The weeks following the incident were fairly quiet, though there were some whispered mutterings that surrounded Harry whenever he got near the Gryffindor dorms speculating about the nature of the sudden Slytherin intervention. Harry shook his head and sighed inwardly each and every time eyes turned his way and stared accusingly in his direction, there was nothing he could do. But the upside of the incident was to make it clear to the entire school that Harry had the backing of the Slytherin house, should his "accident" happen again.

Harry had to continue with his medication and every so often he would find himself in the Hospital Wing after a particularly hard day, and he collapsed from the strain he exerted on himself. But otherwise he made sure to avoid the main hallways of the school during a majority of his time left at the school, once in a while he would catch a glimpse of Hermione surrounded by her friends but not really joining in, just there, and that worried him because now that he was at odds with her, there was no way for him to help her so for the time being he had to rely on time to make things better.

At the same time there was also the fact with the decision that had been presented to him about three weeks ago, about the situation concerning his life of death. As a symbolic link to his former life he took a page out of Hermione's book and made a list of pros and cons, which in the end hadn't helped since both lists evened out and neither gave an indication of what he should do.

For the time being he had to be patient and wait for his time to come when all his major decisions had to be made. Seeing as he had so much time to himself he was practically an expert at observing and staying hidden in shadows, which somehow felt comfortable after being in the spotlight for a majority of his short life. He also had taken pains to leave some reminder that he had been there, not a simple carving into the walls but something more meaningful that at the same time expressed everything he felt.

It was often the case that he would slip further and further away from reality as he constructed his masterpiece, for there were no limits in what he could do and to that extent magic had no real limit on him anymore, at least since what happened earlier. But to the outside observer, he didn't seem to be all there especially when it was nearing the time of completion of his project at least in his mental construction.

Surprisingly, in this case Harry found the most support in Luna Lovegood; he now understood what was going on her mind and why she often had a dazed and dreamy look on her face. It wasn't because she was mental but rather her mind was not fully focused on the present happenings but rather much more involved in what was going on in her mind, but she had warned him not to stay too long for each visit within his mind because it was really easy to fall into the abyss and never want to come back out.

Harry, properly warned and now completed in his mental architecture had to confront the task of actually forming the picture from his mind; this required assistance from some books he knew were in the Restricted Section of the library and with this he went straight to the top for permission, Professor Dumbledore.

Walking toward the gargoyle statute with a fair amount of trepidation, he stood outside trying to guess the password:

Ton-tongue toffees, Ice Mice, Sugar Quills, Jelly beans, Gummy bears, um…..Sour Patch kids, Blood Pops, Honeydukes, ……Lemon Drops?

Smacking himself on the head, Harry stepped inside the revolving staircase and with only a slight difficulty managed to get to Professor Dumbledore's office. Rapping on the door three times, he waited and immediately a voice said, "Enter"

Professor Dumbledore turned at the sight of the wizard before him and placed his quill down to devote his full attention to Harry. Smiling he offered him, "Lemon Drops?" Harry shook his head and politely declined. He started in on his reason for coming in the first place,

H: "Professor, I request permission to access the Restricted Section for a special project that I intend to complete."

A: "Do you mind me asking what kind of project this is and for which class?"

H: "This is my own special project for no particular class, but if you asked me what it is, I couldn't tell you, for I'm not sure myself"

A: "Well, Harry I have but one question, does this concern dark magic?"

H: "No, sir; In fact this project will help the school in some form

A: "I see, I do not see any reason to deny you access, however whatever you take from the section must be documented accurately in case of trouble from above"

H: Chuckles "Yes, sir; however I have one more request for you, would it be possible to withdraw from my classes, seeing as I know all the material because of the crash course in Auror training?"

A: "I understand that your classes are currently very boring for you, but what would you do with all that time?"

H: "I would like some time to complete my project before…I have to leave" Lowers eyes

A: "As long as you have a specific plan you can show me at the end of each week, I do not find fault in your suggestion. However I think it would be beneficial for you to take your NEWTS early."

H: "Thank you sir"

A: "I will contact you time and place for your examinations."

This plan further isolated Harry from the rest of the school population, as previously he would only be seen during classes, and mealtimes. Now with his classes not a requirement, he rarely took part in mealtimes as he was often involved in finishing his project. This gave some positive connotations as well, since it got his mind off the impending decision with Professor Snape as well as the crisis his life seemed to be suffering at the moment.

As everything took shape, Harry still had no idea what it was that he was creating; but he found that it was good for him to exercise his magic and his brain, as well as obtain some exceptional views on magic from certain books. He sometimes thought to himself, while flipping through a particularly volatile book, "No wonder this book is here" Most of the time he ended back at his dorms at around two in the morning.

None of the teachers or Filch ever bothered him anymore about being this late; for they had learned that nothing, absolutely nothing affected him anymore. The only thing he really had left was his project, which he worked maniacally on, but other than that whatever happened to his physical self was of no concern to him. At first this rather unnerved the teachers when they encountered him with the blank and dead look in his eyes, but after a while they learned to disregard it.

Then one day, nearing the Christmas holidays Harry was finally finished and as he stared at his masterpiece before him, he finally understood why he had not been able to describe it to anyone, this was the kind of thing that you needed to see, and one glance told the entire story; while it took more words than the English language had in order to describe it. So wrapping it up, Harry placed it in a safe place till his departure from his beloved school and for the first time in a long time when to join his fellow classmates in their last Hogsmeade weekend before the Christmas holidays.

Wrapping himself in some winter clothing, Harry headed toward the crowd gathering in the Entrance Hall, awaiting the arrival of the carriages. Ignoring the whispers around him Harry stood off to the side and glanced outward toward the grounds for the arrival of the carriages. Alighting onto an empty carriage, to his surprise he was joined by Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle. Nodding pleasantly to them, Harry turned to glance at the rushing scenery around them, when he was pulled from his musings by a light tap on his shoulder.

Harry turned with an inquiring expression at his seatmate which was Draco; the five glanced at each other before Blaise sighed and said, "Bugger this; this wasn't the way things were supposed to go." Everyone laughed at the expletive coming from Blaise's mouth, before the actual conversation started.

D: Well I guess what we wanted to say was thank you for ending everything and not force us to make choices that we didn't want to make

B: Yea, I mean even if my family was neutral, if this had continued we would have had to choose and that wouldn't have gone well

G: Thanks, I mean without you, we would have become Death Eaters….

C: …And grovel after that egotistical, insane subhuman

All shudder

H: Shrugs I mean I had to there was no way I would continue to allow innocents to be slaughtered in this idiotic war that Tommy-boy started

B: But I have one question, is it true that he was a half-blood?

H: Yup, on the mother's side he was the Slytherin heir, but on the father's side he was the most Muggle that anyone could be

C: I thought that was just a rumor started for the heck of it

G: I heard it from some fellow Death Eater's children

H: You know I always thought that Crabbe and Goyle were thick, dimwits but here you are speaking rather intelligently

D: That is partly my doing, our fathers' have impressed on our minds that we would eventually stand in their positions, so we decided that since I was more apt in manipulation I would be leader and Crabbe and Goyle would be my thugs

Chuckles

H: How about you Blaise?

B: Well, I come from a powerful neutral Slytherin family and we are highly coveted on both sides; so my family had impressed on me that I would have to remain neutral, which meant being enigmatic and not letting anyone get too close, but while this plan worked it was awfully lonely and had it not been for Draco I would have cracked

D: So…..Harry what are you going to do now?

H: Bitter laugh well I need to get away from here, as my life has fallen apart at the seams and everything I have known for my entire life will soon be gone, so what's the point of making any plans

B: Well you know you can hang with us, or do you not want to be seen hanging out with the Death Eater spawn Slytherins?

H: You know I was very close to becoming a Slytherin as well, had it not been for pompous Draco here from making me think everyone was like that

B: Really? Draco this is your entire fault, if you hadn't been such an ass then we would have had Potter at our mercy earlier

D: Well…………

All laugh

H: Now if you don't mind I need to get a letter off, then I will meet you guys at the Three Broomsticks, save me a butterbeer

D, B, C, &G: All right see you later

In a much happier mood than seen in weeks, Harry whistled as he walked to the post office, he was even feeling optimistic about his life. Sending off a special letter for 2.5 galleons, Harry was almost telling himself that his life wasn't really that bad till he caught sight of the one person he had been unconsciously avoiding.

Harry had always been able to pinpoint Hermione's location by instinct which had used to be a useful trait especially when they had to run for their lives and often those few seconds probably saved him several hundred brain cells. But nowadays this only served to remind him of the huge sacrifice, just short of his life that he had made to keep her safe at the expense of his will to live when she wouldn't give him the time of day anymore.

No longer was she there to make sure that he was alright but also no one there just to talk to him, when he was feeling confused about the state of his life as he was right now. Now that he couldn't be there with her, he began to see the things that he had taken advantage of when she had been there for him. Like the way she always knew him better than he knew himself and often times just being there as a confidant to unburden himself.

At this very moment, a strange pain wrapped around his heart as he watched her laugh at a joke that Seamus had told. The sky started to spin, as the pressure around his heart tightened and spread to his entire body. His body was fighting not to collapse, as he staggered over to a nearby bench, his breath came in pants, and the steam seemed almost continuous. But throughout it all he couldn't take his eyes off the scene taking place before his eyes.

Hermione was looking as pretty as ever, with her new robes bought especially as an early Christmas present for herself. Her neck was graced by a slightly familiar necklace, which Harry recognized with a start, it was the last present he ever gave her, and just randomly one day when he saw it; he bought it for her just to spoil her and to proclaim to the world that she was his. Her hair was hanging down her back, though some curls were clipped to the side of her head. But what hurt the most was the fact that she was fully there and had gotten over the hurt, pain, and the love she had for him.

It wasn't until she had finally disappeared into Honeydukes with the gaggle of Gryffindors that he even realized his surroundings. Cursing he rushed over to the Three Broomsticks and looked around for the pack of Slytherins. He found them all sitting near the window and sat down to join them, nodding in greeting before raising the pint at them in cheers. For a while he could forget what he had just seen, but as luck would have it, which should walk in but the people he had just run from.

Apparently, fate wasn't on his side that day, for they sat about two tables away from them and in direct view of Harry. In a way the slow torture of remembering the many times they had sat together just being together was worse than facing Voldemort. But Harry didn't know the real meaning of pain, not until he finally was able to observe totally and completely return of the former Hermione in all her glory. As he watched her joke and talk with her friends the tight feeling in his chest returned and in that moment he decided what he was going to do.

Turning to the Slytherins that were watching him closely, and alternating with glances at the Gryffindor table, he tried to smile but almost failed completely. In a shaky voice he said he had some stuff to do back at school and had to go, but thanks for everything. Draco reached out and said, "I'm sorry Harry" Harry nodded and in a cracking voice he said, 'Well you can't have everything you want in life."

Harry got up and staggered toward the exit, but when passing the Gryffindor's table a voice called out, "So, Potter hanging out with Death Eater spawn now are we?" Harry turned and glared straight at Seamus who had voiced the comment, "It's better than the company that you keep, at least they help you up rather than knock you down." A gasp from the side, made him turn toward Hermione. She experienced the full power of his gaze, the blank, dead look lurking in the midst of what used to be able to show any emotion; and turning around Harry managed to walk out the door with his dignity intact no matter that the entire pub had gone silent to listen in on his conversation.

Striding back to the castle, he knew exactly what he had to do. He also knew that Professor Dumbledore had, had everything planned out in case this should happen. Arriving at the Headmaster's office, the statute was open already as though waiting for him. Professor