Early the next morning, Harry received more small gifts from Padma and several students from other houses-mostly girls. Padma's gift was another delicious kind of dessert.
This put Harry in a very good mood on his first day of term.
Compared with Harry, Ron was in a much worse mood. None of the excitement he had shown while standing on the table telling everyone his story the night before remained. A Howler from his mother, Mrs. Weasley, had knocked every bit of smugness out of him.
Now Ron looked utterly wilted. His only consolation was that, thanks to the studying he had done ahead under Hermione's relentless pressure and a new wand that suited him, his schoolwork this term should go much more smoothly than last year.
When the timetables were handed out at breakfast, Harry saw that their first lesson of the new term was Herbology. They would be sharing the class with Hufflepuff.
Several Hufflepuff girls who had also just received their timetables immediately looked his way. One girl named Megan Jones, whom Harry had gotten to know fairly well in their first year, even waved at him.
Harry waved back-after all, she had just given him a little gift. But then he heard two quiet huffs beside him at the same time.
Harry sneaked a glance out of the corner of his eye. One had come from Parvati, and the other, surprisingly, from Ginny.
Well, Harry was a little confused and had no idea what had happened. Still, he guessed that perhaps there had been something inappropriate about his wave, so he lowered his hand and went on eating breakfast.
After breakfast, Harry and the others headed for the greenhouses where their Herbology lessons usually took place.
Their Herbology teacher was the Head of Hufflepuff, Professor Pomona