Chapter 43 Draco
Chapter 43 Draco
Draco couldn’t leave the room. It had been two days since he had brought Dudley back to the cabin. He himself felt almost normal again, a little muzzy headed still but he had recovered from the dementors kiss relatively quickly. Dudley had not. Draco watched him day and night, he’d dragged a chair into the room so he could sit and hold his hand. He needed to be here when he woke up. He sat and watched Dudley’s chest rise and fall obsessively. Sometimes his eyes grew so tired and blurry that he could no longer tell if Dudley was breathing, he would panic momentarily and need to touch his chest to feel the air entering and leaving. It was unbearable, Draco was in limbo, wracked with guilt and frustrated, he couldn’t relax, constantly on edge. Fortunately Dudley’s wound was healing well, it didn’t look infected. That comforted Draco, but why wouldn’t he just wake up?
‘Please Dudley…’
Draco begged tracing lines up and down his forearm.
Draco hadn’t eaten properly since they had arrived back, just a tin of spaghetti he had found in the back of one of the kitchen cupboards and Dudley hadn’t eaten anything at all for at least forty eight hours, their current state was unsustainable. What if he never woke up? Could he sit and watch Dudley waste away? He wouldn’t let that happen. He would wake up soon. He had to wake up. In a way Draco knew he would wake up eventually, he had seen Dudley’s future, but he shuddered at the thought and tried to push it away.
Draco had been using a different bathroom since the incident with the horcrux. He didn’t want to get anywhere near it. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Dudley huddled in the corner of a cell in Azkaban. The image was burned in his mind, replaying and replaying itself over and over. The fear in Dudley’s eyes, the slapping of his bare feet on the stone. Was that his future? At least it meant Dudley would live through his current illness. But the horcrux had said it was Dudley’s future if they destroyed it. Did that mean if they didn’t destroy it there was a chance Dudley could still die now? It was all too confusing, smoke and mirrors and paradoxes and double speak. Nothing made sense. Draco wanted the horcrux gone, but could he sacrifice Dudley? What price was he willing to pay to save Dudley from that fate? The fact that he was even considering it scared him. He would have let the world burn for Dudley but he knew Dudley would never forgive him for it. He was too good. He would face the horrors of Azkaban by choice if it helped to kill Voldemort. He was the bravest person Draco had ever known.
Draco was sat motionless in his chair contemplating everything that had happened to them when Dudley moaned. A soft sound, escaping his lips as almost a sigh.
‘Dudley!’ Draco was on his feet.
Dudley moaned again, louder this time, it was drawn out and steeped in anguish. Draco was suddenly bolt upright and wide awake.
‘Dudley? I’m here. It’s Draco.’
Dudley continued to moan, louder and louder like he was having a nightmare. He was writhing now too, thrashing his legs and waving his arms uncontrollably.
‘Dudley! Wake up, please wake up.’
One of Dudley’s arms hit him in the face as Draco tried to calm him, it would certainly leave a bruise but Draco didn’t care, he barely felt it.
Dudley was screaming now
‘GET OFF! LEAVE HIM ALONE!’
The distress is Dudley’s voice hurt Draco more than the hit to his face.
‘Dudley it’s okay, we’re okay! You need to wake up! Please!’ He sobbed. ‘Please wake up.’
Dudley continued to scream, his lungs heaving the sound out from deep within him.
‘DRACO!’ Dudley shouted.
‘I’m here! Dudley I’m right here! Just wake up. Please wake up.’
‘DRACO. NO!’
‘DUDLEY! WAKE UP!’ Draco screamed back at him in desperation.
Dudley’s eyes opened, they were wet and wide. He stared at Draco for a moment like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
‘Draco?’ He whispered, looking around at the room ‘am I dead?’
Despite everything Draco smiled through his falling tears.
‘No. You’re not dead.’ He cupped Dudley’s cheek.
Dudley made to sit up but winced in pain, he looked down at the wound on his stomach. It looked much better, but to someone seeing it for the first time it was shocking, a huge gash from one side of his stomach all the way to the other, hastily stitched together with dental floss. Dudley pulled Draco down on top of him instead, crashing their bodies together in a violent embrace. Dudley fisted Draco’s hair and held his body squeezing with surprising strength. Draco breathed in the smell of him, through the blood and the sweat Draco could still smell the earthy scent he loved, like grass and rain, it grounded him.
‘It’s okay. We’re okay.’ Draco whispered. He could feel moisture seeping into his robes from Dudley’s tears.
‘I was so scared.’ Dudley whispered into Dracos neck.
Draco stroked his hair ‘I know. You were so brave’ he said. His position was uncomfortable but he would have remained hunched over Dudley all day if that’s what he needed.
Eventually they broke apart and Draco helped Dudley into a sitting position.
‘They got me.’ Dudley said simply.
‘I know. I’m so sorry, I should have been there, I tried but I couldn’t help it, I was so weak I couldn’t stay awake Dudley, it went black. I’m so sorry.’ Draco felt his lip tremble as he spoke to the floor.
‘You saved me.’ Dudley said simply.
Draco looked up to see him smiling.
‘I couldn’t believe it Draco. You were magnificent. That lion? It was incredible. You were like a god.’
‘Lion? My patronus was a lion?’
‘Yeah. It chased them off. But it disappeared when there was still one left, it got to me but the lion must have come back.’
Draco couldn’t quite get his head around it. A slytherin with a lion for a patronus? Was that even possible? His father would be so angry. The thought brought a smile to his lips.
‘Fuck Dudley. What were we thinking?’ Draco shook his head letting out a long sigh.
‘We did it though?’ Dudley asked looking for confirmation.
‘We did it.’ Draco shivered slightly at the thought of the horcrux.
Dudley’s smile dropped ‘What’s wrong?’ He asked.
Draco’s instinct was to deny, but it was Dudley. Dudley deserved to know. He needed to know.
Dudley placed his hand on Draco’s stump.
‘Something happened. When we came back, I… I touched the horcrux.’ Dudley’s brow furrowed. ‘It spoke to me… it showed me something.’
‘What?’
‘You.’
‘Me?’
‘It was you. Except you were inside Azkaban.’ Draco tried to block the image of Dudley’s vulnerable form huddled in a grimy corner of the cell.
‘Azkaban?’
God. How to explain Azkaban?
‘It’s wizard prison. It’s not very… it’s not very nice. It’s full of dementors.’
‘Dementors?’
‘The things that did this to you.’
‘Oh.’ Dudley paled.
‘The horcrux told me that it was your future if we destroyed it.’
Dudley didn’t speak just nodded. He was quiet for a moment.
‘You know that doesn’t change anything right?’ Dudley asked. ‘We still have to get rid of it. This is bigger than us.’
Draco said nothing, just nodded. He knew Dudley was right, it was bigger than they were. But the thought of it was sickening, he would make sure Dudley was rescued, he’d get him out of Azkaban when the time came.
‘I’ll come for you.’ Draco said.
‘I won’t leave you, when you get there remember that Dudley. I will be coming for you. I will always come for you.’
‘I know.’ Dudley grinned.