YAY! I have audio again and I can listen to music finally! YAY! (I love my boyfriend :P)

Harry had his eyes closed, concentrating hard on a happy memory, which was hard because Theodore was standing only a few feet away staring at him. Oddly, for all the happy memories he had made at Hogwarts, the only coming to mind involved Theodore somehow, though they were each bittersweet. Anxiously, he opened his eyes and said the incantation.

Silver light erupted from his wand, but took no form like Theodore said it should.

"Keep trying." Theodore told him. While he was keeping an eye on Harry's progress, the Slytherin was also investigating the Marauder's Map, adding changes as necessary. Apparently, he knew a great deal more about the castle than the makers of the map had. "It has to be an exceptionally powerful and happy memory."

"What's your memory?" Harry asked curiously, but received a scowl. "What? It'd give me something to go off of!"

Theodore looked momentarily thoughtful, ears perked up, and then said, "Well, it can't be something like eating ice cream or...well, in your case, riding a broom. It has to be incredibly happy...like..."

"I don't know." Harry interrupted, sitting down with a huff. "I've gone through all my memories and nothing as powerful as you've described has ever come up...I mean...it has...but it's not really happy..."

"It may work." Theodore shrugged. "As long as it is powerful. Use it...but remember that you are practicing right now without a dementor. It'll be much worse if one is involved."

"Right." Harry nodded and then focused as he had been for the past three hours. "Expecto patronum!"

He was amazed by the silver wisps erupting from his wand and forming into a giant stag that turned and looked at him before leaping around the room excitedly. Harry watched it, enraptured with it, before exhaustion finally forced him to let the patronus fade.

He turned to see Theodore giving him a pleased look and the sight of this made Harry sure there could have been a hundred dementors in the room and his patronus could have still run them off.

"Very good." Theodore stood up and passed him the Marauder's Map. "The Room of Requirement's instructions are now on there, but it's location is unplottable, so it's the best I can do. I erased the passages that are no longer available and labeled each passage with where it comes out. It's a bit more thorough than before."

"Thanks." Harry stared at the map and then looked up at Theodore. "Are we going to do this again?"

"Next Saturday." Theodore nodded. "I'll find something to substitute for a dementor in the meantime."

"Thank you." Harry whispered, blushing. "For all this."

"It's not a big deal."

"It is." Harry stated. "It really is."

Theodore's face was expressionless as he turned away from his particep. "Come on."

They left the room wordlessly.

As time passed, Harry continued his lessons, this time with a dementor-shaped boggart, with Theodore while also attending the study group. Though the young Slytherin was still cranky throughout the study, he attended with little complaint and Harry began to learn more about the tall boy than he ever expected.

Theodore was a sadist (Harry had learned what a sadist and masochist was thanks to Hermione) who reveled in the suffering of others, especially if he was the one inflicting it, but he always did things from a distance. He never sullied his own hands, instead utilizing others to do his dirty work. For this purpose, he manipulated people. He had a keen understanding of people's emotions and how to coarse someone to do what he needed. Despite this, he always saw emotions and people in a third-person sort of view. He was never involved in the world, merely a reader of life's long story. Harry figured this was why the Slytherin spent so much time in the library alone. He didn't know how to handle life on a personal level. While Theodore never said any of this in the meetings, his interactions and answers were (to Hermione) decipherable. According to her, Theodore was a dangerous person to mess with. His anger could run very deep, but he calculated all of his moves. Harry tried to imagine a chess match between the Slytherin and Ronald and decided he didn't like the images coming to mind.

Ronald.

The redhead's beating from the Slytherins had quieted down a little, but hadn't stopped. At least twice a week he was sent to the infirmary. His mother had been notified and Dumbledore had even made a speech during dinner in the Great Hall. Apparently, it had been a long time since a single student had faced such harrassment. This had embarrassed Ronald, who had blamed Harry the moment they were in the common room.

"You told your stupid Slytherin particep!" He had shouted, pointing accusingly as his orange ears lay flat on his head. "You told him and you're having him and all his friends come after me!"

"That's ridiculous, Ron." Fred had jumped into the argument from the beginning. "Harry wouldn't do that!"

"He clearly has!" Ronald had yelled, but seeing as his own brother was against him he didn't have much back-up. "But fine! Believe what you want! I just hope that in the next match, he falls off his broom again and this time it's him that lands in the Whomping Willow!"

"Ronald!" George had hollered after his brother, but the youngest Weasley son had already dashed upstairs into his dormitory. "What's with him?"

Harry had known what was with him. Ronald had no friends and no one to back him up. To top it off an entire House was coming after him enacting revenge that only Gryffindor House should have known about. Clearly, someone had tipped them off and the most likely person was Harry since he was the one associated with the Slytherins...Harry who had once been Ronald's best friend. Now, Ron was alone and Harry knew what that was like: to be alone and picked on and with no one there on his side to defend him or help him through it. He knew exactly how Ronald felt and he wanted to help, but any attempts to befriend Ronald again ended in vain.

"I don't want to be friends with the likes of you!" Ronald had shouted when Harry had tried again. "You're a House Traitor! You prefer the company of that stupid Nott idiot!"

"Don't call him an idiot!" Harry had bellowed in a rise of fury, all his hair rising with it. "He's smarter than you ever will be!"

"See!" Ron had thrown an ink bottle at his ex-friend, who narrowly dodged it. "You even defend him! You defend him, but not me!"

Ronald had of course been right. Harry hadn't defended his old friend in all the time that Theodore had been organizing the Slytherins against him. Harry didn't deserve to be friends with Ronald anymore.

"That's just stupid." Hermione had huffed when Harry had told her this, her ears twitching. "Just because you know Nott's been organizing it all, doesn't mean you can just tell him to stop. He'd be furious and he'd never forgive you. Being corrected by your own particep is the most humiliating thing a person can go through, especially someone like Nott, who has been doing this because he thinks it's the right thing to do...for your sake. He wouldn't understand if you got angry at him."

Neville had sighed. "Ugh...he's really confusing."

"You're telling me." Harry had grumbled. "Isn't it girls who go through such lengths to get back at people? Aren't girls the ones who are complicated?"

"Oh, shut up!" Hermione had hit him with a book and left with a huff while Neville and Harry had exchanged grins.

Hermione had a point though. Harry couldn't just tell Theodore that he wasn't happy with what the Slytherin was doing to Ronald. He had to insert his displeasure with it discreetly and delicately as if he hadn't realized it himself. It was a very Slytherin and very un-Gryffindor thing to do and Harry, being the tactless socially-bumbling idiot that he was, wasn't sure he'd be successful.

Meanwhile, the Firebolt was still unavailable for the next match and Harry was getting nervous. Between the study group, Quidditch practice, and lessons with Theodore, he had very little time to spend with Neville and Hermione and no time to study alone. If it wasn't for Theodore, Harry was sure he would have failed all of his classes. As it was, he was barely able to get anything done while stressing through his relationship with Theodore. The Slytherin was still being difficult and keeping his emotional distance, much to Harry annoyance.

"Why can't you just make this easy on both of us?" Harry had muttered once after a study group. They often spent five minutes alone after everyone else had left, which Harry enjoyed.

"If it actually means something to you then you'll go the distance no matter how far or how difficult the road is." Theodore had said as he piled his many books into his bag. "Ugh...fit..."

"You have as many books as Hermione." Harry had pointed out. "Are you taking all the classes under the sun too?"

Theodore had looked up, surprised, and then had given a weak laugh. "No one could take all the classes. That's impossible."

"But look." Harry had pointed to some of the books. "You have Ancient Runes and Arithmancy and Divination and I'm sure some of those classes overlap."

"They don't." Theodore had snapped, glaring at Harry. "Leave it alone, Potter. I have enough stress without you meddling."

"But how are you taking all those classes?" Harry had inquired. "It's impossible as you said!"

"It is none of your business!"

Theodore had slung his heavy bag over his shoulder and at the same time the strap gave a mighty groan and ripped. Books and parchment and quills and ink bottles had gone everywhere and both boys had hastily stooped to gather everything up before it was ruined.

Harry had picked up a book and stared at the cover. "You're taking Muggle Studies? But you're a Slytherin!"

"And?" Theodore had snatched the book back. "It's just a course to take and it'd look good on a resume."

"You're already thinking about your future?"

"Shouldn't you be?" Theodore had given a disgusted snort. "Idiot..."

"How many classes are you taking?" Harry had questioned, as Theodore recited an incantation to mend his bag. "All of them?"

"Something like that." Theodore had mumbled, picking up his bag. "I'll see you around."

"Right." Harry had watched the other boy leave and had wondered with awe how anyone was able to do every single class made available. What was Theodore thinking?

Harry finally got his Firebolt back and started practice, much to the Gryffindor team's excitement. Wood was still worried about the dementors and Harry, recalling his last lesson against the boggart-dementor, was just as worried, though he pretended he'd sorted it all out.

The Quidditch Match against Ravenclaw finally arrived and Harry, much to his delight, hadn't faced a single dementor and, better, had caught the snitch. Victorious and excited, the entire Gryffindor Tower was filled with laughter and partying, but Harry didn't want to be there. All he wanted was to be in the Slytherin common room, playing exploding snap with Gregory and Theodore. Finally, everyone went to bed at Professor McGonagall's behest. As Harry lay there in bed, he found he couldn't sleep. Thoughts of Theodore kept churning through his mind. He wondered if the boy had gone to the match, if he'd seen Harry catch the snitch, or if he'd find out through Goyle or Malfoy. He wanted to see Theodore pleased with him again, wanted to know the other boy was happy with his actions...though he was sure Quidditch was the last possible thing for him to get congratulated over.

The door to the dormitory opened and Harry sat straight up. Someone walked across the floor and they hit the board that creaked. In the silence, the noise was deafening and Harry heard the person still. Knowing that whoever it was wasn't from their dormitory (as they all had learned, even Neville, to avoid that board), Harry got out of bed and approached them.

"Hey? Hermione?" He whispered into the darkness and then realized his blunder for the person was far too large to be Hermione. "Uh...Fred...or George?"

"Hello, Harry." Came a gruff voice that Harry didn't recognize. He froze in his steps, staring at the shadow as his heart sped up. "You should be sleeping."

"Who're you?" Harry asked, keeping his voice low.

"Just an old friend." The shadow answered in a croak.

"An old friend?" Harry felt a shiver run up his spine at the thought that hit his mind. Instantly, all his hair stood up and chills ran like raindrops over his skin. "An old..."

"Figured it out already?" The shadow gave a small laugh. "Well, neither of your parents were idiots...except in who they chose as their Secret-Keeper."

"Help..." The plea was too quiet for anyone to hear, even in this hush. "Somebody help me."

"Scared?" The man questioned. "Come on, Harry. Your father wasn't a coward!"

"You should leave." Harry told him, his throat suddenly dry as he tried to fake his own courage. "If you try to do anything, you'll get caught."

"I don't care." The shadow took a cautious step forward. "As long as I finish my business, I don't care if I get caught."

"They'll give you the Kiss." Harry said, recalling one of his lessons with Theodore. "The Dementor's Kiss."

The man gave a low laugh. "I deserve worse."

Harry was visibly shaking now, remembering how much a madman everyone said this person was. He had blown up Pettigrew and then laughed afterwards while he was taken away. He hadn't felt a shred of remorse for turning Harry's own parents over...Black's old friends...

"You really are scared." Black gave a chuckle. "You're half the man your father was."

Harry wanted to say he was still a kid, that he was wandless at the moment, that he was up against an insane person, but he knew better than to speak. He just hoped someone would wake and be smart enough to sneak out and call for help. He glanced at Neville's bed, the one closest to the exit and willed the boy to wake, but all he got was a loud snore to drown out the whispers between him and Black.

"Come on, Harry." Black hissed through the darkness. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

"You betrayed them." Harry let his voice rise just slightly louder, hoping someone would hear him, but not wanting to alarm Black. "You betrayed my parents to Voldemort."

"I don't deny it."

"And now you're here to finish what you started?"

"I should have killed him..." The man muttered and Harry was sure what he had said to Black had only unhinged his mind further. "He should have died. There. When I had the chance, I should have finished him. I should have made sure he didn't get away. I shouldn't have let him get away...you wouldn't understand."

"So you're here to kill..."

"Yes." Black took another step forward. "Once he's dead everything will be fine. Everything will be as it should be. All things will be fine."

"You'll be caught."

"So?" Black didn't seem bothered by this at all. "As long as I finish what I started then nothing else matters."

"They trusted you." Harry was almost whimpering now as the man advanced a step further. He pictured where his wand was and thought about dashing for it, but he knew a spell could move faster than he could. "They thought you were their friend. They even made you...m-my godfather."

There was a long seemingly unbreakable silence from Black's end, which lasted several minutes, and Harry wondered if the man was even still breathing.

"Yes..." Black murmured finally. "Yes, they did...didn't they? I'd forgotten. Living in Azkaban all these years...if you can call it living...I'd forgotten they'd made me your godfather, Harry."

"And you broke their trust." Harry felt like he was repeating himself. "You betrayed them and they died and you killed Pettigrew too. Now you're coming after me. Are you going to kill Lupin?"

"No!" Black hissed loudly and Harry heard Dean shift in his bed. "No...not...L-L-Lupin...not him...no...no...no...not...my...Lupin..."

Harry's heart felt like it had stopped. Lupin...Black...they were Cherished! They were Animusparticeps! Lupin was helping Black into the castle! They had planned this together!

"He's helping you." Harry wasn't sure if he was talking out loud or in his head. He felt like he'd entered a dream. "He's helping you get into the castle. He's helping you kill me."

"Help?" Black started to laugh, but broke it off when Seamus tossed uncomfortably. "N-no...he would never...too afraid...too scared...too worried about what other people think of him. He wouldn't dare...he's too scared..."

"He hasn't been helping you?" Harry couldn't believe it.

"No...he wouldn't dare."

Black took another step forward and Harry felt desperation begin to take over. He had to do something and fast because he was quickly running out of time.

"If you die...won't he die too?" Harry asked, ears back against his head. "If they give the Kiss to you, what will happen to him?"

"We're almost broken." Black gave an uncharacteristic whimper. "We're almost broken apart. All the time away...it's almost gone. I've lost him...I'm sure of it..."

"You deserve that." Harry said with sudden bravado. "He deserves better than you."

"There's the spirit of James." Black suddenly snickered. "I was wondering where it was."

"Who's talking?" Ronald's voice made the air seem to chill and the two conversing people stilled as they waited for the redhead to get out of bed. Instead, snoring began to fill the air from Ron's bed, causing Harry to inwardly curse.

"Pity..." Black muttered with glee. "Wanted him to wake up...yes...but he didn't, did he? No..."

"You won't get away with this." Harry watched the man take another step forward. They were only a foot away now and Harry could see the glints of light reflecting onto the man's eyes, like shards of glass. "You won't."

"I'm planning on it." Black grinned and his teeth flashed in the moonlight.

There was an explosion down below and Black spun around abruptly. Harry, seeing a moment, launched towards his wand, but apparently Black had changed his mind. Everyone was awake in the dormitory, but the door out had already slammed shut. Harry burst after him to Neville's confused cries and heard the doors of the other rooms opening. He reached the landing just as he saw Black metamorphosis into a large black dog, incredibly like the Grim and rush past someone who was bellowing incantations at him, but they were missing by hairs. Just as he reached the common room, he heard a wild yelp, but an angry curse soon followed.

Then, "WHAT ON EARTH IS HAPPENING HERE?"

Harry was outside the portrait hole and peering frantically around for Sirius Black or a giant dog, but neither were in sight.

"What is going on here?" McGonagall had suddenly latched onto Harry's cat ear and he winced in pain as he was forced to face her. He wasn't surprised to see Theodore Nott in the same painful hold. "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"It was Black!" Harry yelled and he heard the entire Gryffindor House gasp as one. "It was Sirius Black! He was in the dormitory!"

She released him at once. "He was? That's impossible."

"It's not impossible." Harry argued. "I had an entire conversation with him!"

"He wouldn't have wasted time conversing with you." She argued, but he could see the fear in her eyes.

"He may have." Harry swore Theodore had muttered this, but McGonagall apparently hadn't heard.

"Ask Sir Cadogan." Harry insisted. "If he got in, I'm sure he would have seen him."

Hesitantly, she did as she was asked and was utterly bewildered to hear the answer and that Black had gotten in through a list of passwords, which Neville had lost. She spun around and stared at Theodore and Harry.

"And who broke into the common room with a blasting spell?"

"That Slytherin!" Sir Cadogan shouted in annoyance and disgust from behind her. "He wanted in, but he didn't have the password. When I refused him, he attacked!"

"Why?" McGonagall asked with a raised eyebrow and it was impossible to miss the suspicion written across her face. "Did you know Black was in there?"

"I was summoned." Theodore answered darkly and her suspicions washed off in surprise. "By Harry."

"I didn't summon you." Harry objected with shock. "At least..."

"You probably did it without thinking." The Slytherin shrugged.

"You should have gotten your Head of House." McGonagall scolded. "You shouldn't have come here alone."

"There was urgency." Theodore snarled at her. "I didn't feel as if I had time to get him."

She sighed and then said. "Well, as I can't have you wandering the castle alone, get in the common room with everyone else while I sound the alarm."

"He's an Animagus." Harry told her quickly. "Black...he's a dog."

"That's impossible, Potter." She shook her head, surprise on her face. "He's not on the registry."

"Then he's an unregistered Animagus." Harry insisted. "But I saw it."

"As did I." Theodore confirmed and they watched McGonagall pale even more before she nodded and ushered them into the common room.

Once the door had closed and McGonagall had finally gone, everyone burst into questions. It was a nightmare. Harry wanted to be alone. He didn't want to stand here answering people's questions about what he and Black had talked about. Theodore started to get defensive and finally lashed out at them. At this point, everyone quieted, realizing they'd been too pushy against the boy who'd just survived Black's attack.

With most everyone descending down into whispers amongst their clicks, Harry was finally left alone with Theodore while Neville, absolutely beside himself with self-disgust, was comforted by Hermione, who was probably the best person for the job. Harry was a little surprised to see Lavender there as well, doing her best to tell Neville it was going to be okay.

"Are you all right?" Theodore's whisper made Harry jump and he turned to face his particep.

Seeing the concern in those chilled blue eyes and realizing with absolute elation that Theodore had not only felt a summons from Harry, but he had come to his aid was enough to put tears into Harry's eyes. Theodore must have run too because it was a long way from the Slytherin dungeons to Gryffindor Tower. He wondered how the older boy had even found the place without being told. He looked over the Slytherin and noticed how he was still dressed in his silky black pajamas and barefoot.

"Are you all right?" Theodore repeated, his voice abruptly urgent.

It all happened too fast to really describe what occurred, but somehow Harry had thrown himself against Theodore in an embrace and they'd fallen right down onto a couch. He was sure it looked terrible, but Harry didn't care. He just held onto the boy and did his best not to cry into him. They lay there, a little awkwardly, as Theodore stroked Harry's back and said nothing, though Harry was sure he was speechless.

Finally, McGonagall returned and, after informing them that Black had gotten away, ordered them all to bed. She looked at Theodore with narrowed eyes and then turned towards the portrait hole as, to everyone's outright surprise, Snape entered.

"I leave Mr. Nott to you." She told the man as she stepped aside and folded her arms.

Snape's eyes washed over the scene he was beholding: Theodore lying on the couch and Harry atop him and nearly in tears. He seemed completely at a loss for what to do at the moment and stared at them for a good minute before he sighed, ears flat against his head.

"Mr. Nott. Please untangle yourself from Potter and come with me back to your dormitory. Your Housemates are worried."

"Sir." Theodore started to move, but Harry wasn't ready to let him go yet.

"Mr. Potter." McGonagall started to scold, but Snape, to everyone's growing shock, held up his hand. "Severus!"

"Mr. Potter." Snape said coolly, his ears upright again in an attempt to look more pleasant. "He will see you in only a couple more hours. In the meantime, it is best to let him come with me as we have much to discuss."

"Severus?" McGonagall seemed as alarmed as everyone else at his strange behavior.

"I..." Harry started, trying not to cry still. He was somewhere between distraught, terrified, and happier than he had ever been in his entire life. It was very confusing. "Sir..."

"You'll be all right." Theodore whispered encouragingly into Harry's ear and he nearly melted from joy at the pleasing and reassuring tone Theodore had chosen to adopt. "I'll be back later."

"Okay..." Harry slipped off of him, more perplexed at that moment than any other emotion. "Sorry."

Theodore stood casually and ran a hand over Harry's head, making him feel all the more fuzzy inside his brain. "See you."

Without further word, the two Professors and Theodore left the room and Harry, too tired to think or care, lied back down on the couch and fell right asleep.

Hope you enjoyed.