A/N: All right, kids, everyone buckle in because here is where the horror starts!

"To learn what we fear is to learn who we are. Horror defies our boundaries and illuminates our souls."

― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

ALL BUT DEATH

XXIII

WHAT WE FEAR

The corridor was quiet. There were no sounds other than the soft tapping of feet as Hermione and Draco eased cautiously into the hallway, followed by Tracey and Theo, then Pansy, and finally, Harry and Blaise. Harry glanced around with narrowed eyes, noting that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Hopefully, things stayed as quiet as they currently were.

Hermione murmured a quick silencing spell over the seven of them before gesturing for Draco to lead the way. He turned to glance back at Harry, staring at him for the span of three heartbeats before spinning around and guiding them forward, Hermione beside him, wand out firmly. Harry trusted her more than anyone and trusted her to look out for Draco, but he would be lying if he said his stomach wasn't swarming with nerves at the thought of him being so far away from Malfoy while they were in danger. It was only several feet, but it felt like miles.

To the left of Harry, Blaise was giving him a hard look, staring between him and Draco so pointedly it made Harry roll his eyes, and he gave a silent shake of his head in response, unsure quite what Blaise was asking, and even less sure of what he was trying to say in response.

Through a large window at the far end of the corridor, Harry could see trees and grass bending beneath a strong wind, but he could not hear a sound. Had the house always been so silent? Up ahead, Draco led them in the opposite direction from the conservatory, taking them down a narrow hallway into a part of the manor that Harry was sure he must have visited by now but somehow didn't look familiar. A blank stretch of dark wood stood across from them. For some reason, staring at it made Harry uncomfortable. The longer they were trapped in that house, the more the house started to feel alive, in some way. Almost as if the walls could see them. But that wasn't possible, was it? Not even with a magical house.

Right?

Harry wasn't sure. There had certainly been times when he had been living in Grimmauld Place that he would shiver unexpectedly or flinch for no reason, certain that something in the shadows was watching his every move. It was the main reason he had gotten rid of the place. Grimmauld had always been so dark, always felt so cold, so strangely alive, in a way that Harry couldn't help but connect to the Manor.

He fought back a shudder, shaking his head when Blaise glanced at him questioningly.

They walked for several more heartbeats before Draco finally stopped before another blank stretch of wall. He tapped his wand against a section of the wood and murmured something too low for Harry to hear. A moment later and the wall was sliding open, a small opening they would have to duck and squeeze into. Draco went first, followed by Hermione, then Tracey, Theodore, Pansy, Blaise, and finally, Harry. Before he slipped inside, he glanced around once, just to make sure nobody was following. He had the strangest feeling they were being watched.

The corridor was empty.

The second he stepped inside the hidden passage, the wall slid shut, trapping them in a darkness so black Harry nearly gasped.

"Lumos," someone muttered, forcing light into the narrow passage and casting everyone in creeping shadows. Harry longed to throw off the cold, black shapes that he could feel clinging to his limbs, caressing his skin, covering most of his face. But he took a deep breath instead and followed as Draco led them through the passage. The path twisted and wound in a way that Harry was confused by. None of the corridors in the manor twisted, and he had no idea why it almost felt as if they were walking in a circle.

"It's just up here," Draco murmured, startling everyone with his voice.

"Harry," Hermione said quietly, "once we get to the conservatory, I want you to take Draco and Blaise to the kitchens. Try to get any food you can, as much as you can. Theodore can't take any more potions without eating something first, and we need to keep the others fed as well to keep tempers down. I'll ward as much of the corridor as I can while Ron and Neville take down the wards from inside the conservatory. Pansy, Tracey, and Theo will stay with me, and as soon as the wards are down, Ron and Neville and I will come out to make sure the corridor stays clear for the three of you. Is everyone all right with that?"

Tiny mutters of reluctant agreement echoed around the narrow space.

"Good," Hermione said. "That's the plan then. Everyone be careful. Stick with the group you've been assigned to. And please, watch out for each other."

"Okay," Draco whispered. "This is it. Everyone get ready, we need to move quickly."

The Lumos was extinguished as a slice of light lit up the dark passage. Draco disappeared into it, and Harry had to grit his teeth, praying the blond would be okay. If anything happened to him now, while he and Harry were in some weird stand-off and not speaking to one another…Harry didn't know what he'd do.

Out in the corridor, the dim light of the gas lamps felt strangely blinding to Harry, despite the heavy, clinging shadows pooling everywhere. He stuck close to Blaise as they set off toward the kitchen, unable to avoid noticing the worried looks Blaise was giving the walls.

Harry wondered if he could feel their eyes on them, too.

Without warning, a large creak sounded above their heads, the entire house seeming to groan. Everybody startled and glanced around wildly, wands held out before them, several of them trembling. The house groaned again, and Harry saw Draco's face pale.

"Hurry," he said, leading them quickly down the hallway.

They moved as one group, sticking closely together. There were several times that Tracey and Blaise cast shield charms in hushed whispers, and Harry was grateful for it, leaving him free to keep an eye behind them. So far, there was no sign of anything. The house had stopped creaking, but everybody was still on edge. Harry wondered if the house had known that they had taken the secret passage. The thought made him shiver.

What felt like years later, they finally reached the conservatory, and Hermione wasted no time sending a Patronus through the door to let Ron know they'd arrived.

"Go," she said to Harry. "Quickly."

With a nod, he grabbed Blaise's sleeve and began tugging him toward the kitchens. Draco followed beside Blaise, the three men saying nothing. Harry held out one hand to stop them before he peeked cautiously around the corner of the hallway the Inferi had been imprisoned in. Large shards of glass sparkled in the dim light where they lay strewn across the floor, spread out in a razor-sharp puddle. The Unbreakable glass cage Hermione had locked the corpses in had been smashed, which no Inferius could have done.

Harry eased forward carefully, casting a shield charm as he motioned for the others to follow.

"What is all this?" Draco wondered, keeping his voice low.

"Hermione trapped all the Inferi in there," Harry murmured, fighting the urge to reach for Draco's hand. Even if they were on better terms at the moment, now was not the time for handholding. Harry needed to keep his guard up. Heart pounding, he motioned for Draco and Blaise to hang back while he peeked into the kitchen. The room was empty.

"Okay," he whispered. "You two go gather as much food as you can. I'll watch the door." He planted himself in the doorway the second Blaise and Draco slipped into the room, turning his head every few seconds to keep both sides of the hallway in sight. The back of his neck was prickling, and he fought the urge to scratch at it. The house creaked again, a long, stretched groan that made Harry's heart speed up.

"That's enough," he said to Draco and Blaise. "Whatever you've got is going to have to be good enough. Let's go. Now."

He stepped into the hallway, casting another shield charm as Draco hurried through the doorway, followed by Blaise, who was levitating a Transfigured crate.

"I'll go first," Harry said, gesturing for them to follow. "You two stick together behind me." Without waiting for a response, Harry took off, keeping his eyes narrowed as he glanced around for a hint of anything approaching. The house groaned again, and Harry picked up his pace, glancing back to make sure Draco and Blaise were behind him, satisfied to find that they were.

"Hermione!" he called, spotting her ahead, standing with Ron and Neville at the door. "We're coming! Get inside and get ready to ward it!"

She gave him a sharp nod, saying something to Neville and Ron as they slipped inside. Harry pulled back, pushing Blaise forward. Hermione stood just inside the conservatory, waiting for the final three.

"Harry," Draco said, sounding scared, and the tone instantly caught Harry's attention. He turned to see Draco several feet away, staring at the wall in confusion.

"Draco?" As he spoke, he hurried to Draco's side, tugging at his arm. But Draco refused to budge. "Draco, what's wrong? We need to hurry!"

"I thought—" Draco's voice broke. "I thought I saw…the wall, it…I don't…Harry…the wall, my god…"

Cold terror swept over Harry, freezing him in place. He looked to the wall Draco was staring at, expecting to see it moving, expecting one of the shadows to somehow pull away from it and step forward. But no. It was an ordinary wall. Nothing about it seemed different, but the terror that had seized Harry refused to let go. His legs felt as though they had forgotten how to work.

"Harry!" Hermione called sharply, snapping him out of his petrified daze. "Get inside! Now!"

"Come on, Draco!" Harry said, yanking at Draco's arm. He stumbled back a step, head still turned toward that damned wall. "Come on!"

As the final two words slipped from his mouth, the gas lumps sputtered and the house creaked, every light flickering as a strange whisper seemed to sweep through the hallway like a cold wind. But we're inside…Harry thought, heart hammering. How can there be any wind if we're already inside?

Without warning, the conservatory door slammed shut, the sound echoing along the hallway as the lamps continued to flicker. Harry ran to the door, yanking at the handle desperately, hammering on the wood to let them in. On the other side, he thought he could hear Hermione screaming his name.

"She wouldn't have locked us out," Harry whispered, tightening his grip on his wand to keep his fingers from trembling. "She wouldn't have closed that. Not with us still out here." A chill crept through the air around them and Harry stumbled back several steps in fear as the doorknob in his hand grew suddenly ice-cold. "What is happening in this house, Draco?"

Behind him, a sudden shriek sounded, one that made every hair on Harry's neck stand up. He spun around, startled to find Draco lying on the floor, scrambling backward on his hands as his gaze snapped around the hallway in fear.

"Draco!" But as Harry took a step toward him, Draco slid suddenly forward, as though something invisible had yanked at him.

"Harry!" The fear in Draco's voice made Harry's chest stutter and freeze.

"Draco!" Harry hurried to snatch at Draco, throwing himself to his knees and wrapping his arms around Draco's waist, unsure of what was happening but unwilling to let Draco go.

But right as that thought crossed his mind, Draco was torn from his arms, screaming as something Harry could not see jerked him away from Harry's grasp. One leg was held awkwardly in the air, as though someone invisible was holding Draco by the ankle, dragging him along on his back as the invisible person sprinted away.

"Draco!" Harry screamed, running after him as fast as he could. But Draco was moving too quickly; far, far too quickly. If it was an invisible person, they were moving faster than any human should have been able to, especially while dragging a resisting person behind them.

"Harry!" Draco was yanked roughly around a corner and torn from sight, and Harry felt his heart nearly stop with dread.

"Draco! Fuck!" He pushed himself to move faster, willing his stupid, useless legs to catch up. He could hear Draco's sobs echoing along the hallway as Harry followed, catching a glimpse of blond hair before it turned another corner and was out of sight.

And the lights continued to flicker. The house continued to creak. The walls were groaning, and that damned whisper was still present, sweeping through the air. It felt as though somebody was standing behind Harry, whispering into his ear.

"Damn it! FUCK!" Harry swore, coming to a stop at an intersection in the corridor as he gazed wildly around. Two hallways branched off in opposite directions, and he had no idea where Draco had vanished. "Draco!"

"Harry!" an answering voice responded, but it sounded so faint, so distant, and Harry had no idea which direction it was coming from.

"Draco," Harry whispered, fighting the urge to weep. Oh god, where was he? What was happening?

Growling, Harry swallowed back his terrified tears and took off, sprinting to the left in the direction of the main hallway. He would start there. All the doors on the ground floor were warded shut, as well as a good number of doorways on the second level, so Draco couldn't have been dragged into any of those rooms.

The thought was comforting for nearly an entire second until Harry remembered the way the conservatory door had locked, something he knew Hermione would have never done while he was on the other side of it. Unless it was someone in that room who had done it, but Harry didn't think there was anyone in there who could have warded the door that quickly in a way that Hermione couldn't break through, and Harry hadn't heard anyone other than Draco calling for him. The others were most likely still locked in that room.

The only sound he could hear was the strange whisper in the air and the sound of his shoes smacking against the hard floor as he ran. His breaths were growing heavy with panic, his heart thundering in his ears, drowning out even the creaking of the walls around him. Maybe the entire house was collapsing.

A sudden scream split the air, and Harry wanted to burn the damned manor to the ground, wanted to watch every wall crumble into smoke and ash; anything to find Draco.

"Fuck, Draco, where are you?!"

Please let him be alive. Oh god, Harry needed to find Draco now!

"Fuck, Draco!" Harry whispered, feeling his eyes grow hot. A single tear slipped down his cheek, slithering a cold trail to his chin. "Where are you? Why is your fucking house so enormous?" Draco could be anywhere. He could be upstairs, in the cellar, behind any of the thousand million doors lining the hall.

But for now, Harry would consider those shut. Hermione had warded them, and he trusted her wards to hold. There was only one place left that he knew they hadn't warded; only one place left they hadn't even searched. Harry drew several shaky breaths as he approached the narrow set of stairs leading down to the cellar. The first few steps were visible in the flickering lamplight, but a great yawning darkness had swallowed the rest of the staircase, like an open mouth waiting for Harry to walk inside so it could snap shut and devour him whole.

Oh, god. There was not a single part of Harry that wanted to go down there. Terror had closed around his heart like a fist, squeezing tighter and tighter until it hurt with every stuttering heartbeat. The house had fallen silent. Harry could not hear anything—the creaking had stopped, the screaming had stopped, and even the whispering could no longer be heard. The lights continued to flicker noiselessly, but everything was strangely hushed in a way that spread chills down the backs of Harry's arms. He had thought the noise had been worse, but the new silence…this damned silence…it was somehow so much louder.

"Draco?" Harry called, hearing his voice tremble. The hallway had grown colder, and he could almost imagine his breath puffing in front of his face with every exhalation.

"Draco?"

No response.

Squaring his shoulders, Harry took a shaky breath and nodded to himself. Please let him be okay, he thought, gripping his wand tighter as he stepped onto the staircase. The darkness loomed before him, stared straight into him, looked moments away from devouring him. There was a strange energy to the air around him, an odd buzzing that Harry could feel more than hear, almost as though the cellar was excited that he was coming down to greet it.

"Take a step," he muttered to himself, feeling his entire wand arm shake. His heart was pounding so hard he was worried about it breaking, and the blood was rushing through his body far too quickly. The fear was paralyzing him, freezing him. He felt light-headed. The feeling increased as he forced himself to take another step, and the darkness crept closer.

"Find Draco," he whispered. "Get to Draco. Nothing else matters."

Another step.

Harry took another step and froze, certain he had heard a sound from the darkness below, a soft scuffing that scared him almost as badly as the lack of light.

"Lumos," he murmured, trying to feel comforted by the way his wand lit up. But the light seemed barely able to penetrate the darkness; a darkness so thick Harry could almost feel it touching him, reaching out for him, waiting for him to come close enough to snatch him away. He stared at the looming lack of light, and suddenly, he was a child again, locked in a cupboard, trapped in a blackness so complete he hadn't been able to breathe. He had spent entire years lost in an ebony fog, and the last thing in the entire world he wanted was to lose himself in there once more.

But, Draco…

If there was any chance of him being down there, Harry needed to check. He needed to know. He hadn't heard any sounds from upstairs, and there was a quiet voice inside telling him that everything he was looking for was down in that cellar.

"Draco, I'm coming," Harry whispered. "Just…hang on. I'm coming."

He took a final shaky breath, said a quick prayer, and stepped forward into the dark.

oOo

There was nothing. Harry could not see a thing. The light from his wand was barely enough to see his own limbs, let alone anything else that may be waiting for him. The stairs seemed to echo with every quiet footstep he took, and he wondered how long he had been walking. It felt like far too much time had passed. Had the staircase always been so long, or had it only felt like he had been walking for entire minutes? Had the cellar always been so far away, or had something changed? Surely he had been walking for far too long!

"Draco…" he breathed, refusing to allow the fear to win. Fear had firmly settled over him, infecting every piece of him, slithering through his every vein and burrowing down deep within, nestling in his very bones. But Harry refused to let it win. He would find Draco; he would find him, and then he would find a way out of that damned manor. And then, once they were out, he would help Draco burn that blood-soaked manor to the ground. He would not allow a single scrap of wood to survive.

Harry took another step, swinging the light around in a futile attempt to see anything. He couldn't even see how many stairs were left. His heart was hammering in his chest, beating far too quickly for Harry to even feel the individual thumps anymore.

"Almost there," he told himself, wishing he was not all alone in the dark silence. "It'll be okay." He glanced backward, swallowing when all he saw was black. Not even a speck of light showed where the doorway should be. The darkness really had swallowed him whole, and all Harry could do was pray he found a way out of it. His foot slipped and he clutched wildly at the wall, righting himself but cringing away when the icy wall nearly burnt his fingers from how cold it was. Maybe the walls had been replaced by an ebony block of ice when he wasn't looking. Maybe he should turn around and go back. Maybe he was wrong about Draco being in the cellar. Maybe he should go back upstairs and check the rest of the ground floor first and leave the cellar for last. But, fuck, if Draco really was in the cellar, he didn't have time for Harry to do that. And surely Harry was nearly there by now, right? How long had he been walking?

The same shuffling noise from earlier sounded, startling Harry. "Draco?"

No response.

Taking a deep breath, Harry continued, heart pounding harder and harder with every step he took. Without warning, he stumbled as he finally arrived at the bottom of the staircase, his reluctant feet trying to take a step down despite there being no more stairs. Harry breathed out a sigh of relief before tensing up all over again. Now that he had finally arrived at the cellar, what would he find?

Taking a deep breath, Harry sent the ball of light from his wand into the air above as he stepped through the cellar door, the one left gaping open. When was the last time it had been opened? Hadn't they closed it the last time they had been down there? The light followed him inside, barely making a dent in the darkness. The entire room was shrouded in black—thick coils of shadow choking the air around him and making it difficult to breathe.

"Draco?" he whispered, unable to think clearly. He should probably have thought of a better plan than simply strolling inside and announcing his presence so obviously. But surely whatever had taken Draco already knew exactly where Harry was. "Draco?" Harry cast another Lumos, sending it up to join the first, followed immediately by a third. He joined the spells together, binding them into a stronger light that still barely managed to kiss the closest wall before dissipating into darkness.

Something shifted in a distant corner and Harry spun around, trying desperately to make out a single shape.

"Not here," he muttered, taking several steps forward. The ball of light followed. "Maybe…in one of the other rooms?" God, Harry wanted to leave. He wanted to run from the area, sprint so fast he left the darkness behind forever. But he hadn't yet checked the whole cellar, and he couldn't leave without making absolutely sure that Draco wasn't down there.

Nodding to himself, Harry strode forward, sliding one hand along the wall to keep track of where he was. He would check the wine room first, get that one out of the way. The doorway was up ahead, smothered in that same thick darkness currently coating the rest of the cellar.

Taking a deep breath, wand at the ready, he stepped inside, peering around for any hint of Draco. Harry gasped and startled violently, heart nearly leaping from his chest at the sight of a shadowy figure curled up in the far corner, face buried in his knees and silently shaking with sobs.

"Draco?" Harry whispered, and the figure's head snapped up.

"Harry," Draco croaked, pushing himself to his feet. His knees were trembling so badly that Harry was worried he might collapse as he rushed forward, grabbing him in a tight embrace.

"Oh my god, there you are," Harry murmured, kissing Draco's forehead, cheek, nose, down his chin, the shell of his ear, anywhere his lips could reach. "I found you. I found you. Jesus Christ, thank god. Thank god."

"Where are we?" Draco asked, still speaking in that same raspy whisper.

Harry pulled back to stare at him in confusion. "We're in the cellar."

"Are we?" Draco looked around in confusion. "This is…this is the cellar?"

"Do you not remember being pulled down here?"

Draco blinked at him. "I…wasn't."

It was Harry's turn to blink at him. "You weren't? How else did you get down here?"

"The wall…" Draco whispered, staring into the far distance, and the strange tone in his voice made Harry shiver. "There…was a wall…it turned to shadow…it was so dark, and I…something pulled me through. And then I was here, and now…"

"We need to get out of here," Harry said sharply. There was something going on that Harry did not like, something worse than everything that had happened so far. He didn't like any of what was happening. Walls turning into shadow? Invisible strings yanking Draco down corridors? Staircases stretching for miles? Impossible darkness swallowing them both? No, something bad was happening, and Harry's instincts were screaming at him to run. "Let's go. Now. We need to get back upstairs." There wasn't really anywhere in the entire manor that Harry felt they could be safe, but anywhere was better than being trapped like that in the cellar.

Draco nodded, clutching desperately at Harry's hand, as though terrified of being lost in the darkness, and Harry gripped back, understanding the fear far too well. The entire cellar felt like nothing but an extension of his cupboard, something he had thought he had left behind years ago. But the darkness had somehow found him again, followed him into adulthood so silently that Harry hadn't even noticed it creeping up behind him until it was too late. The shadows seemed determined to swallow him whole this time, unsatisfied with only haunting his childhood. They wouldn't be satisfied until they had consumed every part of him.

The two of them hurried from the room, the ball of light trailing above their heads, but something was wrong. Something was different. Harry glanced wildly around, searching for the way out.

"The door," he said, fear thick in his voice, "Draco…where's the door? Where did it go?!"

The door was gone. Where it had been was now nothing but a cold, blank wall. How the hell could an entire door have disappeared? It was just right there, where did it go?!

Harry shook his head in denial. "That's where I came through. I just walked through there not even five minutes ago! How—but—Draco, where has the door gone?!"

Something sounded in the darkness, a soft dragging, a strange shuffle, an uneven thump. Harry gripped Draco's hand tighter as he raised his wand, pushing the blond behind him as he backed them toward the spot the exit should have been, uncertain what was coming but determined to protect Malfoy as best he could.

"Stay behind me, Draco," Harry whispered. Draco's grip was so tight on his hand that it was painful, but Harry was grateful for it all the same. He wished desperately that Draco was not down there with him, but Harry was also deliriously glad that he himself was not lost down there all alone.

"Who's there?" Harry demanded, sending another ball of light to join the others on the ceiling. It did little to dispel the darkness. For some reason, the light seemed to have no effect. They could barely see a thing.

A whisper sounded, like something slithering over stone.

"Who's there?" Harry shouted.

"Harry…" Draco squeezed his fingers.

"We need to move," Harry muttered, still straining his eyes to see anything through the dark. "We need to find the door. It's probably just been disguised or something. We'll head along this wall and check, all right?"

"Harry…" Draco's voice rasped, his fingers feeling like ice against Harry's own. "Someone…someone's here…"

"Stay behind me," Harry ordered. Something was rustling in the dark. Something jostled the shelves of the wine racks in the room they had just left, and Harry froze, wondering if something had been in there with them the entire time, watching and listening to every word they had said, gazing knowingly at them with shadowed eyes.

Was it Stephen? Justin? Were the Inferi back? But if they were, why weren't they doing anything?

"Harry Potter," something suddenly hissed, startling Harry.

"Who's there?!" he shouted. The light above them strengthened momentarily with Harry's outburst, but there was still nothing to see.

"Draaaco," the same voice hissed, a strange sharp whistle to the word, as though the speaker was unused to forming words.

"Tell me who you are!" Harry ordered through gritted teeth. If there was one thing he hated, it was being toyed with.

"Haaarry."

The sound of his name dragged out in such a way sent chills down Harry's spine. Behind him, Draco was breathing heavily, every panicked exhalation scraping Harry's ear as his fingers spasmed in Harry's hold.

"It's all right, Draco," Harry said in a low voice, forehead prickling with sweat despite the frigid temperature of the air around them. "It'll be all right, I won't let anything touch you."

"It'll be all right…"

"TELL ME WHO YOU ARE!" Harry roared, sending a spell into the darkness, the fear for his and Draco's lives pushing him over the edge.

A high-pitched, uncomfortable giggle met his ears, the sound chilling enough to freeze the blood in Harry's veins. That was not a normal laugh. There was something strangely inhuman about it that made all the red flags in Harry's mind flash like warning beacons. Whatever was in the dark with them was not anything Harry wanted to meet.

"Tell me who you are," a chorus of voices whispered, rippling around the room. Behind him, Draco began to weep openly, clutching at Harry's robes with his free hand and hiding his face in Harry's shoulder.

"LUMOS!" Harry shouted, fueling his anger into his magic. The light above them swelled, flaring brighter, and Harry gasped. He could now make out several silhouettes standing in the darkness, all turned toward them. What the hell…? How many are there? Harry thought in a daze. Who the hell are all these people?

"They won't touch you, Draco," Harry said in a low voice, willing his words to be true. He had no idea how to get out of there; no idea how to protect Draco. If they could find the door, then Draco could make a run for it while Harry held them off.

"Touch you," one of the voices whispered, and like an echo, the other voices copied the two words.

"Touch you."

"Touch you."

"Touch you."

"Touch you," a voice whispered directly behind Harry, and he jumped violently, certain for a moment that it had been Draco who had spoken. But no, Harry could see a silhouette less than a meter away, the dimming light enough to make out the top of a head and the slope of a nose.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted, sending a jet of light toward the shadowy figure and watching as the shape crumpled. More shuffling snapped his attention in the opposite direction, and he gasped when he saw two of the figures standing much closer than before.

"We need to move," Harry said quietly, tightening his sweaty hand around his wand until his knuckles were aching. He prayed it wouldn't slip from his slick grasp. "We need to get to the other side of the cellar and maybe we can—"

But before he could finish speaking, one of the shapes leaped toward him, startling Harry as he slashed out with the first spell that came to mind.

"Serpensortia!" he shouted, trying to ignore the full-body shudder from Draco at the sound of the spell. The silhouette stumbled from the force of it, nearly falling before straightening and continuing toward them, and Harry's heart thudded. He now knew exactly what they were dealing with.

"INCENDIO!" he screamed, sending a burst of fire toward the creeping shape. Heat exploded around them, making Harry's palms feel even slicker, but the light still did little to dispel the thick darkness.

Quick shuffling footsteps sounded as the Inferi tried to escape the fire. Harry set the flames in a half-ring around Draco and himself, praying the spell would hold. I wish Dumbledore was here, he thought uselessly. Dumbledore had been able to hold back so many Inferi―hundreds of crawling limbs and dead, grasping hands. Harry wasn't sure how long he could hold the spell for, or what would happen when it died. The fear and adrenaline were making his heart pound and his head feel light; his fingers shook and his knees trembled. All he wanted was to get Draco out of there, but he wasn't sure how to go about doing that. On the other side of the flames stood the Inferius Harry had attempted to Stupefy. All Harry could see of him were white eyes and beige robes blackened with dried blood.

"Don't worry, Draco," Harry panted, fear and exhaustion warring through him. Adrenaline was still coursing through his veins, but he felt tired. So very, very tired. "Don't worry, they won't get in. They won't touch you. We'll figure a way out of this." They just needed to find the door.

"You shouldn't have come down here, Harry," Draco whispered, and Harry shook his head.

"I had to. I wasn't going to just leave you on your own like that! I had to find you, Draco! I promised I'd keep you safe and I will!" He turned to give Draco what he hoped was a reassuring smile, even though he knew it looked as much of a lie as it felt.

Draco did not return the expression.

"You don't understand," he said slowly. "You shouldn't have come down here."

Harry stared at him in confusion, crying out in pain as his wand arm was suddenly gripped by two hands and yanked sharply to the side with a crunching twist. The loud snap of bone seemed to echo through the room as his wrist broke, and he stared at Draco in bewilderment, unsure of what was happening. What had Draco done? When did Draco even let go of my other hand? he wondered uselessly.

"Draco?" The single word was steeped in agony and confusion, and Harry could hear the betrayal in his own voice.

Draco shook his head as he slipped the wand from Harry's useless, dangling fingers. "I told you—you shouldn't have come down here."

And as the spell finally broke and the flames flickered out and the darkness rushed back in, all Harry could see was the sight of Draco's cold eyes watching him.

TBC

A/N: Only one more chapter to go before the epilogue!