Chapter Fourteen: Quicker than Air

Eventually, the fires burnt themselves out. Whether it was through magic on the kids' part, magic on the part of the man, or just the force of nature, but eventually there were simply no more fires plaguing the children.

Only Hugo, the blonde girl, and another dark haired boy had managed to put their own fires out. The man had been very, very happy with them for that. Hugo, the blondie, and the other boy had been given heaps of the porridge and they had been told to finish it all. Hugo didn't question the man's authority. He didn't want to find out what consequences came along with disobeying the man. So he ate. The others ate too.

The children that hadn't managed to put out their respective fires were still fed. After all, they had managed not to get burned and that was something, at least. The one child that hadn't managed to save himself had burnt to a crisp. But the other children were only given scraps. At the very least scraps were better than nothing.

Scraps were better than being dead.

There were three things that they all knew now. One, they all had some form of magic, some more advanced at it than others. Two, the man was about to take away their magic somehow, and it was going to be very, very painful. Three, they were all going to die if they didn't do something about it now.

Hugo was beyond believing in miracles. He knew that if someone was going to come save him, it should have happened by now. And if they came now, it would be when it was already too late. If a rescue really was going to happen, two of his friends wouldn't be dead now. And they were very dead. Deader than Hugo ever thought was possible. So any hopes that Hugo might have had for his mother, uncle Harry, Granny Molly, or anyone at all coming to save him was completely nil now.

In other words, Hugo knew that no one was coming for him. He knew that if he wanted to get out of this mess, if anyone wanted to get out of this mess, he'd have to do it himself.

The truth was, no one else seemed to be thinking of how to get out of this situation that they were in. He knew that they could all do magic now – they all were aware of this fact to some extent. Hugo knew blondie was aware of what was going on, at least. But she didn't seem to be putting any serious thought towards escaping. Even the other boy who had managed to put out his fire... even he didn't seem to care that he could help escape. All the children would do was sit and cry in their cages.

It made Hugo sad. It was all up to him now.

Either way, it really didn't matter. Escaping was all that Hugo could think about, night and day. The few meagre hours of sleep that Hugo did manage to get found his dreams always filled with plans and escape methods that were nonsensical at best.

But at least they were something.

Hugo didn't know exactly what he was going to do just yet, but he was working really hard on it, that much was for certain. He just needed to work out the finer details and a few kinks before he risked whispering his plans to the other children.

He really didn't want to risk the man hearing such things. They would certainly get into a lot of trouble for even thinking about it, let alone share thoughts like that with each other.

But when the man opened the door and walked in with a grim smile on his face, Hugo wished that he had told the other children anyway. Just in case that this was the moment that they would need an escape plan – just in case that this was the moment that the man would try to take away their magic and kill them.

It was obviously too late for that now, but Hugo was willing to improvise. He would just have to make it up as he went along. That was also fine... it would just have to work. If it didn't, they were all pretty much dead.

The man, however, didn't seem to want to do anything but stare at them. Hugo sat still and concentrated anyways. He could see out of the corner of his eye that all six other children held similar stances.

Suddenly, a torrent of water started pouring over their cages, right over their heads, drenching them to their skins. Hugo hadn't been expecting such a shock, and as a result he had no idea what to do. He had been waiting for the man to try to kill them like he'd killed the other boy with all the strange muttering and such, not trying to give them a bath!

All he could do at the moment was swim to the surface of the water, slightly panicking as he did so. Of course he knew how to swim. His mother had taught him when they'd gone to the beach last year. The other children seemed to have the same idea, as well – swimming to the surface of the rapidly pooling water.

They all seemed to be fine for the moment, but Hugo knew that the moment wouldn't last very long. The water was pooling quickly into their cages with no sign of stopping. Soon, the water would be to the very top of their cages and they would no longer be able to breathe.

His mind began to race.

There wasn't much he could do for himself or the others at this point. They were well and truly trapped now. The water was fast approaching the top of the cage and then his time would be up. It was only a matter of seconds now...

He looked to his side and once again found the blonde girl floating and smiling at him. He wondered why she was smiling – how could she smile at a time like this? They were about to be drowned to death! But somehow, he felt like it'd be fine. She knew what was going on, of course, and if she was encouraging him, then she definitely knew it was all going to be alright.

At least, that's what he told himself when taking a last hug gulp of air as the water completely immersed him from head to toe. He closed his eyes and tried his best not to breathe.

It's alright, it's alright, it's alright...

After a few seconds his lungs started to burn from the ache of not being able to breathe. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter to stop himself from giving into the urge, but he couldn't help it. A stream of bubbles left his mouth as he let out his breath.

His eyes snapped open. All he could take in at that moment was the man staring at them curiously. He couldn't stop the surge of anger that spread in his chest, filling him to his very core. How dare the man do this to them? If he was going to take their magic, he need not torture them! He'd made his poor blonde friend crazy. He'd starved them, made them live in a dungeon, killed some of them...

And the feeling in his little chest only grew as he stared at the man staring at them. Hugo felt his face redden in that familiar way, his already constricted breath completely leaving him, and his head feeling like it would explode at any second now. But still, his anger grew further. It got to a point where Hugo could tell he was literally glaring at the man, but the man seemed unfazed. Perhaps the man couldn't see how angry Hugo was. Perhaps the man had no idea that he was Hugo Weasley.

He could see from his place in his cage that one of the little girls was frantically clawing, trying to escape. Her eyes were beginning to roll back into her head and her skin was a peculiar shade of blue. The sight of the man staring at her so placidly, so calmly, just did it for Hugo. He burst.

Letting out a high pitched scream, Hugo finally let it all out.

The effect was immediate. The water that had filled their cages exploded, showering the man sharply in the form of blades. The water had cut and bruised him, but he didn't seem to notice it at all. Instead, he stood there clapping gleefully at the fact that they, or more accurately Hugo, had managed to save themselves from the water torture he had put them in.

He brought them all porridge, heaps and heaps of porridge, telling them to eat up and stay strong for what he had planned next for them. He assured them that their next surprise would be much, much more fun that playing in the water and that they would enjoy it immensely.

Hugo didn't plan to stick around for that long.

When the man had finally left them alone to go do whatever it was that he did when he wasn't here torturing them, Hugo whispered his fully formed plan to the blonde girl next to him, who then whispered it to the boy in the cage next to her, who passed it on. Soon, they were all brimming with the prospect of escaping this treacherous hell hole. But they knew instinctively that not all of them would make it out alive.

It was a risk that they were willing to take.

/

When Draco finally woke up, he felt completely groggy. He had no idea what he was doing in bed when he was supposed to be out there, completing his assignment. Like hell! Perhaps he had come home and collapsed or something. His bones ached, his throat was dry and scratchy, and he felt like he'd been run over by a dozen violent hippogriffs. Well, hippogriffs were always violent – so that metaphor didn't quite need that much elaboration.

Fucking, hippogriffs. Couldn't leave him alone in his thoughts, even, could they.

When he sat up tiredly in bed and stretched, he couldn't stop the groan that escaped his lips. He was tired and in pain. What had he done, slept on a bed of knives? Judging the way his life was going these days, he really didn't doubt it. Maybe he had tried to commit suicide.

Yeah, that would explain it.

Trying to untangle himself from the sheets was a task harder than he had anticipated and it was accompanied by loud cursing and death threats that he didn't know he was capable of at that hour of the morning. Why wouldn't his limbs cooperate with him for once? What had he ever done to his body besides drinking, chasing dark wizards, spending too much time at work, not eating, not sleeping, and not having sex? Well, alright. That would explain it all.

Okay, body. I give you free reign to hate me, fucking useless piece of crap!

His mental conversations with himself were never really pleasant. They normally included some kind of self berating, death threats, snarky sarcastic comments, and observations he really wish he hadn't made. It was as if Draco had two personalities, one that he displayed for everyone else, and the one that lived inside his head that told him he was a dumb arse, but a very handsome and charming dumb arse. It was a win-win situation.

Finally, grumbling and giving up getting out of bed, he tried rolling over and falling back to sleep. It didn't matter if he didn't show up to work. He had people who would do it for him and he was sure he had updated everyone about everything he knew. And then there was Potter. Yes, Potter wouldn't begrudge him if he took a short ten hour nap, right?

He had almost fallen back to sleep when something began moving under his sheets.

At first, Draco thought he was completely imagining it, because why would there be anything under his sheets, holding him down to the bed? Then Draco realized he was probably going crazy, because there really were no such things as monsters under ones sheets to hold one down to the bed. A few seconds later, the realization passed through his head that he was probably drugged and imagining it all because of that – hallucinations and nothing more.

That was until the "monster" started sniffing and Draco knew for a fact that he was completely lucid. So Draco did what he thought was the most appropriate thing to do. He screamed. Like a five year old girl.

A very high pitched five year old girl.

Several things happened simultaneously. The monster that was holding him down by the legs to his bed also screamed, Hermione Granger burst through the door in alarm, and Missy the house elf popped into existence out of thin air.

Needless to say, Draco was more than startled.

"What the hell is going on?" Hermione asked, her eyes wide.

He stared at her, intending to tell her exactly what the hell was going on until he realized what he actually was staring at. She was dressed in a loose white shirt that came just past mid thigh. It hung off one shoulder, exposing her milky skin. It was clear that he'd roused her from sleep. Who knew Granger looked so fuckable in her sleep attire? Her hair was a mess and Draco didn't think he'd ever seen anything more attractive.

"Master Draco?" the elf questioned tentatively.

That startled him out of his train of thoughts and he could feel himself flushing. He found three pairs of eyes staring at him concernedly. Well, two pairs of eyes staring at him in concern and the third just pure fear. He realized then that he was staring at a very pale blonde head staring at him from his lap, the rest of the little body covered by his sheets. So alright, he'd overreacted. Scorpius was no more a monster than the house elf was...

"Draco?" Hermione asked once again, taking a step forward. "What's wrong? Are you in pain?" She seemed really worried at the prospect.

"Why would I be in pain?" he asked distractedly, pulling Scorpius up to sit beside him and completely missing Granger's confused expression. "What's wrong, little monkey?" he asked Scorpius who gave him a small scared looking smile. "Did papa scare you?" Scorpius nodded. "Well, I am very, very sorry, but you should not have been lurking and scaring me." And with that, he kissed Scorpius on the nose, who giggled, and gestured for the elf to take the boy away.

A silence followed and Draco resented that. Why was he always falling into a silence around Granger, anyways? Why was she falling into a silence around him? He knew Granger and he knew her inability to shut her trap for even a second. So why wouldn't she just act like she normally would?

Because she's staying in your house while you occasionally bully her. Oh and yeah, some psychopath has stolen her son away.

Right, there was that.

When he looked up he found her staring at him cautiously, as if he was going to jump out and yell BOO right in her ear. He raised a brow at her and she blushed red. "What are you staring at?" he questioned, simply out of curiosity. He wondered if he looked like shit. Then he wondered why he even cared. It was only Granger, after all. She'd seen him worse.

"Um... do you not remember...anything?" she asked tentatively. The question confused him more than it should have and that should have been his clue to realize that something was really wrong. But because he was an idiot, a very tired idiot, he just shrugged and shook his head.

"Should I know what you're talking about?" he asked, a little bit of his normal sarcasm colouring his words.

"You apparated here last night and had an extensive amount of injuries. You've been asleep ever since. Or, at least until you woke up to play with Scorpius," she amended. Well, that would explain why the little bugger had been asleep on his legs. She took a few steps closer, slowly, as if anticipating he would suddenly reach out and slice her throat. "Are you feeling better now...?"

"That depends," he yawned, stretching his sore arms above his head and grimacing. "How badly was I hurt? And how?"

"They were...extensive..." she said hesitantly.

"How extensive?"

"Six fractures in your legs, three snapped ribs, shattered knees, broken nose, cuts to your chest, here, here, and here," she said, gently outlining where the cuts might have been.

"Eh. Could've been worse," he said, shrugging.

She raised an eyebrow and continued. "Seven fractures to your skull, a severe concussion, internal bleeding, broken arm, dislocated shoulder, and ten broken fingers. Parts of your foot were completely crushed. I'm surprised you're awake at all, Malfoy, let alone alive!" Her chest was heaving and Draco really didn't want to be drawn to such an action, but he was male. He couldn't help it. "What the bloody hell happened to you?"

Draco shrugged again. "I'd tell you, but I don't remember. What else are you not telling me?"

"You clung to me like a baby for hours during and after the healers were here." She said it so bluntly, so emotionlessly, that Draco had no idea how to respond. Sure, she probably saw nothing wrong with it. He had been in a tremendous amount of pain, judging by the extent of his injuries, so it was all excusable... But hell, he wouldn't mind clinging to her right now and going back to sleep. She looked soft. "And you said something about a trap."

Oh.

"A trap?" He looked to her for confirmation and she just nodded.

What had he been doing before he fell asleep? Well, that was obvious; he'd been working on the case. But specifically, he couldn't really remember. His memory was hazy at best and he had to focus thoroughly to even get a sense of what his thoughts were trying to tell him. He could see Granger watching him think curiously, and he really didn't appreciate that. The pressure didn't help him concentrate.

"A trap. What else did I say?"

She was silent for a moment, visibly thinking. She had a very focused expression on her face, though she wasn't staring at anything in particular. She slowly began chewing on her bottom lip and Draco immediately felt a rush of heat to a part of his anatomy he just wanted to ignore, for Merlin's sake! "All you said was... 'They got me pretty bad. Was a trap, should have known', and then you fell asleep. I think... Yes, that sounds about right."

But why couldn't he remember? And who were "they"? It was all really too much of a confusing mess to think about and he didn't understand why he was thinking about it in the first place. He should be sleeping like a normal person, not conversing with Hermione Granger, no matter how easy that was to do. In fact, he found he kind of liked talking to Hermione.

Granger, not Hermione. And sleep! He liked sleep! Not talking...

Gods, he was such a sissy.

Then it hit him. If he had to be caught in a trap, he'd have to be working, right? Right, that was obvious. But if he had to be working, then he would surely have documented where he was going and what he was to be doing during a particular time. Right? Right. So really, all he had to do was look through his files and he would have some kind of answer. It was at least somewhere to start.

But where were his files? They would usually sit on his bedside table. "Where are my files?" he said to no one in particular.

"Your Auror copy?" Hermione asked.

He narrowed his eyes at her and she blushed though he had no idea why. "Yes...Why? Where is it? What did you do with it? Potter's going to kill me. He was against getting one for me in the first place! Tell me you haven't lost it, Granger, or I swear to God, I will-"

"Relax, I have it," she cut him off, getting out of bed and smoothing her inappropriate night-time attire down. "Are you always this hyper?" He glared at her, but she only smiled her small little sad smile.

"I'll have you know, I-"but his stomach grumbled loudly, cutting off whatever it was he was going to inform her of. "Am...very...hungry?"

She burst out laughing and made her way out of the room, promising she'd come back with some nourishment for his poor little stomach. He lay back against his pillows and realized that they still smelled of her, faintly, as if she'd only been here a few hours ago. The smell relaxed him and he was almost able to doze again.

/

Hermione was almost able to smile as she went to the kitchen and asked the house elf if there was any breakfast for Draco. She had learned quickly that she was not allowed to touch the stove, or really do anything for herself, if she didn't want to give the elf a panic attack. It wasn't as if the house elf was distressed by the fact that Hermione was trying to do work, no, the house elf didn't care what Hermione did. She just didn't want Hermione to touch her precious stuff.

And Hermione was fine with that, honestly. That was something she could respect.

Once she had a tray of eggs, bacon, and toast with morning coffee and Draco's Auror file, she made her slow way back to his room. The thing was, Hermione had never had much balance in her life. She wasn't too bad of a klutz, but there was a good reason besides her fear of heights that she didn't ever get on a broomstick. Paired with the fact that she was balancing a tray, coffee, and a file under her arm and going up three flights of stairs... The journey was really slow.

By the time she reached his room, Draco was fast asleep. She hadn't seen something so angelic since the last time she'd seen her son asleep in his bed. His hair, now clean of blood, lay in a perfect golden halo around his head. It was not too messy, but he didn't immaculately gel it back like he used to back in school. She preferred it like this...

He looked much healthier, almost back to normal for the amount of injuries he had sustained.

She laid the file and his breakfast onto his bedside table before brushing his hair back off his forehead. He looked beautiful like this. He didn't look stressed, didn't look like he had to put up a front or pretend for anyone. He looked utterly calm and relaxed, something Hermione wished she could have on a daily basis.

Suddenly, he leaned into her touch and groaned. She pulled her hand back as if she'd been burned. What the hell had she been thinking, touching him like that? She hadn't meant to, really... It had just happened out of its own accord. She hadn't planned it, hadn't really thought about what she was doing until he'd shifted.

Sighing, he rolled over onto his side, facing her. His eyes were still closed. "I don't want to go back to school, mum," he muttered.

"What?" Hermione said on reflex.

"The other kids are annoying...fucking Potter...get that hippogriff away from me..." he mumbled some other things, but her ear couldn't catch them. Hermione honestly didn't mean to laugh, really didn't want to just burst out laughing at his sleepy muttering, but that's exactly what she did. That was the funniest bloody thing she'd seen in Merlin knew how long! He startled awake but she wasn't able to stop laughing. He prodded her shoulder as if to determine she were really sane, but that only made her laugh even harder. "What the bloody fuck are you laughing at, Granger?"

"Hippogriffs!" she managed to choke out.

His cheeks flushed a little pink, but other than that he didn't display any indication of embarrassment. Eventually, she calmed down and simply had a goofy smile on her face, feeling better than she had in ages. It was as if a weight had been temporarily lifted from her chest and all thanks to Malfoy. It was simple really, but she could tell that she was beginning to rely on the man and that was never good.

She hadn't relied on anyone since Ron and that had turned out really poorly for her, hadn't it.

"I brought you your file," she told him after she had caught her breath again.

He reached for it and the coffee. She just watched him as he flipped open the file with one hand and began thumbing through the heavy parchment, occasionally sipping on the still hot coffee. He had an air of concentration around him. Looking at him like that, as if it were a private moment she shouldn't be staring at, it felt kind of... arousing, yes.

Malfoy as a whole was kind of arousing. He was definitely handsome and moaned like the devil, that much she knew and was already obvious. But he was kind when he let himself be, and he cared more than any individual she had ever known, including himself. It was just that, his way of caring was different. He was different. But beyond that, he was genuinely smart and funny. What else did someone want in a person?

Well, besides the fact that he hated her guts, saw her as that filthy mudblood he was roped into helping, and probably thought she was a joke. She knew she didn't actually seriously like him. She was just fixating because her mind wanted her to focus on something other than her son twenty four hours a day. It was probably a good thing Malfoy would never, ever return her affections because that would have been disastrous. They'd never manage to do anything at all.

Besides have sex. He finds you attractive, her mind told her.

Well, that was true. She knew that he did find her attractive on some level. She had caught the way he had stared at her chest and legs earlier, and it honestly just made her feel pretty, nothing more. But she also knew that Malfoy clearly wasn't in a happy marriage, meaning there was no sex there. He was also probably too busy with work to pursue a mistress of sorts.

So it was nothing at all and definitely nothing her mind should focus on. At least, that's what she was going to tell herself for the rest of her life, if need be.

His gasp and sputtering of coffee distracted her from her unnecessary thoughts. Immediately focusing on his expression, she realized he'd found something important. When he exclaimed a loud "Mother fucker!" she knew that whatever it was, wasn't good news. She just hoped it didn't affect the investigation... Malfoy had said he was being smart here, so she was just going to have to trust him.

"What happened?" she asked him quietly, hoping that he'd tell her and not kick her out of his room.

"Apparently, I was in the alley behind the rundown boarding houses in Skull Pile the day I got attacked." She had absolutely no idea what Skull Pile was or what old rundown boarding houses had to do with any of it. But it must have been important to him. "Son of a bitch!"

"What's wrong, Draco?" she asked.

"I can't remember it, I don't know what I was doing there," he said in a groan. He bent down and clutched his head in his hands. The posture was one of such defeat and pain that Hermione almost felt her heart break – that is, if there were any of it left to be broken. "I just, I can't think," he muttered to her.

Well, if they were going to get anywhere, he would have to think. So she went and sat next to him, rubbing soothing circles into his back. He relaxed minutely, but it was a start. "It's okay. We can work through it. You'll remember," she coaxed gently. He heaved a sigh. "Where were you before you went to Skull Pile?"

"I..." He raised his head and paused to think, staring at her with his forehead all scrunched up. "I was meeting with suspects."

"What were the suspects for?"

His eyes screwed shut and it seemed he was thinking really, really hard. "I think... yes, I was trying to find out where Blaise was killed. Blaise sent me a scan of a door before he was killed and... I was looking for its location, I think." He leaned a little bit into her touch without even noticing it. She felt a little bit of pride having helped him relax. This was all she could do now to help. "I think that's right."

"So one of the suspects told you the door was in Skull Pile," she said, speculating. His eyes lit up. "You found the door?"

"Bloody hell, Granger! You're right!" he said grinning. They lapsed into a little silence as she watched him think. "Son of a fucking squib! I remember now."

"What?" she asked, startled. She hadn't seen him swear this much since...ever, actually. It was a stark contrast.

"I was found. I tripped a ward. In fact, I think I met the man who kidnapped your son and he tried to kill me," he stated, clearly excited at remembering. She felt like she'd lost the ability to breathe and couldn't move a single muscle. "Yeah, that explains the injuries. But don't worry, I don't think he's out to kill the children."

"Ch-children?" she managed to force out.

"Yeah. There are other families. We were able to connect several missing children cases with this one. It was genius on Potter's part," Draco said, grudgingly. Apparently he didn't like Harry's successes. He shivered. "But we're going to get this sick fucker, don't you worry."

She nodded. They'd have to now. Draco had seen the man and escaped, so he could probably help the Aurors. And for some reason Draco knew that the man wasn't killing the children – children! Plural! – so she'd just have to take his word for it for now. Her heart was on overdrive and she still couldn't breathe properly. Everything felt almost like a dream.

"How did you manage to escape, anyhow?" she asked him. "You were...you were hurt pretty bad when you got here."

"He thought I was dead." Draco shrugged at her nonchalantly and her heart was in her throat. "I got lucky this time," he added gently, noting her expression.

Before she could say anything, Harry Potter apparated into the room looking around frantically and finding the odd image of his best friend and best co-worker sitting in bed together having a civil conversation. Before she could even say hello to him though, he was talking – nearly shouting – at them.

"We've got him! We've found the hide out from the info you sent us!" he was nearly shrieking. Draco had been still for a moment and then he was out of bed getting dressed. Hermione couldn't keep up with all that was going around her, she was still shocked at the news she'd been given. "It wasn't in the same alley, they abandoned that, but they have another hideout not but three alleys down. We wouldn't even have found out about it if it weren't for MacLaggen."

"I just have to...I have to take a strength potion, I'll meet you there in five minutes, Potter." Harry clapped Draco on the shoulder and apparated out of the room, gone just as quick as he had come. Draco finished dressing, did in fact down a strength potion that had been stored in his drawer, and accio'ed something that looked like a sheathed sword. "As you've gathered, I have to go," he said, addressing her.

"You can't! You're still recovering," she said, worried.

He smiled. "Thanks for caring, but I do have to be there. I'll let the Aurors do all the heavy lifting, don't worry," he said with a wink. She didn't believe him and he knew it. So instead, he unsheathed what actually was a sword from where he'd slung it over his back. "You asked how I survived. This is how."

She took a few tentative steps towards him, not sure what to say, but found that she didn't have to say anything at all. The sword in his hands was absolutely beautiful. It was coal black, so black it nearly glimmered in the light. The handle had emerald encrusting and the whole thing looked to be absolutely priceless. There were runes etched into the sword. She leaned forwards to read.

Power is taken, not granted.

She wondered if he knew what was inscribed on the beautiful black blade. It didn't matter if the inscription was all arrogant and pureblooded, the sword had saved Draco's life, so she was thankful.

As she reached forwards to run her fingers along the flat of the blade, a shock passed through her. It was as if there was a subtle darkness that consumed her as soon as her fingertips made contact with the blade. It was all she could do not to gasp out loud, but she knew one thing. Whatever that blade was, it was evil and Draco should not be carrying it, life saving or not.

But before she could voice her thoughts to him, he was gone, just like everything else in her life.