The lift plunged mercilessly into a freefall.
Harry screamed.
He thought that his life was supposed to flash before his eyes now.
It didn't.
Which was perhaps a good thing, considering that a major portion of it was spent with the Dursleys.
*I can't believe I'm going to die like this!* Fear pitted heavily in his stomach.
He gasped for air and opened his mouth to scream again.
The freefall had lent a sickening weightless sensation to his knees and they were buckling as he grabbed onto the wall.
The feeling was exactly like what he felt when he descended too quickly on his broom.
Except this was much, much worse.
He could at least see when the ground was coming if the worst were to happen then.
But here, he had absolutely no way to know when they were going to finally hit bottom.
It could all be over.
At any given second.
He didn't know which was worse.
The not-knowing and the anticipation of it all, or the world of hurt that's sure to be coming his way when they finally crash.
He looked over at Draco, who had dropped to the floor, hugging his knees desperately.
The look on his face was just as terror-stricken as Harry felt.
He scuttled over to the blonde's side and grabbed his hand impulsively.
Next to him, he could hear Draco babbling incoherently, something along the lines of "omigod, omigod, omigod..."
Draco's cold hand was now painfully gripping his own.
If they waren't about to die, he would have smacked the boy upside his head.
Instead, he just moved closer to Draco and pressed his shoulder against the boy's.
It felt somewhat reassuring to know that if he was going to die, so was Malfoy.
*Wait, that didn't come out right.*
Harry was about to start laughing hysterically at this, but he stopped short when he was almost choked to death by a pair of skinny arms thrown around his neck.
Draco had apparently flung himself into Harry's arms.
*The world must have turned upside down and inside out.* he deducted.
But he wrapped his arms around the boy anyway and closed his eyes tight.
Nothing to do now but wait for the inevitable.
Something tickled his nose.
He opened his eyes.
Draco's hair.
And it smelt like baby shampoo.
A Muggle brand!
*Ha Ha!* Harry thought, but then bit his tongue when he realised that dead people can't use delicious nuggets like this for blackmail; even if they wanted to.
He was also suddenly keenly aware of something warm and wet sliding down the nape of his neck.
He was puzzling over this for a second when he heard a loud sniff right next to his ear.
*He's crying?!*
And strangely enough, it must be contagious because his own eyes betrayed him when they welled up.
They were too young to die, it's not fair! his mind screamed at the unholy injustice of it all.
He squeezed Draco tighter and buried his own face in the boy's neck.
That's when the impossible happened.
The lift slowed down.
It was gradual at first and Harry thought he was imagining things.
But now, it was obvious that something underneath the lift was buffering their descent.
The loud shrieking of the cables that had accompanied their sudden drop now grinded to a halt.
They had stopped.
Everything was still for a few moments.
Harry froze.
He didn't let go of Draco.
A paranoid part of him was still terrified that they might just start falling again, and he didn't dare hope the nightmare was over just yet.
He felt Draco shudder against him and realised that he was skin-to-skin with another *boy*.
Never in his life had he been so physically close to another person. Except maybe when he was a baby and his mother or father held him, but he didn't remember any of that.
And it felt rather nice now, actually.
He could feel the Draco's chest moving against his when he took in a breath.
And the other boy's arms and cheek were powdery smooth against his own.
Plus, his hair did smell pretty great; baby shampoo and all.
Harry tentatively took a big whiff of it.
Silence.
"Potter, did you just smell me?" a small voice asked next to his ear.
"No!"
"I could have *sworn*..."
"Shut it, Malfoy."
Silence.
"Are we dead?" the small voice asked again.
That thought hadn't occurred to Harry.
He supposed it was theoretically plausible, but at that moment Draco's hair tickled his nose again and this time, he sneezed.
Wetly.
"Ew." Draco whined.
Harry wiped at his nose on the back of his hand and thought.
"Malfoy, ghosts can't sneeze, can they?"
"Probably not."
"I don't think we're dead, then." he deducted logically.
"Not yet, anyway." he added, as an afterthought.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Well. You can *pro-bab-ly* let go of me now, Potter."
Harry lowered his arms in compliance, expecting the boy to let go of his neck in return.
Which didn't happen.
"*You're* the one hanging on to *me*, Malfoy." Harry complained, a little snottily.
"Bollocks."
Harry rolled his eyes and sighed.
Even after a near-death experience, Malfoy was still Malfoy.
To the core.
And the stubborn blonde was steadfastly refusing to let go of his neck, sticking determinedly like an impoverished leech.
Or one of those annoying stuffed animals with the bendable arms.
Harry frowned.
He knew that people have been known to act strangely when they were in shock but of course he had no clue how to deal with them when they did.
He tried to think of what Hermione would tell him to do. She knew all sorts of things.
He bit his lip in concentration and gently shifted his body so that Draco's arms waren't choking him quite so.
*Ah...That's better.* he sighed in relief as the blood started rushing to his brain again, unimpeded.
*Now - what do I do with you?*
He tried to turn his head so that he could get a look at Draco's face but the furthest he managed was bumping his cheek against the boy's.
"Malfoy?"
"Mmmff." came the muffled reply.
"Lis-ten. We're not going to fall. E-ve-ry-thing's going to be all right." he said slowly and clearly as if he was speaking to a child.
He also started patting the boy's back awkwardly.
He felt Draco shake his head and bury himself even deeper in Harry's neck.
*W-o-a-h... He must be *really* scared.*
Not knowing what else to do, Harry continued rubbing Draco's back, hoping that would soothe him.
"I Promise." he stated in as confident a voice as he could.
After a few more minutes of gentle rubbing, Draco slowly started to extract himself from Harry, with an injured sniff.
And without a word, he sat himself next to Harry.
Harry looked at him curiously, but the boy was refusing to meet his eyes.
So Harry tried to get into a more comfortable position by sitting cross- legged. His legs were still somewhat wobbly.
He looked at the ceiling.
The moths appeared unharmed.
One of the paper aeroplanes was a little worse for the wear. It had a crease on its nose and was flying a little crookedly because of it.
"If you tell *anyone* about this, Potter..." Draco finally spoke after a long silence.
Harry couldn't help grinning at the familiar tone.
"Let me guess...You'll kill me?" he finished brightly.
Draco turned to him darkly and nodded, his eyes narrowed.
"That's right. Painfully and *very* slowly."
Harry grinned and shook his head in amusement. Draco didn't look the least bit threatening to him.
"Gee- I'm shaking in my ..." he looked at his bare feet. "ermm -boots." he finished weakly.
Draco rolled his eyes and sat back, leaning his shoulder against Harry's.
"By the way, Potter..."
"Yes, Malfoy?" Harry replied sweetly.
"You scream like a girl."
"I *do* NOT!"
Draco sniggered.
His superiority and poise reinstated.
Harry was sulking quietly at the most-disparaging comment, and just when he was about to point out that *he* hadn't been the one crying into the shoulder of a certain hated enemy, Draco placed a hand in his lap.
To his credit, the boy hadn't been looking when he did it and it unfortunately landed a little too close to his Harry's groin than intended.
Oblivious to Harry's sudden tension, Draco now grabbed at his pants material and shook it urgently, trying to get his attention.
A move which was wholly unnecessary on his part.
His hand had Harry's full, complete and undivided attention.
So to speak.
"Look at that, Potter." Draco said, gaping open-mouthed at the dial above the grille.
It was an old fashioned, semi-circle one which had a gilded arrow that would move corresponding to the level that the lift was currently at.
Harry managed a grunt.
He was currently trying to contain his body's most embarrassing reaction to Draco's rather warm palm.
In vain.
He would be, however; eternally grateful for choosing to wear his boxer- briefs today.
Boxers would have given him no assistance whatsoever.
"Potter!" Draco repeated, not used to being ignored.
He finally tore his eyes away from the dial and looked over at the dark- haired boy in annoyance.
Who oddly enough, seemed strangely flushed and appeared to be breathing a little harder than before.
"Are you going to be sick?" Draco asked, not bothering to hide the revulsion on his face.
"Malfoy...Err...Could you maybe-" Harry gulped, "Move your hand?"
He tried to maintain a neutral unaffected smile while he said this, which came out looking more like one of his uncle's constipated leers.
Draco frowned and looked down at his hand.
"Ack!" He immediately pulled forth the hand-gone-astray, and looked disgusted.
Meanwhile, Harry exhaled slowly in relief.
Sweat was breaking out on his brow.
Any longer and he might have -
"Sick, Potter. R-e-a-lly sick."
"Hey! *You're* the one who groped me!"
"Well, you're the one getting off on it."
"Was NOT!"
Draco merely looked at him and crossed his arms in a challenge.
"Well- I - I have hormones!" Harry blurted.
"No doubt..." Draco gave him a sidelong glance and smirked. This was fun.
Harry, whose face had turned a nice shade of cherry now, knew that he had to change the subject before he started throttling the boy next to him.
Being charged for murder may not be the best way to become an Auror.
"You were *saying*, Malfoy?" he asked through a clenched jaw.
"What? That you're a pervy sexually-repressed Gryffindor who gets his jollies from taking advantage of innocent unsuspecting Slytherins?"
"BE-FORE THAT!" Harry bellowed, covering his ears with both hands.
Draco grinned. This really *was* a lot of fun.
"Fine. Spoilsport." Draco muttered, trying to remember what it was that he had been so intent on.
His mind seemed a bit slower now.
He tried to think as his eyes wandered involuntarily to the bulge on Harry's rather well-fitting pants.
Harry's eyes grew wide in alarm when he saw Draco checking out his erm- package and wondered in a panic if the boy was going to try to grab him again, just out of sheer cruelty and Malfoy-ness.
But thankfully, the blonde's brain finally seemed to be working again.
"Oh! The dial! Look at it!" Draco pointed excitedly, sitting up.
Harry peered at the dial. The arrow was pointing in the space between the numerals 5 and 6.
"So?"
"I think the arrow would've fallen off by now, don't you?" Draco asked him pointedly.
"It could just be stuck, you know. The lift did break down."
"But these sorts of things are never wrong! They're magical, not mechanical like this god-awful lift!"
Harry thought about the clock in the Weasley home. And how it showed where each Weasley member was, unfailingly.
He was starting to feel that something *was* wrong about their situation.
"So... what are you saying? That we're still stuck between those two floors? We haven't moved?!"
They looked at each other for a few moments, both their minds buzzing at the strangeness.
Finally Harry said, "Now that I think about it...We *were* falling for a really long time. And there aren't that many levels."
"Yeah..." Draco replied.
"*Another* illusion?" Harry ventured, unsure.
"Probably." Draco nodded and pushed himself up off the floor. His bum was a little numb from all that sitting.
"But who would do such an awful thing? And why?!" Harry wailed.
"We're wizards, Potter. We don't need a reason." Draco said aloofly and started to pace in the small space.
Harry looked at him sceptically and leaned back against the wall with a tired sigh.
It was a long morning. And getting longer.
++++++++++++
A/N: THANK YOU for all the wonderful reviews! I love you all!!!
Harry screamed.
He thought that his life was supposed to flash before his eyes now.
It didn't.
Which was perhaps a good thing, considering that a major portion of it was spent with the Dursleys.
*I can't believe I'm going to die like this!* Fear pitted heavily in his stomach.
He gasped for air and opened his mouth to scream again.
The freefall had lent a sickening weightless sensation to his knees and they were buckling as he grabbed onto the wall.
The feeling was exactly like what he felt when he descended too quickly on his broom.
Except this was much, much worse.
He could at least see when the ground was coming if the worst were to happen then.
But here, he had absolutely no way to know when they were going to finally hit bottom.
It could all be over.
At any given second.
He didn't know which was worse.
The not-knowing and the anticipation of it all, or the world of hurt that's sure to be coming his way when they finally crash.
He looked over at Draco, who had dropped to the floor, hugging his knees desperately.
The look on his face was just as terror-stricken as Harry felt.
He scuttled over to the blonde's side and grabbed his hand impulsively.
Next to him, he could hear Draco babbling incoherently, something along the lines of "omigod, omigod, omigod..."
Draco's cold hand was now painfully gripping his own.
If they waren't about to die, he would have smacked the boy upside his head.
Instead, he just moved closer to Draco and pressed his shoulder against the boy's.
It felt somewhat reassuring to know that if he was going to die, so was Malfoy.
*Wait, that didn't come out right.*
Harry was about to start laughing hysterically at this, but he stopped short when he was almost choked to death by a pair of skinny arms thrown around his neck.
Draco had apparently flung himself into Harry's arms.
*The world must have turned upside down and inside out.* he deducted.
But he wrapped his arms around the boy anyway and closed his eyes tight.
Nothing to do now but wait for the inevitable.
Something tickled his nose.
He opened his eyes.
Draco's hair.
And it smelt like baby shampoo.
A Muggle brand!
*Ha Ha!* Harry thought, but then bit his tongue when he realised that dead people can't use delicious nuggets like this for blackmail; even if they wanted to.
He was also suddenly keenly aware of something warm and wet sliding down the nape of his neck.
He was puzzling over this for a second when he heard a loud sniff right next to his ear.
*He's crying?!*
And strangely enough, it must be contagious because his own eyes betrayed him when they welled up.
They were too young to die, it's not fair! his mind screamed at the unholy injustice of it all.
He squeezed Draco tighter and buried his own face in the boy's neck.
That's when the impossible happened.
The lift slowed down.
It was gradual at first and Harry thought he was imagining things.
But now, it was obvious that something underneath the lift was buffering their descent.
The loud shrieking of the cables that had accompanied their sudden drop now grinded to a halt.
They had stopped.
Everything was still for a few moments.
Harry froze.
He didn't let go of Draco.
A paranoid part of him was still terrified that they might just start falling again, and he didn't dare hope the nightmare was over just yet.
He felt Draco shudder against him and realised that he was skin-to-skin with another *boy*.
Never in his life had he been so physically close to another person. Except maybe when he was a baby and his mother or father held him, but he didn't remember any of that.
And it felt rather nice now, actually.
He could feel the Draco's chest moving against his when he took in a breath.
And the other boy's arms and cheek were powdery smooth against his own.
Plus, his hair did smell pretty great; baby shampoo and all.
Harry tentatively took a big whiff of it.
Silence.
"Potter, did you just smell me?" a small voice asked next to his ear.
"No!"
"I could have *sworn*..."
"Shut it, Malfoy."
Silence.
"Are we dead?" the small voice asked again.
That thought hadn't occurred to Harry.
He supposed it was theoretically plausible, but at that moment Draco's hair tickled his nose again and this time, he sneezed.
Wetly.
"Ew." Draco whined.
Harry wiped at his nose on the back of his hand and thought.
"Malfoy, ghosts can't sneeze, can they?"
"Probably not."
"I don't think we're dead, then." he deducted logically.
"Not yet, anyway." he added, as an afterthought.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Well. You can *pro-bab-ly* let go of me now, Potter."
Harry lowered his arms in compliance, expecting the boy to let go of his neck in return.
Which didn't happen.
"*You're* the one hanging on to *me*, Malfoy." Harry complained, a little snottily.
"Bollocks."
Harry rolled his eyes and sighed.
Even after a near-death experience, Malfoy was still Malfoy.
To the core.
And the stubborn blonde was steadfastly refusing to let go of his neck, sticking determinedly like an impoverished leech.
Or one of those annoying stuffed animals with the bendable arms.
Harry frowned.
He knew that people have been known to act strangely when they were in shock but of course he had no clue how to deal with them when they did.
He tried to think of what Hermione would tell him to do. She knew all sorts of things.
He bit his lip in concentration and gently shifted his body so that Draco's arms waren't choking him quite so.
*Ah...That's better.* he sighed in relief as the blood started rushing to his brain again, unimpeded.
*Now - what do I do with you?*
He tried to turn his head so that he could get a look at Draco's face but the furthest he managed was bumping his cheek against the boy's.
"Malfoy?"
"Mmmff." came the muffled reply.
"Lis-ten. We're not going to fall. E-ve-ry-thing's going to be all right." he said slowly and clearly as if he was speaking to a child.
He also started patting the boy's back awkwardly.
He felt Draco shake his head and bury himself even deeper in Harry's neck.
*W-o-a-h... He must be *really* scared.*
Not knowing what else to do, Harry continued rubbing Draco's back, hoping that would soothe him.
"I Promise." he stated in as confident a voice as he could.
After a few more minutes of gentle rubbing, Draco slowly started to extract himself from Harry, with an injured sniff.
And without a word, he sat himself next to Harry.
Harry looked at him curiously, but the boy was refusing to meet his eyes.
So Harry tried to get into a more comfortable position by sitting cross- legged. His legs were still somewhat wobbly.
He looked at the ceiling.
The moths appeared unharmed.
One of the paper aeroplanes was a little worse for the wear. It had a crease on its nose and was flying a little crookedly because of it.
"If you tell *anyone* about this, Potter..." Draco finally spoke after a long silence.
Harry couldn't help grinning at the familiar tone.
"Let me guess...You'll kill me?" he finished brightly.
Draco turned to him darkly and nodded, his eyes narrowed.
"That's right. Painfully and *very* slowly."
Harry grinned and shook his head in amusement. Draco didn't look the least bit threatening to him.
"Gee- I'm shaking in my ..." he looked at his bare feet. "ermm -boots." he finished weakly.
Draco rolled his eyes and sat back, leaning his shoulder against Harry's.
"By the way, Potter..."
"Yes, Malfoy?" Harry replied sweetly.
"You scream like a girl."
"I *do* NOT!"
Draco sniggered.
His superiority and poise reinstated.
Harry was sulking quietly at the most-disparaging comment, and just when he was about to point out that *he* hadn't been the one crying into the shoulder of a certain hated enemy, Draco placed a hand in his lap.
To his credit, the boy hadn't been looking when he did it and it unfortunately landed a little too close to his Harry's groin than intended.
Oblivious to Harry's sudden tension, Draco now grabbed at his pants material and shook it urgently, trying to get his attention.
A move which was wholly unnecessary on his part.
His hand had Harry's full, complete and undivided attention.
So to speak.
"Look at that, Potter." Draco said, gaping open-mouthed at the dial above the grille.
It was an old fashioned, semi-circle one which had a gilded arrow that would move corresponding to the level that the lift was currently at.
Harry managed a grunt.
He was currently trying to contain his body's most embarrassing reaction to Draco's rather warm palm.
In vain.
He would be, however; eternally grateful for choosing to wear his boxer- briefs today.
Boxers would have given him no assistance whatsoever.
"Potter!" Draco repeated, not used to being ignored.
He finally tore his eyes away from the dial and looked over at the dark- haired boy in annoyance.
Who oddly enough, seemed strangely flushed and appeared to be breathing a little harder than before.
"Are you going to be sick?" Draco asked, not bothering to hide the revulsion on his face.
"Malfoy...Err...Could you maybe-" Harry gulped, "Move your hand?"
He tried to maintain a neutral unaffected smile while he said this, which came out looking more like one of his uncle's constipated leers.
Draco frowned and looked down at his hand.
"Ack!" He immediately pulled forth the hand-gone-astray, and looked disgusted.
Meanwhile, Harry exhaled slowly in relief.
Sweat was breaking out on his brow.
Any longer and he might have -
"Sick, Potter. R-e-a-lly sick."
"Hey! *You're* the one who groped me!"
"Well, you're the one getting off on it."
"Was NOT!"
Draco merely looked at him and crossed his arms in a challenge.
"Well- I - I have hormones!" Harry blurted.
"No doubt..." Draco gave him a sidelong glance and smirked. This was fun.
Harry, whose face had turned a nice shade of cherry now, knew that he had to change the subject before he started throttling the boy next to him.
Being charged for murder may not be the best way to become an Auror.
"You were *saying*, Malfoy?" he asked through a clenched jaw.
"What? That you're a pervy sexually-repressed Gryffindor who gets his jollies from taking advantage of innocent unsuspecting Slytherins?"
"BE-FORE THAT!" Harry bellowed, covering his ears with both hands.
Draco grinned. This really *was* a lot of fun.
"Fine. Spoilsport." Draco muttered, trying to remember what it was that he had been so intent on.
His mind seemed a bit slower now.
He tried to think as his eyes wandered involuntarily to the bulge on Harry's rather well-fitting pants.
Harry's eyes grew wide in alarm when he saw Draco checking out his erm- package and wondered in a panic if the boy was going to try to grab him again, just out of sheer cruelty and Malfoy-ness.
But thankfully, the blonde's brain finally seemed to be working again.
"Oh! The dial! Look at it!" Draco pointed excitedly, sitting up.
Harry peered at the dial. The arrow was pointing in the space between the numerals 5 and 6.
"So?"
"I think the arrow would've fallen off by now, don't you?" Draco asked him pointedly.
"It could just be stuck, you know. The lift did break down."
"But these sorts of things are never wrong! They're magical, not mechanical like this god-awful lift!"
Harry thought about the clock in the Weasley home. And how it showed where each Weasley member was, unfailingly.
He was starting to feel that something *was* wrong about their situation.
"So... what are you saying? That we're still stuck between those two floors? We haven't moved?!"
They looked at each other for a few moments, both their minds buzzing at the strangeness.
Finally Harry said, "Now that I think about it...We *were* falling for a really long time. And there aren't that many levels."
"Yeah..." Draco replied.
"*Another* illusion?" Harry ventured, unsure.
"Probably." Draco nodded and pushed himself up off the floor. His bum was a little numb from all that sitting.
"But who would do such an awful thing? And why?!" Harry wailed.
"We're wizards, Potter. We don't need a reason." Draco said aloofly and started to pace in the small space.
Harry looked at him sceptically and leaned back against the wall with a tired sigh.
It was a long morning. And getting longer.
++++++++++++
A/N: THANK YOU for all the wonderful reviews! I love you all!!!
