Daily Life

Neville nodded after listening and picked up his fork again.

He did not keep asking, as if that answer was already enough for him.

Ron swallowed the pasty in his mouth and turned to Harry.

"Are you two leaving again after this?"

"Staying until Christmas," Harry said. "Professor McGonagall extended the deadline for making up assignments and said I could hand them in after Christmas. Professor Dumbledore also said there aren't any urgent missions on the Confederation's side right now, so I can stay here for a while without worrying."

Seamus leaned over from the far end of the long table. "What about the Confederation? You've been running around outside for so long. Don't they need you to go back and help?"

"The Confederation Technical Group will take over the follow-up monitoring and barrier maintenance. Mr. LeMay will continue improving the Filter's long-term stability. Kingsley is at Confederation Headquarters handling coordination, and Gemma is leading a team to hunt down the remnants of The Ashwinder Party. They won't need us back in the short term."

Dean put down his fork. "So you're really going to stay at school and be an ordinary seventh year student?"

"At least until Christmas," Harry said, picking up a piece of bread. "I missed a week of classes last week, and this week I still have three essays to make up. The Transfiguration practical work has piled up to six weeks' worth since School Opening. Just catching up on that might keep me busy until the end of November."

Ron glanced at Harry's bread. "So what's your first class tomorrow morning?"

"Charms Class. Professor Flitwick said I need to make up last week's new spell."

"So after you finish eating today, you still have to go back and read the handouts?"

"I'll read them after