Chapter 078

Harry was different in that he did not need to rest his mind much, if at all. He organized and cleared his mind every night before he went to bed. If anything the act of sleeping made his mind more disorganized than it did when he was awake, which explained why Harry's body only needed four hours of sleep to run at peak efficiency.

Sometimes he cursed having such a well-organized mind.

Since it was Saturday, Harry had taken to wearing muggle clothes: blue jeans, a white undershirt and a dark green button up shirt combo. While he wouldn't deny that he did kind of like the cloaks, as they reminded him of his favorite space opera trilogy, he still preferred muggle clothing. Mainly because his non-magical clothes didn't restrict his movements like those heavy cloaks did.

They were soon joined at the Gryffindor table by Hannah and Susan, and Harry was pleased to see they hadn't needed any prompting to join them. That meant they were growing more comfortable about not following the crowd.

"So what do you guys think we should do today?" asked Hannah as they finished piling food on their plate. She took a fork full of eggs after speaking, chewing slightly and then swallowing before she continued. "I mean, it's Saturday. We don't have any classes. We should do something fun."

"We could go exploring the castle," Susan said, her tone softer than wind chimes. Harry wondered if she would remain that demure and shy forever. Ah well. At least she wasn't blushing anymore.

"We could explore the castle," Harry began, watching the smile growing on Hannah's face. He decided to pop the girl's bubble before she could get her hopes to high. "Provided everyone's finished their homework."

"Homework? On a Saturday?" Hannah wrinkled her nose in mock disgust. The girl was clearly adverse to the idea of doing homework during the weekend. "Our homework's not due until next Thursday. We have almost a week before we need to finish it."

"Better to get it out of the way now, so you're not rushing to rushing to finish it the day before you have to turn it in," Harry said. "Trust me on this, if you wait until the last minute, your homework will be nowhere near as good as it could be."

Hannah looked like she was about to protest, but Susan cut her off.

"I think it's a good idea," the redhead said. At least she seemed to be thinking sensibly, but then, he suspected that Susan, despite her shyness, was much more grounded than her friend—a side effect of living with her aunt, he suspected. "If we finish it now, we won't have to worry about it again."

"You can't be serious, Susan," Hannah looked aghast. However, the moment she saw her friends look, which Harry noted was surprisingly stern for someone so demure, the blond girl slumped, heaving a large sigh of defeat as she hung her head. "Oh alright, I know when I've been beaten. I suppose we could head up to the library after breakfast to finish our homework." She was silent for a moment, before mumbling a little anecdote. "The sooner we finish the better."

Harry could barely constrain a chuckle at the crestfallen look on Hannah's face. It was so reminiscent of Lisa's expression whenever he told her the same thing that he couldn't contain his amusement.

Thinking of his friend also brought back the tight pain he felt in his chest that came from no longer being near her. Still, it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been. As he suspected, it was getting a little easier to deal with; the once gaping hole in his heart had healed somewhat.

He suspected it had something to do with the three sitting with him. They were very pleasant and he enjoyed conversing with them, so much so that he was even willing to open up more than he believed he should.

It was a new experience for Harry. While he had always conversed and interacted with other people at school and sporting events, he never allowed himself to open up to anyone other than Lisa. He wondered if this had something to do with the people around him, or if it was just because they were magical like him. Perhaps a mixture of both?

It wasn't long after breakfast started that a flood of owls flew into the Great Hall. Everything from Barn Owls to Screech Owls to Tawny Owls swooped into the large hall where students and teachers were enjoying their breakfast.

Harry looked up to see that the enchanted ceiling was nearly blocked out by the large flock of nocturnal avions. His eyes picked out the many letters and parcels various owls carried as they descended toward the recipients of said items. Over at the Slytherin table, Malfoy received a large parcel filled with various wizarding candy and letters, and was currently bragging about how his father and mother were rich and only sent him the highest quality goods. Seamus and Dean had both received a letter from their parents, which somehow ended up with Dean trying to explain what football is to Seamus. And Susan received a letter from a large Eagle Owl and was currently reading it.

"Is that from your aunt?" asked Harry. Susan looked up at him from the letter and nodded, a smile on her face.

"Yes, I promised her I would write and tell her what house I was sorted into."

Harry smiled, prompting a light blush to spring to Susan's pale cheeks. "I bet she was proud to hear you were sorted into her house?"

"She was." Susan fidgeted a bit, her blush nowhere close to receding. "I... I also told her a little bit about you. She was... very pleased to hear that I'm making friends outside of my house."

Harry nodded. "She sounds like a smart woman. It's always good to have friends that come from different walks of life—or friends that belong in different houses. Diversity allows people to grow and learn in ways they couldn't if all of their friends were like-minded individuals."

That was another problem Harry had with the House system. Diversity helped people grow. When so many different people with different ideas and different ways of thinking combined their efforts together, it most often resulted in the creation of something new and wonderful. That was why scientists in the non-magical world had advanced enough to send ships into space. With like-minded individuals being segregated into separate houses, Harry feared the wizarding world would never advance like its non-magical counterpart.

Which was really a shame because magic seemed so much more versatile than science. Harry could only imagine what it would be capable of if people could put aside their differences and work together.

"You know, you sound kind of like my dad when you talk like that," Hannah informed Harry, giving him a strange look. "He's always saying similar things whenever he talked about all of the people he's met."

"From what you've told me of your father, he's fairly well-traveled," Harry said with a hum "And considering he works with a lot of different people due to being in the wine industry, he's probably a lot more open-minded as well."

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