A/N: Sorry for the wait, and sorry for the shortness of this chapter. "I do not have writer's block, my writer just hates the clock." Will try to upload again as soon as possible.

With Eyes Wide Shut

After Potions class the next day, Snape told Harry that Dumbledore wished to see him right away. Harry and Draco looked at each other, then shrugged. Draco walked with Harry to the entrance to the headmaster's office, and wandered away with his hands in his pockets, slouching slightly. Harry looked longingly after him. When he entered the office he saw Dumbledore sitting at his desk facing two other students, whose red and bushy hair, respectively, were easily identifiable as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, even from behind. Harry had no idea what either of them were doing here, nor what he was doing there himself. He took the empty seat next to Ron and Hermione, avoiding both their gazes. He waited for the headmaster to explain himself. He was looking at them through his half-moon spectacles.
"I have chosen the three of you specifically for a very important task, should you choose to accept it. By now, Mr. Potter, you should be well aware of the history between you and Voldemort. You can guess that he was not exactly pleased when he failed to kill you and he has tried his best to kill you after that first attempt. We have been trying to gather information on how we can possibly destroy him. We have just recently made a breakthrough."

"What does this have to do with them? We've barely ever spoken." Harry interrupted, quite annoyed.
"Ms Granger is the finest witch of her time, and I believe Mr Weasley here will make a much-needed faithful companion."
Harry was scowling at them. Dumbledore continued.

"As I was saying, Harry, we have just made a breakthrough and would like you three to help us kill Voldemort."
"What is it then?" Harry asked a bit rudely.

Dumbledore ignored Harry's tone. "Voldemort made seven Horcruxes. You need to find them and destroy them. Only then can Voldemort die."

"What are Horcruxes?" Ron asked. Dumbledore looked expectantly at Hermione and she explained everything Ron needed to know about Horcruxes.

"Very good Ms Granger," Dumbledore praised lightly.

"What's wrong, Harry?" he asked. Harry was still scowling. He looked up at Dumbledore's soft blue eyes and took a bit of pity on the old man.

"I'm sorry, Professor. I can't do it," he said. Dumbledore sighed.

"I can't force you to, Harry," he said softly. "May I ask why not?"

"I'm not leaving Draco. Why do you want school children to do a job professional aurors can do a hundred times better?"

"At first I wanted to send you and Draco, but the fact that his father is working for the man he would be trying to kill makes it a less attractive option. And as for why I first asked you to do it...I thought you might want to do it yourself."
Harry was considerably calmer than he was five minutes ago.

"Thank you for the offer, Professor, but I would prefer to stay here, and not get Ron and Hermione into unnecessary trouble."

"As you wish, Harry. I'm sorry I tore you away from your loved one. You may return to him now." He dismissed the other two as well. They turned in 3 separate directions when they got to the bottom of Dumbledore's stair case; each toward their own house.

For the first time since he got it, Harry went out with his Invisibility Cloak without Draco next to him. It felt strangely spacious. He wandered around, not aiming to end up anywhere in particular. But he couldn't sleep. And he was feeling restless.
Thoughts of Voldemort and Deathly Hallows and Ron and Hermione were waging wars in his head and he didn't know what to make of any of it and he didn't want to bother Draco with any of it even though he knew he would have wanted him to tell him. He didn't know what the walk was going to help but that was the first idea he had that didn't involve anything unethical. By Harry's standards anyway.

He felt like he'd been absent in his own mind, even though he never went anywhere. Up until what happened now his life had been blissful. Except for the awful summers at the Dursleys, but even that dark cloud had a silver lining in the shape of letters sent between him and his best friend. Then he suddenly had a vision of Voldemort trying to kill him again and he feels like his body was being inhabited by somebody considerably less human than himself. Voldemort was stronger and more dedicated to what he was doing, seeing as he had already failed once before. Bad things polluted his mind and let linger images and thoughts that altered his entire perspective so that his thoughts were confined to resembling troubled waters, struggling over rocks and rapids until it would eventually lead to a deadly waterfall. But after that, who could possibly know. Harry feared that the way he was feeling was not accidental. It was possible that Voldemort could become aware of the connection between their minds, and use it to isolate Harry. The fewer people Harry had to rely on, the easier he would be to fight. Luckily for him, there was only one person he truly trusted, and to try to come between them was incongruous.

Not to his surprise, Harry ended up beside the lake. He found that without Draco it was significantly less beautiful.

Harry's walk, even though it didn't do anything to better the condition of his violated brain, did give him a new appreciation for Draco. When he got back to the Slytherin dorms, disregarded his own green-draped four-poster and crawled in beside Draco. He decided he didn't like taking the Cloak alone. Close spaces were a lot better when they smelled like Draco.