A drabble in celebration of hp_darkfest!
hp_darkfest has just opened for sign up today! I've signed up, of course, because honestly, how could I not? It's such a great opportunity to write disturbing content and make readers happy at the same time. :-D
In a recent conversation with tomatoe18 she had a brilliant idea about the Inferius that drags Harry under water in the HBP movie. You all know how these ideas tend to get a life of their own. So I present you with a drabble, and let's just say it's a celebration of another year of hp_darkfest and a thanks to melusinahp for running the fest!
Title: Cold Comfort
Main Character: Harry Potter
Warnings: implied character death
Word count: 267
Author/Artist's notes: Inspired and beta-read by the ingenious tomatoe18. Thank you, dear!
Cold Comfort
The Inferius was clutching at Harry from behind. Its long arms wound tightly around Harry's chest, so tightly that breathing would have been difficult even above the water.
But they were going down, down, all the way down, and Harry fought with all his strength. He had to go back, had to save Dumbledore, who was probably still lying limp and weak on the shore of the island.
Harry's frantic struggles gained a small success and he managed to turn around. He was now face to face with the creature, whose arms still clutched at him in the perversion of a lover’s embrace. He stared into a face twisted with the effort of keeping him under water, and while the drumming of blood in his ears grew louder and louder, he realised that he knew those lips, that he had seen this forehead and chin before, and that those eyes were familiar to him. Sirius's face danced through his mind, watered down behind the veil, and Regulus winked at him, just once, like he had on the picture in Slughorn's office, on a day that had been bright with sunshine.
Regulus's face came nearer and nearer, his eyes almost floating from their sockets, his water-swollen lips contorted to a hideous smile. Harry couldn't hold back his scream any longer, he opened his mouth and felt water gushing in, flooding his throat with the tang of mud and seaweed. He struggled, fighting for air, but Regulus's arms cradled him even tighter, rocking him in the water, almost gently, like a father putting his child to sleep.
In a recent conversation with tomatoe18 she had a brilliant idea about the Inferius that drags Harry under water in the HBP movie. You all know how these ideas tend to get a life of their own. So I present you with a drabble, and let's just say it's a celebration of another year of hp_darkfest and a thanks to melusinahp for running the fest!
Title: Cold Comfort
Main Character: Harry Potter
Warnings: implied character death
Word count: 267
Author/Artist's notes: Inspired and beta-read by the ingenious tomatoe18. Thank you, dear!
Cold Comfort
The Inferius was clutching at Harry from behind. Its long arms wound tightly around Harry's chest, so tightly that breathing would have been difficult even above the water.
But they were going down, down, all the way down, and Harry fought with all his strength. He had to go back, had to save Dumbledore, who was probably still lying limp and weak on the shore of the island.
Harry's frantic struggles gained a small success and he managed to turn around. He was now face to face with the creature, whose arms still clutched at him in the perversion of a lover’s embrace. He stared into a face twisted with the effort of keeping him under water, and while the drumming of blood in his ears grew louder and louder, he realised that he knew those lips, that he had seen this forehead and chin before, and that those eyes were familiar to him. Sirius's face danced through his mind, watered down behind the veil, and Regulus winked at him, just once, like he had on the picture in Slughorn's office, on a day that had been bright with sunshine.
Regulus's face came nearer and nearer, his eyes almost floating from their sockets, his water-swollen lips contorted to a hideous smile. Harry couldn't hold back his scream any longer, he opened his mouth and felt water gushing in, flooding his throat with the tang of mud and seaweed. He struggled, fighting for air, but Regulus's arms cradled him even tighter, rocking him in the water, almost gently, like a father putting his child to sleep.