Topgallant : HP : Hide Away

I owed

radiobroadcast H/D post HBP. It felt longer when I wrote it, but shrunk when I typed it up! Sorry, Lily.

"Where is he?"

He could tell Malfoy had changed because of the way he didn't flinch, the way he stared straight into his eyes as if the wand at his throat wasn't even there.

"You're wasting your time," Malfoy answered. "I'm not going to tell you, and if you kill me you still won't find him."

"I'm not going to kill you," Harry said, disgust and shame hitting him all at once.

"Arrest me, then," Malfoy said tightly.

"I've nothing to charge you with," Harry retorted. He thought he saw a look of panic in Malfoy's eyes, quickly replaced with disdain.

"Well," Malfoy said. "If you aren't going to kill me and you aren't going to arrest me--how about a nice spot of tea?" He gestured grandly into the empty shack behind him, and Harry's hand clenched around his wand.

"This isn't a game, Malfoy," he spat.

"No, Potter?" Malfoy countered softly. "Funny. Looks a lot like hide-and-seek to me."

He had been leaning against the doorframe. Now he shifted, stood up straight; his thin body was suddenly silhouetted by the light from inside the hut, and Harry noticed with a sudden savage satisfaction how gaunt he looked, how much older and tireder.

"I hid," said Malfoy. "You found me." His eyes darkened.

'It's not you I'm after,' Harry began to say, but the words evaporated, dry as parchment in his throat.

"So," said Malfoy. "The question is: what are you going to do?"

He stepped closer.