Chapter 4
The tunnel was cold and stingy, cobwebs everywhere and if that didn’t make Draco’s skin crawl, then the snakes slithering on the ground did. It was extremely dark, and the air felt moist, on top of that Draco kept running into Harry’s shoulders. He was rather warm, compared to the surrounding atmosphere.
It was harder to breathe in the tight space, Draco noticed Harry’s breathing had also become short. He could hardly see him, so he relied on the sounds emitting from Harry, such as short breaths and him muttering complaints.
“Did we lose them?” Draco asked Harry, even just to fill in the silence.
“I think so, it’s not safe to say, keep quiet and keep going,” he whispered back.
The tight tunnels did not help Draco’s back and legs, it made them worse. He never had to be in such tiny spaces whilst running, he never even had to run if he was quite honest. His legs were locking up, finished by the force he was using on them. Harry didn’t seem all that phased, yes he was sweating and breathing rapidly, but he kept moving, intent with his stare on where they were going.
“So, you freak out about going outside, and you love your father. However, from what I’m getting, he locks you in that tower? None of it makes sense,” Harry speaks once they’ve slowed down and caught their breath.
“Well obviously I love him, he’s my father and he’s kept me safe my whole life. Of course I will feel bad for disobeying his one rule; to be safe. He’s also frightening, it’s chilling to be in his presence, especially on his bad days.”
“Why are you scared of him? You shouldn’t be scared of your own father,” he said as if he knew everything about Draco then.
“Aren’t you scared of yours?”
“I don’t have one, so I wouldn’t know,” he growled. “Anyway, is it really keeping you safe if you have no experience, you know, one day when he grows too old to care for you,” Harry said bitterly.
“Why does it matter to you?” Draco didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
As if on Draco’s command for a distraction, loud shouts filled the tunnel as guards got closer and closer. They broke out into a run, Draco’s muscles were still sore and overused from earlier, but he tried and tried to keep going. Frankly, what kept Draco going was Harry’s threatening fights to ‘keep the fuck up’ and ‘I’ll kill you if you don’t get a move on your skinny arse’ that scared Draco more than the guards behind them.
“I’m coming,” Draco managed, just then arrows whizzed past his ears, he ducked in time, however the next batch seemed much faster and closer to hitting them. Just as Draco was worried he was gonna get hid by one of the guards with good aim, he was tumbled over by Harry.
Draco looked up at Harry from the ground, he was slightly on top of him, looking down into Draco’s eyes. They were both breathing heavily in this position, seemingly forgetting about the world around them. Harry’s eyebrows furrowed before grabbing Draco’s arm and pulling them up, causing Draco to snap out of it.
They continue to run as fast as they can, Draco’s legs on autopilot. There wasn’t enough air getting into his lungs, his vision was getting spotted with vertigo but he kept following Harry, who moved swiftly in the tight space. Harry ran into planks covering an exit, over and over and grunting each time his body hit it. Finally it gave way and light overwhelmed Draco’s eyes, he tried covering it, but forced himself to look when he heard more shouting.
“Fuck,” Harry muttered, there were guards everywhere, swords drawn and staring intently at the two. “Here, follow my moves.”
Draco listened to him, and Harry quickly moved to the side, he immediately followed as did the guards. The guards were fast, but Harry and Draco were faster. They moved swiftly and followed a gap between cliffs, it was a tight space, but Draco easily learned how to manoeuvre the way. It looked like Harry already had the practice.
The guards were shouting profanities at them, clanging their swords against the stone and trying to run fast. Some were now overhead of them, following. Draco wondered how on earth they would lose the guards, but as long as Harry knew what he was doing then Draco told himself not to worry.
“If you keep running, the consequences will only be worse,” one of the guards yelled cockily.
The same guard had caught up close to them, almost grabbing a hold of Draco’s hair, it was then Draco remembered to keep it all bundled in front of him the whole way. He hurriedly wrapped it all up into a lump in front of him, he never noticed its weight before. He wanted to cut it off then, even if he would lose the blessing he had been born with, the only thing remaining of his mother, his father told him.
Harry squeezed Draco’s arm once again and pulled him, once again, into a small tunnel, crawling a bit before it was tall enough for them to run. Only a few of the guards were behind them now, and when trees surrounded them once again, they were able to lose the few guards.
“That was,” Draco began, too out of breath to finish it though.
“Intense.” Harry said it for him. They were both extremely out of breath, Harry went to sit down on a large boulder and took out a flask filled with water. After he drank, he handed it to Draco, his lips were wet, and a droplet fell to the ground before Harry wiped his lips dry. Draco happily drank from the flask, too thirsty to care for the germs that were definitely on it. He hoped Harry didn’t often share his drinks with others, it was vile to think about sharing germs with more than one person at once.
“That was impressive, back there, and losing the guards,” he complimented Harry.
“Thanks, you didn’t do so bad yourself.”
“Oh, I think I did excellent, especially considering I never had to run from anyone before,” he teased, pushing Harry’s shoulder slightly.
“I have to run from people everyday, it’s not as fun as it may seem,” Harry smirked at Draco, before waving his hand for Draco to join him sitting on the boulder.
Heat radiated from Harry, and Draco had to wonder if it was normal that so much heat could come from one person. The few times his father held him, he had been just as cold as Draco, if not colder. It was a nice difference. He had to stop himself from leaning into the heat.
It was getting dark, and Harry got up to collect wood. He piled them into the centre of a few large enough rocks and logs, and lit it with friction. Draco let his shoulders relax, he sat on the ground, leaning onto the boulder. Harry sat right next to him. It made Draco sad to think this was the first, and probably only time, he would ever be so close to someone without being scolded or made to sing.
“You alright?” Harry asked, noticing Draco’s sudden lack of energy.
“Yeah, just, this is much better than sitting locked in a tower the whole day even though we were chased the whole time. Is it really always like that? Getting chased, I mean,” he admitted, the area around them was quiet, only rustling in the bushes from the light breeze and an animal passing them every few minutes. One of them had been a snake, making Harry flinch.
“Not at all, I mean for me it is. Sort of. But there’s so much more to life here than just that. You really don’t know?” Harry looked into Draco’s eyes, searching for answers that he didn’t know himself.
“No. All my memories are in that tower,” it felt weird to talk about, but Harry had been so welcoming. “I’ve always dreamed of life outside. I always felt ashamed for doing so, and sometimes I find myself wishing that life had turned out so differently. So far, the danger has been worth it. The smell of fresh grass and trees is incomparable to anything else.”
“You know, we ‘outside dwellers’ think it’s borderline horrible to leave your child locked away from the world, even if it is for their safety. The only way for a child to be safe is to have some sense of freedom and learn that way. I never had parents, but instead I was raised by my best mates parents. They had been awesome, and tried to implement rules, but since I wasn’t really their child, it was hard for them to apply to me. If they locked me up for my whole life though, I would have run away much sooner.”
Draco wanted to hug Harry, to hold him and console him. As much as he was disliking his father right now, at least he had one. Harry looked so small then, he was hunched over, cradling himself in his arms by the fire. He decided to do it, at first he rested his arm on Harry’s shoulders, and then Harry turned towards Draco and stayed in his arms. Draco was right, the warmth was covering his body immediately, Draco’s muscles relaxed almost completely. He was so vulnerable, they both were. This was the softest feeling he ever had. Draco could never go back to the life he had been living before.
In the firelight, Harry’s face appeared so soft. He wanted to paint it and keep it forever, he wanted this moment forever. When he had to return back to the boring tower, he would paint this moment over and over, covering the walls in Harry’s comforting face, the emotions he felt would be a warm colour, mirroring the warmth he felt for the first time in his chest.
They sat like that in silence until rustling appeared by their feets and a ferret jumped out, climbing all over Draco. “Kona, you found me!” He scratched Kona’s neck while Harry stared in confusion. “What? Got a problem, high and mighty Harry Potter?” Draco teased Harry, pushing him slightly with his body.
“It’s just that you look exactly like your ferret,” he said in exasperation. Draco slapped Harry, “Sorry sorry,” Harry laughed out. “I never said anything was wrong with that.” The ferret chirped before rubbing herself against Harry’s held out hand.
“Yeah, well it was implied,” he shook his head and tsked at Harry, pulling Kona back.
“It’s adorable,” he said and chuckled when Draco couldn’t find anything to say, instead he was trying to calm his heart down from beating too fast and hard.
“You don’t have to return,” Harry said, switching the overall mood. “You could stay with me, you deserve a chance to see and adventure the world.”
Draco was about to reply, but he couldn’t say anything. He was choked up and nothing would come out of his ajar mouth. He wanted to say yes, so badly. Though part of him knew he couldn’t do that to his father, and if he did his father would end up finding him and Draco would be in serious trouble, chills ran through his bones at just the thought of it. He pet Kona to calm down the nerves that were starting to arise again.
“You don’t have to have an answer now, obviously, it was just a thought,” he rubbed his chin, leaning back onto the boulder behind them. It was a collective decision to use that awkward moment to lay in front of the fire and sleep their way into the next morning, Kona took turns and cuddled both Draco and Harry while they fell asleep. The whole night Draco dreamt of a new life filled with Harry.
In those dreams he even had different parents. He couldn’t quite see their faces, though he knew their smiles were warm and welcoming as Harry’s had been. His fathers long hair in that dream had been similar to Draco’s, only shoulder length. It was nice to be in their embrace, Draco felt himself miss it, something he never had. He could only wish the dreams were real, but they never were.