Guardianship

Chapter 14:

Memories of Hogwarts

"How many?" was the answer the Dark Lord demanded to know. The shaky Death Eater looked up to him, his cheeks going red. "Two… of them. B-but they might be calling for help any time now!"

Voldemort glared at him. "Worthless," he hissed. "Remind me to finish you off later."

The Death Eater looked at him with huge eyes, shaking heavily.

"But for now I want you to tell everyone not to do anything at all."

"N-n-nothing, m-my Lord?" the Death Eater managed to ask.

"Do I need to repeat myself? Go!" he shouted. The Death Eater immediately fled back, closing the doors in a hurry behind him.

"But…" Harry said after the door closed. "Why would you do nothing?"

"They're not here to rescue you," Voldemort answered. "Use your common sense."

Harry somewhere did doubt that they were going to rescue him with two men.

"I was allowed to leave now right?" he said, changing the subject.

"You're staying here."

"Of course…" Harry sighed. He had pretty much seen this coming. "…You're never going to let me out of here, are you?"

Voldemort turned his gaze to him. "You're acting like you've already been here for weeks."

"Well, are you?" he repeated.

Voldemort looked at him. "I might. But for now I enjoy your company far too much."

Harry stood up from his seat. "You're not killing or hurting me no matter what I say, you're ordering your Death Eaters to treat me like they treat you, you want to keep me here until who knows when… You're planning something. This is all just a big plan of yours!"

There was a small silence when the two looked at each other.

"Come here."

"What?" he said in confusion.

"Come," the dark wizard repeated.

Anxiously Harry took a small step forward towards him, even though he had no idea why. He took another step and stopped when he was standing next to him. "Why-"

Before he could say anymore, he felt his body weakening and all the feeling in his limbs disappeared. Before he could fall down though, Voldemort grabbed his arm and slowly put him down.

Harry's vision was blurring fast as well. He just managed to look at the dark wizard before he lost his consciousness.

Several hours passed without any news on Harry's whereabouts. Finally getting a break from the chores they were assigned to keep them busy, they went upstairs once more, resting and discussing what was taking them so long. Then, the door opened and a loud conversation began as Arthur Weasley's voice rang through the house.

"This is horrible!"

"Arthur, calm down, the chi-!"

"How can I calm down! At every location, Molly, at every location they were send back to the Ministry and lost their memory! How can- we can never know where he is now!"

"Arthur, shush, the children might hear you!"

"Oh… oh the kids, o-of course…"

And their conversation went on a lot more quieter. But they had overheard the most crucial part. Every location the Aurors checked had some kind of protection around them… Meaning they had to come through it at first at all the different locations, before they had a clue where Harry is… And they were probably very powerful wards.

This was… horrible indeed.

Harry slowly opened his eyes a few times, before he could see clearly. He was lying on the floor… why was he lying on the floor…

Then he remembered. He instantly sat up straight, startling a person who was sitting on a chair next to him.

"Finally awake, are you?"

He recognized the voice before he had even turned around. "Malfoy."

Draco Malfoy stood up from his chair, pointing his wand towards him. "Don't try anything."

Harry tried to stand up but nearly felt down again. Whatever Voldemort had done to him, it had worked well. "How long was I out?" he asked, managing to sit up straight.

"I think about a few hours."

"A few hours!" Harry repeated, his heart sinking to his stomach. Those Aurors were surely long gone by now… "Great," he muttered. "And you had to watch me?"

"It wasn't like I was enjoying it," Draco sneered.

Harry couldn't help but smile at this. He was still the same old Malfoy. Seeing him made him think back to Hogwarts. "…I miss Hogwarts." After a while of silence he added. "Don't you?"

"What would I miss?" he blonde said. "I don't miss anything. I'm learning a lot more stuff here then through those stupid lessons."

"…Remember how we first met?" Harry said after a while.

"Getting all sentimental won't get you out of this, Potter," the blonde sneered. "I'm not going to help you."

"I never thought you would. I'm just trying to think of something else then this dreaded place…"

Draco snorted. "Well, of course I remember. You humiliated me in front of my friends."

"Well, you were the one who insulted my friends," Harry pointed out.

"You call them friends?" he said back. When Harry didn't say anything back to defend them, he sighed. "Well, I guess… they helped you out… a few times. Doubt Crabbe and Goyle would do that. They're too much of a cowards to become Death Eaters. Not that they could with those lousy spells of theirs…"

Harry smiled. "You miss them?"

"Shut up."

Though he was still smiling in his thoughts, he figured that he should get up. He didn't like the fact that Draco was looking down to him and he would like it even less if Voldemort would come back. He hated himself for losing consciousness, looking weak by it.

He grabbed the table next to him with one hand and tried to pull himself up. It barely worked; he had nearly no strength in his arm at all. Even when he used his other arm as well, he had a hard time getting up. His legs wouldn't cooperate either, they kept buckling under their weight. He felt incredibly weak.

"So far so good," Draco smirked from out of his chair.

Harry glared in response but didn't give up. He managed to stand up straight but only by leaning on his arms who were supporting on the table. His legs couldn't carry the weight and if he were to let go, he would fall on the ground once more.

"So…" Draco's voice sounded. "What did he do to you?"

"How should I know!" Harry replied, trying his best to keep standing.

"You could just sit down, you know. I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to prove."

The nearest chair was at least 3 feet away. He had no idea how to get there without being able to walk.

"Need help?" Draco said with a smirk on his face. Harry was sure he was enjoying this all.

"No," he replied frustrated. He removed one palm of his hand and quickly placed it a few inches further and did the same with his other hand, pulling his body along with it, bit closer to the chair. He was already exhausted after doing it trice, as his muscles were very weak. His arms began to shake violently under it's weight and he was still nowhere near the chair.

He heard Draco laugh. "You have no idea how stupid you look right now!" Harry send a death glare his way.

Finally the blonde stood up and grabbed the chair for him, placing it right behind him. Harry sank in it immediately, for his limbs gave out.

"You're pathetic you know that?"

"Well, thank you," Harry muttered. "Why did he choose you, of all people, to watch over me anyway?"

Draco shrugged. "I don't know. But Aunt Bella is hurt and I don't think any other Death Eater should be in one room with you. It's too risky."

"And he was gone the whole time?" he asked.

"Yes, I've been alone for hours. And watching over your sleeping face the whole time while drooling all over the floor wasn't really helping at all, Potter."

Harry, embarrassed, felt his cheeks flush. "Well, you could have tried to wake me up."

"I did!" Draco replied. "Nothing helped. I don't know what kind of spell he used on you, but it sure was powerful." Just as he was about to walk to his own chair, the door opened and Lord Voldemort stepped inside.

Author's Note:

Oh my gosh! No blood! No deaths and despair! What kind of HORRIBLE writer am I to actually spare the lives of innocent people! I am so ashamed!

Secret Number Four:

I guess I have a thing with killing characters off who you really got to know. I can't do it! Yet I do want to inflict as many problems and dilemma's around the main character… take Harry for an example. I love messing with him, while I'm actually rooting for him! I'm making his life as twisted and miserable as it can get, but taking his life? Nu-huh.