"Albatross."
"Erm... what?"
"He said, 'albatross'."
"I know that. I was just wondering what it had to do with what we're doing."
"Well, nothing in particular." Ron shrugged. "I was just thinking..." He trailed off.
Hermione shook her head and turned back to her book. Harry gave Ron a quizzical look. However, Ron merely shrugged again and turned back to his notes as well.
Harry finally brushed this rather random exchange off and went back to studying as well.
"Albatross."
"You said it again."
Ron shrugged again. "I was just thinking. Again."
"About what?" Hermione asked, as if she was a psychiatrist.
"...My mum told me about an albatross once."
Harry gave Ron another questioning look. Ron was staring blankly into space, as if consumed in the memories.
"Nevermind," he said eventually. "It's nothing."
"Albatross."
"What is it with you and the albatross?" Harry demanded.
Ron shrugged. "I was... thinking."
"Well, I think we've gone through this before," Hermione commented.
"We have," Ron said, then turned back to his lunch without another word on the subject.
"Alba - "
"Blimey!" Harry shouted, throwing his arms up in frustration. "What is it with you and the dumb albatross?"
Ron shrugged. "Nothing," he said listlessly. And that was once again the end of it.
"Al - "
"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" Harry shouted, causing everyone in the immediate vicinity to stare. "Stop it!" he hissed at Ron.
Ron gave Harry a look that quite plainly said, "Make me."
"Albatross," Ron said regardless.
Harry opened his mouth to strike out at Ron angrily, before Hermione jumped up.
"ALBATROSS!" she said excitedly. "That's it!" And she ran off between two of the nearby bookshelves.
Ron and Harry looked at each other, and Ron gave a hopeless shrug.
And, once again, this was the end of the bird conversation that they had had so many times before, and never finished.
"A - "
"NO!" Harry hollered, feeling much like he wanted to tackle Ron.
Hermione smiled knowingly, but said nothing. Ron shrugged again.
"What is it with you and the albatross?" Harry said crossly, quite frustrated by this point. "This is the sixth time you've brought up that stupid bird!" He huffed angrily. "Sure, your mom told you about it once - but why keep bringing it up?"
Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it, and kept quiet.
"I just... have a feeling," Ron said simply. "An, um..."
"Albatross kind of feeling?" Harry finished sarcastically.
"Mm-hm," Ron nodded in agreement.
Harry shook his head. "Look, you're my best friend - but I still can't read your mind."
Ron pointed to the sky, and Harry looked up quickly, as if expecting to see an albatross flying by. There was nothing.
Instead, Ron said, "The clouds. They remind me of an alba - "
This time, Harry did tackle Ron.
"Stop it!" Hermione commanded a second later, when she had realized what had happened. "Boys, come on. Harry! It's not that bad!"
"YES IT IS!" Harry bellowed, looking as if he was trying to claw at Ron's eyes.
Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a large, white bird came swooping down and lifted Harry into the air with strength not expected of a bird of its size. And it flew away.
Hermione and Ron watched the bird fly away.
"Albatross," Ron said simply. Hermione nodded in agreement.
And they went back to studying.