I have got my mojo back. I have managed to think up a good few chapters ahead of myself and am happy with where they are going. I'm still not 100 percent sure where or how exactly I'm going to end this and ideas are always welcome, even though I know it must be hard not knowing what is going to happen up until then. The main thing is I'm finding it easier to write again so that's all we have to worry about.

I can now see this being over thirty chapters. Maybe forty. And I can see myself writing a couple of Draco POV sequel one shots, depending on how I end it of course. Thank you all again for being so supportive in your reviews, especially Enaid Mora for the lengthy and lovely one. Thank you all so much. You'll be happy to know that the chapters get quite long for a while.

Enjoy it!

Part 20

Harry knew that the inevitable about Ron finding out he was gay was going to happen at some point, and he had a sneaking suspicion that it was going to be soon. He hadn't been avoiding him per say but he hadn't been actively seeking him out either, because even after his discussion with Malfoy, he was still a little wary of the whole thing, he just wasn't ready yet. After three days since said discussion however he thought Ron might start to notice his avoidance.

"Are you coming mate?" Ron asked as he got up from the table at breakfast on Tuesday morning. Harry snapped from his little daydream and looked up at Ron frowning back at him expectantly.

"I'll be there in a minute, forgot my essay upstairs," Harry said, avoiding his eyes and throwing in a casual shrug to make everything seem that little bit more normal.

"Alright. Just hurry up. I don't like going in there on my own, the dungeons give me the creeps," Ron said. Harry smiled and nodded and that was enough for Ron to go on his way alone, Hermione having already rushed off to ask Slughorn a question before any other students could get there. Harry stood from the table and took his time with making sure he had everything in his bag, so that he could pick it up in his dorm while he was there for his essay.

Within five minutes he was down in the dungeons, essay scrolled up in his hand and entering the potions classroom, apparently last if the expression on everyone's face when they turned to stare at him was anything to go by. He mouthed a sorry and peered around for a free seat. Of course as his luck would have it the only free space was next to Malfoy. He didn't really mind if he was being honest but he knew someone that probably would.

He dumped his bag at his feet and placed his potions book and scroll on the table top while he fished in his pocket for a quill, coming up pretty much blank, apart from an old scrap of parchment and a sweetie wrapper. He swore under his breath only to be presented with a long feathered quill from somewhere on his right. He looked over at Malfoy whose eyes were on the front of the class but was grinning.

"Thanks," Harry whispered and took the quill and pulled a piece of parchment closer to him.

He could feel eyes on the back of his head but tried to ignore it as Slughorn gathered all the essays from them, stopping to chat casually with Harry as he did so. Slughorn moved on and Malfoy turned slightly to angle his body in Harry's direction in his seat.

"As far as he's concerned the sun shines out of every orifice with you doesn't it?" Malfoy said.

Harry grinned, "Jealous Malfoy?" he asked.

"Fuck no. I got over that a long time ago," Malfoy said and gave Harry a meaningful look that told him that he was being completely truthful about that. He then looked past Harry's head, narrowed his eyes and then smirked. Harry could already tell who he was looking at.

"Ever feel like your being watched Potter?" he asked. Harry couldn't not turn around now and sure enough found Ron staring at him with a look of pure confusion on his face. He mouthed a 'What are you doing?' at him with a coupled gesture at the space between him and Hermione that they had obviously made for him. Harry bit down on his bottom lip and had no better idea but to shrug in response.

"Still not sure then?" Malfoy asked, smirk gone as soon as it had appeared and clearly referring to their previous conversation on Saturday night.

Harry sighed as he turned back to face the front and twirled his- or rather Malfoy's- quill around his fingers. "I just know he's getting closer. I'm just waiting for him finding out and avoiding him until he does,"

"Potter, you're an idiot," Malfoy said shaking his head. Before Harry could ask how he had gotten to that conclusion, Slughorn had drawn the attention of the class back to him as he started to talk through what written work they would be doing before they moved on to the practical today, considering it was a double lesson. They opened their books and then fell into silence as they started to work away.

Harry had to ask to borrow Malfoy's ink as well as his quill and so they kept the well in between them, so that they could share it. He attempted to ignore Malfoy completely and keep his mind focused on the book in front of him. The key word there was clearly attempted considering he certainly didn't manage to. He could feel Malfoy's leg, just inches from his own, not quite resting against his but, close enough to feel the heat coming from it and it was driving him pretty close to the brink of insanity.

The silence around the room was pushing in on him and making everything extremely awkward, for Harry at least. He shifted multiple times in his seat, not quite managing to get comfortable, certainly not with the stare he could feel on his back that went hand in hand with the tense leg, only millimetres from resting on his.

He went to dip his quill into the inkwell to continue writing words he no longer understood or was even sure made sense, and his hand collided with another. He looked over at Malfoy and mouthed a 'sorry' to which Malfoy responded with a smile and a shrug. The tension between them increased ten fold.

After an hour Harry was more wound up than a wind up toy. His knee was jittering and he felt three times warmer than he normally did in the damp and cold dungeons, even his heart was beating faster than normal. They entered their second hour and things were only about to get worse as Harry and Malfoy had to work on a complicated antidote together.

"Alright Potter, we all know you're not the brightest at potions so I'm going to take the lead here alright?" Malfoy said with a glorious smirk.

Harry rolled his eyes before he smiled slightly. "Not that I like to agree with you about my lack of potions ability or anything, but I'm quite happy for you to do that,"

"Thought you might be. Now, chop the lily root into pieces this size. They all have to be exactly the same so for the love of God be careful," Malfoy said while he pushed the knife, lily root and chopping board at him. He rolled his eyes but was still smiling as he did as he was told. He felt himself start to relax again now that they were talking and not sitting in that awful awkward silence.

Harry carried on with his task carefully; because he wanted to do it right, mainly to prove to Malfoy that he wasn't a complete waste of space when it came to his favourite lesson. He took his time and stood up straight and proud when he was finished. Malfoy just grinned and gave him something else to start chopping while he read the instructions and followed them out.

By the time Malfoy corked up the potion and was getting ready to give it to Slughorn for approval, Harry's hands were cut, dirty and bloody with all the cutting and chopping that he had to do. He didn't really mind that he didn't really know anything about how to make the potion like he should, he was just happy that Malfoy seemed satisfied with what he had done. They'd worked mostly in silence and Harry had been more than comfortable this time, since he had something to occupy his mind other than how close their legs were.

He was leant over the work table, gathering all the scattered ingredients and supplies when two hands gripped his hips and a body brushed past behind him. He jumped and bolted up straight gripping the jar of newt eyes a little tighter than necessary.

"Shift over a bit, need to empty the cauldron," Malfoy said and as quickly as his hands had appeared on Harry's hips they were gone again. Harry blushed, dipped his head and mumbled a 'sorry' before he shifted to the side to let Malfoy through.

His heart was beating wildly again and he was sure the temperature had just gone up. He realised he was stood stationary and hastened to put the newt eyes away in his supply kit before anyone noticed he seemed to have been locked in a body bind curse. Things like that shouldn't bother him the way it did but he couldn't help it, his mind was far too overactive for anything like that to just be ignored. He could still feel the pressure of Malfoy's hands on his hips even though they had only been there for a few seconds.

They tidied the bench together occasionally brushing and bumping against each other, but neither of them saying anything, Harry out of embarrassment and Malfoy probably because he didn't even notice. They were quickly dismissed with promises of the results of the potion they had made in the next lesson.

"I'll see you tonight Potter," Malfoy said quietly, stopping on his way past to say it so close to Harry's ear that he felt his breath brush against it, and shivers go straight down his spine.

"Er, yeah. Tonight," Harry nodded and Malfoy was gone before he could think of anything more productive or sophisticated to say. Before he could drive himself crazy by dwelling on it any longer Ron had joined him and Hermione wasn't far behind.

"Why'd you choose to sit with him mate? You know Slughorn loves you enough to let you get away with going in a three with us," Ron said. He looked more confused than anything else, bewildered at the thought of Harry choosing to sit with Malfoy rather than putting up a fight about it.

"I didn't want to cause a fuss, plus he's not so bad," Harry shrugged and shouldered his school bag so that they could start to leave. He caught Hermione's eye and she was biting her bottom lip and looked a bit anxious. He suddenly felt like there was something she wasn't telling him.

"Not so bad? Harry, are we talking about the same person here? Malfoy the Death Eater?" Ron asked as they squeezed out of the door and into the corridor.

"Ex-Death Eater, Ron. He's changed," Harry said. This was exactly the confrontation he was trying to avoid.

"Changed? Yeah, right. Malfoy's don't change, they just get better at being evil," Ron said.

"Ron, stop it, we don't know that. Harry's talked to him more than we have since we've come back, he knows what he is talking about, don't you Harry?" Hermione interjected, still looking more anxious than ever. She clearly didn't want this confrontation to happen right now any more than Harry did.

"Yeah, er, I guess," Harry said peering across Ron at Hermione a little puzzled at what she was attempting to do, because from where he was standing she was only making it worse.

"When have you been talking to him exactly? All you've done this year is go to class and hang out in the common room with us," Ron challenged and Harry felt panic start to develop in the pit of his stomach, this was happening far too fast for his liking.

"Well er, we just have okay Ron? Things are different now, we've all grown up. I'm not asking you to get on with him Ron, just asking you to accept that I now do okay?" Harry said and he launched himself forward before Ron could respond.

Okay so maybe Ron didn't figure out he was gay yet, and Harry didn't tell him either, but the fact that he found out about his friendship with Malfoy was confrontation enough for one day. He knew that would take time enough to sink in for Ron and didn't want to shock him quite too much.