Draco POV
AN: PLEASE READ! There will be vague mentions of rape and mild self harm in this chapter. If you are sensitive to these topics, please stop reading. They will probably be described in more detail in later chapters also. Sorry I didn't include these warnings at the beginning of this fic, but I hope you enjoy :)
I would also like to say a few things that I realized were not very clear in the previous two chapters. This story takes place in the summer after their fourth year at Hogwarts. The war already ended, and Harry and Draco were kidnapped by the remaining Death Eaters to avenge Voldemort (Draco had renounced Voldemort and joined the Order before the war began). Hermione was with them at the kidnapping and was murdered before they were taken. They were held for three weeks before they were rescued by the Order. Exactly what they endured in these weeks will be discussed in future chapters. I hope this makes sense, and thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed!
When Draco woke again, it was dark. A clock on the wall informed him that it was around 2 o'clock in the morning. He let out a whimper when he saw all of the shadows that were being cast around the room, so he sat up and turned on the bedside lamp. Exhaustion pressed in on him, but he perked up when he heard muffled noises coming from the room next to him. Curious, he slipped out of the covers and shivered as his bare feet hit the cold floor. Padding quietly across the room, he listened for more sounds but didn't hear anything.
The door to the room creaked as it opened, but Draco tried not to be afraid as he poked his head in. There, lying twisted in the covers, was the famous Harry Potter. Draco had known Harry was in the dungeons with him, judging from the screams from the next cell over. He had seen him once. He had been dragged into Draco's cell on their first day there, and Draco had been told to torture him in exchange for his redemption. Upon his refusal, they had both been beaten for hours.
Seeing Harry now brought back too many memories from the last several weeks. He was about to turn back when he took in Harry's face. His eyes were wide open, staring blankly at a spot right above Draco's head. There was a haunted expression on his face, and he seemed to be watching something that only he could see. Was he hallucinating?
"Potter?" Draco whispered, frightened. Harry's gaze snapped onto to Draco's face and there was a moment of silence before he let out an earsplitting screech. Draco jumped, tripping over backwards and crawling away quickly. The sound was too similar to what he had listened to in the dungeons. His body began trembling uncontrollably as he remembered the nights he had been awoken by the same noise. Looking back at Harry, he saw that his previous school rival had pressed himself up against the headboard of the bed, his face wet with tears and eyes still wide and fearful. Draco realized that he was crying too and brushed the tears away angrily with trembling hands.
He curled himself into a tight ball against the wall, trying to suppress the gasps of air that he was involuntarily taking. He was embarrassed that Harry was seeing him like this, but he didn't think he was even back in reality yet. He started as a figure rushed into the room, taking in the scene. It was Professor Snape. What was he doing here?
When Snape approached him, he cowered away slightly. He was a follower of Voldemort- had he come to finish what his father had started?
"Hush, Draco, it's just me," Snape said softly, continuing to walk closer slowly. Draco whimpered as he remembered his father saying those same words before raping or beating him.
When Snape knelt right in front of him, he scrambled away frantically. Snape looked like he would follow, but finally turned away to Harry instead. Draco crawled to the corner of the room, trying to make himself as small as possible as the shaking and hyperventilating died down. He buried his head in his knees as he tried to hear what was going on at the other side of the room.
Harry POV
When Harry woke up, it was pitch black. He realized immediately why he had awoken, however, when he heard Hermione's voice. "Hello, Harry."
It was too dark to see her, but Harry replied anyway. "Hermione! I thought you were dead! How can you be here?"
"I'm not," she said. "I'm dead. And it's all your fault, Harry." The door opened, and she walked in. As his eyes adjusted, he saw that her face was gaunt and streaked with tears and blood. Blood, blood, blood everywhere. A scream escaped before he could stop it. No, no, no, she was alive, she had to be.
Tears started streaming down his face, but as he tried to wipe the wetness away he realized that it wasn't tears after all- it was blood. His bed was soaked with it as well. He was vaguely aware that there were two people in the room now, but he shut his eyes tightly, shaking his head. He didn't want to look up and see Ron's dead body too.
"Harry?" he heard someone say softly. It wasn't Ron, it wasn't Hermione… he opened his eyes to see Professor Snape kneeling by the bed. He tried to bolt, but the professor latched onto his arm before he could get off the bed. Harry pulled away as if he had been burned when he saw his shirt wet with blood where he had been grabbed. He watched in horror as the stain grew. Something in the back of his mind told him that this was all in his head, but he couldn't bring himself out of his panic.
He looked up to see Snape watching him worriedly. "Harry?" he said again. "Tell me what you see." Harry shook his head vigorously before raising a shaking finger to point at Draco, who was in the corner and looked to also be in a panic. Anything to get the man away from him. He saw Snape sigh before giving up and moving toward Draco again.
As soon as Harry was alone, he started his chant again. My fault. My fault. He began banging his head against the headboard in time with his words, finding that the pain helped clear his mind. He grasped his hair and pulled. Slowly the blood started disappearing. My fault.
Suddenly a hand was behind his head. It was Snape. "Harry. Stop it, now." Harry stopped. They stared at each other for a second before Snape spoke. "I'm going to put Draco back in his room, then I'm coming back. Don't do anything ridiculous, please."
As Snape helped Draco out of the room, Harry's thoughts strayed. Was he going insane? He had thought that Draco was Hermione, not to mention thinking that the room was coated in blood… had he been hallucinating?
What was happening to him?
Severus POV
Severus had been fast asleep in one of the hospital wing beds when he heard the scream. He sat up groggily, not sure if it was real or a dream. But as he looked over at the private rooms that the boys had been given and saw the light on in Draco's, he knew something wasn't right and jumped up. When he opened the door and Draco wasn't there, he started to panic. How could something like this happen on their first day back? However, when he entered Harry's room and saw them both there, he sighed in relief… which was short-lived as he took in the scene before him.
Draco was curled up in a gasping, shaking ball on the ground. Harry was still in bed, crying and looking around frantically. Severus wished Madam Pomfrey hadn't been called away on family business for the next few days, but knew he would have to fix this alone. He tried to calm Draco first, with no luck. He then looked up at Harry, who seemed to be growing more distraught by the second. After failing yet again to get Harry to talk to him, he returned to Draco, who seemed to have relaxed enough to tell him what had happened. He nearly groaned when he heard about Harry's hallucination- it was just yet another thing to add to his growing list of problems.
He was walking over to the fireplace to floo Dumbledore when the thumping started. He whirled around to see Harry whacking his head on the headboard and ripping at his hair. Rushing over, he grabbed the back of Harry's head. "Harry. Stop it, now." The boy paused, looking confused and angry. At himself or at Severus, he didn't know. "I'm going to put Draco back in his room, then I'm coming back. Don't do anything ridiculous, please."
He turned around, helped Draco up, and walked out. He didn't know how to deal with Harry right now. Until he gained his trust, it was hopeless to try. He then turned his attention back to Draco, who was still trembling in the aftermath of the panic attack. The boy's hand was clenched in Severus's robes. He was missing the little finger, and the knuckles on the rest of his fingers were crooked and mangled from being broken and never properly set. There were burn marks all over his forearm, and he knew that there were many other scars under his pajamas.
"Are you okay, Draco?" he asked quietly, once he had seen the boy back into bed. Draco sniffed and nodded, but Severus could see the tears still in the child's eyes. He sighed as he conjured a chair and put a hand on Draco's knee. "What happened back there?"
Draco wiped his nose on the back of his hand and looked up. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm such a mess. A weak mess."
Severus shook his head. "Draco, you're not weak. You are a young man who has gone through more than many grown men would be able to bear. Now, do you want to talk about what happened in Harry's room?"
"I just… Potter- Harry- and I had adjoining cells in the dungeons. I had to listen to his screams day and night. Hearing that tonight just made me remember things that I only want to forget."
"Draco, you're going to have to remember them in order to heal. You don't have to take that step yet, but you'll have a lot of time once we get to Snape Manor. I have to go check on Harry, but try to sleep, okay?"
"Okay."
With that, Severus turned back to Harry's room. He took a deep breath and stepped inside.
AN: This chapter is really long, and it took me forever to write because I had major writer's block. Anyway, there may be some errors (even though I read it over dozens of times) and since this is my first fic I don't know how I'm doing if you don't review. So review, and if you like the story then give it a follow! Thanks y'all, and I'll try to update soon!