A/N: Alright, so this is the last chapter I've pre-written. It's midterms at school so I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment. I'll try very hard to get another chapter out in the next two weeks, I promise!

Thank you all for the lovely reviews – I love reading detailed comments of your thoughts, so keep them coming!

OOOoooOOO

A week had passed since Harry had broken up with Draco.

A very long week.

Occlumency lessons with Snape had brought Harry's life to a near standstill, as each moment was spent either having his mind raped, or in hateful anticipation of his next lesson. The fact that he hadn't spoken to Draco was just adding to his angst.

They had made brief eye contact the day after the incident, but Draco had quickly looked away, and never looked back. That was the last communication he had had with his best friend.

But that was okay. This was the awkward period after a breakup. They weren't supposed to immediately go back to being best friends... But they might have spoken. Harry had made every effort to speak with him, besides actually speaking to him. He had looked at him often, hoped and prayed, and even dreamed about him.

Okay, so maybe he hadn't made every effort.

The last resort, which he was trying to avoid, was using his mirror. He wouldn't be able to cope if Draco didn't answer his call. And if he did, what would they talk about? There would be no excuse to leave if things were awkward.

But he should probably do it anyway, right?

He hadn't spoken to anybody about what had happened. Ron was the only one who knew what was going on, which actually meant that Hermione would know as well. She had been surprisingly unobtrusive, though. She hadn't said a word to him, just thrown many a pitying glance his way. He wished she would stop.

It was for this reason that he eventually decided to speak with her about it.

"Hermione," he said when they were alone together in the Common Room that night, "what do you think I should do about Draco?"

She glanced up from her Transfigurations essay, and adopted an innocent expression. "What do you mean? Is something wrong?"

Harry rolled his eyes. She was brilliant, yes, but a horrible liar.

"I know Ron told you about Draco, Hermione. And you clearly have an opinion if your body language is anything to go by."

Hermione reddened slightly but seemed placated to know that she wouldn't have to lie. "Of course I have an opinion. You didn't take my advice and now everything is balls up."

Harry was slightly surprised to hear her use such language, but quickly recovered.

"I did take your advice! I talked to him!"

"No," she said up, becoming a little hostile, "you didn't. You broke up with him to avoid talking to him. That is not what I recommended. You didn't tell him how you felt, you just took the easy way out. And now look what's happened; you've stopped speaking altogether."

Harry spluttered. "I did not take the easy way out! You think it was easy telling him we should break up? You should have seen his face," he grimaced at the memory. "Trust me, it wasn't easy to hurt him."

Her face had fallen, as pity once again took over.

"Please don't be like that," Harry said, noticing her expression, "I don't want you to feel badly for me, I just want your advice. And maybe I'll actually take it this time." He smiled weakly, making a joke.

OOOoooOOO

Pansy sighed. Draco just couldn't let this go. He had been on and on about it for the past week, and she was becoming a little concerned.

She had personally always felt rather ambivalent about Harry Potter being his best friend. She had initially thought that perhaps that position should have been reserved for a Slytherin, but everyone had gotten used to it years ago.

That is, until he had broken Draco's heart.

She and Blaise were the only ones to know about their progressing relationship and as such, were the only support he now had.

Which meant that she had heard a lot about Harry.

A lot.

And now he was at it again.

"I don't understand why we couldn't talk about things. He is being such a bloody moron. So we weren't talking, so what?" It was obvious that Draco was fuming. His face was tinged pink in his anger and he was gesturing gracelessly, a sure sign of distress.

Pansy had never seen him act so plebeian as in the past days. They couldn't allow the other Slytherins to catch on to what was happening. Lucius Malfoy, who had always remained openly neutral about his son's friendship with Harry Potter, would not be impressed if this news got back to him.

"Well, why aren't you talking to each other yet? It's been long enough. Just go up and say hi," she said for the seventh time. She had been advising him to do this everyday and he had yet to listen to her. She hated men. If this was an insight in to a male perspective on relationships, she was going to go proposition the first woman she saw.

"No, it would be too awkward. Why would anything have changed? We still wouldn't be able to have a conversation or anything." Standard excuse.

"Just pretend he's the old Harry. You always used to talk about everything. Start a conversation about cheese, for Merlin's sake. You could even bring a list with you." Standard response. She knew what was coming, too. He would just sink deeper in to his woes about how everything had changed. How nothing was the same. And how he had no idea how it had happened.

She refused to listen to that again. She had realized something, halfway through the week. He was acting very much like a rejected girl, except he was also being too much like a man. He was sad, hopeless, and abandoned, but he wasn't willing to do anything to better his situation. And she could kill him for it.

Maybe she could do something herself, she suddenly considered. He clearly wasn't ready to get off his arse, so maybe she could. If nothing else, it would stop him talking to her for a little while.

The main problem with this unformed plan was that she had never had much contact with Potter, or any of the Gryffindors in general. Where would she find an ally?

OOOoooOOO

Hermione was trying not to hit Harry. Really, she was. It was just becoming more and more difficult as the seconds passed.

If he wasn't moping around silently with a desperate look in his eyes, he was complaining about why Draco wouldn't talk to him. He couldn't understand why is had been a week with no contact. How that was the longest they had ever gone without speaking, even including their Great Fight of 1994. And how he couldn't even talk to Sirius about it because he had been lying to him.

Harry had said something about perhaps telling Remus, who seemed to know that something was going on anyway. The idea had quickly been nixed, as Remus would surely tell Sirius.

That had quickly tumbled in to a rant about how nobody took him seriously.

Hermione was one tirade away from marching down to the dungeons and dragging Draco up herself. She knew that probably wouldn't be the best idea, in terms of mending their relationship, but it would at least get Harry off her back.

No, she scolded herself, she had to do what was best for Harry. Even if it meant a few more homicidal thoughts on her part.

OOOoooOOO

Hermione in the library, several Potions books laid out in front of her.

She couldn't seem to understand the correlation between salamander's skin and dragon bile. They could be used interchangeably in more than one potion, and she had yet to come across a description of the properties of either. It was driving her mad. How could they both be missing from so many texts? It didn't make any sense.

Just as she was reaching for another book, a hand come out of nowhere, holding a heavy volume.

"I think this is what you're looking for," Pansy Parkinson said from the other end of the arm.

At first, Hermione was shocked. They had never spoken a word to each other before. Well, that was not strictly true, but they weren't exactly on offering-textbooks-out-of-random-kindness terms, either.

It didn't take long before she understood exactly what was happening. Of course. Draco must be driving Parkinson up the wall. She had spent a long time considering the problem between the two – probably longer than was necessary – and she knew that Draco must be either absolutely and utterly pissed, or incredibly sad.

Either way, Pansy would be the unfortunate target of said emotion.

They could work something out.

"I have a proposition for you, Granger," Pansy said coolly and, if Hermione was not mistaken, a little apprehensively.

"Yes?" She cheered mentally, glad they were on the same wavelength.

"I imagine you've already guessed that this has to do with Draco and Potter." She waited for confirmation, to which Hermione gave a slight nod. She continued, "I think we can work something out. It should get Draco off my back and Potter off yours."

Hermione allowed a curve of her lips, "What did you have in mind?"

OOOoooOOO

Remus glanced surreptitiously at Sirius. He didn't know what to do. The situation with Voldemort was weighing heavily on his mind. Dumbledore had asked them to follow him in to battle and they had both agreed, Sirius a little hesitantly. Remus knew that he was afraid of leaving Harry on his own. He wanted to live for Harry.

And, as the Headmaster had made clear, there was the possibility of death on this mission.

Death.

It was something Remus faced frequently, with his lycanthropy. The transformation, even with his Wolfsbane, was wearing his body down and every full moon was a risk.

But Sirius wasn't ready to die. And Remus wasn't ready for him to die.

He was his last remaining Marauder, and to be without him would be a fate worse than death. He didn't know what he would do. Actually, Remus corrected, he knew that either of two things would happen. He would either follow him to his death, or he would stay around for Harry, trying to forget all about Sirius. Neither option sounded pleasant.

And so his musings brought him to the present.

To be frank, he wanted to sleep with Sirius.

Yes, he knew that the statement negated everything about their current relationship, but he couldn't help it. He had always been careful in sexual relationships, never to get too close because he knew they would eventually leave him. They always did. But he'd loved Sirius for years.

He just wanted one night, before the raid. Who knew if they would both come out alive, or if the Light would even succeed? This could be their last chance. And he knew he would regret it for the rest of his life, if something happened to Sirius, and he had never made his feelings known.

On the other hand, the annoying side of his brain reminded him, if everything went swimmingly, if the Light won, and they both left without a scratch, then he would regret it horribly.

He truly didn't know which voice to listen to.

There wasn't even the usual inkling.

Perhaps he could broach the subject to Sirius. Discuss it with him; see what he thought.

But no. He didn't even need to consider that, really. Because Sirius would do one of two things. He would either jump at the opportunity, and take advantage of the situation, or he would quickly dismiss it, not understanding where Remus was coming from. Either way, his opinion would be invalid.

Not invalid in the sense that he didn't have any say in the matter. Remus' mind quickly scrambled to correct that word choice. They would only sleep together if Sirius wanted to, obviously, just that the reasons behind Remus' advances would probably be better left unspoken.

"Moony, you alright?" Remus jumped as the voice intruded on his thoughts.

"Mhm, never better." He nodded.

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe you."

"Why not?" Remus asked, surprised at the accusation, even if it was true.

"Because nobody could be perfectly fine, facing what we're facing. I know you're thinking about tomorrow night."

Tomorrow night. The night The Order was scheduled to attack Voldemort. Their spies had reported that he would be guarded by only the most necessary Death Eaters that night, and would have few defences.

Which was why, Remus reasoned, it had to be tonight. If anything was going to happen, it had to happen soon.

"You're only partially right," he replied, thinking that he was somehow more preoccupied with tonight than tomorrow.

"So something is bothering you!" Sirius seemed a cross between concern and triumphant. A strange combination on anybody other than him.

Remus decided it would be easiest to ignore him. When Sirius got in one of his moods, that was typically the only answer.

He tried to imagine himself in each situation.

If he slept with Sirius, he would be happy for a few hours. They would have a pleasant night, but the next day, it would be clear why he had done it. Sirius would know that it was because he was afraid. Remus would have to back out on his condition of taking it slowly. And then, if they both came through the other side in the fight, what would they do?

Would they continue sleeping together? If they didn't it would become even more evident that he had done it out of desperation. And if they did, they would have taken a step that Remus wasn't ready for.

If he didn't sleep with Sirius and nothing happened tomorrow, then everything would be lovely. Perfect. However, if something did happen, and Sirius was injured or... He couldn't even think the word, then he would regret it.

But he was an optimist, or liked to think he was, anyway.

They could wait. Things could turn out absolutely perfectly if they didn't sleep together. Every other scenario contained pain and sorrow, so he would stick with his happy version, thank you very much. And things would turn out perfectly.

"Padfoot," he said, interrupting his friend's continuing rant, "let's go out to dinner, tonight."

OOOoooOOO

So, as you can see, not a whole lot happened this chapter.

As I've already stated, this story is not going to revolve around Voldemort, because Harry isn't deeply involved in this world. There will be some amount of focus on Harry's life immediately following Hogwarts. He will be graduating in a couple chapters (if all goes to plan).

Anything you'd like to see more/less of? Now is the time to speak up; while I'm not ahead in chapters :)