Journey

****Sorry it's taken a while to update again...seems like I'm having computer problems every freaking day now...anyway, hope you guys enjoy...oh, this chapter is relatively bad, comparatively, because I've never been able to write action very well...and with Draco going to save Harry, there's obviously going to be some action involved...so this chapter kind of...well sucks...but I hope you like it anyway, and I'll go ahead and post the next one too, just to make up for it.

“What do you mean they took Harry?” Ron bellowed. Draco was sitting on Hedgwig still, and looking down at him in such a way that Ron quickly quieted.

“He would have been taken back to my castle. We have to go, and we have to go now. There is not a moment we can spare.” Draco set his silver eyes on all the men, and without hesitation they did as he requested.

The ride to the Malfoy castle was long, and more or less the worst in Draco’s entire life. He was several feet ahead of the others and still trying to go faster. No doubt his father would love to torture Harry now that he had him locked away. Draco wouldn’t let himself believe, if only for a moment, that Harry could be dead. He wasn’t, because somehow Draco would know.

When the towering castle came into view, Draco slowed, and headed towards the forest around the castle. Ron had caught up to him. “Is this a smart idea? There could be men in there.”

“Trust me.” Was all Draco would say. He looked at Ron, who stared back unblinking. Then slowly he nodded, and followed Draco into the darkening forest. The sun was slowly setting beyond the horizon but the darkness would only help Draco all the more. He took a familiar path that led to an underground tunnel. That tunnel would then open them to the dungeons, where Draco was sure Harry was being kept.

Draco stopped, turning back to the men. “I go in first. I want the rest of you to ride this other trail. It leads to another tunnel that lets out in a blacksmiths workshop. I need a distraction to save Harry. Make as much noise as you possibly can, and don’t let them know you are part of Harry’s team. Give me twenty minutes, I pray you. Twenty will be all I will need. Then meet me back here.”

For a moment the men were silent. They nodded, giving a small wave of ‘aye’. Ron came forward. He grabbed something from Harry’s horse, then handed it to Draco. “This is Harry’s. You will need something to fight with.”
Draco looked down at the pretty jewel studded handle of the dagger. When he looked back up he smiled. “Thank you.”

“Just get Harry out alive.” He said, but he was smiling too.

When Draco was alone he jumped off Hedgwig, patted her side, and slipped into the tunnel. He hadn’t used it in years, and it was overgrown with weeds. Draco cut through with the dagger and when he finally came to the entrance of the dungeons he gave a huge sigh of relief.

With his back against the wall, he moved forward, wary of voices or movements. Ahead there were three men guarding one cell. Harry, his mind screamed, but the men were content to staying there and talking. He would have to wait until Ron and the other men had begun their distraction.

Draco stood there for what seemed an eternity before someone rushed towards the men. He was waving his arms about his head, and Draco smiled. He wondered what ruckus Harry’s men were getting into. When the three men, joined by the fourth more frantic one, disappeared, Draco inched forward towards Harry.

When he opened the door, Draco gasped. Harry was lying on the hard stone floor, pale and shaking. He had a fever, Draco knew, and went to him. “Harry, oh Harry.”

Harry’s eyes, glazed by pain and fever, looked up at Draco impassively. “You, angel, are you taking me to the Lord in Heaven?”

Nearly weeping, Draco tried desperately to lift Harry. Why hadn’t he had one of the men come with him to help. He should have known he couldn’t carry Harry by himself. “No, no we are taking you away from here.”

“Escorting me to hell?” Harry asked, as Draco somehow made it to where they were both standing. Draco struggled with Harry’s weak body.

“Harry please, you have to walk with me. We have to get you out of here.” Draco half dragged, half helped Harry out of the cell. There were noises close to them. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and with everything inside of him somehow made it towards the tunnel with Harry. The sound of voices grew louder as they found Harry’s cell empty. Draco held his breath, and Harry, and tried to be quiet as he dragged the limp body towards the exit. When they were far enough away, and Draco could carry him no more, he gently lowered Harry to the ground. He was pale, his skin clammy. His hair was matted with sweat against his forehead. “Oh Harry, please wake up. Please, love, don’t die on me.” Draco laid his head against his chest. “Harry you have to wake.”

Though his eyes remained closed, Harry’s arm half wrapped around Draco. When Draco heard the sound of someone walking up behind him, he pulled out the dagger, ready to kill if need be. When Ron emerged, Draco nearly laughed. He pulled Ron over to Harry. “Help me, I can’t carry him by myself.”

By the time Ron and Draco finally got Harry outside, he had woken once, then fell back into unconsciousness. In the fading light he looked much worse. There were dark circles around his eyes, and he looked as if he had lost weight, but Draco knew it was all from the blood. They lifted him up onto Hedgwig, and hurried away from the castle.

They reached the same small village they had come upon the first time around. The people looked surprised to see them again, and when Draco got Harry down from the horse, a couple women ran to fetch fresh water and the men helped carry him into one of the huts they built.

“The fever has him, son.” A man said behind Draco’ck. ck. “It’s best you let God do his work and rest while you can.”

Ron was standing in the doorway, watching in awe as Draco held Harry’s hand and dabbed his forehead with water. “I can not leave him until he wakes. Let me be. Please.”

If the men left Draco didn’t know or care. He held Harry with one hand, and pressed the cool cloth to headhead with the other. “I know you told me not to say this. I have not the faintest clue why, I love you, you know. I think I have since the day you carried me off from my father’s castle.” He touched those cool lips he missed so much. “You can’t die on me yet. Not when I need you so much.”

Carefully, wary of Harry’s wound, Draco leaned down and kissed him softly. When he sat back up, he was crying. “Please wake up. Please.”