The sun had fully risen and the castle was beginning to come to life as Harry lay on his back, thinking. He knew Terry was probably freaking out that he hadn't returned yet, but he didn't quite think he could face him just a few hours after cheating on him. "I cheated on him" Harry mumbled to himself "Fuck. I cheated on him. That makes me a cheater. Fuck I hate cheaters." He had cheated on Terry with Severus-there was really no point in calling him Snape anymore now that he was in lov-"Dammit!" Harry growled out in frustration. Why did he always have to care for people who treated him like complete shite in return?

The internal battle raged on in his mind for several minutes before he finally decided that he absolutely had to get out of here. Harry picked himself up off the ground and walked back up to the castle. When he entered the Entrance Hall the smell of breakfast wafted through the air and he found himself heading to the Gryffindor table, checking to be sure Terry was nowhere in sight. He scanned the area and wasn't surprised to see Hermione sitting in her usual spot, reading the Daily Prophet. Harry was somewhat taken aback at the sight of Ron sitting next to her looking as if he were about to fall face first into his bowl of porridge.

He tried not to feel awkward as he sat down across from them in the Great Hall for the first time in months. If either of them felt the same sense of uncomfortableness as he did then they did a swell job of hiding it for Ron just issued a simple "hey" and Hermione slammed down her newspaper in front of him.

"This is horrible! Just sick! What kind of a monster could even-?" She shrieked

He picked up the paper to see what all the fuss was about. The headline read "Over Fifty Dead and Twenty Children Captured in the Raiding of a Muggle Primary School in Yorkshire". He felt his heart sinking as he began to read the article in full. Death Eaters had raided the elementary school with one intention; to kill. Fifty living, breathing, human beings had been robbed of their lives and twenty children were currently suffering in the hands of Lord Voldemort. Those poor children. Something needed to be done, but Harry knew that people were too frightened to actually do something helpful to try to rescue these kids. "That's horrible. Something needs to be done." Was the only think he could think to say as he passed the paper back to Hermione.

"The sad thing is that these kind of happenings are becoming so common that nobody has the energy left to do anything about it." Said Hermione

Harry knitted his eyebrows together in confusion "What do you mean that these things are becoming common?"

"Honestly, Harry, do you not read the Daily Prophet?"

"I actually haven't in months." He admitted. The last time he had so much as glanced at a newspaper was the day he had read the article about Dean Thomas's death. Since then, he had refused to look at the paper, afraid he would read where somebody else had been murdered that he cared about.

"You do realize what this means, right?" Hermione pushed

"Yeah" Rons flat voice cut in "It's just like last time. Strange happenings, unexplainable accidents, murders, kidnappings..." He trailed off with a shiver. "There's going to be a war, worse than last time, I just know it. Harry, you weren't at the house during the summer, you didn't get to overhear whispered conversations in the hallways at all hours or have Order members popping in and out five times a day to report killings and crimes and Death Eater plans that they were going to try to intercept."

Harry listened to all of this and couldn't help but wonder if they knew that Severus was their Death Eater spy. He concluded that if they did know, their attitudes toward the man would more than likely drastically change at the knowledge that their git Potions professor was the unsung hero of the light side.

The rest of their breakfast was a bit dapper after that, but he did get to watch with amusement at the way Ron and Hermione still bickered like brother and sister despite their new found relationship.

"Err, are you gonna be okay?" He had eventually asked Ron as he pushed his bowl to the side and lay his head on the table.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just really tired because somebody dragged me out of bed at the crack on dawn," The red head did an obviously exaggerated cough and said what sounded like Hermione's name.

Hermione threw him a rather nasty look,"Perhaps you shouldn't have drank so much Firewhisky last night," She said.

"I only had a few!" Ron protested

Hermione mumbled something underneath her breath that neither of them could catch, but he could tell it was some kind of nasty remark by the look on her face.

"I'm not trying to get in your relationship, but why does it bother you so much if he had a few glasses of Firewhisky last night?" He asked"I mean, it's not like you've never drank before."

She looked absolutely flabbergasted by his comment, "I haven't- I mean that's-that's completely besides the point!"

Harry snuck a look at Ron out of the corner of his eye and they both burst out in laughter as their eyes connected, remembering a few nights from the summer before fifth year when they were all fifteen and curious.

The night in particular that stuck out to him was the one where Ron and himself had nicked a bottle of old liquor from the Weasley's old cellar and convinced Hermione to sneak to the edge of the property. They'd had a great time that night, sitting on a blanket, drinking straight from the bottle and laughing together in the warm summer night. Ron and himself had gotten a strong buzz for the very first time and Hermione had gotten drunk for the first and only time after chugging half the bottle. She'd turned out to be a very loud and energetic drunk, so loud in fact that they'd had to threaten to cast a silencing charm on her if she didn't quiet down. It had been well past three by the time they had gone back to the house and half carried Hermione up the stairs to the attic where they had set up a hang out spot in the room that the ghoul didn't occupy. It wasn't much, just two couches, a radio, a coffee table, and a few posters, but they'd spent a great deal of their time up there that summer and he had to admit to himself that he did miss it at times.

Harry became absorbed in his thoughts as he realized that he had made a huge mistake by shutting his two best friends out for these past six months. Just because he had new friends did not mean he had to forget any of his old ones. Deep down he knew the reason he hadn't had much interest in hanging out with Ron and Hermione recently was because they didn't party. When he really let himself think about it, that was pretty much all his free time consisted of besides laying around with Terry on school nights and Quiddich practice. But even Quiddich didn't hold much of his interest lately and he hated the fact that a sport that used to cause him to feel so much job no longer brought about the same feeling. There were many times this year when he had skipped practice, much to the chagrin of Katie Bell, the new Quiddich captain now that Wood and Angelina had both graduated. He had been disappointed when he had not received a captain badge along with his Hogwarts letter during the summer, but with all the trouble he had caused in the past five years he could understand why. Sometimes when he really took a step back to soak in his surroundings, Harry became aware of the fact that he wasn't really happy with the life he was living. He despised the moments when he allowed himself to become trapped within his own thoughts. It was really the only time he ever had the guts to admit just how miserable he really was. These realizations in turn gave him no form of motivation to make any changes to make the situation better. Besides, not giving a fuck was just easier.

"It's completely the point!" Ron argued back "At least nobody had to carry me up the stairs and hold my hair back while I vomited my guts out."

Hermione gave him a look that said 'Well you just fucked up big time' before snatching her newspaper from the table and walking out of the Great Hall, turning not in the direction of the marble staircase, but toward the doors leading out onto the grounds.

Now that she was gone he looked to make sure nobody was eavesdropping on their conversation before speaking. "Hey," He gained Ron's attention "Do you think you could do me a favor."

"What kind of favor are we talking about?" Asked Ron

"Look," He lowered his voice so the ginger had to lean forward to be able to hear him "I need to get out of here for a wile. Just for a couple hours."

Ron looked extremely skeptical "Err, I don't know mate. That sounds like a bad idea."

"I know, I know," Said Harry rather impatiently "It's just-you don't understand. There are things I can't talk about and I won't talk about, but the one thing I will tell you is I'm going absolutely fucking insane in this castle. There's just too much going on at once. I need to go talk to Andy." He finally admitted. Ron stared at him in silence. "Please." He added.

"Okay, I can tell somethings bothering you. I'll cover for you or whatever it is you want me to do, but if you get caught then I don't know anything about it. Before you go rushing off, can I just ask you one thing though?"

"Sure."

"How come you can't talk to me about whatever it is that's bothering you? What, is it you and Terry? Oh dear Merlin you don't think I'm homophobic do you? Because you know Charlie's gay and Remus is gay and Padfoot is and Seamus is too. Do you ever see me treating any of them differently? No because it doesn't matter to me. Some guys it does, but they're just ignorant. I know we may haven't exactly been on the best of terms for the past few months, you're my best mate and you can always talk to me. I know we usually don't have conversations about our feelings and stuff like a pair of gossiping girls, but I just wanted to let you know that mum considers you to be another son so that practically makes you my brother now. If you don't want to tell me what it is that's fine. I just wanted to let you know that."

Harry didn't know what to say at first. He now officially felt terrible for the way he had shut his best mate out because all he cared about was partying. If he wasn't careful, he was going to wake up one day and have no one, a thought that absolutely terrified him. In that moment, he resolved to make a point to hang out with Ron and Hermione more often. Ron was now looking down into his cup of coffee, waiting for his response.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry," He finally said " I am sorry for shutting you guys out. I'm sorry for punching you. I'm sorry for the things I've said to you recently and the general attitude I just have. I'm beginning to realize that I need to make some changes in my life, for the better."

"Good," Said Ron "I'm honestly really glad to finally hear that. We've all been worried about you lately. It just seems like you're starting to go down a path you don't want to go down. That's all I'm saying."

"Yeah, well things are going to change. But anyways what I was wanting you to do was get my stuff out of the dormitory for me."

Ron looked relieved "Oh that's it?"

"Yes that's it. What did you think I was going to have you cause a diversion in the common room so I can use the fire or some shit?"

"Well, I didn't know!" Ron said. "What do you need me to get?"

"A change of clothes, my comb, map, and my dads cloak," Harry recited "Oh and I also need the key out of my nightstand. Do you got all that?"

"Yeah, I got it. I'll go now and get a head start. Wait a few minutes then walk up the stairs really slow. Hopefully I'll be done by the time you get to the portrait hole." The red head collected the package his mother had just sent him, hand knitted socks and two sets of used robes since he was outgrowing all of his clothes, and walked away.

"Make sure the outfit matches!" He yelled after him and Ron dismissed him with a wave of a hand.

He waited ten minutes before he decided it was safe to probably start walking. He passed very few students on the stairs. It appeared that after the dance last night, nobody was too keen to get up at seven in the morning to eat breakfast. The Gryffindor table had been nearly empty aside from about a dozen first and second years, a seventh year named Angelica and her Hufflepuff boyfriend whom had both been at the bonfire last night, and a small group of acne ridden fourth years who were all doing homework over breakfast even though it was a Saturday.

Harry had also taken careful notice that Severus had not been present at breakfast. It was not like he had been expecting him to show up anyways, what with his being piss drunk only a few hours before. He at least hoped that the man was okay and hadn't drowned to death in a pile of his own vomit or something equally horrifying.

When he reached the seventh floor, there was no sign of Ron anywhere so he waited outside, ignoring the Fat Lady and her other portrait friend whom were both loudly snoring in the frame, obviously having had a little too much fun the night before as well. The portrait swung open a few minutes later and Ron came out, carrying his bag in one hand and the cloak and map in the other hand.

"Sorry it took so long. I had to be really quiet because everybody else is still sleeping."

"It's alright. Did you get everything?" Harry asked, swinging his bag over his shoulders.

"I think so." Said Ron

Harry checked the map to make sure no teachers were roaming the corridors, but they all appeared to either be sleeping or at breakfast. "Thanks for this. Hey, if Terry wakes up before I get back do you think you could-"

"Tell him you're in detention with Snape and that's why you didn't come into the dorm last night?" Ron finished

Harry smiled, a bit at the fact that Ron was covering for him again like all times, and a bit at the irony of his 'detention with Snape' lie. "Thanks for all this. I'll be back in a few hours."

He was halfway down the corridor when his friend called out to him "Hey Harry?"

Harry stopped and turned around "Yeah?"

"Err-be careful."

"I will." Said Harry before setting off walking again. When he reached the next corridor he looked around to make sure he was alone before putting his invisibility cloak on and beginning the short walk to the Room of Requirement.

…...

Next chapter: Harry talks with Andy, Ron and Hermione make it official, & Severus and Harry discuss last night.

Thank you all for reading! Please review!