He thought, 'I shall approach the Headmistress, Lady Marchbanks, about it at lunch and see if she has any books on it she could recommend.'
He had no idea she'd authored many of them.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
As the three stepped out the door, with Harry pulling it shut behind them, it was to find Neville, Susan and Hannah waiting for them. Finch-Fletchley gave an almost self-deprecating bow to the three of them before he said, "Ladies, Longbottom." And turned and walked off.
Once he was more than far enough away to be considered well out of earshot, Neville turned to Harry and asked, "What was that all about?"
"It seems I underestimated him," he replied. "Finch-Fletchley holds the title of Viscount in the muggle world. That means, Finch-Fletchley is rightfully titled, in his own right, as Lord Finch-Fletchley. His father or grandfather is also probably titled either an Earl or Marquess at least."
"Merlin!" breathed Susan.
"Yup," said Harry. "Finch-Fletchley is a member of the British peerage."
Hannah offered, "We didn't know that."
It was easy to tell she meant her and Susan.
Hermione said, "He might not have been comfortable telling anyone. Or, it could have been a security decision, on his part, for no one here to know."
Harry thought about it and said, "We, five, know of it now. Unless Finch-Fletchley makes a big deal of it after this, we keep quiet about it; except for informing Daphne and Tracey and the Alliance, as a whole.
"As for what he wanted to talk to me about, he wanted to apologise for his behaviour towards me. I had the impression he wasn't 'asked' to, either. I accepted and also apologised to him for my public behaviour towards him, which he accepted."
"We should discuss this further after classes," suggested Hannah. "We need to get to morning tea."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
As the five walked together into the Great Hall they separated with Susan and Hannah heading for their table as they headed for their own. Harry immediately began to build himself a decent-sized meal, as the effects of the appetite enhancing potion was still having some effect on his body.
However, yet again, they were interrupted. Johnson tried, yet again, to convince Harry to rejoin the Quidditch team.
Finally, he'd had enough with her. Standing up and staring at her, he firmly asked, "Miss Johnson, do you believe me to be a liar?"
Surprised, she replied, "Err... no?"
When he cocked his eyebrow that showed he thought, 'Really?', she corrected herself, "I-I mean; no, Lord Potter."
"Then, pray tell, why are you continuing to approach me to practically demand I rejoin the Lions?" he asked right back. "I told you, I will not. That you continue to try to get me to do otherwise tells me you do think I'm a liar."
She blushed and mumbled, "Sorry." And retreated again.
Dropping back into his seat with a sigh, he mumbled, "Daft morons."
As Neville snickered in amusement, a major departure from the 'Neville' of old, Hermione softly said to him, "I'm starting to see what you mean about always being under pressure from everyone else to be who they want you to be and someone you're really not."
Harry, with his mouth full, just nodded back. He was still showing an expression of annoyed frustration, though.
When it appeared Neville had eaten his fill, Harry asked him, "Now that you've eaten, can you do what you tried to start this morning and catch us up?
"Of course," said Neville, wiping the edges of his mouth with a napkin. "As you suspected would happen, I've been approached by over a dozen people, all demanding to know where you are... were. As you suggested, I gave the same answer, each and every time..."
They didn't have long, so Neville only gave a quick overview of what had happened over the past day and a half. He left a lot out and didn't even mention about the Betrothal Agreement or Concubine Bond Agreements that were currently being negotiated.
He'd save those for when they had a chance to be private. Otherwise, there was too much of a risk of being overheard.
As they needed to walk quite the distance from the Great Hall to the greenhouses, they had to leave morning tea a couple of minutes early. And Harry was unsurprised to see, almost as soon as they rose and began to make their way out, they were again joined by Susan and Hannah.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
With Professor Sprout still being the Professor of Herbology, the five were not concerned about what they would expect of the class.
As they'd walked to the greenhouses, Neville asked if he could share a bench with Susan and Hannah and told the other two he would explain later.
"Sure, Neville," said Hermione.
"No problem," added Harry.
He never saw the knowing smiles the two other teens gave each other.
Knowing they'd rather choose their 'bench' partners, Harry and Hermione hung back until some of the benches started to fill up. Then Hermione indicated one with two Hufflepuff girls sitting at it and turned a hopeful expression on him.
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