Chapter Two of 'Forgive Those Who Trespass'- The Mute Malfoy

[lomonaaeren]

Thanks again for all the reviews!

Chapter Two—The Mute Malfoy

Harry was glad that he had the Invisibility Cloak over him, because all he did for several seconds was stare like an idiot, and Malfoy would surely have made fun of that if he could have seen Harry.

Malfoy had, so far as anyone else knew, vanished a year ago. His family had steadily been losing prestige and money, as they spent Galleons like water to keep Lucius and Narcissa out of prison. When Draco went missing, everyone had assumed—and Harry had had no reason to think differently—that he simply couldn’t take his loss of status anymore and fled Britain. Random sightings of him from time to time in other countries confirmed that.

And now—

He had to have been here for at least a year, Harry thought, eyeing the way Malfoy’s skin hung on him like a Muggle sack for carrying food. The clothes he wore weren’t that old, but Harry had begun to learn from his instructors what the victims of long-term abuse looked like. Malfoy had spent a lot of time in the care of someone who didn’t like him, or at least didn’t treat him particularly well.

His hair was dull and lusterless. His face was coated with old, worked-in grime. His rolling eyes had a lack of sense in them that made Harry fear he might actually be mad. Since Malfoy was the only possible source of information he’d found so far on what had happened to Ron and Hermione, he hoped not.

But no, he’d started when Harry made that sound, hadn’t he? And he’d looked in more or less the right direction. That suggested he still noticed the world around him, and still managed to connect cause and effect. Both good signs.

Harry doubted he would get much more information just from observation of Malfoy, unless he could walk behind him and study how the chain cut into his flesh—but with Malfoy’s back against the wall, there was no chance of that. He would have to chance this being a trap. With a deep breath for strength, he pulled the Cloak from over his head.

Malfoy’s stare oriented on him at once. Harry waited, wondering what the reaction would be. Would he doubt his eyes? Call for help? Sneer at Harry and demand to know why he hadn’t been rescued earlier?

Malfoy began to tremble instead. He shut his eyes, shaking his head, but that didn’t dam the flood of tears from them. He stretched out a pleading hand to Harry, and his mouth formed the shapes of whispered words. They might have been help me, but Harry wasn’t entirely sure, as he was too busy staring at the extended hand.

The fingers were just—not there anymore. All of them were stumps. It looked as though someone had cut them off near the knuckle and sealed the wounds with utterly bloodless magic, leaving smooth, rounded protrusions behind.

In horror and pity, Harry looked at Malfoy’s face. He had already crouched down, though he wasn’t sure if that was a strategic move to bring his eyes to the same level as Malfoy’s or just his legs giving up their strength. “My God, Malfoy,” he whispered. “What happened to you? Why did they do this?”

Malfoy gave him a sharp look, and slapped his tongue against his teeth. Harry concentrated, wondering if he’d lost his voice through screaming, and then realized that no sound was coming out of the other man’s mouth at all. Not even his tongue could click; he ground his teeth together, and they were silent. Someone must have placed a powerful Silencing Charm on him.

Harry lifted his wand—and he didn’t miss the hungry way Malfoy’s gaze followed it. “Finite Incantatem!”

The chain around Malfoy’s leg let out a weak blue spark, and Harry thought the links dulled a little. The robes lost a faint shimmer of magic that had hung around them, and Malfoy began to shiver; Harry thought he had just ended a charm that kept him warm. But Malfoy simply shook his head and flapped his tongue again to show that he still couldn’t speak.

And Harry thought he knew, now, why Malfoy’s captors had rounded off his fingers like that. Partially so he couldn’t write to communicate, either, and partially so that he couldn’t hold a wand to reverse his own silence.

“Can you wield a wand?” Harry asked, extending his to Malfoy. He could practically hear Auror Gillyflower scolding him in his head, and Hermione joined her. Never help someone who could potentially be an enemy!

But this…Harry really didn’t think Malfoy would have gone through this just to set up a trap. No one could have known that Harry had come down, for one thing. And for another, Harry had no proof that any of this was deliberate. The Unspeakables’ torture of Malfoy must be, but would they have sealed their Department after them? It still could have been a magical accident.

Malfoy just gave him a longing look, though, and shook his head. He motioned from Harry’s wand to his eyes and back again several times before Harry understood what he was asking.

“No. Sorry. I’m pants at Legilimency.” This was the first time Harry had ever wished that wasn’t true. He had always enjoyed the fact that he couldn’t summon up the will to invade another human being’s mind, but at the moment it would have been damned useful and he sensed that Malfoy would have welcomed it.

Malfoy gave him a frustrated look, as much to say, What good are you? Then he sat up with a patient expression, and took a deep breath. Harry could see his chest inflating even if he couldn’t hear him breathing. He knew what that meant. Malfoy was committed to getting the truth across to him, in whatever form he needed to do it and however long it took.

Harry chuckled to himself. He should have found Malfoy’s arrogant attitude off-putting, but after what the poor bastard had suffered…he simply couldn’t.

“Do you know what happened here?” he asked quietly.

Malfoy nodded at once, his eyes narrow and assessing. He didn’t volunteer anything else, though, and Harry reckoned he probably couldn’t. What had happened was likely a magical accident so theoretical that Hermione would have a hard time understanding it. Harry would have to proceed to the heart of the matter by simple questions.

But there was something he had to ask first, because his heart demanded that he do so.

“Have you seen Ron or Hermione?”

Malfoy blinked at him, his eyes widening with something that looked like bafflement, before he shook his head once.

“Did you know that they’d come down here?”

Another head-shake.

Harry cursed softly to himself. Malfoy probably had some information, then, but it could hardly be complete, if he didn’t know about the Unspeakables’ most recent recruitment efforts. On the other hand, maybe if Harry told him about the symptoms of the disaster, he’d be able to recognize something he’d heard his captors discussing.

“Ron and Hermione were both recruited to become part of the Department of Mysteries,” he said, staring into Malfoy’s face. He reflected for a moment how odd it felt, to be having a serious discussion not peppered with insults with this particular man, but then discarded the idea. The only reason it was possible was because of Malfoy’s inability to speak. He’d be throwing insults about Harry’s lack of taste in clothes and sneering at Hermione’s heritage otherwise. Harry felt irritation rising in him, and pushed it away with a sharp shake of his head, which Malfoy watched curiously. “The Unspeakables have been calling anyone who’s interested to them, in fact, for a good while now. And then—two days ago now, it was, the Ministry lost all access to this floor. The lifts wouldn’t travel to it, the stairs wouldn’t lead to it, and the Minister and all his cronies are doing their very best to pretend that nothing is wrong, so that the public doesn’t panic.” He licked his lips, tasting salt and bitterness.

Malfoy pointed at Harry with two blunt stumps and raised his eyebrows.

“I went to the end of the stairs and jumped.” Harry shrugged.

Malfoy gave him a long, complex look with so many emotions packed into it Harry couldn’t hope to identify them all, but he could read the general gist of it anyway.

“No one else was doing anything!” he snapped. “I couldn’t let Ron and Hermione rot down here when I had a chance of rescuing them.”

Malfoy clapped a fist to his chest.

Harry blinked. “Of course I’ll rescue you, too,” he said. “But no one knew you were here. As far as the world above knows, you went abroad a year ago. Some people even encountered you in other countries, supposedly.”

When he saw the way Malfoy’s face paled, Harry winced and wished he had found some way of introducing the news more gently. But then, how was to know that Malfoy didn’t already realize that? He had no idea what Malfoy’s experiences had been like here, what he might have thought of passing time or what the Unspeakables had told him.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Malfoy looked at him. There was a drawn hollowness to his face that made Harry decide to keep a sharper eye on him. He had no guarantee that Malfoy would help him, now that he knew Harry’s intentions were to delve deeper into the Department of Mysteries. He might want to go up the staircase immediately. And really, after a year of captivity, he had the right.

Harry did intend to get all the information he could out of Malfoy first, though.

“That’s why I need to know everything you know about what happened,” Harry said, softening his voice now. “To the rest of the world, this looks like something the Department of Mysteries controlled and did on purpose. All attempts at communication with people behind the magical barrier failed. And I have to admit, I don’t think the geography of the tunnel outside is all natural.” He looked up at the corner of the room from which the sunlight-brightness came, squinting. “This isn’t either, is it?”

Malfoy shook his head one more time. He was sitting bolt upright now, with his hands clasped in his lap. Harry wondered what that meant.

“So.” Harry shifted, stretching his legs out in front of him. He had no idea of how long this conversation might take, and he wanted to be comfortable while he had it. “What happened to you here?”

Malfoy touched the chain on his leg, tapped his tongue against his teeth, and extended his fingerless hands. Then he hesitated. Harry waited. He couldn’t force Malfoy to reveal anything. Maybe he was lying. But the best way to get him to tell the truth would be to show patience and a willingness to let him “speak” at his own pace, which Harry knew worked well with nervous witnesses to crimes.

After several dozen heartbeats, Malfoy seemed to decide he had nothing to lose. He shrugged and shifted about, clanking the chain and curling his hands into odd shapes as he dragged the upper part of the robe over his head. Harry could see now that the garment had been cut in half, more like a shirt and trousers than robes, though it still resembled ordinary wizarding clothing to someone who wasn’t looking closely.

And then Harry’s attention switched from Malfoy’s clothes to Malfoy’s skin, and he couldn’t think of one damned thing to say.

The skin hung slack on his torso, as on his arms, but it was also covered with scars. Harry could make out the faint white lines of old injuries and the fresher pink of wounds barely healed. One enormous scar encircled his heart; Harry didn’t know how he could have survived such a wound. And there was a ridged, waxy-looking area near his navel that Harry knew from experience to be the result of a burn.

Malfoy visibly swallowed. Then he reached out, clasped Harry’s wrist—Harry shivered at the unfamiliar sensation of fingers that couldn’t curl all the way around his hand—and drew him in until Harry was touching his ribs. Harry ignored both his own pity and the unwashed smell that hung faintly but persistently around Malfoy, since the other man seemed intent on having Harry count his ribs.

Harry could find only two on the left side and only one on the right. His fingers after that sank into puffy skin that felt too much like fungus for his taste, and made him want to jerk back. He didn’t, though, reminding himself that this was probably the first friendly touch Malfoy had felt in a year.

“How is that possible?” he asked quietly, staring into Malfoy’s eyes. “How did you survive when they removed most of your ribs?”

Malfoy shrugged and shut his eyes, his expression infinitely weary. Of course, Harry knew the answer in general, if he didn’t know it specifically. Magic.

Harry shivered. He hated to ask the next question, but it might be a way into the more general mystery of what had happened to Malfoy, and to Ron and Hermione, and to the Department. “Do you—do you know what they used your ribs for?”

Oh, yes. Malfoy’s lips formed the soundless words with a vengeance, and then he said something else silently, but so fast Harry lost the sense of it. He waited until Malfoy was done, then shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not good at lip reading.”

Malfoy clenched his fists and probably growled under his breath, all but telling Harry that someone more useful and with talents more appropriate to the situation should have come instead. Harry’s hand still remained on his torso, though, and he only needed to move his fingers to remember that Malfoy was probably impatient because of his suffering.

“Just tell me slowly, all right?” Harry murmured, when Malfoy had relaxed enough to glare at him instead of trying to speak. “Maybe I can understand if you emphasize each word.”

Malfoy stretched his lips out grotesquely as he began the sentence, which Harry had to smile at. After that, he watched intently, but still only got one word in every four or five that Malfoy was trying to show him—especially when Malfoy got caught in his own story and started to speed up.

Unspeakables…research…think they… discovered… depends… rituals… mutilation… killing…truth…

Harry sighed and held up a hand at last. “Maybe we should do this one word at a time,” he said. “What did they seek when they took out your ribs? Did you ever hear them talking about it?”

Malfoy quite clearly said, Immortality.

“Not again,” Harry said. “Doesn’t anyone learn from Voldemort?”

Malfoy blinked.

“Never mind,” Harry said hastily. “Figure of speech.” He didn’t want to mention anything about the Horcruxes, especially since the Unspeakables could still be listening and Horcruxes would probably turn out to be the one route to immortality they hadn’t tried. “And you’re sure about who did this to you?”

Unspeakables. Malfoy flexed one hand out, which reminded Harry irresistibly of a lobster’s claw grasping after food.

Harry nodded. “All right.” He rubbed his sweating hands on his knees. Maybe it was silly of him, but he simply couldn’t keep touching Malfoy’s soft, spongy flesh where bone should have been. “Do you know why they kidnapped and used you, specifically? Did you have something they wanted? Did they ever talk about why they captured you?”

A headshake answered every question. Harry frowned. “Then I reckon we have to assume for now they wanted someone they could use, and that you happened to be the best, or the only, candidate they could snatch on short notice. Until we run into something or someone that can tell us otherwise.”

He sat in thought for a moment, wondering what the next question should be. Perhaps there was only one that mattered, though, based on Malfoy’s reactions so far, Harry thought he already knew the answer. “You don’t know anything about what lies further on? Behind you, further into the Department of Mysteries?”

An even more emphatic headshake this time.

“I thought not,” Harry muttered. He racked his brains again. Hermione would undoubtedly think of all kinds of intriguing and important questions to ask, but Harry wasn’t her. He felt an intense stab of loneliness and fought it away. He couldn’t allow it to damage his priorities. He was going to find Ron and Hermione and get them out. That was what he did.

But he had another person to rescue, first.

“Come on,” he told Malfoy, and stood. “I’ll get that chain off you, and then I can take you back to the staircase. It won’t be easy to get through the mist, I know, but we can at least try. And then you’ll be among people who can start doing their best to heal and cure you. Show them you can’t talk right away; it will save lots of—“

He stopped, because Malfoy was shaking his head so hard that his hair whipped around his cheeks. Harry frowned. “What’s the matter? You can’t tell me that you want to sit here and think. A year underground doesn’t make anyone that philosophical.”

He received a look of painful longing, which made him think that Malfoy missed the sun with a force Harry couldn’t even understand. But then Malfoy pointed to Harry’s wand, to himself, and to Harry again.

“I won’t come back with you, no. My friends need me.”

That resulted in more pointing.

“You—want to come with me?” Harry stared at him. Malfoy was a coward and a Slytherin. Neither one volunteered to walk into danger. “It’ll hardly be a picnic, you realize. I expect the Unspeakables who took out your ribs and your fingers and your voice to be after me. Or, if they aren’t, then whatever magical accident cut them off from the Ministry will be. And that might be even more dangerous. Magic without anyone to control it.”

Malfoy glared at him, folded his arms, and sat back on his heels. This message was clear: unless Harry gratified him by taking him along, he wouldn’t move, even if the chain was shattered.

Harry eyed him thoughtfully, and especially the way that the skin hung slack over the muscles. Malfoy had been no weakling, the last time Harry had faced him in the Room of Hidden Things, but that didn’t mean he was strong now. He might even be overestimating his own strength, since he wouldn’t have spent much time running about while the Unspeakables had hold of him. “You’re certain you can keep up?”

A look he recognized in the original crossed Malfoy’s face, even before he nodded. He’d seen it often enough at school. Anything you can do, I can do, Potter.

“I have food that can get you back on your feet,” Harry said. “But I don’t have time to nurse you every step of the way. Unless you’re absolutely sure, it would be better for everyone involved to send you back up the stairs.”

Sure, Malfoy mouthed.

Harry spent some more time studying Malfoy. A fire burned in his eyes that hadn’t appeared once throughout this long and painful conversation. Maybe Malfoy didn’t want anything more than revenge on his captors, but still, that was something Harry understood, something that he might have delayed his own escape for. Or maybe he had made friends with someone else among the Unspeakables’ prisoners—he couldn’t have been the only one—and wanted to rescue them, too.

“All right, then,” Harry said, with a small nod of his head. “Hold still.” He aimed his wand at the chain. “Relashio!”

The incantation should have made the chain around Malfoy release its hold, or perhaps dulled its luster a little more; since Harry’s Finite hadn’t destroyed it completely, he knew its magic must be more resistant than normal.

He did not expect the explosion of white light that rebounded from the chain and hit him, landing him flat on his back.

Harry gasped for breath, and then smelled singing flesh and realized it was his own. He rolled over twice, smothering the flames that were creeping up the front of his robe. He heard a sharp clank as Malfoy tried to reach after him and was brought up short by the chain.

“I’m all right,” Harry murmured, though he winced when his hand probed the tender flesh on his chest. Luckily, he knew a minor healing charm that would numb the area, if not take away the pain permanently. “And I’m stupid.” He turned around and stared at the chain again. “I don’t suppose you know anything about the protections the chain has?”

Malfoy grimaced and shook his head. Harry shrugged to let him know it was understandable; his mind had already grasped hold of an idea that he remembered, dimly, from a lecture on Transfiguration he’d had six months ago.

Sometimes, Auror Donaldson, who had blond hair even fussier than Malfoy’s and a high-pitched, nearly squeaking voice, had said, a murderer will Transfigure the body of his victim in order to hide his crime. However, the object will not react to various ordinary spells as a non-enchanted object should. For example, trying to Levitate a table that was once a corpse usually results in the table flying very fast at the caster and knocking him over. The most common reactions to manipulation of a Transfigured human are strange motions, deformation of the object into something else entirely, and a blast of white light that may be sufficient to set clothing and hair on fire. Be cautious.

Eyes narrowed, Harry once again aimed his wand at the chain. He wondered if he would find a second person to rescue, or only a corpse. But there was no way to be sure without casting the spell.

“Stay back, Malfoy,” he murmured, even though it was unnecessary; Malfoy had pressed himself towards the far corner of the room, from which the light came, the moment he saw Harry gesturing with the wand. “Homenum reverto!”

He was prepared, this time, for the flash of light that consumed the room; he flung an arm over his face, even as Malfoy scrambled frantically about. Harry didn’t smell anything burning, though, and reckoned that the light must have done what Auror Donaldson had said it would and flown off in a random direction when the reverse Transfiguration succeeded.

A moment later, he dropped his arm and stared at where the chain had been.

He had thought he was prepared for anything. Even so, he came near to vomiting.

What lay on the floor was a human being literally made into a chain. The hair was lifted from the head and twisted together, strand by strand, into a thick, chunky block. The arms had been—Harry thought, anyway, since he kept wanting to avert his eyes—tied together behind the back, manipulated together until the elbows broke, and then lifted high enough for the tips of the fingers to touch the hair. The spine itself was a tortured curve, with the bone breaking through the skin in a few places. The chest had warped so that Harry couldn’t be sure if the person had been male or female. The legs were bound together and broken like the arms, and some spell had probably been used to remove the bones finally, so that they could be braided around and over each other to make as thin a set of links as possible.

And the whole person had been bent around again, so that the legs were tied to the hair in an enormous circle.

Harry could only hope that the victim had died soon. He had to take several steps nearer, and look carefully, to be sure they were dead now.

He swallowed, and told himself that he would not be sick, and bile and dry heaves weren’t permissible, either. He wondered for a moment what to do with the body, and then shook his head helplessly. Burial was impossible, in this stone. He didn’t want to burn it just in case it could be brought to a family member who could identify it, later. And taking it with them was—

Was—

No.

Harry turned his back, finally, gratefully, and looked hard at Malfoy. His hand was over his mouth, his eyes wide with horror. Harry doubted he had been holding back on this. He probably hadn’t known the truth about the chain holding him.

“It’ll be all right,” Harry began, strangely desperate to reassure his former rival.

And then all the light in the room went out with shocking suddenness, and Harry heard a soft clicking of claws near the door he had come in by, followed by a loud, deliberate, sniffing sound.

Chapter 3.

Comments

Unspeakable Unspeakables

[annf.livejournal.com]

Augh! A corpse as a chain! Think this one is starting out as the beginning to a horror novel, but I still want more. :)

Re: Unspeakable Unspeakables

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

And yes, pretty much. The action/adventure vibe will also be strong, but there's not exactly a small dose of horror.

[astartes-amazon.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I'm feeling a little ill. I think I might have to avoid this story *rueful* I don't really want to, as most everything you write is brilliant, but I'm shocking when it comes to horror.
(I'll probably end up reading anyway)

I do like the issue you're bringing up of the unspeakables though. To have such an organisation that has carte blanch to do whatever they want simply because the public never hears about it... well, I think it has parallels in our own society. I may keep reading for that alone, but I'll probably skim the gory bits *g*

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

I understand if you have to; there are certain stories that I just have to give up reading (though usually it's because of a sexual or embarrassment squick. I usually have to give up on reading slash the minute it turns into mpreg, for example).

The Unspeakables are one of those groups that didn't receive much canon definition, but which I'm still fascinated by.

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

OH my GAAWWWWD!!! This is creepy. I've never read a horror fanfic before. *squeals with delight* It's fricking awesome! Gosh, you must be having such a hard time writing Draco without the sarcasm. Especially when Harry said, "I'm stupid." I'll bet Draco's head nearly exploded with the need to comment. Poor thing. Excellent way to show Harry's guard has already dropped, though. He doesn't have to brace for Draco's barbs, so he's much more relaxed in his presence than usual. You're so good at this. *fangirl flail*

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Draco's characterization is different on the surface, but pretty much the same in my head. So, yes, he did want to comment when Harry said, "I'm stupid," but he also knows that Harry is his best chance of getting out of there, and he doesn't want to give Harry an excuse to leave him behind, so he's controlling his facial expressions. :)

Harry will sometimes think that Draco's just silent in brain as well as in mouth. Draco will do his best to cure him of that delusion fairly quickly. :)

[pervert-bitch.livejournal.com]

So fucking creepy but also so fucking addictive! I want, nay!, I demand MOAR!
I haven't read an horror fic in ages! In fact, the last one I read was way before DH! :P

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The next update will probably be a few days from now.

[ravenqueen55.livejournal.com]

This is fantastic! Sci-fi and mystery all rolled into one. I'm loving it!

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I hadn't thought of it as SF, but I suppose it might be. I've been reading more SF lately, so that could be having an influence.

[gilith-ramaloce.livejournal.com]

You've successfully made me loose my appetite. -rueful- I like horror stories but gore does tend to get to me >.< Oh Draco. -sniff- This makes me really nervous as to what condition we are going to find Ron and Hermione because of course they're only there as fodder. I sure hope there's a way to regrow Draco's bones, even though they're completely missing.

Wonderful thought, and stomach, provoking chapter!

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thanks, sort of. :) I did mean the corpse-chain idea to be gory, but wasn't sure whether it would seem that way or just weird.

Ron and Hermione got kidnapped quite recently, so their condition may not be as bad.

And thank you!

[neji-chan.livejournal.com]

I have no words for what the DoM has been (still is?) doing. They should know Voldemort was seeking immortality and what he became in the process. It's weird that the whole department could be into this without the Minister's knowledge: Schacklebolt wouldn't permit it, a neither would have Scrimgeour. Fudge on the other hand, if there were influential people behind this... The question is who's behind this: one person, a group, the whole department? Or perhaps it's not immortality they are after? Gah, so many questions! Oh, the mystery! I love it XD

Poor Draco, one year of torture! He'll never entirely recover from this, if he survives. The psychological effects of what happened to him will be shown during their journey, I guess. Harry and draco will have to come to some kind of communication method or they'll die out of sheer frustration!

The human!chain was awesome, great touch! I'm really loving this, can't wait for more!

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Well, there are some answers to that, but of course not ones I can tell you! I think the answer when it comes will be sufficient, though. But Draco is telling the truth about what he knows, so far as he knows it.

Yes, psychology will come to play a role. Draco is almost "normal" right now because, actually, a lot of his memories are missing. But Harry will locate them in Pensieves along the way, and...well.

And thank you!

[ura-hd.livejournal.com]

This was very-very disturbing.

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

[yumikoyoshihana.livejournal.com]

Wow, you weren't kiddning when you said this was a horror (and darlin', you write it well *shivers*) But gah! I just finished Hannibal today, and thought I'd be more prepared for other horror stories but, well, no. Just... wow.

Oh, and I like that you had Draco's fingers cut off instead of transfigured into flippers. Not only does it match the mood of the story more, the flipper thing just didn't..... sit right. No real reason, but yea. This idea was better. Well, not better, but you know what I mean.

And omg the ribs!!!! Ack! Like, I know skele-gro would probably work but...but.... eep! This fic looks like its going to be deliciously horror filled and I just cannot wait!

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you! With magic-inspired horror, I think things should be more grotesque, because more things are possible. And I do grow tired of horror stories that just stick to vampires and werewolves.

A lot of the magic in the story depends on mutilation. Hence Draco's hands.

[shukuun.livejournal.com]

Wow. This is so... horrifyingly captivating. XD

And many kudos to you! You're such versatile writer ♥. It's amazing how well you write regardless of the genre. =)

I think this story is working it's way to being my favourite work by you. XD

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

In this case, I have a lot of practice writing horror. I think I have the least in pure fluff, which is why even my fluff turns serious at the end. :)

*dances in glee at last statement*

[darkestnight12.livejournal.com]

Ergh...*presses hand to mouth* Grglere. *runs for the bathroom holding her stomach*

Wow...that was grotesque...but disturbingly attention holding. -_-;;

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[punkfaerie4242.livejournal.com]

I. Love. You. You are my favorite Harry/Draco fanfic author.

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[disarming-smile.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, ominous ending, there. You really weren't joking about this being horror.

I'm imagining being Draco, having cursed that chain for months on end, janking it about and then discovering it was actually human.

I'd say I can't wait what you have in store for us, but I'm actually a bit ancious about it. X}

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

No. I've had a few people say they wish they'd taken the warnings more seriously. I may repeat them at the beginning of the next chapter.

In this case, Draco was actually chained just recently. (It's not really a spoiler to reveal that). But yeah, still traumatic.

And thank you!

[sofiaottoman.livejournal.com]

*shivers* that was just gross!

I liked what you did in that chapter, the idea you created about the Unspeakables and how potentially dangerous they were/are. I also liked the way you handled the interaction between Harry and Draco, and how for both of them despite their history (or maybe because of it) there's still a kind of trust between them.

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

The trust is kind of strictly necessary right now, since Draco has knowledge Harry needs and Draco needs Harry for rescue. But it will grow.

[shini-tenshi.livejournal.com]

...Ugh. Harry has a really strong stomach, and I'm guessing after what Draco has been through, even if his initial reaction is horror, his body isn't going to react by vomiting.

While I'm pretty grossed out by the whole 'human-chain' thing, I have a more pressing question. Will Draco be able to fully heal? Or will he always be fingerless and ribless?

I hope things get better, but I'm sure it's gonna take a while. Looking forward to new chapters.

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Draco has seen more than that (though he can't remember some of it right now).

If Draco survives, then Healers can probably restore him. (After all, there's Skele-Gro for the bones). I'd be more worried about his psychology.

And thanks!

[earthangel1982.livejournal.com]

I love your fanfic but mutilated Draco is just I think abit too much for
me:(...i'll continue reading and maybe skip some of the more horror sections sorry!!

I dont suppose I can put in a vote for a happy ending?;)

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Do what you need to do. I should warn you that it doesn't really get better/less darker from here, though, except in some of the Harry/Draco interactions.

I have what I think is a happy ending!

[thearchpoet.livejournal.com]

I kind of don't follow Harry's logic at the beginning of the chapter: You find someone chained to the wall who's obviously been abused and your reaction is "lets see what he knows about Ron and Hermione" instead of "wait, someone put you here and - more importantly - someone's keeping you here thus there is a person involved who may return at any moment."??? Although - I suppose JK's Harry isn't particularly bright either.

More please! ^_^

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Harry assumed that Draco would have been a lot more panicked if his captor could return at any moment. Plus, there wasn't any obvious clue that anyone would (the floor was covered with dust, mentioned in the first chapter, which showed that no one had been there in a while).

More is coming!

[ticklemecheeky.livejournal.com]

Oh, my gosh! Draco! Oh, Draco! I don't really think I have anything else to say about that. I can't wait to see him get over those handicaps; I can only imagine what he's been through, and then the additional frusteration of trying to communicate to Harry.

On a seperate note... the corpse-chain! I think that's an image that will be sticking with me for a while.

It's only the second chapter, but the plot has me hooked. :) Looking forward to the next chapter!

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Draco is sure frustrated. But at least now he has more hope than he's had for a long time.

And thanks! I like the corpse-chain, in the way that you like a disgusting pet.

[bluevanilla.livejournal.com]

I am thoroughly intrigued and completely horrified and squicked out.

I will wait with anticipation for the next chapter, and hopefully I'll remember next time not to be eating lunch when I start reading it.

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Good! I'm hoping that mixture stays the same, or goes up. :)

Heh, that should probably be a separate warning for this story: "Do not read while eating lunch. Or breakfast, or dinner, or tea, or dessert..."

[gyspim.livejournal.com]

I love your stories. This is my first time reading and enjoying an horror fic. I have tended to avoid most horror because most are kinda cheesy. You are a great writer. I am anxiously waiting for updates.

[wittyying.livejournal.com]

This is awesome...so far. I can't wait to read more.

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Fair warning: it does get quite a bit darker from here on in.

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

I like this story! I love the horror genre, except for its tendency of making me afraid. Your fic is perfect because, until this point, that feature has yet to surface. :)

[tsuj.livejournal.com]

Oh. That was, um, erm, horrible. Well written, but...
I admit, it was hard to read and I skimmed a bit of the human chain's description.
Can you tell I've not read horror before?

However, I will plow onward because your tale is completely intriguing.

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you were willing to continue reading despite that.

And most of the time, the actual gross details aren't all that important. It's more the point that the Unspeakables are willing to do this at all.

[cmwinters.livejournal.com]

Ack! A Grue!

[eye-ofthe-liger.livejournal.com]

Eurgh, the body D:.

I still love Draco. You can tell its hard for him not to be an ass. And not just because he's mute ^_^