All extremes of feeling are allied with madness."

Virginia Woolf,

Harry twisted and turned, switching positions in the bed, fighting for his mind to calm the bloody hell down, but he couldn't; he just changed sides, tried to lay on his stomach, counted sheep, and counted stars. He even tried to hum the lullaby he had heard Aunt Petunia sing for Dudley when he couldn't sleep after devouring a meal sufficient for three grown men.

Dumbledore had decided it would be safer if Harry and the others floo to the burrow instead of boarding the train just before breakfast for his security, and that meant he was free to sleep in the meantime, but...

"Ugh!" He groaned, pulling his hair in frustration, and sat upright. He then pulled his wand from below his pillow and threw a heavy "Silencio" on the curtains of his bed, sighed when Ron's snores were muffled, and then banged his head against the bedpost with a loud thump, which got muffled into a tiny squeak because of his charm work.

Harry just couldn't sleep and the reason... Bloody Draco Fucking Malfoy.

Harry tried and tried, but he just couldn't make himself forget the look Malfoy had given him the day before he stormed off the place; his face was blank, and he didn't even bloody fight back as he normally should have under any circumstances and his eyes... Merlin! His eyes were... were like... Harry couldn't even find the appropriate words for describing the emotions he had seen burning in those silver pools of mercury.

They were looking... defeated... broken... hurt.

Harry gulped, furiously shaking his head. He knew he was going crazy.

And the girl—the little Ravenclaw girl whom Harry had helped—had slapped him... slapped him thrice, which bloody hurt, alright... Harry's face was even swollen, which was proof of the strength of the little bugger before Harry had watched her run away after Malfoy.

Harry wanted to follow them too... But he just couldn't... At the moment, he was in shock, and after ten minutes or so, he got over his dilemma, or rather, subdued it, and he had to make a run to get ready for the Slughorn's party.

Though all he wanted to do was ditch the bloody mockery of a party where he had to nod and smile at the obviously 'important' people who then introduced him to more 'important' people who then had someone more 'important' for him to talk to, with Slughorn trying to bathe in the attention 'Harry' had received while at the same time ignoring or ditching Harry in the crowd of 'important' people whenever Harry tried to do task Dumbledore had given him.

As for his date, He was about eleven minutes late for Luna's pick-up, but when he apologised, she silenced him and gave him a knowing look, saying, "The fate has begun its gamble, the caste is flipping the prophecy predefined...It's not your place to apologise, the fate had chosen to plant a seed, it's up to you whether to let the tree grow or let the wrackspurts in your ear breed." Luna had said that with her signature 'in a daze' smile, but Harry was focused on her eyes, which were twinkling with amusement with the same intensity that vaguely reminded him of Dumbledore, making him shift uncomfortably.

She had kept quiet... or as quiet Luna could get with giggling and occasionally pointing at the "Look Blumbing Humdinger!" or "You ought to wear more green... for peace... it is soothing, relaxing, and youthful, the castle agrees and is eager to dye your robes," or "Hermione seems surrounded by Wrackspurts though not as bad as you but McLaggen seems to be worried about hers'' Luna had commented when Hermione had run away from them in order to hide from Cormac MacLaggen who was being rather forward under the mistletoe and then Luna had waved towards a corner of the colourful party tent and she ran towards the direction, giggling and skipping steps, Harry was curious so he followed her and saw Luna was hanging on the arms of a clearly shocked and agitated pug-faced girl whom Harry had recalled was Parkinson and with highly amused Zabini smirking at the obvious horror on the face of Parkinson and Harry turned around, he didn't know why just the sight of Zabini had made something in his stomach to churn... to stir...

He had let Slughorn drag him to introduce him to some vampires, and he even let Slughorn brag about his potion-making skills to Severus Snape, who just sneered at him, though he noticed a look of wonder in the ex-potion master's eyes, which in turn made his stomach fill with guilt, and he had avoided eye contact in fear of letting Snape use legilimency and probe his secrets out of his mind. And, yes, he noticed Ginny constantly giving him "looks," and Dean was grinning and drinking in one corner of the room, refusing to dance with the redhead girl, much to her chagrin. At least someone was enjoying themselves... he had thought. His emotions were weirdly awkward, not knowing what to do with the information Dean and Seamus had provided him about Ginny's lingering crush on him.

Ginny was— confusing, yeah, the best way to describe his feelings towards the girl was confusing as he had admired her, but the girl reminded him too much of his own mother and she was... well, perfect. Way too perfect... extraordinarily smart, overwhelmingly brave and incredibly popular, just as Sirius had once defined his mother. She had no flaws, no ghosts of the past other than 'being possessed by Voldemort' in Harry's second year of which she had almost no recollection contradicting Harry whose entire life had always been tainted... filled with shadows... Even if he did consider her feeling and tried to do anything about them... it would be like, err... umm... Ginny had always idolised him and it would just be... Nevermind.

The party was dreadful—fake smiles... polite nods... fake laughs. His face was hurting, and the moment he was about to step out of the brightly coloured room, he felt a familiar weight return around his arm. He tried to give a smile to Luna, but it turned into a deadpan, but the girl didn't seem to notice. "It was fun..." she had commented smiling at him, and he snorted but didn't say anything further.

They walked arms in arms to the Ravenclaw entrance and Harry was about to bid good night before Luna captured his wrists and made him stop, "There is much more depth in a person's heart, not let the illusion of your built suppositions blind you, see what others fail to and you will find the answer in your heart." With that, Luna leaned up, and with a finger, she caressed Harry's slightly swollen cheek and then turned around to walk towards the door.

And there he was, his thoughts wandering wild, his mind probing every bit of information he had gathered in the last few months... The day after Malfoy had punched him and left him on the train for eavesdropping, Malfoy had been relatively quiet... so quiet that it was suffocating for Harry, for the first few weeks he had seen Malfoy distance himself from his friends, his eyes losing all the twinkling mischief and at one moment when the time he had started looking for him on the map and discovered his regular visits up the seventh-floor corridor, he saw Malfoy develop rather large eye bags and withdrawing from food...

No... That can't be right... right?

It was all a ploy by the blond git, or perhaps he didn't think the food served in the great hall was worthy enough for him...

'Someone has to—" Luna's words echoed in his mind, and he banged his head against the bedpost again.

His thoughts again wandered about his spotting of Malfoy in Diagon Alley and when the blond had threatened Borgin for something with the name of a Fernir lad whom he didn't know, but Malfoy didn't do anything else. He was so quiet and didn't start anything with Harry or bully his friends, hell, or anyone else, though Harry had to pause to remember whether he had ever seen Malfoy start something with anyone other than him, Ron, or Hermione, and he froze.

No... Bloody hell no.

In six years at Hogwarts, he had never once seen Malfoy fight with anyone other than him or his friends—till today. Yeah, he had heard numerous comments on teachers from Malfoy's lips, particularly in the third year, directed towards Remus, but thirteen-year-olds do comment on teachers, right? Don't they? Even Ron remarks about Flitwick's height and McGonagall's love life, or lack thereof...not to mention the numerous comments directed at Snape...

And today, the girl slapped him instead of thanking him.

Does this mean he had somehow misinterpreted the situation?

Bloody hell...

Harry hastily fiddled with the pocket of his tunic and took out the Marauder's map. "Lumos," he had whispered, illuminating the tip of his wand before muttering, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." The map came to life; footsteps, dots, and labels of buildings started to form, and Harry's eyes hastily moved towards the dungeons as his eyes went through numerous names of Slytherins, but he was unable to locate a particular name. He tried and tried, but there was no sign of Malfoy in the dungeons or on the entire map.

"He is again in the room of requirements," he groaned, placing the map on his lap. He had figured the map didn't show the names of individuals in the room of requirements when he had once followed Malfoy up the stairs under his cloak, constantly watching the map, and the footsteps on the map had disappeared the moment Malfoy had stepped into the room.

"What the fuck should I do?" He exclaimed in frustration, pulling at his hair, making it even more distorted than it usually was.

It was his last night before the two-week Christmas break, which he was going to celebrate in the burrow, and he needed to do something. He can't just go there and leave Hogwarts without first determining what the bloody hell Malfoy was up to...Not when Harry had spotted Malfoy's name in the list of students staying at the school in the great hall.

Then suddenly an idea popped into his mind, and he grinned, "Kreacher! Dobby!" he called and immediately two loud pops cracked in the air and Harry was immediately thankful for the power behind his silencing charm...

"The great Harry Potter, sir, calls Dobby... Dobby is bless-" exclaimed Dobby in a highly chirpy tone at the same time, "Filthy half-blood master summons Kreacher, Mistress Walburga would be so so sad," Harry heard Kreacher grunt before Dobby slammed the old-grumpy elf square in the face earring a loud squeak and a gasp from Harry as Dobby pinned Kreacher down on Harry's blanket.

"Never ever insult Harry Potter in front of Dobby! Dobby bes do teach the oldy Hagy elf a lessons!" Dobby exclaimed and was about to punch Kreacher again when Harry exclaimed.

"Dobby stop!"

Dobby immediately stopped as if he was imperioed. Kreacher then cursed Dobby colourfully under his breath, to which Dobby took offence as Harry noticed he was about to lunge at the ancient elf again when he raised his hand, stopping both of them.

"I called you both because I need a favour." He said it awkwardly, and Dobby's eyes widened, and Kreacher scoffed at him.

"The great Harry Potter sir bes so generous, he calls a favour to be ask-" Dobby exclaimed, his ears twitching in anticipation, and Harry questioned his reason, wondering whether he was going nuts for thinking it was a good idea.

"What does the worthless master needs?" Kreacher asked in a bored tone, and Harry had to cut Dobby off when he looked like he was about to slam Kreacher's head on the bedpost.

"I need both of you to tail Draco Malfoy and report to me about his actions during the Christmas break-"

"Young Mister Malfoy!" Dobby exclaimed, and Harry winced internally, recalling the insensitivity of his order towards Dobby, and was about to turn his demand down when Kreacher exclaimed.

"Young Master Draco Malfoy, Finest Black Descendant?"He asked, his eyes filled with a weird pride to which Harry frowned, "-great great bloodline, the filthy half-blood wants to be like young Malfoyling-" Kreacher trailed off under his breath and Harry was surprised to notice Dobby was not even bothered to cut Kreacher off in trails of praises of Malfoy and greatness of the Black descends.

"Yes, him; but Dobby, you are free if you don't want-" Harry trailed off, and Dobby shook his head vigorously.

"No! No! Dobby is a good elf. Dobby dos what Harry Potter sir asks!" Dobby exclaimed, and Kreacher grunted in acknowledgement and vanished, not even bothering to stay for any further orders from Harry, and he sighed.

"The disrespectful old hagy!" Dobby exclaimed in outrage, and Harry sighed again.

"It's alright," he said, and Dobby was about to protest before he continued, "It's really okay if you find it uncomfortable to spy on your old family." Dobby's eyes became wetter and wetter as he spoke.

Dobby blinked to stop the large drops of tears from oozing out of his eyes, "Harry Potter, sir, is so so generous. Dobby doesn't uncomfy... Dobby just— just..." The elf's breathing became laboured, and he burst into tears.

"Hmm?" Harry hummed and patted the elf's head in order to make him continue, and the elf blew his nose on the bright yellow sock he was wearing in his hand, making Harry grimace.

"It's only Dobby who is missing Young Mister Malfoy," Dobby hiccuped, and with that, he snapped his fingers, and then the creature was gone.

Harry exhaled loudly, blinking at the information...

~~~

Dearest Dumb Diary,

I apologise for my lack of diary entries (I still wonder if you were a sentiment whether the writing on you would be considered molestation... Or you'd rather enjoy the sensation of a hard quill scratching the smooth surface of your pages, leaving a delicate trail of ink behind...) Ugh! Look at me fantasising the fantasies of an inmate object such as you...

I suppose constant isolation and having a genocidal psychopath as a family guest causes this to people...Haha-

Okay, so today I just burned some muggle towns... Nothing strange, nothing odd, right? Nah, let me tell you, Oh! My Dumb Diary of fairest pages, Today I was assigned my patrol with Lucius, yeah, Cissa's beloved husband... Well, let me tell you a secret, my diary: I am not a heartless bastard as much as I superficially show... Obviously, so in regular patrols, which I am usually assigned with Bella or Barty, I use their destructive nature of spells as a shield and try to apparate the living muggles out of the spot as much as I can or cast "notice me not charms" over them. So, today, I was nervous... Okay, okay, I was petrified of the notion of not being able to do my usual, but what I learned today blew my mind.

The mission started, and everyone apparated on the target town, and chaos started, with shrieks of pain. Shouts of terror and cries for help were the only sounds you could hear if you were on the spot (oops, my bad, you cannot hear, you are an imbecile diary), and just out of curiosity, I turned and looked into Lucius' eyes, which were the only part of his face not covered by a skull mask, and we both froze... I saw the same reluctance... the same terror in his eyes, which supposedly mirrored mine, as he did nothing but nod.

What happened next was even more interesting; both Lucius and I started shouting destructive curses as Bombadra and Reducto exploded the buildings and houses, giving a rather impressive show of causing mayhem to the other fellow nose-less bitches' slaves, but only we knew that the buildings we destroyed were either already vacant or held only one to three muggles who were on the lower floor, so they had ample of time to vacate the building before its structure would collapse on them...

We didn't talk, we didn't gesture, we didn't do anything to indicate what had happened when the nose-less bitch mourned over the constant degradation in fatality rates of muggles in each passing raid, and neither did we open our mouths when the nose-less bitch asked us and our fellow slaves to choose the next location of a raid...

So, here I am dwelling on the fact that perhaps I just gained a silent ally...

~R.A.B

Draco yawned, closing the journal with a faint smile tugging at his lips, "Tempus," he whispered, flicking his wand lazily in the air. The air in front of him shimmered, and soon a silver clock appeared in front of him, "5:23" it read, and Draco sighed, his hand rubbing his eyes.

'Shouldn't have pulled an all-nighter-' He thought and lazily stretched on the fluffy bed the room of requirements had granted him; the bones of his arms cracked, and the sound mingled with the soothing harp sound the room had been playing in the background for Draco in order to make him relax.

"You are not that bad, old perv-" He muttered while nuzzling the soft blanket, and the candles illuminating the room flickered as if mimicking the soft chuckles that made Draco smile, and then he felt the air around the room turn warm, as did his blanket, which made him sigh in contentment.

"Reckon I might sleep for some time," he said, and the candles in the room dimmed in their luminosity but didn't diminish. "Thank you-" Draco muttered, and immediately a glass filled with water hovered itself in front of his face, making him snort...

"OH, yeah, yeah... stay hydrated; you are now mimicking my mother, you know." He rolled his eyes but took the glass and gulped three ounces before settling the glass back on the stool beside the bedpost.

"Are you like this with everyone else or you are just fond of me, hmm?" He teased, and the candles in the room flickered again, and Draco snorted...

"I interpret it as, only me... better be."He said as he tugged the blanket above his head and closed his eyes feeling rather good... Perhaps it was the fact that he had completed the "Olde Magic and Runes book," or he had cried his guts out in the presence of the female ghost, the emotional storm in his mind was silent, or it was just the soothing magic of the room, which always make him feel secure... free... and happy.

There were only thirteen students, including him, in the Slytherin house who were staying for the holidays, and eight of them were seventh years. So, Draco only had to assign the duty to watch over the four lower-year students, and voilà! He was free to do as he pleased.

So, here he was, about to sleep the entire morning isolated from his prince duties in the Room of Requirements... He would join the Slytherins for lunch, and then he was planning to spend his day in the library studying for his NEWTS, then most definitely again pull an all-nighter in this room reading the books it had given him, and then repeat the timetable for the entire vacation...

Though not the entire two weeks, he had to find out what the fuck is going on with Severus and his mother... And yeah, he had made a promise to a ghost to return...

With that, Draco's eyes dropped as he drifted into sleep...

~Love-K.D