BROTHERHOOD ⟶ Harry Potter

Chapter Eleven

"Milo, you cannot let all of this distract you," Minerva informed him as she sat beside him on the bench. "It will do you no good if you continue to focus on this. Whether or not Harry decides to speak with you, do not let it bring you down. You have plenty to focus on this year and if you need something to focus on something, you don't need to worry because I'll find you plenty of work."

She heard him laugh before he looked up at her with a smile. "Can I become your Official Scroll Shredder again?"

"When did you ever lose the title?" She gave him a small smile before passing him his timetable and getting up to hand out the others. He sat for a few moments looking over his timetable, his smile not fading as he waited for Katie and the other girls to arrive for breakfast. However, at one point he looked up and glanced over, seeing a girl with bushy brown hair seated at the table, alone. She had her A History of Magic book opened before her as she attempted to eat breakfast. Other students around her were talking, bringing her to look up every so often to observe their conversations. It seemed she was longing to join in, but no one invited her to do so. 

"Bathilda Bagshot embarked on the journey of magical knowledge decades ago. She has always been fascinated by the mysteries and curiosities of the wizarding world..." he began reciting out loud bringing the girl to look over at him. She seemed puzzled wondering if he was speaking to her but Milo only continued on. "A History of Magic examines significant moments and facts from the beginning of time to the 19th century making this book an essential piece of wizarding literature."

A flicker of amusement trickled across his face as he saw her turn the book over and read the back, realizing that he had memorized the excerpt from the back, bringing him to laugh as she looked up him.

"How did you do that?" She asked.

"Trust me, when you suffer through a couple of Professor Binn's classes, you rather just read the book than listening to him. I could probably recite the entire first chapter."

"Let's see then..." the girl seemed to challenge him as she turned to him on the bench, holding the book in her lap and waiting for him to begin. 

"I'll do you one even better..." Milo said. "Page thirteen..."

She watched as he began clearing his throat before he started. "Non-magic people..more commonly known as Muggles... were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times, but not very good at recognising it. On the rare occasion that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame-Freezing Charm and then pretend to shriek with pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. Indeed, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burned so much that she allowed herself to be caught no less than forty-seven times in various disguises."

"That's actually rather impressive," she told him before holding her hand out as if he had passed her test and earned an introduction. "Hermione Granger."

"Milo Potter," he said taking it and shaking her hand, immediately, he could feel her hand tighten around his as it tensed at the sound of his name.

"Did you say Potter?"

He nodded his head. "Yes, I'm assuming that I wasn't what you were expecting, don't worry if I'm right, that's usually how most people feel."

"No, it's just, I...I met your brother, Harry, and I assumed that you two would look more alike. But that's silly just because you two are siblings doesn't mean that you have to look alike."

She seemed to be scolding herself while he wasn't even bothered in the slightest. "Really, it's fine. I was told that I look more like my grandfather when he was my age. Harry takes after our parents."

"You weren't sitting with him on the train yesterday. Not that you had to but-"

"I don't live with him," Milo said, he wasn't planning on going into much detail but he had brought it upon himself as he had piqued the girl's curiosity enough that she was asking him questions. He felt as though it would be rude to just walk away and he would feel terrible if he left her alone so that she had no one to talk to again.  "I live with my adopted mother, she's the Transfiguration professor-"

"Professor McGonagall?"

Hermione fell silent once more but look on her face only spoke of envy before she finally spoke again. 

"That's amazing," she said with a smile. "Honestly, to have a professor as a parent, I bet you've learned so much from her."

"Oh yes, plenty," Milo replied feeling a bit more relaxed. "And trust me, you'll learn plenty from her too, she won't accept anyone not to learn one new thing while in her class."

"I look forward to it," Hermione told him. "I was actually practicing some of the spells on the train on the way to the school. You see, I'm a muggle-born, so I felt like I had to do a bit of catching up, you know? So many of the students here have grown up with magic."

"Well, that hardly matters, it's not like any of us can use it outside of the castle and the grounds," he informed her. "Everyone pretty much starts off at the same level coming in. So just consider yourself ahead of the game. Most students never even open up their A History of Magic book, so you're actually even further than most seventh years."

That earned another laugh out of the girl making Milo feel a lot better about himself, at least he was able to bring some happiness to someone that morning. He was fully prepared to enjoy his breakfast with her but as he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Harry coming in with Ron. Almost instantly, the Potter brothers made eye contact and Harry looked unsure of what to do with the situation of his brother seated at the Gryffindor table.

"Anyways, I'll let you get back to your reading," he said to Hermione before pushing himself up. Hermione went to protest and insist that he spend more time in her company but he was much faster on his feet as he moved passed her and went the long way around to head to the Hufflepuff table. He was close to finding a place on the bench to sit when he was approached by another friend that appeared out of nowhere.

"Milo!"

He jumped nearly stumbling back as Matilda Carolls from Slytherin hopped out in front of him. He placed his hand over his chest and smiled at the blonde. "Goodness Matt, you nearly scared me out of my robes jumpin' out like that!"

"Sorry! But you were the one playing hide and seek yesterday!" She told him. "I kept trying to get a chance to say hi to you and what's this I hear that you were on the train and I didn't know about it?"

"I...It was really complicated, Matt, nothing personal to you, I swear."

Milo had met Matilda back his first year after Christmas time when Heidi had introduced him and Maxine to the girl. Maxine and Matilda were incredibly close, and while Milo suspected there was something more, he never voiced it, in fear that he was wrong and they would proceed to pounce on him. Matilda also required every friend to call her Matt because she didn't like being called Matilda as it made her sound like an old woman as she would say.

"Well, you and I need to catch up, so save me some time today, will you? Perhaps lunch?"

"Yeah, definitely!" Milo agreed. She smiled at him before patting him on the shoulder and walking over.  He went to sit down only to see Katie approaching him with Alicia beside her.

"Sorry we showed up late for breakfast," Katie told him. "But Angelina needed help fixing one of her braids and Alicia thought she could do it, but only made matters worse-"

Milo looked to Alicia who shrugged her shoulders with an indifferent expression. "So I had to fix it," Katie sighed. "But don't worry, we'll sit together at lunch, alright?"

"Alright!" Milo said happily watching her until she left the Great Hall with a goofy expression, until he realized he had promised two people that he would sit with them during lunch.

"Oops."