Immortalitas Aestas

The room was silent after Dumbledore made his announcement.

"Remus," the Headmaster said after a moment, "please inform the Ministry. They need to dispatch Aurors immediately to Reading."

Lupin nodded, moving towards the fireplace. He lit a fire, wincing as the heat hit him fully in the face. It was already extremely warm in the room, and the fire made it instantly worse. Harry felt a trickle of sweat drip down the center of his back and his glasses slid down his nose. Before he could push them back up, Draco reached out a hand and slid them back into place. Harry smiled at him and received a small smile in return.

"Arthur Weasley," Remus spoke clearly into the flames. Mr. Weasley's head suddenly appeared, the red of his hair almost seamlessly blending into the fire.

"Remus," he said in way of greeting. "What's happened?"

"There's been an attack on Reading. You need to send Aurors immediately if there is any chance of us finding anything," Lupin replied.

Arthur nodded. Harry had never seen him look so resigned. "I'll do so immediately," he said sadly.

"This would be easier if we had full Ministry support," Dumbledore replied before Arthur could disappear.

Arthur nodded again. "I'll talk to Fudge again. But I'm not sure it will do any good, Albus. He'll
probably tell everyone that it was just some children playing with their parents' wands or some other nonsense." He disappeared with a pop.

"Everyone sit down, please. Remus put out that fire. It's much too hot to keep it burning." Dumbledore reached into his sleeve and withdrew a purple handkerchief, using it to wipe his brow. Seeing that no one had moved to sit, he gestured towards the chairs with his free hand. "Sit."

Ron and Hermione sat on the sofa next to Harry, looking pointedly at Draco, who sighed and moved over a bit. Neither noticed Harry move over as well, settling closer to him. Draco placed a hand on the center of Harry's back, out of sight of the others in the room. Harry leaned slightly into the touch.

"What do we know?" Snape asked. He'd chosen not to sit, choosing instead to lean against the wall. He glanced briefly at Harry before turning his attention to the Headmaster.

"Death Eaters attacked Reading about ten minutes ago. They killed some Muggle families. Voldemort was among them, I believe." Here Dumbledore looked at Harry, who nodded.

Hermione put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Are you all right, Harry?" she asked quietly, concern evident in her brown eyes.

"I'm fine, Hermione," he told her, giving her a half-smile. She nodded, returning the slight smile with one of her own. Harry hadn't told her, or anyone for that matter, that each vision was becoming increasingly more painful, almost to the point where he was unable to breath, or, like this last attack, where he was hardly able to move at all. He knew that it was only a matter of time before the accompanying headache hit, and he hoped they'd be through with their meeting before that happened.

"We weren't expecting this," Sirius said with a shake of his head.

"Actually," Hermione spoke up, glancing briefly around at the other Adversarius members, "we were. Sort of." All eyes were now on her, the members of the Order staring at her in disbelief.

Across the room, Pansy laughed slightly. "Nice start there, Granger. Why don't you get the map? I'll explain." She waved her hand dismissingly, turning to face Dumbledore. Hermione rolled her eyes in response but got up, walking across the room to the cabinet against the wall.

"You see, Professor," Pansy began, pausing for effect. Next to Harry, Draco sighed in exasperation.

"Pansy, just tell them," he said, annoyance clear in his voice. "We don't have time for dramatics."

She sent him a look of loathing, which he ignored, her eyes flicking briefly towards Harry. "We plotted the other attacks on this map." She gestured towards the map that Hermione had just placed in the center of the table. "Then we connected the dots. The lines form a diamond." She emphasized this by running her finger along the shape.

"So we looked at the attacks in England," Hermione cut in with a pointed look at Pansy, pointing to the dots on the lower half of the map. "There were only three attacks at this time. All the cities are the same distance from London, so we picked a fourth point that fit to finish the shape. That point was Reading."

No one said anything. Harry saw a look of uncertainty cross Hermione's face.

Sirius finally cleared his throat. "Okay," he said slowly. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Hermione looked embarrassed. "None of you were here," she pointed out, looking around the room for help from the others. "You and Mrs. Malfoy were in London, Professor Lupin was recovering from his transformation, Professor Dumbledore was at the Ministry...." She trailed off.

"None of you were here," Harry said again, looking around at the members of the Order. "There was no one to tell."

"Besides that," Draco spoke up, "we weren't sure about it. We couldn't figure out when they were going to attack. And the Ministry would have wanted more than a guess from a few seventh year students. Morag couldn't get a clear reading because of the clouds, and neither Mandy nor Pansy saw anything useful." This was said very calmly. Draco was looking at the fingernails on his left hand, appearing totally disinterested in what was going on. Harry, however, knew better and had to hide a smile. Draco had a habit of twirling the ring on his middle finger with his thumb when he was thinking deeply about something. Harry had noticed it numerous times in Potions class, usually when they were taking a test, and noticed that Draco was doing the same thing right now.

"Well, do you have an idea about where they might attack next?" Snape asked irritably.

"Actually, we do," Hermione replied in a businesslike manner. "Either the Ministry or right here at Hogwarts." She pointed to both places on the map, their locations marked by a gold star.

"And how do you know this?" Narcissa asked calmly from her perch on the arm of Sirius's chair.

"The diamonds," Hermione said, pointing again at the map. "The center of each is either Hogwarts or the Ministry. And both are, obviously, of huge importance to the Wizarding World."

"This seems like a safe assumption," Dumbledore said. "You all did very well." Hermione practically beamed at the praise. "How are we coming along with finding a cause to this heat?"

Everyone in the Adversarius sighed, shaking their heads and mumbling slightly. "We're not," Padma said. "We looked in every book in the library, even at the ones in the Restricted Section. We didn't find anything."

Dumbledore nodded, turning his attention towards the four Slytherins. "And you?"

Blaise shook his head. "Nothing. We looked in every Dark Arts book we own. And that's a lot of books," he said with a smirk, pride evident in his voice. A few of the non-Slytherin members shook their heads in disdain. Blaise rolled his eyes in response, leaning back in his chair.

"We are completely out of ideas," Tracey said. She was seated on the arm of Blaise's chair and reached down, holding up the book that had been in his hand. "This is our last book. And there's nothing in it about Heat Spells."

"Well there has to be something somewhere," Ron said suddenly, speaking for the first time. "It's obvious that it's a spell. And every spell is in a book."

"Very astute observation, Weasley," Pansy said scathingly.

Ron looked like he was going to stick his tongue out at her, so Harry reached in front of Hermione and hit him in the knee. Ron leaned back against the sofa, grumbling to himself.

"This is a problem, but fear not - for all problems have a solution. We will find something." Dumbledore pulled thoughtfully on his beard. "I need to talk to the members of the Order. The rest of you are dismissed. We will meet again tomorrow at eleven o'clock to go over anything that the Ministry may have found in Reading."

Everyone nodded their assent, standing up nearly as one. The hand on Harry's back dropped away and was replaced by a hand on his elbow. He looked up into a pair of grey eyes and arched his eyebrow in question.

"You said you'd explain your 'gift'," Draco said, eyebrow lifting on the word "gift".

Harry nodded just as Sirius appeared at his other side.

"Are you okay?" Sirius asked. He looked extremely worried and was probably beating himself up over the fact that he hadn't been around when Harry had needed him.

"I'm fine, Sirius," Harry replied. He was getting very tired of everyone asking him that question. "How did it go in London?" he asked to change the subject. That seemed to gain Draco's attention, who turned to face Sirius as well.

"Well," Sirius said, giving Harry a look that said, "This is not over". "Narcissa can annul the marriage if she can present evidence that she was unhappy, or being mistreated."

"What kind of evidence?" Draco asked. "Witnesses? Would I be considered a witness?"

"If you're willing to testify," Sirius said, a small hope blossoming in his eyes.

Draco appeared to think this over before smirking. "Of course I'll testify," he replied. "When will you need me?"

"As soon as we set it up," Sirius told him. "I'll let you know."

Draco nodded. Harry couldn't help but smile. Draco saw him and asked, "What?" in a defensive voice.

Harry shook his head. "Nothing. It's just ... you made him happy. He hasn't really been happy in a while."

Draco shrugged elegantly. "It makes my mother happy, too." Giving Harry a long look he said softly, "Can we talk now?"

"Yes," Harry replied, just as softly. "Let's go back to the study room."

Draco nodded. They walked out of the lounge side-by-side.

"Harry, where are you going?" Hermione asked, appearing suddenly at Harry's elbow.

Harry sighed, pulling his glasses off and rubbing his eyes. "I need to talk to Draco about something."

"Now?" she asked, surprise evident in her voice. "We should really try to find answers to the heat, and start trying to figure out where Voldemort is going to attack next."

"Not now, Hermione," Harry said, voice sharp. "I need to talk to Draco about something and I'm going to do that now." Hermione's eyes widened. "We will talk about the attacks later, when I get back."

Draco had never heard Harry talk to anyone except himself in that way. Hermione seemed speechless, and could only nod in response. Harry sighed again, putting his glasses back on. The headache had just started, the pressure building sharply behind his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to snap at you. We'll talk about this later, okay?" He raised a hand to her face, resting it briefly against her cheek.

"Okay, Harry," she said, smiling slightly. "I'll hold you to that. And I've got questions for you. You won't be able to put them off this time."

Harry nodded in response. Hermione nodded at Draco and turned away. She took hold of Ron's arm, interrupting his conversation with Mandy and Terry, and pulled him towards Gryffindor Tower.

Harry turned back to face Draco, a contemplative look on his face. "I'm going to have to tell her about us. Whatever 'us' is." He blushed, grinning slightly at Draco. "I mean, she'll only figure it out for herself eventually and I'd prefer if she heard it from me first. If there's anything for her to find out about, that is." The blush on his cheeks got brighter.

Draco nodded, sighing. "I suppose we should talk." He returned the smile, looking briefly away from Harry. He cleared his throat, a blush rising up his face.

Harry tilted his head to the side, a small awkward smile on his face. "Yes. Let's go do that."

The two boys walked down the hall in silence, both thinking about what exactly they wanted the "us" to be.

***

Draco opened the door to the study room, holding it open for Harry. Upon entering the room, Harry immediately put as much distance between himself and Draco as possible.

Draco noted that Harry was standing with his back to him, hands clasped tightly behind him. He seemed nervous; his feet were shuffling awkwardly on the floor and his eyes were downcast.

"Harry," Draco said softly. He wanted to put him at ease, but wasn't exactly sure how to do that.

Harry turned to face him, sighing softly. The table sat between them, a physical barrier keeping the two apart.

"Sit, Draco," he said softly, gesturing to a chair. "I'll tell you about my 'gift'." This was said
sarcastically and Draco winced at the harsh tone.

"You know all about how I got this scar, right?"

Of course he did. Draco nodded, a little unsure. Harry seemed to have pulled into himself and Draco didn't know how to reach him. It scared him a bit; Harry always seemed so open; those green eyes were windows to the soul.

Harry's eyes were now shuttered, hiding away any feeling.

"During our first year here, my scar began burning. It didn't happen all the time, just randomly. When I faced Voldemort that year it only hurt when I was close to him. This went on for two more years. But at the beginning of fourth year the pain was accompanied by a vision." There was a bitter smile on his face. "I saw Voldemort kill a Muggle man."

Draco blinked. He remembered perfectly how he and the other Slytherins had taunted Harry about the Rita Skeeter article that proclaimed that the Boy-Who-Lived was crazy. He grimaced. He'd caused such hurt to Harry and his friends. It was a miracle that Harry was even willing to talk to him.

"The visions progressed that year. They were very vivid. I always felt like I was in the room where they were happening. Sometimes it felt like I was the one responsible, that I was casting the spells. And each time, the pain in my scar was more intense." He rubbed his fingers across the mark, an absent look on his face.

"Fifth year wasn't so bad. It seemed after the Triwizard Tournament that Voldemort went silent. I only had one vision that year, and that was when Arthur Weasley was attacked." His hand dropped away from the scar. "Sixth year the visions returned. The pain worsened, too. It took my breath away. I started going to Dumbledore and telling him about the visions then, but it never did any good. Half the time I couldn't even tell where Voldemort was, and the other times the Aurors would get there too late to do anything."

Harry sighed, shoving his hair impatiently off his forehead. He started pacing. "Then, this year, it's been even worse." He gave a hollow laugh. "The pain is so bad I can't move, and can't breathe. I get headaches after each one. The visions are more violent, too. Voldemort is openly attacking Muggles. I can now feel everything he is feeling. The joy of the kill, the pride in killing those weaker than us. The glee he feels while using Avada Kedavra on a two-year-old Muggle girl." His hands were clenched at his sides. "Sometimes I feel like I won't wake up. It scares me. I hate to go to sleep in fear that he'll attack and I won't be able to do anything. I'm never able to do anything."

Draco was wide-eyed. He'd never expected that Harry was going through this. No wonder he looked like he hadn't slept.

"There have been eight attacks this year," Draco said. "Does that mean...." He trailed off.

"I've had eight excruciating visions with a few Death Eater meetings and tortures thrown in."

Draco stood suddenly, almost unable to take all this information in. "God, Harry," he whispered, horrified.

That seemed to bring Harry back to reality. He'd been calmly talking about the visions like he was reading a list of Potions ingredients. He stepped around the table, gripping one of Draco's hands tightly in his.

"It's okay," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you with all that. I've never told anyone else what it's
really like, and it all just kind of came out."

Draco let out a shaky breath before wrapping his arms tightly around Harry, who settled his face into the side of Draco's neck.

"Harry, I'm sorry. For everything I ever said about Voldemort or your scar. For everything." Harry laughed slightly. "I had no idea about what you were going through. Not that that's an excuse," Draco added hastily.

Harry shook his head slightly, grasping the back of Draco's shirt in his hands. He pulled away, keeping his arms around him, and met Draco's eyes.

"I forgive you, Draco," he whispered. "You were going through your own problems all these years and I never gave a single thought to that." He brushed a kiss over both of his cheeks. "I think we're even."

Draco laughed shakily, kissing Harry fully on the mouth. "I don't think we'll ever be even."

Harry smiled, placing his head back on Draco's shoulder. Draco slid one of his hands up into the silky black strands of hair which were slightly damp from sweat. Remembering the comment about getting headaches, Draco murmured a spell that his mother had taught him, and Harry sighed in contentment as the pain in his head eased. After a moment, Harry said, "So ... what does this make us?" Draco could hear the smile in his voice.

Draco blushed at the question, feeling his heart speed up. This is what he'd dreamed about. Being able to hold Harry in his arms whenever he felt like it, being able to talk to him about anything - just being together. He cleared his throat. "Well, I think it's obvious we like each other."

Harry said, "Yes," sighing against Draco's neck.

"So then we should be together," Draco said, then shook his head, appalled at how that came out.

Harry looked up, green eyes sparkling mischievously. "We're together. Yes, I like that." He punctuated the statement with a kiss on the end of Draco's nose.

Draco laughed, then sobered. "You're going to tell Hermione." It wasn't a question, and Harry didn't take it as one.

He nodded. "She already knows something is going on. I need to tell her."

Draco sighed, releasing him and stepping away slightly. He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it off his forehead. His hair, like Harry's, was slightly damp from sweat, which caused the strands to stick up haphazardly. "I'm not ready to tell my housemates."

Harry shrugged carelessly. "And I'm not ready to tell mine. Just Hermione. And Ron," he added with a frown.

Draco groaned slightly. "I wouldn't think he'd be too happy with the news."

Harry shook his head. "No. But I have to tell him. He'll be furious if he finds out another way. Plus, I'm horrible at keeping secrets from him. He'd know something was up straight away."

Draco sighed again - it seemed he was doing a lot of that - and wrapped his arms back around Harry, placing a kiss on his forehead. "Then tell him. I don't mind. I'm just not ready to tell my friends."

Harry nodded, burrowing closer to Draco. It was extremely hot in the room; standing so closely together was producing extra heat, but Draco decided that he wouldn't trade this for anything. He pulled Harry even closer, sighing softly in pleasure.

They stayed that way for a long time. Suddenly there was a "tap tap" at the door.

Draco looked at Harry, who shrugged. He opened the door and a tawny owl flew in, settling on Draco's shoulder. It extended its right leg. Attached was an envelope bearing the Hogwarts crest.

"That's from Dumbledore," Harry said with interest.

Draco took the letter and the owl flew out of the room. He opened the envelope and read:

Mr. Malfoy,

Please meet me in my office in ten minutes. The password is Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore

Harry had read the letter over Draco's shoulder. "Wonder what he wants?" he asked thoughtfully.

Draco shrugged, folding the letter back up. "I don't know, but I have to meet him. Want to walk with me?"

Harry nodded. "I need to get back to Gryffindor Tower anyway."

They walked in silence until they reached the entrance to the Headmaster's office. Draco gave Harry a quick kiss after making sure the hallways were clear. "I'll see you later," he said, brushing a hand across Harry's cheek.

Harry nodded and turned towards the Tower. Draco watched until he disappeared.

"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," he spoke clearly. The spiral staircase appeared in front of him and he stepped on, riding it to the top.

The door opened in front of him before he had a chance to raise his hand to knock, and he stepped inside. Draco had been in Dumbledore's office a few times, but was always struck by the odd collections of knick-knacks that were around the office and numerous amounts of portraits that covered the walls.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy, have a seat please," Dumbledore said. He was seated behind his desk, which was situated in the center of the room. He was holding a ceramic teapot. "Would you like some tea?"

"No, thank you, Sir. It's a little too warm for tea," Draco said nervously. His mother and Sirius were also in the office, and he sat next to Narcissa, who greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

"Good, well, we'll get down to business then. Your mother has informed me that Lucius has a rather extensive library."

Draco was a little confused with what that had to do with anything but responded, albeit cautiously, "Yes."

Dumbledore nodded. "She also says that there was one book in particular that was kept in a glass cabinet."

"Yes," Draco said again. It seemed like he'd been reduced to one-word sentences. He remembered the cabinet well; he'd never been allowed to see the book, and hadn't been allowed to even touch the cabinet.

"That book, Draco, is the one we need to solve the heat problem." Dumbledore regarded him with solemn blue eyes.

"Okay," Draco said, glancing at his mother. "What does that have to do with me?"

"We need you to sneak into the Manor and retrieve the book for us. It is our only hope at relieving the school of this heat spell."

Draco blinked. They wanted him to go retrieve the book?

"You're the only one who can do it, Draco," his mother said softly. "The library is protected so only someone of Malfoy blood can enter."

Malfoy blood.

Draco drew a deep breath and released it completely before responding. Only one thing was running through his head at the moment - for Harry.

"Just tell me what to do."