Harry had noticed the Seventh Years had become extremely giggly in his class — the littlest things would set them off, it was ridiculous. And his Fourth Year Gryffindor/Hufflepuff class was even worse. They didn't giggle or interrupt, but they barely looked him in the eye.

They still participated a little, but they were weird about it. He didn't know what was going on. He had asked Draco, who had noticed similar problems with the same students, but neither of them could come to any conclusion.

After the entire first half of a double lesson went by with the Fourth Years, and not a single student had raised their hand, Harry finally spoke up. He stopped his lecture and leaned against the board.

"Guys? What's up? It's been like two weeks and none of you guys really participate anymore. Is it my classes? Have they gotten boring or something? I can change things to make them more interesting if that would help."

He was met with more silence, and eyes looking everywhere but at him.

"Come on, seriously. I feel like I'm not doing my job right if I just let you guys not participate. There hasn't been a single raised hand today. None of my other classes are like this, so is there some Gryffindor/Hufflepuff feud going on that I don't know about? What do I need to do?"

A girl in the front hesitantly raised her hand and everyone turned to look at her, many shooting warning or concerned looks. She put her hands out and glanced around, as if to say 'don't worry' and many of the students relaxed.

There was definitely something going on that everyone in the class knew about.

"Yes, Deirdre?"

"It's nothing that's wrong with your classes, they're still very...lovely. It's just that it's a little hard to apply ourselves, because it's a little distracting when...you're teaching.

"What? What's wrong with me? Did I do something?" Harry sounded a little hurt.

He knew for a fact that Binns didn't do the second war lectures until May, so this wasn't some sort of weird hero-worship thing. He had been caught unawares last year when some of the students had started acting oddly around him, and he'd made it a point to keep tabs on the other curriculum so he could be prepared.

"Someone more like," a student mumbled in the back of the class.

Harry couldn't quite make out the words.

"What was that?"

The student sitting beside them pushed the mumbler, and answered for them.

"Nothing. We aren't trying to offend you. There's nothing wrong with you as a teacher, it's just..." They trailed off unhelpfully.

"Just what? What can I do?"

"What can you not do?" someone else muttered.

This time, Harry heard.

"What is it? I'm going insane, what is it I'm doing?" Harry asked hotly.

A couple of students let out nervous giggles, and Harry walked quickly into his office and shut the door before he completely lost it. He may have felt they deserved it right now, but he couldn't take his anger out on the children.

He took the empty vase from his desk and slammed it as hard as he could into the floor. There, that felt slightly better.

He quickly repaired it, and put it back. Draco didn't have to know.

He sat down and slumped forward onto the desk with his face in his hands. These kids were driving him absolutely up the bloody wall. He wondered briefly if they were all on some sort of drugs.

He just didn't know what to do, and they refused to tell him.

On the other side of the wall the students were all very confused at first when their teacher just suddenly walked away in the middle of a conversation and closed himself in his office.

Then they heard glass shattering loudly and their eyes widened. They all looked at each other with similarly guilty 'oh shite' expressions.

"I think we made him angry. Do you think he's going to come back for the rest of the lesson?" someone asked.

"No, really?" another student responded sarcastically.

"I think we need to start trying to act normally. He looked about two seconds away from going completely mad. Just try not to think about...things. I mean Professor Longbottom's married and we don't really think about him."

"But it's different. The professors are always around each other. You never know what they could've just done."

Beth huffed and rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to go talk to him. And I'm going to tell him that we'll be trying to act normal, so we'd better all start."

"What, are you mad? He's really angry, you can't just barge in and start talking to him!"

"He's going to go completely barmy, and he thinks it's his teaching. Somebody'sgot to talk to him." It was clear she was decided.

They watched silently as she walked up to the office door and knocked quietly.

"Yes?"

"May I come in?"

They heard a loud sigh, and the door opened of its own accord and shut after she stepped in with a wave of Harry's hand.

"Yes?" He repeated.

"I just wanted to tell you that we're sorry. We're going to start acting normally, I swear. And it's not you in the sense that you're a bad teacher or anything — really, you're an awesome teacher, I'm pretty sure you're everyone's favourite."

"Favourite? Really?"

"Well, tied with Professor Malfoy, probably."

"Bollocks," Harry swore under his breath.

Beth was amused. Did he really just...? Did they have a competition or something?

"Well, thank you Beth. But could you tell me why this was a problem in the first place?"

She paused.

"I can't, I'm sorry."

"Why? Is it something illegal? None of you will be in trouble if it is, I promise."

"No, no it's not, it's just something we...I'm sorry."

"Okay, well, are you okay? Nev— I mean Professor Longbottom hasn't said anything, but Professor Malfoy said you were all acting similarly in his class."

"We're fine."

"Okay. Just know that you can come to me with anything."

"I really don't think you want us to."

Harry gave her a strange look. "No, really. I mean it."

She sighed.

"Thanks Professor Potter."

"You can tell the others that class is dismissed early."

~*~

Harry decided he might as well confront his Seventh Years today too. 'No time like the present' and all. And perhaps he could ask them if they knew anything about the Fourth Year class.

"Today, I want to start with a few off-topic questions. Do any of you know about something going on with the Fourth Year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs?"

There were a few giggles, and several students looked over at Lydia, Beth's older sister. She shrugged.

"No, we've absolutely no idea," she said blasély.

"Why do I feel like you're not being completely honest with me?"

"Not sure, maybe it's that special instinct of yours. Like how animals won't eat roses because of their thorns, or how salmon go upstream to lay their eggs."

"I'm getting the distinct impression that there's something I'm missing. And that none of you are going to tell me. You're all adults, come on, give me a break! Just, fill me in on something."

"Oh please, you're not the one getting fi—" Lydia clapped a hand over her friend's mouth as most of the room burst into giggles.

"So how does everyone here feel about badgers?" she said loudly, seemingly changing the subject.

"I think they're pretty cute!" someone shouted out.

"Yeah, but I've heard they can pack a real punch sometimes. They can cause some crippling devastation if they've a mind to. Sneaky little buggers," someone else added.

"Wait, is this something about the Hufflepuffs?" Harry asked hopefully.

The class erupted with laughter, and he took off his glasses, mopping his hand frustratedly over his face. He took a deep breath and composed himself.

"Okay, moving on to the actual lesson, since I can't get any straight answers out of you. You lot are going to learn how to do a corporeal patronus."

That got their attention. At least his teaching was good, even if his attempts at confrontation were a total flop.