Part of the Hacey Discord's Drabble Collection.

Huge thanks to Luthien'sLight for your help on my first fanfic!

Dashing Away

Harry knew that running away stood against Gryffindor's core values, but Harry really thought that even Godric Gryffindor himself would find it hard to be courageous if faced with the same situation.

Cursing his luck, Harry knew the odds were not in his favor for escaping. The head start he had on his pursuer was not as large as he would have hoped. Still, he kept willing his legs to carry him faster as he dashed towards safety.

His mind drifted to his first year when he had run for his life within these very halls. He had been with Ron then, and they had beaten the odds to survive and save Hermione from the troll. With the troll, the consequences of getting caught had been simple. Death. This time, if he got caught it would be worse, much worse. If the troll had caught him, the end would have come swiftly with a quick blow to the head by the troll's massive club and that would have been the end of "The Boy Who Lived". His thoughts briefly went to what would happen if he was caught now. His mind conjured up images of the most gruesome torture scenes.

No. He couldn't allow that. He had friends to protect from Voldemort now and he wanted a life after the war was over. Getting caught was not an option. There was too much he had to live for to allow that to happen now.

Arriving at the end of the hall and at the grand staircase, he thought his luck just might be turning. The moving stairs going upwards were just leaving his floor. He would have to jump, but if he could make it across, there was no way his pursuer could follow and he would be able to make it to the safety of the Gryffindor tower.

Just as he was gathering himself to jump, Harry heard a shout behind him and suddenly felt his feet trip causing him to fall and come to a stop a mere foot from the edge of his salvation.

Groaning from having the wind knocked out of him, Harry managed with some effort to flip himself onto his back while also mentally cursing the use of the tripping hex. He had been close… so very close to escaping. Sitting up and readjusted his glasses, he could see the self satisfied smirk adorning the face of his green robed captor.

Looking up to meet the mischievous eyes of the one and only Tracey Davis, heard her tut "Did you really think you could get away from me, Potter?"

Frozen in fear, movement seemed a foreign concept to him. He now understood what the proverbial "deer in the headlights" felt.

Grinning widely now, the brunette squatted down to Harry's eye level "why don't you refresh my memory on what you told me just before so rudely running out on our conversation?"

Unable to maintain eye contact anymore, Harry dropped his head and mumbled incoherently for a second. Tracey, grinning almost impossibly widely now, interrupted his muttering. "No, no, this won't do at all. It's polite to speak clearly and to look them in the eye when speaking to a lady. This is already going to be bad Potter, you wouldn't want it to get WORSE, now would you? She motioned threateningly with her wand, and he gulped.

Seeing Tracey look at him with her big innocent brown eyes, the thought of lying briefly crossed Harry's mind until remembering what house she was in. Tracey did not look or act like the typical Slytherin, but she got sorted into the house for a reason. She could easily make his life miserable if she so desired.

Clearing his throat, Harry mustered the dregs of his Gryffindor courage for one last stand, and repeated his earlier words that had begun this nightmare in the first place "I said, I think you're cute".

Harry closed his eyes, bracing himself for what was to come. Davis was well known for her infamous castration spells and Harry knew that with his wand dropped somewhere in his original mad dash of panic, there was no hope now. When nothing happened; however, Harry looked up into the twinkling eyes of his fearsome opponent. She raised her hand and patted his cheek. "There was no need for you to run, Harry. I think you're already quite… dashing… just the way you are."