Harry's POV:

I slept little. I had fallen right to sleep at a decent time, but my dreams kept me awake. They were so odd, and they seemed endless, though they only lasted a few hours.

I had been sitting in a dark room full of silence. I could see nothing. And then a thud below me. I heard shouts and someone running up stairs. Still, there was nothing. I felt around, trying to see if I could feel anything. And all at once, a bright, lime light shone in front of me like a lightning bolt, illuminating Ron and Hermione smiling and laughing together in a wizard picture. They were bathed in the eerie light, making them look sick. They stepped out of the picture and started clapping. A pure white light suddenly shined right on me, hurting my eyes. I looked around me, only to see an audience, all clapping, watching me in the spotlight. I fell to my knees, tears falling down my cheeks and at a loss for breath. Someone came up from behind me and embraced me, whispering in my ear that everything would be alright. I tried to push them off me to see who it was, but they would not let go. They just continued to reassure me. The spotlight faded and the clapping stopped and the person behind me was gone. Everything was dark again.

I had woken up, crying, and immediately wrote down the dream in my journal, getting some tears on the pages. I had closed the book and decided not to even look at the interpretations of my dream. The interpretations were always so off. Mostly…

It was at least past four in the morning when I finally couldn't take it anymore. Lying in bed thinking about not reading the interpretations only made me want to read them more. I sat up, turned on a lamp, and opened my journal to the latest entry I had written to see the margins filled with writing.

Darkness:
To dream that you are lost in the darkness denotes feelings of desperation, depression, or insecurity.

To dream that you are groping around in the darkness symbolizes that you have insufficient information to make a clear decision. Do your research and do not rush into making choices.

Applause:
To hear applause in your dream indicates that you are seeking acclaim and recognition. You need to acknowledge yourself in some area or situation in your life.

Spotlight:
To dream that you are in the spotlight indicates your need to be noticed and to be the center of attention. Perhaps you are feeling overlooked in your waking life and the dream is a compensatory one

Tears:
To dream that you are in tears signify that you are undergoing a period of healing in your life. The tears symbolize compassion, emotional healing and spiritual cleansing. Alternatively, tears indicate pain

Embrace:
To dream that you are embracing someone else indicates that you are in need of more affection or that you need to show more love.

Crying:
To wake up crying represents some suppressed hurt or previous trauma that is coming up to the surface. You can no longer suppress these emotions. They need to be dealt with head on.

I reread the last interpretation, and then my dream once more.

Crying? I never mentioned that I woke up crying… There was no way for the book to know that I woke up crying. Unless it noticed that I got tears all over the pages…of course.

The spotlight and applause were bloody lies. I hated both of them. I didn't need applause or the spotlight. I just wanted to live life without them. I would much rather just be normal. Being famous was just awful.

I rubbed my forehead and got out of bed. I wasn't going back to sleep anyway, so I figured I might as well get ready, too. I dressed, showered, not in that order. I quickly lost interest in combing my hair. What was the point? It was unmanageable. And plus, I had a ring that would change my appearance anyway. I went over to my bedside table and put the ring on. What was there to do now? No one was up yet, not even the sun.

Thoughts about Cygnus filled my mind. He had said he would let me use the field as a peace between me and life. And then I had left right when he had let me into his perfect world.

I'm a complete ass for this… I thought to myself as I grabbed my wand and apparated to his world. He probably didn't even want to see me again, but I really needed something.

I arrived right by the edge of the lake where we had been earlier. The waters still cast off a glittering reflection of moonlight from the holes above. It was a peaceful place; beautiful and breathtaking. It was hard to believe that an almost-third-year Cygnus could have made such a thing. That thought got me thinking.

Cygnus went to Wizarding School. He must have gone to Hogwarts. He doesn't look too much younger than me, or older. He could be anywhere from one year above me to one year below me. I don't ever remember seeing him around… I sighed. The water was so calm, just sitting at a stand-still, looking like perfect glass hidden and untouched by the rest of the world. Really, it did resemble glass, a lot. My hand went ever so cautiously to touch the surface of the glass, to feel upon the cool, hard surface, maybe lay on it. But when my finger touched the surface, I was only met with cool water, where my finger slipped right through, sending a ripple throughout the waters. I quickly pulled my finger back, startled. I had just disrupted the calmness of the lake, making ripples where once had been perfect calmness.

It was a guilty feeling, in an odd sort of way, to ruin something so perfect with just one touch. And now the ripples went on and on, creating a chain reaction of disturbance for the rest of the lake. All with one touch.

I decided to lie on my back and stare up at the moonlight shining through the holes in the field above. There was really nothing to do but stare anyway. Stare and think.

I have to be up in the field in about ten, eleven hours. I bet he'll be surprised to see me just pop out of the ground and say "Okay, let's walk to that place I know now." Am I even sure he would like the place or not? Maybe I should just tell him that we should stay here instead. But what would he think of that? Me just canceling us going somewhere. Together. I can't just change my mind. I kind of have to take him there now. I'm obligated to. He expects me to take him somewhere. But it doesn't necessarily have to be that place, it could be somewhere completely different. But where else would we go? I'll just take him where I had planned to take him. If he doesn't like it, then maybe he's not really worth my time.

Well…that sounded bad. I didn't mean it like that. I just…I really hope he likes the place I'm taking him to. Merlin, I'm an asshole! Of course he's worth my time. He's offered me so much, and we haven't really known each other too long. What have I offered him? Pretty much nothing with a side of lies. How the bloody hell am I going to tell him that I'm the fucking Boy-Who-Lived-And-Gets-Attacked-By-Crazy-Psycho-Fan-Girls? As much as I explain to him how much I don't want to be famous, I don't think he'll appreciate the fact that I've lied to him about who I was. And he's given me so much…

After making myself feel like a complete jackass, I decided thinking was probably only hindering myself. And so, I grabbed my wand and decided to play "Harry Says" with my Patronus. Calm waters, sunlight reflecting off the surface glistening amongst the trees, my hand over his, and he says yes…

"Expecto Patronum." My stag emerged and stood before me. I moved left, and he moved as my mirror image. I put my hands straight up above me, and my stag stood on it rear hooves. I put them down so that my hands touched the ground and he bowed. I spread my hands as wide as they could go, and he stood tall and proud before me, king of the lake, and forest, and field. I stood still for an exaggerated moment, and he faded away.

I sighed, alone once more. I ran a hand through my hair and sat back down beside the lake, looking into the hypnotizing specks of light that reflected off the surface. As much as I wanted to touch the water, I didn't. It was just so perfect, like glass once more, a smooth surface that shattered all light rays that entered and shot them back in a dazzling design.

I shouldn't have come here, I thought to myself. Cygnus probably didn't want me in his precious world when he wasn't there, whether he was mad at me for being an ass or not. I sighed again and stood. I looked around, not quite sure where the glowing stones were in the moonlight. I took steps around, testing (and probably looking like an idiot) until I finally lit up one circle, leading to another and so on. I followed the stones out of the paradise and crawled back out to the field, walking in the direction of the park that I had come to just before meeting Cygnus for the first time.

There was nothing more depressing to me that seeing a deserted park (except maybe a lot of things, most of which have happened to me already). It brought back memories of living with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia and Dudley.

I would escape to a small park every once in a while, and swing by myself, wondering when my life would turn around. I had been so young. Not a child, but young. I had wanted simple things, as I still do, but the whole world had been against me every moment of the day. Back then, I couldn't afford to have a childhood. That's the price one has to pay when the entire Wizarding world expects you to defeat the most evil wizard in the world before you even finish school.

I never quite understood that. How much blind faith can one person have when they put all their money on a boy who hadn't even known he was a wizard until he was eleven, and got beaten, and wasn't the top of his class, and had no parents, and got into so much trouble? All just because I didn't die as a wasn't even my doing that protected me, but my mother's. How do I end up with all the credit and glory for defeating Voldemort when I could have died several times if it wasn't for my friends, or professors? I didn't want to be famous.

I sat down on a swing and gently pushed myself back and forth, not really moving off the ground. I half expected Dudley and his gang to come out of nowhere with some eight-year-old's lunch money in his hand. It would have been just like old times. If, however, Dudley really did manage to get to this park somehow, I would curse him the first chance I got and then run, especially since I was in a disguise. I hated being in disguise. Well, not "hate" really as more of a "very strong preference against". I slipped off my ring and shoved it into my pocket.

No one's here anyway. I leaned back a bit in the swing, and then forward. Everything around me was so quiet, you could hear a pen click.

I stopped moving for a moment. I could have sworn that I just heard a pen click just as I thought that. I heard nothing for a moment, then another click. It wasn't a pen, but a shoe on the sidewalk to my right. I hopped off the swing quietly and walked over to the clump of oak trees near the sidewalk I heard the footsteps from. For a moment, there was nothing but the sound getting closer and closer.

Who in their right mind would be out at this hour? More footsteps.

Oh, right. People like me. Finally an arm emerged into my view, then a leg, and a whole body, wearing a muggle shirt and some ripped jeans. I almost couldn't tell who it was, but from the almost white hair and pale complexion, I was positive that it was him.

Why in Merlin's pants is he here? As tempting as it was to just watch him pass by, it was even more tempting to see his reaction to my presence. And I am a courageous, reckless and impulsive Gryffindor.

As soon as he passed by the tree, I stepped onto the sidewalk and just walked right behind him. For a few seconds, all was normal, just staring at the back of Draco Malfoy's head, walking behind him without his notice. Then he darted his head about suspiciously and looked over his shoulder.

If I had only had a camera with me to take a picture of Draco's reaction so I could develop it in that special stuff for moving wizard photos…

"BLOODY FUCKING HELL POTTER! WHERE IN THE BLOODY BLAZES DID YOU COME FROM?"

I smiled and shrugged. "I'm not really sure. What are you doing here?"

He was breathing hard, and it was so difficult to keep from laughing. I had really scared him.

He put his hand on his chest, "Bloody fuck, Potter. Did you plan to just appear and give me a bloody heart-attack? Is that what you do for fun, now? Can't defeat evil wizards, so why not scare the living shit out of childhood enemies?"

I shrugged again. "I couldn't sleep."

"Oh, poor thing. You couldn't sleep, so you had to find someway to entertain yourself. How did you even find me?"

"I didn't find you. I was at this park and you passed by."

He gave me a sneer. "So obviously if I pass by the first thing to do is pop out of nowhere and give me a near death experience?"

I scoffed. "Near death experience? I didn't scare you that bad, did I?"

"Well let's see, I was walking down this sidewalk, minding my own business, thinking that no sane person would be out at this hour. I was right, of course, no sane person is out. But I did not except you to just appear…"

"Funny, I had a similar experience. I was swinging, thinking, and then I hear footsteps. I thought to myself, 'Who in their right mind would be up at this hour?' Of course, I accounted for myself, but of all people, I did not expect to see you here, either." I looked at him still catching his breath and calming his nerves. "Which brings me back to my original question: Why are you here?"

"As much as I'd love to tell you my life story, Potter, I'm afraid I don't have the time to. I really must be going."

With that, he started walking down the sidewalk again. Without anything better to do, I followed him. After a few moments, he looked back behind him and saw me. Again.

"What are you? A lost puppy? Stop following me." He continued on, as did I. He stopped, turned around, and looked me directly in the eyes. "What do you want?"

The first thing I noticed was that his bruise had faded away a lot since the celebration. However, there were more on his arms.

"What have you been doing to get all those bruises?"

He looked taken aback for a moment, but quickly became calm, cool, and collected. He just shook his head with a blank expression on his face.

"Accidents," he said. "Nothing worth losing your sleep for."

And with that, he walked toward me, then past me, right back the way he came from. I didn't follow him this time. I ran a hand through my hair and decided to spend the rest of my early morning in my room at Hogwarts. I turned and apparated to the front of the school, ready to just be sprawled onto my bed, wondering just exactly what Draco was doing up so late (or early), and why of all places right where I had been.

Draco's POV:

I heard a very distinct crack of disapperation. I looked back at where Potter had been just a few seconds ago and saw that he was, indeed, gone. I sighed in relief and turned back around to go to the field.

I knew it was a stupid idea. I wasn't able to sleep and thought a walk around memories from my youth would either settle me enough to want to go to sleep or make me angry enough to want to go back to the field and escape back into my own little world of insanity. As it turned out, I had forgotten my ring when I had decided to take it off and go for a dip into my lake. I hadn't thought much about it until he had appeared out of nowhere. What was he doing at this park anyway? He hadn't recently moved nearby, had he? Having a past love move into a flat near your field when you are dating someone is one way to cause trouble.

Who am I kidding? I still loved him. He was so bloody caring and concerned, and was the fucking hero of the Wizarding world. I owed him about 51% of a life (since he had saved my life once and almost killed me once; I had done the math). I still wish sometimes that he had accepted my friendship offering first year. Not that things would have been better, for him or me. In fact, they would have been inexplicably worse for him. But to have the chance to change years of fighting and hatred was very tempting.

But I'm dating someone now! Why of all times does he pick the morning of my first date with Hyden to give me a fucking heart-attack and show how he cares about me enough to ask about my bruises? Why the hell would Life do that to me?

I had made it back to the field and now headed straight for my perfect world. The sun was barely starting to peak up over the horizon, turning the distant sky pink, orange, and purple that faded into the navy blue above my head. I slid down and immediately started walking on the path, even though the circles had not lit up just yet. By the time I had taken a few steps, the pathway through my forest was illuminated. I easily made my way to my lovely lake and began to look around. It wasn't too difficult to find my ring. It was shining in the reflected light of sunrise. Those words again, highlighted themselves against the silver band that shone, black engraved into almost white.

To be or not to be…

I never thought words could taunt me so. I quickly slipped the ring onto my finger and proceeded to take the oh-so sad journey of departing my rediscovered world and going back into reality, or rather what was left of it.

I slowly but surely made my way back to my Sitting Spot. Once seated, my finger wove themselves into my pocket to find my marble and rings. When I pulled out only a marble and a green ring, I was confused. I was sure that I had kept the black ring in there as well. Where in Merlin had it gone? My hands felt through the grass around me, checking to see if maybe I had not picked it up with the others, or dropped it possibly, but it was nowhere to be found. All I had was a green ring and a large grey marble with red inside. I sighed to myself.

What would the Dark Lord do without our loyalty? I placed the green ring in my palm, then the grey marble in the center. I lifted them into the air slightly and asked them to go about their normal movements. The grey marble did not move, while the green ring spun around it, at first perfectly normal, then slightly off balance, and then stopped all together. I tried once more to get the marbles started, to which the ring responded to by breaking into three pieces, each about the same amount of the ring. Not a second later the pieces were back in the air, moving fast, spinning excitedly around the grey one to return to their marble shape. And alas, when it stopped, I had four marbles. Upon closer inspection, however, I noticed that one of the green marbles had absorbed a small amount of the grey one. The grey shone like heaven against the forest color, such a lovely compliment to it (or maybe that was just my inner Slytherin talking).

When I tore my eyes away from the marbles, it was morning. The brightest star shone above my head as the distant moon waved a faint hand in its departure.

What to do now? I had hours to kill before Hyden would show, which I very much anticipated. At least, I was pretty sure that I anticipated it. My thoughts were so muddled up at the moment, but a date with Hyden was probably just what I needed to clear those thoughts. I had an unhealthy obsession, and it had detracted from my life long enough. Hyden was my best bet at sanity. He was just so wonderful. There were no words to explain exactly how it feels to be heading into a better direction again; that feeling of relief with added happiness that all the bad is gone, and yet that secret part inside that just won't die without a fight. The civil war is drawing to a close, and the dark clouds are parting to make way for a new dawn.

I slid the marbles back into my pocket and laid myself down to watch the sky as it changed colors from rosy sunrise to bright blue day. I watched it almost every morning, and the same with sunset. No matter how many times I watched, nor how often, I was sure that I would always enjoy the way the colors faded and moved into one another, gradually moving to the next one in such a fluid fashion. So prestigious and elegant; an element of nature that could never quite be replicated by humanity, magical or not.

My thoughts walked through a field of their own, picking flowers of thought to bring to my attention.

Had my father noticed my absence yet? Surely the elves would be suspicious after a few days of my not moving an inch from where I had last been. Were they looking for me? Or did father just shrug it off as if a burden had been lifted off his shoulders? The latter, more likely. The flower wilted in its end, and so the thought walked to another and picked it.

What would my date with Hyden be like? I really hope it's not awkward, or weird in anyway. Surely it would be nice. We both fancy one another, so there should at least be something going on. Where was he going to take me? If we could walk there, I wasn't sure how romantic it would be…the only places around here were private residents of muggles, that park, and a few small places here and there to eat, but nothing really appetizing. The flower quickly wilted. A walk-around, my thought trying to find another flower to pick; just as my thought was about to call it quits, one flower stood tall and proud in the grass. A smiling child went and pulled its stem up, but the flower would not budge. Another tug, and to no avail. The child frowned and went directly for the roots, determined to pull the flower up. As the roots were lifted above the blades of grass, my consciousness sunk deeper and deeper into a comfortable darkness that was sleep.

3rd Person POV:

The Minister checked his watch once more. The last time he had checked had been about five minutes ago, which was five minutes too soon to leave for the meeting. He nodded to himself and stood from the chair he had been sitting in for hours filling out endless paperwork. Mostly reforms he needed to take into consideration. When he had first gained the Ministry of Magic position, he had been so focused on his duty to aide in the battle against the Dark Lord, the awful conditions that had been in place since the infiltration and corruption by the enemy had not changed by much. Now that the Ministry had been given a year to think of things to fix, he was overwhelmed with paperwork.

He arrived in the designated meeting room, and no one else was there. He had expected this, as he was five minutes ahead of schedule. He sat at the head of the table and waited patiently for the Head of the Auror department to arrive, as well as the Auror who had been playing hooky. It was only a couple minutes before Gawain Robards, Head of the Auror Department, entered and shook his hand.

"Good day, Minister." The Minister nodded his greeting and motioned for him to sit. Both men sat in silence, waiting.

"If she does not regularly show up to work, why would she show up to a disciplinary meeting?" asked the Minister after a few minutes. He had checked his watch and seen that it was two minutes past the designated time. This wasn't much of a problem; people were late, it was only human, but the thought had crossed his mind.

"She'll show up, Minister, or she will be fired." The Minister was a little concerned. "Is it not just a bit hard on the girl to fire her for missing days of work, even without reason?" Gawain scoffed.

"I'm sure if you were in my position with such an Auror on your hands you would do the same. She hasn't just missed work, but been so careless with her responsibilities. She has not accomplished one thing she said she would do. Not one. It's been a while, Minister, since she arrived as an Auror. I'm not sure she was ever cut out for the job." Just as his final syllables were spoken, the door opened and a female walked through, her hair in a mess and eyes frantic.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I thought I would take a shortcut through a department that has a possessed broom. It swapped me in the behind and chased me down until I reached the elevator. I really apologize, Gawain, minister."

She had an all too familiar face. In fact, the Minister recognized her so clearly because he had just seen her earlier today.

"Azalea Misgrathe, please, sit. We have much to discuss."