Powerless

Harry was on his most recent mission with Hermione, capturing the remaining Death Eaters that had made a reappearance in the past year. Harry is 25 now and has moved up the ranks of the Ministry of Magic at speeds never seen before. Being one of the government's most promising young Aurors comes with the price of having to deal with the ghosts of his past all the time. Like every single day. It’s like they think “Oh, Harry Potter will love dealing with Death Eaters constantly considering he defeated the Dark Lord 8 years ago! Let’s give him another mission that is impossibly dangerous!” 

On most days Harry doesn't mind, but today he was feeling really done with the way the Ministry throws him at anything that looks like it could have anything to do with Voldemort. 

“Harry?” Hermione whispered worryingly. “Harry it’s not the time to be spacing out, they can’t be too far in front, come on.” She kept on moving slowly and quietly between the trees with her wand in hand.” 

Harry tries snapping out of it, he really does. He reminds himself that he’s in the forest doing a mission with Hermione, catching Death Eaters. Again. Because that’s what he does. He catches bad guys, and he looks good doing it, that’s who he is. He’s so done with this, seriously when are they- 

“Harry!!!!” Hermione screamed as she pointed her wand at two cloaked figures “On your left!” 

He saw bright flashes of light as Hermione defended herself against the attackers. It was like everything was in slow motion, but Harry couldn’t move. He barely heard Hermione’s warning as he turned to face his left.  

 It was too late. All he saw was a bright gleam. 

“Inritus!” 

“Harry no!!!” 

His head hurts. No, correction, everything hurts.  

His eyelids feel too heavy to open but he seems to be able to hear familiar voices. 

“He’s never going to accept this, Ron!” 

Ron? 

“Well, it’s not like he has a bloody choice, now does he?” 

Oh, Ron’s here. That’s nice. 

“I know... but it feels excessive.” 

Why does my body hurt so much. 

“ ‘Mione, I don’t like this more than you do-” 

What the hell is going on- 

“Harry!” 

He sees Hermione’s blurry figure approach him hurriedly. 

“Harry how do you feel?” She asked, hovering above him, touching his forehead.  

“I don’t know how he feels, but he sure as hell doesn’t look great.” Ron’s laugh was cut off as Hermione elbowed him in the stomach. 

Harry notices that he’s in some sort of cottage. He’s laying down on a long couch in front of a fireplace and notices that he can see the entirety of the house from where he is. The walls are made of wood and the roof is triangular, held up by large wooden pillars that stop at the walls of a mezzanine he can’t see much of. 

He tries sitting up, as Hermione helps him steady himself. 

“Merlin, why does everything hurt so much!” Harry exclaimed as he lifted his hand to touch his head. 

“Harry, you got hurt on our last mission.” 

Oh yeah, our mission in the forest. Me and Hermione were chasing Death Eaters and then – and then... 

“What happened?” 

Hermione and Ron looked at each other knowingly as she carefully thought of what to say. 

“One of the Death Eaters we were chasing was Antonin Dolohov. We thought he was dead, but it obviously turns out he wasn’t and he... hexed you. With a spell we haven’t figured out how to reverse yet.” 

Mission, Death Eaters, Antonin Dolohov, hex, nothing seems out of the ordinary so why are they both here looking at me all pitifully and where even are we- 

“Tell him what the curse does ‘Mione.” Ron says while prompting her to sit. 

“The curse... the curse takes your magic away, Harry.” She said with an apologetic look on her face. 

“Don’t worry Harry, Hermione and the Ministry are doing everything to rid you of the curse, that’s actually not the worst part about this whole situation-” 

Ron’s words vanished as Harry took in what was happening. No magic? What the hell am I going to do as an Auror with no magic? 

Harry’s thoughts were interrupted as he heard banging and screaming coming from what seemed to be the cottage’s main entrance. 

“Let go of me you oafs!” 

A wooden door slams open, and two large men walk in while restraining another person. He recognizes the two men as Ministry bodyguards, but who is- 

“I will tie your bollocks into knots you imbeciles, let go of me!” The man is kicking and struggling as the bodyguards walk towards Harry and his friends. 

The man stops shuffling and screaming when his eyes lock with Harry’s. He had long platinum blonde hair covering his face, but he seemed so familiar, he really looked like... 

There’s a second of silence in the room. 

“Malfoy?!” 

Harry is dumbfounded as he recognizes the man in captivity to be Draco Malfoy.  

“They’re already here? I thought we’d have more time to talk with Harry.” said Ron while looking at Hermione anxiously. 

“Okay, well, um, let’s all just sit so I can explain what’s going on.” Hermione said as she signaled to the two Ministry men to leave the house. “Malfoy, please sit here I need to speak to you too.” 

“Yes, I would love to hear your great explanation to why I’ve been kidnapped.” Malfoy said with an annoyed tone as he sat on an armchair out of Harry’s sight.  

Everything was happening so fast. Why is Malfoy here of all people, where am I and- fuckk my head is pounding. 

“We can only be here for a limited amount of time, so I'll try to make this quick. Three days ago, Harry and I were on a mission and Harry got hit by a spell Antonin Dolohov cast that left him magicless. After that, the Death Eaters retreated. We thought they would keep running but instead, two days later, they broke into Malfoy’s apartment and hexed him with the same spell they used on Harry, leaving him magicless as well. However, another thing about this spell is that it drains any wizard’s magic if they’re around the cursed individual for too long. The Ministry raided a hideout yesterday and found detailed plans for how the Death Eaters wanted to rid Harry and Malfoy of their magic and not let any wizard stay by their side. After leaving you two magicless and with no protection they wanted to turn you into Death Eaters.” Hermione said, almost too quick to process. “So, the Ministry decided to put you both in this cabin, that won’t allow any magical beings to enter after I complete the spell. That means you’ll both be living here together until we catch Antonin Dolohov, without being allowed to leave. Food will be magically restocked every week and we can communicate through these muggle cell phones.” 

She threw the phone at Malfoy, who caught it as he protested “Granger this has to be a bloody joke-” 

Hermione took Ron’s hand and looked into Harry’s eyes with compassion. “Sorry Harry, we’ll be writing I promise mate!” said Ron apologetically. 

“Ron, Hermione, wait!” 

And they both apparated out of the cabin. 

Harry painfully got up and decided to look around the cottage. 

This place is actually pretty nice. I wouldn’t mind staying here if it wasn’t for Malfoy. He looked around the kitchen, inspecting the fridge and the pantry. Huh, so they’re really going to make us live like muggles. I don’t mind, but I can’t imagine how Malfoy will take this. He walks back to the living room and inspects the bookshelves. There were two of them filled to the brim with books. Muggle books. I guess this is what I’m going to be doing in my free time then. 

He finished his tour of the house and realized many things. There is just one bedroom, on the second floor. I can’t imagine Malfoy would want to sleep in anything other than a bed, so I guess I’ll take the couch. There is also just one bathroom, situated on the second floor. Next to the room. Great, so I’ll have to pass by Malfoy’s room if I want to take a late-night piss. You can tell the Ministry really thought this through. 

Other than the fact the house was very obviously made for a single person or a couple, Harry likes it. It’s cozy.  

Malfoy is pacing in circles around the cabin, trying to open every door and every window while saying every swear word known to man. 

“We can’t even escape through the windows, there’s a barrier around it! No way I'm staying here with him. There must be a way.” 

Harry is sitting on the couch defeated as Malfoy throws objects at the windows, hoping to break them. 

“Malfoy enough! It obviously won’t work. Wouldn’t be much of an inescapable fortress if we could just leave through the windows.” Harry said while rubbing his temples. “This is useless, you’re just trashing the place.” 

Draco’s ears went red. “Oh? Well would the prodigious Harry Potter care to tell me about his amazing thoughts on how we can get the hell out of here?” 

“We can’t get out of here and you know it. Might as well accept it.” 

“What?! I’m not going to live here with you for who knows how long like some house elf!” 

“Hey, I’m not crazy about the idea either, you’re far from my ideal roommate.” 

“Glad we can at least agree about that.” Draco said coldly. “I’m going to my room.” He stomped up the stairs before Harry could get a word in. 

“I assume I’ll be taking the couch then??” Harry asked, expecting no answer. Harry sighed as he took a book and settled on the couch. It’s better than under a staircase, that’s for sure. 

He quickly thought about the events of the day, still without having taken in the ridiculousness of it all. 

“God why is this happening to me...” Harry said in a sigh as he rubbed his face with his hands. 

He didn’t get much sleep that night. Somehow, he feels certain Draco didn’t either.