#a teensy bit morally grey (on account of them leaving the neo-death eaters to burn)

[drarrily-we-row-along]

Day 143: Lock

cw: mentions blood- nothing overt but it's there. Also Harry's gotten kidnapped and it's implied that Draco leaves the perpetrators to die. Happy Ending for Drarry.

Harry was missing and Draco was done waiting for the ministry to find him.

Aurors had been searching for him for the past 48 hours and all they could tell Draco was that he'd fallen off of their radar while he was on a mission tracking down a group of Neo Death Eaters. They wouldn't provide any other details and so Draco had done what all desperate spouses would do, he took out his Dark Magic Spellbooks and searched for things he could use to find his husband.

Finally he came across a complex tracking spell that required a minimum of two casters and a bit of blood. There was always a cost with dark magic, so the blood and the amount of energy that was required for these types of spells wasn't surprising.

The real issue was that it was two casters, he didn't mind getting his hands dirty but wasn't keen on pulling someone else into the mess.

In the end, after reading through the instructions again, he decided that Hermione was really the only person who might stand a chance of being able to pull this off. He floo called the Granger-Weasley home and saw Hermione sitting on the sofa pouring through tomes of her own. "I've got it," he blurted without preface and her head snapped up to look at him. "I need a second caster, will you help me?"

She let her book fall to the floor as she stood up, "Yes. Get out of the way so I can come through."

And even though he knew that Hermione and Ron would do anything for Harry, relief washed over him like cool water.

When she got through she held out her hands for the book, "Let me see."

"It is technically dark magic," he said as he handed it over to her.

"Does anyone get hurt?" she asked as she started to read.

He shook his head, "No." Then he amended, "Well, it requires that I give up a little blood but I'll be fine."

(Read more below the cut)

"Right," she said, as she read through to the end, "So if I understand correctly, there's one person who acts as a tether to here and then the person who used their blood travels to the person or thing they're locating."

"Yes," Draco affirmed. "Your concentration cannot waiver. The tether snapping while I'm getting him will definitely kill me and if I have Harry and we're coming back through it will kill him, too."

"No pressure, then," she said sardonically.

"Sometimes having additional casters can help," he offered, "Or it can be a distraction. I'm also not really sure who else we could ask for help and the time it would take-"

"It's fine," she said, interrupting him, "I've got this."

"Thanks," he said, trying to infuse all of his gratitude into one syllable.

She nodded. "Of course," Hermione said softly. "Let's get started, shall we?"

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It took longer than Draco would have liked to get everything set up but once they did, he locked the doors and warded the house to keep anyone from entering and distracting Hermione.

"Ready?" he asked as he held his hand over the bowl of herbs.

"If you are," she replied, tying her hair up in a bun to keep it out of her face.

He dragged the dagger across his palm and clenched his fist, forcing several droplets of blood into the bowl before he cast a quick healing spell.

In unison they cast and a few seconds later, Draco found himself being dragged through time and space. He tried to keep his wits about him, tried to keep his wand at the ready, since he had no idea what he was going to be dropped into.

He didn't quite know what he was expecting but it wasn't this.

Harry had been bound to a chair by the torso, legs, ankles, and right arm; his mouth was covered with a filthy piece of fabric and he was still struggling. One wizard was standing behind him with his hand wrapped in Harry's curls, yanking his head back; the second had a firm grasp on Harry's left hand; the third stood over him, grasping Harry's left hand as he pointed his wand at his forearm. "Morsmorde!" the man screamed for what seemed like not the first time.

Harry cried out through the rag in his mouth, tears sluicing down his filthy cheeks, but his skin stayed unmarred.

Draco's blood ran cold, "You do understand that there is a component of willingness to that spell," he drawled and Harry's eyes snapped to his, wide and pleading.

All three men spun to face him, wands up.

But it was already too late, anger flooded Draco's veins with ice and he cast a wordless Relashio, then stunned goons 1 and 2 before hitting the man who'd been trying to mark Harry with a jinx that removed the bones in his legs followed by an incarcerous.

"How many more of you are there?" he asked, voice still calm.

Harry let out a muffled groan through the gag and Draco made his way over to him, keep his wand leveled at the man on the floor.

"I've got you," he said softly as he pulled the filthy rag out of Harry's mouth.

"There's a lock on the door, only one man has the key" he gasped. "There have to be at least five others here past the door but there's a muffliato in place so they can't hear."

Draco nodded, "It doesn't matter. We're not leaving that way," he promised as he quickly freed him with a series of careful severing charms. "How many more of you are there?" he repeated to the man on the floor.

He spat at Draco in lieu of a response. "Traitor," he hissed. "You're a coward and-"

Draco cast a horn-tongue jinx on him, "That's enough of that," he said. Then he turned to Harry, "Are you close to where you disappeared?"

Harry nodded, "Why?" he asked weakly.

"Just thought I'd leave a signal for the aurors to follow," he replied. "Incendio," he spat, setting the chair that Harry'd been tied to ablaze. "All this old, dry wood," he tsked. "Good luck," he added, as he wrapped his arm tighter around Harry, "Hope the aurors find you in time."

With that he cast the spell that would pull them back through to Hermione.

They tumbled through and Hermione admirably kept her focus on maintaining the tether instead of checking on Harry immediately.

"Close it," he gasped as he and Harry collapsed onto the floor. He cupped Harry's face, his hands trembling, "Are you alright?" he asked, suddenly desperate now that they were out of there. "Circe, Harry, did they hurt you?" he asked, looking him over for any visible injuries.

"I'm okay," Harry said, reaching up to grasp Draco's neck and press their foreheads together. "I'm going to be fine."

"So you don't need to go to St. Mungo's?" Hermione interrupted.

Harry drew back and shook his head, "Draco will be able to patch me up."

"I've come up with a plausible explanation for us finding Harry," Hermione said. "I'm going home to put everything in place to make the aurors doing the investigation believe it. Don't go anywhere until I'm done. And don't heal your wounds yet."

"Hermione," Draco said, reaching out and clasping her hand in his, "Thank you."

She gave his hand a little squeeze, "Anything for the both of you. You know that, yes?"

He nodded, tears stinging his eyes.

"Don't go anywhere," she repeated before disappearing through the floo.

"I did something illegal," Draco confessed quickly, it had been one of their rules, at the beginning. "I did dark magic," he added, "I had to, Harry. I had to find you."

"Dra-" Harry started.

But he interrupted, "And I know I promised that I wouldn't ever, and I meant it, but I had to!"

"I-"

"And you can be mad if you want to, but I would do it again," he continued stubbornly. "The Ministry is completely incompetent and-"

Harry kissed him, interrupting the words flowing out of his mouth. "Shut up," he whispered, "Godric, Draco, just," he shook his head and kissed him again. "Shut up. I'm not mad at you."

"Good," he replied, relief rushing through him just the same. He brushed his thumb over Harry's cheek, avoiding the bruises that he found.

"Thank you," he added softly, "For coming to find me."

He pressed a kiss to Harry's forehead and promised, "I will always find you."

Both he and Harry kept that promise for the rest of their lives. No matter what.

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Day 142: Insult | Day 144: Cliche