I know its been a very long time, I'm so very very sorry. Thank you to everyone for your lovely reviews urging me to continue, I'll do my best to keep less than a year between uploads. Hopefully things will start to flow better.

I hope you enjoy, thanks for sticking around!

Chapter Eleven: In which things get complicated

Harry hummed as he followed his friends down to breakfast, although to the others it sounded like a low, constant hissing, a sound which put not only his friends, but also everyone else on edge.

Ron and Hermione's cheeks blazed as they guarded their friend with glares and openly held wands; Seamus leered appraisingly but thought better when the well-built redhead glared him down.

"Fucking hell, why won't he just stop that?" Ron grumbled.

"He doesn't know what it sounds like from an outside perspective Ron, it's not his fault," Hermione soothed, patting her boyfriend's arm.

"Sounds like the mating call of the four-eyed loser," Draco Malfoy smirked as he pushed his way past the trio.

While everyone else was focused on the ensuing fight between Malfoy and Ron, Harry was instead watching a rather more interesting exchange between Blaise Zabini and Seamus. His dorm-mate bit his lip and SHIVERED as a smug looking Zabini whispered something in his ear, a lingering touch brushing his hip and trailing across his backside.

And then he could hear Snape's voice and his attention was drawn away from the strange pair.

"WEASLEY AND MALFOY!" Snape roared as he separated the two with his wand, "I had hoped that with Potter effectively silenced we might have some measure of peace for a while. I see now that hope was clearly in vain, Weasley, detention with Filch, Malfoy you will have detention with myself and Potter, perhaps with the two of you separated we might get some peace and quiet."

The two boys glared at one another, but they knew better than to argue, "And Potter!" Snape rounded on the boy-who-lived and Harry froze, going silent, "Good, do that again and I'll silence you myself."

The professor stalked up to the table for breakfast, that low seductive hiss had been grating on him since the moment he'd entered the great hall. And jumping a student in full view of the student body and faculty seemed like a terrible career move, although, the many, many ways he could think of to silence the boy were not exactly G-rated either.

"Geez what's everyone's problem today? I was having such a good morning too," Harry moped as he ate his breakfast, completely unaware of the conversation that flowed around him.

Instead, he indulged in his latest hobby, people watching. He almost blushed at the uncountable intimate little touches his two best friends exchanged, he tried not to laugh at the glances Seamus and Zabini shot one another across the hall, which led him to the most unsettling thing, every time he looked up at the Slytherin table, Malfoy looked away, the glances the other was giving him were…. almost predatory.

He wasn't entirely sure what Malfoy was planning but he was fairly certain it couldn't be good.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry's day took a turn for the better once more when they arrived at their first Defence Against the Dark Arts class with Remus, after breakfast he was incredibly glad to see a cheerful face.

Even better, it turned out Remus was a master of non-verbal communication, possibly a remnant of his wolf-form, maybe it was just part of his personality. Either way, Harry actually learnt something! It was actually sort of exciting. Even as the sandy-haired man's voiced washed over him incomprehensibly, he took in his stance, his confidence, the way he held his wand, the way he moved, everything. No wonder they all learnt so much from the man, this wasn't a job for him, this wasn't a joke, everything was serious. From the moment he lifted his wand, he was living in a memory, a serious encounter where performing the correct spell was a life or death matter, he didn't panic, didn't fumble, calmly and confidently he used the best spell he had in his repertoire, confident that it would do what it was supposed to do and that he would survive it.

Harry smiled, there was no need for yelling and blustering in Remus's class, he received respect because he gave it in return. The man obviously enjoyed teaching; it kind of made him wonder why Snape was a teacher….

Harry shook his head to drag his wandering mind back to the current class, it seemed downright stupid not to pay attention in the only class he actually learnt something.

Or so he told himself, really, letting his mind wander to the potions master was becoming a dangerous pastime.

Charms was also interesting, but in a different sort of way, usually Harry spent the lesson trying to say the words correctly, Hermione was always picking up their pronunciation, and their movements, and their… well, everything really. Without the words to focus on though, Harry found himself actually WATCHING the Professor, he watched how he moved, the smooth fluid gestures and the quick, sharp flicks, he watched intently a few times before practising the movement silently, he wasn't entirely sure what it was for, but he kinda figured if he at least got the movement down he'd be able to learn the right words to go with it later.

Their tiny professor came over and gestured excitedly, saying something incomprehensible to the rest of the class and suddenly Harry found the whole class watching him suddenly. Professor Flitwick said something again and stared expectantly, behind him Harry saw Hermione wave her wand and gesture towards him. The boy who lived nodded in understanding and repeated the movement he had been practising and the Professor smiled again and gestured to the rest of the class who continued their own practise.

Fuck. Harry shoved his wand back in his pocket and rested his head on his hands. He was NOT practising anymore. Not if that was going to happen again.

OOOOOOOO

Sal's portrait just stared at him with a highly amused expression as he stalked his way to lunch, "So let me get this straight, you're upset because you were used as an example of exemplary wand work?"

Harry huffed, "When you say it it sounds so…

"Stupid?" Sal supplied, "That's because it is Harry, surely being recognised for good work is a positive thing."

"I'm just…. I'm sick of people fucking staring!" he groused at the founder, "Wherever I go they're all just WATCHING."

"That, my dear Harry, is because the vast majority of them want to jump your bones," the portrait informed him very matter-of-factly as he was about to enter the Great Hall.

Harry choked and froze where he was, "They fucking do not! Just because Draco has been star-"

The other man's grin grew to shit-eating proportions, "Draco huh? Sounds as though my Slytherins are hoping for a Gryffindor of their very own~"

Harry just shook his head and stormed into the hall, taking his seat, hissing angrily.

Malfoy, of all people, did NOT want to jump hi- he just didn't want him, in any shape or form. So there.

The Gryffindors around Harry all jumped and went silent for a moment when Harry's head hit the table with a rather solid sounding 'thunk'.

He groaned and hissed into the table, "I have fucking detention with Malfoy tonight…. Shit."

Detention with Malfoy. Detention with Snape. Both of those things bothered him for two very different reasons.

He worried that Malfoy would try and jump him.

Or he'd try and jump Snape.

Also he had a rather lovely headache developing in his frontal lobe.

And he'd said 'so there' in his head.

"Fuuuuck…."

The end, for now anyways. Looking forward to detention!