It seemed to take ages to get the smell of vinegar out of Milo's hair as he lathered himself up multiple times before bed and even in the morning, he decided to shower once more. The last thing he wanted to do was greet his friends and have them question why he smelled like vinegar, it obviously wouldn't take them long to piece it together before they started laughing at his misfortune. Although he couldn't help but chuckle as well, knowing he had been quite the sight for poor Bitsy to witness, at least she had been kind enough to offer him a towel. Unfortunately, the night before did not go well for Milo as his attempts with reconnecting and reconciling with Harry did not go according to plan. Harry was bitter and Milo knew it wasn't the boy's fault, however, he did wish that Harry would give him a chance. 

When he entered the Great Hall that morning for breakfast and to collect his timetable for the semester, only a few seconds had passed before he found arms resting on his shoulders. He glanced to his left and then to his right to see Fred and George walking with him. 

"Morning," he greeted them, slightly puzzled by the already amused looks on their faces. He would have said that it was too early to get into trouble, but knowing the two there was never a time that was deemed inappropriate as an opportunity to prank. "What are you two up to?"

"Well, we thought we'd tell you that we spoke to Ron last night," Fred began.

"About putting in a good word for you to Harry," George finished. 

"Really?" Milo said brightly, "That's fantastic! And, what did Harry say after Ron spoke to him?"

"Um..." The twins exchanged looks before George patted him on the shoulder. "So that part didn't end so well..."

Milo sighed looking down at the floor. "Figures."

"But," Fred interjected, " that gave Georgie and me an idea to help out your little situation."

"Meaning what?" Milo asked. "What do you have planned?"

"We figured we would prank Harry mercilessly until he agrees to talk to you," George smiled.

The twins high-fived each other behind Milo's back but their celebratory time didn't last very long as they witnessed Milo shaking his head. He didn't like the idea at all it seemed as he sat down at the edge of the Gryffindor table with the twins standing in front of him.  As he peered up at them, he tried to hide his frown behind a smile, that appeared to thank them for the offer.

"He's off limits," Milo told them. "Really, don't prank him. I have a feeling he's been through enough and that won't do him any good. I don't want to force him to talk to me, I want him to do it on his terms. Even if it takes until my seventh year, as long as he does it on his own terms, I'll be happy."

"But if we could just speed up the process," Fred tried to encourage the boy to reconsider but Milo didn't seem inclined to do so anytime soon. The disappointed sighs escaped from the two while McGonagall came around with the timetables for the Gryffindors, but of course had grabbed Milo's from Professor Sprout to hand to her son personally. 

"Thanks, Mum," Milo said before coming wide-eyed as Fred and George giggled as McGonagall shot the two a stern glare. "I mean, Professor. Sorry. I'm all sorts of distracted."

With a wave of her hand, McGonagall cleared Fred and George to leave a moment for her and Milo to speak in private. Already she could tell that Milo had a stressful morning as the boy's hair was all over the place, but she could see the spot where he had pulled and twirled it repeatedly. Currently, his hands were in his lap, his fingers running over his trousers to keep himself from picking. 

"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."