𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆

Chapter 11

Forever

Let us die young or let us live forever

We don't have the power but we never say never

Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip

The music's for the sad men.

~ Alphaville, "Forever Young"

Time ground to a halt.

Sacrifice. The very air in the room seemed to hiss the word into Harry's ears, and his mind was flooded with images: blood and snakes and red eyes and green light and a wand, rolling slowly, abandoned on a stone floor. And where he could see in this imaginary nightmare, there was no Draco, and there was no Harry. They were merely memories, fluttering against the veil. The wand clattered on the floor, but no one came to fetch it, for there was no one left.

No. It could not be. It simply, positively, could not be true.

A second or a minute or an hour later, Harry couldn't tell, a beam of golden light sprang forth again from Draco's wand. It revealed a pale face and wide eyes gazing into Harry's. "Harry," he said, voice trembling, and Harry's own name had never sounded so devastating to him.

"It's wrong," Harry tried to assure him, and he realized only when he tried to speak that he was taking huge gulps of air and his chest felt tight, as if there weren't enough air in the room now. "It it can't know that!"

Draco eyed the book fearfully. "But if it can See "

"It can't," Harry shook his head quickly, too quickly. "Books can't do that."

"Some things can," said Draco quietly. "Some can sense when events happen and record them " He looked from the book to Harry. The purple circles under his eyes seemed even darker now. Everything seemed darker now. But Draco licked his lips and took a shaky breath, clearly trying to order his thoughts. "There's a book at Hogwarts that records the names of Wizarding children as soon as they're born. That's how the school knows when magical children are born to Muggles."

"But it can't foresee the births," Harry countered. "Right?"

"I " Draco's mouth opened and shut silently. "I don't know. I don't think so."

Harry forced a smile, but he feared it was more like a grimace. "See, then, it can't be true. It's a trick, that's all. Books can't tell you the future."

"But if people can See things," Draco looked pleadingly at Harry. "And if there are prophecies and Time Turners then what if it can know the future?" His face scrunched up and his eyes widened even more. "Harry, it's warning us! It's telling us that that one of us "

"No!" Harry stood up abruptly and turned away from Draco. "We are not going to die, okay?" He hugged his arms against his chest and willed them to stop shaking. "I won't lose you. I won't!"

There was silence, and then Harry heard a soft shuffle and felt Draco's hand tentatively rest on his shoulder. "It's telling us," he breathed, and Harry could hear the tears in the other boy's voice. "It's telling us that the war is going to end, Harry. However it happens."

"A sacrifice," murmured Harry, and he closed his eyes. "For defending love."

Draco's hand didn't move. "Do you think " he let out an unsteady breath. "Is it me or you, Harry?"

Harry wanted to open his mouth, wanted to spin around and say, never you, never you, for he would die himself to keep that from happening. But that, he supposed, could also be what the damningly cryptic message meant. Instead, he clenched his hands into fists. "We're both living on borrowed time. I don't know." And then he turned around and grabbed Draco's shoulders, digging his fingers into those slim shoulders. "I don't fucking know anymore! I don't know anything!" He sniffed harshly and shook his head. "I don't know how this is supposed to go, or what we're supposed to do, or how we're supposed to survive this! "