Disclaimer: Firstly, I don't own any of the characters. They all belong to JK Rowling.

Now, before you all start flaming me for taking these wonderful characters out of Hogwarts, let me explain my exact reason's for doing so:

1. This story is based on actual events. Yes, that's right, these things have actually happened, hence, my need for a different setting. So, I've taken out favorite Trio, one sexy Slytherin and a couple of tag alongs out of our beloved Hogwarts, and chucked them into a catholic school somewhere in the Central Business District of Sydney.

2. For certain scenes in this story, the characters will also not be attending a boarding school, so it may be a little out of whack, but I promise to keep the characters as much in character as I can, except Draco will probably be way off, I apologize in advance. Also, any use of telephones and computers and other such muggle artifacts will also be used, they fit the setting change, deal with it :P

3. I actually hope to finish this one, as I already know how the whole thing goes... but anyhow, feel free to throw any comments, suggestions or anything else at me.

Now, on with the story, but where to start........?

Harry sat alone on the bus. It was like this most mornings. His discman blaring in his ears. He liked the idea of blocking everyone out; they didn't need to know what was going on in his life anyway.

Harry sighed loudly to himself, but turned further to look out the window when he noticed heads turning in his direction. Tactful ignorance always came in handy at St Patrick's. Anything you did could be twisted and turned into something you couldn't even comprehend and within a day, the entire school would know about it. But it was even harder to ignore when the rumors were true.

Harry's thoughts turned to a certain red head and he instantly regretted getting on the bus. He didn't want to go back to school this year. Not after what had happened last year and especially over the holidays.

Since becoming friends with Draco, Ron and Harry seemed to be fighting not only more frequently, but more intensely as well. It had gotten to the point where Ron was becoming possessive, so finally, during the holidays, Harry couldn't take it anymore. He'd broken up with Ron and hadn't spoken to him since.

Trudging sulkily off the bus with the crowd of other students, Harry looked up at the tall buildings and felt a little calmer at the false sense of security the buildings provided. He didn't walk with the other students down Market St, but instead, went along Elizabeth and turned down Park St for a last minute breakfast at McDonalds.

Upon ordering a sausage Mc muffin, a large coke and several hash browns, Harry shoved a $10 note at the girl and grabbed the bag off the counter. He turned and walked straight into none other than Draco Malfoy.

Draco laughed lightly as Harry spilt coke down his front, all over his school shirt and tie.

"Not a good way to start a new school year, Potter." Draco said flippantly. Harry tried to laugh, but, unsuccessful, he returned to pouting over his spilt coke.

"What's the matter, Harry? You want to talk or something?" He smiled warmly at the smaller boy.

"Sure, but first I want to dry this shirt and get my jumper on before anyone sees me in my natural state." Draco laughed, but Harry simply walked upstairs, dumped his bag and the food onto a nearby table, anticipating that Draco would mind them and waltzed into the bathroom to clean himself up.

Walking into school with Draco was probably the worst thing Harry could have done that morning, but it was the last thing to cross his mind. Upon leaving McDonalds, Harry had engaged Draco in a long re-count of what had happened between himself and Ron over the holidays. Draco listened intently as Harry told him about the fighting, the snuggling, the decision and the break up. Whenever Harry paused, Draco would share his insights, and each time, Harry's mood lifted a little.

They continued like this, until two blocks down they reached the school. Harry would have stopped and looked up at it's looming form, not wanting to step a single foot inside, but having Draco by his side, he completely forgot about facing Ron and went on talking and laughing with Draco.

As they entered the hall where all the 10th grade lockers were, Harry froze almost immediately. The first person Harry noticed was Ron, his mouth wide open, his eyes already filling with tears and his bag on the floor by his feet, books spilled everywhere. Then, before he could do anything, Harry noticed Hermione walking toward him, a look of absolute hatred on her face. She looked as though she were about to hit him, but instead, she grabbed his arm, flung him around and marched him off in the other direction.

Once they were safely away in an empty classroom, Harry felt Hermione's eyes boring into the back of his neck. He turned slowly to face her, and was met with the scariest looking Hermione he had ever seen.

"Hermione, I –"He started, but she wasn't about to let him explain himself.

"Harry, how could you!!?? Haven't you hurt him enough? Haven't you already broken his heart? How dare you dump him for Malfoy! Of all people! I'm so ashamed, no, I'm furious! Harry, I thought you were a better person than that!" Her face was red with anger, her eyes too filled with unshed tears.

"It wasn't like that. I – I didn't think..." He stammered.

"You're right, you didn't think, and now you're going to pay for your lack of thinking. Ron won't forgive you for this. You've cut him too deep this time." And with that, Hermione turned on her heel and marched straight out of the room, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts and his rapidly building guilt.

Harry thanked God that neither Ron nor Hermione were in his homeroom this year. He was in 10P3. Three rooms down from Hermione's, Diagonally from Ron's and across the hall from Draco's.

He sat next to Neville and tried to concentrate while his new homeroom teacher, Ms Jourdain read out their new timetables. This year he was in core group C, Intermediate Mathematics and English B. He was taking Computing Studies, Japanese and Geography as his electives.

He scribbled down his English lesson on day 5, period 3 and glanced again at his watch, wishing desperately that recess would come so he could find out who he would be sharing all his classes with this year.

Harry felt the anxiety in his chest rise as the bell sounded, and he shoved his books into his bag and pelted out of the room. He didn't know who he was running to, he was just running, and not watching where he was going at that. He landed with a slight thud next to a red haired boy and they both lay motionlessly on the floor for what seemed like hours.

When Harry opened his eyes, he saw that most of his year had gathered in a large circle around them to try and see what was going on. He heaved himself onto his shoulders and looked down at the not unconscious, but still not moving Ron.

"Ron, are you-"

"Don't even bother, Harry. Just go."

Harry didn't need to hear Ron's tone to know he meant it. He felt his heart sink. He got up, hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and started walking down the hall. He didn't look back. And Ron didn't care.

Harry found Draco leaning against the wall at the bottom of the staircase that led down to the junior quadrangle. He smiled when Harry saw him.

"I was wondering when I'd be seeing you, Mr. Potter" he joked, slapping Harry on the arm lightly and turning toward the canteen. "Come on, I'm starved."

"Dray?" Harry really didn't know what he was going to say, but he had to say something.

"Yea, Harry?" Even his eyes smiled back when Harry felt his lips curve into a small smile.

"Thanks" Harry managed, and he followed Draco across the quadrangle to the canteen.

"For what, Harry?" He looked at Harry expectantly.

"Just for being you." Harry replied, not really knowing what else to say and never really expecting to say what he said.

Harry sat with Draco, Neville, Dean, Seamus, Fred and George and a bunch of other people in his grade. They discussed who was in whose class and which teachers they had. Harry was pleased to find Draco was in his Core group, in which they had PdhPE, Religion and Study. Ron, Hermione and Draco were all in his Math group, and Draco was also in Harry's English class.

Harry left school that day, considerable happier than he had been on arriving that morning, he had managed to avoid both Ron and Hermione for the remainder of the afternoon, and he had almost all his classes with Draco. The only class he wasn't looking forward to was Geography, which he shared with Ron.

Harry sat at the back of the bus, headphones again in his ears, and watched all the 7th and 8th graders argue over the remaining back seats. He rolled his eyes and turned to look out the window. As he did this, something caught Harry's eye. It was Draco, he spotted Harry and waved, smiling ferociously. Harry waved back, and watched him as the bus pulled away from the bus stop.

'Well, at least it ended a lot better than it started' He thought to himself, turning up the volume on his CD player and sinking down into the bus seat.

Plz R&R