HER, harry potter ²

ch. 13 - closer

'battered and wrecked, i come to you first'
[Homer, the odessy]

><><

Addie woke, but as she opened her eyes, it was as though they were still closed. Everything around her remained in total darkness.

Groggily, she sat up. Noticing the absence of Harry's arms around her, Addie felt around to find him—but where she expected to touch soft blankets, meeting her fingers instead was cold, hard ground. Her heart dropped. She tried to move, but found her arms restrained by thick metal chains that rattled as she moved.

"Harry?" She spoke into the darkness, but the only response was the echo of her own voice. With building distress, she pulled against the chains again—but they were wrapped so tightly around her.

She was back in the cell.

"HARRY!" She pulled harder and harder on the chains but they never gave in. "HARRY!"

No response.

Except—

"Think you could get away that easily?" Christine's voice whispered into her ear; her breath cool against her skin as she cupped a hand over Addie's mouth and pressed something sharp against her neck. Addie squeezed her eyes shut but still felt the sleek blade digging painfully into her skin.

"HARRY!" She screamed as loud as she could—but her voice amounted to nothing beneath Christine's hand. Her muffled screams quickly turned into sobs.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. Blood seeped down her neck. Her heart hurt. Her neck hurt. Everything hurt. Christine's voice was getting louder, louder, louder. Blinding pain followed the dagger's path as it slid across Addie's neck, then—

She woke up with a fright, sitting bolt upright in bed, gasping for air.

"Addie?" A sleepy voice mumbled.

Her chest heaved up and down in a panic. Beads of sweat mixed with the tears streaking down her face in a salty blur. Bringing a hand to her neck, she searched frantically for a cut, for blood, but—

"Love—"

Addie's arm flinched away as something touched it.

"Hey, it's okay, it's okay," Harry shushed gently in the dark. Slowly, she floated back down to earth as though his voice was gravity, and came to terms once more with her surroundings.

The tent was dark aside from a flickering candle in the room's centre. The rustle of sheets as Harry sat up beside her. Ron's faint snores in the background. Crickets in the quiet forest surrounding them. A soft breeze of cold air through the small gap beneath the tent flaps.