Epitome of a Soldier - What it is to be Necessary

Hi everyone :)

Look at those reviews! Look at 'em! 102 man! Over 100! Woooooooooooooooooooooo!
Impossibly huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed and who reviews regularly; you all make the writing more fun :D And I hope that I make reviewing more fun by replying to them:

polka dot
I don't think it's so weird that Harry's magic would fade. He was incubated for almost 17 years and so all his magic was stored up, in a way, beyond his capacity. Now that he's living life and using magic a lot, it's going to even out into a more natural and healthy level. That's how I look at it anyway XD

FallenAngel1129
Always nice to hear from a new reader ^_^ I'm glad you're enjoying it :)

thrnbrooke
Yeah, Pansy's a bit of a green-eyed monster at the moment.

Kuromei
*puts a hand over my mouth and shakes my head* I feel like I can't even reply to your review without saying something that would spoil everything XD *hugs Kuromei-chan and then runs away with my hands over my mouth again*

whitewaterlily
Harry will struggle but with Draco's help we know he'll make it through ^_^

MewMew2
Yeah, I thought it made things easier to post them together too ^_^

Snivelly
*jumps on you* Yaya, you're returned! Happiness :D
I'm glad you liked the hotness of the first kiss and yeah, getting a little ahead with the marriage (or maybe you aren't O.o). You had the pleasure of not having to suffer the cliffie which must have been a plus for you. I'm glad to know that you like the final battle
and yes, you were wrong about Harry's living arranagements but that's fine because everyone else was as well :D
Many thanks for each and every review (thanks to you, the total was pushed over 100 :D), they all made me chuckle and feel all warm and fuzzy inside ^_^

Okay, let's get this chapter started :D

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5th September 1997: Morning

Harry's first night at Hogwarts had not been particularly worthy of note. Upon retiring to the dorm room straight after dinner, Draco had promptly gone about rearranging the beds so the one he had slept in for the past seven years could be next to the one Harry had chosen to sleep in. Nothing much more had happened after that. The two teenagers had lay together on Draco's bed while the blond had done most of the talking, explaining the things Harry would need to know to get him through life at Hogwarts from how the schedules worked and how to avoid detentions to dealing with the professor's and the other students. Eventually, it had been time for Harry to go to his own bed and go to sleep. He hadn't actually slept very much at all in the end but he put it down to the fact it was a strange bed in a strange place.

Now it was the breakfast before his very first lesson. As always, his breakfast was nothing more than a cup of tea which he drank slowly from where he sat, once again, between Draco and Crabbe. The Malfoy had already finished his breakfast and was now concentrating on comparing Harry's and his own time-tables as well as those of Crabbe and Goyle.

"So you've got a free period then and I haven't," Draco was murmuring and although he was speaking as though he was talking to Harry, the dark haired youth imagined he was simply thinking out loud. "All your Divination classes are when I have Arithmancy so I won't be able to sit in those with you and you've got two free periods in a row on Friday but only the first one is when I have a class on so I'll join you for the second. Apart from those things, the rest of our classes and free periods we have together so it could be a lot worse, though admittedly it could also be a lot better."

"When do you both have Potions?" Bulstrode asked then from where she was sitting opposite Harry and eating a bowl of cereal.

"Mondays five and six, Tuesdays seven and eight, Thursdays one and two, and Fridays seven and eight."

"Oh, we're in the same class then." The girl said happily. "There are two classes this year, the demand for the subject was so high. Pansy has free periods when we're in lesson."

"I'm in the second class." Crabbe spoke up then.

"Oh good, Parkinson will have company during her free periods then." Draco sneered, sending a malicious smirk in the blonde girl's direction.

The look didn't pass the girl by and she returned the sentiment with a glare. "And what have I done exactly to deserve such a look from you Draco? The last I checked we were on quite familiar and friendly terms."

That, admittedly, peeked Harry's interest though he showed no outward signs of it being so. The way Draco had been treating Parkinson, he had simply assumed he had never liked her. Now it seemed they had, at one point, been on friendly terms and it hadn't been so long ago if the girl's words were to be believed.

"That was before you took such a blatant and uncalled for dislike to Harry." Draco told her icily.

"You're choosing him over me?" Parkinson demanded indignantly.

"I'd choose Harry over anyone." The Malfoy told her easily before glancing to the young man in question. "Finished Harry?"

No, actually he wasn't but Harry recognised the question as a desire to find a way to escape further conversation with Parkinson. "Yes."

"Shall we go and wait for our first lesson then?"

"Very well." Harry agreed as he stood with the effortless grace that hadn't abandoned him like his ability to perform wandless magic.

"We'll see you two at lunch." Draco told Crabbe and Goyle and got two grunts in reply.

Together, the two Slytherins stepped over the benches and began to make their way out of the Great Hall, side by side. They caught the attention of dozens of people from all four houses as they left, all of whom were no doubt curious about their dark haired saviour. When they were half way out of the doors, Draco reached over to find Harry's hand and, upon discovering it, he took hold of it, lacing their fingers together intimately. Harry made no reaction to the gesture; he was used to such a thing and he didn't care if the ones still staring from the tables in the Great Hall saw or not, his ability to feel self-conscious or embarrassed still completely dormant or perhaps not even in existence.

Harry and Draco made their way to the DADA classroom in silence, neither feeling the need to speak and simply happy to share the intimate contact of their linked fingers. When they reached the classroom door, a quick push from Draco revealed that it was locked and so they remained outside. The blond young man leaned back against the wall next to the door casually before he gave Harry's hand a light tug, drawing the smaller form to him so he could wrap his arms around him comfortably.

"We have the whole afternoon free today." The Malfoy murmured as Harry settled against him comfortably, bringing his hands up to rest just underneath the blond's shoulders where he idly ran the pads of his fingers over the warm material of the Slytherin's school robe.

"Yes, we do."

"I'll show you around the school grounds, give you a chance to get a proper look at everything."

"Very well."

A pause and a moment of silence then.

"Harry?" Draco was the first to speak again.

"Yes?"

"Would you mind if I kissed you?"

"Have I minded before?" Harry answered and what may have sounded teasing only sounded like a question when spoken in his stoic monotone.

"No, but this is different. There are more people around who might turn a corner and find us."

Harry pulled back very slightly then so he could peer up at his friend's face. "And this concerns you?"

"No, not at all, I was only worried it might bother you." Draco explained.

"I do not care." Harry reassured him. "I did not pull my hand away before and I will not refuse your advances now. The other occupants of this school are of no concern to me."

Draco looked down at him carefully for a moment, as though he was trying to figure something out. Soon enough though, he was smiling down lovingly at the boy in his arms. "You never cease to amaze me."

Those words only served to confuse the dark haired youth but before he could question their meaning or the reason they had been spoken, he found his lips covered with those of another and he was effectively silenced. It was a kiss the same as the others they shared but it was enough for the teenagers despite its simplicity. For them, the world narrowed until they were the only people left in it, neither caring if the rest of mankind ever returned as long as they could continue to be together as they were at that moment, wrapped in each other with lips joined sweetly.

A clearing of a throat reminded the two boys of reality and slowly, with no real hurry, they ended their kiss and directed their gazes to the right, where the sound had come from. They found the figure of Sirius Black standing just a few feet away from them, an amused grin on his face as he stared right back at them. "Hate to interrupt but other people will be arriving soon and I don't think you really want to be seen snogging by your classmates." He told them as he walked over. Passing them, he ruffled Harry's hair affectionately, something the youth made no reaction to, before he unlocked the classroom door and opened it. "Come in whenever you're ready." And with that instruction, the man who would be teaching them Defense Against the Dark Arts disappeared behind the closing door.

"I'm surprised of how accepting he is of the situation." Draco said quietly, not wishing to be over-heard by the man. "He's the sort of man to bear a grudge and considering who my parents are..."

"He finds it reassuring." Harry said quietly, cutting the blond off half way through his sentence. "Sirius finds my manner unnerving and when he sees us together, he allows himself to believe that I am like others and there is hope for be to become normal."

Draco gave a snort of distaste at that. "Normal. What is normal? It's a completely relative term. As far as I'm concerned, you are normal, Harry, as normal as you ever need to be and besides, if you were like everyone else then you wouldn't be my Harry."

The dark haired youth felt an odd stirring in his chest at the implication of ownership used by his friend but before he could begin to question both himself and Draco, the blond took his hand and began to lead him into the classroom. They entered silently, with Sirius simply glancing up at them when he heard them before he went back to copying something out of a book onto the black board. Draco led them both over to the left hand side of the room where he took his usual seat, one seat in from the left and two rows away from the front. Harry sat on the seat directly to the blond's left, so that he was sandwiched in between his friend and the wall.

And that was how they remained as they waited for the lesson to begin. Harry was leaned forward slightly, his elbows resting on the edge of the desk and his hands carded in front of his mouth while Draco leaned back in his chair casually, idly flicking through the DADA textbook they would be using throughout the rest of the year. Other people began to filter into the room slowly, a low whispered chatter entering with them, but the two Slytherins ignored them completely. They were the only Slytherins in the Seventh Year who were taking DADA so no one ignored them but, as always, as long a no one tried to strike up a conversation or started to ask too many questions, Harry was content to let people stare and gossip as much as they liked.

After ten minutes or so, everyone due to arrive had, a grand total of twenty-two students from all four houses taking the subject. Clusters of seats were empty, most of the ones immediately around Draco and Harry being just a few, and everyone seemed to have grouped together with their house mates. The Ravenclaws were at the front and on the right, the Hufflepuffs were also to the right but stayed at the back, and the Gryffindor were also at the back but to the left, directly behind the two Slytherin students. The quiet talking between students continued right up until Sirius caught their attention, at which point it slowly faded as people focussed on their new teacher.

"Good morning class." Sirius greeted them cheerfully as he began to make his way down the row of desks. "My name is Sirius Black and some of you might recognise me as an ex-Azkaban convict, or more pleasantly as our dear Harry Potter's godfather." As he said that he ruffled said godson's hair, once again getting no reaction to it. The class simply seemed rather bemused by this. "Passing notes between yourselves is encouraged though if I catch you, you will be given detention if only as punishment for letting yourself get caught in the first place. Assignments you can do or you can leave, I can't be bothered to mark essays if you can't be bothered to write them and if that's the case, I think you should be asking yourself why you're wasting your time in school when you could be out there and getting a job."

"So does that mean we don't actually have to do any work?" A voice behind Harry whispered.

"On the contrary Mister..." Sirius quickly answered, the sentence hanging so the male teenager could fill in his name.

"Weasley, Ron Weasley." The voice answered, now sounding embarrassed.

"Well Mister Weasley, to answer your question, no, it does not mean you don't have to do any work. Classes will be tough, challenging you all mentally and physically and I do not tolerate bunking off. If you miss one of my lessons, I want a decent reason why which has been confirmed by your Head of House or another professor. Now, are there any questions?"

The room was silent though the atmosphere was slightly tense. Harry wasn't sure why. Perhaps the students were unsure of Sirius's manner or perhaps they had question they wanted to ask but didn't think them appropriate and so were keeping quiet. Whatever the reason, the tense silence continued to linger until it was once again broken by their teacher.

"All right then," Sirius said brightly as he moved back over to the blackboard. "Let's go over what we'll be going for the rest of the year, shall we?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5th September 1997: Midday

The rest of the DADA lesson had gone smoothly and the next lesson of Potions had gone much the same way. There were countless stares from every student as Harry sat in class or walked down a corridor, he and Draco simply minding their own business, but no one had yet approached him and as he had no desire to approach them, the dark haired youth had yet to meet anyone new. Remus had proved to be a competent and friendly teacher and the whisperings that he was far better than Snape were audible to those who cared to listen. Harry had ignored the opinions. He had no experience of Snape's teachings and so could neither agree or defend the man who was an odd sort of cross between a mentor, a friend, and a mere acquaintance.

Once the Potions lesson was over, Draco and Harry both had two free periods in a row which meant the rest of their day was free and the blond Slytherin had decided that they were going to spend it wandering around the school so the new student could get a better feel for the building. So, from the end of their lesson to lunch time, they had explored every nook and cranny of the castle before heading to the Great Hall for lunch. Then, after eating in the company of the other four Seventh Year Slytherins, Draco had declared that it was time they went outside so Harry could see the Quidditch pitch and the lake and other such things. Crabbe and Goyle had joined them and so there they were, wandering through Hogwarts' grounds, Harry and Draco in the front with their arms linked with Crabbe and Goyle lingering a few paces behind them.

"And here," Draco said as they came to a stop just by the edge of the Quidditch pitch. "Is where the practices and the games are held. You no doubt remember that I told you I was on the Quidditch team and practices start again next week so this is where you'll come to watch me."

Harry said nothing to that. He had trouble thinking of anything quite so dull as watching a Quidditch team practice but if Draco wanted him to be there then he would. He glanced around himself and above. The spectator stands were extremely tall but he supposed they had to be since the sport was played in the air. At that moment there was a team already practicing and judging by their crimson uniforms, they were Gryffindors. It was hard to make out any details as they were up so high and Harry was down so low but if the loud shouts from the teenagers were anything to go by, the team was amused enough by their play.

"The first game is in November." Draco was saying and had not stopped talking since Harry had become lost in his musings. "It'll be Slytherin against Gryffindor, it always is. To be honest, I'm not sure about our chances against them this year. We've lost a lot of our best players and it'll be an almost completely new team, I'll be the only one continuing on from last year. I would suggest you try out but we all know how you feel about broomsticks and heights." He said with an amused grin.

Harry said nothing in reply as his attention was focussed on the form or a ginger haired young man, the same age as he and Draco, who was flying down to more their level. "Oi Malfoy, what do you think you're doing here? Get lost!" The Gryffindor ordered and Harry realised it was the same voice which had been spoken behind him during the DADA lesson.

"Shove off Weasley, you don't own the Quidditch pitch." Draco retorted, his voice raised only so the Gryffindor above could hear.

"But we do own the strategy you're trying to steal." Another male Gryffindor with blond hair and a thick Irish accent joined in.

"Oh please, we might be down a player or two but we're not so desperate as to need or even want to steal your pathetic tactics." After the blond Slytherin had said that, he turned his attention back onto Harry. "C'mon, we'll go down to the lake next." And with that, he began to lead the small group away. When the pitch was a suitable distance behind them, Draco smirked in amusement. "Stupid Gryffindorks, think the entire world revolves around them."

"Do all the Houses show each other such hostility?" Harry asked in a quiet, somewhat sad, voice.

"Not really; Gryffindors and Slytherins are the worst about that sort of thing though that's not saying Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff don't feel the same way about us, they just tend to keep it to themselves more."

"Do you not think that should change?"

Draco seemed to actually think about that question for a moment before he decided to answer. "Perhaps," he admitted. "But I think it's one of those things that can't change. It's human nature to want to belong to a group, to be part of something bigger, and to want to hold grudges and rivalries and share a common "enemy" with others and the separate Houses do that. Perhaps the gap between the Houses could be bridged for a short time but it's nothing that would last very long because as soon as those who created the bridge graduated and left, it was no doubt be burnt down by the new generation and the rivalry would begin afresh."

It was then that they reached the lake where they paused and looked out over the water in silence. Ripples grew over the surface as slight movements beneath caused the water to churn and shift and Harry watched, transfixed, as he thought over his friend's words and their implications. Did mankind really have such a strong desire to cause war and create disharmony? Or was it something else? Were the rivalries created and upheld because it created a purpose? The rivalry gave a purpose to Quidditch, it gave some a reason to study as hard as they could, to improve themselves so that they might beat those whose only difference was to belong to another House, another group. Was the human race really so pitiful that the only purpose they could find in life was born out of rivalry and hatred?

"I do not understand," Harry murmured very quietly, his gaze never leaving the surface of the water. "Why man-kind must find its purpose in hatred."

"I don't think anyone does." Draco said just as quietly. "Perhaps it's because some people never find anything better to do with their life. I used to be like that, I used to be all for the hatred of anyone who wasn't a Slytherin or a pureblood; perhaps I still am. But it's not my main concern anymore," he paused then as he took one of Harry's hands and brought it up to his lips. "I've found my purpose." His voice was gentle and adoring, his lips never leaving behind a kiss but brushing against the flesh of the dark haired youth's hand as he spoke.

Draco offered a smile just over the pale knuckles of the saviour's hand and it was returned with one of Harry's own, the very slight up-curving of the corners of his mouth which coming from anyone else wouldn't be considered a smile. It was a smile when coming from Harry though and Draco felt his heart flutter at the sight. Finally, he placed the kiss on the hand which he had always intended before he laced their fingers together in a gesture that had become both familiar and welcomed by the dark haired teenager.

They said no more words after that and simply turned from the lake, silently continuing their walk around the grounds of Hogwarts, followed by the two burly figures of their fellow Slytherins.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6th September 1997: Morning

Harry's second day of lessons at Hogwarts brought with it the first time he would have a lesson without Draco. It was hard for him to adequately describe what he was feeling as he walked through the corridors on his own, heading towards the attic where Divination lessons were held. What he was feeling, it wasn't enough to be called fear and apprehension also seemed too strong a word. It was strange to be without Draco, to be without anyone, he was so used to always being in the presence of the blond or at least Sirius and Remus. He wasn't lonely and neither was he feeling self-conscious, it was simply a strange feeling. Perhaps it was nothing more than because it was different. He was used to someone else always being around, to be suddenly alone would obviously make him feel odd, and it wasn't as though it was a bad feeling though it wasn't a good feeling either. It was simply a feeling.

You see, it was a very hard thing for him to adequately describe.

The students around him still stared and whispered and pointed, no doubt now wondering why the he was walking the corridors of Hogwarts alone. Draco had offered to walk with him to the lesson but Harry had seen little point and said so. The blond had seemed a little miffed with that and so Harry had explained what he meant a little more, pointing out that it would make Draco late for his own lesson. The fact that the dark haired youth had turned down the offer more for his sake than anything else had obviously reassured Draco as he had perked up and admitted that perhaps Harry did have a point. Then, when the Malfoy had offered the service of Crabbe and Goyle to walk with him, Harry had simply come straight out and said that he was quite able to manage walking somewhere on his own.

Upon finally reaching the entrance to the Divination classroom/attic, Harry easily climbed up through the trap door. He ignored the way the room fell into silence the moment he was spotted and instead moved further into it, heading over towards where the student's desks and chairs were.

"Harry Potter, my dear boy," a woman's voice greeted him and his eyes followed the sound to see the woman who he knew was Professor Trelawney as Draco had pointed her out that morning at breakfast. "Welcome to my domain," she said grandly as she walked over to him. Harry watched her with a rather blank expression as she was suddenly upon him, his right hand in both of hers as she carefully studied the palm with both fingers and eyes. "Oh, I see a great danger in your future," the woman warned him, apparently completely serious. "Hard times are ahead of you."

The declaration and their position did nothing more then attract the attention of everyone in the room. If it was supposed to make Harry react in any way, it failed miserably as the moment the woman had finished talking, the dark haired youth pulled his hand free of hers and turned from her without a word. Under the steady watch of everyone in the room he made his way over to an empty table near the back where he sat down gracefully and proceeded to take up the position he seemed fond of taking during lessons; leaned forward slightly, elbows resting on the edge of the table and hands carded in front of his mouth.

With his position settled, he made no further movements and slowly but surely, everyone in the class came to realised that their saviour was neither going to move again nor speak at all. Slowly, the teenagers in the room turned their attention back onto their professor who still looked rather surprised by the new student's manner. She soon snapped herself out of it though, no doubt prompted by the half a dozen or so stares fixed on her, and she turned her attention back onto the class.

"Has everyone who has realised their destiny arrived?" She asked them grandly. Upon getting no reply, she spoke again. "Splendid, then we shall begin and connect to the energies of time around us."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6th September 1997: Midday

Professor Trelawney was by far the strangest person Harry had met so far. On the whole, the woman seemed eccentric, passionate about the subject she taught, and eager to teach it but still apparently not being all there in the head. However, closer observation revealed that the woman had odd moments of clarity, where she lost the eccentric quality that otherwise seemed to be ever present. It only happened when the woman appeared to think no one was paying attention to her. Harry had been paying attention though and he couldn't deny he was now rather intrigued by the woman. The lesson was now over though and the dark haired youth was entering the Great Hall where his focus would be on eating his lunch rather observing the strange Divination professor.

Upon entering the Great Hall, Harry had immediately noticed that there was only one person sitting at the Seventh Year end of the Slytherin table and that was Millicent Bulstrode. He paid her no mind as he sat opposite her, not even glancing up when she greeted him: "Hey there Harry."

"Good afternoon." He returned quietly; no need to be rude after all.

"How was your first Divination lesson?"

"Disappointing." Harry revealed as he reached for the pot of tea not too far down the table from him. "I am reluctant to jump to conclusions on the subject's merit but I cannot deny that my first impression was that Draco was correct when he said divination techniques are shams which are random at best."

"Well, I personally never had any success with the subject," Millicent recalled, buttering a scone idly as she spoke. "But I've always thought of it like this; there has to be some merit to the subject otherwise they wouldn't teach it."

"That is what I said to Draco." He murmured before he glanced around himself. "Should he not be here yet?"

"It's the lesson before a break, sometimes teachers go over the lesson time if there's something they want to finish discussing. He'll be along soon enough." She reassured him.

They fell into a comfortable silence then, both going about their own lunches. It was just as Harry had finished pouring his tea and was spooning in some sugar that he caught sight of Draco, Crabbe and Goyle either side of him, enter through the doors of the Great Hall. The small amount of anxiety Harry couldn't deny he had felt disappeared in an instant but he gave no outward signs that anything at all was different. He simply stirred his tea.

Upon reaching them, Draco easily stepped over the bench and slid into a sit, close beside Harry. "Hey there." He greeted with an indulgent smile as he leaned closer and pecked a kiss to the dark haired youth's cheek.

The sound of Millicent choking stopped Harry's return greeting before it even had a chance to be spoken and prompted all the boys to look at her and see her holding a napkin against her mouth. She coughed a few more times before she lowered the napkin and spoke in a rather strained voice: "Has Pansy seen you do that yet?"

"Do what?" Draco asked with a frown, still leaning in close to Harry.

"Kiss him."

"Not that I'm aware."

"You haven't then. You know she's going to explode right?"

"Why? I've hardly been pleasant to her lately and I've made no secret of mine and Harry's relationship; she's seen us holding hands." The blond reasoned truthfully.

"She doesn't know it's a relationship though. She thinks it's just the way you treat Harry because he's...Erm, well, because he's..." Millicent hesitated.

"Odd." Harry filled in for her before he lifted his cup and took a sip of his tea.

"No! Well, okay, that's what she thinks." She said with a blush. "I don't think that though, I...I think you're a lovely person."

There was silence at that statement, a heavy silence which smothered all desire to break it. It appeared, at first, that as Draco moved away from being so close to Harry he was the one who was going to break it and rather spectacularly at that, no doubt with a cold warning for her to keep her school girl fantasies to herself. But he was beaten to it, and it was Harry who replied first: "Thank you." Was all he said in his simple monotone.

Harry sensed the change in Draco the second he had spoken. It was sometimes the case that Draco didn't even have to speak and Harry was able to decipher exactly what was on his mind and such was the situation at that moment. The Malfoy was suddenly rather annoyed and though the cause of the irritation was not blatantly obvious, the glare he had levelled on Bulstrode implied that she was the source for some reason. Only Merlin knew what she had done to deserve the dark look and so Harry decided to attempt to remedy the situation, not only to save the girl but also to save his afternoon; a huffy Draco was not a nice Draco.

"Draco?" The young saviour said softly.

"What?" The blond grunted, not sounding at all happy.

"Perhaps you could assist me in identifying the food which contains no meat."

Hard, pewter-grey eyes moved onto Harry and almost instantly softened. Draco obviously recognised what the dark haired teenager was trying to do and whether the desire to resist was there or not, the Malfoy obviously didn't feel the inclination to do so. So, instead, he sighed and gave a nod. "Of course."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8th September 1997: Evening

The days had passed by smoothly and without any significant event. Harry was still getting used to Hogwarts and finding his feet. Although he had seen both of his guardians on several occasions, he had been called to see them both in the DADA classroom and what Harry had first assumed was going to be about school had turned into nothing more than a meaningless gossip session in which Remus and Sirius pumped him for information about what he had been doing and how things had been going during his first few days at Hogwarts.

"How are things going with meeting new people?" Remus asked kindly as they moved on from discussing Divination.

"I have only met the other Seventh Year Slytherins and Professor Trelawney and Headmistress McGonagall." Harry answered from where he sat behind a desk in the middle of the front row, back perfectly straight as usual.

"No one from the other Houses? Not even a few Gryffindors?" Sirius asked hopefully, sitting on the edge of his desk at the front of the classroom.

"No."

"Has anyone other than the Seventh Year Slytherins tried to talk to you at all?" Remus enquired. "Perhaps asked you about your favourite subject or what you think the weather's going to be like tomorrow?"

Harry gave the werewolf an odd look. "Why would I know the answer to a question such as that?"

"Wait," Sirius gasped in a dramatic manner. "You mean the Boy-Who-Defeated-He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named can't predict the future?"

"Sirius, if you can't say anything constructive, just don't speak at all." Remus said with a glare in the dark haired man's direction.

Sirius did as he was told, sending a grin over to the other man and drawing a pinched finger and thumb across his lips in a gesture Harry neither recognised or understood. Remus simply shook his head at the action though and so the youth assumed it was simply one of Sirius' strange ways.

"Anyway, as I was saying Harry, some people might bring up the subject of the weather to break the ice before an actual conversation starts."

Harry stared at Remus blankly for a few seconds. "I do not understand," he said in his usual monotone. "Why is it necessary for ice to be broken before a conversation begins?"

Sirius made a choking sound which was clearly a muffled laugh but he was ignored by Harry and shot a disapproving look by Remus before the Potions professor concentrated on answering Harry's question. "I don't mean literally. To break the ice is an expression, I've told you about them before, remember? An ice breaker is a comment or question which makes a conversation easier to start."

"And why is such a thing necessary?"

"Well, some people find it helpful when talking to people who make them nervous. Not everyone has the ability to not feel self-conscious or embarrassed like you do Harry, and some might not have the confidence to come right out and speak their intent, especially to someone like yourself."

"I see." Harry replied despite the fact he didn't really. He still though it seemed like an awful waste of time but he knew to have Remus try and explain it all to him again would only be a useless and painful process.

Remus seemed to sense that from the dark haired youth as well as he sighed and shook his head. "All I'm saying is that if someone approaches you with what you deem to be an irrelevant and useless topic of conversation, you shouldn't immediately dismiss them as a waste of your time."

"Very well."

"All right then. We'd best let you get back I suppose, you no doubt have an assignment or two that needs to be done." Remus said by way of dismissal.

Actually, Harry had already done the three assignments he had been set, one for each lesson, but he saw little point in revealing that. The conversation was over and it had been another way for Remus to say “you might as well go now”. So, following the instructions, Harry stood from his seat. “Good evening Remus, good evening Sirius.” And with that said, he turned and made his way out of the room, leaving his guardians behind to talk between themselves.