Author's Note: Thank you to those who have reviewed our story thus far, and welcome to another chapter. I'm your host for the chapter Remi. I want to give a big thank you to my superb co-author Ice and our fantabulous beta Mercie for the previous chapter and the chapters still to come! I would like to issue an apology to our readers; Ice and I have just moved into college life, so we haven't been able to update for a while. Again we apologize for the inconvenience. In case you haven't been able to figure out where we keep getting these titles they are actually song titles that seemed to fit really well with the chapters we're writing. You know the drill… REVIEW!!

Chapter Three: Alone I Break

The next morning Harry slowly made his way down the staircases to breakfast. His lack of sleep, thanks to his and Ron's fight from the night before, causing him to take the steps a little more cautiously as he made his way down them, a raging headache grinding miserably against the sides of his skull.

Finally making it down to the Great Hall, Harry quickly moved towards Ginny and Neville who were sitting a little ways off from everyone else. Seamus and Dean hadn't made it down to breakfast yet, and were still getting ready when Harry left. Sitting down next to Neville Harry grabbed the pumpkin juice pitcher and filled his goblet after grabbing a helping of sausage and eggs. He was considering going to Madame Pomphrey for a vial of headache reliever when Draco, Pansy, and Blaize came up behind him.

"Can you believe that McGonagall handed me a detention for what I did to the weasel after what he did to Harry," Draco asked incredulously.

"You didn't have to use Transfiguration on him," Pansy said calmly back, as though she'd been making said point for a couple of hours already.

"Maybe not, but seriously how can she give me a detention when the weasel was the one causing the real problems," Draco insisted as he began filling a plate with food.

"Does it really matter," Harry asked in a low grating tone; his headache becoming worse in the wake of Draco's whining.

"Of course it matters," said Draco sounding scandalized at the notion that it wasn't, then adding, "Honestly, I wouldn't think you'd side with the weasel."

While Draco had been making this last statement, school owls flocked around them giving them their class schedules for the next day. Upon Draco's finished statement, which sounded a lot like Ron's outburst at Harry last term, Harry snatched his schedule and a piece of toast giving Draco a decidedly irritated look.

"You know, for disliking Ron as much as you claim to, you sure sound a hell of a lot like him. By the way, I haven't sided with anyone; there's nothing to take sides about," Harry said, and angrily stalked away from the table and out the doors of the Great Hall, turning and making his way towards the Quidditch Pitch.

Draco stared after him in astonishment, switching to a sad expression for brief moments before turning to a look of anger, and mimicking Harry's actions grabbed a piece of toast and his schedule, and left the Great Hall instead heading for the Dungeons.

Seamus, who'd joined the group along with Dean about halfway through the conversation, looked after both of the boys a moment before turning back to the table and asking, "Do those two seem like an old married couple to anyone besides me?"

Everyone, Ginny; Blaize; Neville; Dean; and Pansy, at the end of the table nodded their heads vigorously.

"What do you think they'd be like if they started dating," Neville asked.

"I think they'd be a perfect couple. Right amount of the same likes and dislikes, not to mention they'd be a good challenge to each other," Ginny said.

"Don't forget about the sexual tension. You all know it's there," Pansy added and a couple of them blushed a bit at the statement.

"Why don't we try a little matchmaking," Blaize suggested.

"Sure so long as we've got a good plan because Merlin knows that if it's not planned out well enough it will take a couple of good-sized mountain trolls to beat it into their heads," Dean said.

They all had a small chuckle at the idea before actually discussing a few possibilities for getting the boys to realize their feelings.

Meanwhile, at the Quidditch Pitch, Harry collapsed after his eighth lap around the pitch at a run. Brushing his bangs out of his eyes he looked up at the sky which had a grey tinge mixed in with the deep blue. His headache continued a dull throb against his skull but his irritation had been eaten away by the guilt he'd begun to feel for snapping at Draco the way he had. He sighed thinking about what he could say.

When nothing appeared forthcoming, he reached into his pocket for his now crumpled schedule. Pulling it out and straightening it a bit he looked at his course list for the year. Most of it was fairly routine with a few new classes thrown in. (His course schedule looked a bit like this:

Double Advanced Potions with the Slytherins every Monday, Tuesday, and Friday

Double Advanced Defense with the Ravenclaws every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday

Arithmancy every Monday and Wednesday

Double Advanced Charms with the Slytherins every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

Spellcasting every Tuesday and Friday

Double Advanced Herbology with the Hufflepuffs every Wednesday, and Thursday

Experimental Potions every Thursday and Friday

Experimental Defense every Tuesday and Wednesday)

He was the most curious about the new experimental classes, but was looking forward to most of his classes.

He quickly moved to get back to the castle when three drops of water hit him solidly on the forehead. Harry spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon in Gryffindor Tower sorting through his things that Draco and Pansy had gotten for him from Diagon Alley, and packing his bag for the next day's classes. He decided after he'd re-arranged his belongings six times over that he should probably go to dinner.

Upon walking into the Great Hall, Harry immediately looked towards the Slytherin table where Draco sat surrounded by Blaise, Pansy, and the rest of their friends. Gathering his Gryffindor courage, Harry walked up to the table and took the vacated space beside Pansy.

Dinner was particularly quiet that evening, since neither Harry nor Draco would talk to each other, limiting most of the conversation between everyone. Near the end of dinner, Harry was distracted by a tapping on his shoulder.

"Hello Harry," said a smiling Justin Finch-Fletchly.

"Hello Justin. How was your summer hols?"

"Brilliant, actually. My family and I went to Kyoto, Japan to visit my grandparents. What about you? What were you up to this past summer?"

Everyone except Harry bristled at the insinuation, but Harry remained blissfully unaware.

"I suppose it was… It was all right," Harry had paused, his mind flashing back to the last day with his uncle.

No one except Ginny and Draco noticed the sudden far off pained look in Harry's eyes, although Draco covered his attentions by quickly looking back to his food.

"Maybe we could get together sometime and I can show you some of the souvenirs I got," he paused smiling at Harry and said, "I have a kimono that would look smashing on you."

"If I catch a break maybe but thanks for the offer."

"Of course, see you Harry."

"Bye."

Harry didn't say another word until the end of dinner.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," he paused gulping slightly before saying, "Draco, I'm sorry about this afternoon. I wasn't feeling well and took it out on you."

Grey met green for a moment, then Draco said, "Forgiven; this time."

Authors Note: Sorry, this chapter is so short, but my next chapter should be quite a bit longer. Until next time… REVIEW!!!