What are you?

Why?

"A why is very interesting being both a question and an answer in one."

Ron sat in study silently, feeling somewhat alone. He wasn't, of course, Harry and Hermione sat directly next to him, chatting on about their project with one another. They already had a creature picked out, a carbu . . . something, Ron couldn't fully recall the name. So, he stared longingly at the pages of a book Malfoy had practically enforced upon him, seeing as he was somehow done with all of his work for the day. He tried not to think of Malfoy too much, it made his brain hurt, for reasons that he couldn't quite understand.

But, it seemed that the more he tried to forget him he thought of that silky blonde hair, smug face, and pale skin. And soon, he would be the only thing he thought about, a single thought that burned through the rest of them. A melody stuck in his head. He didn't know why, he didn't want to think about why. He was just always there, lurking behind some shadowy corner in his brain.

"What do you think Ron?" Hermione said, staring up for her shared parchment with Harry. They both stared at him expectantly, eyes wide, smiling faces. What was it they said? "Huh?" He said, feeling as if he was just caught doing something bad.

"Do you think we should use the primal and rather barbaric method of a cage for catching our creature, or finding a spell that would hyper-extend the creature for a short time so that we could transport it?"

"I- whatever you think is best, I haven't got a clue," he said nonchalantly, trying his best to forget anything and everything he had been thinking of previously. "How's working with Malfoy going?" Harry asked, a smile spread amongst his face. Everything came rushing back like a tidal wave. How was he supposed to answer that?

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either (for multiple reasons). It was more some hazy, dreamlike middle ground where everything was here and then, known but entirely unknown. "Terrible," Ron settled on regretfully. "Feel for you mate, I don't think I could stand to be in his presence for more than two seconds." Harry said, taking up his quill and beginning to write on the parchment.

"Have you two gotten anything done? The project is due in six weeks," Hermione asked, her brows kitting together in genuine concern. "Hardly, it's difficult to do anything with the bloody git," Ron said, simultaneously lying and telling the truth. They really hadn't gotten anything done. Every time they actually started reading it would end in either an argument or an insult-ridden side conversation.

It left them considerably behind everyone else in the class. "You must try and put aside your differences for the assignment. Honestly Ronald, I dislike Malfoy as much as you do but its not worth failing over," she said, returning to her assignment alongside Harry. "I know," he said, faining exasperation. Did he know?

At that moment, it felt like he knew absolutely nothing. Least of all how to properly work with the likes of Malfoy.

___

What about a cockatrice? I've seen a few before in a zoo," Ron said, staring at Malfoy taking down notes from across the table. He hand worked quickly, the dark veins in it becoming more and more visible by the second. Ron always wondered what he was writing, it felt like sometimes he was taking notes about absolutely nothing, just recording random thoughts. "Weasley, they breath fire, I'd rather not suffer third degree burns for a school project," he said, his hair draping over his eyes.

At that point Ron was annoyed, it felt like every idea he gave him he turned down. "Maybe than you'd look better," he said, tapping his quill viscously against the table. "I dare you Weasley, this is not a subject you want to tread on," he wouldn't even look up, just kept writing. "A bogle," Ron said,

"impossible, to difficult,"

"okay, than a gnome,"

"to much searching,"