[fic] And Your Enemies Closer (Harry, Draco, PG)
And Your Enemies Closer
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Harry, Draco (no ships)
Rating: PG
Summary: While Horcrux hunting, Harry manages to capture one of his enemies. Now he has to decide what to do with him.
A/N: For allisonblair, who boldly requested a ficlet involving Harry, Draco, and an apple. 830 words.
Malfoy ate his apple with deliberate slowness. It was annoying - that was probably Malfoy's intent - but it gave Harry time to study him covertly while he repacked his rucksack.
Malfoy seemed thinner and paler than he'd been the last time Harry had seen him. His clothes and hair were unkempt and his face was smudged, though some of that was due to the fight he'd just lost. He looked, thought Harry, like someone who hadn't spent much time indoors - at least not anywhere pleasant - in weeks. Much like himself.
He tried to feel smug satisfaction, but it wouldn't come. Neither did pity. He felt nothing for this person who'd bullied him and his friends, who'd spent a year plotting Albus Dumbledore's murder, who'd let Death Eaters into Hogwarts.
I have more important things to worry about. Like the man who actually killed Dumbledore. And his master.
Still, it seemed a shame. Perhaps he would feel some satisfaction after he'd questioned Malfoy.
Who had finished his apple, Harry noticed. As he watched, Malfoy let the core drop from his hand and roll across the needle-strewn forest floor to Harry. It stopped at his foot and lay there, dull in the murky light.
Malfoy wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "That was mildly refreshing. But if you expect me to repay your - ah - generosity with information, you're mistaken, Potter."
Harry calmly aimed his wand at Malfoy. "Incarcerous!" Thick ropes, identical to ones binding Malfoy's ankles, shot out of the air and wrapped themselves tightly around his wrists.
Malfoy continued to smirk. "Oh, yes, now I'm completely helpless. But unless you've got a vial of Veritaserum, you can't make me talk."
Harry stood. He was tired, but somewhat glad that Ron and Hermione were elsewhere. He took Malfoy's wand out of his pocket and twiddled it between his fingers.
Malfoy dropped his head back and pretended to snore.
Harry kicked the apple core at him, but that did nothing except make him laugh.
"Look," Harry said impatiently, "I don't have time for this!"
Malfoy lifted his head. "You think I don't know that? But what are you going to do? And what, exactly, do you hope to get out of me? Professor Snape's location? My lord's plans? The Dark Lord would hardly entrust me with his plans."
"Because he knows what a pathetic coward you are?"
"Because," spat Malfoy, "I have yet to prove myself worthy of his trust."
"You're bragging about that?"
"I don't expect you to understand. I intend to prove my worth to him. And you can't stop me. He's already pleased with what I accomplished last spring. I won't betray him if you keep me here, and if you let me go…"
"Who said anything about letting you go?" Harry felt strangely elevated, as if his rage were a pedestal and he were staring down from it at his prisoner. It seemed to shake beneath him, or maybe he was the one shaking.
"What else can you possibly mean to do with me? I mean…" Malfoy, apparently forgetting he was bound, tried to gesture and found - to Harry's pleasure - that he could barely move his arms. "I mean," he repeated, in a low voice, "you're not going to torture me for information. And I don't see your trained Mudblood anywhere, so I'm in no danger of Veritaserum. And Professor Snape has told me just how awful you were at Legilimency."
"What makes you think," said Harry, his teeth clenching as tightly as his fingers around his wand and Malfoy's, "that I won't torture you? I cast the Cruciatus Curse on your aunt, you know."
His revelation did not have its intended effect; Malfoy laughed again. "Oh, she told me. She also told me how bloody awful you were at that, too! That you didn't mean it, even though she'd killed your godfather."
"I might mean it this time!" He was trembling so violently that remaining upright was a struggle. He wanted to kick Malfoy's face, to see that mouth spurting blood instead of these taunts. But that would get him nowhere, Hermione's reasoning tone spoke in his imagination. Don't lose your cool. Wait.
Leveling his own wand at Malfoy, Harry dropped the other to the ground and, holding it there, raised his foot.
"Do it," said Malfoy. "I'll get another. We have Ollivander, you know."
Still, he winced when Harry snapped his wand with a loud crack!
That was somewhat satisfying.
Harry rose. "I don't have to deal with you. I just have to summon the Order. Mad-Eye Moody - or Kingsley Shacklebolt will know exactly what to do with you."
"Summon them, then!" Malfoy flung back. "They'll get as much out of me as you did. Or don't summon them. I don't think you will. I think you'd rather be the one to try to break me. Well?"
It would be a very long night.
01/14/06
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Harry, Draco (no ships)
Rating: PG
Summary: While Horcrux hunting, Harry manages to capture one of his enemies. Now he has to decide what to do with him.
A/N: For allisonblair, who boldly requested a ficlet involving Harry, Draco, and an apple. 830 words.
Malfoy ate his apple with deliberate slowness. It was annoying - that was probably Malfoy's intent - but it gave Harry time to study him covertly while he repacked his rucksack.
Malfoy seemed thinner and paler than he'd been the last time Harry had seen him. His clothes and hair were unkempt and his face was smudged, though some of that was due to the fight he'd just lost. He looked, thought Harry, like someone who hadn't spent much time indoors - at least not anywhere pleasant - in weeks. Much like himself.
He tried to feel smug satisfaction, but it wouldn't come. Neither did pity. He felt nothing for this person who'd bullied him and his friends, who'd spent a year plotting Albus Dumbledore's murder, who'd let Death Eaters into Hogwarts.
I have more important things to worry about. Like the man who actually killed Dumbledore. And his master.
Still, it seemed a shame. Perhaps he would feel some satisfaction after he'd questioned Malfoy.
Who had finished his apple, Harry noticed. As he watched, Malfoy let the core drop from his hand and roll across the needle-strewn forest floor to Harry. It stopped at his foot and lay there, dull in the murky light.
Malfoy wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "That was mildly refreshing. But if you expect me to repay your - ah - generosity with information, you're mistaken, Potter."
Harry calmly aimed his wand at Malfoy. "Incarcerous!" Thick ropes, identical to ones binding Malfoy's ankles, shot out of the air and wrapped themselves tightly around his wrists.
Malfoy continued to smirk. "Oh, yes, now I'm completely helpless. But unless you've got a vial of Veritaserum, you can't make me talk."
Harry stood. He was tired, but somewhat glad that Ron and Hermione were elsewhere. He took Malfoy's wand out of his pocket and twiddled it between his fingers.
Malfoy dropped his head back and pretended to snore.
Harry kicked the apple core at him, but that did nothing except make him laugh.
"Look," Harry said impatiently, "I don't have time for this!"
Malfoy lifted his head. "You think I don't know that? But what are you going to do? And what, exactly, do you hope to get out of me? Professor Snape's location? My lord's plans? The Dark Lord would hardly entrust me with his plans."
"Because he knows what a pathetic coward you are?"
"Because," spat Malfoy, "I have yet to prove myself worthy of his trust."
"You're bragging about that?"
"I don't expect you to understand. I intend to prove my worth to him. And you can't stop me. He's already pleased with what I accomplished last spring. I won't betray him if you keep me here, and if you let me go…"
"Who said anything about letting you go?" Harry felt strangely elevated, as if his rage were a pedestal and he were staring down from it at his prisoner. It seemed to shake beneath him, or maybe he was the one shaking.
"What else can you possibly mean to do with me? I mean…" Malfoy, apparently forgetting he was bound, tried to gesture and found - to Harry's pleasure - that he could barely move his arms. "I mean," he repeated, in a low voice, "you're not going to torture me for information. And I don't see your trained Mudblood anywhere, so I'm in no danger of Veritaserum. And Professor Snape has told me just how awful you were at Legilimency."
"What makes you think," said Harry, his teeth clenching as tightly as his fingers around his wand and Malfoy's, "that I won't torture you? I cast the Cruciatus Curse on your aunt, you know."
His revelation did not have its intended effect; Malfoy laughed again. "Oh, she told me. She also told me how bloody awful you were at that, too! That you didn't mean it, even though she'd killed your godfather."
"I might mean it this time!" He was trembling so violently that remaining upright was a struggle. He wanted to kick Malfoy's face, to see that mouth spurting blood instead of these taunts. But that would get him nowhere, Hermione's reasoning tone spoke in his imagination. Don't lose your cool. Wait.
Leveling his own wand at Malfoy, Harry dropped the other to the ground and, holding it there, raised his foot.
"Do it," said Malfoy. "I'll get another. We have Ollivander, you know."
Still, he winced when Harry snapped his wand with a loud crack!
That was somewhat satisfying.
Harry rose. "I don't have to deal with you. I just have to summon the Order. Mad-Eye Moody - or Kingsley Shacklebolt will know exactly what to do with you."
"Summon them, then!" Malfoy flung back. "They'll get as much out of me as you did. Or don't summon them. I don't think you will. I think you'd rather be the one to try to break me. Well?"
It would be a very long night.
01/14/06