Immortalitas Aestas

Harry moved through his classes the next day in a daze. He didn't take a single note in any class, despite the numerous jabs to the ribs from Hermione, and made a complete mess of his potion, which earned him a gleeful deduction of points from Snape and a detention.

Harry took the punishment in stride, simply rolling his eyes. He'd decided a while ago that the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry was ridiculously petty compared to the tasks they would have to complete in order to defeat Voldemort, and wasn't really worth the energy it took to complain about it.

And then there was Draco's upcoming mission to Malfoy Manor. Harry didn't voice his concerns to Draco, though. He had enough to worry about; he still didn't have all the spells learned that he'd need to get through the wards. The final spell, Aedifico Foris, the one he'd need to open the hole in the wards, was very complex, and was giving Draco a bit of trouble. Draco, being Draco, had said in complete confidence that he'd have the spell learned in plenty of time, and then added a "Don't worry", as if that would ease Harry's concern. Harry hadn't actually told the other boy how panicked he was - he figured Draco could most likely see the truth, as hiding things had never been a strength of his.

Speaking of Draco.

It had been his fault that Harry had messed up his potion during class in the first place. Their assignment had been to brew a Color-Changing Potion, which was a N.E.W.T. level potion and "was sure to be on their exams", as Hermione had helpfully added. The potion was extremely sensitive; the ingredients had to be added in five-minute intervals and stirred twice counterclockwise immediately after each addition.

Harry had just been about to add the final ingredient, three dragonfly wings, when Draco, face flushed with heat, had suddenly leaned slightly to the right and blown a stream of air directly across the nape of Harry's neck. This had elicited a hiss from Harry; that one action had aroused him so suddenly that it had nearly taken his breath away. Heat rushed into his already flushed cheeks and his hand had fallen limply into his lap, dragonfly wings floating slowly to the ground.

He'd just gotten a bit of his composure back and was concentrating on slow, regular breathing when suddenly...

Boom.

The contents of his cauldron exploded. The green liquid, which should have been blue, Harry realized later, flew all over the table, floor, and Harry himself. Hermione, thinking quickly, pulled her wand out and removed the potion from her startled friend, saying in her best Head Girl voice, "Honestly, Harry, what did you do? You're lucky I was here; if I hadn't removed the potion from you you'd be an interesting shade of orange right now."

Before Harry had even had time to wrap his mind around the thoughts of a blue potion turning him orange, Snape had suddenly appeared in front of him, a smirk on his face, and loudly proclaimed, "Well, Mr. Potter, I'm a bit surprised here. I really wasn't expecting you to make a mistake. Even Longbottom managed to brew his Color-Changing Potion correctly. How interesting. It appears the Resident Boy Wonder can mess up." This was accompanied by a chorus of snickers from the Slytherin side of the room. "You now owe me a completed Color- Changing Potion and I want it in to me by Friday. You will also serve detention. You will receive an owl with the day and time." And then almost as an afterthought, Snape added in a deceptively casual tone, "Oh, and fifteen points from Gryffindor for being a complete idiot."

Harry had sighed in response, simply shaking his head and muttering a "Yes, sir." Draco, who'd kept his hand over his mouth to hide his smile, pointedly looked at Harry and calmly added his three dragonfly wings, stirred twice counterclockwise, and placed a small sample of the finished potion in the flask sitting next to him. In his perfect handwriting, he printed his name, setting the bottle next to his cauldron.

"You might want to clear the rest of that up, Harry," he said after a moment, deadpan. "It's made quite a mess."

He stood up, walked to the front of the classroom, and with exaggerated care, set his flask on Snape's desk. He received a "Well done, Mr. Malfoy. Ten points to Slytherin," from the Potion's
Master, and a pair of eyes rolled skyward from Harry.

Pulling out his wand he muttered the appropriate cleaning spells, clearing the destroyed potion from the tabletop and floor. Draco returned to his seat, waved his wand in a flashy manner, and cleaned up his cauldron and workspace quickly. Once Harry had sat back down, Draco again leaned to his right, which caused Harry to lean slightly to his right and give the other boy a pointed look. Draco gave an exasperated sigh.

"I'm not going to do anything! I just wanted to let you know that I'll help you brew the potion again. Since, you know, it was sort of my fault you got in trouble."

"How very generous of you," Harry responded sarcastically, but softened the words with a small smile. "And you'll not only help me; you'll do the entire assignment."

Draco nodded his assent and the bell rang, signaling the end of class. "Will I see you later?" he asked Harry as he stood up, trying and failing to straighten out the green polo shirt and grey trousers he was wearing.

"Yes. Because we're completing the assignment tonight."

Draco grinned in response and gave a slight nod. "Tonight then." He turned away, and walked out of the room, head held high, and chin lifted just so, looking every bit the pureblooded wizard, arrogance emanating from his very being.

"He's very sure of himself, isn't he?" Hermione asked softly, tucking a tendril of hair behind her ear. She was dressed in a simple red dress, Head Girl badge glistening in the overhead light.

"Yes," Harry said simply with a smile. He reached down and collected his books and followed her out of the classroom.

Once the rest of his classes had finished, Harry slowly headed towards Gryffindor Tower. The heat grew more and more intense as he climbed the stairs, and by the time he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady his shirt was sticking to his back and the hair falling in his eyes was damp with sweat.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked, then added, "It's terribly hot isn't it? It would be absolutely horrible if I were to melt, don't you agree?" She was fanning herself with a large yellow fan as she spoke.

Harry shoved his hair back and gave a sigh before responding. "Er, yes. It would be extremely terrible. Golden snitch."

The door swung open and he stepped through, glancing briefly around the common room.

Dean was again sitting in the window seat, sketchpad open and resting on his thighs. His eyes were trained on Ginny Weasley, who was currently playing chess with Colin Creevey.

Harry wandered over to where Dean was seated and glanced at the drawing. It was a portrait of Ginny, drawn in pencil. Dean was currently shading in her hair, a look of concentration on his face. He didn't even appear to have noticed Harry's presence.

"Ginny, huh?" Harry asked quietly with an innocent expression on his face.

"Yes," Dean said without looking up, intently making pencil marks on the paper. "She's a fascinating subject. She's so beautiful, I just love drawing her...." He trailed off, looking up at Harry with wide eyes. "Er, that is, I mean...." He trailed off again, embarrassment clear on his face. "Hmm."

"Hmm, indeed," Harry said with a grin. "If you want my opinion, I think she's beautiful as well. Maybe you should tell her you like her," he added thoughtfully after a moment.

"I, well, I," Dean tried, before sighing. "You think so?"

Harry laughed, looking again at the picture. "I think so."

Dean nodded, chewing thoughtfully on the top of his pencil for a moment. Suddenly a sly grin appeared on his face. "So, where were you last night? I didn't see you until classes this morning."

Harry felt himself blush and hoped it wasn't too obvious, fighting to keep his expression calm. "I wasn't here."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "Really?" he asked sarcastically.

Harry allowed a small smile. "I was with someone."

"Someone?" The sketchbook closed with a snap.

"Someone. I was there all night. That's why you didn't see me until this morning."

"Well, do I know this someone?" Dean asked, elbows resting on his knees, voice curious.

"Yes. I'm pretty sure you do."

"But you're not going to tell me who." The statement was said in exasperation.

"No, I'm not." Harry grinned.

"So not fair, Harry! Not fair at all. Okay, I have another question then. Why aren't you and Ron talking?"

Harry sighed, all amusement leaving his voice. "We're not getting along right now."

"Yes, I gathered that. Gosh, you're difficult." Dean patted the space next to him and Harry obligingly sat down.

"He doesn't agree with something I'm involved with right now." Or someone, he added silently.

"Uh, huh. So you're fighting."

"Something like that, yeah." Harry's voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "He thinks I'm being stupid."

"Well, I don't know about that. Maybe he's the one being stupid. He does have the occasional habit of doing that."

Harry sat quietly for a moment, simply staring at Dean. The other boy had returned to his drawing, sketching in Ginny's eyes. "Maybe we're both being stupid," he said softly, watching Dean carefully for a reaction.

"That's also a possibility, of course. But Harry, remember. Ron doesn't really have a right to tell you who you can and cannot go out with. But I think you owe him an explanation about how the relationship happened; you can't expect him to understand when you keep him in the dark." He smirked at Harry's incredulous look; Dean always did have a habit of seeing right through him. The other boy chewed on the end of his pencil again. "He's upstairs, you know. You could go talk to him and try to sort this out. He misses you," he added as an afterthought.

Harry drew in a deep breath and released it. "I miss him, too."

Dean waved a hand towards the stairs. "Yeah, yeah. It's not me you need to tell that to. Go. Talk. Now."

Harry laughed. "Okay. I'll go talk. Now."

He stood up and headed towards the stairs.

"Oh, and Harry?"

Harry turned, eyebrow raised in question.

"Make sure he listens to you. Lock him in the room if you have to. You two need to work this out." He held Harry's gaze for a moment before looking back down at his drawing. "You can go now," he added, dismissing him with a wave of his hand, the serious tone of the conversation broken with a quick wink from Dean. "I need to finish this."

Harry shook his head in amusement. "I'll leave you to it then."

"Hmm," was the other boy's response as his eyes were again trained on Ginny. Harry turned back towards the stairs and slowly walked up them, trying to figure out what exactly he was going to say to Ron.

He reached the door to his room entirely too quickly for his liking. He had no idea what he could say that would make Ron understand, and he wasn't sure how much more abuse he could take from his friend.

Sighing, he shoved a hand through his hair, pushing it irritably off his forehead. His scar had been bothering him again and he hoped it didn't mean that Voldemort was planning something in the near future.

Pushing that thought away, he turned the doorknob and walked slowly into the room. Ron was seated on his bed, back against the headboard, and appeared to be looking through a photo album. Upon closer inspection, Harry realized that it was the photo album that Hermione had given him for Christmas, which contained nothing but pictures of the three of them from first year to Halloween of this year.

Harry drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. It's now or never, he thought and finally said softly, "Ron."

The photo album closed gently and was set next to the other boy, all without making eye contact, before he responded. "Harry."

Harry sighed. "We need to talk."

Ron looked at him, expressionless. "Talk."

"Yes," Harry began hesitantly. "I ... I want to explain a few things to you."

Ron blinked but was otherwise still. As the silence wore on, Harry's discomfort grew exponentially and he began to fidget, first crossing his arms then uncrossing them, clasping them behind his back then dropping them to his sides until Ron finally spoke.

"Sit down, Harry. You're moving around too much."

Harry gave an embarrassed smile, which wasn't returned, and sat gingerly on the end of Ron's bed, keeping as much space between himself and the other boy as possible, unsure of Ron's mood.

"Now talk." Ron's voice was soft but authoritative. Harry gave a small nod.

"Okay. I...." He cleared his throat. "I know you're upset with me."

Ron gave a snort but didn't say anything.

"And that was probably a big understatement." Ron rolled his eyes. "Look, I don't know what you want me to say. You're mad at me because I'm involved with Draco, but that's really only because you don't like him. But I do like him. I don't know why you're having such a problem with this. It's not like you have to spend any time with him."

Ron was quiet for a moment. "Hermione said almost the exact same thing."

"Yes, well, she generally knows what she's talking about. And she's been supportive from the very beginning."

"Hmm," Ron said noncommittally. He was quiet for another moment. "Why Malfoy?" he finally asked. "Why not, well ... why not Ginny?"

Harry blinked. "Ginny?" he asked, amusement lacing his voice.

Ron nodded.

"In case you hadn't noticed," Harry carefully pointed out, "Ginny is a girl."

"I know," Ron said a bit desperately.

"Well, Draco's not a girl. And, well, I just like him more. A lot more."

Ron slumped against the headboard. "Him. So, you're gay then?"

Harry sighed. Ron was just being dense. "Yes," he said tiredly. "I suppose that is what I am."

"But how? I thought you liked girls! What about Cho?"

Harry pictured her in his mind. True, Cho was pretty with her dark hair and eyes, and her great athletic ability, but he'd never felt the breathtaking passion for her that he felt simply by being near Draco.

"She's very beautiful," he admitted. "But I never felt for her what I feel for Draco. I always admired her flying and the way she carried herself, but I never really wanted her."

Ron paled slightly. "You ... want Malfoy?" His voice cracked on the last word.

"Well," Harry responded slowly, "yes."

"Oh," was Ron's only response. He rubbed his hands over his face and drew in a breath.

"Oh," Harry repeated, shifting slightly on the bed.

Ron dropped his hands. "So," he said, "how did this happen exactly?"

Harry leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, unable to keep a smile off his face. "He kissed me."

"Just out of the blue?" Ron asked, curiosity and a little bit of outright shock clear in his voice.

"Well, sort of." Harry thought back. "We'd sort of been ... well, flirting."

"Flirting?" Ron choked on the word.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, Ron. We talked, started spending time together, and then after Astronomy last week he kissed me."

"Astronomy," Ron said weakly. He seemed to only be able to parrot words Harry had already said. "How did I not notice all this?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. We weren't being obvious about it, I don't think. Although Hermione figured it out," he added.

"Of course she did," Ron said dryly. "Why didn't you tell me right away?"

"I was scared of your reaction," Harry admitted. "And with good reason," he said bitterly. "By the way, you owe Draco an apology."

Ron had the grace to look ashamed. "Harry..." he began.

Harry shook his head. "Did you not realize how much your words would hurt me? You accused me of being stupid, of being under a spell, of being disgusting for liking another boy. Or maybe you wanted to hurt me. Is that it?"

"Harry," Ron tried again, "I...."

"And then yesterday after Transfiguration," Harry continued like he hadn't heard him, "you told me you never wanted to talk to me again, that looking at me made you sick. That there was something wrong with me and you didn't want to be around me. God, Ron, you were my first friend, my best friend. After all that stuff you said about my being able to tell you anything, you went and acted in the totally opposite way."

Ron looked crushed. "Harry ... I'm sorry."

Harry's breath hitched but he resolutely pushed down the tears that were building behind his eyes. He absolutely would not cry. He thumped his hand down on the bed to get rid of a bit of his frustration, then said, "You should be."

"I didn't really mean those things, I was just angry. You'd kept this huge secret from me and I thought maybe you just didn't consider me a good enough friend."

Harry closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.

"I'm sorry Harry. I was stupid."

Harry snorted.

"Okay, really stupid," Ron amended.

Harry opened his eyes. "Yes you were. And because you weren't talking to me, I couldn't tell you about what's going on with Draco and what he's going to risk for all of us. I've been having to keep it all secret, only telling Hermione. I needed you, Ron; I still do need you. There's so much going on, and you just weren't interested because you were too wrapped up in your own hatred of Draco. He's putting himself in so much danger, and it's all for me and everyone else at this school." Ron was looking at him with interest now. "He's going into Malfoy Manor to retrieve a spell book that will end this stupid heat spell and get everything back to normal. But it's dangerous; he can't just walk right in, Lucius would probably kill him on the spot, so he's got to learn all these spells and get through the wards and into the Manor and retrieve the book and get back to Hogwarts. And do it all without anyone detecting him. Something could happen to him and then I'd never see him again." The last sentence was said in a whisper. "I don't know what I'd do without him," he added, even quieter.

"You really care about him, don't you?" Ron asked in realization.

"More than anything," Harry replied. "I want your friendship back, Ron, but I won't listen to you say all those horrible things about Draco. He's too important to me. And I won't stand by and let you say anything else about me, either. You need to decide what's more important; your dislike of Draco or our friendship."

"Harry, our friendship means a lot to me. I'm sorry I ever put that in jeopardy. Of course I still want to be your friend. And I'll even apologize to Malfoy for hitting him. I'll try to get used to the two of you being together, but it's going to take some time; I've hated him for so long. But I'll do it - for you. You're my best friend." Ron reached out a hand in the other boy's direction in appeal.

Harry nodded. "I'm working with Draco tonight on that stupid Color-Changing Potion that Snape's making me redo. You can apologize to him then." His tone of voice left no room for argument. "It'll probably be around eight o'clock, in the Charms classroom."

"I'll be there," Ron replied.

Harry nodded and stood up. "I need to go. Draco's working with Sirius tonight to try to learn the final spell he'll need, and I'm already late. See you later."

"Later," Ron replied, reaching again for the photo album.

Harry left, feeling much better than he had in several days.

***

Draco sighed.

This is not going as planned, he thought with a frown.

"Don't worry, Draco," Sirius said, "you'll get it." Draco could tell that Sirius wasn't quite as certain about it as he wanted him to believe.

"This is ridiculous," Draco said, sitting down on Flitwick's desk and crossing his legs in front of him irritably. "Why am I having so much trouble with this?" He slammed his wand down next to him in frustration.

"Draco," his mother said disapprovingly, obviously not liking the way he was treating his wand. She frowned slightly at him from her spot near the door, where she was watering the plants with her wand.

Draco slumped. "Sorry," he muttered. Next to him sat Harry, who'd watched his outburst with quite a lot of amusement and a hand covering the grin that had spread over his face.

"Now, Draco," he said in a tone of voice reserved for small children, "was that really necessary? I mean, honestly." The last was said in a perfect imitation of Hermione's Head Girl voice.

Draco felt himself relax under the easy grin, reassured that he would learn to do this spell simply because Harry was certain he would.

"Just remember," Harry added, pulling out his wand and giving it an overly dramatic shake, "swish and flick."

At Draco's mutinous expression, Harry burst into laughter.

"Ha, bloody ha," Draco said sarcastically.

Sirius cleared his throat, sufficiently drawing Draco's attention. "Shall we try again?" he implored with an arch of his eyebrow.

"Of course," Draco said, standing fluidly. "I'm sure I'll get it this time."

Sirius nodded. "All right, then. Try to cast it again."

Draco gave a brief nod before turning his attention to the task at hand. Dumbledore had recreated all the wards he would have to get through to get into the Manor. He'd set up a piece of iron fencing in the Charms classroom that was an exact replica of the fencing around Malfoy Manor, and it was this fencing that Draco was trying to create the opening in.

"Aedifico Foris," he said clearly with a flick of his wand. A small hole appeared briefly but disappeared after a few seconds.

"Good, Draco!" Sirius exclaimed. "You almost had it that time!"

Draco rolled his eyes. He'd "almost had it" several times before; he wasn't sure what exactly he was doing wrong and why he couldn't get the opening to stay in the fencing.

Giving his wand another flick, he said again, "Aedifico Foris."

Again the hole appeared but went away.

Draco took a deep breath and released it slowly. I will do this, he repeated silently to himself, the words becoming a mantra, repeating over and over in his head.

He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look directly into a pair of green eyes. "Relax, Draco," Harry said softly with a small smile, turning Draco back around so his back was to him. "You can do it." Harry reached out with his hand, closing it carefully over Draco's own. "Aedifico Foris," Harry whispered, letting the words roll off his tongue.

"Aedifico Foris," Draco whispered back, flicking his wand just so, eyes flickering shut.

"Oh," Sirius suddenly said, causing Draco's eyes to pop open again. There, in the fencing, was a hole just big enough for Draco to get through in his Animagus form. "Well done, boys!"

Draco turned wide eyes upon his companion, who was regarding him silently. "Did you do that?" he quietly asked.

Harry shook his head. "No, you did. I didn't do anything."

Draco tilted his head, not really believing him. "Are you sure?"

"End the spell and do it again if you don't believe me," Harry said calmly.

"Finite Incantatum," Draco said, and the hole disappeared. Concentrating fully on the spell he said again, clearly, "Aedifico Foris."

The hole appeared again, and this time, to Draco's amazement, remained in the fencing. "I actually did it," he said in awe.

"Of course you did," Sirius said, glancing briefly at his godson, who blatantly ignored him.

"Harry," Draco said, happiness apparent in his voice. "I did it!"

A full grin spread over Harry's face. "I know. I told you that you could."

"You're sure you didn't do anything?" Draco asked skeptically.

Harry shrugged.

"You did do something then." It wasn't a question.

"I might have helped you out, a little. But that last time you did it all on your own."

"What did you do?" Draco asked, curious more than anything.

Harry blushed, adding more heat to his cheeks. "I, er, added a bit of my power to yours, that's all. To make the spell stronger." He looked down at his feet. "But I didn't do anything the second time, I swear," he added, a bit defensively.

Draco regarded him in awe. Harry never ceased to surprise. It didn't actually bother him that Harry had helped him out with the spell; he was grateful, because it had made him able to cast it. As he watched the other boy he could see the power shimmering off of him, the innate magic that made Harry so unique. Harry was regarding him in a mixture of curiosity and a bit of nervousness, unsure of Draco's reaction. That made him smile, which in turn helped Harry relax.

"Thank you," Draco said softly so no one else could hear. Sirius had turned to Narcissa and was talking to her about the progress he'd made and that she shouldn't worry too much because it was obvious that Draco could cast the spells without any problems.

Harry blinked and then offered him a shy smile. "You're welcome." Draco reached out and ran his thumb lightly across Harry's cheek, then dropped his hand, saying to Sirius, "I think I'll try it once more, and then are we done?"

"Yes, we're done. Go ahead and do it once more."

Draco ended the spell and said again, with a flick of his wand, "Aedifico Foris." Like the last time, the hole that appeared remained in the fencing.

"Very good, Draco," Sirius said again. "I'll head up to Dumbledore immediately and let him know you've learned all the spells. He'll most likely want to see them before you leave for the Manor on Friday."

Draco nodded, placing his wand in his pocket.

"Sirius," Harry spoke up, "would it be all right if Draco and I use this classroom for a little while longer? I need to redo my Color-Changing Potion for Snape."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Snape," the name was practically spat out. "Of course, Harry," he finally answered the question. "Just make sure you clean up afterwards."

"We will," Harry said, already summoning his cauldron as Draco pulled out the ingredients they'd need. "We'll see you later."

"Yes, have a good evening," Sirius said, holding out his elbow for Narcissa to take. They disappeared out the door.

The two boys set everything up and added the first ingredient, waiting the necessary five minutes before adding the second, stirred twice counterclockwise, and repeated the actions until everything was done. Draco poured a small amount into the waiting flask and capped it, handing it to Harry so he could print his name on it.

"There," Draco said. "Perfect."

"No, I'm sure Snape will find something wrong with it," Harry said dryly. "He always does."

Draco shook his head, but looked up as the door to the classroom opened to reveal Ron, who looked like he was fighting the urge to bolt.

"Weasley," Draco said carefully, as the last time he'd talked to Ron he'd been punched twice in the face.

"Malfoy," Ron said, a hint of dislike carefully covered up in his voice. "I ... need to speak to you."

Draco looked briefly at Harry, who hadn't looked up and acknowledged the other boy's presence, but was carefully putting away all the ingredients they'd used in the potion. He was purposely wiping and re-wiping the containers, double-checking the lids on them before he'd put them in his bag.

"All right," Draco said slowly, again focusing his attention on Weasley. "Talk."

Ron cleared his throat, looking down at his feet. The taller boy was wearing a red shirt similar to the one Harry had on, but a pair of jeans, as opposed to Harry's khaki shorts. He was picking at the hem of his shirt nervously, obviously unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry for hitting you," he said suddenly, startling Draco a bit.

"You're sorry," Draco repeated, then arched his eyebrow. "Are you really?"

Next to him, Harry gave a slight laugh.

"Yes," Ron said. "I am. Harry and I talked today. I apologized to him for the things I said and told him that I'd try to get along with you, or at least be civil. But that's got to go both ways, Malfoy," he added, as in warning. "If I'm civil to you, you have to be civil to me."

Draco sighed tiredly, running a hand through his hair. "Weasley, if I remember correctly, I haven't been anything but civil to you this entire year."

Ron flushed slightly in embarrassment. "I ... I suppose that's true."

Draco smirked. "I accept your apology," he said haughtily.

Harry looked up then, a small smile on his face. "Thank you," he mouthed.

Draco shrugged.

"You accept my apology...." Ron trailed off, a look of confusion on his face. This apparently hadn't been what he'd been expecting.

"Yes," Draco said. "Truce?" he asked, holding his hand out in front of him.

"Truce," Ron repeated weakly, shaking his hand, albeit a little stiffly. "But keep in mind that I'm really only doing this for Harry," he added stubbornly, his composure returning a bit.

"Of course," Draco said. He winked at Harry, who grinned. He reached down and picked up Harry's bag and held it open so Harry could put the rest of his ingredients in it. "Are we done?" he asked Harry with a tilt of his head.

"Yes," Harry said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "I just need to take the potion to Snape and put my cauldron back, then we can do whatever we want." He carefully picked the potion up from the table. "See you later?" he asked Ron, who was regarding the two of them in interest.

"Yes," Ron said. "Later."

Harry nodded. Walking past Ron, he suddenly turned to face him. Draco stepped slightly to the side and headed towards the doorway, not wanting to intrude on whatever Harry was going to say.

"Thank you, Ron," he said softly. "This meant a lot to me."

Ron smiled slightly. "You're welcome, Harry." He reached out and squeezed his shoulder slightly. "See you later."

Harry nodded again, a smile on his face. Turning towards the door, he asked, "Ready?"

Draco smirked. "Always."

They walked out of the Charms classroom side-by-side. Draco glanced back over his shoulder before he left the room and saw Ron standing with a bewildered, if satisfied look on his face, shaking his head slightly. It appeared that things were finally back to normal.