Chapter 61

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Snape was decidedly more unpleasant towards Milo (and Gryffindor as a whole) in Potions on Monday, presumably because of Milo's near-escape from Snape's test over the weekend.

"You're holding your knife upside-down," Snape sneered at Milo as he sat chopping Knarl tail. "Fifteen points from Gryffindor."

Milo looked down at the knife. He was no expert on weapons (he left that to Fighters and other use-impaired character classes), but the knife's blade was sort of triangular and, by any account, perfectly symmetrical. Personally, he didn't much care, at least now Harry was suffering proportionally less abuse. As soon as Snape's back was turned, Milo siphoned off several potion ingredients into his Belt of Hidden Pouches. He figured he could cut his research and development costs somewhat using pilfered supplies.

It was with an intense feeling of relief that they left the dungeon.

"Oh," Milo remembered suddenly. "I should go see McGonagall, she asked me to see her on Friday but I got mauled by a 'Troll' instead."

"You... you put off seeing McGonagall just because of a Troll?" Ron asked, his face pale with horror.

"Run!" Hermione said, panicked.

Fortunately, their stern Head of House did not seem to mind as much as Ron and Hermione had feared she would that Milo had missed their appointment for frivolous reasons.

"So, erm, you wanted to talk to me about Transfigurations?" Milo asked her nervously.

"Well, I have to admit I was worried that Professor Snape might have been right about you," McGonagall said apologetically, "but, fortunately, you're just as much a wizard as he is—meaning, of course, that there's absolutely no reason that you can't succeed in Transfiguration."

Milo swallowed nervously.

"So, I believe the best thing for you would be to receive some extra help. With this in mind, I've requested that Professor Snape allow you to serve some of your further detentions with me twice a week so I can give you remedial lessons."

"Th-that doesn't sound so bad," Milo lied. Remedial Transfiguration? He would certainly forget to tell this to Hermione. "Thank you, Professor."

"Come to the Transfigurations classroom promptly at seven o'clock every Tuesday and Thursday," she said seriously, "and I'll eat my hat if we don't see some improvement." McGonagall glanced at the clock on her wall. "Well, you'd best be leaving if you don't want to be late for History of Magic."

As Milo walked to Binns' classroom, he decided fervently that the first spell he was going to research would be one that turned his matchstick into a pin. The only problem was that he couldn't think of any spells he'd ever heard of at his level that could even come close to doing that.

The reason for Dumbledore's odd request that Milo sleep in the hospital wing became immediately apparent upon his return to the Gryffindor Common Room Monday afternoon.

"All hail the conquering Troll slayers!" Fred cried as Milo, Hermione, Harry, and Ron climbed through the portal after their last class.

"No part of that sentence is accurate," Milo tried to say, but nobody heard him over the sudden tumultuous roar. It seemed the entire Gryffindor house had turned out to congratulate them for... not quite defeating a 'Troll'. Fred and George had procured food (read: cakes and sweets) and drinks (read: butterbeer) from somewhere.

"Harry and Ron insisted we wait for you two to get out of the hospital wing before celebrating," said George. "Insisted you two did the real work."

"Dumbledore tipped us off that you'd be out today," said Fred.

Well, Milo thought, that solves the Mystery of Dumbledore Asking Me to Wait a Day. If only the Mystery of Who Killed the Acromantula were so simple.

Someone had drawn a surprisingly good (if somewhat over-dramatic) scene of Hermione casting the Gust Jinx on the Troll on a banner hanging from the wall. They'd even bewitched it to move, complete with massive explosion as a grand finale. Hermione turned slightly pink; Milo didn't think she was used to being the centre of attention.

"'Course, the Hufflepuffs are all likely permanently scarred," Fred said.

"Yeah, having a Troll get blasted through your bedroom is likely to do that," said his twin.

"Putting a tree in their common room likely didn't help much, also."

"That said, even they're willing to admit it was pretty awesome."

"Sprout was furious—but only until she got a good look at the tree, mind."

While the twins were talking, Hermione and Milo were lifted up by a crowd of NPCs and passed around.

This is... unusual, Milo thought. He was more used to being presented with bags of gold or magic items as a reward for defeating a monster, but... well, having the Gryffindors throw a party for his party wasn't entirely unpleasant. He could definitely get used to this.

"They're teaching 'The Hermione' in magical self-defence courses around Britain," said Fred. "Some handsome devil leaked it to the Daily Prophet."

"Why, thank you," said George.

"But it was Harry's idea," Hermione protested, but nobody paid her any mind. The Boy-Who-Lived, it appeared, was more than happy to step out of the limelight for once.

"And to think," Lavender said to Parvati, "I always thought she was just an insufferable know-it-all!"

When the party finally wrapped up (well after a reasonable hour) and the Gryffindors trudged off to bed, Milo realized that he hadn't been so happy in ages.

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