20 Feet { Blarry }

chapter 1

He cleared his throat and flicked his wand; a rolled piece of parchment flew into his tiny gnarled hand, "Another thing, your partners have been chosen by me this year."

Many of the students groaned, eyeing their class members warily. As usual, the Gryffindors were grouped with the Slytherins, so many of the students were worried about mixing. Harry for his part couldn't really care less. There weren't great prospects from either of the houses in his opinion. Ron would be a terrible partner because of his procrastination. Hermione...well he hated to even think of being partnered with her on a semester-long assignment that determined the majority of their grade. Neville, while he meant well really was quite clumsy, and it would be difficult to get much done without accident. Harry had to admit though, glancing over at the boy, Neville was pleasant to be around, not loud or bossy, and he was slowly becoming more confident and less awkward. Harry absolutely didn't want to be paired with Malfoy though. He would concede to the fact that the blonde had been better this year, but Malfoy really couldn't stand Harry, and Harry didn't want to put up with his acerbic personality for an entire year. On the other hand, partnering with him might help him figure out what the bloke was up to.

"Potter and Zabini."

Harry looked up when he heard his name, startled to find that Flitwick had started pairing the students already. He looked around to note that many of the pairs were already sitting together and everyone was waiting to see who would move first between himself and Zabini. Harry rolled his eyes at the drama. What are we first years again? He stood up and moved over to the Slytherin side of the room, ignoring Ron who was shooting him sympathetic looks. Harry waited patiently for Malfoy to relinquish his seat, so that Harry could sit next to the taller dark skinned Italian boy.

Malfoy gave him a benign look of indifference as he stood up, and moved to the back of the room to wait and see who he his partner was. As Harry moved to sit, he surreptitiously snuck a glance at his partner. He confessed to not knowing much at all about the Zabini boy. He knew that once Malfoy dropped Crabbe and Goyle a couple of years ago that Zabini and the Greengrass girl seemed to take their place, but that was it really. Zabini hardly ever spoke, and he never antagonized Harry.

Looking him up and down, Harry couldn't ignore Zabini's good looks. People tended to overlook the Italian when he was beside Malfoy because that platinum blonde hair was so eye-catching, but the mocha boy had his own silent steely charm that Harry now noticed right away. Zabini had broad shoulders that Harry just knew were muscled and strong. He was tall. Harry knew this from seeing him with Malfoy. Malfoy was about three or four inches taller than Harry, and Zabini was even taller than him. He had smooth unblemished mocha skin, and curly black locks. It was cut very short on the sides and in the back, but it was about an inch and a half high on top. Harry could only imagine that they were baby soft. He felt his hand twitch with the desire to reach up and see, and he turned swiftly away. What the hell was that about? I'm sure Malfoy's hair is soft, and I've never had the urge to touch his head.

After the disaster at the Department of Mysteries, Harry had made a firm decision to never lie to himself. He knew that he desperately needed to learn occlumency, but he'd convinced himself – lied to himself really – that he didn't need it, especially if he had to learn it from Snape. That in part led to Sirius' death, and Harry would never do it again. Because of that conviction, he wasn't going to lie to himself and say that he wasn't attracted on a physical level to Blaise Zabini. The boy was damn good looking now that Harry was taking the time to notice, but what he couldn't figure out was why he'd had the urge to touch him. Harry realized over the years that he thought a number of people were attractive both guys and girls, but he hardly ever had the desire to act on it, to pursue it further than just looking. Still, just now he'd wanted to touch Zabini. It must be his animal magnetism, Harry snickered to himself.