Feast and Evening
Dumbledore said his usual introductory speech, blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda, yawn, he was hungry.
The three boys were all sorted into the houses they had wanted to be in.
Harry didn't listen until his own name fell.
"And here, may I introduce, Harry James Potter, who will be staying here as the assistant caretaker. And now, dig in!"
Finally.
He started eating, not really caring about the whispers around him. Whispers of how he either was a loyal Death Eater or the murderer of the Dark Lord.
Neither had any grounding in reality.
He knew Morgan didn't have that much food in there and anticipated he would have to raid the kitchen before he went to bed.
His trunk was still right beside him. He'd carry it to his office on his own.
When the feast was finished, he stood up, waiting expectantly.
"Harry, I'll show you your rooms."
Ginny.
Now that he was here and knew he'd have to spend time near her, he was hit with memories with a vengeance.
He'd crucio'd her. He could feel the guilt crushing him, nearly suffocating him.
"Harry? Are you okay?"
She looked at him, concerned.
He smiled at her, forced and tense.
"Yeah, I am."
"Sure, you sound really well. C'mon!"
She gestured for him to follow and took off.
He lifted his trunk and went after her.
"You know, your office is really close to mine, same corridor, actually. We're gonna be neighbours this year."
He did not need that. Feeling guilty all the time would not help him. He still liked her, though. Still sometimes thought about could-have-beens. If he hadn't been brought before the Dark Lord, things might have turned out differently.
He wouldn't have Morgan then, though.
"You know, you could look at least a little cheerier at the news. Well, I guess you'd stop anyway as soon as seeing your new quarters."
"Why?"
"It's a tradition to let the staff do the decorating themselves."
After Ginny bid him goodbye, he entered his office, a small, dark, oppressive room without any furniture, then he went on to the door leading to his quarters.
Another two small, dark, oppressive rooms, one of them containing a toilet and a shower, the other, nothing beyond a small bed.
He sat down his trunk and let Morgan out.
"Wow. Nice place."
"We'll decorate it tomorrow."
"Okay, Dad. When will we write Grandpa?"
"At the end of the week, when we have something to tell."
"Alright, though I knew a few things I could tell him!"
"Like?"
"Like that Mike Roberts is here, duh."
"Mike Roberts? Wasn't that one of his favourite students in his class?"
"Yeah, that Mike Roberts."
"Blonde hair from the boat and the guy who tried to play the old pin-on-a-chair prank on Tom are one and the same?"
"YES!"
"D'you think Hogwarts will still be standing after he's through with it?"
"Mike isn't that bad."
"No, but close."
"And he mainly choses deserving targets."
"Too true."
He smiled as he remembered the descriptions of what happened to Mrs. White. Everything from blue paint to being soaked wet to her hair getting coloured green temporarily. Mike would be in prankster's heaven here.
Mike was indeed close to heaven after a good description of all the pranking supplies one could get at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. He so wished to visit Mr. Evans with some of these and play some pranks on him.
Unfortunately, the Statute of Secrecy was something that would not help him in this case. He couldn't play any pranks on Mr. Evans with Wizarding pranking supplies.
His elation faded when he remembered he wouldn't have class with Mr. Evans anymore. No teacher who'd encourage him subtly to play a prank whenever someone was being a hell of a jerk.
And Mr. Potter had seemed so familiar for some reason.
He shared Morgan's surname, he realized.
"What do you know about Harry Potter?", he asked his dorm mates.
He couldn't quite believe the story he heard, and the rumours floating everywhere. But he wanted to know more.
His curiosity was soaring, and he decided to learn the truth. There were so many things that could have happened, and he wanted to know.
Rabastan and Rodolphus, still in hiding, were playing exploding snap.
"Rolph, I heard news today. Potter's at Hogwarts."
Both of them were silent. They knew Potter knew something about their Lord's disappearance.
"Now, should we go after him?"
The question went unanswered as they hadn't paid any attention to their cards, which promptly exploded.
They decided to leave any operations until after their eyebrows had grown back.