Lester took a sandwich and made his way back to the kids before the woman could change her mind and poison him.
"But if you're back in the country anyway," stocky Charlie was saying to Bill, "you can use my room and just take it for me, that way I don't have to see mum."
"There's no way I'm moving back in there; I just got my stuff out," the older brother said with a flip of his ponytail. "And you can't honestly think you can be in the country and not pay her a visit. All she has to do is look at the clock between now and then to see how Percy is and she'll know her darling Charlie-kins skipped off without ever seeing her," his brother said mournfully, laying it on rather thick.
"I - saw - her - at - Christmas!" the frustrated young man gruffed, causing Hermione to pause once again in her conversation with Percy and Penelope as laughter threatened to escape. The third red-headed Weasley looked horribly embarrassed at the portrayal of his mother in front of his girlfriend and seemed to be debating whether it'd be better to never think about dating again.
Perhaps comically poking fun at her own change in relationship status before anyone else had the chance to would help settle things down when she and Harry first came in contact with people they hadn't seen in a while; Fred and George specifically? It was so far afield for her though that Hermione doubted she'd be able to do it right, especially without possibly seeming mean to Harry, so in the end she ditched the idea.
"She kept trying to get me to move home, set me up with my coworkers, and moaning about grandchildren," the dragon-keeper continued. "I preferred it when she found something objectionable and tried to run our girlfriends off."
"You should do what I'd do then," Bill said sagely. "Find a French bird and say you're engaged. That'd really make her go nuts."
All thoughts of resuming her talk with the Prefects about the alternative Defense book list they had come up with were foiled as Mr. Lichfield poked the back of Harry's head, attracting everyone's attention as he gestured to the center of the room behind him.
"The stands are packed and the referee's waiting," he said meaningfully, though what the meaning was certainly wasn't what Hermione'd call clear. A Quidditch reference, obviously, perhaps saying that everyone was waiting on them? Just how many new idioms was she going to have to learn?
She felt Harry tighten up beside her; he really didn't like all this attention, be it deserved or not. Hermione rubbed her hand along his back supportively to help him relax… and to give him a bit of a push if she needed to if his feet stopped working in the next minute or so. She might not be able to get him away from the attention all of the time but that only made the time spent with her all the more important if she could find a way for him to decompress and relax.
"Attention please," Professor McGonagall said, trying to politely cut through the din of conversation with just the right mixture of propriety and informality. "I apologize for the bit of a late start, but I think everyone's here that's coming."
Hermione couldn't help but glance over to Pansy and the other Slytherins. Harry hadn't said anything about them yet but her mind had been preoccupied with almost nothing but. The boys were still undisturbed but as time had passed Pug-nose Pansy had become increasingly concerned, repeatedly checking her watch and scanning the room to make sure she hadn't missed anyone.
' Where was dear Drakey-poo?' she could almost hear the girl think. 'Whatever could be keeping my darling dragon from me?'
Hermione desperately tried to keep the smile off her face as she waited for the hammer to fall.
"Now as you all know," McGonagall intoned, sounding so much like she did when she explained the four Hogwarts Houses to them last year. "The Hogwarts Hopefuls was established nearly ten years ago, at the end of a grisly Wizarding War," she said somberly. "It was hoped that by extending our hand in friendship to those in need that we'd be helping to create a more hopeful future for us all."
That tempered Hermione's enthusiasm a bit. No matter how deplorably it had been brought about, it was a noble goal. Glancing over at the Slytherins almost made it seem like the professor was trying to reach out to a tribe of tiny trolls; they all had peculiar looks on their faces like they had never even considered why their schooling had been gifted to them in the first place. All but Pansy, of course, who kept shooting looks at the door.
"For many years," McGonagall continued, "graduating Hopefuls have written to me asking for ways they could get in contact and personally thank those responsible for giving them their chance at an education, and for years I have had nothing to tell them, for I didn't know."
Seeing the professor's glance flicker over to them, Hermione rubbed Harry's tense back again, knowing the room's attention was about to suddenly shift to him.
"The anonymous benefactor who's been the source of our funds has now been identified, and he has graciously agreed to be here today," McGonagall said, causing Pansy to look at the door again.
Bill, though, took a page from Mr. Lichfield's book and poked the back of Harry's head. The mild curiosity on the older boy's face when he looked back at him said he thought the solution was obvious. Harry shrugged, causing Bill to shake his head and smile like he should've known all along. That did more to relax Harry than anything else.
"I'd like all of you to give a warm welcome to Mister Harry Potter," Professor McGonagall finished with a smile gesturing to the resident celebrity.
In that moment, when almost every face in the room visibly brightened at the same time, Hermione almost forgot to look at Pansy. She glanced over just in time to see the girl's mouth fall to the floor like a concussed fish. The older Slytherins all looked at Pansy like all of this was somehow her fault.
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