Chapter 2
Arms folded over his chest, clutching onto his basically useless wand, Sirius ground his teeth. Hanging upside down from the ceiling by something he couldn’t see since the cave didn’t seem to like that he tried to blast his way out of it, he wasn’t happy. Glancing over, he could see Draco pinned, spreadeagled, to the wall by some unseen force, unable to move either. Draco, too, seemed to have pissed off the cave by aiding his escape attempt. Though he couldn’t see him, he knew Harry was bound to a chair, unable to move either, because he was another accomplice in the attempted escape. Yeah, this wasn’t good.
After the note appeared, hysteria ensued, as anyone would expect. Then the three of them worked together the best they could trying to escape. While the cave left them repeated messages on wall warning them to stop and there was no way to get out of the cave until it decided to release them, they were panicked enough to ignore it. Of course, the cave made damned sure they stopped by doing this. And Sirius was pissed about it. They had to try to get out, after all. That would be expected of anyone.
It was made even worse by the fact that nothing he did worked to free himself. Now he tried to figure out what to do next. Hearing Draco start to complain again, he huffed then snarled, “Shut up, Draco! I’m trying to think here! I can’t do that with you complaining all the time.”
“Well, think faster,” Draco huffed. “This is uncomfortable! I want down.”
“Like hanging upside down is comfortable?” Sirius shot back, voice a low snarl, looking at the brat. “None of us are comfortable, so shut up! Let me think!”
“Nothing I’m trying is working,” Harry added with a grunt, squirming around and trying more spells to get himself loose though he figured it wouldn’t work any better than anything he had tried up to this point.
“Same here,” Sirius snarled, trying anything he could think of, hoping something would work.
“My wand is useless,” Draco added, trying to do something as well, huffing in agitation.
“I think that means we have to try something else,” Harry groused, slouching slightly after running through everything he could think of.
“Like what, Potter?” Draco asked sarcastically, unwilling to give up just yet, squirming and trying every spell he knew which might have any kind of shot at working to free himself.
Eyes going shut, Sirius tried to shunt aside the panic and anger he felt so he could think. Nothing came to mind right off hand, though. After several minutes, he could come up with nothing. More frustrated than before, he shouted at the cave, “What do we have to do to get you to release us?” By now, he figured out the cave was in some way sentient, though he wasn’t sure how much, and magical. While he didn’t expect an answer, it was a way to vent some frustration. Once he released some, he might be able to think better than he was now. At least he hoped.
Just as Sirius was starting to snarl again, thinking to run through some other spells he felt certain wouldn’t work, but thought he should try, his head whipped the direction the writing had shown on the wall when he heard the chalk-like sound again. Watching, he saw another message start to scrawl itself out.
‘Just relax and don’t try to escape again,’ the message read. Then another line began. ‘Give me your word and I’ll release you.’
Though his eyes narrowed at the message and his teeth ground, Sirius ground out, “Fine, I won’t try anymore.” Looking at the other two, “Agree with what it wants.”
“I won’t either,” Harry said quickly, hoping this worked since he didn’t like being bound to the chair.
Draco narrowed his eyes and glared at what was written on the wall, huffing slightly. After grinding his teeth, hard, he spit out, “I won’t.” Though he said he wouldn’t, he planned to keep right on trying. Being trapped in here with Black and Potter was a recipe for disaster if there ever was one and would end up with one, or all, of them injured after a fight which would end up coming. Since it would be two against one, he would probably end up losing, especially when it came to Black. So, he would keep right on trying. He just wouldn’t let anyone know.
Within seconds of agreeing, Sirius ended up released then found himself gently lowered to the floor in an upright manner. With a sigh of relief, he slumped and shook his head to get rid of some of the fuzzies.
Harry, too, was quickly released. After standing up and stretching, he groaned softly, feeling better.
When he saw the other two released, Draco waited for his freedom as well. However, it didn’t come. He stayed stuck to the wall, unable to move. Frowning, he began to wiggle around, once more trying to get free. Huffing loudly, he snapped, looking around wildly, “Let me go! You let them go, so it’s my turn!”
Brow furrowed, Sirius looked at the bewildered Harry then glanced at the struggling Draco. It took him a few moments to figure out what might be going on. Trying to keep a soft voice and not sound accusatory or anything, he said, “Draco, you have to mean it, not just say it. Then it’ll let you go.”
“It can’t dictate what I do!” Draco hissed at Black, struggling harder. “I want out of here and will escape if I can!” By now, a panic of sort began to creep in. He needed out of this, fast, before he had a full-blown panic attack. He never had one, but had seen them from others and didn’t want to experience one himself! No! It needed to let him loose, now.
After scrubbing a hand over his face, Sirius let out a soft groan then shook his head. With a shrug, he looked at Harry and said, “Let’s take a seat and see what we can figure out from here. We can’t get out or even get a message to someone, so we need to sort out what to do from here.”
Once he shot a sympathetic look at Draco, hoping the prat figured out soon that it was worthless to fight, he then went and took a seat with Sirius. Yeah, they had tons to figure out.
Full out panic now taking over, Draco struggled against the invisible bonds then began shouting at the cave, demanding it to let him loose and cursing it out. As more panic took over, his threats became more creative and foul, with threats about what his father would do tossed about casually. While it might not help him, it gave him something to focus on to keep the panic at bay.
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An hour later, Sirius was completely fed up with Draco. The teen—really, he understood why the brat was stuck to the wall still since he felt the same way about getting another chance if it presented itself, but most normal people would have given up very quickly, doing what the cave said. Apparently, Draco wasn’t most people. He spent fifteen minutes shouting at the cave about what it had done. Of course, it didn’t work, as anyone would expect. After that, he spent the time whinging and whining to them. It was the latter of which was on Sirius’ last nerve at this juncture of the ‘fun’.
He and Harry had talked to the posh prat, trying to convince him to just give it up, but no, Draco wouldn’t. The Malfoy spawn just seemed to double down on all of it. Then the whinging took on a keening which seemed to set off every nerve in his system, like nails on a chalkboard does. Now he wanted to hex the brat. He wouldn’t, of course, but wanted to.
Poor Harry was just sitting by him, face in his hands, breathing heavily. While he was damned certain the whinging affected him as well, there might be more to it. So, rather than talk sense into the senseless, he focused on Harry, casting a muffling ward around them to lessen the volume Draco’s whinging and give himself a break from it.
“What’s wrong?” He finally asked his godson when he managed to wait a few so his nervous system calmed down. While what was still ongoing would-be part of the issue, he thought for sure it was more. If he could focus on Harry enough, he might be able to ignore the whinging to an extent then reset something so he could go back to handling Draco, thus convincing him to knock the shit off and just do what the cave wanted.
After raising his head, looking at his Godfather, Harry said, panic rising, “I’m not normally claustrophobic, what with the cupboard I used to stay in, but I’m feeling panicked and like the walls are closing in. Might be because it’s three of us in here and it’s not that big, but my mind keeps telling me there isn’t enough oxygen in the place and feels like the walls are closing in. In fact, if what I’ve heard over the years is right, I’m about to have a massive panic attack.”
“Just keep breathing, Harry,” Sirius encouraged, putting a hand on his back and rubbing it a little. “Focus on it. Maybe put your head between your knees. I know it’s generally used if you feel faint, but might work with this too. Not sure there, though.”
Head dropping down plenty, though not down enough to be between his knees, Harry tried concentrating on his breathing, but couldn’t quite manage. The panic was rising and he didn’t think he could stop it. With a shake of his head, he told Sirius, “Not working, not even a little.” Eyeing the door, he muttered, “I need to get out of here, the cave needs to expand, or something.”
While he continued to rub Harry’s back, muttering reassurances, Sirius looked around, completely ignoring Draco. While the cave wasn’t huge, it wasn’t small either. To him, it just felt confining because they couldn’t get out, nothing more. However, he could understand why Harry felt the way he did. “Just breath,” he reiterated, not sure what else to do. He then lifted his wand and checked the air again. From the reading it gave him, there was plenty of oxygen and didn’t look like there was only a limited supply. Explaining the reading to Harry, though he didn’t think it would help a damned thing, he kept rubbing his back, reassuring him.
With each passing minute Harry felt the panic grow. He heard Sirius and knew he was taking in enough air, but the feeling persisted. “Can’t handle this,” he admitted to Sirius, shaking his head, looking at the walls that felt more confining by the second.
Eyes all over, Sirius didn’t know what else to do for Harry. His mind was just drawing a blank. However, what Harry said drew his attention to the confining feel of the cave. He was now sure he would end up in the shape Harry was in very soon.
Just as the whole situation was getting the better of him, like it had Harry, Sirius’ brow furrowed as he heard a grinding noise, like rocks rubbing against each other. Eyes widening as he looked around, he was astonished. It looked like the cave was reforming itself in some way. The walls seemed like they were pushing outwards when it came to the outer ones. In the back of them, where the back of the cave was, it was as if it was pushing backwards, adding rooms to it.
He nudged the still panicking Harry then pointed to the moving walls, saying “This is some strange arse shit.”
It was obvious what the cave was doing, so he didn’t comment on it, but asked, “How can it do this? What kind of magic is it?” Now he was feeling better when it came to the panic since the walls were adding more room, making it feel like the claustrophobia was letting up.
“Probably something similar to Hogwarts and how the castle is slightly sentient,” Sirius tossed out there as it was the best explanation he could come up with. However, he felt better as more room added itself.
Sirius straightened up then looked around again. “Wonder what triggered this? And I don’t think it’s good the cave is making more space and adding rooms. This tells me it’s planning for us to be here quite a while.”
“Oh, bloody hell,” Harry groused, shaking his head while still looking at the shifting walls. Don’t tell me that!”
“No,” Draco shouted, startling Sirius since he forgot about the brat being there. “We have to get out! I cannot handle staying here much longer!”
“Nothing we can do, at least that I know of,” Sirius admitted, shaking his head. Somewhere in him he resigned himself to the fact they were staying here for some time.
Ignoring Draco, Harry’s head dropped forward and he groused, “Wonderful! We don’t even really know why we’re stuck here in the first place! Now we have to figure out how to get out. I know what it said in the first message, but not sure how we’re going to manage what it wants since we don’t have a hint as to how we’re going to manage to fulfill it.”
“Got me,” Sirius shrugged, letting out a resigned sigh. “Maybe it’ll tell us when we all settle down.”
Glancing over at freaking out Draco, he grumbled, “Someone needs to calm down then.”
“Yeah,” Sirius agreed, his eyes drifting to the teen who was alternating between anger and panicking. “Can’t blame him for some of it, honestly. This isn’t good.”
“It’s not,” Harry once more agreed. “Going mental won’t help, though.”
“Shut up, Potter!” Draco shouted. “What you lot are doing isn’t helping either!” Looking around at the cave walls, he sneered, “Whatever you want to accomplish won’t work if you don’t tell us what it is you want!”
“True, that,” Sirius admitted, glancing at the red in the face Draco. “Doubt shouting and threats will be any more successful. It might actually make it worse on you.”
Tuning out Draco, he looked at Harry then around before sighing. “Not sure what we’re going to do about food, a bathroom, where to sleep, things like that. And I’m the only one with clothes and shit.”
“Didn’t think about those bits, honestly,” Harry grumbled, now wondering himself as his eyes drifted to the back of the cave where rooms were being created. “Maybe when it’s done it’ll explain.”
“It better,” Draco shouted. However, as he did he was released from the wall. Not sure why it let him loose, but Draco wasn’t going to question it either. Wand out, he hurried over to the two and stood behind Black. The man certainly knew plenty more spells that might help this nightmare than either he or Potter. Besides, he would act like a shield of sorts if things went south.
“’Bout time you accepted your fate,” Sirius told Draco, sighing heavily, eyes lifting to watch the walls do whatever they were doing.
“You need to think of something to get us out of here! After all, you were an Auror and know more spells than me and Potter. Figure something out!” Draco huffed, straightening up his robes then used an ironing spell on them. Just because he was trapped with two people of a lesser class didn’t mean he shouldn’t look his best.
“Yeah, well, I’m not chancing anything and ending up hung upside down again,” Sirius shot right back. “Just let it finish whatever it’s doing then we might either figure it out or it’ll tell us. If we piss it off, who knows what it might do.”
Draco huffed, but could understand why Black wouldn’t. Who knew what the cave was capable of! And he didn’t want to find out.
Still ignoring Draco, figuring acting like the git didn’t exist wouldn’t lead to any sniping and fighting between them, Harry didn’t think the two of them going at it would help their situation at all. Instead, it may end up with their situation getting worse, not something he wanted. Opening his mouth to once more ask Sirius some questions, he was startled when a table appeared. After it did, some butterbeer bottles and snacks appeared on it. Though wary, he reached out and grabbed a Mars bar then opened it before chowing down on the candy bar. He hadn’t realized he was hungry until the snacks appeared.
Though wary, Sirius grabbed a butterbeer and leaned back to take a drink after removing the cork. Hearing Draco grouse some more about something or other, he just rolled his eyes. Watching the walls after they stopped moving, he just stared as they began to decorate themselves into something pleasing. Looked rather masculine to him, but the neutral sort. He also tried to gauge just how much room they had now. A glance over his shoulder told him that area was still forming. He just hoped one of the rooms would be a loo since the need was now there.
Heaving a heavy sigh, Harry watched, shaking his head. He was certain it wouldn’t end well with Draco being around. While he would end well with just him and Draco, but if you tossed Sirius into the mix, it was bound to end up a nightmare as his Godfather wasn’t apt to put up with the whining, whinging, and complaining for long before he went off on the prat. If he did, he wasn’t sure what the cave would do about it. What it might be wasn’t something he wanted drawn into. Yeah, it would end up nightmare inducing.
Draco was on one of his longer whinges, something he used when he was overly stressed to use as a pressure valve to blow off steam and somewhat reset the dials when his mouth snapped shut. Eyes wide, he watched as the cave decorated itself like a meld of the style of the Slytherin common room with one he assumed was Gryffindor. As banners unfurled from where they hung on the wall, he noticed they just had the Hogwarts coat of arms on it. Something about the style soothed him slightly. With a sigh, he shook his head wondering what else this bloody cave would throw at them.
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Harry was examining the loo with Sirius, impressed how fancy it was, he then braced himself after hearing a horrifying screech from Draco, telling Sirius the prat found the bedroom, “Looks like Draco found out there’s only one big bed in the whole place.” It was something he and Sirius had already seen. Neither liked it, of course, but were dealing at the moment. At bedtime he was dead certain real issues for them would crop up.
“Yup,” Sirius agreed with a nod, eyes drifting to the doorway of what they had already figured out was the bedroom. Yeah, he and Harry didn’t like it, but weren’t going to pitch a fit over it either.
Harry was about to answer when he was almost bowled over by Draco barging into the bathroom. Giving a heavy sigh, he looked at his arch-enemy and was about to suggest some version of ‘calm down’, but didn’t get the chance as the other teen went on a rant.
“I cannot handle this,” he all but shrieked, fingers digging into his hair. “There is no chance I’m sleeping with the two of you! NO! This isn’t happening! I don’t care what the cave wants or is pushing for, no way! This will not happen.”
“Unless the cave does something to give us separate rooms, it’s nothing we can change. If you don’t like it, sleep on the sofa in the living room.”
“No chance,” Draco snarled, looking furious. “You two can sleep out there. The bed is mine, I called it.”
“Calling something is so grade school,” Harry groaned, rolling his eyes. “And you’re sharing. Not sleeping elsewhere.”
“Same here,” Sirius nodded, glaring at the little oik, arms folded over his chest. “No chance I’m sleeping elsewhere. If you don’t like it, too bad!”
Rounding on the two, Draco hissed, “This isn’t negotiable! The bed is mine.”
“You’re right; it’s not negotiable,” Sirius snarled right back. Giving a very dog-like growl, he told the brat, “We’re going to end up sharing, give it up. If you have a problem, it’s your problem! Deal with it! We aren’t one of your good little minions who will follow your orders.”
“You can’t order us around,” Harry added, arms folded over his chest, body rigid. “Get used to it!”
“I refuse!” Draco snarled, pulling his wand and leveling at the two. Casting a strong stinging hex, he was stunned to see ducks flying out of the end of the wand. Eyes wide, he tried another spell and it was the same; ducks.
When Draco’s wand came out, the other two pulled theirs, ready to defend themselves. That was until they saw the ducks. Lowering his wand, Sirius just began to chuckle. He knew this spell from when he was in school. And it was right hilarious!
“It’—ducks?” Harry asked, eyes wide as he watched the quackers flying all over the place.
“I did not cast anything to do with ducks!” Draco shouted, keeping right on casting, setting more ducks loose in the cave.
Unable to help himself, Sirius began to chuckle, “Don’t panic, Malfoy. It’ll wear off in about ten minutes or so. I know this spell.”
Unable to help himself, Draco kept casting spells until it felt like the whole cave was filled with the fowl.
“You’re teaching me that spell,” Harry snickered as he and Sirius began vanishing the now large flock of ducks in almost every corner of the cave.
“I will,” Sirius nodded, grinning, as he dealt with all the damned ducks. “I can also teach you how to make it any animal you want. It’s a good one to confuse someone and lasts long enough to give you an advantage in a battle.’
“Definitely learning this!” Harry laughed, happy the ducks were vanishing at a good rate.
Though Sirius liked watching Draco panic over the ducks coming out of his wand, he tried to cancel the spell on the wand. They were already overrun with ducks, so they didn’t need any more in the cave.
Draco panicked a little more when Black pointed his wand at him, but it stopped the ducks, thankfully. Slouching and shaking his head, he took in some good gulps of air to make the panic recede slightly. While doing that, he asked, “You didn’t cast the spell on me, so how did it happen?”
“Probably the cave,” Sirius replied with a shrug. “Only thing I can think of. I didn’t cast anything and Harry doesn’t know the spell.”
“It apparently doesn’t want us to fight,” Harry observed, looking around. Once more starting to vanish the ducks, he wondered what else was in store for them.