Task 6: Write about someone being scared

Cabin Rule: Blaise & Draco (friendship)

Prompt: (emotion) apprehension

WC: 1068

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Draco shifts in his seat, running his thumb over the edge of the embossed seal of the letter he holds in his lap. He can sense movement to his right, the barest persistent flicker and shift out of the corner of his eye, but he doesn't turn his head.

He knows he wouldn't be able to keep his terror from his face if he does.

In the shadowed curve of the glass, the rolling hills and fenced beyond blurred and indistinguishable as his dread rises in his throat, Draco watches as a hand stretches forth from the heavy cloak, the body following in shuddering increments. His first glance, when the coach had first paused in front of Malfoy Manor as Blaise's letter had stated, had been brief but it had been enough.

Draco swallows back the acid, running his thumb over the embossed seal once more, desperately wishing his parents had been able to extract him from this particular social expectation. Even now, he couldn't regret his friendship with Blaise. The other boy had been a curiosity at first, hailing from one of the only true neutral families in the UK and given the rumours about his mother, but as time progressed, they had become as close to true friends as Draco expected he would ever get.

When Blaise had invited Draco over to his house for the summer, Draco hadn't thought much of the invitation. He had visited the other boy countless times over the years and returned the favour in kind so had gladly accepted this most recent invitation. However, when a carriage had arrived instead of the expected Portkey, Draco's stomach twisted into a knot, and when he had seen his travelling companion…

Mother had ducked away into the nearest room — the frightened squeaks of the House Elves echoing as they flattened themselves into the walls at her sudden appearance — with her hands pressed to her mouth and her cheeks pale beneath her gentle rose blush.

The figure presses their hand against the opposite wall of the carriage, the chill of their skin as they brush closer to Draco causing the skin of his arms to writhe and prickle. The uncomfortable sensation that he was about to be swallowed rises in the pit of his stomach, and Draco's teeth clamp onto the tip of his tongue, caging the scream that threatens to escape. The walls of the carriage ripple and pulsate, gently at first like the beating of some monstrous heart but increasing in tempo.

It reverberates through him, rattling through his teeth and Draco can barely breathe from the intensity of it. His feet slip on the floor as he tried to brace himself, one skidding sideways into the bulk of his companion and sinks in in a way flesh shouldn't allow. Draco draws his foot back as quickly as he can, and the substance follows. He can feel the cling of it to the sole of his boot and he can't help but look.

There's a dark formless mass splayed like a caress across the side of his foot. It rests there for a moment, the edges strangely uniform in their unsettling familiarity, almost like a hand brushing against him as a reminder, before it retracts back beneath the cloak.

Draco feels the bile rise in his throat and swallows it back, the burn settling in the pit of his twisting stomach.

He wants to get out.

But instead, he turns his face back towards the window. The world outside is darker now, the sun dipping behind the growing cloud cover, the thick and grey heralds of an oncoming storm.

His face is pinched white, appearing to be a ghost himself as his eyes are the only spot of colour on his face, dark and haunted empty spaces.

It reminds him of an enchanted picture. There would be nothing alive about it, just enchanted shapes enchanted to move, but if you weren't expecting it, then the slowly dawning realisation of a figure creeping up on the oblivious subject caused a stir at parties, the gathering dissolving into hysterical tinged laughter, fear leaving them as reality set in. But they would still watch it again, their hands pressed tight against their sides so they wouldn't jump a second time.

Over his shoulder, Draco watches the figure settle back once more, drawing their cloak back around their face, and waits for the moment they spring on him. Blaise's letter is creased, his finger trembling as he resumes tracing the seal, desperate for the journey to end.

When the house comes into view, Draco doesn't realise for a moment, his gaze taking in the artfully crumbling walls that meld with the rolling hills long before he realises he is looking at a house. It is sprawling, a colossal work of flowing rooms and piercing turrets as if some huge beast has settled down and is ready to wake at any moment. Ivy, carefully cultivated into the vibrant reds of the magically poisonous variety, is winding around the walls, threatening to choke the slowly yielding stone. The windows stare back at him and Draco straightens, a flicker of hope sparking in his chest.

The end is in sight. He's nearly there.

The figure next to him sighs, the sound as cold as the grave, something unseen creaking as the carriage turns, the wheels crunching over the gravel driveway.

It rolls to a slow stop, and Draco can't move. He doesn't dare move. He can feel that same pressure on his boot, no longer resting but clinging. Cold terror settled in his veins, a full bodied flood rather than the anticipatory trickle, and Draco draws in a final breath to try and curse his murderer.

"Draco!" Blaise throws open the door and drags him, pale-faced and trembling, into the brisk late morning sunrise. "I'm sorry for the transport. Mother has been playing with the wards and I can't work out how to get a Portkey in."

"It's fine," Draco manages, his mouth operating independently of his brain which is still blank and soundless.

"Come on then." Blaise's arm is warm, thrown casually across Draco's shoulders and he starts to steer the other boy away, turning to look back only once. The figure stares back, empty and hollow, before it bows and climbs back into the carriage, waiting for the return trip to bring Draco back home.