AN: His First Real Friend is now a separate book, and chapter 4, His First Real Mystery, is now up. Henceforth any future installments to this story will appear in the His First Real Friend book, rather than here. If you wish to continue following this storyline, you should follow it there, or follow me for future updates.
This is just a few paragraphs to start, just in case Moderators get snippy about there being no actual story in this chapter...
During dinner, Harry was digging heartily into his shepherd's pie while Hermione was chatting with Parvati and Lavender between bites of roast chicken and potatoes about how horrible Malfoy was.
"Thanks, Harry," said Neville after Ron told him what had happened while he had been in the hospital wing. "Gran would've killed me if I'd lost the Remembrall."
"No problem, Neville," said Harry, grinning. "It was a lot easier getting it back for you than I thought it would be."
"Wish you could've been there, Nev," said Ron, somehow articulating himself through a mouthful of mashed potato. "You should've seen Malfoy's face when Harry asked him why he was running away." He snorted with mirth, thankfully after swallowing. "It was bloody brilliant!"
"I'll say," said Seamus, chuckling. "It was even better than when Harry told Snape to piss off last week."
"Well, I wasn't actually trying to be rude to Snape," Harry muttered, frowning at the memory. "All I did was ask him why he wasn't letting anyone else answer the questions."
Seamus shrugged. "Either way, it was brilliant!" ...