The first lesson of the new academic year was Herbology.
Compared with History of Magic and Divination, which had to be held in classrooms, and Astronomy, which meant climbing the Astronomy Tower in the middle of the night, Herbology, usually held in the greenhouses, was relatively popular.
But compared with Defense Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures as they were now, Herbology was not quite so well liked by the Gryffindor students.
It was probably about as popular as Potions Class, now taught by Professor Slughorn. Well, perhaps a little less so.
Still, on the whole, being able to have lessons outside a classroom was already a good thing.
They had Herbology with Hufflepuff. The two Hufflepuff girls, Megan Jones and Winnie Hopkins, had been interested in Harry since their first year.
They were still interested now.
Parvati and Sally-Anne Isabel, on the other hand, had been interested in Harry before, but being together every day, whether in classrooms or the Common Room, had probably worn away all his mystique. Now they treated him only a little more warmly than an ordinary classmate.
Actually, though, Harry preferred the way Parvati and the others treated him. Even the fact that it felt wonderful when Megan gazed at him admiringly with her beautiful gray eyes could not change that.
Megan was a very pretty girl, especially since she had a certain charm that the other girls in their year lacked. But Harry did have someone he liked now.
Although his relationship with the slightly older Cho Chang was still at the level of good friends, Harry himself felt that there had been some faint progress.
Harry was not very familiar with this sort of situation, and for the moment, he had no one to ask for advice-his troublemaking friends