A/N:  Thank you for all the lovely reviews, there isn't much Snape/Harry interaction in this chappy but it does sort show you a little of what's going through Sev's mind (hopefully)     

Chapter eight:  The Difference between the Houses 

    Harry stopped at the door to the great hall, he couldn't go in here, it just, he couldn't face Sev.  Yet, in Sev's perception it was almost two decades ago, he wouldn't be able to remember what Tom had been wearing, some random stranger he could remember talking to for only a few minutes.  He braced himself, taking a few deep breaths.  He could just slip in quietly.

    "Harry, are you OK?"  Harry didn't answer, he was mentally building himself up.  "Hey Potter snap out of it.  You really don't look to bad, here if it'll help."  Draco cast a smoothing charm on Harry's clothes and the Gryffindor burst out laughing, it was all about appearances with Draco.  He abruptly stopped when The Slytherin prince started gawking at him as if he had gone certifiable.

    "Sorry Dray, just a little tired."

    "Yeah well, come on lets go shock some Hufflepuffs!  Its just to damn funny to see the looks on their faces"   Though Harry and Draco had been friends since sixth year they hadn't told anyone till a couple of months ago and the whole school had nearly fainted collectively, and even now people were still whispering about them.  The Hufflepuffs especially believed that it was some sort of joke and that one day they would walk in yelling at each other like old times.  A lot of the Gryffindors were under the same impression but the Slytherins considered Draco's personal life just that and if he wanted to be friends with Harry, well it had nothing to do with them unless Harry gave Draco any haste.  The Ravenclaws saw the strategic value in such alliances, and of course that they might just get along and very rarely had anything to say about it.

    So Harry walked into the great hall greeted with a mass of Hogwarts students in black Hogwarts robes whiles he was dressed in leather and looking rather dishevelled with a smirking Draco Malfoy at his side, late for lunch.  So much for slipping in quietly.

    Harry silently cursed every thing he could think of that could be in any way to blame for this.  Like the doors.  There weren't enough doors in this place damn it.  And the floor was too hard, it made too much of a noise when you stepped on it.

    The raven haired teen looked around the room, deliberately avoiding the staff table.  The Slytherins took stock of the situation and then went straight back to lunch; the Ravenclaws did much the same, the younger years quietly whispering about it.  The Hufflepuffs all looked as if their puppies had just died and were unsuccessfully trying to cover up their wildly speculator comments about whose dorm the Gryffindor hero had slept in last night and the Gryffindor table were staring out right. 

    "Harry a word of advice mate!"  Seamus yelled breaking the half silence, "If you're going to shag a Slytherin try to be less conspicuous bout it!"  Oh yeah, when he had actually been sleeping with Draco no one had ever found out, but now that he wasn't every one thought he was fan-bloody-tastic.

    "Mr. Potter."  McGonagall called from the staff table, Harry groaned and dragged his gaze up.  So far Severus hadn't even glanced his way, refusing to let the brat be centre of his attention ever.  Harry felt a slight sad tug pull at him.  No, bugger it he would not feel sad just because Snape wouldn't look at him, he would not care.

    "Sorry ma'am."  Harry stood uncomfortably in the glare of the grey haired woman.

    "You are not supposed to be wearing Muggle clothes, is there some reason for it?"

    Now that caught Snape's attention, Potter flouting the rules once again.  His gaze panned down, and the fork in his hand fell with clatter milliseconds later.

    Pot, Harry, no damn it, POTTER was looking like sex walking, and there was something so familiar about him, it was more than the flash of annoyance he felt every time he saw the ungrateful Gryffindor, it was something so different to that, it sent a thrilling shiver down his spine and still he couldn't place it.

    The clothes were familiar, the dishevelled hair and glazed eyes of someone who had not had a decent nights sleep.  Potter was looking different from his usual self too, he was lacking the generic robes that covered every thing those sinfully tight leather pants did not, his hair was down, and he didn't have those awful glasses that hid his eyes, he was also wearing stud in his ear.

    Snape had taught Harry on close quarters for three years now, but he had never seen Harry look like this, Potter had always turned up for lessons appropriately, in combat dress, or school robes, and even a Gi, but never like this.  Some part of Snape had always known there was more to Harry than just his father, more to him than a boy that blindly followed what ever any one told him too, and lived up to the Gryffindor title, but how he knew this he could never tell.

    The seeker looked at him with fearful eyes, and then quickly snapped his eyes back to his Head of House.

    "Sorry ma'am, it was, um a dare."  Harry twisted the stud in his ear and then ran his fingers through his hair.  Snape was infuriated at his body's reaction to the simple movement.  Where had he seen Potter like this before?  It was so familiar and he felt like he could grab and kiss him then and there in the hall.  That was ridiculous.

    The boy was lying, that was obvious, but probably only to him, no one else, well maybe Dumbledore, but certainly no one else would be that astute in reading people body language, the subtle hiding of the palms, the dilating of the eyes, the crappy excuse, Potter was thinking on his feet and not very well.

    "Mr Potter."  He hissed out, ignoring McGonagall's indignant humph, Potter was his student, he was far more aware of Har, Potters moods and feelings than any other teacher in the school thank you very much!  And if his pupil had done something so stupid he would be the one to dole out punishment.  He wasn't being protective over Potter, it was simple commonsense.

    "Yes…Yes Sir?"  Harry looked terrified and was avoiding looking at him.  The whole hall was now whispering and gawking, Draco however was still smirking his patented arrogant, amused Malfoy smirk.  Snape had not missed the comment Seamus had made and felt a slight stab of animosity towards Malfoy.  This was ridiculous, he was a teacher, and Potter was a brat, a rule breaker and the 'boy wonder' not to mention James Potter's son and Black's godson.  What ever Harry was reminding him of, what ever feeling Harry's appearance was dragging up had nothing to do with the boy himself, surely?

    "Report to the dungeons after lunch to serve detention for the interruption and twenty points from Gryffindor and in future try not to make up such a pathetic excuse."

    "Yes, yes sir."  Harry sat down next to Herm and Ron who immediately started grilling him on his absence, his appearance, and just anything at all they could try and pry out of him. 

    Snape kept a close eye on Harry, not hard as he was sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the sea of black robes.  Harry lifted a glass of pumpkin juice to his lips and a flash of silver on Harry's wrist attracted Snape's attention.  No, it couldn't be, it wasn't possible.  Images from some twenty years previously invaded his unwilling mind.

~*~*~Tbc~*~*~