Chapter Text
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Warnings: Spoilers up to the fifth book, rape, torture, and other non-nice things. Minor character deaths as well - most likely.
Part 1
Save me. Save me. Save me. I'm naked and I'm far from home. - Queen
They'd lost. Again. Not that he wasn't used to it. He'd been playing seeker for going on six years now, and he'd rarely ever won a match against Gryffindor. Not with Harry Potter playing against him. For a muggle-raised wizard, he flew like he'd been born on a broom.
Draco Malfoy was heading for the locker room. The game had ended over two hours ago, but he hadn't felt up to being around his team mates after his defeat; he'd headed over to the lake to sit and ruminate, still in his Quidditch gear. He figured he was safe enough now to go back and change without seeing the condemning looks from his housemates. It wasn't his fault that Potter was a better player than him. He practiced, probably harder than Harry did, it just didn't make up for innate talent.
The locker room was dark; empty, just as he had suspected. Draco let out a sigh and made his way toward his locker. He stripped off his uniform and thought longingly about a hot shower, however, he knew that if he wanted to eat, he'd have to put it off until after dinner. He had just put his robes on over his pants and button-up shirt when he heard a soft whimper.
Cocking his head, he listened. When there was no further sound, he picked up his wand and walked slowly toward the back of the room. He muttered "lumos" quietly and then gasped in shock. Whatever he had expected to find, this surely was not it.
On the floor ahead of him lay a naked, bound, beaten and bloody Harry Potter. That was bad, but not the worst of it. If it were only the fact that he had been beaten, Draco would have scoffed at him. The naked bit was a little harder to ignore, but it had its places if it were being used to humiliate. Seeing Harry Potter's prized Firebolt protruding from his own backside was enough to make even Draco Malfoy turn away in disgust. He almost retched at the sight.
Knowing that it was his housemates that had done this, Draco steeled his resolve and walked over to the prone and pretty-much unconscious boy. He knelt down, muttered a stunning spell to spare Potter any further pain and slowly removed the broomstick from his orifice. Utterly disgusted, Draco removed his robes and, after untying Harry, wrapped them around the naked boy and scooped him into his arms.
Not knowing why exactly he was doing this - helping the Gryffindor Golden Boy - he carefully made his way back to the castle and slipped inside using a hidden entrance that went straight to the dungeons. He put Harry in his bed, secured the curtains with a locking charm so he wouldn't be disturbed should anyone come up to the room, and then went in search of his Head of House.
Since it was dinner time, Draco knew that Professor Snape would be in the Great Hall, but he also knew that there was no way he could just burst in there and draw the man out without causing suspicion. That in mind, he made his way up to the owlery and sent a message to Snape to meet him in the dungeons immediately, that it was a matter of urgency and discretion. As soon as his eagle owl took off, Draco ran back down the stairs to the Slytherin Dungeon to check on Potter and await Professor Snape.
Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long.
"Mr. Malfoy. This had better be important; I do not appreciate being summoned like a common house elf." Snape sneered, a look of fire in his eyes.
"I assure you, Professor, that it is." Draco replied. "It's Potter."
"What has that reckless boy done now? And what has it to do with me?"
"He's in my room, Sir." Draco started to answer when he was cut off by the sound of Snape's hands coming together in a loud clap.
"Yesssss! I shall have him now. He'll see detention for the rest of the year for this." Snape smiled, a sight most unbecoming of him, and Draco swallowed in fear.
"No, Sir, I mean, I put him in my room."
Snape's smile slid off his face to be replaced with a look of confusion and then surprise. "Did... did you kill him?"
Draco rolled his eyes. "Hardly. I found him in the Slytherin locker room. He's been attacked, Sir, by my housemates. It, well, it isn't pretty."
Snape thought for a moment and then spoke. "Why did you not take him to the Infirmary then? Why bring him here and summon me?"
"Because," Draco looked Snape in the eye, "He's been raped, Sir. And I thought it better if we kept it quiet. I don't think Potter would want this to be made public knowledge. Plus, you have to consider what would happen to the other Slytherins if word of this got out. The rest of the school would take revenge on any Slytherin student. Whether they were guilty or not."
Snape seemed to take this all in before nodding in agreement. "Very well, take me to him."
Draco opened the curtains surrounding his bed and the two Slytherins looked down at the still form of Harry Potter. Snape's face showed nothing, but he was shocked by the vision before him. Perfect Potter, as he was known throughout the dungeons, looked like he'd been savaged by a hippogriff.
Taking a step further into the room, Snape withdrew his wand. "Revelio," he muttered as he pointed his wand at the unconscious boy. Nothing happened. "Draco?" Snape turned to the blonde. "I thought you said he'd been raped? The spell shows no evidence of such a thing occurring."
"He was, Sir." Draco replied. "They violated him with his broomstick."
Snape paled visibly but otherwise looked unaffected by this news. "Very well. He may have internal injuries then, I'll need to check him over."
"Yes, Sir. Should I leave you then?"
"No. I think it best if you remain. However, what you learn here you will never speak of. This incident must remain private, unless Potter himself decides to make it public. Is that understood, Draco? This will not be used as part of your ongoing verbal war with the Gryffindors."
"Of course, Sir."
Draco stood off to the side of his room while Snape checked Harry over. He knew that his fellow team-mates had it in for Potter, but he never thought they'd take it this far. A few well placed curses, perhaps sabotaging his broomstick... But this? This was completely unacceptable. He'd wait and see what Potter wanted to do about the situation, but there was no way that his fellows were going to walk away unscathed. If Snape didn't punish them, well Draco wasn't raised by Voldemort's right hand man without learning a few ... interesting hexes.
~!~
It had taken the better part of an hour, a trip to the potions storeroom, and forcing several vile tasting concoctions down the unconscious young man's throat, but finally, Snape stood and announced that Potter would, indeed, survive. Draco, because he had found the Gryffindor and brought him back to his room, was volunteered to stay with him until such time as he awoke while Snape went off to deal with other matters. Draco couldn't hide the smile on his face when he thought of what Snape might do to the others. They deserved whatever they got, and probably a hell of a lot worse!
Draco remembered when he was younger, how he was once accosted by a former acquaintance of his father's. The man had been visiting the Manor on business, and not Ministry business either. He had taken a liking to the then ten-year-old boy and while Lucius was otherwise occupied, had cornered him in the library and tried to have his way with him. If one of the house elves - Lucius's personal servant - hadn't seen them and informed his master, well, Draco was sure the man would have raped him. As it turned out, Lucius had stormed into the room and cursed the man so fast, Draco had been thrown half way across the room from the force of the blast. He'd never seen the man again after that, but there had been an odd piercing wail coming up from the dungeons for the next month.
Still lost in thoughts of his past, Draco didn't see the slight stirring from the huddled form on his bed, but the terrified whimpering sound registered just fine. He slowly approached the bed, making sure to stay far enough away as to appear non-threatening.
"Potter? Potter, it's Draco...Er, Malfoy. You are in my room, you're safe here." Draco rolled his eyes at himself. Comforting Harry bloody Potter? And doing a crap job of it as well? Hardly his best performance.
"Mal - Malfoy?" Harry croaked, and squinted up at him. Draco nodded his head and then poured a glass of water from the pitcher on his bedside table.
"Can you sit up?" Draco held the water out to him at arms length and Harry slowly scooted up the bed until he was resting against the headboard. He eyed Draco warily and then hesitantly took the glass from the other boy's hand. "Slowly, Potter. Otherwise you'll probably vomit. And those sheets are silk." Draco added as an after thought.
Harry sipped at the water and continued to watch Draco carefully. Draco, for his part, did his best to move slowly and keep his distance. Finally though, Harry's curiosity got the better of him and he had to ask. "Why?"
"Why, what, Potter? Why are you here? Why am I helping you? Why did the others do that to you? You'll have to be more specific." Draco arched one perfectly sculpted brow and watched in a sort of horrified fascination as Harry's whole face seemed to crumble; it was as if the entire incident was replaying itself in front of his eyes. Which was entirely likely. "Potter! Snap out of it, I said you were safe here and I meant it."
It took Harry a few minutes to gather his wits and meet the other boy's eyes, but when he did, he looked at him for several long minutes in which Draco felt that his soul itself was on display to the green-eyed boy. Harry must have found whatever it was he'd been searching for, for he relaxed slightly before looking away again. "All of it. Mostly, why you're helping me."
Draco sighed. "I had nothing to do with what they did to you, I want you know that first. If I had any idea of what they had planned, I'd have warned you, and then I'd have hexed them. As for why I'm helping you, well, I found you. I hardly thought you'd want this publicized so I brought you here, and then I had Snape check you over." At Harry's mortified expression, Draco continued. "You might have died if I hadn't, Potter. You were pretty banged up, and well... That's not important right now. Look, I've sworn Snape to silence, it's your call what to do next."
Harry seemed to think it over for a few minutes before speaking softly. "I don't want anyone to know. I, I'm embarrassed. And kind of ashamed, if you want the truth."
Draco stepped back in alarm. "Potter? You do realize this isn't your fault. What the hell do you have to be ashamed of? If anything, it's that sorry lot of bastards who should be ashamed of themselves! Merlin's beard, if Snape hasn't already done it, I'll hex their balls off!" The look of utter confusion on Harry's face made Draco smile slightly. "I don't condone rape, Potter. Not for any reason."
At the word 'rape' the colour drained from Harry's face and he burst into tears. Draco hesitated slightly but then, not knowing what else to do, carefully sat on the edge of the bed and talked softly to the weeping boy. "Potter, hey, it's alright now, it's over." Draco continued to talk softly and, surprisingly, Harry moved closer to him and looked up at him imploringly. Draco snorted softly to himself but opened his arms; Harry gratefully sank into them and let his enemy soothe him. This was how Snape found them minutes later when he returned with a tray of food for the both of them and more potions for Harry.
~!~
After practically forcing Harry to eat something and take the potions Snape had brought him, the Professor escorted the young man back to Gryffindor tower. He had, thanks to Dobby and Snape's quick thinking, been able to change into his own clothes and give Draco his robe back. There would have been no way - short of the truth - to explain why he'd been wearing Slytherin robes.
His team mates were still celebrating their victory over Slytherin, and the other Gryffindors had joined in the festivities. Harry was hoping to slip unnoticed up to his dorm, but Ron spotted him before he could reach the stairs.
"Harry!" The redhead hollered and made his way through the crowd toward him. "Where the hell have you been, we've been waiting ages for you to get here!"
Harry swallowed down a knot of fear as Ron's hand came down heavily on his shoulder and tried to smile reassuringly. "I - I had a headache after the match, I've been to the Infirmary for a potion."
Ron seemed to buy his excuse and put his arm around Harry's shoulders and began to lead him further into the common room. "Well, come on then, everyone wants to hear your take on the game, especially the look on that git Malfoy's face when you caught the Snitch!" Ron's boisterous laughter made Harry cringe, but thankfully no one noticed.
~!~
Harry had finally managed to escape the party after recounting his story of catching the Snitch. If he was nicer about Draco in the tale than he normally would have been, no one called him on it. He was now lying in his bed with the curtains drawn, staring up at the ceiling. The noise from the party down below filtered softly through to him, but he didn't mind, it wasn't like he'd be sleeping anytime soon. He had a vial of dreamless sleep potion that Snape insisted he take before bed, but he was reluctant to try sleeping even with that bit of aide. He knew what he'd see behind closed eyelids, what he'd feel and hear. Even now, while he lay awake he could hear them whispering in his ear, taunting him, the crude words they spoke, telling him what they were going to do to him before following through on their threats.
Harry sat up with a jolt. He felt trapped here, like somehow, they knew where he was and that they'd come for him. He had to get out, find somewhere safe, somewhere no one else knew of.
Before he could panic or change his mind, Harry leapt from his bed and opened his trunk. He grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map and quietly made his way down the stairs. Seamus had everyone's attention riveted on him as he told a story - something to do with sheep and Snape's great uncle, so Harry was able to slip out of the common room unnoticed.
In the hallway, Harry unrolled the map underneath the cloak and whispered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." He watched as the map appeared on the parchment and slowly began his trek to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He knew of only one place that he could go where no one could follow. The Chamber of Secrets.
~!~