Disclaimer: If I owned this it wouldn't be here. XD

A/N: This one is shorter because it was originally part of chapter 36, but it worked better on its own. ;)

Sorry there weren't any posts yesterday. I've found myself obsessed with slash again and had half a mind to convert this story into Drarry. But alas, it has better plans sigh

When Harry found Max she did not speak, did not look at him, and did not even acknowledge his presence.

She held her silence, a faraway look in her eyes that contrasted strongly with the way her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Her thoughts were far away from the place she sat on the roof of the school, and when such events as this mornings weighed heavy on her shoulders there was no room for conversation.

Harry did not press her for information; she'd talk when she was ready. And he'd stay up all night waiting for her. Instead, he settled himself next to her, occupying his time by trying to decipher her thoughts from her expression. However, whether she was putting on a mask or just had a very constant thought pattern Harry would never knew; her facial features never did change.

Eventually, hw let mind wander along with his eyes. There was a certain attraction to the starlit sky, more beautiful than he remembered. When was the last time he'd really looked at the things he'd always took for granted? How often did she?

Owls not busy with delivering letters hooted in the distance and every so often the trees would ruffle as a flock of birds flew out, relocating to a saver area. Harry vaguely wondered what was down there scaring him, but he'd already seen so many horrors in the forest that he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

The grounds extended further and further, beyond the horizon, and the lake rippled with noise as fish and other magical creatures that inhabited it came to life. Harry had always thought the night should be silent, but he now realized there was a whole community he'd been missing.

There was a whole other life out there, creatures he didn't even know existed before now. There was a society of animals that lives revolved around the blackness of night instead of straying away from it that any sane one would. There were dangers that lurked in the darkness, but this did not stop the owls from hooting or the fish from jumping. This did not hinder their life.

And that thought was strangely comforting to Harry.

"Harry?" a quiet voice broke the silence like a knife, and even though it had been no higher than a whisper the sound played in Harry's head as loud as she had screamed.

"Yeah?" he responded, dragging himself out of his thoughts. Max sighed, hugging her knees to her chest. Her eyes did not meet him, though he could see the silver reflect off them from the angle in which he sat.

"What do you honestly think of me?" she asked him, turning her head quickly to glare at him with a suddenly stony face. "And don't even think about lying. I can handle the truth."

Harry paused, taking a moment to examine her posture. She'd become stiff in facing him, anger radiating from her skin in a warmth that couldn't be explained by touch. The moon shone brightly on her pale skin, illuminating the way her lips were pursed in displeasure. Then, Harry spoke, letting his heart take control rather than his brain.

"I think you're confused," he started, "and stubborn, but not in a bad way. I think you're kinder than you think, a great person at heart. I think you're wonderful."

Her face softened, a hint of a smile playing across her lips before she turned her head away from him, letting her hair fall like a curtain as it covered her face. She sighed hopelessly, mumbling a sentence that struck Harry's every nerve, pierced his every bone, rustled his very soul.

"You're wrong."

The sentence, so small and simple, left Harry aghast. Her implications, though not said allowed, were to warn him off. Silently, but loudly, she pleaded for his rejection, believing herself not worthy of his friendship. She'd isolated herself from him, taken herself off the same planet they lived on and moved to alien nations.

"What?" was all Harry could manage to choke out.

"I'm not wonderful. I've done-will do so many horrible things. I'm a traitor to every hand I touch."

As if to prove her wrong, Harry gathered her hands up quickly, holding them securely in his own. His heart thumped widely, afraid of what he was about to do. She turned to face him, pools of wetness forming in the bottom of her eye. Harry smiled encouragingly, wiping a lingering pool of salt from eyelashes.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself mentally for the chances he was about to take. To open up in this way…It was not something Harry had planned on doing ever again. He leaned closer and Max's mouth pouted unhappily.

"Do you know of Sirius Black?" he whispered, the name carving notches in his heart. He had not spoken the name allowed before and it left a funny taste in the back of his mouth. Something bitter formed underneath his tongue, but he forced it back in determination. This was a story that Max needed to hear and he would not rest until she got the chance to listen.

"Of course," Max laughed, curious as to why the subject was being brought up. "The mass murderer who wasn't really a murderer at all? Even I've heard the stories-and from both sides. But what does that have anything to do with-"

"He was my godfather," Harry interrupted, not bearing to listen to her prattle on so casually about something that he held so dear to his heart. Half of him was glad to have somebody who didn't act as if they were walking on eggshells around him, but not even this could numb the pain he felt when he thought of the man he'd planned his future with. It was not a death he could get over, would ever get over, just as Sirius could never get over the death James, Harry's father.

"Oh," Max breathed, realization hitting her like a brick. She remembered, though not in much detail, about the life Harry had outside of Hogwarts. Not unlike herself, he was hated at home for what he was, what he wasn't, and who he was turning out to be. Ever since Harry could remember he'd hated it there, a fact he was no hesitant to share with anybody who would listen. Even Max could decipher what the small fact meant about Harry's life.

For a few brief moments he'd had a chance at a normal wizard life, with a man who loved him, cared for him, and who Harry respected and loved equally in return.

That is, until he was killed by a Death Eater, one of the same ones Max had shared a meal with over Christmas break.

"And you know of the Black family name?"

This subject was one Max was more aware of. For years the Blacks had been a well respected pureblood family, one of the firsts to follow The Dark Lord in his question for purification and domination. She hadn't ever considered it before, but at one point the Sirius had to have been a part of that. Though he was now considered innocent on the one side, he was a disgrace to the other side. Mostly he wasn't talked about anymore. Many people had forgotten.

Harry had not, though, and as he braced himself for the retelling of his lost godfather's story he fought back the hot tears that brewed in his eyes. Two of them crying would do no good. Besides, this conversation was not for him. It was not he who had been publicly humiliated that day.

"Sirius, at first, probably followed all the correct rules. He was a wondrous addition to the family, handsome and clever. They thought he would follow in his brother's footsteps-never mind his brother was younger-"

"Wait. Sirius had a brother?" Max questioned.

"Yeah. Regulus. You didn't know?" Harry asked, a little surprised she had not heard of the second Black brother, the good Black brother.

"I recognize the name, but we don't tend to talk about things past. Or those who have failed Him," Max explained and Harry was shocked to find that Max's knowledge of information was so one-sided.

"Well, anyway," Harry continued, coughing. "The Black family, as you know, thought themselves royal, pure, and all the rest as you can imagine. But Sirius grew up I guess. He formed his own opinions. He," Harry stopped, struggling to gather his thoughts and composure.

"Are you okay? You don't have to talk about this if you don't want to," Max whispered, placing a light feminine hand on his shoulder. Harry shook it off.

"I want to," he convinced her. "Sirius eventually didn't believe in what his parents did anymore. Despite the fact that he'd been brought up to think himself higher than others because of his blood and name, Sirius saw things differently. He'd made the best friends he'd ever had in my dad and Lupin, despite their blood. So, in the end he defied his parents and everything they believed in. He chose his own path and followed it.

"Now, I'm not saying it was easy. I'm sure it was hard for him and I'm sure it was hard for others to trust him, but he stayed at my dad's house after getting kicked out his own. After that he was blasted off the family tree. But that didn't matter to him, I don't think. He hated his own family and had created a new one in the Marauders and their family and friends. Sirius didn't do it alone because he had my dad. Sirius had my dad and you will have me," Harry finished, feeling proud of himself. Above all this was one reason to stay by Max's side, despite all the reasons there were to stray away.

James Potter, his father, had took a chance with Sirius Black, part of one of the darkest families of their time. When Sirius finally broke free of his treacherous family he had friends beside him, his very best being James.

In that same way, Max and his godfather were not so different. If she did choose, finally, to break away from everything she'd ever known then Harry would be there for her, no matter what. That's what friends are for and that is what his father would have wanted him to do.

Something in Max's heart stirred as she realized the importance Harry's story held. Not only had he told it to help her, but it had helped him. Without realizing it he was able to talk about Sirius for the first and not break out into a fit or rage or hysteria. It was not a happy topic, but it brought a sense of peace upon the both of them. Harry had shared a piece of himself, given a piece to Max and that was something Max would always clutch to, use as a crutch when all else was lost. This conversation over all the others would later give her a hope she could find nowhere else.

Because Harry had not shared this piece of him with anybody else, not even his most trusted friends. He'd chosen Max, the one he knew would understand the most because of the position she was in. So willingly he'd offered his heart up, the truth a proud song among the darkness.

It was too bad Max could never truly do the same for him.