Right in Front of Me

jealousy, jealousy

I'm so sick of myself, rather be,
rather be, anyone, anyone else.
but jealousy, jealousy.

"Ok, listen up!" Remus said to his class of first years. Everyone immediately turned their heads. All the students loved Remus so it was easy for them to listen. "Ok, we're going to be working on our defensive spells again. This week we are going to learn about 'Expelliarmus'. Who can tell me what that spell is for?" A few hands shot up and Remus eyed Harry, who did not put his hand up, probably because he knew that Harry knew the answer. Harry just shrugged. "Miss. Granger?"

"Expelliarmus disarms your opponent and gives you the opportunity to grab their wand from them." Remus smiled and Hermione and looked proud.

"Very good, 5 points to Gryffindor." The Gryffindors in the class all looked very pleased. "Exactly what Miss. Granger said. So, we are going to talk about wand techniques and then next class we will practice it in motion. Sound good?" The kids in the class nodded and Remus went on to explain the proper way to hold your wand.

When class ended Harry made his way back to the common room. He wanted to check the map before dinner, he liked to check it every so often and see if anything had changed. Ron, Draco, Neville and Hermione were all heading to the Great Hall and Harry told them he'd meet up with them in a bit. He was almost at the common room when he heard his name being called and he looked back to see Blaise fast walking to catch up with him.

"Oh. Hey Blaise!" Harry said, cheerfully. "What's going on?"

"You're quick. I've been trying to catch up with you since the Transfiguration classroom." Blaise said, laughing. "I just wanted to see if you wanted to work on the potions assignment soon." He said, catching up in stride with Harry. He smiled and thought about it. He didn't have to go to the Great Hall, he wasn't even that hungry. Plus, Moony told him a trick with the pear painting so he could get something to eat later.

"Yeah, sure. Wanna go to my common room?" Blaise faltered and thought about it.

"Er... I dunno how welcome a Slytherin would be in the Gryffindor commons. What if we went to an abandoned classroom? I know one that's never in use. Follow me!" Harry didn't think that any of the Gryffindors would really care that much, but he wanted Blaise to be comfortable, so he followed him to the classroom.

After working on their assignment for a bit Harry found himself thinking about how much he liked Blaise. He was very easy to talk to and Harry didn't find that in most people that he knew. Not that Harry was a shy person by any means, but he struggled with being the one to go out and talk to new people. Blaise was just a very approachable person. He wondered what could have happened between him and Draco to warrant Draco's reaction to him. Maybe Blaise could fill in the dots.

"Hey Blaise?" He asked him, he looked up from his work. "Er... well. You know how I'm friends with Draco Malfoy?" Blaise nodded and got a weird look on his face.

"Yeah... why?"

"Well... he kind of said that you guys maybe... don't get along. And he wouldn't tell me why that is." Harry felt kind of bad going behind Draco's back, but he just wanted some answers. Blaise looked like he was debating whether he should answer the question, but he finally sighed and looked at Harry.

"Look... I don't want to say anything bad about Draco. Honestly? I like him. I've never had an issue with him. But my dad has an issue with his dad and he asked me to not be friends with Draco and he kind of took it hard when I told him that my dad said that. I don't know. His dad is a knob though, I'm sorry. I know he's your best friend, but..." Harry nodded along with Blaise. He was well aware of how big of a knob Mr. Malfoy was and it didn't surprise him that this all stemmed from him. "I don't know Harry. Honestly, I've told Draco I don't have a problem with him. Maybe he thinks I don't like him. But I don't have the best relationship with my dad so I just kind of try to do what he says so he lays off of me, ya know?"