(Harry's P.O.V)

I'd walked into him raiding through one of my pillows, searching like a madman for something and getting frustrated. His breathing was heavy, his hair a mess from his fingers dragging through it and his eyes scrunched like he was in pain. I couldn't even ask want he was doing as he tossed the pillow across the room, or reached for the other one. I found my voice when he found my ring necklace. But his frustration worsened, and he turned those pained eyes to me.

"You see, I remember this necklace, Harry. I vividly remember telling you to throw it out the window if you didn't plan to leave me, and I watched you do it. So how is it in my hand, right now?"

I sighed, running a hand through my hair wearily. "You taught me how to summon things to my pillowcase."

"And you used that against me. To hide this from me, betray my trust and leave me when you got bored." He screamed, far angrier than I'd ever seen him. "That's why you're distant and ignoring me, you want to leave. Want to use your hidden safety net to go back to wherever you came from. Well, no way in hell am I going to just let you go."

"Will you calm down? It's nothing like that. Let me explain." I pleaded. "We were orphans then, not a penny to our name and no real education. We'd have been forced out on our asses when we turned 18 and we would have died without money. It was a safety net for that, a pretty necklace to sell to save our lives."

I walked around the heater centred in our room, the obstacle separating us, and continued trying to reason with him. I explained that I was always worried the Potters might not keep us around after 18 either, four years in their care and we still hadn't met their son Charlus. And then Markus told me they were planning to group dark wizards to take a militant approach at changing the world, and they had to use their own money for that. I'd asked him how much he thought it would be worth because growing up with money would give him a better idea. He told me the necklace was actually magic, that the crystals were actually time crystals and they were really rare. So it was worth more than I'd imagined.

"Besides," I smiled up at him. "It's a reminder of the best day of my life. The day my shitty relative died and I was brought to you. Why wouldn't I want to keep it when it means that much to me?"

He looked down, glaring at the glimmering stones in his hands. He closed his eyes and held it out to me, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been going through your things in the first place. Abraxas got into my head about you having a girlfriend behind my back and I went a little off the deep end. It made sense to explain why you've been distant."

He reached out a hand to stroke my cheek, but I turned away and stepped back. "I've been distant? You think that I'm the one that's been distant?"

Stunned by my outburst, he lowered his hand. He seemed genuinely confused that his words had upset me and asked if he'd misunderstood me never being around anymore, if it wasn't my intention to avoid spending time with him. And that just made me more livid.

"Don't you dare accuse me of not spending time with you! Every morning at breakfast, I start a conversation with you, every day because I know that's the only time we're ever going to speak to each other. The rest of the time you're focusing on studying or running off and scheming with Malfoy and Lestrange, you never even bother to include me. I asked if you'd help me with my Potions homework last week, not because I need it but because I actually wanted to spend time with you, and you told me I'd get a good enough grade doing it by myself. And from what I've heard from Markus, you haven't included me in your scheming either, I'm just a part of the end result by marrying you."

He opened his mouth, maybe to defend himself, but I cut him off. I was on a roll, and all my stress was flowing from me too freely. "When was the last time we read together like we used to? Or when did you last kiss me? No kissing goodnight, or goodbye before you go off and spend the day with people you obviously see more benefit in being around than me. I mean, you told me once that we'd be more serious with each other once I caught up with you, once I went through puberty and understood it all better. Well, I started during summer, Cordy had the healer come out and talk to me. But you haven't noticed, you haven't cared. All you care about anymore is your stupid plans."

I took a moment to breathe, feeling the tears on my face and the emotions I've been holding back crash through me. I looked to his stunned face, unable to hold in the laugh at his speechlessness. He was always composed, always had the right thing to say to smooth over a situation or schmooze an important figure, and now he had nothing to say. He clearly had never thought of it that way. The rift in our relationship was me being distant, not him focusing on everything except me. Nothing could be his fault anymore.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't think... I wasn't stopping to consider..." He frowned, looking close to tears himself. "I didn't add you to my plans because I wasn't thinking of planning how you should live, whatever you chose to do for work or in terms of my plans isn't something I should decide for you. But not telling you, having you hear from Avery, I understand how it looked. I should have explained. And I can't even excuse the rest of it, I didn't even consider how you were feeling. I put my leadership in Slytherin and ideals for our future before you. I just assumed you'd be okay because you know how much I love you and-"

"Do I?"

My interruption floored him, and he just looked at me confused, "I don't understand, Harry. If it's wanting you to wait until puberty, it's because I wanted you to understand and want me back like that before we got serious. After telling me how your uncle-"

"It's not about that! And again, calling me Harry. You always used to say 'my Harry', not just to me but to everyone. I don't remember the last time you said it. You never kiss me or spend time with me, you don't call me pet names anymore. I don't remember the last time I felt affection from you. You had no one at Wool's before me, and even when we started living with the Potters I held all your attention. Then we come here, and you make other friends or however you think of Malfoy and Gemini, and I become a background character to you. As soon as you have other people respecting you and wanting to be around you, you just stopped thinking about me. I feel replaced, not loved. How can I feel like you love me when you don't show me?"

A throat cleared behind us, where our dormmates stood awkwardly in the doorway. Abraxas seemed curious, with Gemini looking anywhere but at us, and Markus frowning at me sympathetically. He knew I felt like this, it was just the two of us after the other three went off together. He was more my friend these days than Tom, and while I was happy to have him it hurt that Tom wasn't the one comforting me. An embarrassed blush covered my face as Malfoy raised a brow. The room suddenly seemed too crowded for me to take. So I ran away. I apologised for causing a scene in front of them, tried to throw Mark a reassuring smile through the tears and left the room. I left the dormitory as a whole, rushing across the common room to hide in the one place they couldn't get to me. I'd spend the night to myself, and deal with them tomorrow. It was Saturday, so I wouldn't really have a choice, there were no classes to hide behind.