Note: Takes place during the last chapter – Saturday; Hogsmeade!

Chapter 5: Talk with Dumbledore and the Concepts of Black and White

Harry walked into the Great Hall later for dinner and sat down in his seat. The tension from breakfast had eased slightly but Harry noticed almost everyone glancing at him more than usual. He ignored the stares knowing that everyone must know about his outburst in the common room. He ate dinner quickly avoiding any eye contact and not talking to anyone. Ron and Hermione didn't say anything to him either. He wasn't in the mood for this and he felt himself flushing under all the attention as he could feel the many stares boring into him. He felt like he was being suffocated and he couldn't breathe evenly.

Before dinner was even over he left the Great Hall, walking out calmly despite his being uncomfortable. Once he had walked a few steps from the door he stopped and took a deep breath, regaining his calm composure. He began walking again, heading in the direction of the Headmasters office.

He wasn't completely sure what Dumbledore wanted but he figured it could only be a couple different things. He hadn't been warm toward the old Headmaster since returning and he wasn't ready to be. He blamed the old man a little for the events of last year. He could've tried harder to keep Sirius from coming to the Department of Mysteries that night, Harry knew Dumbledore could've and he was angry that he didn't.

Reaching the gargoyle that guarded the entrance Harry realized he didn't know the password and swore under his breath with a few choice words. Resigning himself to it he looked at the gargoyle and began naming off sweets.

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans…Chocoballs…Chocolate Frogs…Uh, Jelly Slugs," Harry said sounding more and more exasperated with each candy named. Why didn't McGonagall give him the password? Just as he was about to name another candy a voice from behind him spoke up.

"Sugar Quills," there was a hint of amusement in the voice and turning around as he had already recognized the voice he came face to face with Albus Dumbledore. "Hello Harry, my boy, lets go up to my office shall we?" the old man asked and swept pass Harry.

Harry let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding and followed the man up the staircase and into his office in silence. Dumbledore stopped by Fawkes and petted the red plumage of the phoenix before taking a seat behind his desk. Harry sat in the chair across from him and looked at a point just behind Dumbledore's shoulder. He didn't want to stare the man in the eye, if it was one thing he learned from Snape it was not to stare someone directly in the eyes and he knew Dumbledore was a skilled legilimens like Snape.

"How are you doing Harry?" Dumbledore asked after observing the boy. He noticed something was off with Harry since he had come back that year, even if no one else noticed. He couldn't say what it was but he was positive something was wrong about the boy. He figured in the beginning in had something to do with the death of Sirius and the boy was mourning in his own way but he wasn't so sure anymore. And now the tension among the Gryffindor house, Harry and his two friends specifically, was worrying him. He had noticed the tension hadn't eased much at dinner either.

"I'm doing fine sir," Harry answered softly, tone somewhat cold, moving his gaze to his hands which were on his knees. He had a feeling he knew what this was about. He was sure Dumbledore felt the tension among the Gryffindors, also noticing it centered mostly on him and his friends and was wondering about it.

"Would you like a lemon drop or some tea Harry?" Dumbledore asked gently, looking at the boy in front of him. He had known about him leaving the Dursley's this summer and when he found he was safe he had given him the space he suspected Harry needed after losing his godfather.

Harry shook his head no about the candy and tea and looked up at the Headmaster, not quite in the eyes. "Professor, what is it you wanted?" He asked shortly wanting to get to the point and leave.

Dumbledore looked at Harry over his half moon glasses. He had had a feeling the boy still blamed him for the events of last year but he hadn't been sure until now. "Harry is there anything wrong you'd like to talk about?" he asked.

"No, I don't think so, sir. Why don't you ask what you really want to know and let me leave," Harry replied, keeping his tone polite if a bit cold.

Dumbledore sighed inwardly, he hadn't expected, really, for Harry to be the same way toward him as before but he had hoped he would be. "I noticed some problems among your house; they seemed very tense this morning and at dinner." Dumbledore said softly, casually.

Harry knew this was what it was about and held himself from rolling his eyes and snorting derisively. "It's nothing really, just a little argument between me, Ron and Hermione last night. Things got a little out of hand and were not talking at the moment, that's all."

Dumbledore thought on that a moment as he looked at the black haired teen in front of him. Disputes between friends were something uncontrollable and bound to happen, even to the best of friends. But Dumbledore had a feeling there was something more behind this fight, he was sure of it. "Are you sure that's it?" he said and looked over his half moon glasses, blue eyes intense.

Harry glanced momentarily at Dumbledore's face, still not meeting his eyes and meeting his nose instead. In a controlled voice he said, "Yes that's it, just an argument."

"How about your scar any visions as of late?"

"No, sir, just small twinges at the moment that I believe means he's either happy or angry."

"Are you sure there's nothing else wrong?" Dumbledore asked and Harry shook his head 'no'.

Dumbledore sighed aloud this time and nodded his head. If Harry didn't want to talk to him about it there was nothing he could do. "Alright then Harry, my boy, you can go then." He said softly keeping his eyes on the teens face. Harry nodded and without a word he got up and left the office.

Dumbledore knew there was something wrong with the boy, he could feel it, but couldn't identify what it was. Maybe it had nothing more to do with than the death of Harry's godfather, maybe it was nothing but mourning and he was doing it the best way he could. Trying to put on a brave face and show everyone he was fine and he wasn't and his friends confronted him and he became defensive. Yes, that was a possibility. But somehow Albus Dumbledore wasn't sure that was the whole of it.

After leaving the headmasters office Harry decided to head back to the dorm to get some things and then find a quiet place to be alone. Walking through the portrait hole he didn't bother to look around the common room and headed straight for his dorm, hoping no one was around. Luckily no one was in the dorm. Deciding to change his shirt while he was there he pulled off his turtleneck and looking through his wardrobe he pulled on a light long sleeve red shirt. After that he walked over to his bed and bent down to his trunk.

Pulling out his rucksack, the one he didn't use for school, he shoved his invisibility cloak into the bag, looking behind him he quickly pulled out his butterfly knife and put it into the bag also. Tossing around thoughts in his head he decided to put the Marauders Map in the bag also. With a last thought he shoved his book into the bag and closed it. He stood up and looked around the room and closing the trunk, he walked out and back down into the common room.

Just as he was about to walk out the portrait hole he heard a voice from behind. "Harry, where are you going? Curfew is soon," the voice he recognized as Hermione said.

Not turning around but tilting his head, he said over his shoulder, "I'm going to find a place to be by myself for awhile. Screw curfew" and he walked out not waiting for another word to be said. He walked away from the portrait until he was out of sight and opened his rucksack and pulled out his invisibility cloak. As a second thought he pulled out the Marauders Map and tapped in with his wand saying the phrase to activate it.

Looking at the map he noticed that there was no one in the way of his destination and tapped the map again, clearing it. He began his trek for the astronomy tower glad for a couple hours by himself. He knew he could have gone to his secret room but he didn't want to at the moment, so the astronomy tower would be his second place to go.

He got there without any problems and walked up the stairs until he came to the room he wanted, taking off his invisibility cloak as he went. The room wasn't anything special, mostly bare for the exception of a small table and chair in the far corner. Harry walked up to the front of the room and sat on the floor, staring up into the night sky. It was black now with scattered stars glinting like diamonds and an almost full moon glowing milky white.

He sighed as he looked into the sky. He hadn't meant to go off on Ron and Hermione like that and he knew they really didn't deserve it, only wanting to help him. But he was angry; at them, at himself, at everything! If he hadn't let his guard slip he wouldn't have had to deal with his friends worry and questions. If he hadn't taken his frustration out on them they wouldn't be not talking to him now. If Sirius hadn't come to the Ministry that night he'd still be alive. If he, Harry, hadn't been rash and stupid there would have been no reason to go to the Ministry in the first place. But 'ifs' weren't going to bring Sirius back and 'ifs' weren't going to get his friends off his back and 'ifs' weren't going to change the fact he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

He snorted aloud derisively and glared into the night. So yes, he was bitter and angry that a world that should have been his salvation was now a place he was starting to wish he never knew about. Coming here, to the wizarding world, had been great in the beginning. This was a whole new and interesting world full of magic and things that were only fantasy to him until eleven years old. When he had found out about this world he had thought that maybe things would begin to improve in his miserable life.

Nothing has been improving in his life lately, really nothing improved since he found out about the wizarding world. He may have found friends, an escape from the Dursley's and Dudley and his gang, but too many bad things had come to light since he found out he was a wizard. Having found out he had a homicidal wizard, presumed dead, after him, that he has tried, even if unsuccessfully to kill him every year and will continue to do so. That nothing in his life was private because it would always seem to find a way into the Prophet, that whenever anything good happened, something bad happened not long after it.

Discovering the magical world and almost being killed his first year, being able to show up for his second year and almost being killed again along with getting Hermione petrified and Ron almost killed, finding his godfather and losing him almost two years later and not having the chance to get to know him properly, winning the Tri-wizard tournament and almost dying when Voldemort was resurrected along with Cedric dying. He just couldn't seem to win and be happy either way, no matter what. And to top it all off he had to find out his father was nothing more than an arrogant bully, like his cousin or Malfoy and his gang.

And now he found out he had a prophecy that basically meant 'Kill or be Killed' that he had to fulfill. At the age of 16 he had to worry about killing a madman who was after him or being killed when he should be enjoying being a teenager. Worrying about school, Quidditch, dating and normal teenage things and not if he was going to be alive by the end of the school year.

He sighed again and was about to reach into his rucksack for his butterfly knife when he heard a noise behind him, the sound of the door opening echoing in the room. Turning around and removing his hand from his bag he saw the last person he really wanted to be there. Draco Malfoy. Malfoy walked into the room and started slightly when he saw someone there and Potter of all people.

"Oh great," Draco said with a groan. "You just had to be here didn't you? What are you doing here Potter?" Draco sneered half-heartedly. He had come up here to be alone, damn it, and it figured that someone, no, not just someone but POTTER of all people had to be there to intrude on his alone time.

Harry scowled at the blonde. "I was up here first Malfoy, you don't like it then leave! In fact just bugger off," he snapped before turning back around to gaze into the sky.

Draco glared at the back of Potter's head and then silently sighed. He didn't want to go any where else, this place always seemed to help him think things out and made him feel at least a little bit better but he wasn't sure he wanted to stick around with Potter either. Though when he thought about what he would have to return to (Crabbe and Goyle's company – who were nothing but blathering idiots. Pansy – who would probably try to flirt and snog with him again and Blaise who would complain about wanting to do something instead of being bored on a Saturday night) or back to his room, he decided sharing company with Potter was better than any of the other options and sat down opposite the black haired teen with his back to the wall.

Harry noticed this out of the corner of his eye but chose to ignore the Slytherin who was rudely intruding on his privacy. He wasn't leaving because Malfoy was a prat, he would just ignore him. Of course this was Malfoy and you couldn't ignore him because the blonde made sure you knew he was there.

"Heard you had a row with Weasley and Granger," Malfoy said in a disinterested tone of voice, like he could care less if it was true. He had heard from Pansy, who was part of the gossip line of Hogwarts that Potter had blown up at Granger and Weasley in their common room and that Potter had stormed out afterwards and didn't come back that night.

Harry stiffened at the comment before sighing. Not looking at Malfoy he answered, "As it's probably around the whole school by now I don't know why you're asking." His tone was indifferent, Draco realized and the statement confirmed that the rumor was true. The Golden Boy had had an argument with his two sidekicks.

"What ever would the Gryffindor Golden Boy have to argue with his two friends over?" Draco drawled the sarcasm evident in his voice.

"None of your damn business Malfoy!" Harry snapped glaring at the blonde. "Look, it's obvious you're not leaving and I'm not leaving so let's just ignore each other, okay?" Harry asked with a tired sigh. If he couldn't be alone he at least wanted silence. Draco didn't speak but turned his attention to the night sky, determined to at least relieve some of what was on his mind.

He felt restless and tired at the same time. He had run out of dreamless sleep potion and had to do without the last two nights, leaving himself open to nightmares. He couldn't ask Severus again to give him more because he knew his godfather would ask about him and considering he wasn't supposed to take the last batch of seven vials every single night that was definitely out of the question. Severus knew about the abuse but he didn't know about the self-harm and Draco wanted to keep it that way.

So without the potions he had dreamt of things he'd been trying to avoid. Fragmented scenes of him being beaten by his father…the shout of a crucio…the glare of steely gray eyes filled with disgust and disapproval and anger…the strike of a pale hand to his jaw. He closed his eyes, shook his head and sighed softly, almost inaudibly, trying to banish his thoughts. Thinking about his father always made him feel dually hot and cold. Hot from anger, a disgusted rage at a man he once looked up to and cold from the fear he felt. He feared Lucius Malfoy and what the man was capable of and he hated himself for the fact that he feared the man to begin with.

'I'll have to sneak into Sev's classroom and get the ingredients myself and make the potion,' Draco thought as he looked into the black velvet sky of the night. But the nightmares weren't the only problems that were bothering him. Just this morning Blaise had asked him if he was feeling well, saying he looked a little paler than usual and really tired with a slight discoloration under his eyes. He had been so tired that morning after his nightmare that he had forgot to do anything to hide the circles under his eyes from two days of lack of sleep. And the blood loss, along with the decrease in his eating had him looking paler.

Blaise had inquired on it and Draco had brushed him off with a dismissive excuse of no sleep, which had been half true and made sure he looked more presentable. 'No need to draw suspicion to myself.' He had thought with a snort that morning. The rest of the day had gone by fine with few problems. Blaise hadn't asked about him again which was good but Pansy had tried to get him to spend most of the day with her and had been annoying with her incessant flirting. The girl just didn't seem to realize that he couldn't stand her. He sighed again, thinking how he was happy to have escaped the paws of Pansy once more.

"You want one?" An indifferent voice broke Draco from his thoughts and he looked up startled and surprised. He had forgotten that he wasn't alone and that Potter was there. Slipping back into his Malfoy mask he raised one eyebrow at the black haired teen.

"One want?" Draco asked in a bored and nonchalant tone. Harry held up a clear bag of brightly colored marble sized candies for the blonde to see, not sure why he had even offered. He had picked the bag up and popped one of the candies, strawberry, into his mouth when he had looked to the Slytherin and just – offered.

Draco looked at the bag in Potter's hand before looking to him suspiciously. Harry rolled his eyes and grabbed another candy from the bag and popped it into his mouth. "See, there not poisoned or anything, Malfoy, I just got them today." Harry said and held out the bag toward the Slytherin again.

Draco contemplated whether he should take one or not but in the end decided to. Reaching into the bag he pulled out a blue candy, and with one more suspicious look in Potter's direction popped the confection into his mouth. Hardly any time after placing it on his tongue the treat snapped in his mouth, filling it with the taste of blueberry. He looked at Potter both brows raised in question and surprise.

"New candy at Honeydukes," Harry answered. They lapsed back into silence once more, Draco grabbing a handful of the small candies with a smirk in Harry's direction. Harry just shook his hand as he grabbed a few out the bag before putting the rest back into his rucksack, ignoring the butterfly knife his hand briefly brushed against.

"Have you ever noticed how black and white people make things?" Harry asked softly, breaking the silence. He wasn't sure why he asked such a questions or why he asked his rival of all people. He was looking up into the black velvet sky, his green eyes gazing absently at the moon.

Draco looked at the Boy Who Lived shocked and completely thrown at the question. Potter didn't look at him when he asked but the blonde figured the question was, more or less, vaguely directed at him. He was silent for a while not sure how to respond to a question like that from someone like Harry Potter, Golden Boy, Boy Who Lived. But Potter began speaking again and he didn't have to answer.

"So many people believe everything is black and white, light and dark, good and evil. There's no middle ground to most; no grey area that's a mix of both sides. Why is that?" Harry's voice was still soft as he kept his gaze still fixed on the night sky. He wasn't sure why he was saying any of this but his mind was slightly preoccupied and he was saying what came to the forefront of his mind.

Draco, who was still looking curiously at Potter's profile, exhaled slowly and decided maybe answering wasn't so bad. "Because many want to believe life is that simplistic. You think of things as light and dark or good and evil and you'll only have to worry about two sides; what you consider right and wrong. For people, at least some, to think of life as grey or with a middle ground between two opposing perspectives would be making life more complicated. That middle ground is thought of as an unknown factor." The Slytherin's voice was low, a little thoughtful and somewhat matter of fact in its tone.

Harry looked at the blonde surprised, eyebrows arched and eyes wide. He wasn't sure what to be more shocked at. The fact that Malfoy had answered or what the answer had been from the usually sneering Slytherin. Draco caught the look Harry gave him and smirked.

"What, did you expect me to say something like the darker side of life is better and people fear it?" there was a mocking tone to his voice as he said it. Harry nodded slightly because, yes, he had expected something along those lines. "Well sorry to shatter your fragile Gryffindor views of me." Draco drawled sarcastically.

Shaking his head Harry looked back to the dark sky. "Sometimes simplistic is more dangerous than complicated." The black haired teen muttered but knew the blonde had heard it.

"Yes, sometimes it is but the complicated is the unknown and the unknown is feared and that's something many people like to avoid," Draco stated glancing briefly at the other boy. Harry nodded his head in agreement and understanding to that statement and they lapsed back into silence, both more aware of the other than before.

Harry was shocked by Malfoy's answers to what they were talking about and that they were talking somewhat civilly. Looking into the night sky when he first came up here he knew he was going into a mood of reflection that night, of introspection but didn't expect to have someone to share his thought with. The fact that is was his rival that he was talking to was even stranger.

Draco was thinking along the same lines, just as shocked that he was sitting here with Potter, conversing civilly on such a subject and even more shocked on the Golden Boy's view on things. This night was turning out to be much different than he thought it would be, but not as unpleasant as he thought when he first saw Potter.

Harry sighed as he picked up his bag and stood up stretching lazily. Draco looked at Harry and stood also, aware of how late it was getting.

"Well Malfoy it been, ah, interesting…waxing philosophical with you and all but it's getting late." Harry stated with a shrug, swinging his rucksack over his shoulder.

"Yes, interesting is definitely one way to put it. Anyway I'll be seeing you around Potter," the blonde drawled with a tilt of the head.

"Yeah Malfoy," Harry responded with the same tilt of the head at the other teen, who turned and started walking towards the door. Harry turned back to gaze into the night sky as he heard the Slytherin leave, deciding to wait back a bit. And as one boy gazed into the night sky and another walked the dark halls of the castle back to his dorm they both thought that an understanding, no matter how small, had been reached between them. Not everything was black and white and sometimes the simple ways of things weren't the easiest or safest no matter how much you wanted to believe it to be.

Harry shook his head slowly, mildly bemused by the turn of events for the night and grabbed his invisibility cloak out of his bag. Swinging the cloak around his shoulders he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower thinking vaguely of the concepts of black and white, light and dark and the enigma that is Draco Malfoy.

Reviews!

SLNS: Glad to hear you like my story so far. As for Harry/Draco action that wont be for little while but keeping reading and reviewing. I agree with you, sometimes Hermione needs to be told to shut up and back off. Thanks for the review.

leftarrow: Thanks for the review. I'm sorry if Draco and Blaise's conversation was a little lame and cheesy but really I wanted a conversation to show that behind all the Slytherin stereotype they were normal teens who thought classes were boring and bitched about them. Sorry if they were cheesy to you!

Silver Angel 7: Thanks for the review. I'm glad your enjoying it so far.