Protection (Drarry)

Chapter Seventeen

The Dursley's house disappeared in a flurry of wind and darkness. Harry held tightly to Malfoy lest they be separated and tried to see through the whirl of nothing. It wasn't like apparating or like traveling by portkey. It was both somewhere in between and worse, with his whole body feeling like it had been ripped and torn and spread apart in the middle of a hurricane.

With a sharp crack the wind disappeared, although the darkness stayed. Harry peered around him, and in the faint sheen of some kind of light he saw Malfoy do the same.

"I don't want to cause panic or alarm," Malfoy said drily. "But I think we're in a cage."

Harry's eyes focused on metal bars in front of him just as a blinding flash of green light filled the air, accompanied by the dreadful scream, "Avada Kadavra!"

Harry felt something solid hit him around the middle and he crashed to the floor. He winced as his head hit the ground and stars filled his vision, but took it as a good sign that he was still alive.

Malfoy moved from above Harry, where he had fallen pushing them both to the ground. He threw his wand arm up and snarled a curse in the direction the noise had come from. The door blew off the cage.

"Run," Malfoy yelled, grabbing Harry and pulling him to his feet.

They pushed through the doorway and ran, trying to take in their surroundings at the same time. They appeared to be in some kind of warehouse. The cage was an abandoned elevator, now blasted off its cables and hanging loosely in the shaft, little more than a pile of rubble.

Movement to their left caught their eye: a black cloak whipping the air.

"Duck," Malfoy hissed, shoving Harry bodily to the ground as another killing curse shot over the top of them.

"Sectumsempra!" Malfoy yelled, shooting his wand back toward Twilfitt. They heard a scream.

Harry whipped his head back to look at Malfoy, shocked.

"It's not bloody amateur hour," Malfoy snarled, shoving Harry to keep running. "This is not the time for a conscience."

Another curse flew at them, missing widely but proving that Twilfitt was still alive.

"Harry!"

Hermione's scream brought them to a crashing halt. Hidden behind a metal barrier, it took all of Harry's willpower not to run toward her scream. If he did, he knew Twilfitt would kill him immediately.

He would say this for the Death Eater, he was a little more on task than Voldemort. Less talking, more action.

"Harry, don't move! He has his wand pointed at you." Hermione yelled, before a loud thud cut her off midway.

Harry flinched. Malfoy brought an arm up and rested a hand on his shoulder, both a warning and a comfort.

"You have ten seconds, Potter," a new voice yelled. It sounded breathless, like he was badly injured. "Or I kill the girl. Another ten seconds and the redhead will follow. Ten. Nine."

Harry ripped his shoulder from Malfoy's grasp and moved to stand. Malfoy grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Eight. Seven."

"If he kills you, he wins the wand." Malfoy hissed, his face contorting viciously. "There's always another way, remember!"

"What way?!" Harry hissed back, struggling to break free.

"Six. Five."

"My way," Malfoy said with a grin.

"Inferiate!" Malfoy yelled, jumping to his feet and aiming his wand over the barrier.