InsaneJournal

FIC: three drabbles - Trust; See No Evil; Frostbite
Two of these drabbles are for the prompts that fiona_fawkes and emmagrant01 suggested to me earlier. The third is one I jotted down yesterday in the comments to anael's journal.
I will post the rest of the prompted drabbles tomorrow; I have them done, but they don't belong in this post.

Warning For All Three: angst

for fiona_fawkes's prompt of Harry and Severus, 263 words



I'd never trusted him before. Couldn't.
He'd stare at me, lessons, dinners, punishments... His eyes always carried something; something else, something other, something he knew and wouldn't tell, only hint at with mocking, miserable words.
They trusted him. He knew their secrets, carried them with both arms. The left one, black and burnt, its sleeve always pulled to the very tips of its bony fingers; the right one, bleached by potion after potion, but to all appearances, unmarked.
And they say that no man can serve two masters...
Now he serves a third.
He's got nowhere else to go; he's alone; he is uninvited. His name is dust and ashes, as is everyone he's ever touched.
I trust him.
I trust him to touch me next.

------------

What if I told you I did all this for a dream?
Would you trust that there are dreams worth chasing?
Do you believe that dreams come true, that wishes are ponies, that beggars profit from fairytales?
Can you accept that there is a shining wizard who will point his magic wand and say the words that will fulfill my most desperate hopes?

Don't shake your head. He lives still, and with my help, he will live tomorrow and the day after; with my help, he shall grow tall and strong.
He will be ready, and he shall vanquish his enemy, and they will sing of him to the earth and sky, and I shall be repaid in full.

My dream is simple. There are no flashes of green light, no smoke, no tears.
I dream of an ordinary death.
I trust he will grant my heart's desire.





for emmagrant01's prompt, "are you watching", Harry/Draco, 325 words.




"Nobody will think any less of you if you don't go," Harry says, attempting to place a careful hand on my shoulder. I shake him off.

"You think I'm going in order to garner public sympathy?"

"Well, no," he stammers, searching for the right words. They aren't very eager to make themselves known. "I only meant, it's understandable that you wouldn't want to watch. You --"

"Want has nothing to do with it. What can they possibly understand about this, about me -- about him?! They've already understood all they were going to; it's done, over, there's nothing more to learn, no mitigating circumstances, no reasonable explanations... It's all understood, all recorded. All that's left is to make the judgement public; it's been passed a thousand times before today!"

"Then take me with you," he entreats, covering my fingers with his callused ones. "You shouldn't have to do this alone; hells, you shouldn't have to do it at all..."

"No one should," I concur, looking away.

"But if you have to, then let me come with you -- you can lean on --"

I cut him off before he commits himself to a cliched promise of support, because there is nothing he can do or say that can hold me up.

"No. He doesn't deserve that. Not from me. Not now. He will not see me stand next to you. Don't you understand, you're the one who did this to him, you're -- "

"He did it to himself," Harry snaps, "he's responsible for his own actions, and... Oh, god, Draco, I'm sorry. This isn't what you need to hear right now." He prattles on -- something about apologies and warmth and love and family -- and I let him, because it's what has to happen between us at this moment, or he will hurt, same as I.

"I know," I respond with a weak smile, then lean over to kiss his warm, safe lips. "He is my father. I have to watch."





for anael's comments, 194 words.



Bits of ice melt slowly in his silvery hair, sliding down his cheeks in cool stripes. His cloak shifts from white to black as he shakes off the snow with white, clumsy fingers.

"Please," he whispers, his lips cracked and grey, "I am so cold. I haven't been warm for days. Warm me, please..."

My wand clutched in my fist, I draw my blankets farther up to my chin.

"Go away. I'm warning you!"

"Please," he says again, his voice muffled behind his stiff scarf, "let me into your bed. I've missed you so much out there. I've missed your mouth, it's always so warm on my cock, so soft... I've missed your hands, hot and greedy, I've missed your body, wrapping around me, please!"

I point the wand at his frozen eyes, and take a deep breath.

"You can't be here! Leave, or I will make you leave," I hiss; the blanket no longer keeping me from the cold.

He reaches out a thin hand, grasping at the air between us, and takes another shambling step towards the bed.

"Draco," I clench my teeth over my lip, "this isn't you." I close my eyes and mutter the words of the spell.