Things resumed their normal pattern remarkably quickly. It never ceased to amaze Harry just how quickly people could forget terrible things had happened but then, he reasoned, apart from himself and Draco the only people in the castle who knew what had happened were Ron and Hermione and they were rather wrapped up with the animagus transformation at the moment [Hermione had managed more whiskers and an, rubbery tail earlier this morning and she had refused to go down to lunch until they had helped her get rid of it.] Things with Draco had… well, not exactly progressed but had at least not gone backwards. Dumbledore had decided that he should stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas and Easter holidays and stay with Snape for the summer ones since it was no longer safe for him to return home after deserting the Death Eaters. Each time he passed Draco in the corridors, remembering his need for conversation, Harry tried to think of something nice to say to him; however, so far he had only managed "Alright, Malfoy?" which had been met with a "Sod off, Potter."
However it seemed there was another reason Draco had been jealous of Harry, namely the attention he received from a certain red head, smaller and a great deal prettier than Ron, for Malfoy had now approached her and was whispering something that made his pale cheeks flush.
Sitting next to her however, Ron, rose to his feet enraged. "You have the effrontery to try and date Ginny! I shall see you suffer a thousand deaths for this!" he shouted which a great many people seemed to find extremely funny. Then Malfoy laughed and Ron punched him and Harry decided that it wasn't funny, it was hilarious. Malfoy might have helped him free Remus but he was still a git, even if he wasn't completely evil.
*
Meanwhile Remus had been having trouble sleeping, images of crimson promises and black dogs assailing his senses whenever he closed his eyes.
"Everything."
Naturally Severus Snape was not very pleased to see Remus standing in the crack of his open door. "What do you want?" he snarled.
Remus considered this question. "The truth," he decided. "I smell tea; can I come in?"
"That, my dear Algy, is the whole truth pure and simple."
"The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility."
"That wouldn't be at all a bad thing."
~Oscar Wilde
P.S I know Ali for one will be incredibly unhappy with this ending so I figure I'll tell you what happens even though it detracts from the dramatic effect. if you don't want know, don't read this, however it turns out that Voldemort, knowing from Wormtail and from August what it would take to make Remus join him did not give him veritaserum in its purest form but rather an altered version. When questioned under Snape's potion Remus is relieved to find he would never have given up Harry for the promise of Sirius. And Remus/Snape is a pairing I abhor so let's not even go there, ok? Thanks for reading.