Well I got a lot more views than I expected so let's see where the story goes, shall we? First off, thanks to all of the helpful reviews about my story- especially about the mistakes I make! Oh and just so you know I changed the timeline with Harry getting Slughorn's memory before the holidays. It fits the story better for my purposes.

Harry met his friends for dinner, where Hermione asked him how his date went. Looking at the glint in her eyes Harry decided that honesty would be the best option at the moment.

"It wasn't actually a date. I met up with Malfoy to talk at the Hog's Head, then we walked over to the Shrieking Shack." Harry shrugged as he began eating his meal.

Hermione looked a little upset at his confession and Harry figured he was right in assuming they went to Puddifoot's to see who he was meeting. Thanking his foresight to send them somewhere else he decided to be gracious and ignore the fact that they were spying on him. Ron looked incredibly thoughtful, which was disturbing in itself, and was taking small bites of his food, which worried Harry to no end. Harry nudged Hermione before glancing pointedly at Ron. When she noticed his unusual behavior she gave Harry a small shake of her head, she had no idea what was going through the boy's mind. As Hermione glanced at the boy Harry wondered at the fact that Ron's hair was still undeniably green. Apparently Hermione was refusing to help him, under the pretence of teaching him a lessson, so here they were two weeks later and his hair was still undeniably green.

"Er...Ron?" Hermione looked concernedly at her best friend.

The Gryffindor looked up from his plate, "What's up?"

"Ummm..." Hermione bit her lip, unsure of how to say what she was thinking.

Harry laughed, "Hermione's confused about your sudden interest in table manners. "

Hermione scowled in his direction and Ron looked down at his plate, "No. No. Just thinking..."

And with that Ron turned back to his food. Hermione and Harry exchanged a glance before deciding that Ron would tell them when he was ready and nothing they could say would drag it out of him. Harry chatted with Neville and Seamus and they talked about values of Herbology versus Charms; although, as Neville pointed out, Seamus was likely to blow something up no matter the class. Eventually dessert disappeared from teh table and everyone got up to migrate back to their dorms for the evening.

(0,0)

After playing (and losing) several games of chess with Ron, Harry decided to call it a night. Crawling into his bed he set the usual silencing charms without much thought and pulled the curtains closed. As he was laying there drifting closer to sleep he could not help thinking about the discussion with Malfoy earlier in the day. Before Malfoy had even begun talking he had asked Harry to take an oath of secrecy that he would not tell anyone about what Draco was saying, Harry nodded and took the oath.

"Now, I'm only going to give you the basics of it all, don't need you to go running off to Dumbledore knowing everything about the Dark Lord and his followers.

"First of all we all do believe in blood purity, partially because of the power that we all possess is stronger when it comes from blood, although that is not always the case. I believe that the Dark Lord began this case because of the heinous crimes that muggles have committed against anyone who is different from them. The other thing is that he does not really think that all mudbloods need to die, he used to but not anymore, he is just afraid of what will happen when too many muggles know about magic.

"He has this plan that basically removes the term 'Dark' from the ministry. Taking the Dark Arts and making them something to be understood rather than feared, for how can you fight something you do not know. Many creatures have been ostracized by the wizarding world for things outside of their control. I believe that the Dark Lord wants to bring knowledge to the world, after all knowledge is the greatest power there is.

"He was also hoping to balance out the two worlds by placing muggles in the homes of families who can't have children, or who are willing to house them. This way the children will not have to worry about being mistreated by their families, of course he's not asking them to leave entirely if they want to meet their birth families they are more than welcome to establish contact. I think he is really trying to prevent the muggles from learning about us and hurting us, individually or in a genocide of sorts."

They talked for a little longer but Malfoy refused to go into much more detail than that. Harry had changed tactics after several unanswered or avoided questions. He turned to questions about Voldemort himself.

"I think to an extent time has been unkind to him and there are days when the Death Eaters hardly recognize him. None of his plans have changed but some of his methods are becoming too much for many of us to handle. Some of the others believe that he will become more bearable once he has achieved his goals, and taken control. In all honesty, I'm not so sure. I hope that he will and I know that he does have periods of sanity where he acts more like he did when Father began with him. In the end I think that everything comes down to who lives to tell the story..."

As Harry replayed the conversation he began thinking about what he had learned. The Dark Lord seemed to have lost touch with reality and his mission, maybe just maybe he could find it again. To Harry's immense disappointment the words that Malfoy had given him had only made things that much harder to understand. The idea of living in a world that was so afraid of the 'evil' that they hid it away scared him. After all without the knowledge of what it is, how are people supposed to stand against it. Then again, the idea of living under the rule of a psychotic Lord was even more frightening. Harry groaned and rolled over in his bed, how was he supposed to decide his path now? As the night began to fade Harry decided to let his future remain a mystery and let his mind fade from thoughts to dreams.

(0,0)

As the weeks passed by and the school year came closer to the holidays Harry found himself spending more and more time with Draco and the Slytherins. He had discovered that most of the Slytherins were very much not interested in what Harry was supposed to do with his life. Harry never accepted the invitations to go back to the Slytherin common room, but that was just a precaution. It became a usual sight to see the Chosen One sitting with his Slytherin classmates in the library, next to the lake, or even in the Great Hall. Not everyone approved of his sudden camaraderie with the snakes, in fact most people did not. Yet, after a few seventh year Gryffindors, who thought it would be funny to attack Harry in the hallway, found themselves in the infirmary- Harry found fewer glares pointed in his direction.

Although Dumbledore seemed to disapprove of Harry's actions he turned a blind eye and continued to share memories with the boy, and gave Harry a mission to retrieve a memory from Slughorn. With every memory Harry's discomfort grew. He had no idea how this Tom fit with the snake called Voldemort. Although the Slytherin cunning was there and active, some of his actions spoke of someone who was desperate. A boy who turned to the headmaster every chance he got to escape from the horrors he faced in his life, and he was turned away every time. How could Harry hate kill someone who had already suffered so much in his life? No, Tom was not a kind hearted soul. He had made some terrible choices and they resulted in a cursed life that he was currently living.

As Harry faced the end of the term and the upcoming holidays, he could not help but wonder about the poor little orphan boy from the memories. With the reports of attacks that covered the Prophet and the memories of one Tom Riddle, Harry was on a roller coaster of emotions. Which was right, which was wrong. And how was Harry supposed to decide, especially since the victory could lie solely with the side he chose. The pressure was getting to him. The lack of sleep was beginning to show in the form of bruises under his eyes. Food became something to be contemplated over rather than something that was eaten. In more ways than one he and Draco resembled each other. Harry often brought up Draco's need to sleep but the blond alway responded the same, a small shake of his head and a change in the topic.

(0,0)

Harry had finally succeeded in retrieving the memory from Slughorn and was currently walking towards the Headmaster's office to see the details of the memory the old professor had tried so desperately to conceal. Of course, Harry had gone to great lengths to get the memory, but he could not help but wonder what made this particular memory so important. After all if Dumbledore knew what was in it, there was no reason to make Harry beg it from his professor. Harry could not help worrying that this was about to make his choice that much more difficult. He traveled from Hagrid's hut and up the stairs. He knew that Dumbledore would want to know now, but he could barely make his feet move in the direction of the office.

Eventually, the gargoyle came into sight. Harry ended his musing by stopping in front of the gargoyle and asking him to inform the Headmaster of his presence. As Harry waited for the door to open he tried desperately to stop thinking about what he was about to see. He was going to see it, worrying about it was not going to change what the memory contained, he just had to remember to keep an open mind. The door opened and Harry walked up the stairs. Dumbledore moved quickly to open the memory and poured it into the pensieve. Dumbledore and Harry looked at each other before bending over the pensieve and falling into the memory.

(0,0)

Horcruxes. A piece of the soul that is ripped off and embedded in another object. Harry could not imagine the pain, emotional and physical, that would come from ripping your soul into pieces. Once would be painful, and Tom had planned on ripping seven different pieces. According to Dumbledore he was planning Harry's death to make the seventh and final horcrux. Harry shuddered at the thought. Imagine that pain of ripping your soul. Harry imagined that it would be something akin to the cruciatus curse. Of course that could be part of the reason that Voldemort had gone insane, after all it he had seen what happened to the Longbottom's. To put yourself through that willingly- it would drive anyone over the edge.

He was walking back to the Gryffindor Tower. He needed more information than this. He needed to know everything there was to know about horcruxes and something told him that Dumbledore was going to try and keep him in the dark. He needed help. The question was, who was he going to ask? And more importantly, who would help The Boy Who Lived?

(0,0)

Harry tried to talk Dumbledore into letting him go to Grimmauld Place for the holidays, but they were still unsure as to what was going to happen now that Harry was the owner. Which was not fair in any sense of the word. Harry was the owner of the building and Fred and George had offered to stay with him, or give him a room with them above the shop. But Dumbledore was adamant that Harry either stay at Hogwart's or travel to the Burrow with the rest of the Weasley's.

He was sitting in the library ranting mentally cursing Dumbledore, when Malfoy walked in and sat at his table. Draco had prompted Harry to talk about his problems and Harry had needed little encouragement. It was different to talk to someone with a clear point of view when it came to Dumbledore and his strange ways, even though Harry had to watch everything he said it seemed to be strangely therapeutic. When he ranted, Malfoy surprised him by listening to everything he said. Harry could not remember the last time any of his 'friends' had actually listened to him, although in their defense most of their conversations had centered around Dumbledore, Riddle, and Malfoy as of late. It was sure to get annoying. Then of course, Malfoy surprised him again by pointing out the obvious.

"What exactly keeps you from leaving the Burrow?"

"Well... I don't know actually. I guess I kind of assumed that I'm stuck there. I've never really wanted to leave the Burrow before." Harry thought of this new development, "But it really does not change much if I really can't get into my godfather's house because I am not a Black."

"You know, my mom was a Black. So if I went with you we could probably get around any traps that they set for people in there..."

"Yes! That would be- Damn. You can't, it's under a fidelius to keep my godfather safe. He was a little paranoid, but I'm not the secret keeper so I do not think that I can actually bring you with me."

"Well, in any case, he never said anything about it being unsafe for you before. It sounded like it was unsafe for you to have huge groups over." He could not exactly tell him that it was headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix now could he?

"Oh. Huh, I guess you're right. Hey do you want to meet in London over the holidays? If I can sneak away from the Burrow we can plan a day to get together, I am probably going to need to escape from all of the red heads."

Malfoy laughed, "I know I would, I think all of the red would permanently damage my eyes. But, if we are going to be escaping from our personal prison guards to meet up, you should probably call me Draco."

"Deal, if you can manage to call me Harry."

"I don't know, you look more like a Scarhead to me anyday. But I guess I can make an attempt." Draco smirked and Harry could not hold back his smile.

"Sounds good. Look I'm going to go talk to Ron, I'll write you when I get to the Burrow." With that Harry stood from the table and began to walk from the room.

"Can't wait." Harry gave Draco one last wave before he disappeared around the corner, "I really can't."

The next day, Draco watched as Harry left the platform along with the red headed clan. Just before he slid through the wall he met Draco's gaze and smiled. Draco gave a nod to Harry and turned to apparate away with his parents.

"I'll see you soon, Harry."

(0,0)

Harry was overwhelmed by the amount of noise coming from the Weasley clan. They were obviously excited to have a few weeks off without teachers around, but Harry found himself missing the quiet of the hallways and common room over break. The day they had arrived Harry had walked out of the chaos that had descended upon the Burrow and found that he was locked into the wards and able to come and go as he pleased. A week later Harry wrote Draco asking him to meet today during the afternoon. Ron was currently planning a quidditch game with his family in the backyard and Harry quickly pleaded a headache before slipping upstairs under the pretense of taking a nap. A couple of blankets and a patented Fred and George charm later, a new 'Harry' was sleeping comfortably in his bed. Without waiting a moment longer Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak and snuck from the room closing the door behind him. He pulled the cloak over his shoulders and snuck down the stairs, out the front door, through the gate, and down the road.

A mile or so down the road, Harry lifted his wand in front of him. Seconds later the Knight Bus pulled to a stop in front of him.

Stan Shunpike was standing at the top of the stairs like before and eagerly accepted Harry onto the bus like an old friend. Rolling his eyes but smiling nonetheless, Harry asked to go to Grimmauld Place in London and paid the fare. Harry sat in one of the many available chairs near a window so that he could watch the country side slip by him. Eventually Stan called out Harry's stop and Harry eagerly exited the bus. He took his time walking up the street Harry took the time to glance around at the oblivious neighbors. Oh the wonders of magic.

Eventually Harry slowed to a stop and turned to face the soon to be occupied space. Standing in front of buildings 11 and 13 Harry concentrated on his godfather's house. Soon enough he heard the familiar sounds of the house appearing and looked at the building he had inherited. It had been a while since Harry had been here and he nearly choked on the emotions that greeted him at the sight. Memories assaulted him and Harry allowed himself mere moments to get lost in them before he shook his head clear and started up the walkway.

Harry hesitated to walk into the house, he stood on the top step staring at the door. Eventually Harry began lecturing himself on his weakness, but Harry could not get himself to open the door. However the thought of Sirius laughing at him for being afraid of a building, gave Harry a brief smile and Harry stepped through the door and into the dark building. Not much had changed since then and Harry once again felt over powered by the memory of Sirius haunting every corner. Conversations and jokes ran through Harry's head as he slipped up the stairs. He was on a mission right now, and on borrowed time, he needed to get what he needed and get out.

He opened the door to a slightly dusty library and immediately felt his eyes grow wide. He had been in the library before, but usually with a school book and homework. Now he took in the size of the library for the first time and it was huge. He would never be able to find what he needed in here. Suddenly an idea came to him and Harry seriously wondered if he was a complete idiot because he could have solved this from inside Hogwarts, he decided to blame Malfoy whenever he saw him.

"Kreacher." He called softly and soon a loud crack vibrated through the air.

"May Kreacher be of service to master?"

"Yes please. I was hoping that you could help me find all of the books here that mention Horcruxes."

Kreacher's eyes widened but he snapped his fingers and several dozen books appeared. Glancing at the number of books before him Harry sighed and asked Kreacher if he could sort through them to find out which ones had information about the effect on their owner, what they were used for, and how to restore them. The house elf nodded. Harry requested that when Kreacher finished he was to bring them over to the Burrow and leave them under Harry's bed. He was only to bring two at a time and would bring two more when Harry called him to retrieve the originals. Kreacher nodded once more and Harry left with a brief thank you to the elf.

Harry left the building as fast as he could trying to escape from Sirius' laughter that he swore he could still hear ringing through the halls.

(0,0)

Malfoy was waiting for Harry at the muggle sandwhich shop that Harry had suggested when the Gryffindor arrived. He seemed to be more than a little uncomfortable as he sat in a booth waiting for Harry to show up. Harry was glad to see that the blonde had opted to ditch the wizarding robes. Instead he was wearing a nicely pressed pair of dark grey trousers paired with a light blue shirt and a dark grey jacket was laying on the seat next to him. Harry could not help feeling the slight embarrasment of wearing jeans. He was immensely glad that he had chosen a short sleeve button up instead of his usual t-shirt. He walked over to the blonde and slipped into the booth across from him with small smile.

"Hey, Malfoy."

"Potter."

"How has your break been?"

"Not too bad. Although someone has decided that the Manor makes a great head quarters."

"Let me guess- tall, dark, and snake like?"

Malfoy chuckled lightly under his breath and grinned at the dark haired boy across from him, "That's the one, you know him?"

"I've seen him around, even went to his birthday party two years ago. Although maybe it was a re-birthday party..."

Both boys laughed and when the waiter came over Harry asked for a glass of water and a hamburger with everything on it. Draco on the other hand asked for a cup of tea with a caesar salad. The waiter smiled and winked at Harry before going back to place their orders. Harry turned back to Draco and was surprised to see him glaring after the waiter.

"What's up?" Harry drew Draco's attention and the blonde shook his head and grinned.

"Did you get into your house?"

Harry frowned at the topic change but went along with it, "Yeah, even got some books to be sent back to the Burrow."

"Glad it went through without a problem."

"I'm still a little wary of the house though, to many memories. And not all of them were pleasant."

"That I can understand, I cannot tell you how happy I was to get out of the Manor today. Even if it was just to muggle London."

Harry grinned, "Glad I could help."

The topic turned to hopes for gifts they would recieve for the holidays and both boys were surprised. Malfoy it seemed had recently become in developing spells and was hoping to get some books about the general idea about it as well as the history that went into it. Not surprisingly he was also hoping for a rather expensive new cloak, although, in his defense, Harry really wanted it to after seeing it in an ad. Malfoy had been shocked to hear Harry say that he was hoping to get a cook book or two, hopefully specifically about baked goods and deserts. Although Harry had also mentioned his hope for getting quidditch tickets even if he would be unlikely to get some from the Weasley's. Actually even if they had Harry would have protested vehemenently. They needed to buy clothes for their kids not pamper him. After several hours of non-stop chatter about school and the holidays, even talking about some politics, the boys accepted that they had been gone too long and someone was undoubtedly freaking about their disappearance. They paid for their food and walked out of the cafe together. Harry mentioned that he was going to catch the knight bus and Malfoy looked positively scandalized.

"Absolutely not! It's a wonder that you have not died yet, Potter."

Harry shrugged, "Don't have much other choice, besides it could be worse."

Malfoy mumbled something about idiots before taking Harry's arm and pulling him into an alley behind the cafe they had just left. Before Harry could think to protest Draco had droped his arm and was pulling a chain out from under his robes. Harry had an odd sense of deja vu thinking about Hermione third year but watched as instead of an hour glass Draco pulled out a silver dragon.

"What muggle town do they live by again?"

Harry told him and went to protest but Malfoy reached out and took a hold of his hand before ordering the dragon to 'take us away.' Soon enough Harry found himself standing on the outskirts of the muggle town behind a row of trees. Mouth hanging open he turned to Malfoy his question clear on his face.

Malfoy grinned, "Controlled apparation charm. Basically it allows me to apparate wherever I want to go without the fear of splinching. Plus I do not get caught by the ministry because it is Severus' magic that charmed the necklace." He sounded too smug for Harry's taste, so Harry solved his problem by lightly punching the blonde in the shoulder.

The boy scowled and rubbed his arm, at which Harry rolled his eyes. He had been taking harder hits since he was able to walk. Malfoy started to walk with Harry but stopped when the Gryffindor reminded him that he was staying with the Weasley's. Grimacing at the thought of all that red hair, Malfoy could not contain his shudder. Harry laughed before telling him that he could walk up the lonely dirt road by himself. It was Malfoy's turn to roll his eyes but he grinned and told Harry that they should try to meet up again before break ended. Harry agreed and asked Draco to send him a letter and Harry would see if he could sneak out again.

Malfoy acquiesed and called for the dragon to take him home. As soon as Malfoy had disappeared Harry pulled the cloak over his head and began the walk up the road. The sun was getting close to setting and Harry was wondering what the likelihood of him going unnoticed this long was. He stepped through the wards and heard the screaming Mrs. Weasley yelling at everyone for letting him get away without being seen. Harry grinned to himself, apparently not the odds were not very high for him getting into his room unnoticed. With a sigh he tried to think of a way out of the lecture he was going to get. He saw a group of trees standing nearby that would be a perfect excuse.

Harry headed towards the trees and took off the cloak. Tucking it into his back pocket, he messed up his hair some more, rubbed his eyes, and adopted a blank expression. He walked back towards the house. Stepping through the doors he got mobbed by red and brown hair.

"What's up guys?" Harry's voice carried the confusion well as he looked down at his friends, well up at them anyway, Hermione was actually the only one still shorter than him.

"We've been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been?! Do you realize how worried all of us were? I mean-"

Harry cut off Hermione's lecture before she could go all out, "Hermione. I went outside for a nap in the fresh air, I told you all I had a headache."

Ron frowned, "Then why put a look a like in your bed?"

Harry looked sheepishely at everyone, "So that we could avoid this entirely..."

Ron's frown smoothed out and he laughed, "Good try, mate."

Harry shrugged, Ginny cut in, "We looked outside you were not there."

She was pouting and Harry forced himself not to smack her across the side of her head, she looked like she was six, "I was using my cloak."

Mrs. Weasley cut in this time, "Why exactly would you use the cloak to hide yourself?! That seems ridiculously irresponsible, what if you had been injured, we may never have found you!"

Harry stopped his eyes from rolling again and looked straight at her, "First off, I was sleeping- how exactly was I going to get hurt? Second, I would rather not be visible to people when I am unable to defend myself."

Having nothing more to say the people around him opened and closed their mouths obviously trying to contradict what he said, but settled for glaring at him. Harry sighed and said he was going to go put his cloak away and slipped up the stairs and towards the room he shared with Ron. Glancing under the bed he found the books he had asked Kreacher to bring and smiled before tossing his cloak over them so that they would go unnoticed.

Alright kind of a filler chapter, but I think it has some interesting points in it that will help develop the rest of the characters as we continue on! Thanks for all of the marvelous reviews!