"Fine," he mumbled, still sweating from the exhausting climb.
                              
"Yeah, Seamus had a good summer, again..." Dean said with a smirk.
                              
Harry looked at Seamus with his eyebrow raised, bracing himself for the worst. 
                              
Seamus took in what he was thinking and responded quickly, "Oh! It's not about you, mate! It's... well... dad and me mum had a row, a big one, and they split up. She hasn't been happy all summer, that's why she was cross at you, yesterday. It hasn't been fun." 
                              
Seamus looked inside his trunk intently and they could tell he did not want to talk about it.
                              
"Sorry," Harry mumbled. 
                              
He pulled off his robes and changed into his pajamas. He crawled into bed and the others did the same. His sleep was punctured with dreams, and he woke up several times during the night, but forced himself back to sleep. He finally woke up as dawn approached. He got dressed and went down to the common room. He sat and stared out the window watching the sky brighten. 
                              
It took an hour for the early risers to get up and not too long later, Hermione came down, followed by her cat, Crookshanks. They did not say anything more than hi to each other. She was pouring over her new textbooks with Crookshanks in her lap, but occasionally shot a look up at him. When Ron came down, they went downstairs for breakfast. Harry brought many books so he would not have to go back upstairs. 
                              
A number of students said hi and waved to him as he limped into the Great Hall. Ron and Hermione flanked him trying to ward off people, who wanted to say more than hi to him. Harry was especially thankful for that. They sat down in their usual seats. Harry ate a full breakfast. Hermione, after she finished watching him eat, looked up at the staff table.
                              
"I don't see a new professor up there," she said, prompting Harry and Ron to look, too. 
                              
"Maybe they don't like to come down to eat or aren't here, yet," said Ron. "...or maybe Dumbledore is teaching it! Maybe he couldn't find anyone!"
                              
"I doubt it Ron. Dumbledore is a rather busy individual," she said sternly.
                              
"Hey, I was just telling an idea!" Ron said angrily.
                              
"Well, he is headmaster," Hermione said, smugly, fidgeting with her food. 
                              
"So? It probably would be easy for him to teach us," Ron retorted.
                              
"It isn't easy to teach seven years of students. It takes planning!" she snapped.
                              
Both their tempers were rising, and Harry was desperate to find a way to end the conversation before they stopped talking to each other.
                              
"Look! McGonagall is passing out schedules!" he said hurriedly. 
                              
He knew the lure of the new schedule would be enough to quiet Hermione, and Ron would have no reason to argue if she was not there. These days they never stopped. McGonagall handed them their schedules. 
                              
"Well, it looks like we'll find out who is teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts today. We have it before lunch," Hermione said and Ron nodded. 
                              
Ron said, happily, "The week seems so much smaller. No Hi온라인카지노게임 of Magic, no Astronomy, no Divination and most of all no Potions!" 
                              
Harry looked over his and realized that Ron got three out of four right. On his, it said distinctly, double Potions Tuesday and Thursday, but before he could say anything, Hermione chimed in.
                              
"Speak for yourself, Ron. I've still got Potions and Arithimancy," Hermione said.
                              
"Well that's you," Ron said, grinning.