Once Susan indicated she was hungry, which was confirmed by the hunger of at least three of their minders, Harry led everyone to the Three Broomsticks. The tables there wouldn't fit ten, not even two tables pushed together.
So Harry rented a meeting room upstairs. Madam Rosmerta was almost laughing at him. She must know how Hufflepuffs operated.
Harry ordered for them all as a little payback. If they didn't like ham sandwiches and butterbeer, then they should have found something better to do with their Hogsmeade visit.
"Good on ya," Madam Rosmerta said.
Harry returned to the stilted questions of vastly amused Puffs in the room he'd rented. They really weren't letting up. Harry kept his temper, though.
Everyone ate and thanked Harry for the lunch.
Susan still wasn't saying much – so why had she said yes when Harry asked? – and was blushing quite a bit.
Harry had to keep trying. "I like treacle tart. What do you like, Susan?"
"Well, I like an apple if it's sweet. Or maybe some grapes..."
Harry kept looking at her and not the others in the meeting room.
No one else launched into their favorite puddings and cakes.
They did start to laugh, like this had all been a big joke. Harry still kept his temper.
Then they left. Cedric Diggory was last out the door. "Consider the hazing over. They did it to me last year. It's a bad tradition, but who will break one like this? So enjoy the afternoon. No one will bug you too much."
"Err, thanks," Harry said.
He stared at the closed door and the empty table.
"That was awful," Susan finally said. "I didn't know they would do that..."
Harry laughed.
"I'm sorry. I just mentioned that you'd asked, then I had all these volunteers... I've been so embarrassed over all of this. It hasn't been fun for you..."
"But it's getting better," Harry said.
Finally Susan laughed.
Susan smiled. "Thanks for getting everyone lunch."
"Sure." At least Susan was talking now.
"Earlier you asked about Runes?"
"I did."
"Well, I do like it."
"Good."
"I'm thinking about a project on color-shifting shoes. My friend Hannah, who was here earlier, is crazy about shoes. So I thought I'd sketch out how to make shoes that can change colors."
"Nice. I've got a problem with a ghost at the school and Peeves. So I'm looking at something that will repel them."
Susan's eyes went wide.
"Is that hard to do?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. I mean, I've never heard of anything like that."
Harry shrugged. Might as well find out than be left guessing.
"I'm interested in the private projects the Professor mentioned. I met with her once. She pointed me to a couple of books," Harry said. He might not talk about the project itself, but he was proud to be working on it. It was well above his skills at present, but how else did one grow? Aim for the difficult...
"I started something from home, too, but it'll be a while before I can do much," Susan said.
Harry nodded. Maybe he should trust her a little? "I'm looking at what runes used to be on my family's property. It was wrecked a while back, but I found some of the stones over the summer."
"Oh, that is interesting."
Did she mean that? Was she just being nice? Susan was different from the other girls (few as they were) who Harry knew. Hermione almost always meant what she said.
But Susan...
"I've got a family reliquary. My family was a bit too interested in bones, I think, so they made rune-cases for keeping family relics. The one I have was broken in a fire that destroyed the family estate, but I'd like to recreate it maybe. I don't know. Maybe it's silly."
Her family's estate had been attacked, too? Something to think about. Harry wasn't the only one who'd suffered, was he?
"Just as silly as what I'm trying to do. I have some tracings I can barely understand. I use a few spare moments here and there. It makes me feel closer to them, even though I never knew them."
Susan was surprised. Why was everyone surprised by things that seemed common knowledge? Boy-Who-Lived meant Parents-Who-Didn't.
"I think I'd like to rebuild it," Harry said. Maybe that was a bit too much to say?
"Oh, so you'll get the goblins..."
"No, I think I'll do it myself after I know enough."
Susan's eye lids were blinking at a rapid rate. Surprise?
"Why?" she asked.
"It's my family. I should rebuild it." He kept the warnings the Flamels had given him to himself. Those were their stories to share, not Harry's.
"But that's something you hire goblins to do. Or maybe dwarves."
Harry nodded, as if he were clueless. Which he basically was. But not on this. His family had set their own wards. He knew of stories where people paid for wards. He would figure out what his family used and he would do it better this time. His house wouldn't burn and collapse.
Susan moved on to other topics now that she wasn't embarrassed into silence. She was a nice girl.
Eventually the afternoon was almost evening and they had to return before dinner. "You're not going to do that to someone next year?" Harry asked.
"No. Definitely not."
So Harry would watch to see what she actually did next yer.
They walked back and waved at a few of the Puffs. None of them sidled up and invited themselves into the conversation this time.
.....
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