CH 144

"I wonder if he still has the bruise," said Daphne.

Malfoy had clearly hoped to embarrass Harry in front of his friends. Instead, he had unwantedly earn the thanks of the boy and aided him in providing humour for his friends.

Malfoy stormed off, upset his plan didn't work out as he expected, just as Harry heard someone in a boyish excited voice call his name in greeting. Harry looked up just in time to get half blinded by a camera flash with the *poomph!* sound of a camera flash going off close by.

He was about to yell at the particular idiot when Susan, thinking quickly, snatched the camera out of the boy's fingers and dropped it onto the table between them.

Harry glared at the boy and, in a quiet snarl, said, "Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again."

The boy paled and, stammering, replied, "S - Sorry, Harry. I - I just wanted a picture. You know? To send my parents."

"And you, in any way, did not think before you acted, did you?" asked Harry. The boy just shook his head, still quite afraid.

"Then I shall tell you what you did wrong, Mister Creevey," said Harry. "Your first mistake was not asking for my permission, and receiving it, before you took my photo. Your second, was that you acted overly-familiar with me by calling me by my first name; instead of calling me Mister Potter. That was an insult."

Harry reached out and lifted the camera off the table, turning it in his hands.

Turning to look at the boy again, he said, "You lack common etiquette, Mister Creevey. My betrothed, Miss Greengrass," indicating Daphne beside him, "and I, run an etiquette club every other Sunday, here in the castle. Next Sunday - not this one you are to report yourself to the clubroom on the third floor by 4.30pm. There, you will be taught what you need to know to make your way in wizarding society. Am I clear?"

The boy nodded.

"Good lad," said Harry, handing him back his camera. "Do nottake photos of people without their permission, in advance, again. Run along." And made a shooing motion.

The boy shot away as if he had a dragon looking to take a bite out of his behind.

"Was that completely necessary, Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Better a verbal slap down now, than someone making it a physical one later," replied Harry.

"And, I believe Neville, Hermione, Susan and Hannah need to make a move if they do not wish to be late to their first class of the new year," said Daphne, defusing the situation. "And we're free until after lunch," said Harry.

Just as the Snakes and Puffs were about to leave, Luna walked over and handed Harry a small parchment. "The subscription form you requested, Harry," she airily said, before starting to walk away again.

"Thank you, Luna," he said. While bidding the others a good morning of study, even if it was History of Magic, he pulled out ink and a quill and began to fill the subscription form out.

"What have you got there, Harry?" asked Hermione.

"A subscription form for The Quibbler," he said.

"The newsmagazine Luna's dad produces?" she asked. "That's the one," replied Harry.

"Errrr... Harry?" asked Neville a little hesitantly. "Are you aware Luna's dad, Xenophilius, is considered a little odd? The Quibbler tends to report a lot of fanciful stuff and makes it seem like it's real."

"In other words," said Harry, looking up. "Not that much different from the Daily Prophet, then. At least with The Quibbler it appears people have learned not to take what it reports too seriously, as they do with the Prophet."

Neville thought about that for a couple moments and then snorted in amusement. "You've got a point, there."

"So, what shall we do until lunch, then?" asked Harry.

"We could study," said Hermione. "We could go up to the Room early," said Neville. "We can train and Hermione can study there."

"Two birds with one stone," said Harry. "Does that suit you, Hermione?"

"Yes," she replied. "I figured out I can get just about any book the library offers in there."

"And, speaking of books," said Harry. "I've got my copy of 'Hogwarts: A History' in my bag for you, as promised. I'll even carry it for you up to the Room."

Hermione grinned. Clearly, he was forgiven for his remarks to young Mister Creevey.

After Harry finished filling out the form he noticed Luna had already left. So he blew on it to make sure it was dried before dropping it into his bookbag, along with the ink and his quill. The three then left and headed down into the dungeons to use the hidden passageway up to the seventh floor.

Reaching the needed corridor, Harry walked the three times while thinking of 'their' room and, as soon as the door appeared, he led the other two inside.

As lunch came around, after a good workout with the training dummies, Harry and the others left to head for the Great Hall.

On entering, they sat at the Ravenclaw table. Young Luna was already there seeming to build some sort of castle with her food before promptly attacking it. He watched, amused, for a while.

Once she seemed to be able to handle talking to him, Harry pulled out his subscription to The Quibbler, together with the subscription fee of 1₲ 5Š and handed the subscription and coins over to the girl.

Luna calmly took them and dropped them into her bookbag before she breezily said, "Thank you, Harry. I shall see to the sending off of your subscription to Daddy after classes, this afternoon. I will even include a note informing him you paid the fee directly to me."

"Thank you, Luna," said Harry, with a nod. "That would be appreciated."

Returning to his friends, Harry told Daphne and the others how he quickly felt when he began training with the dummies, again. Neville and Hermione said the same.

"I felt - slow," he explained. "Either that or no, I definitely felt slow. I've definitely lost a little off the edge in speed in accuracy. That's something I'm going to have to overcome before I can advance any further."

After lunch Harry, Daphne and Tracey had Defence Against the Dark Arts; so headed upstairs to that particular classroom.

When they entered they were confronted with quite the number of photographs of the dim-witted woodpecker smiling at them over and over from the various images.

As usual the sitting arrangements divided over House lines. However, Harry went and sat between Daphne and Tracey. It earned him quite a few scowls from Slytherins and Ravenclaws alike.

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