The events leading up to Harry's detention were more eventful than the boy could've imagined. The three were currently in the common room, Harry sitting on the carpet floor with his back leaning against the sofa. The other two, having listened to most
of the argument during that lesson, were sitting on the couch, arguing themselves.

"This is the guy who uses 'mudblood' as a nickname for you, Hermione. How many times have you heard Malfoy insult both Harry's parents as well as my entire family? At least everything Harry said was true!" Ron exclaimed, not able to believe
they were even considering whether Malfoy was in the right or not.

"That doesn't matter. Harry shouldn't have risen to it. I agree that what Malfoy said was horrible but Harry was the one to start it."

Ron just stared at her for a couple seconds before pinching the bridge of his nose. "You know, you're really making me wonder whether or not you were even there. He bloody cursed him, Hermione. Don't tell me you've already forgotten." Ron asked
in disbelief, taking a deep breath.

"But some of the things Harry said..he was descending to his kind of level when it comes to their disputes. He struck what was most sensitive."

"Like Malfoy never does that."

"I'm not saying that. I'm say-"

"Why are you even defending him, Hermione? He's-"

"I'm not defending him!"

"Yes you are!"

"No, I'm not. I'm jus-" The argument between them continued as Harry stared right ahead of him at the flickering flames of the fire. His knees were clutched loosely to his chest, rolling his eyes at their pointless argument. Yes, he knew Hermione
kind of had a point but frankly he agreed with Ron a lot more and Hermione backing up Malfoy frustrated him as well Ron.

"Guys..Just..leave it. If you want to blame someone, blame Snape. He was the one who put us together in the first place." He spoke with a sigh.

"Yeah. He knew they'd fight which gave him an excuse to give Harry detention." Ron agreed.

"True but-"

"Oh don't tell me you're going to defend Snape as well." Ron groaned.

"No. I wasn't going to do anything of the sort." Hermione snapped. "I was just thinking. What still confuses me is the fact that Malfoy didn't jump to humiliate you right away. It took a while before he finally snapped." Both
Harry and Ron exchanged a small, reluctant glance at the fact Hermione had a point. So Harry must've pushed him pretty far. Serves him right..he thought, pushing the guilt away.
'You think this is only a punishment for you?'

The words had suddenly come to mind, his eyes widening. How could he have forgotten?

"Guys. I've remembered something." Harry started, biting down on his lower lip.

Hermione and Ron turned to him expectantly.

"Before we started working, he said something about this lesson being a punishment for both of us."

"Both of you?"

"Snape punishing Malfoy? Please. He loves that slytherin pillock so much, it's kinda disturbing." Ron remarked, his face twisting in disgust.

"But if it wasn't true then why would he make it up?" Hermione through aloud, earning a small shrug from Harry.

"I don't know. I tried to ask him but he simply avoided the question...I mean, I noticed that Snape had held him back after class and he didn't look happy. It's funny. You'd think he's be jumping for joy at the fact that I was cursed not to speak."
Letting out a small sigh, Harry readjusted the grip around his knees, watching the hot sparks of glowing wood flake before crumbling to ash. Something wasn't right. He could just sense it, like a gut feeling in his stomach. He knew something bad was
going on and close to approaching however he knew that ever since Voldemort's return; now it felt more real, the danger closer...and Malfoy just had to have something to do with it. Maybe that's why Snape was punishing him; because he knew. He knew
what he was doing was wrong. Harry might've hated him but Dumbledore clearly trusted him for a reason. Which would explain Draco's hesitance to tell him. He was working for Voldemort..! Had he already become a death eater? No...he's too young..right?

"Harry..Stop.." Hermione's voice broke through his 'daydream' like state, shards of thought scattered around him. Eyebrows furrowed once he processed her words. What was he doing?

"Stop what? I'm no-"

"You're still convinced they're up to something." Was he that easy to read?

"Convinced? They are, Hermione. Or at least Malfoy is," Ron muttered a small 'here we go again', sighing. Harry ignored him. "I'm not being delusional."

"Come on Hermione." Ron began tiredly. This argument was getting old. "I can understand why Harry's suspicious. I mean-"

"Yes but Ron. You have to agree. It's always Malfoy and Snape and when it isn't one of them, it's both. Always. Lucius Malfoy is in Azkaban and although I hate Malfoy as much as you two do-" Ron let out a small scoff of disbelief, "-it
must be difficult for him without his father. Perhaps Snape was just unimpressed by how poorly he's performing in class. He was number one after all."

"What do you mean 'poorly'? He answers that question practically flawlessly." Harry contradicted. Hermione simple rolled her eyes.

"That gives him an even larger reason to be unimpressed. He can do a lot better in class and he clearly knows everything but his grades are still lacking."

"How do you know that?" Ron asked.

"I overheard pansy scolding him for a low grade he got in an assignment."

"Yes but maybe that's because he did so awfully that not even Snape's favouritism can boost his grade." Ron contradicted but Hermione simply shook her head.

"I don't think it was purely favouritism that brought him those high grades, Ron." She admitted reluctantly.

There was a small silence between the three, Harry dwelling on Hermione's words. She still refused to believe him.
Was she saying he was overreacting? He knew he had been wrong before but even back then Hermione and Ron would always agree and stick by his side. It wasn't just Hermione though. Ron too. He could tell that even he was getting sick of it. They probably
assumed it was some sick obsession linked to his grieving or maybe to do with the fact that Voldemort was back. They also probably assumed that those were the reasons why he was being 'overly suspicious'.

"You think I'm being paranoid." He spoke, cutting through the thick silence.

"No..Harry. That's not-" .

"Yes you do." Harry interrupted, anger beginning to surface. "Look, Hermione. I already had to live through an entire year where I knew Voldemort-" Ron flinched subtly, "-was back and no one believed a word that came out of my
mouth."

"I know that, Harry, but this is different. Back then, you knew for certain."

"I know for certain now!"

"Do you really?"

"Yes!" The word escaped before he even thought about it. Biting down on his lower lip, he refused to think about it, knowing that his thoughts would immediately dulge right into Hermione's words causing him to doubt what he knew. But do you
really know? That annoying voice spoke out, causing his hands to roll up into fists.

Hermione must've noticed the doubt in his mind because she sighed. "Come on, Harry. Even you have to admit it's…"

"What?" Harry demanded.

"It's...becoming excessive." And that's when he snapped, when the monster burst out of it's cage, frustration escalating to fury.

"Excessive? Excessive?!" He repeated, not able to believe his ears. Suddenly, he found himself standing before the two, outraged. "When the entire wizarding world is in jeopardy and lives are lost because nobody would fucking listen-"

"Mate.."

"Let me finish goddamn it!"

"Can you stop yelling?!"

"Yelling? Oh is that getting excessive too?!"

"Yeah! Yeah it is! You're always bloody shouting!"

"If you're sick of it, then you might as well get Malfoy to shut me up!"

"At the moment, that idea doesn't seem too bad!"

"Fine then!"

"Fine!"

"Fine! Harry furiously shouted before storming out of the common room. His fists were clenched so tightly, his knuckles paled as he paced through the portrait of the fat lady, ignoring her cries of how rude he was and how she was asleep and he woke
her up ecetera ecetera….

This was just wonderful. Was it even possible for this day to get any worse? Oh yes. How could he forget? Detention with Snape next. Just the perfect cherry on the top to everything and who did Harry have to blame?

Malfoy. Of course because it was always bloody Malfoy. It was his fault his friends were more distant, his fault Harry was alone, his fault Sirius was dead. All. His. Fault!

Harry's blood was boiling, fuming as he desperately wanted to scream out in anger and release his frustration and fury and sorrow and thousands of other emotions he couldn't describe; the bottle he was concealing the, in began to crack, emotions shining
through. He just wanted to crawl in a ball, disappear from this world, be free of the constant pressure against his lungs with each breath, free of the ache in his heart that only grew with each step, free of the lump in his throat that swelled as
each second passed. He wanted to be free of this constant suffering.

Wishful thinking.

Pausing abruptly, he took a huge, deep breath, his fingers trembling as he released his fists. Running them through his hair, he knew he had to calm down. It wasn't easy though. Leaning against the wall, his rushing thoughts began to gradually simmer,
closing his eyes tightly shut as his chest heaved in and out.

Calm..down..He told himself as his breathing slowed as well as his heart, blocking out the entire world for those brief minutes. As the red mist finally cleared, clogs gradually powered up again, thoughts popping up in a more rational view. In reality,
it wasn't any of Malfoy's fault. In fact, he began to understand why his friends thought he was being irrational. Even he thought he was being irrational once mulling over Hermione's words in a more understanding perspective. She did have valid points
but...he wasn't obsessed...right?

Groaning into his hands, another fresh wave of guilt washed over him. He shouldn't have shouted bt it was difficult..He hadn't felt this alone for a while. It was the thought that no matter what happened, Ron and/or Hermione would be by his side to defend
him...and now...he wasn't even sure how long that'll last. He understood that he was currently a lot to put up with and the more he thought about his 'conspiracies' the less certain he became about them. He could just go to dumbledore but he had nothing
to back up his point with. Just the fact that 'he had a bad feeling' wouldn't be enough.

Taking out his wand, he muttered a small incantation under his breath, two lines glowing gold, the large hand pointing to the numeral numbers 'II', the small one pointing to 'VIII'. He was late to detention. Great. Snape..Just who I need..

With a wave of his wand, the golden hands disappeared as Harry exhaled a deep sigh. Time for detention.

It must've been midnight when Harry was finally let out. It wasn't as bad as he presumed it to be, mainly because he managed to discharge his anger through scrubbing away the potion residue hardened at the bottom of the caldrons. Although it wasn't great
that Snape was watching his every move, finishing three caldrons brought some sort of satisfaction, leaving them as good as new. The fact that he didn't hate it, granted him an internal victory. Now he felt strangely calmer and tired.

Over those hours, he mulled over everything that happened, from finding Draco in the great hall up to his recent fight with Hermione and Ron. Something so pointless as well. He really didn't need to lash out like that but it was getting harder and harder
to keep emotions to himself...but there was no one he could really vent them out to.

Not anymore.

The halls were now dark, unlit torches hung along the stone walls, the corridors deserted. His footsteps echoed as he walked to the exit of the dungeons. He never liked it down there. It was dreary and cold and he was more than happy to be getting back
to his dorm. No sneaking around the grounds tonight. He just wanted to sleep..that was if his mind let him. He wondered how much sleep he'd get before nightmares crawled their way back into his subconscious. Just one night...He hoped as he climbed
up the stairs and entered the main section of the school, walking through the open corridors, the autumn breeze causing a subtle shiver to go up his spine. The courtyard and pillars were bathed in the moonlight, the scenery monochromic. Pausing for
a second, Harry stared out into the open, staring at the stone, closed doors that remained locked at night. Calm and peaceful were words that came to mind. Usually, the dark was associated with danger but the exposing moonlight tamed those suspicions.
Those fears.

He was so lost in his own spiral of thought, that he didn't notice the blonde drawing closer, only aware once he felt something nudge against his arm followed by a grumble.

"What…Oh potter. It's only you." Malfoy dismissed tiredly with a wave of his hand before running his fingers through his hair.

Pausing, Harry simply stated at the blonde, surprised he hasn't received a snap of annoyance.

"Malfoy..are you..alright?" He asked cautiously, frowning softly as he looked at the blonde.

Looking up at him, the blonde's expression became unreadable before he looked back down, the shadow of his lips twisting into a crooked smile before he began to chuckle darkly. Chuckles soon escalated into laughter, Malfoy throwing his head back as his
manic laughs echoed through the empty halls.

Taken aback by this, Harry's eyes widened as he was at a lost for words, frozen. His laughter sounded so broken, like the idea of being okay was so out of his world, it was amusing.

Unsure what to do, Harry tilted his head slightly with furrowed eyebrows as he watched Malfoy laugh. "I should probably go…" He stated, frowning as he began to walk past Malfoy. However, he only managed to walk one pace before feeling slender
fingers suddenly grab his bicep to stop him from leaving, laughter seizing, silence falling. Jaw clenching, he turned his head to demand for him to explain what he was doing, to let him go; he remained silent, the sight swallowing all his words.

The halls remained empty, the pale moonlight from the late, autumn evening shining onto the concrete surface. Draco's moonshadow stretched leanly down the corridor, his still clearly pale face masked with darkness, his silhouette hunched before the magnificent,
full moon. His blonde hair appeared a dark grey, strands loosely hanging before his eyes. Silver gaze fixated on the ground, his aristocratic features were sharpened, his expression unreadable. His thin lips looked darker in this light, no smirk,
no sneer visible, the laughter having vanished from his features.

It made Harry uncomfortable seeing Malfoy like this. It wasn't the malfoy he always saw. The Malfoy he knew was full of pride, cocky, arrogant; This Malfoy was serious, afraid, unpredictable...He could feel the Slytherin's fingers tremble unsteadily as
they relentlessly gripped onto his arm, clearly reluctant to let go.

"Malfoy.."

The blonde's sharp gaze flickered from the ground and up to Harry, his expression still unreadable. Straightening up, his gaze settled for Harry's, silver orbs piercing into his own. It was intimidating, to Harry's annoyance, however he couldn't move,
refusing to be the first one to break this silent staring contest.

However, the blonde then leaned in, Harry's eyes widening in a brief moment of panic and next thing he knew, he could feel Draco's warm breath fan against the shell of his ear.

"Okay...would be you noticing me when I wanted to be noticed and you ignoring me when I wanted to be ignored."

"What are you.." He couldn't understand why he was acting like this. Why his personality had suddenly flipped, why he was whispering these kind of things in his ear. Noticing him when he wanted to be noticed? What…

And then one particular stench caused everything to snap into place. He could smell the firewhiskey in his breath from this proximity. He was drunk.

"Malfoy. You're drunk..aren't you...come on. We should really get you back to your-" The blonde's grip tightened almost painfully, Harry able to faintly feel the outline of Draco's fingernails through the fabric of his sleeve.

"Don't pretend to care..it'll only make this more..more painful.." Suddenly, his grip loosened, fingers falling down Harry's sleeve as Malfoy lost balance, able to hear the distinct thump before Harry could even do anything. Eyes widening in
shock, all thoughts were broken and dissolved by one thought and one thought only.

The sight of Malfoy's body collapsed on the ground.