Author's note: Harry will try to run away in this chapter. Whether he'll succeed or not you'll have to read for yourself.
For those of you who still recall the events of my previous version of the 6th chapter please keep in mind that none of them ever occurred. Complicated is the 6th chapter, and that's just it.
By the way, I had the strangest discussion with my English teacher and fellow students the other day. We had a small test about English words that sounds the same, but mean completely different things (there and their, to, two and too, etc.). There were 22 questions, and I realized she'd given me two wrongs! The English we Norwegian teens learn in school is so simple you wouldn't believe it. I'm top of my class, I don't even have to do my homework to keep up, and you can see for yourselves what my English is like…!
Anyway, she claimed that it was supposed to be "The shoe is much to big" and "He was driving to fast", whereas I'm fairly sure it's "The shoe is much too big" and "He was driving too fast". Please tell me I'm correct, because I simply refuse to believe it. It goes against everything I've ever read, written and learned about the English language in my entire life!
Chapter. 7
Harry didn't weigh much. Had Draco been his mother, he would've been concerned. He wasn't, so he didn't, but it still bothered him ever so slightly.
What bothered him even more was how on earth he was going to let Harry use the bathroom.
He realized, of course, that someone who was both blind and incapable of moving his arms and legs at the same time could not very well go to the bathroom by himself.
There was bound to be trouble. And if said trouble happened to be of the noisy sort, then his mother would wake up and then there would be more trouble...
He had absolutely no intensions of following the boy inside, but he couldn't just untie him either.
Harry would run away for sure.
If someone had told him a few days ago that he would be carrying Harry Potter around like a baby, in the middle of the night, in his own home, he would've laughed.
Then he would've probably worked out some evil plot to get whoever said it in trouble, big time.
And yet, here he was.
He had to carry the boy. He couldn't very well free his legs and let him walk for himself.
What if he ran away? Or turned out to be really good at karate?
He hadn't removed the blindfold either. He had come to think of Ron's letter, and wondered whether it would be a good idea to show it to Harry now, or wait until later.
Harry lay fairly still in his arms and said nothing for a while. Then he whispered, "Where are we?"
Draco didn't reply.
Harry had so far shown no sign that he recognized his voice, and Draco wasn't about to make it easier for him.
They walked up a short hallway, and then proceeded to take the fastest route to the bathroom. There were a total of four bathrooms, and Draco headed instinctively for the smallest, hidden away in the far end of the mansion. As far away from his sleeping mother as possible…
Harry was concentrating very hard on the hands that were carrying him. He tried to decide whether they were the hands of an old or young person. The voice sounded fairly young, but voices could be deceiving, and it had so far only spoken to him in a very low-pitched tone so it was difficult to be absolutely certain.
Just like Draco, he, too, wondered how the kidnapper planned to let him use the bathroom.
Would he untie his hands? Harry hoped he would. It would increase his chances of escaping, and in any case he didn't much enjoy being bound.
With both hands free he might be able to climb out a window, or quite simply knock out his captor. But most importantly he could remove the black piece of cloth that covered his eyes.
He wondered who the kidnapper might be. Some Death Eater or other sounded reasonable, he thought.
But if so was, then why wasn't he dead yet?
From what he'd seen of them so far they seemed rather... effective.
Not to mention a trifle unfriendly, especially towards him.
This person, whoever he was, had brought him food. He wasn't acting particularly friendly, but not too unfriendly either. It might be a nice person. Deep down inside, or something like that.
Draco carried him up one last flight of stairs and they were there.
This was where the difficult part came...
"Listen carefully to me," he begun in a quiet voice. "I'll untie one of your hands. You are not to untie the other, nor your legs, and don't make a sound while you're in there, understand?"
Harry nodded mutely in response.
Draco helped the boy to stand straight on his own feet, before he fished his wand out of his pocket, pointed it to the blindfold and muttered a spell under his breath. The spell would prevent Harry, or indeed anyone else for that matter, from untying the thing with bare hands.
A wand was required to get the job done.
Satisfied with his own genius, he opened the door and gave Harry a slight nudge in the right direction. Harry stumbled forward, but managed not to fall over. It was quite difficult to walk with his feet tied together like that, but he somehow managed to inch his way past the threshold.
The first thing he did once he was fairly certain no one was watching was to try and remove the blindfold. It was stuck. He tried to undo the knot, and then, when this proved useless, he attempted to pull it off with his fingers. But no matter how hard he tried it wouldn't come off.
Realizing he had no time to waste he bent down and quickly untied his ankles. This second task proved out to be far simpler than the first, and he had the ropes off within a matter of seconds.
Born with a strong a sense of right and wrong, he felt slightly guilty for disobeying the kidnapper.
But then again, the small part of him which had almost gotten him sorted into Slytherin, seemed to be of a different mind.
After all, the kidnapper had wanted him to eat, which meant that he wanted Harry to stay remotely healthy, at least for a little while longer. With his legs tied together he'd just bump into things and end up injuring himself.
He attempted to free his other hand as well, but this turned out to be quite impossible.
It seemed his hands were not tied together as he had believed at first, but rather both were attached separately to the rope that went around his waist.
He had to bend and twist his arm in a most uncomfortable way just to reach the knots, impossibly so should he have any hope of undoing them.
It bothered him a great deal that he couldn't take in his surroundings, but he would just have to deal without. There was, in any case, nothing he could do about it.
Reluctant to waste more time and energy on worrying, he instantly got to work examining the walls and various object within the room.
It wasn't a very large room, but bigger than the dark cupboard. The walls were completely smooth, and he found a toilet and a sink. Aside from that there was a small, circular mirror hanging above the sink and nothing more.
Nothing helpful…
He was close to tears with disappointment, when his fingers suddenly bumped into something along the wall. After a closer examination he concluded gleefully that it was a window.
With quick fingers he located the hatches and unfastened them. He held his breath as it swung outwards.
"Please don't creak, please don't creak," he prayed, while keeping his fingers on both hands firmly crossed behind his back.
It didn't creak.
The window was placed fairly high up on the wall, and although he had no trouble reaching it he would probably require some sort of aid in order to climb out of it.
He stepped onto the toilet, careful not to make too much noise. He didn't want the stranger outside to hear him. Not until he was safe and out of reach.
Harry didn't weigh much. However, hoisting him up onto the window still with one hand was impossible. Even for one as light as he. Perhaps he lacked the muscles.
Fortunately he was quite flexible and did, in fact, manage to get up by placing first one leg on the still and then use his free arm to pull himself the rest of the way up.
The feeling of warm, summer air delighted him and for a short second he merely sat there enjoying it.
It was then it hit him how utterly helpless he truly was without his eyes. He had no means of knowing where he was. The air was almost still, and only a gentle breeze played idly with his hair.
He wondered how far he would fall if he simply slipped off the edge…
Draco was growing impatient. He knew girls had a reputation for spending unnecessary long time in the bathroom, but couldn't recall ever having heard the same about boys.
It seemed Harry Potter was the exception to set the rule, however.
What was he doing in there?
Probably trying to free himself, Draco wasn't stupid. He'd certainly never expected Harry to obey him just like that, he knew him better than that.
Even so, there was fairly little he could accomplish, blind as he was. No one, not even Harry Potter, could possible be foolish enough to make an escape attempt with a blindfold that wouldn't come off.
Could he…?
Overwhelmed with a sudden rush of fear and suspicion, he opened the door.
Just in time to see Harry slip over the edge and disappear…
"HARRY!" Ron Weasley jolted upright in bed, drenched in cold sweat. His heart was beating rapidly and he was panting.
He took a deep breath to calm himself. It was just a bad dream, he assured himself.
He couldn't believe he had actually managed to fall asleep. He'd been sick with worry since that morning dad came home and told them Harry Potter was missing. That was two days ago. Mr. Weasley had been one of the first to arrive at the Durselys.
Why he'd arrived at all was partly because Harry had done some pretty heavy magic, not only to his relatives but to the furniture as well, not to mention the food, and partly due to a severe lack of personnel in the ministry during the summer holidays.
If the situation hadn't been so serious, Ron would've laughed. He had no idea what the ordeal with the Durselys had been all about, but he reckoned they deserved what they got.
Dad had assured them that probably nothing was wrong. Probably, he said, Harry would be recovered the following day. Alive.
But the day came and went, and Harry had yet to show up.
Nor had Ron received any response from the letter he'd sent. He had written it the very same morning dad had come home with the bad news and sent it with Hedwig. Feeling certain she would manage to track him down, wherever he was.
He was beginning to regret his decision of not telling his father about it. He'd thought that if Harry wanted to stay away for a while, or was with Sirius then he wasn't going to make any trouble. He realized now that it might not have been a very good decision.
He hoped for the life of him that Harry was safe. Nothing else mattered, just as long as Harry was safe.
But if he was worried, it was nothing compared to Ginny. She was devastated. She hadn't slept at all, that much he was certain of. He'd tried to comfort her, but he had the job cut out for him…
He really meant what he'd written in the letter, about Harry being able to take care of himself. But what chance would he stand against ten Death Eaters?
If only there was something he could do to help. Anything. Anything to make sure Harry was alive and unhurt.
No matter what, he'd be more than willing to do it, if it was to save Harry…
Draco didn't even have a chance to cry out. He ran over to the window, climbing up to the still to look out. He spotted Harry almost instantly. He had landed on the roof of a smaller part of the mansion, about six feet beneath the window, and lay unmoving on his side.
Please don't let him be dead, Draco pleaded silently. He was just about to call out, but just as he opened his mouth, Harry began to stir. He seemed almost confused at first, but quickly regained his wits and got to his feet.
Fortunately he seemed to have realized he was standing on a roof, and he was clever enough not to start running blindly. He must've noticed he was lying on tiles, thought Draco.
He was currently unsure of what to do. He didn't feel much like jumping down after Harry, but what other options did he have? He had to take some decision, and he needed to take it fast. He couldn't risk getting caught by his mother or by that house elf, whatever her name was.
With one last look on the tiny bathroom, and the flashing images of broken limbs and smashed watermelons dancing behind his eyes, he let go of the still.
His flight seemed to take only a second before he landed hard on the roof. His knees gave way and he fell, rolling over once before scrambling gracefully to his feet.
Harry spun around and was looking straight at him, slowly backing away from where he judged his enemy to be standing.
"Don't move, you idiot!" hissed Draco, fully aware of the fact that nothing he said would make any difference. He didn't think Harry would stop moving just because he told him not to. He was right.
Harry was getting dangerously close to the edge, but remained oblivious, overwhelmed with a strong desire not to get captured again.
Draco decided threatening was not the best way to go, and opted for the use of a completely different tactic. The one he was best at. Deception…
"I wouldn't go any further if I were you," he said calmly. Harry stopped. But his stance was similar to that of a cat that is about to attack, or perhaps escape. Draco was mildly amazed that the boy didn't recognize his voice. Or if he did, he didn't show it.
"I'm not mad at you for trying to escape," he said soothingly. That was of course not true. He was furious, even though he'd expected no less. "I would've been disappointed if you hadn't tried anything." That at least was not a lie…
"We're on a roof, so you might want to reconsider any thoughts of running away, or moving at all. You're blind too, so it'll do you no good. You don't even know where you are," he added
He paused to see if his words had any effect. It was hard to tell, but Harry didn't move. Draco took that as a good sign.
However, it turned out he had misjudged the situation. No sooner had he taken a step forwards before Harry immediately stepped backwards. Only, there was nothing to step on…
He swayed dangerously back and forth for what seemed like an eternity, but was really just a few seconds.
He never fell.
Draco immediately made a lunge at him and caught him just as he was about to tip backwards. He grabbed onto Harry's shirt and pulled with all his might. Harry didn't hesitate for a second, but instantly clung to Draco's arm for support and with a huge joint effort they ended up in a tangled heap, safely on the roof away from the edge trying to catch their breaths.
"Thank you," Harry said. "Welcome," said Draco.
The sky was a clear, dark blue, and a silvery crescent shone down on them as they sat close together on the roof. The quiet of the night disturbed only by the sound of their breathing. Harry was shaking slightly from the shock, and Draco reluctantly admitted that he didn't feel too steady himself.
He had begun to wonder how on earth they were supposed to get down. He expected Harry to be a trifle more trusting now, after he had saved him. Which meant that he might let him carry him down without protest, should it become necessary.
It was a long way down, and jumping was not even an option to be taken into consideration. They couldn't climb back up the way they'd come either. Nor were there any vines on the walls on this part of the mansion, so they couldn't climb down.
"What are you doing?" asked Harry suddenly, and there was wariness to his voice as he spoke.
"I'm trying to figure out a way to get us down from here," Draco muttered, assuming Harry had meant his silence. He drew his fingers slowly through his sleek hair.
"How far up are we?" Harry tilted his head slightly to one side.
"Quite far."
"Do you know how to fly?" he asked after a short pause.
Draco snorted, "of course I know how!" The question surprised him. He supposed the raven-haired boy was only acting cooperative for the sake of getting safely down.
"Acquire your broom then," Harry said, "we can fly."
Author's note: Hope you enjoyed it! So many people have told me they wanted me to continue, so I'm doing my best for them. I'll tell you soon about the reason why Harry has yet to show any sign of recognizing Draco, so don't bother to complain about that part.
And please tell me whether it's to or too! It's important to me!
And please review. That's important to me too (or to… Argh! I'm confused!)!