Draco felt the blood rushing to his head as he hung in the dark
"Now, little dragon, I'm sure you're wondering why I've brought you here."
The darkness had too many eyes.
Draco would have spoken, if he could.
"Allow me to open some more of your eyes."
Draco tried to push down the panic and terror. This was Harry. This was his Lord. He would serve willingly.
"You did not need to provoke Weasley publicly. You did not need the remembral. You didn't even want it."
It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. The fun thing.
"Your stupidity has cost you potential music. If you wanted the weasel to suffer, we could have done something… better. We could have knocked him off his broom at the height of his flight. It would have been a terrible, tragic accident. If only the bird lady had been able to save him…"
Draco winced.
"BUT instead, you both got detention for flying without supervision. Does it feel like winning to you, Draco? Was that FUN, to you?"
No, my Lord.
"Do better, little dragon. Next time, I won't be so lenient."
Draco jumped badly. The cacophony of noise in the Great Hall was startling compared to the dark.
He was eating dinner. His fork and knife were still in his hand. His steak was half finished.
He had just glanced up and met Harry's eyes.
Right.
He lowered his eyes and took another bite.
…
Daphne was careful in her approach. She would rather overestimate Harry Potter than underestimate him and end up like Pansy.
She knew that she was onto something when Draco's eyes widened in fear as she approached their alcove.
Fear for her. Not of her.
Excellent.
"Mr Potter, may I have a word?"
Flaming emerald orbs met hers and he smiled. Did he have too many teeth?.
"Oh yes, Miss Greengrass. We can certainly have several."
She couldn't help but smile in return as she tried not to fall too far into his unwavering gaze.
"Please give me a moment alone to talk to Miss Greengrass, Draco. And take your dogs with you."
Draco nodded immediately and stood, catching her eye with a curious look as he strode out of the alcove. Crabbe and Goyle followed in his shadow.
Like good little dogs.
Her smile widened.
She sat across from the unusual boy in the black leather chair that Malfoy had just vacated. She crossed her legs and regarded Harry Potter with a critical, ice-blue eye.
He mimicked her pose, crossing his legs and steepling his fingers. He wore a pristine jet-black muggle suit. Why hadn't she noticed that before?
"How can I help you, Miss Greengrass?"
"That's a loaded question, Mr Potter. What makes you think that I want your help?"
Harry tipped his head to the side and pinned her with a suddenly weighty stare.
"Everyone wants something. Usually many things. And there is power, in vice. So tell me, Miss Greengrass…"
The eyes in the walls opened and she couldn't look away.
"What do you want?"
She tried to speak but the words caught in her throat. She was overwhelmed, for the first time she could remember. She was always the one in control.
The darkness was absolute.
Except for the eyes.
"What do you need, Daphne Greengrass? What will fill the aching cravings in your empty soul?"
She needed… she needed…
"I need to be free." She whispered into the night.
"I…I'm a…a pureblood heiress. My family… they're quite wealthy. Quite important. But they want more, more power, more prestige. It's important, to them, that I play my part. That I play my role well. I'll be expected to find a better family, and…and…"
She tried to keep the tears from falling.
"I'll be expected to marry their heir. Seduce him, whatever you want to call it. I've been expected to do this, groomed to do this, for as long as I can remember. And…"
Endless eyes continued to stare.
"I need more. I will not be some trophy, some means to an end. I will not be a bargaining chip for my parents' prestige. I will be free."
The dark smiled with endless teeth.
"With or without your help, Harry Potter."
The smile widened.
Emerald chains circled them in the night.
She could see him again, sitting in the same position in the same chair in front of her, while they floated in the empty dark full of eyes and teeth and chains.
Harry clapped slowly, the sound echoing in the void.
"You are exquisite, Miss Greengrass. You are absolutely correct, of course. You will not be any of those things. With or without my help, you will be strong. You will be singular. You will find your own freedom, even if it is in the drip drip drip of blood and pain and death. I would not want, to help, you otherwise."
Daphne's breath caught as he smiled at her.
"But I can give you more. I can give you control. I can give you the power to do more than just break the shackles of expectations, I can give you the means to rise."
She couldn't help but smile, even as tears ran down her cheeks.
"Join me, Daphne Greengrass. Trade your current pair of chafing, bloody shackles for a new set of pristine and empowering chains. You may even find it that my chains are more free than any lack of purpose will ever be."
She fell into the infinite emerald ocean.
"Join me, and you will find your liberty, yourpotential, within my chains."
He held out his hand.
Her smile widened further as she reached out and placed her hand in his.
The emerald chains snaked their way up her wrist and around her soul.
And she had never felt so free.
…
Give me give me give me your secrets.
The Diadem with so many eyes was being difficult.
It didn't seem to want to help him.
Help Him figure out what He was.
The little shard of crimson glass just looked at him as he poked and prodded it with his magic.
Well, if it didn't want to speak, then he supposed that it didn't need a mouth.
He flipped idly through the lovely book of ritual magic he had found. He didn't know how he knew where to find it.
In the room of Hidden things.
…
Why did this bathroom have so many eyes?
The ghost was speaking. Harry didn't care.
Could he kill ghosts?
Probably not worth it. No drip drip drip.
Why why why did the eyes bring him here?
He felt like he was on the precipice, like there was some wonderful door just waiting to be…
"Open."
One of the sinks slid into the ground.
Very interesting.
Please keep your hands, arms, feet and legs inside the roller coaster at all times.
Harry giggled.
He jumped into the dark.
…
Echo echo.
Echoing footsteps on the polished gray stone.
Harry walked through the columns and the snakes.
So many interesting places that his eyes took him.
He realized that he wasn't alone.
"...rip…tear…Master?"
Harry's smile widened.
They were going to get along swimmingly, he could just tell.
…
Harry liked Halloween.
It was always nice, to celebrate the dark.
Hermione, apparently, did not like Halloween.
Harry's eyes narrowed as he heard the redheaded weasel making the wrong noises. Terrible, terrible noises with his lips. Hurt hurt hurting Hermione Granger.
He was the only one who was allowed to hurt Hermione Granger.
She ran from the room, tears already falling.
Harry smiled.
…
"Draco, please make sure that no one enters the dorm room for the next few hours. I have things to do."
…
Harry looked at the rat.
The rat looked back.
This wasn't a rat.
Why wasn't this a rat?
How did he know this wasn't a rat?
The eyes were Him and he was the eyes.
He would have so. so. so. much fun with the rat.
Later. He hadn't finished composing his current symphony. He still had so very many notes to languish within.
Before the weasel was dry.
…
"Harry! You have to-"
Draco threw up on the dorm room floor.
Harry turned in surprise. He hadn't expected Draco to be silly enough to interrupt him.
At least the weasel was already silent. No more terrible noises for him.
Draco collected himself. He seemed to be trying not to look at the eyeless, tongueless, skinless corpse hanging from the ceiling.
Harry couldn't imagine why.
"My… my Lord… there's a troll in the castle."
Interesting. And convenient.
"Ah. Thank you, Draco. I was just about to go for a walk anyway."
…
Hermione screamed as she threw herself sideways just in time.
One moment she had been crying on the toilet. Which was… kind of sad, but she was kind of sad!
No one liked her. Why were the rest of the children so stupid? The only one who seemed to like her was Harry Potter. The mysterious Slytherin with the emerald eyes. The one who she couldn't keep out of her head but also knew she shouldn't think about. She knew, on an instinctive level, that he was dangerous.
And now there was a troll. In the bathroom. With her.
What was going on?
Its club smashed the stalls with one massive swing.
She screamed and tried to hide under the sinks as wood chips flew.
The troll roared again.
It smashed a sink beside and she crawled.
Crawled crawled away, while the club smashed smashed smashed.
She was going to die.
She didn't know where all the screaming was coming from.
Was it her?
Smash.
She stumbled and rolled and crawled some more.
"Well. Isn't this… interesting."
Emerald eyes, in the dark.
"Harry? Run, Harry!"
"You worry too much, Miss Granger. Now, would you like some help?"
Smash. Closer this time. More roaring.
"I… yes! Please, help me!"
Cracked and ruined tile rained down on her.
Smash.
"And what do I get in return?"
What?
Smash.
"What is your life worth, Hermione Granger?"
What?
Smash.
She could see the eyes in the walls. So many eyes.
Could see the emerald chains.
She didn't care.
"Anything. Just… please"
The eyes in the walls seemed happy.
She felt the verdant shackles close on her soul.
She didn't care.
He was there. He was standing over her.
He ran a comforting hand through her ruined hair.
She was safe.
She closed her eyes as the dark and the teeth came, and this time it was the troll that screamed.
And screamed and screamed.
Such wonderful music.
…