Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.

Written for;

One Character Only, Round 2. Muggle!AU. Extra Prompts - Expensive/ Broken / Navy Blue / Exhausted.

Friends Competition - S5, Ep5 - The Kips.

100 Ways to say - 10. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Are You Crazy Enough - 85. Muggle!AU

Hogwarts, Love In Motion - HarryLucius.

Carriage Disaster

The crash was unexpected, jolting his from his seat before he could brace himself. Landing hard on the floor, he cried out in pain, the noise echoed by the other passengers around him. The lights overhead flickered, the screeching of the train on the track sinister in volume.

Lucius stretched a hand out and gripped the railing tightly, holding on for dear life as the train carriage skidded to a stop, tilting precariously to the side.

The lights flickered out, plunging the carriage into darkness. The screams petered out, replaced by broken whimpers, sobs and hard breathing.

"Is anybody badly injured?" a voice called from close to where Lucius lay, making him try and turn his body to look. A sudden torchlight shocked him, and he recoiled away from it.

He could hear someone moving, and he tried to sit himself up, wincing when a sharp pain shot through his side. A hand on his shoulder made him jump, and he looked up to see a younger man looking down at him with concern, his torch shining on the area around them.

"Are you okay?"

Lucius nodded hesitantly. "I believe so. Is anyone else injured?"

"Nothing too bad," the man replied, a look of relief on his face. Lucius noted that he had a nasty looking gash on his forehead, and bruising was already blossoming along his jaw and his neck. "Hopefully they'll get us out of here soon, I don't think it would be tremendously smart to attempt to open the door ourselves."

Lucius silently agreed with the man. Who knew what could happen if they tried to dislodge the door. He watched the man cautiously cross the carriage, shining his torch against the walls, clearly searching for something.

A few minutes later, the soft cheer of triumph told Lucius that it had been found. The man pulled down a large box like thing, and started pulling out items.

Lucius watched him curiously as he started hanging out blankets to the small clusters of people around the carriage. As more lights appeared, he realised that there were extra torches in the pack as well.

An emergency pack, clearly.

As the man approached him, holding out a blanket and torch in one hand, shining his own torch at the floor to guide his way, Lucius watched the blood trickle down the side of his face.

"Is there a first aid kit in that box?" he asked, accepting the offered items.

The blanket was foiled on one side, navy blue on the other, and both items had the train-line logo stamped proudly across them.

The man nodded, eyeing him critically. "I thought you said you weren't injured?"

"I'm not," Lucius confirmed, ignoring the pain in his side that was disagreeing strongly with the statement. "But that cut on your head looks awful. I'm not a doctor or anything, but I can clean and cover it for you until help arrives."

The man smiled, a teasing light to his eyes as he replied, "I wouldn't want to get blood all over that posh suit you're wearing."

Lucius snorted, amused despite the situation. Expensive suits were the least of his priorities at the moment.

"Get the first aid kit and come and sit," he replied, his tone brooking no argument. The man seemed to hesitate for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders, turning around once more.

As he reached Lucius, first aid kit in hand, the carriage slipped slightly against the wall it was against, the man falling against a seat, gasping on impact.

"Are you okay?" Lucius asked, moving as fast as he was able to look at where the man had ended up sprawled.

"Yes," the man replied, his voice soft. "I think so, at least. Help me up?"

"Of course," Lucius murmured, gripping the man's hand tightly and pulling him back to his feet.

"This is a bloody nightmare," the man muttered.

Lucius could only agree. He picked up the first aid kit from where it had fallen and led the man back to where he'd been sitting, where there was room for them both comfortably.

"Hopefully, they'll be able to get us out soon," the man said after a moment, glancing over at the other people in the carriage. They were all talking quietly to their companions, huddling together for comfort.

Lucius was glad they all seemed to have at least calmed some.

Opening the first aid kit, the man shining his light over it so Lucius could clearly see what he doing, he quickly found alcohol wipes, gauze and medical tape.

"Like I said, I'm not a doctor, but I can clean you up," Lucius whispered, unsure why he was whispering.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. What's your name?"

Lucius blinked, before offering a small smile. He supposed, in this kind of situation, an exchange of names would be helpful.

"Lucius."

"Harry," the man replied, his lips tilting up. He paused for a moment before he frowned lightly. "Lucius as in Lucius Malfoy?"

Raising his eyebrow in question as he gently rubbed the wipe over the cut on Harry's head, Lucius nodded.

"One and the same. I see my name precedes me?"

"I know your son."

"Ah. Draco. Friend or rival?"

"Both, I suppose," Harry replied with a small chuckle. "He loves to hate me, I think, but we get on well enough. I went to university with him," he added in explanation.

"What were you studying?" Lucius asked, half to distract Harry from the discomfort of the wipe, but also because he was genuinely interested.

"I want to be a lawyer," Harry replied, wincing at the harder wipe Lucius did to get off a stubborn bit of dried blood. "My dad was one."

"Was?"

"My parents died when I was a baby. I was brought up by my godfathers."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Lucius murmured, not really sure what to say.

The slight smirk on Harry's face told him that he looked as uncomfortable as he felt. Concentrating on the task at hand, Lucius taped folded over gauze over the gash and sat back, pulling the blanket over himself as he did.

The temperature in the carriage was dropping rapidly.

"Hopefully, it won't be too much longer," he said, for lack of anything else. Sirens could be heard, though they were distant.

Harry nodded. "Thanks for…" he gestured to his head. "I must look a right state."

"Not at all," Lucius replied, completely honest in his assessment. With his dark hair and bright green eyes, Harry was certainly not a chore to look at.

He saw the younger man shivering and shifted, holding up the blanket.

"Come under here," he ordered, a little surprised when Harry followed his words immediately, huddling into his side.

Lucius hesitated momentarily before he wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulders, holding him closer.

"You read about these things happening in the papers, or hear it on the news, and you never think it's going to be you in the situation," Harry said after a few moments. Lucius's heart went out to the younger man, the exhaustion in his tone was clearly evident.

"I know. But… we were lucky," Lucius replied comfortingly. "Nobody has been seriously injured, and they'll have us out soon. The sirens are louder, help's nearly here."

Harry leant his head back against Lucius. "I'm not glad that you're in this situation, but… I'm glad you're here."

Lucius squeezed his arm gently. "Oddly enough, me too."

When the emergency services stabilised the carriage and got the door open, they found Lucius Malfoy sitting on the floor, his arm positioned awkwardly against the seat beside him.

"... the lone passenger in the crashed carriage, identified as Lucius Malfoy, CEO of Malfoy Industries, was found dead on the scene. The family lawyers have asked that the public allow the family to grieve in peace…"