Disclaimer: I own nothing

Warnings: Gossip, comic relief.

A week later, Harry was still at the old Malfoy Manor, though he couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't sure if he belonged here. It had been quiet, but that was only because Harry wasn't allowed to go anywhere interesting, and ever since Hermione and Dumbledore's lengthy conversation about weird and scary magic, Hermione had been holed up in the library, and if she handed one more book to Harry he might actually kill her. Seamus was busy, Ginny was still gone, and Ron was always either convincing Hermione to eat food, or cursing Malfoy's name for as he put it, abducting his sister with his wiles.

Dumbledore had said that Voldemort had, back in the day, in the first war, broken up his soul, sticking it in several artifacts so that he could be almost immortal, but his soul was really broken up, so he wasn't really a person anymore, he couldn't do it anymore without risking going insane (though Harry was pretty sure the man was already insane). That was how he had come back as Riddles diary, and in Quirrel's body, and one soul chunk had been what he'd been made out of in the graveyard in fourth year. Dumbledore was sure that it was 7 soul bits that he had split himself into, and since two were gone, and he was using one, that left four to find.

The bits of soul were called Horcruxes, but everytime Hermione said it Ron burst into very unmanly giggles, since hor sounded like whore, and there was a lot of Voldemort soul to go around. And that made Harry laugh, so he usually tried to avoid thinking about how funny it was around Hermione, who was in a studying frenzy.

Harry probably should have been more horrified, and upset, but to be fair, almost nothing Voldemort did these days surprised him, the man was obviously unhinged, everyone knew that. And now that they were looking for four things to destroy, it made him feel like he had a purpose, something to do. He had a goal. Get four items, defeat Voldemort, figure out what the hell was Malfoy's plan.

He sighed, finally deciding that he had probably been hiding from Hermione for long enough, he'd have to go back to the library soon enough. He moved along the empty hallway on an upper level, in the direction of what he suspected the library was in. He paused at a window, looking down on the grey, grim day outside. He was surprised to see a rather alarming amount of foot prints patterned on the snow, between the Manor and the woods, and along the grounds edged. What was Zabini have them do? Form some sort of wizarding rebel marching band? Harry snorted at his own thoughts, and shook off the curiosity that he was getting used to feeling eat away at him. He continued on towards the library, and sighed, bracing himself, before entering, descending the mahogany staircase, and sitting at a table, next to Hermione.

He pulled out the first book on a pile, and looked sadly at the title, Everything You Need To Know About Tracking Anything And More, trying not to let his feelings show, lest Hermione get into another one of her rants about how important it was they find all the soul chunks and kill them or burn them or whatever it was one did with soul chunks anyhow.

He opened the book and let his eyes glaze over as he began to read, feeling a familiar cramping sensation in his head begin to grow.

"Hermione, how can we just sit here and read while Malfoy is out, getting up to evil things with my sister?" Ron's sudden outburst was nothing exactly new, he had been having random outbursts all day. Cooped up in the library, and probably allergic to learning and confinement, he had started announcing things at random.

"Oh honestly, Ron. First off, Ginny isn't Malfoy's type he likes his girls evil, and his boys tall dark and handsome. And secondly Malfoy isn't Ginny's type. And lastly, he is not up to evil, we talked about this. He might not be a law abiding citizen, and at best he's morally grey, but he isn't up to evil he saved Professor Dumbledore, and he's letting us stay here. And lastly, I'm trying to help Harry defeat you know who here, and your outbursts are getting a little ridiculous. Maybe you should go outside and hit a tree with a stick, or whatever it is you boys do to unwind."

Her voice was offended, she was obviously a little sick of no one taking the library as seriously as she did. Ron was waving his arms around, trying to convince Hermione about Malfoy's evil, but Harry couldn't hear him because he was busy having a fit. Malfoy liked what now?

Hermione mistook Harry having a heart attack as he too succumbing to boy in the library disease and glared, rising, and ushering them both out, into the kitchen, glaring and hissing something about not coming back until they were ready to help, and disappointment, and Malfoy liked WHAT?

Harry followed Ron outside, though he was feeling a little sick to his stomach from lack of oxygen. Ron burst into a run, slipping in the snow, and falling backwards, letting himself fall, yelling something about books that echoed across the landscape. The snow was a few days old, and though it was pretty pristine in some places, it had the slightly grey look of snow that had been around a few days too long.

"Ron, did you know Malfoy fancied boys?" Harry asked, plopping down next to his friend, ignoring the chills that sitting in snow sent through him.

"Err, yeah, everyone does, he and that Ravenclaw bloke had a big nasty break up in the great hall," said Ron, looking confused.

"Where was I?" Harry couldn't shake the feeling that sometimes things happned at Hogwarts when he wasn't looking. For heavens sakes, you would think he would have noticed something like a loud break up.

"I don't know, mate, maybe saving the world? He dated Parkinson before and after that, Lavender was all titchy about it, because of how she hates Parkinson, don't you remember? And then when Zabini shagged that Ravenclaw, him and Malfoy got in a fight and were suspended from quidditch, remember?"

"I thought he was just playing hooky! Off doing evil things!" Harry spluttered, feeling put on.

"Harry, you can't just skip quidditch matches because you have to sit around the dungeons combing your hair, he was suspended last year. Next you'll be telling me you didn't know Ginny and Dean were dating, or that Sloper snogged both Carrow's last year!"

"Is there some kind of newsletter I am just not signed up for?!" Harry demanded. "Ginny is doing what now? And the two Death Eaters are snogging who?"

"Harry, Sloper is on the quidditch team. Our quidditch team. And the Carrow twins are Slytherins, and they're here actually, in Malfoy's weird little masked bandit outfit, and Ginny and Dean have been going out on and off for about half a year now." Ron looked a little concerned about Harry, but mostly amused.

Harry just flopped back dramatically, throwing himself on the snow. "I don't even know all these people," he said sounding wounded. Ron laughed, shaking his head, "It's alright, you've been busy saving the world and things."

Harry sulked, still feeling as though someone really should tell him when things like this happened, what if he had made a fool of himself. Well, alright, made more of a fool of himself?