Summary:

AU. Slash. Oneshot. Harry is a Fire Elemental. Theo rushes to rescue him after a kidnapping gone wrong. Will he make it in time? TheoxHarry. Written for the Fandom4LLS 204 compilation.

Pairings:

Harry Potter x Theodore Nott Jr.

Disclaimer:

I do not own any Harry Potter anything. That belongs to J.K. Rowling. I just like playing with Harry in my own little world of storyville. I make no money by writing this fanfiction. All original characters are my own.

Rating:

M – Not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16.

WARNINGS: Implied torture. Implied violence. Triggers for confined spaces, depression and heavy doses of angst.

A/N: This was last year's contribution to the Fandom4LLS 2014 compilation. I meant to posit it last month, when the date restriction was lifted. Here we go, even if a bit late. I'll be updating TBDH when I get the chapter back from brissygirl. :) In the meantime, I'm writing scraps and bits here and there. I've been terribly sick for the last week, but thankfully, recovering from yesterday. This is purely a TheoxHarry fic where I wanted to see Theo rescue a wildly powerful Fire elemental Harry. Enjoy and Thanks for reading! ~Scion

They kept him in a pit.

Refilling the water to nose height every night, they made sure that he was almost always submerged and when they felt particularly vicious, they would add ice.

Cold water to an Elemental Fire Mage was the worst kind of torture, short of gouging their heart out with a dull blade. His hands were bound together and he was hung from a hook at the top of the pit, just high enough that his feet couldn't touch the ground as the water level fell.

No one expected Harry Potter to have fire magic and they really didn't expect him to be an Elemental Fire Mage. That had brought a whole new set of fanatics out of the woodwork and of course Harry was his perfectly selfless self, willing to sacrifice anything to save the innocents at the cost of his own life.

Today, they added a few undesirables to the water.

The sickening stench made Harry's empty stomach clench in a phantom ache. If he could have vomited, he would have—but there was nothing left to come up. The shackles they used were ancient, old magic and they required a key that he currently could not reach.

He'd managed a little trick to partially free one hand—a trick that he knew he'd pay dearly for, when his temperamental lover caught up to him—but the pain had nearly undone him right then. He had a higher pain threshold than most, but coupled with the lack of light, food and other basic, human necessities, Harry Potter was fading.

Why they didn't kill him, he didn't know. But he had heard a few muttered whispers about not wanting to deal with his ghost. Whether he'd return as a spirit or not, Harry didn't know. He had a feeling that if he died under such dismal circumstances though, Hermione would likely be the one to bring him back just to smack some sense into his head. Harry shook his head, faintly to clear it. He needed to think of other things. Something better, something more hopeful. Time was passing too slowly now and his strength was fading.

A tiny spark of hope bravely stayed alive through the entire ordeal. He knew that help was coming. Knew it would come with the same certainty that the sun rose in the east and died in the west so the moon could breathe.

Knew that the Aurors would never find him—not here, not at he was and not with the barriers constructed in that forsaken mountain. Harry didn't know how, when and why they'd chosen him or the blasted mountain, but he didn't care.

Theo would come.

Theo always came.

Harry was sure that his lover-turned-husband had placed a tracking spell of some sort on him, though he'd never been able to find out what it was or where it was on his person. He didn't care, if it meant that Theo would always be able to find him.

Naturally, Theo denied it on principal, but it allowed Harry that everlasting sliver of hope when he felt his final hours drawing near. There was only so much a fire elemental could take. There was only so much a single soul could bear.

He felt the flame flicker and stutter inside of him. Hot, frustrated tears slipped down his cheeks, splashing into the stagnant water that was neck-high. He silently willed his lover to hurry. To find him before it was too late.

He didn't make a habit of being captured or kidnapped, but once in a while, mistakes happened. He was only human, after all.

Please Theo, wherever you are…

Theo picked his way through the murky, dark cave, the dull lumos casting barely enough light on the depressing surroundings. His Unspeakable cloak was drawn tightly around his shoulders, hiding him from all prying eyes and masking all possible sound. He traveled alone today, well-aware that having any tag-alongs would be more hindrance than help.

There had been volunteers, but he'd told them where to wait and set up a specific apparition point. Once he reached Harry, they were all free to come storming in, but he was too far on edge to allow anyone or anything to jeopardize the mission.

He cut the light as he approached one corner, realizing that he was now much closer to the center of the villain's lair. He could feel the sickly, throbbing pulse of dark magic reaching out to him with clinging tendrils.

The sensation was disgusting and disturbing. Theo drew his second wand and crossed it with his other one, at chest level, forming an X. He felt the flare of light magic course through him and knew that it would give away his position.

There was no need to venture in cautiously though. He was Slytherin, yes, but he was also very, very ticked off. Anyone foolish enough to get in his way, deserved what they had coming to them. In this case, it would be a swift and not-so-merciful death.

Wands uncrossed, one gripped lightly in each hand, Theo strode forward. He rounded the corner and shot off a dazzling array of stunning spells and blasting curses. His photographic memory flared to life, replaying the main cavern exactly as it had been so his spells would be precise.

He cast a shield bubble as an afterthought, realizing that while he'd managed to catch most of the idiots off guard, there were a few more competent henchmen that were willing to play. He made short work of them, throwing out spells left and right, dredging up darker curses he hadn't touched in years, while testing out a few of the new ones his department had been debating over.

The results he would remember for later and include in his report. Perhaps it would bring about a bonus come holiday times. Theo snorted, throwing the cloak back over his shoulders so he could move a bit more freely.

He tried to reach out through the marital bond, to find his wayward husband, but the feedback was so faint, he couldn't pinpoint it.

Angry eyes scanned the room before Theo beckoned to one twitching henchman. The aftereffects of the spell he'd cast were visible. The man jerked and twisted in spasms from some invisible torture.

Theo didn't care.

He hauled him up by one torn shirt collar and stuck him to the wall with a convenient sticking charm. "Where is he?" He pressed his wand into the heaving chest.

The man whimpered and wailed, his words barely coherent.

"Where. Is. He?" Theo demanded. The second wand in his hand morphed into a silver, ceremonial knife. "Your life means nothing to me," he deadpanned. "I can kill you now and make it excruciatingly painful or you can help and I can make it moderately painful. Either way, you're not leaving here alive and you won't be coming back as a ghost either. Take your pick." Thin eyebrows arched upwards, meaningfully. "Speak or you'll forever hold your tongue—unless I can think of a better use for it. A potion, perhaps?"

In the end, it took a few new wounds and a few broken things before Theo had been able to piece together what he'd said. He didn't bother to kill the man, but rather, dragged him over to the grated hole in the floor where he'd been directed.

He nearly slammed into the protective magical barrier, but all potential damage was absorbed by his mewling captive. Theo looked from the bloody, blubbering fool to the crackling wall of blue energy currently preventing him from reaching the grated hole in the ground.

He shrugged and threw the body forward. The magic he used was the kind that made Harry scold him and banish him to the couch for a week. Theo didn't care. It'd been three months since he'd been able to see, touch and cherish his idiot of a husband.

Harry had promised that he'd make sure to always be around so Theo's darker urges never had to come to the surface. There were only two triggers that set him off these days, Idiots targeting his Harry and said Harry being too busy with his work to pay attention to him. Most of the time, those triggers could be avoided and Theo would be a good little Unspeakable.

Most of the time.

It was blood magic that brought the protective ward down.

There was nothing left of the body when the final remnants of the spell melted away. The blue wall of energy crackled and faded to nothing. There was a reason that he held the title of Unspeakable. The things he did in the name of that title ought never to be spoken where human ears might hear.

Theo lurched forward, dropping to a crouch over the wide, metal grate.

"Harry?" He called down, squinting into the darkness. A soft lumos was cast almost at once and he caught sight of the dirty, bedraggled body dangling in the muddy sludge below.

The limp body twitched, faintly and slowly, the head turned to show one swollen, emerald eye.

Theo swore.

He stepped back and began to blast the hinges holding the grate in place. It was with a quick levitation spell that he had the grate moved out of the way and then he perched on the edge, trying to get at the shackles.

"…key," Harry mumbled, through numb lips.

"A key?" Theo muttered. He leapt to his feet and began a quick summoning circle to bring the desired item to his side. He used another levitation spell to lift Harry off of the stupid hook and out of the wretched hole.

It made his chest ache unbearably to see the way his husband looked, shivering and battered, too pale and drenched from head to toe.

"Rats," Theo muttered to himself. "They're all rats in a hole. They'll die like rats too. How dare they treat you like this? They ought to be killed like the vermin they are-!"

"T-theo," Harry chattered. He couldn't stop his body from shaking and quivering. His senses had dulled, but they hadn't vanished. He knew that there would be more reinforcements coming. He hoped that Theo hadn't come after him alone. There was no way they would survive. Not like this.

Theo's summoning spell completed itself. The key was found and the shackles were removed. He cast several warming and drying spells, along with a few freshening charms to rid the air of the undesirable stench of waste.

"Of all the stupid things in the world," Theo raged, yanking Harry's arm up to eyelevel for an expert inspection. "I tell you I'm taking two weeks off, to call in. Oh no, you have to go and volunteer yourself for one of those bloody forsaken-"

Harry gritted his teeth, unwilling to make a sound even though the rough treatment hurt. This was the hand he'd broken to slip out of the cuff. He knew the moment Theo realized what he'd done, because he stopped in mid-rant and was perfectly silent as he went about healing it.

The impressive rant picked right back up a few minutes later and Harry simply sat, allowing the angry words to wash over him. Theo in a temper was better than Theo destroying stuff because he felt like it. He'd known the Slytherin long enough to understand the difference. He'd cared enough to marry the prickly bastard.

Warmth began to creep back inside of him, the lack of cold and the absence of water, helping tremendously in that respect. Harry wiggled his stiff, aching toes inside of his newly dried shoes. It felt like heaven.

He tuned out of Theo's rant until he realized that he'd been right about reinforcements. His dulled senses were perking up quite nicely and he could tell that it wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be. Theo could blast their way out of there—or, he could do it.

That thought rattled around in his head as he felt their approach, their dark magic tainting their natural signatures and making it easy to distinguish between friend and foe. Harry yawned, cautiously leaning against Theo's shoulder as he continued to lecture while simultaneously healing and repairing the cuts, bruises and torn clothes.

"…are you finished?" Harry finally asked. The reinforcements were getting to be a bit too close for comfort and Theo was not in the mood to listen—he could tell.

"Finished?" Theo all but bit the word off. "With you? Never. How did they get their slimy claws into you anyway?"

Harry hid a smile in Theo's cloaked shoulder as he was gently turned to the side and cleansing spellwork washed over him, removing curse remnants. "How else would they get me, Theo? It's not like I came waltzing in here alone and asking them to capture me."

Theo told him exactly what he thought of that in not-very-nice terms.

Harry's grin grew wider. He loved Theo's snark, especially when such uncultured things fell from the lips of his very pureblooded husband. "Children," he said, softly. "You'll help them, won't you? They were the ones that were smuggling them across the-"

"Where are they?" Theo asked, tersely.

"Somewhere over there," Harry flapped a hand at the far wall. "I can sort of sense them but-" he stopped when the magical presences vanished at once. He heard Theo snap his fingers and knew that his lover had found them and successfully taken care of them—in a good way. They would be helped. "Thank you."

"What else?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't give me that, Harry. You didn't just let yourself be captured for the sake of a few dozen children. What else?"

"They were planning to assassinate the Minister and-"

"He's not worth your life!"

"Just because you don't like him doesn't mean to let him die," Harry scolded, mildly. "I have all the details for the trap and I'll write it down in my report."

Theo scoffed. "What else—and if you dare mention something trivial, I'll kill you myself and bring you back to do it again."

Harry bit his lip. "Nothing really. It was a long week."

"A long week?" Theo drew back to look him in the eye. "You burnt yourself out, didn't you?"

Harry conveniently did not answer.

Theo's scowl grew. "Don't you listen to anything I say?"

"Not exactly. I just—I needed you and you weren't there. You hadn't put in for your two weeks yet and I'd already agreed to help. I figured it wouldn't hurt to save a few children. No one deserves to have their life screwed up at such a young age."

"I'm here now," Theo said, quietly. He deliberately chose to ignore the rest of that jumble of words, because sometimes they said things when they were hurting. Things they didn't mean. Things that were meant to keep their tattered, healing hearts safe—even from each other.

"So I see," Harry stared back. He could lose himself in those beautiful, bittersweet eyes that now held his entire world within their shimmering gaze.

"Well, what are you waiting for? An engraved invitation?"

Harry lurched up from his awkward position to hook his heavy arms around Theo's neck. He drew him close for a harsh kiss that turned sloppy at once, as they devoured each other with a hunger borne of absence.

"Three months, Harry," Theo growled, when they parted for a breath. Heavy-lidded eyes feasted on Harry's pinked cheeks and Theo dove in for another open-mouthed kiss. He felt the moment when Harry began to latch onto him.

It was subtle and soft at first, as most of Harry's magic was. Then it began to build until an unbearable fire consumed him from head to toe. He drew back, panting, body tingling, magic singing merrily as bonds between them sang to life.

Fire elementals were known for having starters.

Anyone with a brain could see that Theo was Harry's for all the right reasons.

Renewed in strength, spirit and magic, Harry didn't bother to hold back. He'd been pushed too far to worry about such things. Fire sprang to life at his fingertips, spiraling out in beautiful, hungry flames.

Theo began to sweat beneath the rising heat, but he didn't complain. Instead, he sagged back on the ground, leaning against Harry's now steady legs, watching as his husband deliberately did not temper his flames. It would build to an unimaginable force and he knew the entire hideout—if it even could be called that—would be razed to the ground by the time his Harry left.

It was brutal and brilliant.

He loved seeing Harry like this.

Theo started faintly when he felt strong arms slip beneath his trembling arms and legs. "Harry," he whined, but it was a token protest and nothing more. He'd given Harry all of his strength and temper, barely keeping enough magic for himself. The fading adrenaline and burst of temper was now leaving him in a less-than-functional way.

Harry chuckled, readjusting his grip to hold him more securely. "Shh. You're not that heavy."

Theo muttered and grumbled a bit more, but nestled his face in the crook of Harry's neck. He was not heavy, thank you very much, he actually did follow a sensible diet—not at all like Harry's habit of simply eating whatever was at had.

"You're cold, hungry and tired," Harry said, sensibly. He was definitely more of himself now than he was a minute ago. He pushed a bit more of his warmth into Theo and was relieved to feel a warm puff of breath on his neck. "There's nothing wrong with carrying you."

"But I came to rescue you," Theo's voice held a hint of a whine.

"And you did a fantastic job," Harry said, proudly. "Thank you." He couldn't possibly put into words how wonderful it'd felt to know that his hopes weren't in vain that someone—Theo—would come for him. Such hopes were never vain, not while Theo was alive.

Theo hummed in answer, before tilting his head just enough to kiss Harry's jaw. "You're welcome." He relaxed in those capable arms. "Home now, any time soon."

Harry laughed.

~FIN~

This was one of my entries for the Fandom4LLS 2014 compilation last year. I meant to post it in January. I figure I ought to go ahead, seeing as it's February now. :) Updates to TBDH are coming soon-for all my faithful and wonderful readers. I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of TheoxHarry goodness. Thanks for reading! ~Scion