We Need To Talk *Harry*

He was standing against the wall not far from the Library on the fourth floor corridor. He was waiting for Po-Harry, because they needed to talk. The two of them had to make some kind of truce, for Ren's sake. He had promised Ren he'd be nice to him, and this was his first step in trying. He needed to prove to himself that he could spend time with Harry alone, without finding some way to insult him. Unfortunately that had pretty much become second nature. He just had to hope this worked.

he thought he heard footsteps and turned his head in the direction. Heading down the hall was none other then Harry himself. He took a deep breath and turned to face him completely. He was about to say something, but the words caught in his mouth. He had to try, and he had been about to say something on the rude side.

"Hey." That was all he was going to try to say for now. Hopefully he'd be able to manage more then just that eventually, but for now, it worked.

Harry had just come from the library. Hermione was forcing him to study again, and he knew that in the end, she would be right. But that didn't mean he had to like it. He smiled softly, thinking about Serenity. He had become even closer to Serenity in the past few weeks, what with the revelation of her mother and brother. Harry knew that it was still a difficult transition for Serenity. But she loved Aurora and Miles already. It was no wonder that they were an actual family.

But Harry's smile soon faded when he saw Malfoy. That git was up to something, there was no doubt in Harry's mind. Serenity had practically begged him to make peace with Draco, but there were just some impossibilities in life that could not be overcome. The sun would never rise in the West. The tides would never stop. And Draco Malfoy would never stop being an ass. It was one of the laws of nature, written in stone. In fact, Harry was pretty sure it was written in the stars somewhere. He would have to go ask Sirius about that.

“Hey?” He said, incredulous. “You make my life a living hell for the last three years, and all you have to say is 'hey'? Merlin, Malfoy...you're losing your touch.”

He rolled his eyes and leaned back up against the wall. He knew something like this would happen, it seemed he was trying harder then Harry to come to some kind of peace. Then again, he'd known Ren much longer, and always wanted to keep her at least somewhat happy. He turned his head to face Harry again.

"I'm trying to be civil and this is what I get?" He sighed and faced the opposite wall again. He'd thought, with the fact that Ren was Harry's girlfriend, he would try to get along for her sake. Was he the only one who cared enough to try? He decided to keep that thought to himself though, since that would probably start some kind of argument, which was exactly what he was trying to avoid. he decided to cut to the chase and get it over with.

"Look, i'm pretty sure you don't like this any better then I do, but for the sake of Ren's sanity and happiness we are going to have to at least try to get along." He had spoken to the wall, and held back a smirk at that. He turned to face Harry once more, waiting to see what he was going to say to that.

Harry scoffed. He could see through Malfoy in a split-second. There was no way this ploy would actually work on him. He could say he cared about Serenity until he was blue in the face, Harry knew that Draco was selfish. He was doing this for some kind of underhanded purpose. It was just who he was.

"You think that saying 'hey' to me makes you civil? For all I know, you had ulterior motives. I give my trust to those who show they deserve it, Malfoy. You have never earned it. Don't you remember the way you've treated me and my friends for the last three years? You've called my best friend a filthy mudblood more times than I can count. You tried to get Hagrid arrested, you've cheated, stolen, lied. Why would I ever try to get along with someone who abuses their so-called station in life that way?"

The Malfoys all thought they were God's gift to the world. Their pure-blood status was like a pedestal for them to stand on. Well, Harry wasn't kneeling. And if he thought that Harry would forgive him for everything he had done, just because Draco was sucking up to Serenity, he had another thing coming.

"So here's what I will do for the sake of Serenity's 'sanity,' as you say. When I see you, I won't punch your stupid, fat face in. But we will not be mates, we will not hang out. I am Serenity's boyfriend, but I will not become your lackey because of it. You have enough of those."

"Did I ever say we should hang out? Better yet be 'mates'?" He literally had to bite his tongue to keep from insulting Potter at this point. He stared at the wall behind Potter. He should have known, Potter couldn't stand him, he couldn't stand Potter. It was the natural order of things. He still didn't know what Ren saw in him, but then again he wasn't a girl. He was at the point that he was just going to turn and walk away.

"Oh, and just for the record, I have never cheated and I did not try to get that oaf Hagrid arrested. If you want to talk to someone about that, talk to my father." He turned his head to the side, he wasn't going to be the one to walk away. He would stand here as long as he liked.

“Why do you care, anyway? Do you have feelings for her or something?”

Harry could not believe that Draco was trying to make him out to be the bad guy here. From the very beginning of his time in Hogwarts, Harry had seen who Draco Malfoy truly was. He had stolen the remembrall from Neville that first day they had learned to ride brooms. And he had never hidden his dislike for muggle-borns. Harry had tried to look past Draco's dark tendencies once or twice, but once a person's true colors came through, it was hard for Harry to overlook them.

“Listen, Malfoy...I don't really know what you want from me. How about you spell it out, because I told you all I can do. I'm not going to try picking fights with you. But if you do anything to hurt any of my friends again, I can't make any promises that I won't react.”

"That's just it, I'm not going to." He knew that good amount of his actions were his own, but he also knew that many of the things that he did and said were a result of his fathers actions. He truly was his father's son and he hated it. He looked at him again, knowing he was talking about Ren.

"I've known Ren since before Hogwarts, and honestly she's like my sister. Shockingly enough, I have the ability to care about someone, and I care about her." His father had been no help to that at all. He sometimes wondered if his father even knew if he was in the room. He wasn't going to tell that to Potter though. It wasn't something he really needed to know.

Harry looked back at Draco with an eyebrow raised. Did he really think that just because he cared about Serenity, that made everything better? He could say that he would change until he was blue in the face, but someone like Malfoy just didn't change. However, he was getting bored with this conversation and he really just wanted to find Serenity. He pulled his bag further up his shoulder and looked down the corridor to see if he could find a proper excuse to get away from his nemesis. He saw no one and groaned inwardly. He turned back to Draco and sighed. This was not going to be easy.

"Alright fine, I will admit that you do treat Serenity well, and I appreciate that. She needs good friends right now. Did you hear about what happened with her mother?"

Everyone had always known that Severus Snape was Serenity's father. But until recently, even Serenity was unaware that her mother was Aurora Maddox, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Professor Maddox had been like a mother to Serenity anyway, so it wasn't too hard for Sere to accept her. But knowing that her father had lied to her for all those years was a big blow. And in addition, Aurora had also kept another secret. Her son, Miles, who was a Gryffindor Prefect, was also the biological son of the headmaster. So Serenity had found out about her mother and brother in one fell swoop. And to top it all off, Miles had been attacked and had almost died twice. Serenity was dealing with a whirlwind of emotions right now and she definitely needed her friends close now.

"She needs support right now. So for her, I would be willing to put our little feud on hold. But I'm watching you, Malfoy."

He would not let any more of his friends get hurt by the pure-blooded exploits of Draco Malfoy.

He was a little shocked when he said something about Ren's mother. He supposed she hadn't gotten around to it yet. She'd tell him eventually he was sure... Not that he'd tell Potter. He looked at him.

"Understandable." He looked down the hall, and considered leaving. Maybe if he went to the Slytherin Common Room he'd see Ren and she could explain what Potter was talking about. If she really had a lot going on, it would explain why he didn't know. He hated to admit it, but Potter had a bit of a right to know first.

Harry sighed. This was going nowhere fast. All he wanted to do was get out of Malfoy's presence and find Serenity to see if she needed any further comforting. He had been around the day before when she had gotten in a fight with Miles. He was still recovering from his injuries and the post-infection, but he was being a major prat about it. Harry even found himself feeling bad for Snape with the way Miles was acting toward him.

Merlin, now I'm feeling sorry for Snape? I have to get my head examined, he thought to himself.

He turned back to Draco and attempted a nod. "As delightful as this little meeting was, I need to get going. Serenity needs friends right now, as I said. There aren't many people in this school who really know her for who she is. Make sure you don't abuse that privilege."

And then he was off down the corridor, ready to try and forget that anything strange had happened with Malfoy in the first place.