A/N: Another cliff hanger. Sorry everyone. Now, you can come to your own conclusions about what's going on. I tried not to really give anything away, but, I tried to, you know? Someone is going to discover what's going on in later chapters...not going to give anything else away. Leave a review with what you think is going on, I'm actually interested in finding out where you guys think it's going. Oh and in one of the last paragraphs, I couldn't, for the life of me, think of another 6th year Gryffindor, so I used Ginny Weasley. Nothing special about her..just a place holder really.

Both Ron and Hermione took to pacing the Gryffindor common room after Harry hadn't returned for half an hour. Ron ran his fingers through his flame red hair and stopped pacing for a moment. Hermione stopped too, but only to watch him as he seemed to be wondering something. "Should we go look for him?" he asked.

Hermione rung her hands and paced again for a moment,"I don't know! I told him not to go! Draco could be doing anything to him right now."

Ron sat down again,"Well, has he tried anything?"

Hermione didn't understand him at first,"Oh, nothing big. The fact remains however, that this is Malfoy."

"I know, Hermione. We can't really do anything. I'm sure he can take care of himself." Ron had a feeling that Harry could, and from the sounds of it, Ron seemed to be catching onto something Hermione didn't. He'd let her figure it out on her own.

-

Draco paced again,"I don't want to fall to pieces." I just want to sit and stare at you.

"That's not helping me much Draco." Harry said taking a sip of his butterbeer.

Draco sat down to keep himself from pacing, but he didn't look at Harry,"This oil, it's like my former self is falling to pieces, I don't want to fall to pieces. My former self is being replaced by this new Draco Malfoy, one whose thoughts consist only of you. My mortal enemy. Every single waking moment is you. All about you. My dreams are haunted by you. You don't understand what it's like for me." he said placing his head in his hands.

Harry didn't answer him, he felt like saying he knew how he felt, because he did. He couldn't place a word to it yet, something about the relationship with Draco had changed. He considered him a friend now, a good friend. Even if he was nice just because he was under the influence of a love oil. "I understand," he blurted rather suddenly.

"No, you don't." Draco said standing again. "You don't understand anything. You are Harry Potter. The freaking boy-who-lived and I am nothing but Draco Malfoy, the boy who gets his way because of his good for nothing father!"

Harry stood now,"You can change that. Your father is in Azkaban, you can stop being evil and start being civil. Get what you want the right way, instead of through the money your father has."

"You just don't understand Harry. My life is etched in stone, I am supposed to be like this forever. You are supposed to be who you are forever." And you'd never love someone like me.

"Nothing is etched in stone, Malfoy. You can change everything, starting now. This oil has been sort of a blessing..it's changed things, between us, we aren't enemies anymore, we're friends. We haven't fought with eachother in weeks. This is how it should be." Harry said hopefully trying to lighten up this situation.

"It should have been like this from the beginning. You refused my friendship Harry. You said,'I can tell the right sort for myself thanks.' You blew me off, when I wanted to be friends. It is not my fault." He said bluntly.

Harry moved his mouth by no words came out. It was true. Harry had refused Draco's hand in friendship. Harry tried to contrast this by telling himself that he did have a good reason. Well, he did have a good reason. Draco was being mean, making fun of his new friend Ron, and he had no right to do so.

As Harry had a fight with his mind, Draco moved across the room and leaned up against the far wall, arms crossed,"You don't understand anything Harry. Nothing. " He stared at him for a moment through hooded eyes. Harry tried not to meet his gaze, but couldn't help it.

"I'm trying to." he said quietly and so quickly Draco didn't have time to catch it.

"What?"

"I'm trying to understand you, but you won't let me." Harry said now looking at the floor. He wiped a streak of sweat from his forehead and looked up at Draco, who seemed to be confused.

Draco stood straight up, gaze narrowed. Before he could speak again, Harry jumped up. Suddenly, it made sense. Everything had clicked for him at that moment.

He grabbed his clothes and changed quickly, drying off the best he could. "Harry?" Draco asked following his each and every move.

Harry didn't respond however, he was too busy trying to get out of the room. He needed to get out. Away.

"Harry! Wait! What is wrong?" Draco called after him as he raced down the hall.

-

Harry threw the towel over his shoulder,"No, no, no!" He said trying to convince himself. He took the stairs two at a time and found himself in front of the portrait whole before he knew it. He had no idea how he arrived there however.

When he got inside, both Ron and Hermione jumped up to greet him. "Harry? What is it?" Hermione asked suddenly realizing that something was wrong.

"Did he try something mate?" Ron asked stepping forward. All reasons to be mad at him were suddenly forgetton as he tried to make sure Malfoy didn't pull one of his old stunts.

"Harry?" Hermione asked again, hand on his arm.

"No, I'm fine. He didn't try anything. It's just, I-I need to be alone."

He started to walk off, Hermione ran to him,"Harry, are you sure he didn't try anything?"

"I'm sure. Nothing."

"I can smell butterbeer. You've been drinking. Drinking with Malfoy? All the while under a love oil? Not bright Harry."

"He didn't try anything!" he shouted this time, causing the few people still in the common room to look up at him. He pulled her close to him,"I need some time alone. Why won't you believe me when I tell you he didn't try anything?"

"Because you've been drinking!" she shouted this time.

Ron watched on from a safe distance, unsure whether to intervene or not. He decided, that for right now, he'd let the two talk, it seems they need too.

Harry started up the stairs,"Where do you think you're going?" Hermione asked.

Harry spun around, "I told you I need to be alone! I need to think!"

Hermione had a feeling she knew what he had to think about.

-

When Harry reached the dorm, he tried to be as quiet as possible, but since Neville was snoring so loudly, he didn't think that his little bumps wouldn't wake anyone anytime soon. He quickly dressed for bed and closed the curtains around his bed. He placed his head in his hands,"I'm just drunk. I am not really. I am just drunk." he kept repeating those lines to himself, hoping that he would convince himself.

After an hour of convincing, he lay down beneath the covers. Ron came in a few moments later. Harry knew it was him because of the footsteps. It was weird that Harry even knew what they sounded like. Before long, he drifted off into a fitful sleep.

Like it or not, Harry was going to face what he had been dreading head on.

-

Hermione quietly slipped into the 6 year girl dorms hoping not to wake anyone. Ginny was still awake however, reading a book by wandlight. She looked up, hoping it was the head of house, and sighed softly when she saw it was just Hermione. Hermione smiled weakly, dressed for bed, and laid down, closing the curtains.

Her mind wasn't in sleep mode however, it came up with several ideas, and only one of them she liked. She would go see Lupin, ask to see his private stash of books, maybe she'd get lucky and find something useful. Lupin would surely let her borrow some of them. He had to have something that would help. She just knew that this situation was getting worse, well, with Harry especially now.

She turned over and drifted off to sleep.