Chapter 21: Bloody Brilliant!

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"You still alive, mate?" Ron says with a lopsided grin when we walk into the Great Hall for lunch.

"Actually I had a great time," I say, earning a brilliant smile from Hermione.

"I learned a great deal myself," Hermione says, getting surprised looks from Harry and Ron.

"Okay, are you sure you're not talking about snogging now?" Harry asks with a grin.

I laugh, and even Hermione couldn't keep her glare up. "Yes, I'm sure, Harry. Let's just say I may have met my match in Runes and Arithmancy."

I scoff at that. "I wouldn't hold your breath for that one."

"Don't believe him, he's a natural," she insists.

Harry and Ron look at her oddly.

"What?" She asks as she takes in their expressions.

"Nothing," they say together.

"Come on, let's hear it."

"Secrets, Hermione," I gently remind her.

She frowns at the other two boys, but acquiesces. "Okay then, so are you guys ready to join us this afternoon? We've got Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures Monday morning, so we're going to review that. I assumeyou're going to review Divination on your own, right?"

"Uh, right," Harry says, obviously lying. He and Ron continue to look at Hermione with a strange expression. I suppress a laugh, and Hermione just plows on.

"Then History of Magic on Tuesday morning, so maybe we'll get in a bit of that. William and I already finished reviewing Ancient Runes. Then it's Charms, Transfiguration, and DADA tomorrow."

Ron's eyes glaze over, but Harry looks confused. "Who's William?"

"Oh, uh, that's Bud's...er...real first name. It's a long story."

Harry chuckles. "Sounds like the whole story to me."

"Oh," Hermione says, getting a bit flustered. "Right..."

"Why don't you call Harry, Harold, then?" Ron asks.

"Because it's just Harry, Ronald. It's not short for anything."

Ron crosses his arms. "How do you know?"

"Harry?"

Harry shrugs. "I dunno. It'd be weird if you started calling me that now, though."

"How could you not—oh." Hermione flushes in embarrassment when she sees Harry staring flatly at her. Her eyes flicker to me and back to Harry. "Sorry."

Harry's eyes do the same thing. "It's okay."

I understand the nonverbal communication, perhaps even better than Hermione does. Harry doesn't know if his name really is Harold or not.

In fact, I think he only learned his name when he went to kindergarten, or whatever they call it here. I changed the subject.

"I realized Bud sounds kind of silly when you guys say it...it's made for American accents I guess."

"So should we call you William, Bill, Will...Willy?" Harry asks with a grin.

Ron barks out a laugh.

"Honestly, Ron," Hermione says.

"Sorry, sorry," he says, not sounding particularly so since his shoulder's are still shaking. "My brother's name is Bill so I can't do that."

I shrug. "Doesn't matter to me. Hermione chose William, so it might help avoid confusion that way."

"Right then. Well, blokes don't call each other by name much, anyway." Ron says.

Hermione rolls her eyes.

"How was flying?" I ask.

"It was fantastic," Harry says at the same time Ron says, "Bloody brilliant!"

"Since Quidditch got canceled, students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff took turns playing half-pitch, four-on-four pick-up games; that's three chasers and a keeper, first to ten goals," Harry says.

"We went undefeated!" Ron jumps in excitedly. "Oh, it was brilliant, you should've seen us! I was keeper, and it was Harry, Ginny, and Katie. You should've seen Fred's and George's faces when we beat them, Angelina, and Alicia – all four Sixth Years that would have been on the Gryffindor team! I'm telling you, we're going to be so loaded next year. Ginny might even give Angelina or Alicia a run for their money; her and Katie were brilliant together."

"Ron made some incredible saves, you should've seen it Hermione," Harry says, joining in Ron's excitement. "He was the best Keeper there! Only Angelina and Alicia scored more than five points against us."

"I wish we had Quidditch this year, we'd win the House Cup no problem," Ron says, puffing out his chest.

"Any Slytherins play?" I ask.

"Course not, they didn't even come out," Ron says mockingly. "Hiding in their dungeons, no doubt."

"Well maybe we'll come out next time you guys play some pick-up games," I say, glancing at Hermione. "Sounds interesting."

Hermione gives a lopsided smile, but says nothing.

"Mr. Lerner, will you come to my office, please?" Professor McGonagall says from behind me. Hermione gives a little jump.

"Sure," I say.

"We'll be in the library when you're done," Hermione says. Harry and Ron look like they want to groan, but they hold it in with McGonagall standing there.

"See you then," I say.

Once again Professor McGonagall is silent while she leads me at a brisk walk to her office.

I barely even have time to look around, let alone peek in doors and down staircases and such. In short order she is shuffling me into her office and closing the door behind us.

"Mr. Lerner, I followed up with the bursar as we discussed in our previous meeting, but unfortunately they couldn't give me any details except that there were no other funds set aside for your use. I'm sorry."

I nod, expecting as much.

Professor McGonagall sits behind her desk and raises an eyebrow at the lack of reaction. "The good news is that we retain extra supplies for all of our classes. I've already verified that your professors all have a copy of the required books set aside for you, though of course you will not be permitted to write in them as you might with your own copy. Professor Sprout has extra Herbology materials, and Professor Snape has a spare pewter cauldron and potion preparation tools set aside."

"These will be well-used, of course, but all are functional. Now, regarding writing supplies, I have prepared a pack for you from the teacher supplies, and you may come to me to retrieve more when necessary. These are provided by the Hogwarts general budget in unlimited supply, so do not concern yourself with the cost. However, I ask that you do not share this information. We do provide such packs to other students, but I ask the same of them. Even if you know somebody receives these packs, do not talk to them about it. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to supply the entire student body."

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Hey guys if u like the fanfic and want to read ahead by 13+ chapters or just want to support take a visit on my patreon.

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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