Chapter 6

By the later half of the week, Harry noticed that Dumbledore was once again missing from the head table. He'd been coming and going since the start of term, and Harry had wondered mildly where he might be going in weeks past, but found he had some firm suspicions as to why the man was disappearing, and it made Harry anxious for the following Monday's meeting, since he knew he had some questions he needed to ask his other self to get to Marvolo right away.

Basically Harry suspected that Dumbledore was out horcrux hunting.

Seeing as how the lessons Harry was receiving from the Headmaster were clearly all focused around deducing what sorts of items the Dark Lord might have collected and valued enough to use to house pieces of his soul, Harry thought it was a pretty safe bet that Dumbledore was out there actually looking for those items.

The man knew he was on borrowed time as it were, and was probably desperate to make any progress he could with what little time he had left.

The problem was that if Harry was right, he needed to find out from Marvolo where the remaining horcruxes were, and he needed to find out fast so that he could get to them before Dumbledore could.

It was bad enough that the Diary and the Ring were both destroyed, but Harry was sure he couldn't risk any more getting lost.

At least he knew the Diadem was safe. He'd checked the Room of Lost Things the first time he joined Draco there and confirmed that the Diadem was there. Harry found he was torn as to whether or not he should leave it where it was or move it. In the end, he wasn't convinced that it would be any safer in amongst Harry's things — in fact, it would probably be considerably less safe there — and the only other place Harry could think of to hide it was the Chamber, and Harry suspected that Dumbledore surely would have placed a ward on Myrtle's bathroom to notify him if anyone accessed the sink that hid the passageway.

So he left it where it was. But that was only one horcrux. Harry knew there were at least two others (not counting himself or Nagini).

All of this only served to make him that much more anxious for the weekend to come and then go, so he could get to Monday evening. That anxiety lead to Harry having to work harder to keep up a non-threatening front for his friends. It was getting to the point where he felt he was putting on a show every time he spent time with any of the Gryffindors, and his friends especially. It was like he was acting — playing the role of the 'character' of Gryffindor-Harry Potter that Harry thought might be right. But he wasn't quite sure since he still had trouble entirely remembering exactly what he was like before all this happened since so many of his 'new' memories felt like they were just as real as the old ones, and just as old.

In the words of Draco Malfoy, Harry was messed up.

He wondered if this was how Marvolo had felt when trying to look back at his time spent with his soul overly-mutilated, and marveling at how irrational and nonsensical his thought and emotional processes had been.

Harry knew it wasn't quite the same thing, but it felt like it was within reason to compare the two things a bit.

To keep his sanity, while playing pretend around the Gryffindors, and waiting impatiently for Monday to come, Harry managed to slip away and join Draco in the Room of Requirement several more times over the later half of the week, and again on Sunday.

They were still working on transcribing more of the rune sequences written all over the vanishing cabinet, and Harry was slowly working his way through translating them.

Finally, Monday came. But before Harry could make it to the scheduled meeting with his alternate-reality self later that night, he had to make it through the day.

Defense against the Dark Arts had long been his strongest subject — in both realities in fact — but there was no denying that Gryffindor-Harry hadn't been nearly as refined or well studied for a number of reasons. The first obvious advantage that his Slytherin-self had over Gryffindor-Harry was that the Slytherin version had been working on non-verbal magic since the summer between fourth and fifth years. Harry in this world hadn't even thought to try non-verbal magic before it was forced down their throats this year by nearly every one of their professors.

The first Defense class of the year had involved Harry verbally defending himself against a 'demonstration' attack from Snape, thus earning himself a detention for 'cheek'. The next few classes after that had been during that weird sort of transition time for Harry since that was when the knowledge and associated memories had been randomly surfacing like a dripping leaky faucet.

But all through that, Snape had continued his old habits of using Harry as a punching bag, and had called on him regularly in hopes of humiliating.

That had stopped by the end of September when it started to become blatantly obvious to Snape that Harry wasn't going to be tripped up and publicly mocked quite so easily any longer. Harry knew this subject, and now that Harry's knowledge from his Slytherin-self was pretty much fully integrated, the non-verbal focus of the class had been a cake-walk.

Since Snape had basically been treating Harry like a leper in class for several weeks at this point, Harry was caught off guard when Snape suddenly called on him this day, for a class demonstration.

"For the last seven weeks we have devoted one class per week to studying the theoretical academics of defending yourself against the Dark Arts with non-verbal incanting, and one class per week on actually attempting to perform spells non-verbally. The fact that there are still some of you dunderheads who can't manage a simple Protego without whispering under your breath is pathetic, but hardly surprising," Snape sneered to the class as he stood in the large open area at the front of the classroom with Harry standing awkwardly to the side, waiting and wondering exactly what sort of horror show was about to take place.

"Some of you have finally managed a disarming hex, or a simple shield charm, and for the most basic of Dark Arts, and most inexperienced of opponents, this might help you survive long enough to run away with your tail between your legs," Snape pressed on. "But some spells, as you should all know by now, cannot be stopped with such basic means.

"If you actually did your assignment from last week, you should be able to name at least four standard curses and the appropriate measures needed to shield or counter them. Potter!"

Harry flinched, surprised at suddenly being spoken to when he'd been totally ignored since Snape had first called him up.

"Yes, sir?" Harry responded quickly.

"Describe the signs one should look for to identify the casting of the full body-bind curse."

"When casting it, the opponent has to aim at you but then raising their wand so that they're pointing virtually up before coming back down and completing the wand movement, so it's a pretty wide-open and obvious wand movement. Probably one of the easier ones to read," Harry said. "Oh, and it has no light or color at all when cast."

Snape's chin tilted up and a small displeased curl appeared on his upper lip, but he didn't look surprised that Harry had been able to answer the question. He's stopped being surprised weeks ago and was now just irritated by it.

"And what measures can be used to prevent being hit by this spell?" Snape asked.

"The propulsant charm has to be used. It cuts right through a protego," Harry responded without hesitation.

"So," Snape began returning his focus on the classroom and making no effort to publicly acknowledge that Harry had gotten the answer right. "—if you misjudge what spell your opponent is casting, and use the wrong counter or shield charm, you can easily end up taking the full brunt of the attack. In a dueling situation, reading your opponent, and knowing and understanding the sorts of spells your opponent might use, is essential to properly defending yourself."

Parvati Patil's hand went into the air and Snape seemed to stare at it for a moment as if it was personally insulting him. Finally he grimaced and made a lazy gesture with his hand in her direction. "Ms. Patil?"

"But what do you do if you have no idea what spell they're casting? What if they're casting some nasty Dark curse that you aren't familiar with at all, so you have no idea what would be the best shield or whatever?"

"Dodge," Snape drawled derisively.

She grimaced and sort of sank into herself at her desk.

"Mr. Potter," Snape said sharply, once again drawing attention back onto Harry. "I am going to cast a series of curses at you. It is your task to identify the curses and cast appropriate countermeasures in an effort to not get hit. Of course, if you find yourself unable to determine the spells, you are welcome to fall back on… dodging."

Harry felt a mixture of resigned dread and irritation. Snape was just using this as an excuse to throw curses at Harry with impunity, and Harry would be damned if he gave the man the satisfaction of actually hitting him.

"Am I aloud to cast counter curses?" Harry asked.

"In instances where they are specifically appropriate to the curse initially cast," Snape sneered, looking down his long nose at Harry. Snape turned and walked several feet away to stand at one end of the open area at the head of the classroom.

Harry heaved a small irritated sigh and took several steps back to put the standardized dueling competition distance between the two of them, though Harry never turned to put his back towards Snape, because he wasn't stupid.

Snape swirled on the spot he had ended on and pivoted towards Harry with his robes billowing dramatically, and Harry caught himself rolling his eyes at the man's attempts to be intimidating.

"First position, Potter," Snape bit out.

Harry instinctively stood, heels together and feet at a 90 degree angle. His wand in his right hand, pointed downwards and away from the opponent. Snape took the same pose, examining Harry through suspicious narrow eyes.

"Salute," Snape barked out and once again, on instinct from what felt like years of repetitive, standardized practice, Harry moved, his dominant foot forward, towards Snape, and his other foot back, forming an L, but now shoulder-width apart. He aimed his wand, arm extended straight, towards Snape's knees, and Snape did the same, still keenly observing Harry's movements. Harry would later think back on this and feel the urge to smack himself in the face, but at the time he didn't think anything of it.

Harry then brought his wand arm up, raised until the hand was parallel with the ground, then brought his elbow in and pulled the wand back, upright, so that it was now directly in front of his lips. Snape had mirrored each movement, but not until a moment after Harry had started them on his own. The Salute now finished Harry lowered his wand slowly and transitioned into his preferred guard stance.

He was turned mostly sideways to minimize his profile, one leg forward and one leg back with most of the weight on the ball of his foot, ready to kick off in any needed direction. His wand hand was up and at the ready while his left hand went back to help him shift his balance and pivot more quickly.

Snape's eyes remained motionless for several moments longer as he observed Harry keenly. He looked as if he were trying to pick Harry apart with his beady little black eyes. Then, without warning, his wand made a sharp jerking motion, left, with a corkscrew and a fast jab, sending a purple jagged jet of light towards Harry.

Instinctively, Harry cast the proper counter, his own wand looked as if it were used as a racket to swat away a ball. The spell shot off to the left, dissipating on the rear wall of the classroom.

Snape wasted no time sending the next attack, and then the one after that, and after that. The pace grew unreasonably fast for any classroom exercise, but Harry kept up. Marvolo was much faster than this, and shot off much worse curses. Harry didn't doubt at all that Snape was more than capable of much worse spells than he was presenting using, but this was a class demonstration. And there were witnesses.

Harry remained defensive, sticking to various deflector charms and shield charms, appropriate to different classes of curses Snape was sending his way, but after about fifteen spells fired by the greasy git, Harry spotted an opportunity.

The spell Snape cast — intercirum, Harry's mind supplied as soon as Snape started the movement of his wand, had a very specific counter curse that could be used to send it back to its caster. The expected whip-like blast of yellow light that shot from Snape's wand an instant later came towards Harry just as Harry twisted his body around and caught the tip with his own smooth movement, twisting his arm back and around and with a flick of his wrist, sending the yellow spell right back.

Snape's eyes widened and Harry saw legitimate surprise in the man's face as the curse was sent curling back, winded it's way behind the man and swung around beneath his knees, pulling his legs forward and sending Snape falling backwards, landing on his arse.

A couple people in the class could be heard bursting out with stunned hysterics, but the laughter and chatter died almost an instant later as Snape jumped back up and turned his lethal glare on the room at large.

Silence felt, but muffled snorts and snickers could still be heard breaking free for several seconds longer.

Snape's glare instantly shifted back to Harry, who was still standing at the ready, his guard up and ready for whatever came next. Which was a good thing because Snape didn't give him any warning when he began sending another volley of spells.

The room was utterly silence as Harry's classmates watched the demonstration in a state of apparent shock and disbelief, as Snape sent one spell after another, and Harry managed to block, deflect, or counter every one of them. Snape did not make the same mistake again after that, however. The few counterable spells he shot off after that, he was ready for it when Harry sent them back, and he dodged or deflected all of them.

With no warning, and considerable abruptness, Snape suddenly declared they were done and lowered his wand. Harry took several moments longer, still on edge and with his defensive awareness still on high alert, before he slowly lowered his own.

"That is what the rest of you need to master," Snape said sharply, turning his gaze on the class and ignoring Harry.

Harry's classmates were mostly pale-faced and stunned, or had wild looks of excitement, still reeling from what they'd just witnessed.

"Spell identification without the incantation being spoken, and accurately associating that spell with it's appropriate shield, deflection, or counter. This is what I expect all NEWT level students in this class. Those of you still struggling to perform a single spell without the verbal incantation will be coddled no longer. If you cannot succeed in such a rudimentary task by the end of first term, you will be dropped from my class. Am, I, Understood?" he bit out the last bit in a harsh, biting, tone.

Silent nodding could be seen from several people. Several others, including Neville, looked decidedly green.

"Read chapter three through four and write a three foot essay detailing three identifying signs to look for in each of Bodwink's standard set of curses," Snape commanded just as the bells in the tower could be heard ringing in the distance signally the end of the class.

Harry heaved a sigh, relieved that the class was over and he was basically half-way through the day, and one step closer to his meeting with his alternate-reality self later that evening. Harry relaxed a bit, feeling some of the tension leave his shoulders, as he made his way from the head of the classroom back towards his desk to collect his things.

"Merlin, Harry… that was… that was just mental!" Ron exclaimed in an awed, hushed whisper as he stuffed his own textbook into his rucksack and stood up.

"Yeah, Harry. I had no idea you could —" Seamus began to say, the excitement palpable in his tone, when their hushed conversation was cut off by Snape's sharp voice.

"Potter!" he barked from the head of the classroom.

Harry groaned and heaved an irritated sigh. He finished cramming his book and quills into his bag, and turned to look in Snape's direction.

"Yes, sir?" he asked, though there was clearly no enthusiasm or respect in his tone.

"Remain after class."

Hermione and Ron shared a look before looking worriedly at Harry.

"Go on to lunch. I'll catch up later," Harry muttered to them as he slung his bag over his shoulder and headed back up to the front of the class where Snape stood waiting for him with an impatient glower.

Harry and Snape both waited there, neither saying a word until the classroom was finally empty. As the last person left through the door, Snape waved his wand, closing the door heavily behind them.

Harry stared at it warily for a moment before turning his cautious gaze on Snape.

"Who taught you to do that, Potter," Snape asked in a low, almost threatening voice.

Harry shrugged. "I taught myself. I've been studying."

"Liar," Snape bit out instantly without any hesitation or doubt.

Harry glared at him. "How would you know? It's not like you've seen my performance in Defense before this. You are aware that I ran a Defense Association last year while Umbridge was trying to melt everyone's brains with her pink cardigans, simpering kitten-plates, and Ministry-approved curriculum."

"I am aware of your activities last year, Potter. I also know that nothing I have heard or seen would indicate that you were anywhere near this level at that time.

Harry's eyebrows raised into his forehead as part of him guffawed and rejoiced at the fact that his miserable bat of a teacher had just acknowledged, for the first time ever, that Harry had done a good job at something.

Harry shrugged as nonchalantly as he could manage. "I held back with the DA kids. Most came in not even knowing the shield charm. We did basic stuff and worked our way up. And even since then, I've been practicing."

"Over the summer?" Snape drawled sarcastically. "With no instruction? Do not lie to me Potter. What you did today was not the work of a self-trained wizard. Those were the actions of someone who has been drilled, repeatedly, by someone with considerable skill. Your stance, your reactions, your form — I refuse to believe you could do that simply from reading a book. Especially you. Not to mention what you pulled off after Katie Bell was cursed on the path up to the castle over a week ago."

"A person with enough motivation and determination absolutely could teach themselves the stuff I've learned," Harry argued hotly. "And just what sort of things might I need to know in the coming years if I hope to survive? Curse breaking, and dueling. I think having the most powerful Dark Lord to come along in who knows how long, out for my head, is perfectly sufficient motivation to explain my improved work ethic."

Snape glared at him with narrowed, disbelieving eyes. The glare grew stronger and Harry felt it the instant it shifted from just a glare to something much more. Harry threw up all of his occlumency walls on instinct, took a step back and fell into his guard stance with his wand held aloft, ready for anything.

He did all of this without even thinking, and in retrospect, knew it was probably not the best sign to cool Snape's concerns.

"Stay, out, of my, head," Harry said in a slow, warning tone, as he felt his blood begin to boil and his anger threatened to make him do something he knew he would sorely regret.

Snape's eyes registered surprise and then disbelief, and then intense suspicion.

"Occlumency. How?"

"Practice, determination, and not having someone going in and tearing apart all my natural defenses twice a week," Harry snapped.

"Just what are you insinuating, Potter?" Snape barked back.

"I'm insinuating exactly what it sounded like, sir," Harry sneered.

"Are you actually suggesting that I intentionally undermined your lessons last year?" Snape said in a soft, seething, whisper. "Just because you were too incompetent to follow simple instructions does not mean you can deflect your own failures and pin the blame on me."

"Funny, as soon as I stopped coming to you for lessons, I started making actual progress," Harry lied easily.

"Not progress enough, it would seem," Snape said airily, looking down his long noes at Harry and instantly reminding Harry of the fact that it was his inability to actually block Voldemort's mind invasion that had led to him receiving the false visions of Sirius being tortured at the Ministry. Which had in turn led to…

Harry scowled and looked away.

"I've answered your questions, sir. I think we're done here. May I be excused?" Harry bit out in a tone that only barely restrained his anger and irritation. As if it wasn't bad enough that Snape had used the later half of the class period to fire an excessive volley of spells at Harry's head, but now he was grilling him for information that was none of his bloody business.

"I am not yet satisfied with your answers," Snape drawled acidically.

"Well, they're not going to change, so it would seem we're at an impasse," Harry seethed.

"Something has happened to you, Potter. I can smell it. You're up to something."

"What makes you think that anything about my life is your business? It's not… Sir."

Harry readjusted his rucksack over his shoulder and gave Snape an impatient, expectant, look. Snape just glowered at him through suspicious narrowed eyes for several beats longer.

"Fine Potter. Leave. You are dismissed."

Harry turned and bolted from the room an instant later, desperately glad to be putting distance between himself and his professor.

—

Over the previous seven weeks of school, various people who had been in the DA the previous year, had come to up Harry asking if he had any intention of starting it up again, and he'd been dodging their questions the whole time. Dodging them enough that the requests had finally started to die down, since it was becoming obvious that he probably wasn't going to do it.

The demonstration in Defense, however, seemed to have revitalized the hopes and interest of quite a few people, and Harry had been bombarded with the question by all of his classmates who had also been in the DA as soon as he got to Lunch. Pretty soon even people who hadn't been in the class to witness the demo first hand, had heard about it from others, and Harry was asked by nearly every former DA member, by the time Dinner rolled around.

It was sort of startling because bringing back the DA was the last thing on Harry's mind at the moment, plus it would be kind of… well, counter productive, honestly. Yet there was some small part, deep inside, that kind of liked the idea of sharing some of his knowledge with the others. Some part of him that remembered the DA meetings fondly. But that part wasn't nearly large or strong enough to make him seriously consider doing it.

And while it was technically the 'Defense Association', everyone thought of it as 'Dumbledore's Army' — even if the name had been rather tongue-in-cheek. As things currently stood, Harry felt a lot more apt to run an army against Dumbledore, not in his service.

Conversation during dinner seemed to have a rather strong focus on the DADA class earlier that day, and any Gryffindors from other years that hadn't yet heard about it, heard about it now. The fact that Harry had apparently gone toe-to-toe against Snape in some sort of duel, was a very hot topic, even if Harry repeatedly insisted it was not a duel, and he hadn't even been aloud to send curses of his own back.

Everyone rolled their eyes and made snide remarks on Snape being a coward who could give it, but wouldn't take it, and Harry had to admit that he rather enjoyed those.

In the end, it served as a decent enough distraction from Harry's otherwise overly impatient thoughts regarding the meeting coming up in just a couple hours.

Dinner finished and the majority of Harry's housemates began to make their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry was one of them, but he'd already started planting the seeds with Ron that he intended to do some studying, and go for a walk to clear his head. Harry had made it sound boring and uninteresting enough that the ginger made no efforts to offer to join him. So at half past seven, Harry took his rucksack that included the Marauder's Map, his invisibility cloak, and the small hand-mirror, and left the Gryffindor Common Room, heading straight for the Room of Requirement.

When Harry walked past to call for an empty room for the meeting, nothing happened, making Harry realize that the room was already occupied. Harry walked past three times again, this time thinking about the room where you can hide things and the door appeared a moment later. Harry found Draco inside, working on his transcription of the Vanishing Cabinet's runes, and he only barely made a noise of acknowledgement as Harry came over and sat cross-legged on the floor beside him.

"What's the time?" Draco asked distractedly.

"About half an hour till the meeting," Harry replied and Draco nodded his head but kept carefully copying down the runes.

On the floor beside Draco were several sheets of parchment that included more of the transcription, but this one also had a working translation beneath each line. Harry started reading over it and used an extra quill that Draco had with his writing materials, to cross out a few things, and add a few others.

Harry also circled a part of the transcribed runes and asked Draco where on the cabinet this part was actually located.

Draco looked at the page Harry was indicating for a moment before pointing out an area along the back.

The two worked for another twenty minutes, however Harry had the hand-mirror out and waiting on his rucksack. He found himself going back and checking it rather frequently, unsure if his Slytherin-counterpart would do the summoning, or if he was expected to do it.

At precisely eight o'clock Harry felt a sort of tugging feeling in his chest and his hand flew instantly to the mirror. Draco caught the motion, sat up straighter and set his quill and parchment down.

Harry held the mirror out in front of him and saw that what was once a reflection was now swirling dark mist. A moment later the mist began to coalesce and the figure of another Harry appeared there, staring back at them.

Harry heaved a relieved sigh, desperately grateful that he hadn't been stood up.

"Well, I'm here," the Slytherin-Harry said from the other side of the mirror, and while he certainly didn't sound thrilled, he sounded considerably less harsh and angry than he had the last time.

"Yes! Thank you!" Harry exclaimed with legitimate gratitude. "Thank you so much for doing this. So did you talk to Marvolo?"

"That I did," the Slytherin-Harry replied with a dip of his head.

"Fantastic. But I've actually got a list of new questions that it occurred to me over the last week that I need Marvolo to answer too. So erm… will you be able to ask him more questions for me? After all this is done, I mean?"

The Slytherin-Harry actually smirked back and seemed to spend a moment fiddling with the hand mirror before apparently rigging a way to stand it somewhere so he was no longer holding it himself. He moved back a bit and another figure began to materialize to his side.

"How about you just ask him yourself?" Slytherin-Harry responded moving a bit to the side just as the swirling mist coalesced enough that Harry suddenly recognized the person that appeared there.

"Marvolo!" Harry exclaimed as a thrilled and relieved rush of emotions flooded though him all at once.

Sitting beside the Slytherin-Harry on the other end of the mirror-connection, now sat an attractive middle-aged-looking man with dark slicked back hair, sharp fine features, and piercing red eyes.

Harry heard Draco gasp from beside him, but he had eyes only for the figure in the mirror.

Marvolo had an expression that seemed a mix between fascination and amusement. "This really is quite amazing isn't it?" he muttered, appearing to be examining the mirror as much as what he was seeing in it. Then he shifted his gaze squarely on Harry and grinned.

"Well, hello Harry."

The Harry beside him rolled his eyes.

"By the gods, I'm… I…" Harry's jaw floundered and found he suddenly had to suppress the urge to cry. It was irrational and totally insane and stupid. "Merlin, I know it sounds weird, but I cannot tell you how much I've missed you… er… even though I know on a rational level that I've never actually met you. It's just… it feels like I have because… well, his memories, obviously. I mean, I know they're his memories when I think about it, but when I'm not actively analyzing my own thoughts, it all just feels like me so…" Harry shut his mouth and mentally berated himself for not shutting up sooner.

Marvolo chuckled, obviously amused, as he turned his gaze on the Slytherin-Harry beside him. "Well, it's certainly clear now where your new tendency to ramble on aimlessly, has come from."

The Slytherin-Harry just scowled mildly, rolling his eyes before turning them on Harry with an obviously annoyed glare.

"Yes. And I'm sooo grateful for his tendency towards long-winded incoherent word-vomit," the Slytherin-Harry drawled sarcastically.

Draco snorted from beside Harry.

"Hey, I don't think I rambled nearly this much before this whole thing started. My brain is just extra-scrambled now," Harry grumbled defensively.

"Scrambled is putting it mildly, if you ask me" the Slytherin Harry added.

"While this is all quite fascinating, I feel that we will have a great deal to cover tonight, so we'd best get things started," Marvolo said and both Harry's instantly sat to attention. "Now, my Harry has filled me in on the deplorable status of my counterpart in your world, and told me about your concerns regarding the destruction of the diary and the ring. I believe that was the first matter you wanted to discuss?"

Harry nodded his head eagerly. "Yes. I… Well, I know that I'm never going to turn my Voldemort into you, and… I mean, it's stupid how depressing that is, but I can get over that. But as he is right now, I just can't side with him. Plus, I doubt he'd let me. Even if he understood that I'm one of his horcruxes, I don't think it would be enough to persuade him to stop trying to kill me. But if there were some way to get his soul restored the way you restored yours, that would be great. But with three-quarters of his soul already destroyed I can't help but wonder if it's already too late."

"The vessels were destroyed, but the pieces of soul contained within them shouldn't be entirely lost yet," Marvolo said in such a matter-of-fact tone that Harry was instantly filled with relief. "When I first began the process of restoring my own soul, the first thing I ended up having to do was perform a ritual that summoned all of the anchorless pieces of my soul that had broken off over the years… which was far greater than I'd ever suspected and entirely unsettling. The piece that broke off and entered you was not the first piece that splintered off on it's own, but it was the largest, and also the only one that managed to attach itself to a vessel."

Harry's eyes widened as he processed that information, and even the Slytherin-Harry beside Marvolo looked rather surprised and even unsettled by that.

"The pieces of soul that were inside the diary and the ring would have been detached and left anchorless, floating about in the general vicinity of where ever their vessel was destroyed at. Without a vessel they do slowly deteriorate until it gets to the point where they totally dissolve, but Harry tells me that the ring was only destroyed this last summer, and while the diary was destroyed a few years ago, it was the largest piece, and the fact that it was left in the Chamber is probably to our advantage," Marvolo continued.

"The Chamber has preservation and perpetuation wards all around it to help the basilisk continue to survive, even when out of it's sleep-stasis in it's rear lair," the Harry-Slytherin contributed, obviously having had this conversation with Marvolo prior to this meeting.

"And you think this would have helped preserve the piece of your soul as well?" Harry asked, a hint of excitement entering his voice.

"I expect it has likely contributed somewhat," Marvolo said with a nod. "Besides, I had free-floating pieces that had no-doubt been detached from myself or anything else for years and they were minuscule compared to the piece that would have been in the diary, yet they'd remained in tact. I'm confident that you would be able to summon the diary portion and recover the vast majority of it."

"Oh thank Merlin," Harry exclaimed, a rush of tremendous relief flooding through him.

"I am prepared to provide you with the specifications on all the necessary rituals, but you did say you had other questions, so perhaps we should get those out of the way first," Marvolo said and Harry quickly nodded his head.

"Yes, right. So I guess the first one is where are the other horcruxes? I know there's at least two more… right? There was the diary and the ring, I've already got access to the diadem, and I know that locket is another one, but I have no idea where it is. You mentioned another, but I wasn't sure what it was."

"A golden cup once owned by Helga Hufflepuff," Marvolo replied.

"Right! Great. I think I need to move fast on tracking them down," Harry said, leaning forward somewhat anxiously.

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Dumbledore has been vanishing for days and even weeks at a time since the start of term. Add that to the lessons he's been giving me, centered around memories he's collected about your past and your childhood — each of which seems to obviously focus on objects that ended up being horcruxes — I think it's safe to assume he might be using that time to try and track those objects down, or at least track down any clues as to where they might be hidden."

"Ah… Hmmm… yes, that sounds plausible," Marvolo said with a thoughtful nod. "I have tremendous doubts that he'd actually succeed in finding their locations, but at the same time, the man is obnoxiously persistent."

"If he really is horcrux hunting, I figured I should probably make it a point to find them first. Though now that I know that him destroying the horcrux doesn't actually destroy the soul piece within it, I guess it's not nearly so important that I get to them first."

"Damage is still inflicted on the soul in the process of the vessel being destroyed. The soul will be better off if you can remove it without the unnecessary trauma."

Harry nodded in acknowledgement. "Okay, got it. So I'll still try to get a hold of them first."

"I suspect you'll encounter the most trouble with the cup. You might just have to leave that one for your world's version of me to deal with on his own, later. At the same time, I rather doubt Dumbledore would be able to get it either."

"Oh? Where is it?"

"Gringott's bank. The Lestrange Vault."

"Oh. Yeah, I don't think I'll be getting that one."

"It's a relatively small piece in comparison to most of the rest — though the Diadem did come after it. I think that the biggest obstacle you're going to face is that all of the untethered pieces will need time to merge and heal. This is also why it's best that the remaining pieces are extracted without the damage incurred when the vessel is outright destroyed. Those pieces will take less time to incorporate with the rest as a whole."

"Wait - okay, start from the beginning on all that," Harry said.

"The pieces that are no longer anchored to a vessel - the untethered pieces - aren't protected any longer, so they slowly dissolve. Plus many of them had suffered some degree of damage that was part of what broke them off in the first place. Picture them like… bread, or a sponge or something. Full of small holes and pockets. The first ritual I'll be giving you will bring all of the pieces to you, but you will have to combine them all, and while they are combined, you will need to perform another ritual, and an incubation of sorts, that will take all of those individual pieces and basically combine them in such a way that the holes and cracks are filled in. Right now his soul is festering. It's rotten and wounded.

"The primary central soul that he's actually running off of directly is much the same way, though those porous gaps have been filled in with Darkness and corruption to allow him to function even though his operating soul is now miniscule. The pieces we wish to restore to him need to be healed before you try to put them back. This is most necessary since in the state that he's in right now, he would not be an ideal environment for spiritual healing. He'd have a more whole soul, but it would still be full of festering scars and damage."

Harry made a solemn and thoughtful hum and nodded his head slowly, taking it all in. "Merlin, that all sounds so awful… So definitely do the healing incubation before putting the detached soul pieces back in him. Though I'm still not sure how I'm going to work the whole 'putting it back in him' part."

"He's going to have to do that part himself, and of his own free will," Marvolo said in a warning tone. "It's not something that you can do to him. Nor can he be forced. He must do it to himself willingly."

Harry groaned and nodded. "That's what I was afraid of."

"What about the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life?" Draco asked, speaking aloud for the first time since this had started. Harry angled the mirror a bit so that Draco was more in view, and realized he wasn't sure if Marvolo had even realized Draco was there before now.

"But it was destr…" the Slytherin-Harry began before halting mid-word. He looked thoughtful for a moment before switching to annoyed. "Actually, it probably wasn't."

"Yeah, I realized that too," Harry said, nodding his head. "I mean, I believed it when I was eleven and Dumbledore told me that he destroyed it, but in retrospect, that would have just been indescribably pointless, and would have made no sense at all."

"Hmm… yes, the Stone," Marvolo hummed thoughtfully. "My Harry tells me that your Dumbledore is showing signs of having been cursed by my ring, is that correct?"

"Yeah. His hand is shriveled and blackened. It looks like a bog-man hand that's been preserved for a thousand years in muck or something."

"Do you know if it extends much beyond the wrist or forearm?"

Harry shook his head. "I've never seen any of his arm to be able to tell."

"Well, it doesn't matter too much, either way," Marvolo muttered, mostly to himself. "If the assumption is that he managed to slow the spread of the curse long enough to get to Severus, and then he was the one who halted it further, that still would not entirely account for him still being alive. I can imagine him buying himself a month, maybe two, but… how long do you suppose it's been since he was cursed?"

"It was at least mid-summer."

"Definitely too long," Marvolo said with a confident nod of his head. "I would say there's a decent chance the Stone is presently in the castle."

Harry blinked. "You think it's here? Still?"

"I doubt it's been there the whole time," Marvolo corrected, "but I would wager that he has once again borrowed it from Flamel, and is using the Elixir to survive at the moment. It wouldn't be enough to cure him, as the curse is far too powerful for that, but it would be enough to give him more time. He could theoretically go on for ages so long as he kept using the Elixir, however it would be an endless form of mild torture.

"There's no way he isn't currently suffering from the curse, I just suspect he's hiding it well. Him not having died within the first hour of being cursed may seem to be to his advantage, since it apparently provides him with the extra time he needs to both prepare you, but also to try and hunt down more evidence of my horcruxes, but it's not quite the boon it outwardly appears to be.

"The curse radiates pain throughout the entire body and grows worse over time. When the curse is spread out over the course of a single day, the ramp up to extreme pain is gradual but constant. Halting the progress hasn't removed the effects, just slowed them down tremendously. He is in pain — an endless, constant, pain. It will not cease until he dies — Elixir of Life, or not."

"Wow… does it make me an awful person that I'm somehow pleased by that thought?" Harry asked.

His Slytherin-counterpart snorted and smirked. "It pleases me, plenty. I just wish that our Dumbledore had been stupid enough to get cursed by the damn thing."

Harry paused thoughtfully after that, mulling things over in his mind. "So, my goal here should be to first try and summon all the untethered pieces of soul and get them incubating so they can start to heal and merge together as one — right?"

"Correct," Marvolo said with a nod.

Then I need to get the remaining horcruxes that I can get… though the cup is out. Oh, right! Where's the locket, anyway?"

"Ah - actually that's a very important question," Marvolo said, sitting up straighter. "The locket was stolen at one point, and so it wasn't where I left it."

Harry's eyes widened. "It was stolen?"

"Yes. It's actually the reason that I discovered you held a piece of my soul," he said, speaking to both Harry's now.

"Oh?" the Slytherin-Harry asked, his curiosity peaked.

"Yes. It was stolen by Regulus Black and he left behind a note declaring his intention to destroy it and see me made mortal again," Marvolo rolled his eyes at that. "I had no idea where to start looking for it, so I ended up devising a way to track the locations of all of my soul pieces. That was what first alerted me to the fact that I had tiny bits and pieces of my soul detached all over the damn place, and also alerted me to the substantially larger piece that resided in you. But I was also able to find the locket's location. It wasn't destroyed. Rather it was hidden inside the Black Family Home in London."

"Wait - it's in Grimmauld Place!?" Harry squawked in disbelief. "That's Order Headquarters here! Or, er… it was, up until Sirius died last spring."

"The Order's Headquarters was in the Black Family home?" Marvolo exclaimed with obvious amusement and disbelief in his tone. "How the bloody hell did that end up happening?"

"Sirius hated the house," Slytherin-Harry answered quietly, looking pensive with his brow furrowed deeply. "He told Dumbledore he could use it, so Dumbledore put a Fidelius around it. That, combined with the veritable mountain of wards Orion Black had placed over the house, and it was basically impenetrable."

"But now he's left it to me in his will," Gryffindor-Harry continued on. They weren't sure if the will would be recognized properly so the Order abandoned it; though we did confirm last summer that it really did go to me."

"Confirm?" Marvolo asked.

"Er, the house came with a house elf. Basically, Dumbledore figured that if the house had really transferred to me, ownership of the elf would have too, so we tested it out by having me order him to do something, and it worked."

Marvolo's eyes lit up a bit. "That elf is the one who had the locket."

Harry gaped. "Wait - what? Kreacher?"

"Yes, that wretched little thing had it. Apparently Regulus' dying order to the little monster was to destroy it, but then he never could work out how, so it just drove him mad."

"Huh…" Harry said with a dawning sense of greater understanding.

"If that's the case then you could call him to you now an order him to give it to you!" Draco exclaimed from beside Harry.

"Blimey, you're right!" Harry exclaimed. "Er — I'll try it out when we're done here," he decided, turning his full attention back on Marvolo.

"Mm yes, that's probably wise. We still have much to cover," Marvolo agreed.

"Right - okay, so I get the remaining horcruxes, I get the floaty pieces, and I get them all combining together. Then I also have to see if I can figure out where the Stone is hidden, assuming it's actually here in the school. If I can get it, then I just have to get it to my world's Voldemort, and if he actually starts taking the Elixir, hopefully he'll see how much of a wreck he is without it and it won't be nearly as impossible to convince him to put his soul back where it belongs!" Harry concluded, feeling absolutely fantastic, now that he really did have a plan.

"That about sums it up," Marvolo agreed, as a small approving smile curled the corner of his lips. "Additionally, I would not be averse to speaking with him directly, through this fascinating little mirror, should the opportunity arise."

Harry's brows raised into his forehead some as he pondered that possibility. "Well… if it comes to it, I certainly think he'd be more willing to listen to you than he will be to listen to me. Assuming he believes any of this, and doesn't just assume it's just some massive scam."

"I can convince him," Marvolo stated with utter confidence, and absolutely no doubt in his voice.

Part of Harry - the Gryffindor part, no doubt - questioned his confidence, while another part of him felt a surge of relief and affection. Suddenly there was a semi-accessible adult that he could turn to for advice. It wasn't ideal, but it was more than he had before, and he was desperately grateful for it.

"Unless there is anything else, I think we should begin going over the rituals you will need to perform to actually accomplish any of these tasks," Marvolo said, drawing Harry's focus back on point.

"Right," Harry said, sitting up straighter and fishing into his bag. Draco took the mirror from him and held it while Harry dug out some parchment and his writing supplies. As he conjured a small writing desk Draco actually spelled out a tripod-like holder and set the mirror into it, looking quite pleased with himself once he was done.

"Ready," Harry said as his quill set to parchment, ready to start transcribing.

"Good. First —"

It was three-quarters of an hour later when Harry was finally able to set his quill down and heave a relieved sigh. There had been a lot to transcribe, and Marvolo had been extra thorough to make sure Harry would have all of the information he would need, since contacting Marvolo for help with questions later would be a slightly convoluted process and might cause undesirable delays.

They'd covered the summoning ritual for the detached parts, the spells necessary to break apart the intact horcruxes without causing damage to the souls within them, the ritual that would combine all of the pieces together, and the process necessary to stuff them all into a temporary vessel and start incubating the soul in a way that promoted accelerated healing.

It was clearly going to be a very involved process, and Harry realized it was going to eat up a lot of his freetime. Draco suggested that they clear a big section of the debris in the hidden things room and Harry could use that as a work space while Draco worked on the cabinet, that way they could both be using the Room of Requirement at the same time since it was probably the most secure location to do something of such a questionable nature.

Shortly before wrapping things up, Marvolo had some recommendations for tracking down the stone, as well as some instruction on how one actually gets Elixir out of it, as it obviously didn't come with an instruction manual, and it wasn't apparently all that obvious a process.

Marvolo still had the Philosopher's Stone in his other world, though he hadn't had to make regular use of it in a while. He still made it a point to keep a small amount of Elixir in storage, and kept a vial of it on him at all times in case of emergency. Since he'd had the thing for five years at this point, he'd become very familiar with it and had some very specific tips on how Harry might go about determining if it really was in the castle, and how to detect if it were nearby.

Slytherin-Harry had gotten bored about halfway through the transcription process and wandered out of view, and Draco had eventually turned his focus back to his work with the cabinet, so by the time they were done, it was just Harry and Marvolo speaking.

"Thank you so much for helping me with all of this. I'd be totally lost without your help," Harry said softly, as it was becoming obvious that things were winding down.

"Before I go, I wanted to ask you something," Marvolo said and Harry sat up straighter and nodded.

"Anything."

"How are you doing?"

Harry blinked at him. That wasn't something he'd been expecting.

"I… I'm… okay, I guess."

"Do not lie to me," Marvolo said, giving Harry a very mild warning glare.

Harry ducked his head and sunk into himself instantly. "Sorry, sir," he muttered before pulling in a deep breath and pushing it back out slowly. "I'm… a mess, I guess. I'm just all twisted up and not entirely sure what to think or do half the time. My instincts are all messed up - pulling me in two totally different directions."

Marvolo made an understanding sort of hum and nodded his head. "My Harry is experiencing much the same thing. He's been particularly conflicted by the fact that he now holds sentimental attachment to a group of people who are not tremendously fond of him."

Harry snorted. "Yeah… I think I get that. Hey, last time he mentioned that there was an attack and he hesitated because he was dueling against someone I know and care about, and someone ended up getting hurt… Who…?"

"It was just Trevor. And don't worry, it was nothing serious," Marvolo said dismissively. "I believe that Harry ended up saving Remus Lupin from an attempted sneak attack by Fenrir. Lupin was dueling Trevor and Greyback attempted to attack Lupin from behind. Harry hexed him and told Lupin to run, but the man ended up turning and hexing Trevor as he escaped, and Trevor had been caught so off guard by my Harry's behavior that he hadn't managed to dodge or counter. Harry was quite troubled with himself after that. We've talked it over though, and I think we're making progress."

Harry felt awful and found he was staring at his hands, tightly clasped in his lap, rather than looking at Marvolo in the mirror.

"I hate the idea of ending up in a battle situation with anyone," Harry muttered bleakly. "I don't know what the hell I'll do. I'm not even sure which side I'll fight on."

"That is actually an issue that I wanted to bring up with you," Marvolo said, taking on a serious tone.

Harry looked up, peaking through his messy fringe and feeling entirely weary about the subject matter.

"Harry… let's say that you are fully successful. You gather the soul pieces, you find the stone, you get my counterpart to take it, and then get him to heal his own soul. You succeed. Then what?"

Harry's jaw floundered and he gaped like some dying fish. "I… I don't know," he admitted finally. It really wasn't something he wanted to think about. At all.

"As much trouble as my Harry is having, coming to terms with these new memories and emotional attachments, I still feel that he is at a considerable advantage to your situation. My Harry had not been placed into a situation where he has come to doubt his chosen path in life. If anything, his memories of the lies and betrayals that you've suffered has only cemented his confidence that he made the right choices. You, however, are in the exact opposite circumstance. Am I right?"

Harry held his eyes closed, fighting off the entirely unwanted instinct to cry that was flooding him at the moment. His face was hot, and his chest was tight, and he hated just how right Marvolo was. Finally he managed to nod his head and pry his eyes back open.

"However, it is Dumbledore specifically that has betrayed your trust and used you. I rather doubt that many if any of the other people who are important to you, are aware of these deceptions. Abandoning Dumbledore's side may not necessarily mandate abandoning everyone else."

Harry shook his head, finally managing to find his voice. "But it does," he said, desperately saddened by this. "They'll see it as a betrayal. If I turn against Dumbledore, that means I'm turning against the Order. If I side with my world's Voldemort, that is exactly counter to their primary goal. I mean, the Order exists specifically to fight Voldemort. That's the point of it. Joining him quite literally puts me in direct opposition to everyone. I just… I'm screwed."

"It seems that way, that is true," Marvolo said with a nod. "But remember — Your Dumbledore is dying. And I suspect that he hasn't yet actually told many of his people about this fact. He may even still be keeping it secret from the whole of his precious Order."

"But why do that?! Why hide it from them?"

"He'll probably want to use his death for something… He'll probably even stage some event around it to make it look like a certain someone or something was responsible for his death, rather than admit that it was precipitated by my curse."

Harry snorted bitterly. "The manipulative chess master, right till the end."

"Precisely."

"But how does that help me with the issue of joining you — er, my Dark Lord, and not being seen as a traitor by everyone I've ever cared about?"

"I'm not sure, entirely. But I think you should keep your eyes open for any opportunities that might arise. I really rather doubt that he wants any of his faithful followers to realize that his plan all along was for you to die a martyr's death, and that he was specifically maneuvering you into caring about the lot of them, just so that you would be more willing to sacrifice yourself to save them when the time finally came.

"Dumbledore always has been, and I expect will always remain, a very secretive individual. He holds his secrets just as tight as I hold mine — perhaps even more so, especially in recent years as I'll admit I've mellowed a bit lately."

Harry grinned and chuckled lightly.

"Chances are that Dumbledore will die and leave no one, or perhaps just one person, aware of your expected role as martyr. He will also probably die without actually telling much of anyone exactly what his plan for bringing about my counterpart's end, ever was. They'll all be lost, and will most likely turn to you, expecting all the answers, and hoping that he had perhaps entrusted his secret plans to you.

"Who is to say that he didn't? Who's to say that he didn't instruct you to work on correcting my counterpart's soul in order to 'vanquish' your Dark Lord. There are certainly many who argue that I am no longer comparable to the creature I was in years past. In my world, of course, I would say I was far more responsible for my own transformation, but in your world, should you be successful, his recovery and transformation will unquestionably be because of your actions. If he changes anywhere near as much as I did, then you could argue that you vanquished the monster that he was before, turning him back into a man. Perhaps you could play with that line of thought. Try to convince these people you care for that what you are doing is as much for them as whatever else they may of been expecting of you."

Harry looked dubious, but it was more of an idea than he'd had before.

"Why would you want me to keep on with the Order members, though?" Harry asked.

"I cannot possibly expect you to abandon the life that you have lived these last five years, or the people who lived it by your side. I don't think that you could actually stand that either. No matter how much my Harry suddenly feels affection for the Weasley family, it does not change the fact that the Weasley family does not like him. Nor does it make him care for his Slytherin housemates any less than he did before.

"Besides, you may find yourself in an even better position of unification than we have here. My ultimate goal would be to stabilize the control I already have over the Ministry and the school, and rid myself of the headache of the blasted Order and their little insurgent group constantly fighting against me. As long as the Order sees me as an invading subjugator, occupying and taking over their once-free democracy — which is absolute rubbish, as the Ministry was not an actual democracy by any stretch of the imagination, before all this… Anyway - the point is that as long as they see me as a conqueror, they will feel the need to rise up and fight against me. But if you play your cards right, you might be able to aid your Dark Lord in gaining a position of power without the more obvious take-over that I conducted here."

Harry knew his face had to be an open book showing just how little he felt he'd be capable of doing anything of the sort but he managed to squash his doubt down, swallow the thick lump of self doubt down and give Marvolo a hesitant nod.

"I'll… I'll see what I can do," he said, his voice cracking slightly, causing him to scowl at himself afterwards.

"Now, hopefully you'll find yourself sufficiently prepared at this point, but I will make an effort to be as available as possible should something arise. Still, don't expect me to just be here if you use the mirror to contact my Harry, at some random time. There will likely be a delay, but if it is of dire importance, my Harry has permission to use emergency means to get a hold of me and I will try to come as soon as possible."

"Oh, of course I don't expect you to just come running," Harry said, shaking his head. "I understand how busy you are, and it's amazing that you were willing to devote as much time as you have to me and my problems. I mean, it's not like you're responsible for me at all. If anything, I've complicated things for you, and especially for the other Harry over there. You don't owe me anything. You've already done so much more for me than I ever could have hoped for."

"Nonsense. You are still Harry, and I have taken Harry as my responsibility. My Harry and you, are in fact very nearly the same at this point, seeing as how both of you now possess the same memories of each others lives. Of course that are slight variations in memory priority and strength of impact, leaving the two of you still each unique in various ways, but you both remember the last few years of Harry's life here, and during that time, I took responsibility of you. To be suddenly ripped from that, and left to fend for yourself knowing you are now solely reliant on a man who is secretly planning your death… I could not possibly leave you to face that alone. I am not in a position to do much for you, but this was the least I could do."

Tears stung the corners of Harry's eyes and he ducked his head, embarrassed by the strength of the emotions coursing through him. He chewed on his lip, afraid that his voice would shake if he dared to try and say anything aloud.

"Thank you," he finally managed to rasp out before grabbing his glasses from his face and then roughly brushing the back of his arm across his face, wiping away the wetness that had collected there. A traitorous sniffle slipped through and Harry cleared his throat and focused on cleaning his glasses with the bottom of his shirt tails before putting them back on and trying to look calm.

"Now, I must go. But it appears that your counterpart here is not yet finished with you," Marvolo said, appearing to look off past the mirror to some spot in the distance. "I will take my leave. I wish you the best of luck," Marvolo finished, looking back at Harry.

"I… right. Okay. Thank you, again," Harry said, feeling awkward and unbalanced. "Um… goodbye."

"Goodnight, Harry," Marvolo said and his expression was reassuring and calm. But a moment later he stood up and as he moved his appearance shifted to mist and smoke and disappeared from the mirror.

The mirror remained vacant for only a moment longer, however, as soon Harry's alternate-reality counterpart entered the scene, sitting down where Marvolo had been only moments earlier.

Harry was flooded with embarrassment, hating that he was showing so much weakness and feeling stupid, knowing that his Slytherin-self probably witnessed his earlier near-breakdown.

"Hey, so…" the Slytherin-Harry began, and Harry instantly noticed that he seemed a lot more nervous and much less confident than Harry had yet to see him act before now. "I was hoping to ask your opinion about something."

"Yeah?" Harry asked, sitting forward curiously.

"Er, right… So… I mean, I know that I remember the same stuff as you, and I do feel like I lived this stuff myself… maybe I just want a second opinion…" he muttered the last bit, almost as if he were speaking to himself.

"What can I help with?" Harry asked, suddenly eager for any opportunity to help them, seeing as how much they had just helped him.

The Slytherin-Harry huffed a breath out through his nose before he seemed to refocus his determination. "If I were to arrange for Sirius to be released from Azkaban, do you think… I mean, would he even want to look at me? Would he just run off and join the Order, and hate me, making the whole thing absolutely pointless, or…" he huffed out another breath, though this one sounded more defeated. "I dunno what I'm even saying."

"Sirius…" Harry whispered, feeling a little shellshocked by the sudden question. "I hadn't really thought… but yeah. He's still alive there. He's still in Azkaban…"

"Yeah. Three years longer than he was in your world."

Harry frowned then, a sudden scowl spreading across his face. "Wait a minute — the Order knows about Pettigrew. Or at least, they know he's alive. He's been seen! He's participated in battles! Has no one bothered to fire up two brain-cells and connect the fact that Pettigrew is alive with the fact that Sirius is still in prison for killing Pettigrew?"

"Well, he's in prison for more than just killing Pettigrew," Slytherin-Harry muttered. "But yeah - believe me, I've had the same irked realization."

"Well, maybe you could use that. To persuade him not to run off and join the Order, I mean," Harry offered. "Seeing as how they've obviously just abandoned him there."

"Maybe that would keep him from joining up with the order, but that doesn't mean he'd want anything to do with me instead. Maybe, I'm just setting myself up for some real hurt, and I should just ignore the whole thing. I just can't… forget. I guess. I know he's there. He's alive, and he's still in that god-awful place. But it's not like I need him. Not like you did. You had no one. He was the closest you ever got to an adult who gave a shit about you on a more personal level, and even that was fucked up by Dumbledore. He did everything he could to keep you and Sirius apart — all in the name of keeping Sirius safe," Slytherin-Harry drawled, cynically.

Harry scowled. He hadn't really thought of it like that, but his other self definitely had a point.

"But then I think - 'Hell, I don't need him', so what the hell does it matter if he rejects me? You know? I've got Marvolo. I'm happy. I don't really even have room for Sirius in my life. So, maybe I get him out of that shit hole, and let him be on his merry way. Just knowing he's not trapped in that prison anymore…"

"Yeah, definitely that, at least," Harry said, nodding his head. He could see how his other-self would be worried about the rejection. Even Harry himself wasn't really all that confident that Sirius would tolerate his Slytherin-counterpart's choices and alliances.

"Marvolo means the world to me," Slytherin-Harry said. "But he's also the man who killed James and Lilly. He's the man who recruited Pettigrew to turn traitor. I just cannot fathom any reality in which Sirius Black would be okay with any of that. I can't imagine any way I could convince him to be okay with my loyalty to Marvolo. And I'd never be willing to prioritize Sirius over Marvolo and the life I've got here. If it came to an ultimatum - pick one or the other - the choice would be cut and dry. No matter how much I remember Sirius meaning the world to me; no matter how much I remember the excitement and relief, every time I got a letter from him; none of that actually matters. Because none of that happened to me. That happened to you. I can't…" Slytherin-Harry cut himself off and scowled off to the side.

"Believe me… I get you," Harry said softly.

The Slytherin-Harry frowned deeply, his brow furrowed with thought for several moments before he turned his gaze back on Harry. "But you're actually considering it."

"Considering what?"

"Switching. I mean… part of you is actually willing to sacrifice the stuff that really happened to you in favor of the things you remember about my life. Even though you know you can't really have the same things I've built here because no one else remembers the things you remember. How… I mean, how do you even think that's going to work?"

Harry snorted bitterly. "I don't."

"That's harsh," the Slytherin-Harry said in a commiserating tone. "Well… at least you seem to be making some progress on the Draco-front. I noticed he was there most of the night."

"He's still here, actually. He's working a bit behind me on this project — it's actually an assignment that Voldemort gave him."

Harry glanced over towards Draco, who had obviously heard his name mentioned because his head had popped up and he was looking over towards Harry curiously.

"Yeah… that's so weird to think that he's actually Marked."

"Well, it's not exactly because the Dark Lord needs underaged wizards to work for him. It's really sort of a punishment thing," Harry said with a sigh.

"Yea, I get that. Merlin, I hope that this thing soul-thing you're working on succeeds, just for the sake of saving Dray from your crazy-ass Voldemort's vicious temper."

Harry snorted. "You know… you're a lot more tolerable now than you were the last couple times we spoke…"

The Slytherin-Harry groaned miserably and let his head fall limply into his head. "Don't remind me. You are definitely rubbing off on me. It's weirding everyone out. Me especially. I don't even realize I'm acting so out of character until someone mentions it, and I hate that I can't tell I'm acting weird."

"Wow… how's Marvolo handling it?"

Slytherin-Harry rolled his eyes. "He finds it amusing, believe it or not."

"Wow - really?"

"I think he finds this whole thing fascinating. He also thinks that this has sort of proven Headmistress Sakndenberg's argument about the Hat having way too much power over people's destinies. I mean, look at how vastly different our two worlds turned out, just because of the decision of an enchanted hat made about one kids sorting."

Harry barked out a laugh and nodded. "Blimey, you're right."

"Can you imagine what you'd find if Marvolo were able to look in the mirror, and see a world where he'd been sorted into a different house?"

"Wow… that's difficult to even wrap my mind around…" Harry muttered, wide-eyed.

"He's actually considered looking for it, but he doubts it would be powerful enough to still work on someone as old as he is. I mean, that'd be more than 50-years of memories since he was sorted."

"Yeah, and I think Marvolo is fine the way he is… well, since he fixed himself, anyway. Obviously there was a very big chunk there in the middle where things were less than stellar…"

"He's still less than stellar in your world," Slytherin-Harry pointed out.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah, okay… valid point. Merlin… what would happen if my Voldemort looked into the mirror?"

"Hah. Well, if restoring his soul somehow doesn't work out for you, maybe you could consider giving that idea a try instead. Maybe his alternate-house self wouldn't have ever made any horcruxes, and so wouldn't have ever lost his marbles."

Harry snorted and shook his head in amusement.

"So are things going well with you and your Draco?"

Harry blinked, caught slightly off guard by the question. "Er… yeah. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just fascinated by the idea that you've managed such a one-eighty there. The two of you had such a hostile relationship before."

"Yeah… I'm pretty amazed too," Harry glanced over towards Draco, who looked like he was pretending not to listen. "But I'm so grateful too. I think I'd be going completely mad if I didn't have him to talk to right now."

"Oh? Talking? Is that all? How boring."

Harry felt his face flush and took another hesitant side-ways glance towards Draco, who was completely motionless at the moment.

"Come on. Eight days ago he still despised me. That first night I got a hold of you and your Draco through the mirror was the night I first told my Draco about everything. That was only one week ago."

"Excuses, excuses."

Harry barked a laugh. "What would you have me do?"

"Snog him! You need it, and I bet he'd love it. Besides, you're still a bloody virgin over there. That's just unacceptable. A situation so dire must be rectified."

"Bloody hell! Would you shut up! He's here!"

Slytherin-Harry laughed and Harry felt his own face go deep scarlet and hot with embarrassment.

Muffled snickering could be heard and Harry looked over to find Draco holding his hand over his mouth, valiantly trying to stifle his apparent amusement.

Harry rolled his eyes and gave his counterpart an entirely unimpressed glare. "Thanks," he said sarcastically.

"Oh please - you know you'll thank me for breaking the ice some. We both know you want to snog him, you're just afraid of scaring him off. Plus, I guess, there's also probably that whole virgin thing."

Harry guffawed. "Oi! Honestly, I know that technically you're right, but I don't feel like one — a virgin, I mean…"

"Mmm… Yeah, well at least you've got plenty of material for the wank-back thanks to my memories. You're welcome, by the way."

"Bloody hell, Harry — your other-self is a perv," Draco's clearly amused voice broke in as he stood up and came over.

Harry felt his face go hot again and he turned and glared at his Slytherin-self very threateningly.

This, however, really only seemed to amuse his alternate-reality self, since he just smirked back. "I blame him," Slytherin-Harry said to Draco dismissively, gesturing towards Harry.

"Bullshit!" Harry exclaimed with a bark of laughter.

"Okay, fine. Then I blame my Draco. How's that?" Slytherin-Harry said as he leaned forward and leered at Draco who had now come to sit beside Harry and had obviously become visible to the Harry on the other side of the mirror.

Draco guffawed. "Oh really?"

"Mmm, yes, definitely. You've turned me into a sexual deviant."

"Me?!"

Slytherin-Harry rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively. "My version of you. My Draco is the real perv. I've just adapted to indulged him."

"This is so weird," Draco said, though he sounded incredibly amused.

"So, be honest with me, Draco," Slytherin-Harry began, leaning forward again and looking to have a rather devious and playful glint in his eye that put Harry on guard. "Would you like for Harry over there to snog you senseless? Because he'd be able to give you one hell of a ride. I know all of my Draco's most sensitive spots and every one of his kinks. I probably know ways to please you that you don't even know yet. And everything I know, he knows," he grinned indecently and Harry was overcome with the desire to bury his head in the ground. Instead he just buried his face in his hands and groaned in embarrassment.

"Make it stop," Harry muttered from beneath his hands.

"Well, gosh, he does make one hell of an argument," Draco drawled in a tone that was both thoughtful and playful.

Harry peaked over at him from between his fingers, unable to hide his curiosity.

Slytherin-Harry let out a laugh that bordered on a cackle. "Well, I suppose it is getting rather late. I'm satisfied with the evening, I think I'll leave you two alone."

"You're an arse," Harry said, giving his alternate self a deadpanned look of annoyance.

"You're welcome," Slytherin-Harry said in a sing-song tone. "I'll be keeping the mirror on me, I think, so if you find you need to get a hold of me, I'll feel the tug. Sound good?"

"Er. Yeah. Great. I guess I'll do the same."

"I can already confirm that the thing is nearly indestructible. Probably two weeks after this whole thing started I got especially angry and tried to smash it, but it didn't work," Slytherin-Harry said.

"Oh. Well… great… I guess."

"Well, goodnight you two. Even if you don't need help anytime soon, drop me a line in a couple weeks. I'd love to hear how things are going."

"Yeah, sure," Harry agreed with a nod of his head. "I guess… thanks. For everything." He paused and looked over at Draco, felt himself blush, and then looked back to the mirror. "Even the teasing. Anyway, you can feel free to call me too, if anything comes up. And erm… if you decide to move on the Sirius thing — I'd like to hear how that turns out."

Slytherin-Harry looked a bit more sober at the mention of Sirius, and gave Harry a short firm nod in response. "Will do."

"Okay, goodnight," Harry said.

'G'night. To both of you. Oh, and Draco? Enjoy him. He'll worship you if you let him."

Harry felt himself flush again and watched as his other self laughed and then faded into mist before vanishing from the mirror entirely.

Draco was chuckling when Harry risked a glance back in his direction.

"Well, this has certainly been an interesting evening," Draco said.

"It's been a real roller coaster for me. Bloody hell, what a night…"

"Mmm… though I wouldn't necessarily say it has to be over just yet," Draco said in an airy tone, looking away with faux innocence.

"Oh?" Harry asked, unable to keep the interest from his tone.

"Those were some rather lofty promises the other you made. Makes me wonder if you could really follow through, or if he was just making unwarranted boasts. Or maybe he would be able to follow through, but you —"

Before Draco could finish his words Harry had grabbed him by the loose tie around his neck and was kissing him. But this was a much deeper kiss than the rather innocent little pecks from earlier in the week. It was open-mouthed with a confident, adventurous tongue, and a passionate energy.

Draco squeaked with surprise at first before making a pleased sort of humming sound a moment later. Harry pushed him sideways, maneuvering his body over as he continued to press forward and move Draco into the position he wanted.

They'd been sitting cross-legged on the floor, so there wasn't far to go and soon Harry had Draco on his back and was straddling his hips, still lip-locked; still passionate.

Part of Harry wasn't even sure where this courage and confidence had come from, but another part of Harry felt like this was the most natural thing in the world. He knew precisely what he was doing, and his other-self was right. Harry knew just what to do. He knew what Draco would like best, and he knew what would get him the most turned on.

Harry ran his hand up and down Draco's side, sliding in under his shirt and running his fingertips over Draco's ribs with feather-light teasing touches. Draco shuddered and made the most wonderful sound. He sounded surprised, and yet also clearly very pleased.

Harry's hand continued to explore, moving up and beginning to tease at Draco's nipple, eliciting several small gasps, each of which Harry took advantage of to kiss deeper. He pulled back neck and trailed his mouth over Draco's sharp angled jaw, nipping playfully at the skin there before pulling Draco's ear lobe in between his teeth and sucking on it for a moment. Then his tongue went out and trailed around Draco's outer earlobe, and Harry took a moment to marvel with utter glee the fact that Draco was practically writhing beneath him. His chest was heaving with deep, fast, breaths, and his mouth was wide open, gasping and whimpering.

"Beautiful," Harry rasped before dropping down again and biting at Draco's jaw before trailing down further and sucking on the blond's pale neck.

"Oh gods…" Draco moaned and Harry felt as the other teens hips bucked and thrust up, probably unconsciously searching for friction. Harry ground down, unable to stop himself even while a part in the back of his mind was terrified that he was moving too fast and he'd end up scaring Draco off.

Draco grunted and suddenly Harry felt the blond's hands reaching up and gripping Harry's hips and arse, using his new purchase to leverage himself up and enthusiastically grind back.

"Yesss…" Harry said, letting his breath fan out across the wet skin of Draco's neck and shoulder. "Gods, yes… Merlin, Draco, I want… I… oh…"

"More," was all Draco managed to get out, his voice sounding both pleading and demanding.

Harry went back to Draco's mouth, kissing deeply and hungrily as he rhythmically rolled his hips and his groin against Draco's. He could feel the other teens erection through his pants and warred against his instincts to reach down and relieve Draco of the troublesome garment.

Harry was saved the trouble of making the move when one of Draco's hands left Harry's arse and slipped in between them, making quick work of his own button and zipper.

"C-cahh… can I?" Draco panted between kisses, his hand now pressing against the fly of Harry's pants.

"Oh hell yes," Harry groaned as he pulled his hips up enough to make Draco's efforts less cumbersome.

Draco was clearly caught off guard by the fact that Harry was not wearing any pants beneath his trousers, but was also quite pleased by it. Harry took his one free hand and slipped it beneath the elastic waistband of Draco's pants and shoved them down enough to free Draco's member of his confinement. Both grabbed each other at virtually the same time and both moaned deeply into each others mouths before resuming the passioned kissing and beginning to awkwardly stroke each other.

They were grinding their hips into each other's hands now while consecutively rubbing against each other. Harry was lost in how amazing it felt. How natural, and how right.

"So good. So perfect," Harry rasped between heated kisses.

"Oh god… oh god…" Draco whispered as his desperation seemed to be growing in intensity.

"Say my name," Harry said suddenly, still working against the other teen.

"Wha—?"

"Say my name," Harry said again, but more demanding now.

"Harry. Harry," Draco gasped. "Gah… Harry! Oh, fuck… Har.. ha… I'm — Oh god, I'm —"

"Hnnnnghh…" Harry growled before gasping and beginning to spasm with waves of sudden intense pleasure.

Draco made a strangled moan, shaking almost convulsively and gripping Harry's arse so hard with his free hand that Harry suspected there'd be a mark.

Wetness covered Harry's hand and groin as the pair of them had come at nearly the same time. Harry let his head fall down limply as all the energy drained from him, his forehead now resting on Draco's chest, as he panted great heaving breaths.

The intensity of moments earlier was now replaced with a wonderful lull of comfort and contentment. The arm that Harry had been using to support his weight finally gave up and he fell down and rolled into Draco's side, still panting but smiling dumbly.

Draco looked equally stunned, but also clearly very very satisfied.

"That was… bloody… amazing," Draco panted.

Harry smiled smugly. "Yes. Yes it was."

Draco chuckled quietly.

The two laid there in silence for several minutes longer, catching their breaths and letting their speeding hearts calm back down.

"Merlin, I wish I could just crawl into your bed and sleep there for the night," Harry said with a sigh.

"Did they do that a lot? The other you and me?"

Harry hummed and nodded. "Our beds were right next to each other, so it was easy. Blaise insisted we use that one-way silence charm he made Greg and Vince learn back in second year, so he wouldn't have to hear them snoring at night, and then so he wouldn't have to hear us snogging at night. It was super-convenient."

Draco snorted. "I'm definitely still not used to that."

"Hm?"

"You talking about things that happened in the dorm like you were there. I guess in your head you were, it's just strange."

"Mmm. Yeah. Especially for me. It's also depressing. I've got all these fond memories of spending time with you and the guys, but none of you remember any of it, because it didn't actually happen. Not here, anyway. I mean… I like Theo. I like Blaise. They're great guys. Even Vince and Greg are fine enough to be around, though mostly they just kind of grunt, eat sweets, and take up space. But every one of those guys would like nothing more than to hex my nuts off right now. It's just really… sucks."

Draco snorted and shook his head, looking a bit dazed. "Definitely strange." He shifted and pushed himself up on one elbow, supporting his head and turned to the side so he could more easily look at Harry. "What about your memories of your Gryffindor dorm room though? It's not like you've forgotten all of that - right?"

"No - haven't forgotten anything. I still remember all the time spent with Neville, Seamus, Dean, and Ron. You know, oddly enough, I've never gotten super-close with Seamus or Dean, and I only started to get to know Neville last year when he joined the DA. The first few years here, I really sort of isolated myself a lot. Or maybe Ron isolated me… or I let myself be isolated by Ron… whatever. I think he grew up having to share everything, and he didn't want to share me, if that makes any sense. When I was a Slytherin, I didn't isolate myself from anyone in the house. I don't think you would have let me, honestly…"

"Still strange."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Hm… well, getting the Slytherins to like you seems like a pretty daunting task, but might not be quite as hopeless as you'd think, if we really are able to help the Dark Lord get his sanity back, and manage to end up in his favor. I mean, I've managed to come around rather quickly in regards to you, and I don't think there was anyone who hated you more than I did."

"Yeah, but you were also already attracted to me. I mean, lets be honest here — you're not here because you've developed some deep affection for my personality; you're here because you're curious about how this insane thing will play out, you're hoping I can save your ass from Voldemort, and because you find the idea of being dominated by me really hot."

Draco's face could not have possibly gotten more red than it did at that moment.

"I — I do not! That's absurd!" Draco exclaimed shrilly.

Harry pushed himself up on his own elbow and smirked back. "Don't take it like it's a bad thing. Some people just really like that. I mean, I even liked letting you take the lead when you actually got in the right mood to try taking the reigns every once in a blue moon. It was just that more often then not you really liked it when I took control. Being ordered around when we fooled around always got you extra hot and bothered. Took me ages to get you to admit it though, because you found it embarrassing. But once we had that really worked out, things got exciting fast. Like… I should stop talking about stuff our counterparts did like it was us, shouldn't I?" Harry stopped himself when he finally registered the incredulous look on Draco's face.

"Yes. You should."

"Right… sorry."

"Bloody hell, this is mental," Draco muttered, looking anywhere but at Harry and still incredibly red in the face. It contrasted starkly with his platinum blond hair and Harry had to restrain himself from saying something about it out loud. He had a feeling that Draco would not appreciate being teased just then.

"I'm not here just because of all that," Draco muttered several moments later.

"Huh?"

"Just because I'm curious and I'm hoping you can… save me or whatever… I mean, you are right. That is a big part of why I agreed to come in the first place. But it's more then just…" Draco made a frustrated, irritated sort of noise and scowled off into the distance.

Harry smiled softly. "That's nice to know. Thanks. I'm hoping that the more you hang around me, the more things will… grow, I guess. I mean, relationships develop over time. I have years of memories of the two of us growing close, but all you've got are years of the two of us arguing and hexing each other. I'm not expecting some miracle.

"I mean, I told myself I'd even be happy with only a physical relationship that had no romantic feelings from you at all, because I thought that was the best I had any right to hope for. When you said you'd fancied me, I knew it was a just physical attraction, not something emotional. There's just been too much antagonism between us, and I know you've got no respect for all my self-righteous Gryffindor superiority, and we both know that most of the stuff I've accomplished the last few years that got any accolades was mostly because I got dropped into shitty situations and was too stubborn to die. Not because I was particularly skilled or talented."

"I don't…" Draco started but hesitated and looked mildly conflicted. "I haven't always entirely hated how you've acted over the years. It was irritating, and the fact that it was like, you could get away with anything because you were Harry-bloody-Potter, was always shite… but maybe some of the stuff you've managed to do was kind of… impressive," he muttered this last bit with the sort of scowl you'd expect from someone who had just ingested one of Fred and George's Puking Pastilles. "Like that dragon in fourth year… that was amazing," Draco added, and Harry was surprised by the authentic tone of his voice.

Harry ducked his head a bit, trying to hide the huge grin that had worked its way on to his face.

"What about me? Did you like anything about me, before this mirror insanity started?"

"I… I'm really not sure," Harry said, shaking his head. "It's so hard for me to remember what it was like before, since so much of what I think and feel right now feels perfectly normal. Like, it's always been this way — even though I know it hasn't. But I do know that Gryffindor-me was irritated that you were so good looking."

"Irritated?" Draco said with a laugh.

"Yeah, and mind you, this was before I'd even admitted to myself that I was gay, but I distinctly remember thinking that it wasn't fair that someone who looked that good was such a prat."

Draco chuckled and grinned. "Honestly, I think I may have had the same thought once or twice."

Harry smiled, then took a moment to just look at Draco, still propped up beside him — the two of them laying on the floor surrounded by veritable mountains of junk — just taking the whole thing in and marveling at the fact that he was honestly happy. Even though his life felt like it had been put inside a blender… at least this one thing made him feel happy.

"Today has been a good day," Harry said with a sigh. "Never could have dreamt that it would turn out this great."

Draco chuckled, smiling back softly. "You know Po… Harry," Draco began, correcting himself, "I know that you'd said that the Dark Lord in this other world of yours was different, but I never ever would have expected him to be that different."

"Hah - yeah. Definitely not recognizable as the same man that we know as Voldemort."

"Only you and Dumbledore actually say —

"Yeah, yeah - The Dark Lord. But Marvolo is nothing like our Dark Lord here. I respect the Dark Lord of my counterpart's world. Marvolo is amazing. I'm still so excited that I got to speak to him. Before this it kind of felt like… like he'd died or something. It felt like I'd lost him forever, and I had no chance to ever see him again. Even if I were to succeed in restoring the soul of our Dark Lord, I knew he'd never be the same Marvolo that I remember. And I never imagined that I'd get to speak with Marvolo through the mirror so it was like… he was just gone. But now I know he's not. It's such a tremendous relief."

"I'm happy for you," Draco said, and Harry was caught off guard by how sincere he sounded. "I'm also rather relieved that you've managed to get such a thorough guide for what steps to take to address the matter of our Dark Lord."

"Yeah," Harry agreed with a relieved chuckle. "Things are really looking up. Even if I still have no idea exactly what I'm going to do if and when I do in fact succeed."

"Mmm," Draco hummed and nodded. "You know, it's getting awfully late and you're going to need to come up with a believable excuse to give your goody-goody worshippers for why you're out so late. It's nearly ten o'clock and I doubt Granger and the Weasel have missed your absence. Honestly, you'll be lucky if they haven't freaked out and reported you missing."

Harry grimaced. "Bloody hell, you're right."

"Well… I do have an idea… for tonight at least," Draco said, and he was giving Harry a rather playful look that caught Harry by surprise.

"Oh?"

"Mmhmm," Draco hummed, a devious look in his eyes as he pushed up and over, catching Harry by surprise and pinning him onto his back. A moment later the blond was attacking Harry's neck, sucking on Harry's flesh and then biting little trails. Harry gasped and let out a startled yelp and chuckle before it morphed into something of a moan.

"Wha… what the he… Draco, bloody hell… keep that up and I might be ready to go another round."

Draco seemed to chuckle against Harry's neck before pulling back and appearing to examine his handy work.

"What the hell was that all about? Not that I'm complaining," Harry asked, pushing himself up onto his elbows.

"I've provided you with an excuse to give your friends," Draco stated, smugly.

"An excuse?" Harry laughed.

"Yes. Evidence of the naughty naughty things you've been up to. Saying that you've been out snogging someone is a considerably less worrisome and threatening excuse than anything else they have have thought up."

It was like a light came on behind Harry's eyes as he got exactly what Draco was up to.

"Oh! So I tell them I've been out snogging someone! Yeah, you're right - that is a much less concerning excuse than just about anything else. And totally believable too. Hah… Brilliant Dray. But the question is, who do I tell them I was snogging?"

"That's not my problem," Draco said flippantly as he fully pushed himself up onto his knees, stood the rest of the way and began to get himself sorted out a bit. His wand was out an instant later banishing the evidence of their earlier efforts, and Harry stood and did the same. Pants and trousers were put to order, though Draco tucked and pulled at Harry's shirt, intentionally making it look a bit disheveled.

"I think I might actually use this opportunity to come out to them," Harry said as he began working around the small space he'd been occupying, gathering up his notes and the mirror.

"They don't know you're gay?" Draco said in surprise.

Harry shook his head. "Nope. Super-denial-mode before all this, remember? Telling them after it started to become obvious I couldn't ignore it anymore would have been too closely tied to the Mirror thing, and I was afraid they were already thinking it had changed me too much. I didn't want to freak them out."

"So what's changed now? It's still been less than two months since the mirror thing happened, right?"

"Yeah, but… I don't know. I've got more of a handle on it now. My head was still super-scrambled before — well, it stil is a bit scrambled, but I feel a little less messed up now than I did before. I think I can pull off coming out to them now. I also think that the shock of it will distract them a bit from the fact that it's really late."

"Well, good luck," Draco drawled as he finished gathering up his own supplies from around the cabinet. "When do you think you'll start working on summoning the soul bits or whatever?"

"I'd like to get started tomorrow, but I suppose it'll depend on when I can find the time. I've got a free period tomorrow, but so does Ron and he'll expect to spend it with me. Plus… I do actually have homework I need to work on."

"Ugh… don't remind me. I'm falling behind in so many of my classes this year."

"Well, I'll keep helping with the cabinet as much as I can."

Draco waved him off. "Don't be silly. Your work is much more important that opening up a secret way for a bunch of crazed wizards to come in and ransack the school."

Harry gave Draco something of a commiserating look. Draco had to work on his assignment because it could mean the different between life and death, but they both knew that succeeding in it would have some other equally unpleasant effects of it own.

The pair made their way down the narrow winding path between towering piles of junk that led to the door and paused there while Harry fished out his invisibility cloak.

"You need help getting down to the dungeons?" Harry asked.

"No, I'll be fine. If Filch makes a stink about it, Professor Snape will take care of it. As far as he's concerned, I'm working on my task for the Dark Lord and he's supposed to help me with things like covering for me."

"Alright, if you're sure." Harry paused then and hesitated. It was strange how he could go from so confident and able to push the blond to the ground and snog him senseless, to now feeling nervous again. It was stupid. With this thought in mind, he pushed forward, kissing Draco forcefully while grabbing the back of his head with one hand.

Draco responded in kind, which was thrilling, and the two had to pull themselves apart a minute later or else risk finding it much more difficult to stop. Harry panted slightly, feeling the thrill rushing through him and having to force himself to calm down.

He grinned, seeing a similar excitement on Draco's face. "Goodnight Draco. I'll try to find time tomorrow to work in here, but if not, I'll definitely see you in the next few days — yeah?"

"Yeah," Draco nodded. "Goodnight Harry. Today was… insane. But… nice."

Draco pushed forward and gave Harry a much quicker peck on the lips as a final parting, and the two opened the door, slipped out, and parted ways.

It only took a minute before Harry was crawling his way through the portrait hold to the Gryffindor common room.

He was still hidden beneath his invisibility cloak and had pushed the Fat Lady's portrait 'door' open slowly and as little as he could manage and still slip through. He peaked around inside and was relieved to find that it was mostly deserted. Ron and Hermione were there, however, obviously waiting for him.

Hermione noticed the portrait hole opening up first and sat up straighter looking at the empty space with a worried yet hopeful expression. Harry glanced around again, making sure no one else was actually looking his way before pulling the invisibility cloak off his head.

"Oh thank Merlin," Hermione exclaimed, jumping up and rushing over. Ron startled to attention and eagerly discarded what looked like it was probably homework and jumped up as well.

"My god, Harry! Where have you been! We were so worried!" Hermione exclaimed, though her voice was somewhat hushed as it was obvious she wasn't eager to draw unnecessary attention to them.

"Er…" Harry muttered before removing the rest of his cloak and jerking his head towards one of the far corners of the room that was presently empty. They followed him over there and sat in a tight circle while Harry stuffed his invisibility cloak into his rucksack.

"Well?!" Ron asked impatiently.

"Well… I was in the Room of Requirement," Harry started hesitantly.

"The Room of Requirement? The whole time? Why!?" Hermione asked.

"Er - not exactly the whole time. I mean, I really did start out with a walk around the castle like I told Ron. I just sort of… ran into someone and we got to talking."

"Someone? Who?"

"Uh… just… someone," Harry muttered, looking away slightly before clearing his throat. "Then we uh… went into the Room of Requirement for some… you know… privacy. And we got to talking some more, and uh…"

"Harry," Ron asked, his voice taking on an interesting tenor.

"Er, yeah?"

"Is that a hickey?"

Harry felt his face flush and was glad for the reaction as it only helped him. Still, part of him was legitimately embarrassed, as well as elated and excited. It really was an amalgam of different emotions.

"I… uhm… yes?"

Hermione gasped, leaning in and looking much more closely now. "That's several hickeys! Harry James Potter! You've been snogging someone!"

Harry couldn't help the stupid grin that spread across his face and he momentarily ducked his head and hid his face behind his hand before peaking out and chuckling a bit.

"Bloody hell, Hermione. You make it sound like a crime," Harry said with a laugh.

"Not a crime," she said defensively now. "Just — Merlin, do you have any idea how worried I was!? And here you were, just off snogging someone!

"I'm sorry! It wasn't really planned or anything. I mean, I seriously had no intention of staying out this late - we just lost track of time."

"Who is we? I mean, who were you off snogging?" Ron asked.

"Was it Cho?" Hermione asked and Harry instinctively made a face.

"Cho?! Oh no - not Cho," Harry said, shaking his head and waving his hands. "Cho… Cho was a mistake, really… a train wreck is more like it," Harry muttered.

Hermione gave something of a one-shouldered shrug, clearly not disagreeing with him.

"I — okay, there's something I've actually been wanting to tell you guys, it's just… it's been hard. Figuring out how to do it — and I want to make sure that you guys don't think that this has anything to do with the mirror, because it doesn't. It was true even before the mirror, I was just more determined to keep my head in the dirt and ignore it. It's just… it's like, I wanted this one thing about my life to be normal. Just one thing. Is that really so much to ask? So I pretended I was. I pretended not to notice — but I can't pretend anymore. Denial isn't healthy anyway, right?"

"Mate, I have no idea what you're even saying," Ron said.

"Harry, just say it," Hermione added, sounding much more encouraging than Ron.

"I… I'm gay," Harry said, and it was so weird to just say it like that. On one hand, he was used to being out from his Slytherin memories, but absolutely not here, in his real world.

Ron gaped, clearly completely blindsided by this.

Hermione's face with a mask of shock as well. "Oh. Oh, wow," she said, seeming to take a second to actually take this revelation in. "Oh Merlin, Harry! I had no idea! Oh, and you've been holding this in all this time?"

"Well, I don't know about that. I mean, like I said I was in pretty strong denial for a long time. The last thing I wanted was for one more thing about me to make me weird and freakish."

"Harry, you are not weird or freakish!" Hermione scolded him instantly.

Harry rolled his eyes and smiled at her. "Yeah, yeah. Well, like I said - denial. It really hasn't been that long since I finally started to come to terms with it."

"So… that thing with Cho—?" Ron asked, and he honestly looked somewhat bewildered by the whole thing.

"Denial? Self-delusion? A desperate attempt to pretend everything is normal? Take your pick, Ron. They're all true, really."

Ron nodded his head in a slow distracted sort of manner before his face scrunched up and he grimaced. "Wait - so that means that you were in the Room of Requirement snogging a bloke!?"

Harry laughed and nodded. "Yes Ron, I was out snogging a bloke."

"Ew," Ron said, his face still twisted up.

"Ron, don't be such an idiot," Hermione said, shoving him him in the shoulder and rolling her eyes.

"So, uhh… who?" Ron asked, switching to hesitantly curious.

"I… I'm not sure I should say," Harry said, looking around as if he were suddenly extra paranoid about being overheard. "I mean, he's not out either. It's really not my secret to tell. And it's not like he and I are really serious or anything. It was just sort of… messing around," Harry finished this, ducking his head and grinning somewhat stupidly. Most of what he said was at least partially a lie, but there was enough reality behind it all that he could easily draw forth the appropriate emotions.

"Well, are you sure he's… safe?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

Harry rolled his eyes. "He's a Hufflepuff." Ron's eyes took on the look of someone counting people in their head, so Harry added, "and he's not in our year. That's all I'm telling you!"

Ron just huffed out a sigh and shrugged. "Fine, whatever."

"Anyway, I might… you know… try to sneak off with him again later this week." Hermione started to open her mouth as if to say something or protest in some way. Harry held up his hand and pressed on, "I promise to let you guys know ahead of time, so you don't worry — okay? And I doubt I'll do it tomorrow because I've got a mountain of homework to catch up on right now. Okay?"

Hermione closed her mouth and looked reasonably satisfied. "Okay. Just be careful."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm fine Hermione. Don't worry."

"Easy for you to say," she muttered.

"Anyway, like I said, I've let myself fall behind on a few things, so I'm gonna try and cram in some work before bed, okay?"

Ron and Hermione both nodded and agreed and soon Harry was able to pull out his school work and get a few things taken care of before heading up to his dorm room and going to bed.