signed, shrugging and trying to not let his fear show on his face so Draco didn't have to worry about him even more. Maybe he was going to be hated now, the Malfoys were everything to him, being the first people to give him genuine kindness, and he knew he had probably crossed a line. 'See you later.' Harry walked through the fire between them and the door that lead to the next room.

"Harry!" Draco called out as Harry disappeared into the flames, a sense of dread washing over him, feeling as though he would never see the little boy again.

He looked down at the fat bottle still in his hands, the one he had hoped Harry would take and be safe. He just hoped that his parents were really on their way and would be there quickly. They had to save Harry.

-----

Remus, Sirius, Lucius and Narcissa burst through the door that fed into the room that had once held a giant chess set, but now just had a chequered floor with an 11 year old girl sitting in one of them, fiddling with the hem of her skirt.

"Where are Harry and Draco?" Remus demanded, the more time passed the more worried he became. He didn't normally feel like the world would end if he didn't find someone in time, even last time Harry had disappeared he didn't feel as panicked as he did now, but he was genuinely terrified, if he didn't find Harry right now, something terrible would happen.

"They went through that room, I don't know how many more rooms they've gone through now though." Hermione said, pointing to the open door as a pale, and blond haired boy walked through, trembling as he let out a breath of relief as he saw the adults.

"You need to get to Harry, I couldn't stop him from going through the next door, I don't know what's through there." Draco said, not ashamed as the tears glinted in his eyes.

Mute (Drarry) [COMPLETED]Where stories live. Discover now