1 Ch. 9

2 Disclaimer: I already have a disclaimer at the beginning of the story, but I figure just to be safe I'll repeat it. I do not own any of the characters or anything else having to do with Hogwarts. They're all the property of JK Rowling, who would probably refuse to write any more Harry Potter books if she ever took a tour of fanfiction.net.

3

4 Harry, on the other hand, was sitting on one of the chairs in the common room, staring blankly at the fire with tears rolling down his face. He had thought that maybe he and Draco might have had something......... //No// he told himself //I thought wrong. I made the biggest mistake of my life in falling for him. Those fantasies will always be there, in the back of my mind. Damn. I don't think I'll ever be able to undo this mistake.//

"Nor should you try to undo it, Harry"

Harry jumped at hearing Dumbledore's voice as he suddenly entered the common room.

"P-professor Dumbledore?" he stammered in surprise.

"Hello Harry" replied a twinkly-eyed Dumbledore.

"How did you know what I was thinking"

"One of my little secrets. There's actually hardly anything that I don't know, Harry. One of those rare things being what the reason could possibly be that you seem so miserable on this wonderful December morning"

Although Dumbledore actually did know the answer to his question, he preferred to have Harry tell him.

"Well..if you heard what I was thinking..then you should know"

"But I would prefer that you tell me yourself."

"Why were the teachers all laughing during breakfast"

"Ah. That may be a hard one for me to answer without hurting your feelings. Mainly because of how blind you and Mr. Malfoy happen to be. You keep making each other miserable and then wishing that you could take back what you said after seeing the looks on each other's faces"

"So the entire staff knows about how I feel?"

"I'm not sure whether you would consider this good or bad, but yes, they do. Except maybe Professor Trelawney. Although her specialty is supposed to be seeing into the future, she can be just a little bit unobservant when it comes to what is going on right in front of her"

That made Harry smile, until he remembered what they were talking about and recalled the scornful look on Draco's face when he asked to simply talk to him for a minute.

"But Harry, every one of us can also see how Draco feels toward you. Contrary to what you may believe, he does not hate you. Quite the opposite. In fact, if I'm correct, and I'm rarely ever wrong, then he is probably just as miserable as you are. And after seeing the look he put on your face, I don't blame him. I'm sure he regrets it with all his being. Give him a chance Harry. Don't give up just yet."

"What do you mean about him being miserable after seeing the look he put on my face?"

"How would you feel if you saw him looking like the world had just fallen down around his head all because of something you said?"

"Oh"

"Well, I have some business to attend to, and I must go. Take a walk around the grounds for a while after lunch, it may help you clear your head"

//No way. Look what taking a walk to clear my head last night got me//

"Oh, and Harry"

"Yes?"

"There was no Transfiguration homework assigned over vacation. See you at lunch."

And with those last words, Dumbledore vanished as suddenly as he appeared.

A/N: I know all those chapters were really short. Sorry! To all my reviewers-you guys are awesome!!!!! Now, for every 5 more reviews I get- you get another chapter. And I have up to chapter 12 written so just believe me when I say that the next chapters are where it gets....interesting. Especially chapter 12, but if I don't get 10 reviews after posting 10 and 11... ^_^. I'm mean, I know, but I've seen stories with like 60 reviews, so getting 3-5 per chapter shouldn't be too hard for you guys!