John didn’t wake up from natural causes, something woke him. At first he ignored it, turning over and trying to go back to sleep, but it shook him more and his eyes flew open. The first thing he saw where the startling green eyes, not inches away from his face. John jumped, feeling himself blush, and trying to inch away.
“Time to go back.” Sherlock said.
“So soon?”
“Now you’re the one who doesn’t want to get up.” Sherlock pointed out.
“Then you’d perfectly understand my pain.”
“Get up, come on, we’re going to be late.” Sherlock said in a terrible impersonation of John’s voice, pulling annoyingly on John’s arm but not strong enough to actually lift him up.
“Okay, okay, I’ll get up, just give me my space.” John groaned. Sherlock stepped back, leaning his back on the wall and smiling as John dragged himself to his feet, brushing his robes off and checking that his wand was in his pocket.
“So did you watch me sleep the whole night?” John asked with a small smile.
“You snore, did you know that?”
“No.”
“Well you do, and it’s quite annoying.” Sherlock pointed out. John rolled his eyes and blushed even more.
“I’ll take your word for it.” he decided. Sherlock walked out of the little crevice, looking around to make sure there wasn’t anyone out there, and slipped out into the dewy morning. John walked along, feeling water soak into his shoes, making him scowl.
“Hurry up.” Sherlock groaned, way ahead of John as he was trying to tiptoe around.
“Just to be sure, it’s perfectly okay to be out here now?” John asked.
“No of course not, considering we were out here all night, but if they don’t know the full story it’s fine, yes.” Sherlock decided. John groaned, trying to pick up his pace. Sherlock reached the doors before he did, which were now wide open for the kids to go outside during breakfast. They walked up the stairs together, hoping they didn’t look suspiciously dirty or anything from their adventure in the woods. Thankfully they made it to their common rooms without coming across a single person, everyone was asleep apparently. They said their goodbyes, Sherlock going back to his Ravenclaw common room and John telling the Fat Lady the password, letting himself in. It was completely empty, letting John sneak into the dorms and grab new robes out of his trunk. He took another quick shower, thankfully washing all of the mud and dirt out of his hair. When he was done he went back to the dorms, grabbing his bag and about to slip out when Greg’s voice stopped him.
“Where in the world have you been?” he demanded, making John sigh.
“I went after Sherlock, he was in the forest again, so we just camped by the castle walls so we didn’t get in trouble.
“That is the most rubbish answer I’ve ever heard!” Greg decided.
“Well, it’s true, ask Sherlock.”
“He’s probably plotting it with you.” Greg muttered, rolling over and burying his head in his pillow.
“Do you really see him as a good liar?” John defended.
“No, I suppose not.” Greg shrugged.
“Exactly.” John said, and with that he slipped out of the dorms and into the common room. People were starting to stir now, and thankfully no one else questioned John about where he had been the last two nights. He didn’t have a good cover story, so it was probably good that they didn’t ask, he doubted anyone else would believe that he had been sneaking around the forest with Sherlock. John opened the portrait hole and walked through the halls, looking around for Sherlock but doubting they’d run into each other in the hallways. When he got in the Great Hall he found he was right, Sherlock was seated at the Ravenclaw table, not eating anything but propping a book up on his empty plate. John was about to go over and join him, but Sherlock noticed him first, cocking his head in the direction of the staff table. At first John didn’t know what he was getting at, but he looked up to see that Umbridge was seated in her chair, sipping tea with a big, fake smile on her face as she looked over the students at the tables. John didn’t make any sign that he had even understood Sherlock, he just went over to the Gryffindor table and sat down alone, loading food onto his plate. He hated to be lonely, but he found that he was absolutely starving from last night. Sometimes he’s look over to Sherlock, who would be either looking at his book as a cover up or be looking right back. Both of them would smile, but usually Sherlock would go right back to his book again. John felt like there was a huge spotlight on both of them, Umbridge was completely focused on him and Sherlock, but when he dared to actually look she was daintily cutting waffles. She was so evil. Finally when Greg showed up, John was just about done, scraping the remainder of his hash browns onto his fork.
“Where have you been?” John sighed as he sat down.
“That’s a question I was sort of hoping you would answer. Mycroft and I were worried sick.” Greg pointed out.
“Okay, so I saw someone going down to the forest, followed them, it was Sherlock, he wanted to stay down there and I wanted to go back to the castle so we improvised and slept in that crevice between the tower and the wall.”
“Why’d he want to stay down there?”
“Apparently he didn’t want to be in the Ravenclaw tower, wouldn’t tell me why though.” John shrugged. Both he and Greg looked back at Sherlock, who was still reading but slightly blocked by a Hufflepuff sitting in the table between them. From here the cut was almost invisible, but John knew that, in a closer distance, it was probably very obvious.
“He’s a bit odd.” Greg decided.
“You’re just getting that now?” John laughed.
“No, but I’m pointing out the obvious. It’s like he has this huge secret, that must be why he doesn’t hang around many people.” Greg guessed. 
“What in the world would he be hiding? That he’s never had a girlfriend?” John said sarcastically.
“I don’t know, he’s just a mysterious kid.” Greg shrugged.
“I guess he is, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with him.” John defended.
“I know there isn’t anything wrong with him, it was just an observation.” Greg pointed out. “Oh, there’s Mycroft.” He said, sort of excitedly.
“Don’t even look at him, you hate each other remember?” John pointed out. AS if on cue, Mycroft made a beeline over to the Hufflepuff table, saying hi to a black haired girl with a big smile. They exchanged a couple of words and she laughed a very loud, annoying laugh at something he had said. Greg tried not to scowl, but John could feel him tense up. John under stood, he would be practically fuming if he saw someone giggle like that with Sherlock. After a little bit Mycroft went back to the Ravenclaw table, sitting next to Sherlock, who just slid two seats over to avoid sitting next to his brother. Mycroft just rolled his eyes, making quick eye contact with Greg, but they were definitely the ones with a spotlight on them, not John and Sherlock.
“Sorry you had to see that.” John laughed.
“Disgusting.” Greg agreed.
“That’s how you two look when you flirt too.” John pointed out.
“Except I don’t giggle.”
“Well….”
“No I don’t.” Greg snapped, making John laugh. When they were done with breakfast they headed off to Transfiguration, where McGonagall just taught them how to transfigure a mouse into a matchbox. It was quite boring, John was never really good at this branch of magic, and his matchbox would squeak and wiggle around when he tried. Greg’s was worse though, his had two pink ears sticking out and two legs, one front leg on the right and a back leg on the left, making the poor mouse/matchbox hybrid struggle to scamper away. John wondered just how painful it would be to be transfigured poorly, but he didn’t really have time to worry about stuff like that. Then they walked off to History of Magic, which was pretty much an involuntary nap class. Greg had the hidden talent to sleep with his eyes open, so when he snored it only looked like he was making weird sounds. Finally when that was over, and after he managed to wake Greg up, were they off to lunch. On the way over they saw Mycroft standing near the staircase, waiting for them apparently.
“Hey Mycroft.” Greg said with a big smile.
“I was thinking, since Umbridge is watching over us in there, that we grab some lunch and eat outside.” Mycroft said, getting right to the point.
“Sounds great!” Greg said, not bothering to hide the excitement in his voice.
“And you and Sherlock are welcome to join us.” Mycroft added to John, who nodded.
“Where is he?” John asked.
“Should be coming soon, he wasn’t in the Great Hall.” Mycroft guessed. AS if on cue, Sherlock emerged from the potions hallway, his bag swinging around and hitting some poor Hufflepuffs, but that only seemed to amuse him.
“Oh yay, a family meeting.” He sighed, seeing the three of them standing around near the staircases.
“We were going to get some sandwiches and eat outside, what do you say?” Greg asked.
“I say that’s stupid and I’ve had my time outside for today.” Sherlock decided.
“Well too bad, I’m forcing you.” John decided with a pleasant enough smile.
“You’re not the boss of me.” Sherlock pointed out.
“He is.” John said, pointing to Mycroft, who flashed his Head Boy badge.
“And I’m saying you’re coming.” He decided.
“Oh just graduate already.” Sherlock groaned, but in the end he wandered outside with them. John was doing his best with juggling a sandwich, a cup of pumpkin juice, and his bag all at once, and Sherlock, who was empty handed, made no attempt to aid him in anyway. They unloaded under one of the trees that they Sherlock and John had hid under, dumping their bags and sitting down with their food. They sat in a circle; John was able to steal the tree seat, so he leaned against the trunk and ate his ham sandwich. It was mostly just small talk, classes, weather, what Sherlock and John had been doing last night in the Forbidden Forest, and quidditch. On the third question John remembered to check for Sherlock’s cut, which was pretty obvious if you know what you’re looking for. Mycroft and Greg were blind to it though, probably because they were too busy talking to each other and blushing. John was about to roll his eyes and tell them how pathetic they looked when he felt soft fingers sort of overlap with his own. He tensed up immediately, looking at Sherlock, who wasn’t reacting in anyway abnormally except for the blush that was overtaking his sharp cheekbones. So John just went with it, and even though tingles shot up his arm he just ate the remainder of his lunch with one hand. This was the biggest sign of affection Sherlock had actually started, since the kiss was all John’s idea. But it felt brilliant even though he was sure the blood flow to his fingers was being crushed. Greg and Mycroft didn’t notice anything, thank god, so John just acted like everything was normal and his heart wasn’t about to burst. The whole picnic thing was a total bust other than the hand holding thing, he didn’t talk much and he was still hungry when his sandwich was gone. When lunch was over they said goodbye to Sherlock and Mycroft and headed off to Ancient Ruins.