Boy Who Never Grew Up

Friends on the Other Side

Walking into the cave, leaving Harry behind, Draco didn't know silent tears were falling fast. He wanted adventure and escape, but he didn't want this type of adventure. The type of adventure that got Severus Snape killed, the type of adventure where he could die. Where he wasn't the purest of hearts.

Nobody knew. Nobody but him, Mother and Father knew. It was the reason his first instinct was to punch Harry in the face when he was woken in the middle of the night. Something happened one night the first time Mother and Father left him for a business trip, unwilling to leave their Dragon alone until he told them he'd be alright. To this day, Draco still remembers the look on the man's face, the final signs of life disappearing as Draco struggled to breathe, flooded by shock.

The further Draco got, the less floor there was to stand on. Water, filled with floating skulls and skeletons filled the space around him. It was daunting, not being able to see walls. Maybe the darkness were the walls. At the end of the pathway was a circular platform, carvings in the floor and a pedestal with two handprints carved from the rock. One left and one right, one thinner and longer than the other, that one being thicker and shorter. 

This couldn't just be it. There had to be some sort of puzzle, some riddle only he could figure out. Although, on his journey there was no traps or trickery. Just a straight line closing out the outside world to consume him into the darkness. 

When Draco walked into the cave, Harry paced. Beneath him, grass had withered away over time, being so close to the death of all magic. Being here, Harry couldn't fly. Any magic he possessed was quickly being stripped away so just his cutlass and fighting skills remained to protect him and Draco.

With the tide came a ship. One Harry knew all too well. With its skull and snake sail, a captain and right-hand woman at the forefront, pirates thirsty for his blood. With nowhere to run, Harry held his cutlass in a tight grip, strengthening his stance to face Tom Riddle. "Land Ho!" shouted Greyback from his tower, a grin so yellow Harry may have mistaken it for sweetcorn.

Setting out their bridge to cross over, Tom commanded everyone else to stay back as he strode off the ship. "Harry Potter. Why, this certainly wasn't the setting I expected to meet you in, but then again you will die at my hands either way."

"Tom." Harry greeted, loving the way Tom's smirk was wiped clean off his face. "Fancy seeing you here!" Harry bowed like he was ready for a duel, taunting him. "Ready to end this?"

Smiling, Voldemort nodded. "I've been ready since I killed your parents, boy." Harry lunged for him, swinging with all his might only to be blocked, their swords pressing together and making a sound like they were being constructed at a Blacksmith's. 

They carried on, back and forth. Swinging at each other, Harry managing to cut the front of Tom's hat, so close to his nose. At one point their swords were together in a cross, Harry pushing and the anger through all those years matching him to Tom's strength. But Harry knew Tom could fight better than this, so he was stalling for something. For what, though, Harry wanted to find out. "Why? What did my parents ever do to you, Tom?"

"Oh, I do believe that information is too much to share." Voldemort laughed, circling with Harry until they were back to their starting positions. "But just know, that your parents fought hard. Your father blocking the way without a weapon, your mother shielding you like her body would do any good." Losing focus, Harry staggered back, and Voldemort saw the opportunity, gabbing at Harry until the boy lost his sword, on the ground trying to push away the sword coming right for his neck.

Leaning down, Tom whispered, "If you really want to know why you were so important, I suppose I could tell you, let you die with the worst feeling in your stomach." Right by Harrys' ear, Tom hissed, "Did you ever wonder why Draco can see Thestrals? You're the person in the prophecy."