(discontinued) together? always. ; harry potter

16 ; late-night talking

"I'm sure you'd love to go with Atlas."

It'd been close to midnight when Harry, swallowing as much pride as possible, got out of bed and went over to the dorm next to his. He'd been trying to understand how anyone in their right minds could possibly publish such a hurtful paper, when he asked himself the obvious question: why hadn't anyone else mentioned it? Surely Ben, Liliana, Ron, or Hermione would've brought it up, but they hadn't. Why? Harry wanted 一 no he needed to find out.

He only had to knock twice before being met face to face with Atlas, who in part consciousness, asked, "Waz time's it?"

"Late," answered Harry, "or early," 一 Atlas's brows furrowed 一 "it's midnight."

Rubbing his eyes, Atlas now saw (without sleepiness fogging his view) who'd been standing in front of him, and he made a quick attempt at shutting the door, but Harry swiftly grabbed it and said, "We need to talk."

"Fine," said Atlas after stalling for a few moments. "One minute, starting now."

Harry wanted to laugh, there was no way Atlas could actually be keeping track of 一 "50 seconds," he reminded Harry.

Okay, so he wasn't joking. Thinking quickly he asked the two questions that had been itching him the most: why hadn't anyone else seen this? And more importantly, why was Atlas still acting cold towards Harry?

"Is that all?"

Harry nodded, and was preparing himself to hear the answers to what he was sure was the start of putting this all behind himself, when Atlas said, "All right, well time's up."

"What?" questioned Harry, eyebrows raised. "You're not even going to answer me?"

Atlas shrugged. "I never said I'd do the talking."

"You're unbelievably stubborn."

"You've just noticed?" questioned Atlas sarcastically.

Even with the dim moonlight, Harry could see the storm starting in his friend's eyes which bothered him a great deal. Atlas shouldn't be the one getting upset, if anything Harry had every right to be the irksome one between the pair.

Trying to keep his calm, although it was difficult when the person he was talking to seemed to not care at all, Harry asked, "You won't even try 一?"

"That's right," interrupted Atlas in a taut tone. "I won't even." And with that, as though no conversation had been held at all (which in part was true), Atlas muttered a 'goodnight' and closed the door and left Harry standing in his pajamas feeling like a complete idiot.

With a heavy sigh he turned on his heel and walked, defeated, back into his dorm and got into bed. As he lay awake, Harry supposed that maybe Liliana had a point in regard to Atlas's perception of the public compared to his own. But why would the Triwizard tournament bother him so much, after all, Harry wasn't at all fond of the attention, he never had been. So what was bothering the gray eyed boy so much? Not having any clue to the wonders of Atlas's mind, Harry tried focusing his own thoughts on the older Black: Sirius and their meeting seemed to be the only bright spot on a horizon that had never looked darker.