Silent (Drarry) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 16

"Basalisk?" Narcissa asked, her voice shaking in a very uncharacteristic way as her mask slipped, grasping Draco's arm firmly to reassure herself he was okay.

"Yes, we've gotten everything we can from the remnants of the curse cast on Harry." The healer said, casting a quick spell that caused Harry's eyes to close as he was no longer under control, no matter how loosely. "It was an imperius cast by a Basalisk which is acting as some form of a vessel. It seemed to have some of the magic from Harry himself, can you tell me how that could happen?"

"His familiar went missing and their connection was damaged a while ago." Draco said, while his eyes stayed on Harry.

"The Basalisk or its master are probably using his familiar for an energy source. Maybe they realised it was a familiar and decided to take the person too." The healer said.

Harry's eyelids started twitching again, this time because of him rather than the Basalisk. When his eyes opened again his eyes were brighter, more filled with life, but also fear. The first thing he lay eyes on was Draco, and he practically threw himself at the slightly older boy. Draco returned the somewhat over exertive hug in kind. He was glad Harry was okay, and he felt even more relieved that Harry was hugging him.

"Harry, are you okay?" Draco asked.

Harry didn't answer, he wasn't able to talk, and he was too scared to let go of Draco, he was scared of ending up in that cage in his mind again, it was cold and scary. At first it was almost alright, but after a while it became worse, and all he could see was what his life was like with the Dursleys, all the times they yelled at him when he still doesn't know what he did wrong, when they would leave him alone for a week with food only a few days from going off, when he would have to film Petunia and Vernon doing things, when Vernon got drunk. It was terrifying, and he never wanted to go through any of it again, he didn't even want to be able to remember any of it.

"Please could you leave?" Remus whispered to the healer. "Harry doesn't especially like being around people he doesn't know."

The healer nodded and walked out, Draco hugging Harry gently and trying to help him calm down. Harry was trembling slightly, clinging to Draco as though letting go would cause him to fall down to goodness couldn't know where.

"Harry? You're okay now, breathe. You're in St Mungo's, a place for healing and getting better. whatever happened at Hogwarts won't happen here." Sirius said, moving so he was perched on the corner of the bed.

It took some more comforting words from the others in the room and a few minutes for Harry to calm down enough to loosen his grip on Draco and move back, but he didn't let go of Draco completely, holding onto his hand tightly.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Sirius asked gently, holding himself back from petting Harry's hair, not sure could scare Harry again after he had only just calmed down.

"The voice kept saying it was going to find me because its master wanted me." Harry said quietly, so only Draco didn't have to strain to hear him. "I tried to not be noticed, but I said I wanted Predawn back and it found me."

"Is that what yo said in Parseltongue?" Draco asked, rubbing the back of Harry's hand with his thumb.

"I was speaking Parseltongue?" Harry asked, usually he could only do that if there was a snake he could look at, otherwise he had to put in a lot of effort.

"Yeah, well, you were making that hissing sound, so I assume." Draco said.

"That might be how it found me, I always tried not to respond." Harry mumbled.

"What happened after you asked for Predawn?" Remus pushed after a moment's pause.

"The voice said it had found me, then... Uh... I think it said a spell, it said... imperio." Harry said, a little unsure of himself.

"Yes, that's what you say to cast the imperius curse. If said in Latin, the language we use for spells and the pronunciation used, then it gives the caster control over the victim while it makes the victim experience a feeling of bliss and weightlessness, while the instructions echo in their mind. They can learn to fight it off though. I'm guessing that's not what you felt though, seeing how it was cast in Parseltongue." Lucius said, having been put under the spell enough times himself to now be able to almost always fight it off.

Harry shook his head. What he felt was absolutely nothing like bliss, it was terrifying, cold, and isolating. He didn't hear any instructions, he was in a cage and his body was moving on its own.

"Can you tell us how you felt?" Narcissa asked gently, there were very few people who had ever been put under the imperius curse in Parseltongue, and most were unable to be saved, the caster killing them before they could be freed.

"It felt like I was being pulled back, and my vision was getting further and further away, and then I got locked in a cage in my mind and I couldn't do anything as my body moved. I was scared, and I couldn't do anything and then... Then everything that happened to me... With Mr Vernon and Mrs Petunia..." Harry's voice trailed off, but he didn't need to finish for them to understand what Harry was talking about. His memories of the abuse he went through came up.

It seemed like even though the sleeping mask could stop the imperius from controlling Harry, it was still affected, giving him nightmares of his past rather than the comfortable sleep it would normally give, either dreamless or pleasant dreams depending on the fatigue of the person wearing it.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't know the curses would interact." Draco said, looking down, feeling guilty.

Harry didn't say anything, his throat feeling too choked up to let more words come out, but he threw himself back into Draco's arms, this time almost sending the pair of them tumbling to the floor, but Narcissa and Sirius caught them before they got hurt.