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Still Pools and Starlight	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 3805 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Still Pools and Starlight
- 1
Title: Still Pools and Starlight

Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these
characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.

Rating: R/M.

Warnings: DH SPOILERS, ignores epilogue. Language and
sex.

Pairings: Harry/Draco (past Harry/others),
Ron/Hermione.

Summary: When centaurs kidnap a Hogwarts student,
Auror Potter is tapped to find her. He understands that. What he doesn�t
understand is why he�s been assigned astronomer Draco Malfoy, of all people, as
a temporary partner.

Word Count: ~16,000.

Author�s Notes: Written in partial fulfillment of
silver_ariel�s request for a one-shot, involving the following elements: the
"have to work together and develop a mutual respect and then fall in
love" type of plot; Harry and/or Draco in an unusual job, something that
isn't clich�d; one or both of them completely out of their usual element, which
forces them to rely on each other when they usually wouldn't.

Still Pools and Starlight

�� I want to
know what you did to drive Fletcher away.�

��

�� Who says I
did anything?� Harry lifted his gaze from the paperwork on his desk to smile
innocently at Ron. �Except that lying bitch Fletcher, of course, which is just
like her.�

�� Very
funny, Harry. In that totally unfunny kind of way.� Ron folded his arms and glared.
Harry wondered idly if he was remembering the ending of their own ill-fated
partnership, more than seven years ago now. �I want to know what you did. Experienced
Aurors don�t normally come back to the Department with tears pouring down their
cheeks.�

�� Experienced
Aurors also don�t try to snog me in the middle of cases where we�re working
strictly on a professional footing.�

�� At least
that made Ron�s mouth drop open a gratifying distance. Harry nodded solemnly
and looked down to sign a copy of the report he�d already turned in to
Beauchamp, the new Head Auror. This was the copy that would go into the
Ministry Archives. Harry wondered what the Archivists did with all the old
reports, files on dead criminals and closed cases, and other bits of paper that
no one needed anymore. Probably used them to wipe their bums.

�� She didn�t,�
Ron breathed at last.

�� Harry
leaned back and folded his arms behind his head. He and Ron were still good
friends, despite the disaster their partnership had been. That wasn�t Ron�s
fault, really. No one partnered well with Harry, and that was exactly
the way he liked it. Lonely, sometimes, but free. �Oh, yes, she did. We�d just
about finished securing Mundungus�s confession and the last of those diamonds
he took, and I noticed she was blushing. I assumed it was because Mundungus is
a distant relative of hers, and she was just embarrassed. But she disabused me
of that notion. She started to spout the usual nonsense. About how I was
a hero, a real hero, unlike all the pretenders in the Ministry. Et
bloody cetera. I tried to thank her politely and end it there�you know that�s
happened before, and most of the time it�s nothing��

�� Ron rolled
his eyes expressively.

�� But it
went on further. She said that I was also a real gentleman��

�� Doesn�t
keep up with the reports in the Daily Prophet, does she?� Ron inquired
in a stage whisper.

�� And she
could count on me still respecting her after this, even if I didn�t feel the
same way. But I think she must have assumed I did feel the same way,
from her reaction afterwards. She lunged at me and kissed me. I tried to push
her off politely, but she had her mouth fastened on mine like some kind of
bloody vampire. I had to hit her in the face to get her to back away. And then
it was wails and complaints and accusations of leading her on.� Harry gave a
long, gusty sigh. �And a resignation as my partner when we got back to the
Ministry, of course.�

�� Ron
narrowed his eyes. �That pious expression doesn�t fool me. You�re happy she�s
gone.�

��

�Yes, I suppose I am. I just work
better alone.� Harry cocked his head at his best friend and sat up. �Now, I was
informed that Beauchamp had a new case waiting for me. Best get to it.�

Ron nodded. �And you�ll come over
to the house tonight? Hermione is disappointed you didn�t show up the last three
times you promised to come for dinner, you know.�

Harry spread his hands. �I can�t
help it if I�m working all the time, and if I do the work so well that then
they want to give me more. It�s a vicious cycle.�

�You�re a workaholic, Harry.�

�And you�ve been watching Muggle
telly again.� Harry pointed a quill at Ron. �Reassure me that Hermione won�t
have Ginny or some �perfect young witch� waiting there to ambush me, and I�ll
come.�

Red ran like fire up the sides of
Ron�s face�not so different, Harry thought, from the look on Aurora Fletcher�s
face when she realized that he really wasn�t going to fall down in the dust of
Mundungus�s hovel and beg her to marry him. �She did mention something about
how Ginny recently broke up with Dean,� he muttered.

Harry rolled his eyes. �I don�t see
why you keep trying to trap me into settling down. I�m twenty-nine. Hardly
someone who requires a spouse just to mop up the drool from my chin and change
my nappies.�

�We want to see you happy.
Isn�t that what friends are for?�

Softening, Harry got up from the
desk and slung an arm around Ron�s shoulders. At times like this, he really did
have to remember that it was his sarcastic tongue that had driven Ron away
from their partnership in the first place, as well as the long and often
spectacular arguments they�d had about Harry�s habit of Body-Binding Ron to
keep him out of danger and then leaping into said danger feet first. �Yeah, I�m
sorry. But I am happy. Really.�

�I wish it was the kind of
happiness I had with Hermione,� Ron said.

Harry chose to diplomatically
ignore this remark, because remarking on the implausibility of that would just
induce Ron to bring up his parents� marriage, and Bill and Fleur, and George
and Angelina, for counterexamples, and they�d be here for an hour. �It�s not
that, but I think it�s close,� he said. �I enjoy working. And, to be honest,
women don�t do much for me. Never have.�

Ron flushed. �Hermione thinks that
you might, er, prefer blokes sometimes��

Harry laughed in spite of himself.
�I�ve tried it a time or two. But they don�t do anything for me that witches
don�t. Most of them are just too in awe of who I am�that doesn�t vary by sex,
you know�and the rest�� He shrugged, unable to convey the extreme lack of
excitement, passion, danger, he�d felt in all those situations. Ron
would probably think he was mad. To him, love was something deep,
peace-building, settled and calm. �I know some people have low sex drives.
Maybe I�m one of them.�

�I am not discussing this
with you,� Ron said flatly. �I�ll give Hermione your regrets for tonight, but
we expect to see you soon. Maybe when you�re finished with this latest case?�

Harry nodded, and watched his
friend leave with a fond smile before he ambled towards the Head�s office. He
hoped that Beauchamp wouldn�t insist he take a new partner before he tackled
the next case. But then, Beauchamp was more intelligent than most candidates
for the Head Auror position. He�d rather have results than perfect conformation
to the rules of the Department, which meant Harry would have at least two or
three cases of working by himself, in blissful freedom, before Beauchamp
succumbed to pressure from above and tried to saddle him again.

It makes more sense anyway, Harry
reasoned. That way, the crazy tendency to risk my life that they all
complain about can�t put anyone else at risk.

And it made things more pleasant
for him, tonight. Nothing to give a sense of danger like leaping alone
into trouble with no backup.

Harry grinned and quickened his
stride, wondering what he would be looking at�theft, or kidnapping, or murder.
Maybe something like the tracking of the killer who called herself the Lynx,
which had resulted in fifteen corpses, seven Auror teams trying to figure out
who had done it, and a mad midnight dash that had resulted in an equally mad
duel, when Harry guessed right about where she�d strike next.

He�d worked alone that time, too.

Deplore him as they liked, the
other Aurors had to admit he got results.

*

Draco spread the star-charts before
him and stared at them for a long moment. Then he sighed and closed his eyes.
Of course, the charts were still waiting for him when he looked again.

That was one reason he had begun to
study the stars. When the currents of magic and politics and personality veered
too abruptly for him to keep up, he could always count on their steadiness and
purity to rescue and reassure him.

�� And he had
learned to accept the consequences of his decisions, too, at least more easily
than he had at the end of the war. He had heard of the brewing trouble with the
centaurs and taken the opportunity to leverage himself into it, so he could
claim prestige if he succeeded, and more knowledge even if he didn�t. The
centaurs were the best astronomers in the magical world, more open and more
sensitive to the heavenly influences than the most skilled wizard, and
long-experienced in patterns that astronomers like Draco had yet to learn.
Draco had been working patiently towards a rapport with them for years. They
would be more likely to trust him now than an utterly uninvolved bystander, and
he might be able to prevent a full-blown political crisis from breaking out
between the Forbidden Forest herd and the Ministry of Magic.

�� On the
other hand, there was always the chance that the centaurs really had done
what rumors suggested they had done. The disappearance of Hogwarts�s new
Astronomy Professor, a centaur, from his position was certainly suspicious. In
that case, Draco needed the protection of the Ministry�s best Auror.

�� And that
was Harry Potter.

�� Damn it.

�� So Draco
took up the star charts and Apparated directly from his drawing room to the
long, skinny tower that capped his home. He could have walked the
steps�normally he did, to put himself into a meditative mood�but it was already
the afternoon of the day Potter was supposed to receive the case. Draco would
meet him tomorrow. He had to know what to expect before then.

�� The tower
seemed to sway beneath his boots as he landed. Draco took a deep breath, told
himself that was an illusion, and then turned around and glanced up at the dome
arching overhead. No matter the time of day, it was enchanted to show a dark
night sky with the relevant constellations and planets.

�� Draco
narrowed his eyes. He�d last been reading a star chart that used a birthday in
late April�the chart of the kidnapped Hogwarts student. He needed to reset the
thing.

�� The
thirty-first of July, 1980,� he said aloud.

�� The
constellations above him blurred and shifted as the stars obediently changed
their positions, rippling to reflect the patterns that would have shone in the
season and year of Potter�s birth. Draco smiled in appreciation, drawing a
breath of air as sweet as summer wind to him. He had spent nearly the entire
small inheritance Lucius had �gifted� him with in order to create this spell,
but the results were too often wonderful for him to regret it.

�� The stars
settled. Draco drew out the charts and laid them carefully on the floor,
glancing up now and then and moving them again, so that the enchanted light
from above fell directly on the paper.

�� At last he
felt the hum of magic catching, and moved out of the way. The charts and the
stars together cast a series of complicated reflections in midair, near Draco�s
eye-height, a series of symbols and shapes and trajectories that he could read
as a trained astronomer. Unlike the nonsense the Muggles called astrology,
wizarding astronomy, as properly practiced, could not read the future. But it could
reveal important things about a person�s past and the contours of his
personality in the present, which doubled as an extremely educated estimate.
Draco hadn�t had enough time to discover the precise hour of Potter�s birth, to
his regret; it would have made the reckoning even more accurate.

�� But he had
this.

�� Let�s see
how much you�ve changed since I last knew you, Potter,� he murmured, and sank
himself into the meditative trance that he�d once used when brewing potions,
his mind speeding among the luminous arches and volleys of the man he�d be
meeting tomorrow.

*

�� This looks
serious,� said Harry with a frown as he accepted the folder from Beauchamp. His
giddiness in the corridors had faded away, as it usually did when he came
face-to-face with reminders of the victims. He flicked open the folder and
mentally flinched as he saw a wizarding photograph of a young girl with knobby
wrists sticking out from the sleeves of an oversized Hogwarts robe. She had red
hair and brown eyes, reminding him sharply of Ginny at eleven. A smiling man and
woman leaned in from behind and hugged her, then waved madly to the camera.

�� It is,�
said Beauchamp. He was a large man who always looked as if he should have
become a Quidditch Beater instead of Head Auror. He spoke as Harry continued
looking through the file, though he must have known his best Auror would locate
the information almost as soon as he spoke it. �Her name�s Lydia Siddons.
First-year, Hufflepuff, halfblood. She�s gone missing inside the Forbidden
Forest.� He paused impressively, just long enough that Harry reluctantly looked
at him instead of the words on the parchment. �And the Astronomy Professor
vanished at the same time.�

�� Harry
frowned, some memory of Hermione exultantly waving the Daily Prophet
coming to him. �Hang on. Isn�t the Astronomy Professor a centaur?�

�� That was
it, he remembered, even before Beauchamp nodded. That was what Hermione had
been so excited about. The Hogwarts Board of Governors and the parents had
finally been forced to accept a magical creature teacher as a full professor.

�� Yes. Name
of Magus.� The Head Auror leaned forwards. �Since he left no explanation,
there�s speculation that he kidnapped her. He may simply have gone in pursuit,
but�� He left the words dangling.

�� Harry
nodded grimly. He didn�t need Beauchamp to tell him how precarious the
situation between wizards and centaurs was at the moment (which was undoubtedly
why Beauchamp wasn�t telling him). Part of Kingsley Shacklebolt�s mandate to
clean up the Ministry involved treating magical creatures more equally where
possible. He hadn�t managed to convince anyone to free house-elves or to give
goblins wands yet, but he had successfully reached out to centaurs. They
were the test case, with thousands of eyes on their behavior at all times. If
Lydia Siddons wasn�t recovered unharmed, or even if she was and it turned out
that Professor Magus had kidnapped her, then the delicate politics surrounding
the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures would go
south fast.

�� It�s
imperative that we get her back as soon as possible,� Beauchamp continued. �Her
parents are firm on the subject of Lydia not being a child to run away on her
own. She�s always been timid and rather frightened of both regular animals and
magical creatures, in fact. Interviews with the professors at Hogwarts
confirm that. She could barely enter Professor Magus�s classroom at first, she
was so petrified. It�s extremely unlikely that she�s just gone exploring or
even that she could have been lured or tempted into the Forest.��

��

�� No other
child is missing?� Harry asked. He well remembered how some of his friends�and
some of his enemies�had tempted him into risks he wouldn�t have taken
otherwise. He really had to thank them, since otherwise he would never have
discovered his own taste for danger. But for someone as young as Lydia,
probably desperate to fit in, friends might have pulled her into a dangerous
situation not of her own choosing.

�� Beauchamp
shook his head. �No. You�ll need to get started on this tomorrow morning at the
latest, Potter. If we can show the good people of Great Britain�� only
that slight inflection hinted at Beauchamp�s bitterness over his failed
political career, and only someone used to him could have told it was there
��that we have our best Auror on the case, then they�re more likely to relax,
not panic, and let us do what we need to.� He leaned forwards over the desk,
even though, Harry thought with irritation, he didn�t have to emphasize how
serious the case was that way. �But the more time you take to find the girl,
Potter, the less control we have over the public reaction. Go in and come out
again as quickly as you can. Preferably with Lydia.�

��

�� Harry
waited a moment, but there was no mention of a partner. He couldn�t contain his
smile as he nodded. �Understood, sir.� This was exactly the kind of case he
liked: dangers of more than one kind, wild territory, and the chance to rescue
or save someone else who really needed his help.

�� He�d just
started to turn away when Beauchamp cleared his throat ostentatiously. Harry
narrowed his eyes at the wall, but made sure his expression was pleasant, calm,
and unremarkable when he glanced over his shoulder.

�� Yes, sir?�

�� You�ll be
working with a partner on this one,� Beauchamp began. He held up a warning hand
when Harry�s face contorted into a snarl. �Absolutely nothing I can do about
it, Potter. The public needs to be reassured we�re doing all we can, and
this person has gained some notoriety as someone who understands centaurs. As
well as they can be understood,� Beauchamp added, with a little snort. He had
never had much faith in the project to reach out to the centaurs at all, Harry
knew.

�� Harry
relaxed a little. At least this partner wasn�t another Auror. That was
something. �Who is he?�

�� A
respected astronomer.� Beauchamp let his eyelids fall slightly, giving him the
look of a sleepy cat. �Draco Malfoy.�

*

�� Draco felt
his eyebrows climbing higher and higher as he consulted the series of slowly
turning shapes in front of him.

�� My, my.
Potter had changed superficially over the years, but in the most important
ways, he hadn�t changed at all. He had simply grown deeper and deeper in his
more Gryffindor traits.

�� Draco
sucked thoughtfully on his tongue. Would this be a successful partnership after
all?

�� But it had
to be. Draco had never come near the deeper secrets of the centaurs
because, while he had diplomacy, tact, and an interest in the stars, he didn�t
have other skills that they demanded for their trust: courage, undivided
strength of heart, a willingness to trust in return. From the shimmer of his
birth stars, Potter had all of those, and they had increased since he
was in school. The Ministry�s best Auror was also the one uniquely situated to
a scenario like this, though Draco imagined the Ministry had sent him for
rather different reasons than Draco wanted him along.

�� The most
worrying thing was a long, thin, shimmering snake of light, rather like a bad
representation of the Milky Way, that ran from behind a triangle signaling
Potter had learned how to hold his tongue in some situations. Draco studied it,
narrowing his eyes. It seemed to travel straight through his mind without
triggering recognition, which signaled a gap in his knowledge.

�� Except
there were no gaps in his knowledge, at least not of human astronomy.

�� At last, by
revolving shapes in his mind and visualizing different compositions of the ones
he already knew, he realized what it was. He had indeed seen this trait before,
but in those cases, it was only a small strand. This was an extended passion
for danger, a love of risk�close to a death wish, though given Potter�s luck
and love of idealism above his own life, Draco supposed he thought of it
simply as a willingness to dare what others were too much cowards to attempt.

�� Draco frowned
and tapped his index finger against his mouth. He needed Potter firmly behind
him when they met the centaurs, not contemplating what foolish heroics he would
perform to rescue the girl. What could cause that?

�� A smile
spread across his lips as he realized that Potter, being bull-headed, would
lower his head and charge at the first target in front of him, and be
reluctant to abandon that one for another, no matter how tempting. What Draco
needed to do was give him a challenge, one that would catch his attention
immediately.

�� And I
think I can do that quite happily.

*

�� Harry
waited for the git in his own office, which, for a reason he would never know,
Beauchamp had insisted was the proper place for such an unpleasant duty. Harry
had already considered and rejected half-a-dozen pleas for clemency, for the
ability to work free and Malfoy-less. Beauchamp had used the most effective of
his many argumentative techniques on Harry yesterday: he had shut his mouth and
glared at him. Nothing Harry said moved him. Now and then he would point at the
picture of Lydia Siddons, as though reminding Harry she came closer to death
each moment he spent complaining instead of acquainting himself with the facts
of the case.

�� So Harry
awaited the bastard.

�� He had also
rejected half-a-dozen plans to trap the chair in which the prat would sit with
jokes from Weasleys� Wizard Wheezes. That would make the inevitable rupture
between them his fault, and Harry would not have it said that he had let
petty personal animosity get in the way when there was a little girl�s life at
stake.

�� But of all
people�Malfoy. And an astronomer. Harry supposed he hadn�t had
much choice; he had heard that the Wizengamot had prohibited all members of the
Malfoy family from using many spells after the war, mitigating circumstances on
account of age or not.

�� Harry had
met astronomers before, though, both as victims and as suspects. They were
always people who conceived of themselves as lofty, impersonal, inhuman
intellects, capable of peering into Harry�s mind and reading his thoughts
better than any Legilimens. Harry was of the opinion that a collective punch on
the nose would improve the lot of them.

�� And they
were refined, too. Their offices, or observatories, or star-gazing
towers, were always organized with a cleanliness that bordered on psychopathic.
Harry considered a bit of healthy clutter the sign of a mind that could breathe
freely. And it would be worse in a forest, where Malfoy would probably whinge
every time his precious robe scraped over a twig.

�� The door
opened. Harry didn�t bother to change the attitude he was lounging in�boots on
the desk, hands folded behind his neck�but simply turned his head.

�� Malfoy
stood in the door like an alabaster statue, looking at Harry. His face had no
expression, though Harry would have expected at least a sneer. Sure enough, he
wore dark purple robes with silver trimming and runes scrolled up and down the
sides that were no doubt symbolic of something. He had his hands folded in the
sleeves. He made no movement and offered no sound. Harry crushed the impulse to
crumple a piece of parchment and throw it at his face, as a test of whether he
would blink.

�� Malfoy,�
he said briefly.

�� Careful to
guard your tongue, Potter?� One of Malfoy�s eyebrows rose�just one. And, sure
enough, his voice was that mincing little astronomer�s voice, pecking
and picking its way along as if the air of Harry�s office weren�t good enough
for it. �That�s not the report I heard. Haven�t you lost partners because you
couldn�t stop talking? Haven�t you worried innocent men and women into tears
when you treated them as Dark witches and wizards for not telling you the truth
immediately?�

�� That
happened once!� Harry barked, sitting upright. �Just once��

�� He caught
his breath, astonished at himself. Since when did he let Malfoy creep under his
skin without at least a token attempt to ignore him? And they were supposed to
be adults now.

�� Luckily
for you, we don�t have to talk much,� he retorted instead, standing. �You
should have all the information you need in that.� He nodded to the thick file
hovering behind Malfoy. Bastard was too good to carry his own parchment instead
of using magic, of course.

�� Luckily
for me?�

�� Harry threw
him a look of utter loathing. Malfoy glanced away and, just audibly, withdrew
his hands from his sleeves to cast a cleaning spell on his robe. Harry�s teeth
clicked with the effort of not saying something.

�� I�m
impressed you waited for me,� Malfoy commented in a flat drawl that sounded a
little more like the voice of the snide schoolboy Harry remembered. �Would have
thought you�d be out there already, letting Gryffindor stup�excuse me, instincts,
guide you in the hunt.�

�� Harry
sucked in so much breath his chest hurt. He stalked forwards until he was a few
inches away from Malfoy. He trembled with the force of his�of his focus,
really. He had encountered people he loathed more than Malfoy, such as every
murderer who had ever walked the earth, every parent who had ever abused a
child, and Voldemort. Malfoy was far down the list of his enemies.

�� But he had
never encountered anyone else who could cause him to lose the wider spread of
his attention and narrow his vision to pinpoint just one thing. All that
mattered right now was making Malfoy understand and prevent him from sabotaging
the mission. A centaur could have trotted into the office just then, and Harry
would still have put him off in lieu of making Malfoy know this first.

�� We have a
little girl to save,� he whispered, his breath coming out in hot gusts across
Malfoy�s face that were meant to intimidate. �If you prevent me from doing it,
or hinder me in just one way, I will trim your tongue from your mouth.�

*

�� Draco was
stunned by how much he was enjoying this.

�� It was easy
to insult Potter. It had always been easy to insult Potter. But he had
expected the pleasure to dim a bit in the years since they had seen each other.
He needed Potter to cooperate with him, after all, and was only doing this to
distract him from charging into the Forbidden Forest like a suicidal fool. This
was a positive duty to further his knowledge. So, like all things not
directly involving the study of astronomy in the last few years, Draco had
expected to find it tedious.

�� Instead, he
was near to panting with the pleasure. Potter glittering with danger and the
promise of vengeance was a wondrous thing. It was all Draco could do to keep
from reaching out and slapping Potter, or clenching a hand in his hair and
tugging his face near, just to see what would happen.

�� Hold
back, he counseled himself, advice he hadn�t needed in eleven years. You�ll
stand a better chance with him if you make yourself intriguing later as well as
now.

�� Later? Now?
Draco gave his head a minute shake, as his mind wavered back from the sudden
point of certainty into his more usual doubts and half-judgments. He needed
Potter for the venture into the Forbidden Forest. Certainly not for
anything else. If he was thinking of an enduring friendship, then he was not
thinking.

�� Potter
seemed to have taken his headshake for an answer to his demand. His eyes
narrowed, and he leaned close enough that Draco could actually smell his breath
now, instead of just feeling it. Mints; he must have used a spell. No one�s
breath smelled like that naturally. �You�ll oppose me, then?�

�� In
personal matters? Always.� Draco summoned up a languid smile. He had no trouble
in calling it, only in keeping it from sharpening with appreciation as he eyed
the messy tangle of Potter�s hair and the flash of his eyes. �In this? No. I
wish her rescued. If the centaurs are accused of killing her, or even of
letting her come to harm, it does irreparable damage to my relationship with
them.�

�� Potter
rolled his eyes and moved backwards. �Your relationship with them. Of
course. I reckon it�s too much to expect, that you�d care about her safety
because she�s human, or even about the wider political cause of the centaurs.�

�� I care
about politics in more ways than you can understand,� Draco said calmly. �Mine
are the politics of the mind. If the centaurs share their knowledge of
astronomy with us, you have no idea what spells we could develop, what advances
in magic might occur. The last full sharing of magic across species occurred
when Hogwarts was founded, do you realize that? Slytherin��

�� I have no
interest in hearing you vindicate your House.� Potter flung him a sideways look
and raised a lip, just enough to expose one of his eyeteeth. �As if you could,
in any case.�

�� Draco
accepted that jibe with a bow. �I believe you were the one who said we had a
little girl to save?�

�� The green
eyes on him were so brilliant with fury that Draco was tempted to purr.
Instead, Potter jerked a nod at him and then flung open the door. �After you,�
he murmured, with a courtesy Draco didn�t believe in for a moment.

�� On the
other hand, it would have been stupid to refuse. Draco swept ahead of Potter,
turning the implied mockery into an honor.

�� The Goosing
Charm caught him on the arse, so neatly that Draco felt a certain sullen
admiration even as he jumped. He turned back to find Potter sliding his wand
into his sleeve, with an expression of innocence no better than the courtesy
had been.

�� Entertaining
as it is to watch you find invisible fleas in the Ministry, Malfoy, don�t you
think we should get going?�

*

�� Harry took
a deep breath the moment he stepped out of the Apparition. Even though they
were still some distance beyond the gates of Hogwarts, thanks to the spells
that prevented Apparition inside the school, he thought he could taste a
distinct difference in the air. It smelled like sweat here, spent effort and
strength and rich soil and butterbeer and home.

�� Malfoy
pushed past him, his nose in the air, a bored expression on his face, as though
he held nothing sacred, not even the years he�d spent inside the school, which
were probably still the best ones of his life. Harry scowled and gave
chase. Malfoy moved unexpectedly fast for an astronomer, though. Harry had to
admit, grudgingly, that perhaps he wouldn�t have to worry about the prat
fussing over his robes after all.

�� Of course,
Harry would rather that the question never arose. But he couldn�t just
Body-Bind Malfoy and leave him in a secluded place, the way he�d done to Ron
and numerous other Aurors. This case was political. And maybe Malfoy did
have some extra standing in the eyes of the centaurs that would mean the
difference between negotiating with them and fighting with them.

�� Persuasion
it is, then.

�� You know,
Malfoy,� he called after the rapidly striding bloke in front of him, �you don�t
have to do this.�

�� Harry had
to stop quickly when Malfoy halted on his heels and spun around. The man glared
at him, a tint of color to that alabaster face now. Harry found himself on the
verge of a stupidly giddy grin at the reaction. He suppressed it.

�� But, damn
it, Malfoy got his blood moving in more ways than one. It was good to see that
his own teasing and pushing and pressure had some kind of effect.

�� What do
you mean, Potter?� Malfoy enunciated carefully. �You were the one who told
me�who took care to tell me�that we had a little girl to save, and that
you would tolerate no interference in that mission. Isn�t this interference?
What will you do to punish yourself?�

�� Harry
shrugged. �Nothing. My boss takes care of that well enough.� He grinned at the slight,
intrigued lift of Malfoy�s eyebrow, which Malfoy didn�t manage to hold back in
time. �And I�m telling you that there�s a way for you to help but not enter the
Forest. You�ll still get full credit for having done your part, I promise.�

�� Those unusually
gray eyes gave a blink. Harry found himself edging closer, wanting to make sure
of the emotions and the light in them. He experienced a brief moment of
startlement, then shrugged. I was standing too far away, he justified
himself.

�� Why would
you�� Malfoy shook his head, seeming to have decided that his tone was too
soft, and adopted a harsher one. �Why would you assume I�d come all the way to
Hogwarts only to refrain from entering the Forest? Gathering knowledge is part
of my purpose here, Potter. And to do that, I have to talk to the
centaurs.�

�� I�ll let
you put recording spells on me, so that I can carry back their words to you,�
Harry promised, breathing more easily as he realized Malfoy had a modicum of
reason. He�d worked with people who didn�t. Body-Binds were the only recourse
there. �You can transfer your knowledge to me via a Pensieve��

��

�� You have a
Pensieve?�

�� Of
course.� Harry pulled it, shrunken, from his robe pocket to prove this. �As I
said, you can transfer your knowledge to me that way, and I�ll know the right
questions to ask. In the meantime, you get all the leisure and none of the
work.� He glanced at the purple-and-silver robes. �And you don�t need to damage
your clothes, either.� He smiled at Malfoy. �What do you say?�

�� Malfoy was
at least considering the offer. He stood with his arms folded, his head tipped
forwards. Harry held his breath and hoped.

*

�� Draco was
thinking that he had underestimated the thread of suicidal recklessness in
Potter. The love of danger was there, all right, but so was, apparently, an
intense distaste for working with anyone else. Draco had assumed Potter would
be the one to urge cooperation on him, believing in noble Gryffindor
virtues as he did. He�d been hoodwinked by his own expectations.

�� Well. No
more.

�� He lifted
his head. Potter�s eyes fired with expectation. Draco felt another powerful
stirring of interest. He had never met someone so vividly alive.

�� Well,
correction�nothing human. Some of the more intelligent fairies had Potter�s
restlessness, but worse brains even than he did. And unicorns were filled with
the same half-nervous energy, but even unicorns relaxed sometimes. Potter never
did. Trying to stand still and not jig up and down like a small child needing
to use the loo, he still radiated more engagement with life than any seven of
Draco�s colleagues.

�� Of course,
the answer to his query was always going to be the same. Draco wanted the
knowledge the centaurs possessed, and he didn�t trust Potter to represent it to
him correctly with all the Pensieve memories and recording spells in the world.
Pensieve memories couldn�t tell you the correct questions to ask.

�� Now there
was an extra reason to go along, though. Draco wanted to see that energy at
close quarters, touch it and behold it, for the same reason that he yearned to
run his hand down a unicorn�s silken mane.

�� No,� he
said.

�� Potter
reeled back a pace, the disappointment on his face so acute Draco�s breathing
quickened. Potter shook his head and snapped to the attack a moment later,
though. �Why not? You must see that there are all sorts of advantages to
it, especially for you. We both get what we want this way, and we�re not forced
to work together.�

�� Not true,�
Draco said. �I wouldn�t understand the centaur assumptions about astronomy, the
patterns they see, any better than I do now. No, Potter,� he said, to check the
interruption he knew was coming, �I really wouldn�t. And I�m less
anxious to avoid work than you give me credit for.�

�� He moved a
step closer and dropped his voice. Potter naturally leaned in to hear him;
Draco�s throat tightened with satisfaction. �Besides,� he whispered harshly,
�you have not the slightest idea of how to survive in centaur territory, what
the regulations and rules and laws are. I�m not all that sure of them myself,
and I�ve been in regular contact with centaurs for five years. You�d die.�

�� Potter
rolled his eyes.

�� You don�t
care about that?� It was time to find out just how far Potter�s blithe
disregard for his own life ran. Draco found it fascinating, but that didn�t
mean he�d let it endanger him.

�� Potter
shrugged, open-handed. �Everyone�s got to die sometime, right?� he said,
speaking as if he�d memorized a speech on the matter. �I�ve survived so far. I
can survive this, I�m fairly certain. And at least, if I don�t, I�ll die free.�
The depth of passion behind that word told Draco what part of the problem was:
Potter had decided partners were a burden he didn�t want to bear. �I�m the only
one who�s affected. No one else is put in danger.�

�� Except
Lydia Siddons, in this case,� Draco said.

�� Potter
blinked. �I�� He stared at the ground, then sighed. �I hate kidnappings,� he
commented, randomly.

�� Because
you have to work on them with partners?�

�� Potter
scowled up at him from beneath tightened eyebrows. �Yeah.�

�� Draco
smiled, because it was impossible not to. �I�m not best pleased to be away from
my tower so long either, Potter, nor walking among people who might have killed
an innocent student and won�t hesitate to attack an adult wizard.� He couldn�t
say that he resented accompanying Potter with any degree of truth, anymore.
�But we do need to work on this together. Get yourself resigned to a partner on
this occasion. Trust me,� he added, and flavored his voice with suggestion
because the impulse was too strong to resist. �I can be very good
company.�

�� He turned
to make his way towards the Forest instead of watching Potter�s pupils dilate
or his face turn red. Fun as this was, they had knowledge to gather, and a girl
to save, if she was still alive.

*

�� Harry shook
his head several times as they worked their way further and further into the
Forbidden Forest, though he knew he should be paying more attention to the
shadows under trees or the odd way that the leaves moved on the branches, not
always with the wind. He couldn�t deny the possibility chasing itself through
his mind, however. Each time he tried, it rose like a revenant.

�� With
Draco Malfoy? Really? Are you mad?

�� Well,
according to the majority of his colleagues, there was no doubt of that.

�� Harry�s
gaze went back to Malfoy�s figure forging gracefully ahead of him, displaying a
remarkable indifference as to whether his robes were tattered or not.
Presumably he had others. His hair seemed to have lightened with his
sun-avoiding skin, to the point that it sent out starry gleams into the
darkness of the Forest. His hands, which appeared beyond his sleeves to push
back the branches and pick leaves out of his hair, were slender, but not weak,
Harry thought. This was a different kind of strength, one Harry hadn�t seen in
the Aurors or Quidditch players or random shop-clerks he�d tried to date. The
lithe, continually twisting strength of a�

�� Harry
smirked to himself. A weasel. Or a ferret.

�� But still.
Malfoy was physically intoxicating. And since Harry had never felt that way
about anyone for more than a few brief moments at a time, while this had
endured for about ten minutes now, he knew there was something wrong�with him,
assuredly�and this could be dangerous.

�� He shook
his head and wrenched his mind back to the job with a snap. Malfoy
hadn�t lied when he said it might kill Harry.

�� At that
thought, warmth flooded through his veins. He knew Ron and Hermione thought he
was mad, yes, and so did the majority of the people who�d worked with him.
Beauchamp thought the same, but put up with Harry acting like a bull in a china
shop for the sake of its getting results.

�� But Harry
thought he valued his life more than they did. How could anyone say he really
valued his life unless he knew what it was like to be in danger of losing it?

�� Malfoy
halted abruptly and lifted one hand. Harry was lost in admiration of the color
of his skin against the red and gold leaves for a moment, even as his body
responded to the command and froze without thought.

�� You, he
told himself, when he�d caught his breath again, have a serious problem.

�� He cast a
spell that should allow his voice to travel to Malfoy�s ears without any
telltale hiss of whispering. �Centaurs?� he asked.

�� Malfoy�s
head jerked a little in surprise, but he didn�t let it overset him or make any
extra noise. Harry�s warmth towards the other man increased, and he promptly
rolled his eyes. I think I was happier when I didn�t have a sex drive.

�� An
outrunner,� Malfoy breathed back. �They usually have at least nine sentries
around their camps.�

�� Harry
frowned. Malfoy�s voice had dropped into an odd emphasis on �nine� that he
probably wasn�t even aware of. �For the nine planets?�

�� Again the
jerk of the head, but this time Malfoy turned enough to let Harry see the
widening of his eyes. �Very good,� he said.

�� Harry
quashed the impulse to preen. They were here on a job. He nodded
imperceptibly, as much to say that, yes, he was very good, and Malfoy
had just better get used to it. �What angles are they arranged at? Can you tell
if this is the first we�ve encountered, or if we might have passed others
without noticing?�

�� Malfoy
frowned. �This is the outermost, I�m sure�the one representing Mercury. He�s
staring straight at us.�

�� Harry felt
a stab of disappointment, but reminded himself there really was no way
to walk silently in an autumn forest. A wizard could control his own noises,
but not the noises of the birds who saw him coming, or the danger that a ripple
of silence in the forest would signal to other creatures. Besides, this had
never been about sneaking into the centaur camp, or home, or meadow, or
whatever it was they had, and stealing Lydia back. They needed to negotiate.
That was why Malfoy was along.

�� Harry was
of the opinion that negotiations would fail and Harry himself would have to go
in and rescue Lydia, because that was what always happened. But he would at
least let Malfoy try.

�� Do you
know the ritual greeting?� he asked.

�� Of
course,� Malfoy said, and moved forwards. Harry followed, unable to restrain a
grin. If his other partners had just been competent, he might have been
able to work with them, too.

*

�� Draco was
startlingly aware of Potter at his back, in a way he hadn�t ever been aware of
anything except the stars. Or, no, wait, that wasn�t true, was it? He�d always
been aware of Potter like that during Quidditch games, and when the Gryffindor
was angry and snarling at him across the Great Hall.

�� The wine of
near-arousal coiling throughout his body heightened his senses, and he saw the
centaur sentry before he fired a warning arrow. That was very, very unusual.
Draco didn�t let Potter know how unusual. The outermost sentries were usually
bays or sorrels, which stood a better chance of blending with the colors of the
forest, and they were skilled in choosing the best positions to stay unseen.

�� The stars
shine even in the midst of the day,� he called.

�� The sentry
considered them for long moments. Draco didn�t stop moving towards him. If he
hadn�t fired yet, he wasn�t going to.

�� Of course,
they might still get an arrow from the Venus sentry, or the Earth one. Centaurs
were bastards like that.

�� And the
sun shines on the other side of the world during the night,� said the sentry at
last. He was a handsome bay, with a long black tail that Draco would have
welcomed hairs from if he still regularly brewed potions. His chest was
massive, as with all centaurs, and bronzed from long hours in the sun. His
hands kept his longbow bent and nocked without effort. As he watched them, a black
forehoof scraped thoughtfully across the ground.

�� Draco felt
Potter tense, ready to attack. Luckily, though, he didn�t. This was the first
stage of many delicate ones, and Draco needed the sentry�s full trust and
cooperation. Otherwise, they were unlikely ever to see another centaur beyond
this one, much less rescue the Siddons girl or gain the knowledge Draco was
after.

�� What is
time to one who knows the heavens?� he murmured, leaning an elbow on the tree
nearest him and offering the sentry a smile.

�� The heavy
human head turned, while the centaur�s ears twitched like a horse�s under his
thick dark hair. He must have been startled at Draco�s knowledge of the second
level of greetings, which most wizards never reached. �Time may still be much,�
he answered. Then he swept into an elaborate bow, one foreleg bending beneath
him like a parade mount, his head touching the ground briefly. �My name is
Orian.�

�� Draco
narrowed his eyes. Good a sign as the name-gifting was at this point, the bow
was not. It usually signified mockery, since centaurs rarely bowed to any but
their own leaders. �My name is Draco Malfoy,� he said. �I am, like you, a lover
of the stars and a seeker of their truth.�

�� Orian took
a step forwards. Draco wouldn�t have thought it possible that Potter could
become tenser, but he could feel it happening behind him.

�� But it is
not truth that you have come here seeking,� Orian said, his voice descending
into an ominous rumble. �And you have not introduced your companion to me. Why
is he marked with lightning on his brow?�

�� Draco felt
free to turn his head and look at Potter then. Potter stood in a poised
stillness, his attention so perfectly focused on Orian Draco felt a bit left
out. His eyes had banked some of their fire, but weren�t the less deadly for
that. Draco�s legs trembled under a wash of desire.

�� His name
is Harry Potter,� he replied. �Forgive me. I did not conceive that he needed an
introduction.�

�� Potter�s
head twitched towards him, but only a short distance, despite the incredulity
he must have felt at Draco�s pronouncement. He still stood ready to repel an
attack from the centaur. Draco let a smile reign in his mind, since it couldn�t
touch his face. Good, Potter. Very good.

�� Orian had
drawn himself up with the name, so that he was almost sitting on his haunches.
His eyes, a stunning blue, narrowed, and then he snorted. �Much is now
explained,� he said. �The coming together of the stars and the lightning�we did
not know.� A hint of excitement threaded through his bugle-like tone as he
lowered the arrow from the string of his longbow at last. Draco breathed a
little more easily. Hopefully, Potter wouldn�t notice. �Come.�

�� And he
whirled and trotted away into the forest, the fallen leaves crackling beneath
his hooves like fire, apparently in perfect confidence that they would follow;
he never once looked back.

�� What was
that all about?� Potter whispered, voice soft and shallow. �The coming together
of the stars and the lightning?�

�� I don�t
know,� Draco replied. His skin was on fire, and he had to swallow several times
before he could breathe normally. �Nothing bad, or he would have killed us
where we stood.� Something I don�t know! This was the closest he had
ever been to the deeper centaur secrets.

�� That�s
comforting,� Potter muttered.

�� Draco
turned to scowl back at him. Potter had somehow contrived to fold his arms and
lounge against a tree in the meantime. His eyes raked over Draco�s body as
though estimating his strength for a coming contest and finding him wanting, and
then traveled up to his face and locked with Draco�s gaze.

�� The force
of their meeting eyes was almost audible. Draco�s chest went tight. He felt
energy assaulting him from all sides, striking from the air like miniature
arrows and crackling up through the soles of his boots.

�� We have to
follow Orian right now,� he whispered. �But don�t think this is
finished, Potter. We have things to discuss when we leave the forest.�

�� For just a
moment, blank surprise destroyed the challenging look on Potter�s features. But
then glory was in his eyes, and he gave Draco a smile of surprising sweetness.
�You�re on.�

�� Draco
smiled back, drinking in the way Potter�s eyes shone and his hair lay�or didn�t
lie�on his head, and then turned to follow the centaur.

*

�� Harry had
never thought in detail about what the centaurs did in the middle of the
Forbidden Forest. If asked, he would have said, �Er. Gallop about? Look at the
stars? Brood on the wrongs wizards have done them? Shoot intruders?�

�� He wasn�t
the world�s most eloquent speaker.

�� But he
doubted that descriptions would have helped him understand. He could barely
understand what his eyes were telling him as Orian led them past a guardian
ring of trees and into the middle of a vast clearing.

�� Wizards
would have used the space to rear a tower. Muggles, from what Harry understood
of their building practices, would have cut down the trees first, smoothed the
slight hillocks from the ground, and turned the entire thing into a scraped
place of cement and steel.

�� The centaurs
curved.

�� Half-circles
of strangely flattened oak and birch, beech and pine, extended around parts of
the clearing�s edges, always positioned so that they left as much open space as
possible and even seemed to enhance what was already there. When Harry peered
closely at the wooden �walls,� he realized that they were still living trees,
with roots sunk deep in the earth and ragged remnants of leaves fluttering
along the edges.

�� From the
tops of the walls and into the air extended long, twisting ramps that turned
back on themselves like the figures in a dizzying Muggle painting Hermione and
Ron had in their drawing room; Harry�s eyes always crossed trying to look at
it. Some of the ramps were wood, some stone, but none were supported by
anything. On them, centaurs walked calmly along, or galloped�but sideways and
upside-down as often as upright. Harry watched a chestnut centaur with strong
features rush along a �normal� section of the pathway, then turn perpendicular
to the ground and go on trotting as before. He shook his head, dizzy.

�� The
centerpiece, or centerpieces, of the ramps were a series of large wooden balls
with doors in their sides, dodging and looping and floating around the ramps.
Harry could make out two very small ones, which looked barely large enough for
a single centaur to pass inside without ducking; three that seemed of medium
size; and four mighty ones that cast shadows over the clearing as they zoomed
past. The number alone would have told him the truth, but there were gleaming parti-colored
rings around one of the large ones, just for confirmation. The centaurs had
constructed models of the planets and lived inside them.

�� What keeps
them up?� he asked, barely able to force the question past numb lips.

�� A laugh
startled him. He looked at Malfoy to find him with his head tossed back, his
eyes fastened hungrily on the revolving wooden models.

�� Harry
stared, captivated again. Malfoy with amusement on his features had been no
great sight in school; the sneer of sardonic laughter was not much different
from the sneer of vindictiveness. But this was a genuine half-smile, and the
glow in his eyes spoke more of wonder and delight than spite at someone else�s
expense. And then Malfoy turned that smile on him, and Harry would have
stumbled if he hadn�t been a trained Auror with both feet planted quite
sturdily.

�� It�s
centaur magic,� Malfoy whispered intensely. �A feat no wizard could duplicate.
We can�t make trees grow like that. Not even Herbologists can, because we
manipulate them too much.� He nodded at the rounded, rooted trees. �The
centaurs persuade. It�s clear to me now. And as for how the ramps and
the planets are kept aloft�� He looked up longingly. �That, I still have to
learn.�

�� Harry spent
a moment debating how he could get that attention focused back on him, and then
he snapped to alert as a centaur paced towards them. He kept his wand in his
sleeve, however, and a moment later was glad that he had, as eight centaurs
stepped forwards to flank the central figure, all holding longbows or jagged
knives.

�� Harry
studied the centaur in the middle. Black hide, for the most part, but vivid red
stripes ran down his flanks from the spine, following the curves of the
muscles. Harry wondered if that was natural, or perhaps the result of an
injury.

�� Or a
wizard�s spell, aimed to stop a charging centaur.

�� He was
taller than the others, his eyes severely gray, his hair brown and shaggy. He
halted so close to Harry that all Harry�s instincts stood up and screamed at
once, begging for him to draw his wand. Harry ignored those instincts, and
instead held still as a hand reached out and pushed his fringe back from his
forehead, revealing the lightning bolt scar.

�� Yes,� the
centaur said, in a voice deep enough Harry could feel it in his bones. �The
lightning.� He wheeled lightly on his back hooves�so lightly Harry shuddered,
imagining the speed he could probably build up in a run�and faced Malfoy,
studying the symbols on his robes. �And the stars.�

�� Malfoy gave
an imperceptible nod. �The girl?� he asked, voice so polite Harry thought
absurdly they were at a society tea for a moment, never mind the trees and the
hovering wooden ramps and the goddamn centaurs.

�� Safe.� The
centaur tossed his head as he spoke, and Harry wondered what that meant. Was he
lying? At any rate, Harry wasn�t inclined to believe any word about Lydia until
he saw her safe with his own eyes.

�� Malfoy
seemed inclined to, though. �Very well,� he said. �What matters the coming of
the stars and the lightning? You took Lydia to make us arrive, and arrive
together, I suppose.�

�� How can
he know that? Harry tried to scowl over the centaur�s shoulder, to indicate
that Malfoy should be sharing any sources of mysterious knowledge with Harry,
but Malfoy ignored him serenely, looking the black centaur in the eye all the
while. It surprised Harry how much he hated being ignored.

�� He was just
about to make some remark that might be unfortunate but at least would cause
Malfoy to look at him, when the black centaur said, �Yes. My name
is Magus, and I have been Hogwarts�s Astronomy Professor. Whether I return to
my post, and what happens to you, and what knowledge you leave here with, will
depend on what you do next. The eternal stars hold all wisdom, but humans do
not know them as well as we do, and are often poised to resist their courses.�

�� What must
we do next?� Malfoy had become a statue again. Harry wasn�t sure whether he
liked the look of him that way, too, or whether he wanted to smash the mask to
pieces and take Malfoy in his mouth and�

�� Whoa.
Harry blinked such thoughts away. He would have shaken himself violently, but
he didn�t think sudden movement was a good idea right now. Where had that
come from? Attraction was one thing, but he should have been thinking of
kissing, at the most, not sex.

�� Had he been
that hard up?

�� Give us
your wands,� Magus said.

�� Harry bared
his teeth. At once eight longbows were trained on him. Harry kept still, but
noted that baring teeth was apparently a predator signal to centaurs.

�� No fucking
way,� he settled for saying instead.

�� Why should
we?� Malfoy still stood with his hands folded in his sleeves and his voice
perfectly calm, damn him. �What have the eternal stars decreed for us, that we
should endure tests?�

�� Three,�
Magus said, his hoof scraping in the dirt with a slow, hypnotic pattern. He had
leaned forwards to study Malfoy�s face now. Harry wondered irritably what he
was looking for. Perhaps centaurs became dazzled from staring at the stars for
so long and Magus was just looking for a complementary glaze in Malfoy�s eyes.
�One is a test that you will undergo together, a trial of trust in us. The
second is for the lightning bolt, a test of courage. The third is for the
starlight, a test of moderation.�

�� Harry could
feel himself relaxing, a little. He supposed that wasn�t so unreasonable to
demand. The centaurs had shown trust in the wizards by inviting him and Malfoy
into their sanctuary, and now they wanted trust in return. And of course
courage was something he should have no trouble enduring, and Malfoy
looked as though he could teach a glacier lessons in moderation.

�� If only
they didn�t have to surrender their wands.

�� He glanced
at Malfoy, only to find that the other man had apparently been waiting for the
eye contact. And once again, as with the moment before they followed Orian, the
air stretched tense between them. Malfoy cocked his head and touched his tongue
lightly to his lips.

�� Trust me,
Potter,� he whispered.

�� Harry
shivered. Tremors coursed through him, tremors of worry and caution and
excitement so strong he thought he might throw up. This would have been enough
of a risk alone, but with the need to rely on a known (past) enemy and without
his wand to defend himself�

�� The risk
was so seductive Harry knew he couldn�t say no to it.

�� Yes,� he
said, so softly he saw Magus turning his head to listen. �I will.� He drew his
wand out of his sleeve, ignoring the creaking of the longbows that resulted,
and tossed it into the dust at Magus�s hooves. Malfoy�s followed a moment
later.

�� Magus
nodded, and came as close as Harry had ever seen a centaur come to smiling. He
scooped up the wands in one smooth movement. Harry couldn�t keep his gaze from
following them, but they were hidden from sight in a braided leather belt
hanging on the centaur�s waist.

�� Bring
them,� Magus commanded.

�� Half his
guard came forwards to lead Harry and Draco away. Harry swayed, caught between
striking out and surrendering, and only gave in to surrender by the nearest of
margins. If this was dangerous, trying to fight without a wand after he
had given his word not to was even more so.

�� But though
death sang like a siren, he did want to see what would happen. So he
went limp and allowed himself to be dragged.

*

�� Draco
looked around the clearing to which the centaurs had led them. It was a
distance through the Forbidden Forest from the other, and in a deep, dim hollow
where branches mostly blocked the sky and leaves covered the ground. He felt a
moment�s slim regret. He would have enjoyed watching the centaur dwellings in
the sky and trying to guess at what had held them up.

�� But this
clearing looked much more like the site of a test, he did have to give the
centaurs that.

�� The tree
the centaurs had bound them to was ancient, somewhere on the border between living
and dead, so twisted Draco could find no comfortable position in which to rest
his back against the trunk. He winced and shifted again as the knots dug into
his spine, but then took a deep breath and let his head fall back. He could see
the stars appearing through the gaps in the boughs, and trying to recognize
constellations from the odd, scattered parts of them he could see was a
soothing, if simple, game.

�� Nothing
could soothe Potter, of course.

�� Why did we
agree to come?� Potter muttered, and tested the slack in the chain, what little
there was, for the hundredth time. �We should at least have made them show
us Lydia before we gave up our wands.�

�� This is a
trial of trust,� Draco said, also for the hundredth time. �Making demands of
them wouldn�t have been appropriate.�

�� Potter was
chained on the other side of the tree, so he couldn�t exactly kick
Draco�s ankle, but he made a good effort. �Doesn�t anything ruffle you,
Malfoy?�

�� Draco
laughed in the back of his throat. Despite having spent nearly ten hours bound
to the tree, unable to sit down, without food or water, he felt oddly happy. He
had made a guess as to when the centaurs would free them, and he was sure it
was correct. And he could taste the magic in the air, piercing and cool
as an arrowhead on his tongue. Just by standing in the same place as centaurs,
he believed, he could glean a little of their magical technique. He would
return to his tower with new, unexpected skills. His previous visits with
centaurs had granted them to him as well.

�� But he had
never been in the center of their power before, and he had never endured one of
their ordeals before, though he had often offered to undergo one. He didn�t
lack the ability to make sacrifices, whatever Potter believed. The centaurs had
watched him with imperturbable eyes each time and refused.

�� Draco
thought he knew why now. They had been waiting for Potter to come with him.
Centaurs didn�t exactly have prophecies, but they obeyed the directions they
saw in the heavens, and if the heavens said that he and Potter had to come into
the Forbidden Forest after a kidnapped child and pass through three trials,
that was what the centaurs would ensure happened.

�� I let some
things ruffle me,� he said, when he could hear Potter whinging to himself about
the lack of an answer. �You, back in school. Problems that are irresolvable
with the degree of knowledge I have now. Another astronomer anticipating a
project I was working on and publishing the truth before me.� He took another
breath. The air was growing thicker and colder, and he knew it wasn�t his
imagination that the ambient magic it carried had increased. �But not this. I
would willingly do much more than this to learn centaur secrets.�

�� And whilst
you�re after them, Lydia is probably being tortured,� Potter hissed at
him.

�� Unlikely,�
Draco said cheerfully. He�d been saving this revelation, partially because his
certainty on the matter had increased over several hours, but mostly just
because he knew it could rattle Potter. �I think they probably escorted her
back to Hogwarts the moment they had us. Centaurs aren�t stupid, Potter.
They know a kidnapping would set back their position with the wizards. On the
other hand, they do what they have to do, and for some reason, it was important
to them to get us into the Forest. I think they took a willing child, not a
frightened one, and she went back when she wasn�t of use to them as bait
anymore.�

�� Stunned
silence from Potter�s side of the tree. Draco grinned to himself and began
counting the seconds until Potter cried out in indignation.

�� Just when
were you planning on telling me this?� Potter�s voice was low and ugly.

�� When you
said something that would lead naturally into it.� Draco paused, then employed
his best imitation of his father�s icy voice on the next words. �I do so hate
introducing subjects unnaturally into conversation.�

*

�� Harry�s
priorities had become very simple. First, he was going to figure out some way
around the bloody tree, past the length of chain that separated them still.
Then he was going to beat Draco Malfoy until no one could tell his nose from
the other lumps on his face.

�� It was a
neat, simple plan, and had the virtue of direct action, something Harry had
been woefully short of in the last ten hours. It would also take his mind off
his dry throat and his empty stomach.

�� He waited a
moment, until he thought Malfoy must have relaxed his guard, and then gave a
mighty yank on the chain.

�� Malfoy
yelled. Harry didn�t care. The centaurs had ignored all the sounds they made so
far, though they must have sentries watching through the trees just in case
they�d concealed a second wand somewhere. Harry had managed to change his
position, a little. He�d also changed Malfoy�s position, keeping him a constant
distance away from Harry, but that would get better in just a short while.

�� What are
you doing?� Malfoy spluttered. Good. Harry liked spluttering.

�� Working up
wandless magic to shorten this chain,� Harry growled. �And getting my fists
ready to give you exactly what you deserve.�

�� Malfoy went
still, which was not the reaction Harry had expected. Where was the whinging,
and the running full tilt around the tree in an effort to get away, and the
desperate screaming for help?

�� Then Malfoy
said, softly but urgently, �Listen, Potter. Even if you can manage enough magic
to break the chain, you shouldn�t do it.�

�� Really?
From where I�m standing it�s a spectacular idea,� Harry said flatly, and
then closed his eyes. He needed concentration to build up the power. Malfoy�s
voice in and of itself wasn�t enough to distract him.

�� Malfoy�s
words were enough, though. �Potter, you idiot, they�ve left us here so
we can show we trust them. What will breaking free do? Only get you feathered
with arrows before you can summon your wand, that�s what.�

�� Harry
frowned into the darkness. He hadn�t ever realized how deep the darkness
would get in the Forest away from the castle lights. Or at least he didn�t
remember from his various exploits against Aragog and his meeting with
Voldemort when he was drinking unicorns� blood. The Forest had always seemed
full of light then. If his eyes were weak, though, he doubted Malfoy�s were
much better.

�� He
doesn�t wear glasses. And he�s an astronomer; he probably has excellent night
vision.

�� Harry
growled to himself. He hated it when he had to listen to his common sense, in
defiance of his Gryffindor instincts.

�� You can
see the sentries, I suppose?� He knew his voice was sullen.

�� No. But I
know they�re there.�

�� This, Harry
considered, was not a sufficient answer, especially when his muscles had begun
to tremble with the effort of keeping still for so long. He had never done well
bound. More than once, when he was confined during a hostage situation, his
magic had simply gone wild and burned the ropes to shreds or broken the
Body-Bind, leaving him free to charge at his astonished captors.

�� Then,� he
said tightly, �distract me, Malfoy. I hate this.�

�� Being tied
to a tree in the middle of the night?� Malfoy sounded amused, damn him. �You
have many other experiences to compare this one to?�

�� Not what I
meant.� Harry breathed through his nose and did his best to calm himself down.
�I meant, I hate being tied up, unable to move. And you say I shouldn�t
do the one thing I could to relieve myself. I wasn�t panicking before this
because I thought I had the ability to use wandless magic if it got really bad.
You�ve taken that option away. Distract me, damn it.�

�� Silence.
Harry swore under his breath. Of course Malfoy would run out of his prickling,
snapping, sniping comments just when it really counted.

�� More
silence. Harry, sweating now, closed his eyes and began to concentrate again in
desperation. There was always the chance he could conjure a Shield Charm when
the chain fell slack, and if Malfoy was right, then Lydia was out of the Forest
and in no danger of any kind. He should�

�� I want you
to justify yourself to me, Potter.�

�� Oh,
thank God. Harry barely kept himself from saying it aloud. He opened his
eyes and sneered, wondering idly if he was sneering at a centaur sentry, given
that he and Malfoy faced opposite directions. �You want reasons for why I acted
the way I did during school, I reckon? Reasons that you won�t understand even
if I explain them to you?�

�� No.�
Malfoy�s voice had acquired the frozen, icy surface it had had when he first
spoke to Harry back in his office. �I want to know why you�re always running
into the middle of dangerous situations, why you actively discourage other
people from helping you, why you haven�t already settled down with a nice young
witch.� There was a pause, suggestive. �Or a nice young wizard, for that
matter.�

�� Harry
snorted. �I doubt you�d understand those reasons either, Malfoy. Since
you don�t know what passion means.�

�� I know you
heard passion in my voice when we first came into the centaurs� clearing,�
Malfoy said, calmly, clearly. �Come, Harry. Explain yourself to me. You were
determined when I knew you last. Stubborn. You kept on the trail of Voldemort,
or me, for that matter, during our sixth year, until you reached the end. You
should be able to put up with this, as well as a regular partner. They�re gnat
bites next to a Dark Lord out for your blood. When did you lose your ability to
simply endure?�

�� Harry
shifted restlessly. The problem was, people had asked him these questions
before. Ron and Hermione, among others, when they�d first sensed the shift in
him after the war. Ginny, with vivid tears standing in her eyes, the day Harry
admitted it just didn�t work and broke up with her. Some of his partners, who
had genuinely liked him and had been upset when Harry pushed them away.

�� He knew the
answers, but he didn�t know how to phrase them in a way that made sense to
other people.

�� I don�t
know,� he said at last. �But I do know that I�m much happier working
alone than with someone else. Not as many lives to worry about. Not as many
restrictions on my freedom.� He paused a moment to think. �I love freedom more
than anything else. And that answers every question.�

�� Does it?�
Malfoy�s voice was soft, but Harry didn�t trust that for a minute. It
would become a darting sword, made to pierce him, any minute. �Most people
would say the bonds of good friendship, of love, aren�t confinements, Harry. Or
they�re the kind that you enter willingly, because the sacrifice of freedom is
nothing next to what you gain.�

�� You would
know a lot about friendship and love, would you?�

�� Malfoy drew
a sudden harsh breath. Harry felt a moment�s mean satisfaction. The blow had
gone home.

�� And then he
remembered that Malfoy might be the only one who could persuade the centaurs to
let them go, and he remembered his admiration of Malfoy earlier in the day as
they walked through the Forest, and he shifted again. Damn it, he hated when
his satisfaction turned to guilt.

�� Sorry,� he
muttered. The word tangled up in his throat, but he managed to force it out.

�� Harry heard
a rustle that was probably Malfoy�s hair traveling against the tree as he
nodded. �I think I begin to see a partial answer,� he murmured, voice dry as
midwinter ice. �You don�t find the gain worth the sacrifice. What are your
requirements for a relationship, Harry? What would someone have to give you, to
make you listen to him, pay attention to him, consider his needs as important
as your own?�

�� Wonder
burned in the middle of Harry�s chest. No one had ever asked this. No
one. They had assumed, with the best of intentions, that he was abnormal, what
with his quick boredom and his low sex drive.

�� Careful,
Harry, he reminded himself. He may have uncovered your feelings awfully
fast, but he�s still a stuck-up poncy git.

�� A challenge,�
he said. �I need someone who can wrestle with me, someone who can make me
stretch to my limits, someone who requires an equal of me. I�ve only met people
who want me to become wrapped around their little fingers or people who want to
fawn on and worship me because I�m a hero. With Ron and Hermione, it�s
different, but even so, I couldn�t have either of them for a partner. And I
could hardly have you for a partner, either,� he added, wondering if Draco had
that in mind. �You�re not an Auror.�

�� Draco
chuckled, so softly that Harry turned his head, straining his ears to hear
better. �There�s more than one kind of partner, Harry,� he said. �And I
maintain that we will have much to talk about when we leave the Forest.�

�� Harry
opened his mouth to retort�so Malfoy thought he was capable of challenging
Harry, did he? More, he wanted to?�but there was a movement in front of
him that almost made him swallow his tongue. A centaur had appeared, one whose
coat glimmered dark red in the faint moonlight, and reached out to unclasp the
chain that traveled across his waist and wrists.

�� Right on
time,� Malfoy said, his voice faintly pleased. �I can see Orion through that
gap in the leaves.�

�� Harry
opened his mouth to ask what the fuck that meant.

�� You have
passed the first test,� said Magus, who was apparently in on the conspiracy not
to let Harry finish a complete sentence, from behind the chestnut centaur.

�� Harry
rolled his eyes, massaged his wrists, took a deep breath, and pushed away
thoughts of hunger and thirst. �You said that you had a test of courage for
me?� he asked. At least, this one, he knew he ought to be good at.

�� Not
directly for you,� Magus corrected softly.

�� Harry hated
feeling out of his depth. He was happier when he just had someone to curse.

*

�� Draco felt
a slight tremor. Centaurs did not twist their words, ever. They considered
truth a duty of any species who lived by the dictates of the stars. But the
words they spoke might not be the ones their listeners expected to hear.

�� He chafed
his wrists, then strode away from the tree and stood before Magus. The centaur
loomed over him. Draco wondered for a moment whether he would be content to go
back to Hogwarts as the Astronomy Professor when this was done; he seemed so
powerful and content here. But then, centaurs didn�t judge matters of
precedence as wizards did, either. The one sent among humans would not have a
lowly job.

�� The tests
of courage and moderation are for both of us?� he asked, his voice quiet enough
to be respectful, but loud enough so Potter could hear. He saw Potter twitch
around in his direction, head lifted and eyes glinting quick and thoughtful.
Free, he seemed more in possession of that boundless energy than Draco would
have expected. He wasn�t shouting for his wand back, at least.

�� Yet.

�� Yes. Both
at once.� Magus inclined his head in what could have been simple acknowledgment
of Draco�s statement or actual approval. �Your test will be first, because you
are better known to us.�

�� I bet
that�s a novel situation for Potter, Draco thought.

�� Magus
glanced past Draco�s shoulder at Potter for a moment, then said, �You must
not interfere.� Draco didn�t turn away, but he assumed Potter must have
made a sign of assent, because Magus looked at him again. �It is said that you
are a seeker after knowledge,� he said. �When you come among our kindred, you
do not simply enjoy the experience. Nor do you seek an advantage for wizards
over us. You understand. You analyze. You work out patterns, and then
you would use them in your own magic.�

�� Draco had
no idea what the right answer in this case would be. He was beyond his depth,
floating in darkness as fathomless as that which lay between the well-known
constellations above his head. He wondered for one frantic moment if there was
a ritual greeting needed and unknown to him, if they wanted him to discourse on
the uses of wizarding astronomy, if he should present a dignified and unbroken
silence�

�� And then he
remembered what he�d thought just a few minutes ago. When in doubt around
centaurs, speak the truth.

�� Yes,� he
said. �That is what I want.�

�� Then take
the knowledge, Draco Malfoy,� Magus said, and his voice was like cold water
flowing directly over Draco�s nerves. �If you can.�

�� His eyes,
dark and just barely reflecting moonlight, widened, and in them Draco could see
the stars.

But they were not the stars as he
had learned to know them. They were grouped into odd, wild clumps, animals that
ran only in the Forbidden Forest and named stones and trees with histories, and
Draco felt a moment�s irritation. That was a very simple reason why no wizards
had been able to learn centaur magic, and one he should have figured out long
since. Much of wizarding astronomy was built on the constellations, but the
constellations were not something intrinsic to the sky. At least, their
shapes as drawn by wizarding eyes weren�t. Different human cultures had looked
at the night sky and seen very different things.

Centaurs saw them differently, as
well.

The lines of silvery light used to
draw the centaur constellations leaped and flickered and flashed in Draco�s
eyes. He despaired of remembering them, except by the silent osmosis he�d used
to gain his other new skills when he came back from centaur encampments. He was
falling further, delving deeper, diving faster. He was passing into the maze of
Magus�s eyes.

The centaurs� secrets could not be
tortured from them, could not be written down and discovered by enterprising
astronomers, could not be whispered by a traitor into human ears. The centaurs�
secrets were within them. It was no wonder, Draco thought, enthralled,
that they moved to the patterns of the heavens. When those patterns guided
their very muscles and veins and made up the flow of their blood, what else
were they supposed to do?

Down and inwards and across he
fell, while suns flew past him like rain.

*

�� Harry
shivered. It was not just the increased cold of the air that made him do so, or
the centaurs that had emerged from the trees and stood without a twitch of
their tails or a shudder of their flanks, staring at Draco. It was the way
Draco had shuddered and dropped to his knees, his face held obscenely close to
Magus�s still, as if chained. The tendons in his neck stood out. An eager whine
emerged from his throat.

�� Harry did
not understand exactly what was happening, but he knew well enough that this
�test� could consume Draco if he did not pull back from it.

�� And there
was nothing he could do to interfere.

�� Now he knew
what the centaurs had meant by a trial of courage. It took an entirely
different kind of courage to stand here, biting his lips and opening and
closing his eyes, and not lunge forwards to become the hero. He had to
trust that the centaurs had good reasons for doing this and that Magus would
not have offered the knowledge if Draco had no chance to recover from it. He
had to trust in Draco�s own strength and skill to return unharmed from the edge
of mystery.

�� He had to
trust in his own fortitude and ability not to go mad.

�� Questions
began to dance up and down in his head as he stood there, his hands digging
into his armpits and his fingers creasing the flesh above his ribs, his breath
drifting up in front of his eyes, his stomach nagging him despite everything.
Had he been not just reckless and disdainful of the rules in the past nine
years since he�d become an Auror, but mistrustful as well? Had he had so little
faith in the ability of Ron and others to handle themselves? Sure, he could
work faster and better alone, but what did it say, that he wasn�t willing to
slow down and accommodate himself to someone else�s way of working? Maybe he
could have stayed partners with Ron, if he had just explained a few things and
not snapped when Ron got something wrong.

�� Draco
screamed.

�� Harry
stirred anxiously, then remembered that putting one foot forwards, for all he
knew, would violate the terms of the test. He held himself hard enough to
constrict his breathing, and hoped.

*

�� There had
come a point when the flight of comets, the breathing power of nebulae, the
collision of galaxies, ceased to be separate phenomena to Draco. All he could
understand, and more, was contained within Magus�s eyes. He could have
constructed floating wooden ramps of his own now, or models of the planets to
live in. He could have drawn the centaur constellations from memory. He could
have�

�� He could
have foretold the future.

�� Centaur
astronomers had the power that wizards had never wielded. At least, not
reliably. Draco didn�t want to think about Divination and the grand claims that
Seers sometimes made. For every true Seer, there were a thousand charlatans.

�� But
centaurs could do it. They looked ahead because they could feel the stars
within them, like so much else, and knew what influences the stars were and
were not capable of laying down, based on their present positions. It was like
knowing the ability of one�s body to step or stride. Instinctive knowledge,
hard to describe, even harder to possess.

�� And then
Draco met the limit, and knew, in body, that he screamed.

�� It was a
scream of understanding, not pain. To have this knowledge, to know what Mars meant
and exactly how the birth of a star would foretell the birth of a child�

�� One had to
surrender to it. Completely. It was not a matter of using it. It was a matter
of dwelling within it and allowing it to use you.

�� Thus the
centaurs� odd contrivance to fulfill a prophecy that had little personally to
do with them and could have backfired on them by making wizards more frightened
and suspicious of their kind. That was the price they paid. To know fate, to be
fate, was to surrender the free will that allowed humans to make other
decisions and oppose themselves to destiny.

�� And as much
as he loved knowledge, Draco loved his freedom more.

�� He
had made his decisions after the war. He had found a profession that
intrigued him and would still allow him to act within the strict restrictions
that the Ministry had laid down on his use of his wand. He had built his
tower and argued with his parents and moved out of Malfoy Manor.

�� He
had stood up to the Dark Lord, in the end�not to the monster himself, but to
the shadow the monster had left lying over his life. He would not give up what
he had won, not if he could know everything Magus did.

�� Rising like
a raven, Draco flung himself back from the edge of the abyss. He did not know
how much his mind would retain, and he did not try to find out. He ran
shamelessly back down the long, sun-dotted trail, and emerged gasping into
darkness that was like light beside the endless reaches of spaces in Magus�s
eyes. He dropped his head into his hands and knelt, breathing harshly.

�� The
knowledge fell like stardust through his mental fingers. Draco did not try to
tighten his grip. He knew he would give in to temptation and stare upwards
again if he did. Those eyes were still waiting for him.

�� A test
of moderation for me, indeed, he thought, and wiped a hand across his
mouth. He turned to find that Potter had not moved from the place where he�d
been when Draco began his strange journey, though his eyes were enormous and he
twitched like a startled rabbit when he realized Draco was staring at him with
sanity intact. His eyes closed then, and he took an immense, silent breath.

�� Draco�s
resolve to talk to Potter when this all ended solidified. He scrambled to his
feet and moved back from Magus, to sling an arm around Potter�s shoulders.
Potter leaned against him with a smaller sigh than the one he�d just given.
Draco took a moment to revel in that closeness�the closeness of an inadequate,
flawed human being who made mistakes, and who would never know the future.

�� It is the
time of the third test,� said Magus, and the darkness of the clearing tore.

*

�� Harry
opened his eyes.

�� On the
ground in front of the centaurs, widening gradually but inexorably as they
moved back, a pool of light was opening. It turned and swirled slowly, a
viscous maelstrom. Harry had never seen anything like it. The pool was pure
gold in color, and leaping flares broke the surface of it, as Hermione had told
him fire did on the surface of the sun. How far down it went, he didn�t know.
How wide it might spread in the end, he didn�t know.

�� What would
happen if he stepped into it, he didn�t know.

�� The urge to
do so hooked into his stomach like a wire. He had already stumbled forwards
several steps before he realized he didn�t know what to do. He halted, gaze
darting over to Magus, who nodded imperceptibly.

�� You must
step into it,� he said. �And remain there as long as you think you need to. It
is different beneath the surface.� There was a grave undertone to those last
words, where Harry thought a human might have smirked.

�� Harry had
no objections. He had no wand, and the magic of the pool was utterly unknown.
This was the greatest threat, the greatest challenge, he had ever faced in his
life.

�� Draco
Malfoy may not interfere,� Magus said, but the words sounded thin and
unimportant to Harry. Why in the world would Malfoy want to interfere?
Lydia was safe, and he had, probably, at least some of the knowledge he had
come for. This was Harry�s fate, no one else�s. If he died now, at least his
friends would know he had died doing something he loved.

�� And he left
behind no lover who would be hurt.

�� He waded
forwards and plunged into the pool.

�� Heat washed
around him for a moment, heat that made him scream in ecstasy at the pain. He
had stepped into the sun, he was standing in a wash of dragonfire, a hundred
tons of melting iron were falling on him all at once�

�� And then he
vanished into darkness and stillness.

*

�� Draco
closed his eyes.

�� Potter,
you idiot.

�� He
understood exactly what this pool represented, even though he had never
seen it before, nor found mention of it among the few scraps of knowledge he
had coaxed out of centaurs. It represented Potter�s greatest temptation, as the
endless understanding in Magus�s eyes had been Draco�s.

�� And Draco
knew what that would be, given what Potter had told him when they were both
chained to the tree.

�� What would
lure the man who lived to charge into impossible situations and conquer them
with a mixture of fighting skill and blind luck?

�� The
unconquerable.

*

�� Harry found
himself drifting in perfect darkness. No night could compare to it. In
every direction around him was stillness, a lack of sight, a lack of sound. He
tried to shout, and his voice did not even rise before it died. His skin
touched nothing. He might have been falling, or standing, or drifting sideways.
There was no way to be sure. He was rapidly losing track of the sensations of
his own body.

�� Insanity
pressed close to the verges of his brain. Harry laughed wildly, knowing that
his heart beat faster even if he couldn�t feel it. He had never faced madness
so directly before, and he was looking forwards to it.

�� He had only
a moment of that, however, before shafts of misty starlight pierced the pool,
beaming down from above. At the same moment, colored sparks began to whirl and
drift in the distance. Harry knew what they were, even before they came close
enough that he could distinguish individual features. They were his beloved
dead, his parents and Remus and Sirius, the four figures he had walked with in
the Forbidden Forest when he believed that he went to his death on Voldemort�s
wand.

�� He had come
to the country where they waited for him, and this time there was no reason to
hold back. He could swim over to join them if he wished. Harry understood what
he had in that moment: choice unbounded. No one was waiting for him to
sacrifice his life and save the world. He was a good Auror, but others could
work on and solve even the most difficult cases. Ron and Hermione would mourn,
but he would never know of it. His aloofness from other human ties in the past
decade was proven spectacularly wise now. He had always held lightly to life.
He could let go.

�� No one to
stop him. He was the one who would make this decision, if it were made at all.

�� Harry
imagined his life as a golden ball held in his hands. He tossed it into the
air, caught it again, rolled it from palm to palm, and nearly dropped it into
the inky blackness beneath him. But he snatched it back up at the last instant.
No, if he died, he was going to die by choice, not accident.

�� This was
the freedom beyond all freedoms. This was the challenge beyond all challenges,
the patient fate he could no more escape than could anyone else. He had looked
into the face of death many times before, spit, and walked away, but someday he
knew he would not be able to walk away. And now it waited for him, ready to
engage him in the riskiest of contests, the one he knew he could not
win.

�� It was
seduction like nothing he had ever known.

�� And it was
clarity, it was awakening. Just as he had been forced to wonder if he were
mistrusting everyone who tried to partner with him instead of pushing past them
to claim his rightful place, Harry had to think, now, of what he�d been
chasing. Freedom, as he�d told Draco? Independence, which he had a right to
after so much of his life had been controlled and manipulated and shaped by
others� expectations? Excitement, so he wouldn�t get bored?

�� No.

�� Death.

�� Harry gave
a little shiver, and shook his head. Then he looked down at the quivering ball
of intensely concentrated golden life and warmth between his hands. Such a
small thing, and so easily quenched by the well of blackness around him. The
dead outnumbered the living, and in the deeps of time, everything would end.
Someday, he would face his last battle.

�� But he need
not make a contribution to that ending before that fight.

�� He tossed
the ball upwards, and willed it to rise. Then Harry rose, chasing his life like
a Snitch back into the imperfect darkness of the Forbidden Forest.

*

�� Draco felt
as if he�d never known what it was like to breathe by the time Harry finally
tore through the golden surface of the pool.

�� He had
suffered enough in those endless, unclocked minutes to know that this was his
own test of courage. He had to face the temptation to summon his wand and cast
a spell that might dissipate the pool and fetch Harry back, or at least force
the centaurs to do so. He had to face the biting, blinding fear about what
would happen if the pool simply settled and stayed the same, unbroken by
anything but its own flares, until sunrise and beyond.

�� He had to
face the fact that he really, really didn�t want Harry to die.

�� He fell to
his knees as he watched the other wizard wade out of the pool, scrubbing at his
own red and irritated flesh. Harry stood over him a moment later, gazing down.
Draco stared up, and through the flickering shadows the golden pool cast, he
made out gentleness on that face�the first time he�d ever seen his former
schoolboy rival wear that expression.

�� Then Harry
extended his hand.

�� Draco
clenched his fingers around Harry�s wrist, and let Harry pull him out of fear
and a million memories.

*

�� Harry had
listened just enough to Magus to record what the centaur was talking about on
the �Auror part� of his brain. The Auror part would always have a clear
recollection of the important facts later. Their wands had been returned. Lydia
Siddons really had changed, more than her parents thought she had, beginning
with her need to get over her fear of her Astronomy teacher. She had willingly
come to the Forest with Magus, when he told her it was part of something
important to have her along. She was already back in Hogwarts, or probably in
the loving arms of her parents by now. Harry and Draco had done their part by
coming after her and fulfilling the prophecy. Magus would return to his post as
Astronomy teacher, empowered in a new way to deal with humans, now that he had
shown his people wizards could learn the lessons of courage and moderation and
wouldn�t necessarily tear the Forbidden Forest apart immediately because they
believed one of their children was in danger.

�� Harry knew
all that. He�d be able to reproduce it for Beauchamp later, via Pensieve if he
had to.

�� Right now,
though, his attention was much more firmly fixed on Draco�s hair and scent and
the solid warmth of his body as he leaned against Harry in the circle of his
arm.

�� They didn�t
wait for the trip back to his office, or even a quick Apparition to Draco�s
tower, which he suggested between his gasps for breath; Harry had dragged him
through the Forest at a rapid pace. Harry leaned Draco back against a tree on
the outskirts of the Forest, in shadows that hid them from Hogwarts, and
fastened his mouth on the other man�s.

�� And, for
the first time, he was involved in what was happening.

�� Draco was a
living challenge under his hands, his tongue dueling and darting back against
Harry�s, his skin hot as the pool had been, his hands fumbling frantically for
a way beneath Harry�s clothes. He let out a triumphant snarl when he found it,
and then tossed his head back with a hoarse little breath when Harry located
his cock first. Harry squeezed, and saw, by the light of stars and moon,
Draco Malfoy the Unruffled Astronomer writhing with his eyes shut and his mouth
slack and open, his throat strained back as it had been when he knelt before
Magus.

�� Need that
he had only ever associated with fighting and rescuing took hold of Harry. He
had the need to make Draco look like that again, and again, and again.

�� Sex had
never been like this. Nothing had ever been like this.

�� He would
have fallen to his knees and tried something he�d only ever been mildly
interested in before, but Draco pushed back against him then, and muttered a
charm that loosened Harry�s robes enough for him to find his target. And Harry
had the satisfaction of feeling a pair of hands that obviously weren�t only talented
at wielding telescopes and star charts curve around him.

�� He didn�t
throw his head back, because that wasn�t what he did. He ground his mouth into
Draco�s, and his erection into Draco�s hands, and Draco into the tree. Their
panting breaths traveled back and forth between them. Harry found himself
caught in a spiral of emotions and sensations that twined around each other and
only grew sharper and quicker and more insistent the more he felt them, luring
him into feeling more and more of them.

�� And he wanted
to make Draco feel them, too, and every sign that he was only made him want to
do it more.

�� There was
never enough of this in the world, he thought, as Draco made the tree sway with
the force of his sudden buck, as he cried out in something like pain, as he
came with force enough to nearly tear Harry�s hands from his cock. Never, there
would never be enough, not enough touching or enough of that sound or enough
skin to lean forwards and cover with kisses and swipes of his tongue�

�� And there
would never be enough of the force that lifted him like a tsunami and dropped
him abruptly into pleasure. Harry keened, and shook himself apart, and at the
last slumped with his head on Draco�s shoulder, his breaths slowing, subsiding
gently into silence.

*

�� Draco would
have lifted a hand to stroke Harry�s hair, but they were rather occupied with
holding the cooling, sticky mess between their bodies right now. He rolled his
head to the side instead, brushing Harry�s cheek with his. He received a
fever-bright look from green eyes, and then another kiss, so greedy that he
wondered if Harry wouldn�t be ready for a second round quite soon.

�� You should
know,� he whispered, �that I won�t tolerate you going madly into danger
again, not if we�re going to be lovers.�

�� Harry
smiled, the deep, self-satisfied smile of a man who had faced an important flaw
in his character and not let it break him. �Don�t worry,� he said. �I rather
think you�re challenge enough for me.�

�� Draco
smiled back, hesitantly. He could hear the voices of doubt beginning in his
head. Harry was�well, he was Harry. He was an Auror, working in the midst of a
Ministry that still sneered doubtfully at Draco�s family. Harry seemed never to
have had a lover who would stay with him; Draco had never had one who wanted to
put up with his moods for long. And there was all the history between them,
lying largely untouched save for the insults they�d flung earlier that day.

�� But.

�� After what
they�d faced in the Forest, Draco thought they would be dishonoring themselves
if they didn�t at least try.

�� He moved at
last, a little uncomfortable with his enforced stillness, and Harry used his
wand to banish the mess from between them. They still didn�t go immediately
back to the Ministry, however. Draco lifted his arms and wrapped them around
Harry, drawing him close, so that he could both embrace him and see the stars
over his shoulder.

�� We can
try. Because no one human knows the future.
- 1
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Still Pools and Starlight

Still Pools and Starlight