Lumos Obscurum

Chapter 7 - The Imprisonment

Uncle Vernon was, to put things lightly, infuriated.

"Explain yourself!" He roared again.

Draco raised his chin defiantly. "No."

Uncle Vernon straightened to his full height. "Listen here, boy," he thundered. "As long as you are under this roof, you will do as I say!"

Draco stared steadily at the large, quivering man. "No, you listen here, Muggle," he spat. "I don't have to answer to you. I don't have to answer to anyone. And it'd do you good to bloody well remember that." His wand was still clutched stiffly in his hand, and as he raised it threateningly it emitted several green sparks.

Uncle Vernon backed away ever so slightly, a tinge of fear appearing in his bulging eyes. He turned his attention on Harry instead. "Then you tell me what the ruddy hell is going on," he ordered harshly. "Who is he, and why is he here?"

Harry shrugged. "I've no idea why he's here," he answered truthfully.

"Do not lie to me, Potter, or you will regret it," Uncle Vernon snarled.

"He‘s not lying," Draco cut in coldly, "you overgrown baboon."

"You... you dare to..." Uncle Vernon spluttered.

Draco lazily lifted an eyebrow. "Yes? Go on. I dare to what?"

Uncle Vernon was at a loss for an answer. He shifted his gaze between Draco, pointing his wand dangerously at him, and Harry, who was staring at his uncle frigidly, seeming as if he was not quite sure what to do. At last he said, "If neither of you are willing to cooperate, you will just stay right here until I have figured out what to do with the both of you!"

He stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him and locking it tight. "And," he rumbled crossly through the door, "if either of you so much as thinks of using... using the ‘m' word to get yourselves out... or if I see a single owl flying anywhere near this house, you will dearly pay, mark my words!"

Harry and Draco stared at the closed door as Uncle Vernon banged down the stairs. Harry sighed and turned to the mess of his overturned bureau, shattered lamp, and spilt clothing. "C'mon," Harry said, bending down and picking up some pieces of the broken lamp. "Let's clean this up."

"Well I would," Draco said, not moving from his spot, "but I'm paralysed with not caring very much."

Harry looked up at him, annoyed. "This is all your fault, you know. If you hadn't-"

"Quiet," Draco said, not paying attention to a word Harry was saying. He moved quickly to the door and put his ear to it. "Here, come listen. You can hear what your aunt and uncle are saying down there. They're in a right state," he added with pleasure.

Harry left the broken lamp forgotten on the floor and joined Draco at the door. Indeed he could vaguely make out what the Dursleys were saying downstairs.

"I have a mind to just chuck them both out onto the eff-ing street and be done with it!" That was, of course, his uncle.

"Vernon, think of the money!" Aunt Petunia‘s shrill voice drifted up the stairs.

"We've already cashed the cheque that old bat gave us. We have the money. Nothing's stopping us from kicking David out (if that's even his real name)-"

"It's not, Dad," Harry heard Dudley interrupt. "I heard Potter call him something else..."

"See?" Uncle Vernon said angrily. "More lies! Rotten lies, all of it! And Potter's in on the entire thing, no doubt. If we kicked them both out right now, we'd finally be rid of this whole ordeal forever."

"But Vernon," Aunt Petunia started nervously. "Remember last year, Vernon, remember what happened last year."

"Petunia..."

"The boy has to stay, Vernon."

There was a short silence, then Uncle Vernon's voice came again, "Alright, Potter stays. But David goes."

Harry glanced over at Draco, but the Slytherin's face was expressionless.

"Vernon," Aunt Petunia said. "since David's a..." she lowered her voice. "A you-know-what... that old woman who brought him is probably a - a you-know-what too. What would she do, Vernon, what would she do if she found out?"

"I don't want another tail, Dad," Dudley said, suddenly sounding very alarmed.

A tail? Draco mouthed at Harry, and Harry couldn't hold back a smirk at the memory.

"No, son, we don't want that..." There was another pause, followed by a heavy sigh. "Fine, they both stay. But they'll remain in Potter's room, where they can't do anything... abnormal to us."

"But Dad, what if they use it to get out?"

"They won't, or they'll get expelled from that freak school of theirs. We're done talking about this, Dudley."

"But Dad," Dudley pressed. "David... he said he would if he had to..."

"That's enough, Dudley. Neither of them would have the nerve to try anything that would get them expelled. Now go help your mum with supper."

"Aww, Dad..."

"Just go, Dud..."

The Dursleys' voices faded as they moved into another room, most likely the kitchen.

Draco watched Harry inquisitively. "What happened last year?"

Harry shook his head, "Nothing, don't worry about it," he said as his stomach rumbled. "I hope they bring some of that food up here," Harry muttered, turning away from the door.

Draco looked stricken at the prospect of no supper. "Why wouldn't they?"

"Oh, you know, they like to starve me from time to time," Harry said nonchalantly.

Draco's look of dismay grew.

***

The rest of the evening passed slowly, with Draco lounging languidly on the bed and Harry sitting at his desk, idly stroking Hedwig. There was no sign of anyone coming to bring them supper.

Around eleven, they heard the Dursleys coming up the stairs, muttering quietly to themselves. Harry looked up hopefully, but their voices passed by the still-locked door. He slumped down in his chair with a sigh.

Moments later, the last light was put out, and the house grew quiet.

"Damn," Harry cursed to himself.

"Well Potter," Draco sat up. "If the food won't come to us, we'll just have to go to it, won‘t we?"

"Smart plan, Malfoy, except the I think the door's kind of locked," Harry said sardonically.

"And your point is...?"

"My point is, obviously, that we can't unlock it without the Ministry detecting - oh." Harry stopped abruptly as he remembered Draco's Protection charm.

"Good boy, Potter," Draco praised. "You're getting the hang of this."

They waited in silence for a few minutes, to be certain that the Dursleys were asleep before setting out. Draco cast the Protactus charm, Harry unlocked the door, and they (with Draco's breathing rather laboured) stepped out into the dark hallway.

"How far does the Protection bubble extend?" Harry whispered to Draco. He fingered his wand, thinking that he could light the tip with Lumos.

Draco, guessing what Harry wanted to do, shook his head. "Just to the edge of your room. That spell is quite difficult, I can only really only manage it for small spaces. If I tried to stretch it any further, it would take too much out of me."

Harry was surprised at how freely Draco was willing to admit that he couldn't do something. But he decided it would be best right now not to bring it up, so he only nodded and pocketed his wand. "We'll just have to go slow, then."

He crept forward, trying to keep as silent as possible. Draco trailed a hair's width behind him. Harry squinted at the darkness, looking ahead to try to figure out where the stairs began. The last thing they wanted to do right now was to miss the first step and crash down the staircase. That would certainly wake the Dursleys up-

"Oi!"

Harry whirled around at the loud thud and a startled exclamation that came from behind him. He dimly made out the silhouette of Draco's hand reaching down to rub his foot. "Who put that wretched plant there - mmph!"

Harry clamped his hand over the Draco's mouth. "Quiet!" he hissed. "You'll wake them up!"

Draco's eyes gleamed in the darkness as he glared at the Gryffindor, but he obediently didn't make another sound. Harry stayed completely still, straining his ears to hear any noise that indicated his aunt and uncle were up.

When he determined that everyone was still fast asleep, he released his hold on Draco's mouth.

"Ugh!" Harry said in disgust as he felt something wet on his hand. "You drooled on me!"

"Serves you right," Draco muttered.

"C'mon," he whispered heatedly, wiping his hand on his jeans. "The stairs are just up ahead. And keep quiet, for God's sake."

When they reached the stairs at last, Harry slowly lead the way down, keeping a hand firmly on the railing, and wincing every time a stair creaked. The normally soft sound seemed exceptionally loud in the silent house.

They made it to the first floor hallway and into the kitchen without any further incident, much to Harry's relief.

"I think we can chance a little light," Harry said softly, hitting the light switch on the wall. The kitchen lit up, and the two boys reflexively shut their eyes against the sudden brightness.

After a couple seconds, Harry forced his eyes open so that they could adjust to the light. By this time, Draco already had the refrigerator door open and was peering inside.

"We should take as much as we can up to my room," Harry said, opening a cupboard. "Just in case."

"We're doing your uncle a favour, you know," Draco commented, an evil little smirk playing around his face. "Perhaps going a few days without some decent food will slim his waistline down a little."

Harry laughed quietly at this, and Draco continued, "Wish we could say the same about his disposition."

Harry grinned. "I can't believe you called him an overgrown baboon."

"Well he is, the great oaf."

"No, I meant that I can't believe I didn't think of it first..."

"No worries, Potter," Draco said airily, pulling a pan of pudding from the fridge. "Only a select few possess the genius needed to come up with such astounding wit."

Harry drew a box of crackers and a loaf of bread from the cupboard he was looking in and placed them on the kitchen table. "I'll try not to let it affect me too much," he promised, a half-grin still on his face.

Draco straightened up from the fridge, and stepped over to the table to carefully set an armload of food on it.

"What have you got?" Harry said, examining the assorted pile.

"A little bit of everything, really... fruits, meats, a good percentage of the puddings that were in there... I think we need them more than they do, don't you agree?"

Harry nodded and said, "Let's hurry and get all of this upstairs."

Each boy grabbed as much as he could carry. Their arms overflowing with the food they collected, they set off from the kitchen (Harry hitting the light with his elbow on his way out), made their way quickly yet quietly up the staircase, down the hall, and into Harry's room.

They dumped the provisions on Harry's bed, and Harry shut his bedroom door softly. He turned to Draco, who was already chewing on a slice of bread. "We did it," Harry said, and smiled.

"Of course we did it," Draco said around a mouthful of bread. "Sneaking through your house when your family is asleep? That's kid's stuff, that is."

Harry flushed. "If it's kid's stuff, then how was it you were so quick to trip over the first obstacle in your path?"

"A minor impediment," Draco brushed off dismissively.

Harry rolled his eyes. "If you say so. Hey," he said, glancing at the pile of junk still left on his floor. "Is that Protection spell still up?"

"I think so, yes. Usually lasts about an hour."

"Good," Harry said. He withdrew his wand from his pocket, pointed it at the mess, and said, "Reparo."

Instantly, the bureau righted itself, the clothes folded themselves into neat piles and settled into the drawers, and the broken lamp repaired itself and hopped up to its former place on the top of the dresser. Harry surveyed his handiwork with satisfaction. "Glad I didn't have to clean all of that up by hand after all."

He sat down on the bed (where Draco was now digging eagerly into a pan of pudding), grabbed a fistful of grapes out of a fruit bowl, and began devouring his evening meal..

As they were both half-starved, they ate quickly. Pretty soon, only half of the original pile remained.

"We'd better stop," Harry said. "Else we won't have anything for the next few days."

"We could always sneak down to get more."

But Harry shook his head. "I doubt we'd be able to get away with that trick twice. Tomorrow morning, my aunt and uncle will surely notice all of the missing food. They'll know it was us."

Draco drew his brows together and stared down at the pile of stolen goods in front of him, suddenly realising something. "They'll come in and see all this, won't they?"

Harry grinned. "Nope. I said they'd know it was us... I never said they'd find any evidence to prove it was us."

Harry slid off the bed, knelt on the floor, and tugged up the loose floorboard that he had used in past years to hide stolen food or magical items from the Dursleys.

Draco peered over the edge of the bed in order get a decent look at the hiding spot. "Very nice, Potter," he approved.

They loaded the rest of their food into the secret compartment, and Harry put the loose board back in place.

Draco yawned and laid back on the bed, bringing his arms up to comfortably cradle his head. "Well I'm off to sleep. Do put out that light."

"Do it yourself," Harry retorted. He yawned as well, though, and as he took a quick look at the clock on his bedside table he saw that it was well past midnight. He turned the light out himself and settled on the floor. It was still raining outside, but it had slowed now to only a slight drizzle. Harry didn't mind it. He found the sound to be soothing.

***

The glare of the sun through the half-open curtain caused Harry to stir the next morning. He blinked blearily and yawned.

"Oh good, you're up," Came Draco's voice. Harry turned his head to look behind him and saw that the Slytherin was sitting up on the bed, already wide awake. "I'm bored," Draco announced. "Do something stupid so I can make fun of you for it."

"I'd really rather not," Harry yawned again as he sat up and ran a hand through his sleep-tousled hair. He crawled over to his hiding spot, wrenched up the loose board, and grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl they had stolen the previous night.

"So my aunt and uncle haven't discovered the missing food yet? I reckon I would've heard the screams."

Draco shook his head. "I don't think they're up. It's rather early, still."

Harry nodded and took a piece of bread out of the hollow before covering it again. He stood up and slid the bread slice in between the bars of Hedwig's cage. "There you go, Hedwig. Eat up," he told her softly. Hedwig cooed appreciatively, nipping at the bread.

Harry then turned to the other boy. "Budge up," he said, and Draco shifted over to make room for him.

Harry took a bite out of his apple and settled himself on the edge of the bed. "How long have you been awake?"

"Less than a half hour, and already it's been too long," Draco said gloomily. "There's absolutely nothing to do in this worthless room of yours, Potter."

"S'not my fault you got us stuck in here."

"And it's not my fault that you can't stand up to your good-for-nothing relatives. One of us had to do it, Potter, and since it obviously wasn't going to be you, I decided to take matters into my own hands."

Harry sighed, holding his apple forgotten in his hand. "Don‘t start this, Malfoy..."

"You could've done it, Potter," Draco said abruptly, turning his sharp gaze onto the other boy. "You had your cousin at wandpoint, right where you wanted him. You could've ended the whole thing right there, because let me tell you, Potter, after someone experiences a good, healthy dose of the Cruciatus Curse, they'll do what they are told, believe me."

"I know, Malfoy, no need to tell me," Harry said harshly.

"Then why didn't you do it, Potter?" Draco continued angrily, not pausing to hear what Harry had to say. "You said you wanted to learn it, Potter. Cruciatus isn't something that is taken lightly... it's a bloody Unforgivable for God's sake! You said you wanted to learn how to use it, and I took you seriously. I took pity on you and I taught you."

"This isn't what I wanted to use it for," Harry said crossly.

"You were a blasted coward, that's all you were. When you finally had the opportunity to use it for its intended purpose, you chickened out."

Harry stood up angrily. "That's not what happened. Dudley is my cousin. My cousin, Malfoy!"

"He's never treated you like you were cousins, you daft idiot!" Draco yelled, standing up as well, his fists clenched at his sides. "How long has he tortured you, Potter? Your whole life! He has made your whole bloody life miserable! You learned that curse for a reason: to make people pay for what they've done to you. You've finally had your chance to get Dudley back for 16 years of agony, Potter! But you didn't take it! Why the bloody hell didn't you DO it?!"

Harry reached his breaking point. "Because she was his COUSIN!" he shouted at him, his face red with rage. "She was Sirius's COUSIN, dammit!" Harry hurtled the half-eaten apple across the room.

The sudden silence of the room was punctuated only by Hedwig's nervous flaps against the cage and Harry's strained breathing.

"Sirius?" Draco at last repeated quietly. "Sirius Black?"

Harry rounded on him furiously. "Don't talk about him. Don't talk about things you don't understand."

"Potter, I'm not-"

Harry put his hands over his face and sunk down onto the bed. "Fuck it," he said, his voice muffled. "Just fuck it all."

Draco leaned against the wall, staring probingly at the Gryffindor slumped over on the bed.

Suddenly in the silence came the sound of a key in a lock, and a second later, the bedroom door opened. Uncle Vernon stood framed in the doorway, tying the drawstring of a large plaid bathrobe.

He looked around imposingly, trying to take in the scene before him of Draco against a wall, Harry hunched on the bed, and the half-consumed apple laying on the floor.

"What was so important," Uncle Vernon started slowly, "that it was worth screaming about at 8:30am on a Sunday morning?"

Neither boy moved to answer him. Harry hadn't even lifted his face out of his hands.

"One would think," Uncle Vernon started again when it became clear that nobody was going to say anything, "that being confined to this room for the remainder of the summer would be punishment enough. But it seems that you are just begging for more. Let‘s see, what shall it be this time...?"

"Two days," Harry said, finally raising his head and looking up at Uncle Vernon.

Uncle Vernon blinked. "What?"

"Two days," Harry repeated, "and me and Malfoy will be out of here. The Weasleys are coming to get us on Tuesday. Then I'll be out of your hair until next summer. And you won't have to deal with Malfoy here ever again."

Harry's voice was a great deal more calm than it had been two minutes ago, but his face was still splotchy from the anger, and Draco could still see his hands trembling in his lap. It was obvious that Harry was fighting very hard to keep composed.

Draco stepped forward. "Listen, Muggle-"

"Malfoy." Harry's voice was low and threatening, and Draco went silent. Harry turned back to his uncle, who was looking a bit befuddled. "Uncle Vernon," he said, more forcefully. "Two more days, and that's it. No more worrying about the couple of freak boys you're hiding in your house, no more worrying about us turning you into pigs while you sleep, no more worrying about anything. Just leave us alone until then. You won't bother us, and we won't bother you."

Uncle Vernon bristled. "You are in no position to give orders, boy."

Harry swiftly and unexpectedly drew his wand and trained it on his uncle. "Neither are you," Harry said coldly.

Uncle Vernon's eyes widened and he took a step back. "You wouldn't... after last night, you wouldn't dare..."

"Care to test that theory?"

Uncle Vernon's mouth worked furiously.

"You leave us alone," Harry repeated, "and we'll leave you alone."

Uncle Vernon turned purple. "Fine," he spat. "You can go with those Beasleys-"

"Weasleys."

"-Weasleys when they come on Tuesday. But until then, you stay right here in this room, and you will not bother us at all. And," he rumbled warningly. "No funny stuff."

"There won't be," Harry said frostily.

Uncle Vernon took one last look around the room, tightened his bathrobe, and left, locking the door behind him.

Harry stood and stared at Malfoy. "How was that?" he asked coolly. "Was that good enough for you?"

Draco didn't say anything.

***

The rest of the day passed slowly. Neither Harry nor Draco made a move to start any conversation, be it friendly or not. The only eventful moment came in the late morning, when the Dursleys discovered what Draco and Harry had been up to last night. ("Where has all the ruddy food gone to?" was Uncle Vernon's loud bellow).

Draco smirked a bit at that, but Harry's face remained emotionless.

Draco spent the remainder of the day laying on the bed, staring at the patterns in the ceiling. Harry sat at his desk. He let Hedwig out of her cage so that she could stretch her wings, and he spent most of the afternoon petting her and talking to her in low tones. Harry tried not think of the outburst earlier. He tried not to think of the fact that he had lost control like that, and had revealed to Draco Malfoy his close ties with Sir...

No, he berated himself. Don't think about it. It's okay, I didn't tell Malfoy the whole storey. He doesn't know what happened, and he never will.

The thought reassured him somewhat. And Malfoy hadn't brought it up yet... Harry prayed that he wouldn't. Maybe just this one time, Malfoy would respect other people's feelings.

He sighed and looked around the darkening room. The sun was setting on the other side of the house, so there wasn't much light left. He turned on the lamp on his desk and dug around in his trunk, taking out his Transfiguration book. He resignedly opened it and started doing the only thing there was left to do: his homework.

***

Monday morning arrived. Harry woke up, grabbed something to eat out of the secret compartment, and sat down on his desk chair.

Draco was once again awake before him. The Slytherin was sitting on the bed, his back on some pillows resting against the wall. He was studying Harry searchingly, while the other boy ate his breakfast.

Finally, Draco ventured, "Morning, Potter."

"Morning," Harry responded steadily.

There was a brief pause before Draco spoke again. "Listen, Potter," he said quietly. "About yesterday-"

"Don't," Harry interrupted him. But his voice wasn't sharp now, it was more weary than anything. "Just don't." He sighed tiredly. "You don't want to talk about what happened before you got here, Malfoy, and I've respected that. I don't want to talk about what happened to me. Please, just show me the same consideration as I've shown you."

Draco gave a nod. "Okay, Potter. Okay."

And that was that.

Harry was a bit surprised at how quickly Draco had agreed. But he supposed that right now, as odd as it seemed, he and Draco understood each other.

A few minutes later, a couple of birds chirped outside Harry's window. "I'm bored," Draco's voice came again, repeating what he complained about yesterday.

Harry laughed quietly. "It seems as if you're always bored, Malfoy." He bent down to open one of his desk drawers and started rummaging around through it.

"Well, I am," Draco said defensively. "There's simply nothing of worth doing around here."

"Have you done your summer homework yet?" Harry asked, his voice muffled because of his position.

Draco gave a small shudder. "Please, Potter. I said there's nothing of worth doing."

"Good point." Harry straightened up, having found what he was looking for. He went over to the bed, clutching something in his hand.

"What've you got there?"

"Cards." Harry held up the deck. "Care for a game?"

"Exploding Snap?" Draco asked eagerly.

"No," Harry said, starting to shuffle the cards. "Crazy Eights."

"Crazy Whats?"

Harry couldn't hold back a small grin.