20 Feet { Blarry }

chapter 1

Hermione sighed looking over the table at Harry who was scowling over his shoulder, "Harry, will you give it a rest already? The term has only just started; what evil could Malfoy be doing or plotting this early in the year?"

Harry turned away from the Slytherin table and eyed Hermione with slight irritation. He didn't know how many times he had to have this conversation before she would just drop it. He was no longer pestering her or Ron About it, so why should she care who he looked at during breakfast. Luckily, Ron interjected before he could, "It's ne'er too early for tha 'erret to be plottin' Mione," Ron said.

She looked at him with a very disgruntled expression, "Chew your food before you talk Ronald. That's disgusting."

Ron swallowed and shrugged. She'd been saying the same thing since they were eleven. Maybe she was the one who needed to give it a rest.

Turning back to Harry, Hermione continued, "You've been really distracted by Malfoy this year, and he's hardly spoken two words to you all term-"

"Exactly! You don't think that's odd at all?" Harry asked exasperatedly.

The girl shook her head, "No I don't; people grow up Harry," she admonished, eyeing both Harry and Ron critically. Harry heard the unvoiced, 'Perhaps you two should try it too' loud and clear.

Ron apparently missed it as he further attacked his breakfast, refilling his plate while finishing off a bite of toast. "You have to admit," The red head began without looking up at Harry, "You have been a little off this term. You're hardly there when we talk about quiddich mate."

Hermione rolled her eyes, and Harry was yet again interrupted before he could respond, "Quiddich, that's what you're worried about? When will you ever change Ron? You need to reevaluate your priorities. NEWTS are coming up next year, and we have that semester-long charms assignment beginning today. How can you be worried about quiddich?"

"Quiddich is important!" Ron exclaimed, "We lost two starters last year, and the new recruits don't look that great. Honesty, unless we shape up we might actually lose the cup this year," Ron imagined, horrified. He turned to Harry for support who was trying to tune them out. He was sick of their arguing almost as much as their nagging. They didn't trust him anymore it seemed, and maybe they never fully did, but either way he was losing his patience with them. His instincts were screaming that something was up with Malfoy, and he always trusted his instincts...well when they weren't being tricked by Voldemort. Over the summer though, he'd tried really hard to develop his occlumency skills to avoid future deaths like Sirius'. He still felt partially to blame for his Godfather's death, and he didn't want to experience that again. His occlumency was still bollox without a teacher, but he felt that he was progressing, and he could only be thankful that Voldemort wasn't trying to invade his mind currently.

Rather than respond to Ron and add fuel to their argument he just stood and grabbed his bag. "Look, I'm going to head to class. I want to get a decent seat in charms without having to rush," he sighed heavily. He really didn't feel like dealing with them at all, but he couldn't just ditch them like he wanted. That would only exacerbate the nagging from both ends, "Are you two coming?"

Hermione eyed him critically before grabbing her bag and following. Ron just waved them off and scooted over towards Neville, Dean, and Seamus. "I want to finish this," he said pointing towards his plate.

Harry shrugged and walked out of the Great Hall towards Flitwick's charms class.

---:::---

"Good morning everyone, I hope you're all excited about your assignments today. I've guarded them well, so you should all be surprised by your tasks," Professor Flitwick said in a chipper voice from his stand at the front of the class.