Author's Note: I just wanted to thank the few that left reviews! The encouragement is very much appreciated. I hope you like this chapter! Please, please, please review!! Thanks! :)

Raynea found herself staring at the ceiling for most of the night rather than actually being able to get even a moment of sleep. There was a lot on her mind, for one thing, the Harry and Ginny fiasco. She came to the conclusion that holding in all of her feelings wasn’t doing her any good, so she would have to come to terms with them. The only way to do that would be to confront Harry, something she was dreading to do. Despite her anger, she wasn’t interested in putting any additional pressure on Harry. She truly wanted him to be happy and Ginny seemed to put that desire into action, but she couldn’t go on pretending like everything was okay when it wasn’t.

After a predominantly sleepless night, Raynea got out of bed and showered and dressed promptly before heading down to the Great Hall. She had gotten a particularly early start, hoping to catch Harry before Ginny joined him for breakfast. This paid off, for Harry was sitting on his own at the Gryffindor table when she arrived. She approached him immediately, not wanting to waste any time.

“Hi, Harry,” Raynea said in a calm voice that contradicted everything she was feeling.

“Hey Rayne, you’re here early today,” Harry replied with a soft smile.

“Yeah, there’s a reason for that actually,” she told him with a slight chuckle, “Could we talk somewhere quieter for a minute?”

“Sure,” he said suspiciously, curious to this sudden change in routine.

Raynea led him to one of the outdoor hallways and took a seat on a bench that was there. He followed suit, but was careful to leave some space between them. People definitely liked to talk at Hogwarts and he didn’t want to give them anything to work with.

“So, you said you needed to talk to me,” Harry stated with interest.

“Er—yeah,” Raynea began, starting to feel anxious, “These past few weeks, we haven’t had much of a chance to talk.”

“I know,” Harry admitted, “It’s been crazy. Between lessons with Dumbledore, actual school and…other things…we, uh, don’t really get to see each other.”

“Yeah and there’s something I’ve wanted to talk to you about for awhile,” Raynea said in a hushed voice, starting to lose her nerve.

“Well you can tell me now,” Harry responded with a smile.

“Harry….” she trailed off, “Bloody hell, this is hard…”

“What?” he asked with a puzzled look.

“Talking to you is…hard.”

“What? Why? It’s just me.”

“Exactly,” Raynea stated, casting her eyes downward.

“What’d you mean?” he inquired, appearing quite taken aback by the way their conversation was turning out.

“I just…I’ve been telling myself that everything was fine with you and me, but its not,” she said, redirecting her gaze to him.

Harry looked back at her rather intensely. He knew what she was talking about, but he couldn’t bring himself to admit it, especially not to her.

“I’m really angry, Harry,” she pressed on, “and I can’t pretend like I’m not.”

He looked closely at her, feeling like a complete idiot for not having the guts to say anything in reply. After a short pause, Raynea continued on.

“I don’t want you to think I’m saying all this to make you feel bad. You have the right to be with whoever you chose, but I have to know…why would you ask me to wait for you if you were going to go ahead and date someone else?”

Raynea felt herself starting to get emotional, though she was succeeding in keeping her voice even. She noticed that Harry looked like he knew all the things he wanted to say, but wasn’t able to say them. He glanced over his shoulder for a moment then stared down into his lap before returning his eyes to her face. She could sense his uneasiness.

“I dunno,” Harry said at long last.

“Its okay if you changed your mind,” Raynea told him. She rather find out that he had a change of heart then be stuck in limbo like this.

“It’s not that,” he replied quickly, looking piercingly into her glassy eyes.

“Okay…” she said, feeling more confused then ever. She had come to the conclusion that trying to figure out Harry Potter was completely impossible.

“I just need you to be my friend right now,” Harry stated desperately. He didn’t want to lose her in any capacity. There was a long pause between them where neither one looked at the other.

“No,” Raynea responded in a hoarse voice, breaking the silence and shaking her head.

Harry looked at her with pleading eyes. This wasn’t what either of them wanted.

“I can’t do it,” she added on after a moment as she stood up and made her way down the hallway, leaving him stunned behind her.

***

Raynea returned to the Great Hall feeling as though she had accomplished nothing. That conversation hadn’t ended the way she hoped it would. She didn’t expect Harry to dump Ginny for her, but she thought she would at least get some answers. The fact that she was still able to walk was surprising to her as she made her way over to Ron and sat beside him absentmindedly.

“Where’ve you been?” he questioned as he nibbled on a piece of bacon.

“Nowhere, I was just running late, that’s all,” she replied, staring straight ahead of her in somewhat of a daze.

Ron nodded in understanding as he ate his breakfast then proceeded to joke around with Seamus and Lavender, leaving Raynea to sit with her thoughts. She didn’t mind this. She was more than happy to leave Ron out of it. He didn’t deserve to get involved in this chaos. Though after a few moments, he questioned her silence.

“You alright?”

“Absolutely,” Raynea said, hoping she sounded more confident then she felt.

“You sure? You seem distracted,” Ron told her with a furrowed brow.

“No, I’m just a little tired but I’m fine,” she assured him as she feigned a smile.

He let the matter drop and continued his conversation with the others. Raynea allowed herself to zone out during breakfast, her attention only being caught by Harry’s entrance into the Great Hall. He looked rather melancholy but started grinning after spending a few moments with Ginny and Hermione. Raynea chose only to glance at him once or twice but otherwise made an effort not to look in his direction. She felt his eyes fall on her for a moment and sensed when he looked away. Dealing with this was going to be just as difficult as she had thought.

***

On a cold, Saturday afternoon, Raynea trekked out onto the grounds to have a day of relaxation. After the events of the week, she thought maybe this would lighten her mood. Since the day of her confrontation with Harry, things hadn’t improved much. Raynea had made the decision not to tell Ron about what had happened and this kept her feeling burdened. However, she knew in her heart she was doing the right thing. In addition to that, having lost both Hermione and Harry weighed upon her. She was just thankful to have Ron and especially Shane. Though she hadn’t told him about what happened, he seemed to be extra accommodating the past few days as if he could sense something was bothering her. Also, for the past few nights, she had been getting little to no sleep which left her feeling rather dead, but she pressed on. In spite of all the horrible things she felt, Raynea tried to remain optimistic, though she wasn’t doing a very good job of it. Yet she was successfully keeping her emotions in check, which pleased her.

The wind was strong that afternoon and the grounds were quite barren. It was very cold that day and most of the students had chosen to remain indoors. Raynea past by a few groups of people as she approached the lake and found an area far away from them to make camp. She sat down in the cool grass and leaned against the tree behind her as she placed the stack of books she had brought out to read beside her.

Raynea’s attempts to read were rather ill fated. She found it difficult to focus and the wind kept causing her to lose track of what page she was on. After awhile, she gave up and snapped the book shut before tossing it on the ground beside her. She sighed heavily as she began to overlook the scenery before her. Although it was especially chilly, the grounds actually looked rather beautiful. It was overcast, but the trees gracefully swayed with the wind and the water of the lake appeared to be glimmering more than usual. Raynea took in this scene and felt overcome with emotion. She thought she was doing such a good job keeping what she was feeling inside, but she found that she couldn’t anymore. Tears coated her eyes as Raynea finally began to allow herself to express her unhappiness.

* **

Since the incident from earlier in the week, Draco had not slipped up in his resolution. He had avoided Raynea at all costs, even though it still took tremendous effort. By the time the weekend rolled around, he figured it would be easy to evade her. He planned to spend most of his time in the common room or up in his dormitory with Pansy. Though before he did this, he figured he would get some fresh air. Following a quick trip down to the lake, Draco would only leave the Slytherin dormitories for meals that weekend. He was set in that decision.

Once he reached his destination, Draco lingered in front of the glistening black water for a few moments to breath in the fresh air. A large gust of wind blew by, causing him to take a few steps back and turn his head. He narrowed his stinging eyes as the wind picked up even more and cursed under his breath. A few more moments passed then it settled and he was able to properly see again. As this happened, he noticed a dark haired girl sitting at the base of a tree about twenty feet away. He rolled his eyes in frustration and let out a sigh.

“Bloody hell,” he muttered to himself as he made his way towards the tree.

When he approached, he observed that Raynea’s eyes were glassy and her nose was red. He figured this was from the wind and didn’t question it any further.

“You’re mad for sitting out here when it’s like this,” Malfoy said rudely as he towered over her.

“Yeah…I must be,” she replied quietly after a short pause, never taking her eyes off the distance ahead.

He could tell by her voice that she had been crying and this puzzled him. Draco had never seen her cry, never. He was thrown by this, but was even more confused by his reaction to it.

“Are you alright?” he asked, immediately shocked by what he had just said.

Raynea shrugged and smiled sadly as she continued to gaze off into the distance.

“Not really.”

“What happened?” Malfoy pressed further. He didn’t really take a sympathetic tone, but the fact that he was even asking was strange enough.

“Why do you care?” Raynea inquired unemotionally, still not looking in his direction.

“Just tell me what happened,” he commanded, ignoring her last question.

“No, just forget it,” Raynea said, swallowing and allowing a few tears to fall down her face.

Malfoy inhaled heavily as he took a seat beside her, resting his elbows against his knees and directing his stare towards the lake. Neither one looked at the other while they sat in silence. Another gust of wind blew causing Raynea’s long, dark hair to fly back behind her and Malfoy to squint uncomfortably. A small chunk of time passed and the wind died down. At this point, Draco chose to speak.

“Whatever it is…it’ll be okay,” he stated, his voice not void of encouragement, but not sincere either. Raynea nodded at his last comment.

“Thanks,” she uttered as she folded her lips.

After sitting in silence for a few more minutes, Malfoy stood up and brushed the dirt off his pants as another huge blast of wind started up.

“Bloody hell!” he exclaimed.

Shortly after his outburst, the wind calmed and Draco prepared to take his leave.

“Why did you come over here?” Raynea questioned suddenly, looking up at him for the first time during their encounter.

“Well I was going to come over and bother you a little, but I figured since you were crying it was kinda pointless. Plus, its just not fun when I’m not the cause of your misery,” Draco explained quickly, hoping he sounded convincing.

“How kind of you,” Raynea replied dryly, rolling her tear filled eyes, “Just shove off.”

“Will do,” he said impolitely as he turned to leave. However, something caused him to remain there for just a moment longer.

“I think this goes without saying, but don’t mention this moment to anyone,” he instructed with narrowed eyes, “It was just a fluke, anyhow.”

“Please, who in the hell would I really tell about this?” Raynea asked with a raised eyebrow, “It’s pathetic enough that I even let you try to comfort me.”

“Hmmm…pathetic. Good word to describe you,” Malfoy said with a dark smile.

“Just leave,” Raynea ordered in annoyance, directing her attention back to the lake.

Malfoy held up his hands defensively and offered her a smug eyebrow raise before heading off towards the castle.