"I'll leave you to it," said Ted.
As Samuel Greengrass was of an allianced House, Harry wasn't too finicky with his prose. He kept his letter to the man simple and to the point.
After that, he finally managed to get back to the day's assignments.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After an interrupted night's sleep due to the late night Astronomy lesson on the Astronomy tower, both teens rose as normal to attend breakfast. They did not have classes until after morning tea, but both - individually - felt they had enough sleep.
Harry had risen in time for breakfast but was being quiet about it when Hermione walked out from her room into the living room, where he was. Again, she looked stunning. Betsy did really good work.
When he heard her and turned to her, he said, "Sorry. Did I wake you?"
"No," she replied. "I knew you'd be up early, so I set my alarm to be up early, too."
He smiled and said, "You didn't need to do that."
"And let you go down to the Great Hall for breakfast without me or Neville as backup?" she put. "Not going to happen."
"Actually," he said, "Now that you mention that, I just realised we have a kitchen and pantry in here. And we both saw Dobby and Betsy have fully stocked it."
She smiled at him and said, "Good point. However, 'Lord Potter' needs to put in an appearance at all meal times, at least for the next few days, so that people don't start whining about how you're getting even more privileges."
"Rights," he muttered.
"Not to them," she disagreed.
Nodding in agreement, he said, "You're right. They would think that."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The two of them walked into the Great Hall about fifteen minutes later. They were neither early, nor late. The Hall was about half full and it was about half an hour before the owls turned up.
That gave them plenty of time to sit and eat before the 'mail bomb' and time to be done eating to allow others to approach.
However, both were surprised when Neville walked in about five minutes after they did. And he seemed to be at least as surprised to see them as they were he.
Joining them, they gave the somewhat obligatory greetings before he said, "I did not expect to see either of you down here for breakfast."
Hermione replied, "And we didn't expect to see you; though, we should have, I guess. You were always an early riser."
"And I thought, irrespective of when you rose, you'd make use of that kitchen in your apartment," he explained.
"We will," she said. "Just... Harry needs to put in an appearance at all meal times for at least the first few days."
Surprised, Neville said, "Yeah, I can see that. Clever."
As the three ate their breakfasts in peace, all three were just as aware of all the looks from the hundreds of students directed their way, as they'd been directed their way since well before what went down, went down.
This time, no one interrupted them.
When the Daily Prophet was delivered by Hedwig, Harry was quick with the bacon. Now that his Lordship was public, it would not look good for him to be publicly berated by his mail owl in front of the school.
Opening it up, the front page was pretty much as he expected.
~ # ~
LORD POTTER NOT AT HOGWARTS?
Expected to return to Hogwarts with the rest of the school on Sunday evening, Lord Harry Potter (14) did not put in an appearance, writes investigative journalist, Kate Erister.
Questioning some of the students who did turn up as they should, it's been learned Lord Potter needed to attend to some 'family business' and would arrive 'soon'. It was only expected to be a day or two.
When asked if Lord Potter, an under-aged wizard who has yet to sit his OWLs, would be arrested or fined for his non-attendance, Madam Amelia Bones, Director of the DMLE said, "Of course not. Lord Potter has been declared of-age. As such and irrespective of whether or not he's earned his OWLs, he's a fully qualified wizard."
And what of his betrothed, the muggleborn Hermoine Grainger? She replied, "Her magical guardian, Lord Sirius Black, notified Headmistress Lady Griselda Marchbanks she would be delayed by a couple days. Headmistress Lady Marchbanks has approved the delay."
Why have they been given this privilege? Is Lord Potter simply flaunting and or abusing his new authority? Is it out of simple arrogance?
~ # ~
Reading through to the end of the article, Harry chuckled in amusement before handing it to his lady.
Once Hermione read it, she asked, "Are you sending Ted after her, this time?"
"Nope!" he replied. "To use a fishing analogy, I'm letting her have her head by letting the line out. That way, when I hook her, I'll have hooked her good and proper."
"You're baiting her to get more and more outlandish," she accused, though smiled when she said it.
He just grinned at her.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After breakfast, the two took Neville back up to their apartment. Harry really wanted to talk to his mate about his own views on his pending betrothal and Susan's concubinage to him.
Once inside, they sat and relaxed for a while before Neville finally said, "Well. I know you want to ask, so ask."
Hermione looked surprised, but Harry just grinned back. "You're getting better, Nev."
The other boy barely blushed this time and only smiled back.
"Very well," said Harry. "How do you feel about your pending Betrothal Agreement and Concubine Bond Agreement?"
With a sigh, Neville replied, "You know what? Happy and... relieved."
"Relieved?" asked Hermione.
"Yep," he replied. "It means I don't have to ask a girl to marry me." And grinned.
Harry laughed while Hermione appeared a little miffed. "Betrothal Agreement or not, Neville; when the time comes to switching the Betrothal Agreement to a contract, you should still do the right by Hannah and propose."
He shook his head, "Hannah doesn't want that. Besides, that's a muggle thing, anyway. Hannah wants the traditional wizarding ceremonies."
Confused, Hermione said, "I didn't know―"
"Wizards don't do weddings, Hermione," he explained. "We do 'handfastings' before a druid in a Druidic ceremony.
"For engagements, House Longbottom hold a convocation where the prospective new member is introduced to the family at-large. It's also when the agreement is agreed to become the contract."
Harry explained, "That's something like an engagement party, Hermione; but, family only."
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