Chapter 24:
Harry laughed. "I think it's a combination of all of that, to be honest," he said, easing Susan's fears that she would upset Harry when she mentioned muggleborns.
Seeing the tension slowly ease, Harry sat back happily. He had worried when he thought about coming back to Hogwarts that he wouldn't be able to cope with being 11 again and surrounded by children, but now he had more confidence that he would manage. At least he hoped he would.
"And to think, Neville," Harry said, "you didn't think you were Gryffindor material. What you just did was brave.,"
Neville perked up. "It was, wasn't it?" he said, his excitement making the girls smile.
Eventually Harry started to tune out the conversation and picked up his book again. Reading, Harry would add the occasional comment, but for the next hour or so he devoured the Chapter in his book.
"Are you interested in mind magic?" Susan asked when Harry closed the book, having finished the Chapter he had been on.
"Yes, I find it to be quite fascinating," Harry said.
"My aunt has told me a little about it," Susan said. "It's really hard to master, but she promised to try and teach me some basic occlumency next summer; she said it would help me study."
Harry was not surprised by this, a lot of purebloods and halfbloods taught their children occlumency if they could.
"You've heard of occlumency, right?" Susan asked.
"Yes, I find it fascinating. I read about it over the summer, which is what lead me to reading this book. I've started to do some of the exercises and think I've got a good starting base," Harry said.