DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Harry Potter or any of its characters. I also do not make any money from this.

WARNINGS: Yaoi (male x male), Yuri (female x female) adult topics, swearing, sexual scenes and violence

PAIRINGS I know of so far: (pairings will be added as they are mentioned in chapters)

Ron x Hermoine, Blaise x Cho, Neville x Cho, Saito x Draco

This has not been Beta'd.

'text' is thought

"text" is talking

/on the other side of the phone/

Hidden Element

Chapter 37: Black or white

Elementals:

Ice and Void – Draco Malfoy

Fire – Pansy Parkinson

Earth – Blaise Zabini

Nature – Cho Chang

Light – Cherrie Everdeen (OC)

The Forgotten:

Electricity – Saito Blackstar (OC)

Animal – Carsly Hendricks (OC)

Shadow – Alakai Petrovski (OC)

Water - Yasmin DiAngelo

Wind - Miya Hendricks (OC)

Draco felt like pulling his hair out! It was unbelievable! He currently sat at the top of the stairs unsure of what to do. He could hear the others in the living room, they were playing some sort of board game. Monopoly, maybe? He had never been a fan of board games, however, the concept remained the same. How was that fun?

He had been thinking in his room for what seemed an eternity, figured out an answer, got half way down the hall way to the stairs before he dropped down to the floor (this case the top step), and had a complete mind change. That in turn led to more arguments in his head, more thinking, hence the wanting to pull out hair. He rather liked his hair, however, so tried to refrain from doing so. The banister would have to do.

He wanted, no, needed to make up his mind! He wanted Pansys advise of course, along with Hermoines, but he was figuring out what was wrong was needed before that discussion.

He had gone back home, basked in the familiar glow of the nest he'd created for himself and played with Asher. He had missed the dog, and had enjoyed taking him to the park to play fetch with a tennis ball before returning to talk to its other owner.

Things had started off well with Saito, until he started realising that he was, in fact, comparing their relationship with his previous one to Harry. It had freaked him out upon realisation. This had never been the case before, and he blamed it all on his prior revelation earlier that day.

The way he was touched, the way he was looked at, he almost burst out laughing when he even compared the way the two made tea! It was bordering on absurd! All in the space of two hours! A few hours ago he had been content ignoring the brunette, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible so he could return to his 'normal' life with Saito.

Then came that blasted heart beat! That pounding, fast-paced heart beat that echoed warmly, even through the icy skin that retained it. If he hadn't have placed his ear on his chest, none of this would be happening! Argh!

It was all Harrys fault! That's right, blaming Harry was still an option he realised with a smirk, but it didn't solve his dilemma.

Upon entering Rons house, Harry had walked up to him to ask if he was feeling any better. Dracos jaw jammed shut, his eyes dropped to the floor and he made a dash for it before Harry realised that he had begun to blush. His cheeks felt hot to the touch! Dammit! He was no better than Pansy!

But it didn't mean anything, whatsoever. He was comparing Saito to a Harry he had left behind. Wasn't he? He was just so confused!

To make matters worse, Saito had managed to gain the information that Harry possessed part of his soul, and he was nowhere near happy, not that Draco had expected him to be. The whole subject, however, had led to one massive argument. That Draco couldn't be trusted, but then, neither could Saito. The one lied, and the other spied. At least they agreed that the distrust was mutual.

Ok, Draco had to admit, finding out your boyfriend lost half his soul to his ex who happened to be your enemy was worse than being spied on. If the tables had been turned, Draco wouldn't have been happy either.

Explanations had been given, voices had been raised, words had been said.

Saito was scared of loosing him, Draco realised that fact. Enemies always had to come back to the fact that there was something they disagreed upon, no matter how nice they act to one another. The fact remained, that eventually, their differences had to come in play. He had to realise that if he hadn't started dating Saito, then maybe he would have really waged war.

Then again, what stopped him from waging war if he decided to give up their relationship? Would he forsake what Draco had tried to teach him? Would he turn out to really be the bad guy? There was a part of Draco that wanted to cry at that thought. If he ever left, would Saito merely revert to who he'd once been as if Draco had never made a difference? Were they really only in a truce because they didn't want to loose each other?

He was a hypocrite. He had changed from how he had been as a boy. As he was now, had he been given a choice, he would never be able to merely kill people as part of a legacy his once-mentor had planned out for him. So why should Saito think that way? Had Draco been a real Death Eater, then his relationship with Harry would have been doomed. He was almost sure that Harry would have chosen the light side over him.

No matter how much you love someone, if you see something you abhor, you get scared, disappointed, even stop loving in most cases.

'Could you see the great Harry Potter killing innocent muggles just so he could continue to be with me?'

Looking at it all in that perspective, was there really a possibility that their relationship could survive? They were no where near as bad as Voldemort, then again, Draco had only ever seen them on their best behaviour.

Could Saito live a peaceful life? He half-lived one already. With the truce, there had been no raids, wars, battles, no mischief or malicious intent in sight. Only a cosy house, a dog, and a sister that regularly came over to annoy. It seemed fairly simple and regular already. There would be a chance that maybe; just maybe, Saito would pick him over war.

Could he live how Saito lived before? To be honest...he didn't know. For one, by the time they found out about one another, they were too far gone and called a truce, he never really knew if Saito had been part of the attacks or any major plans. Even then, he had once been accustomed to the ways of the dark. It was a childhood friend. He sure that if it presented itself to him once more, he could face it with composure.

But did he want to?

He had told the truth when he said Harry Potter had changed him. He had learned many things about the world, both magical and muggle alike from the brunette, as well from Ron and Hermoine. And he had liked it, though he was loathe to admit it. He had liked the change. And the resounding no that echoed through his mind a second later only seemed to support that fact. No. He wouldn't be able to go back to the way things had been before Ice, before Harry.

He was beginning to see no way out of it, Pansy had been right. There could be no grey patch. He was too ingrained in this mess to sit back and watch the two fight sides fight. Both sides now contained friends. One side had his moral support, yet the other side needed guiding support.

What to do? What to do?

It wasn't a good question to ask, because although he hated the answer because of its quick realisation, he would always pick the side of his friends before the side of the forgotten.

What did that mean? Did he have to give up on friends already based on frail bonds? What about Miya and Yasmin?

He jerked at the thought of Yasmin. What would that mean for Pansy? With an aching pang, he realised that perhaps that would be best for Pansy. If you never confess, then you can never get hurt.

He didn't like that thought, especially with how giddy and happy she'd seemed about finally finding someone to love.

He felt like banging his head against the railing. He had just confused himself even more. He had just brought a faction that didn't really concern him into the equation.

Matters of love, matters of Harry and Saito and Pansy. He'd put them to the side right now and face those questions one at a time. For now, the more important query needed an answer first.

He made his way down stairs in determination. He was ready for the next step.

Ron had heard him come down the stairs. He knew it was Draco, after all, there was nobody else up there. It hadn't been his go, and there were so many of them, that it took a while before it came back to him. He was bored at having to wait.

He couldn't help but grin when Draco reached the bottom of the steps and turned to face them. He nudged Blaise next to him, pointing his head subtly in the direction of the blonde. Blaise in turn grinned and sat back to view the blonde fully.

He knew that look. That aggravating determined and mind made up look. He had come to a conclusion. A conclusion they had known he was thinking about.

Oh, they'd known. They tip toed around him so he could make up his mind. Get a plan of action.

Boring was about to be turned upside down.

"What's the plan, boss?" Blaise sniggered, drawing everyone else's attention away from the game and to Draco.

"We call Cherrie. It's time we all got together again."