House: Slytherin
Category: Drabble
Prompt: Anxiety [Emotion]
Word Count: 539
A/N: for Alexa and Emma because I know you like fem!Harry.
oO0Oo
The flames were coming for her, and Hailey didn't stop to think. Instead of trying to escape the Room of Requirement, she plunged deeper into its depths; when she found herself trapped, encircled by snapping, snarling creatures of fire, she dove into an untouched, looming cabinet. Perhaps there, she would be safe from the inferno blazing around her. It could be magical, and it was certainly better than watching her death, in the form of some fiery monster, come to devour her.
It was only after she'd slammed the the door behind her and trapped herself in the darkness that she realized where she was. She was in the broken Vanishing Cabinet which Malfoy had used to bring Death Eaters into the school last year. Swearing profusely, she stumbled back towards where she remembered the door being, feeling blindly for the handle; however, her hands only scrabbled against smooth cold metal.
Maybe she was turned around. Maybe, somehow, the door was actually behind her. Now slightly panicked, she turned, arms outstretched in the darkness. But after two paces, she collided with a wall of cold, unyielding metal.
She turned again, hoping against hope that somehow she'd missed the handle the first time, but Hailey hasn't even taken a step before her fingers brushed up against the wall.
Panic came bubbling up from within her. She was trapped. She'd never escape...reaching up into the darkness, she felt the cold ceiling against her fingertips, and when she spread her arms, they came into contact with all the walls around her. There was no doubt about it: the Vanishing Cabinet was shrinking with her inside its belly. Hailey curled into a ball on the cold floor, her breath coming ragged gasps, her childhood spent in the cupboard coming back full force. She couldn't— she couldn't— she couldn't—
Disjointed images flashed behind her eyelids. Uncle Vernon shoving her into the cupboard. Aunt Petunia locking the door behind her. Dudley laughing as Hailey sobbed because she was so hungry that her stomach was twisting and knitting within her skinny frame. And above all, the hated cupboard, keeping her in its malignant darkness, coming to symbolize everything she hated about her life. When Hagrid had come, she had escaped; now, however, she was trapped again.
Hailey's eyes shot open. She began to beat wildly at the walls like a madwoman. She had to escape. Sbe couldn't stay any longer in the small, shrinking space, in the dank darkness… this was a fate than death at Voldemort's hand. She shrieked, clawing at the walls—
And then, the door to the Vanishing Cabinet opened.
Hailey fell forward, caught entirely by surprise, the light blinding her after so long spent in the darkness. She expected to land face-first against the stone floor; however, strong male arms caught her.
Eyes still struggling to adjust to the sudden light, Hailey blinked up at her savior. When her vision finally cleared, her blood ran cold.
It was Tom Riddle standing before her, almost indistinguishable from the shade she'd fought in second year. Tom Riddle, and when she looked around, she recognised the shop as Borgin and Burkes, virtually identical to its future self.
She should have stayed in the cabinet.