"Sometimes I'm kind of glad," Seamus lay on his dorm bed, grinning, "that I'm not Class Prefect—you see, it's been almost half an hour and Ron still hasn't come back. Bet he's sorting the first‑years into dorms, right? Or keeping order?"
"It should all be finished by now." Neville wiped his nose and said, "Look at the time, how could they not be done with that stuff? My guess is something held them up, maybe they got called into a meeting?"
None of them were sleepy yet, so Harry suggested using the Crystal Ball's projection function to watch a Muggle movie.
The suggestion met with everyone's approval. Boys are good with their hands: Neville turned the curtains into a movie screen and hung them on the wall, while Seamus set up a few little sound‑proofing charms so they wouldn't disturb the other dorms.
"Let's watch this." Harry found a film and turned to them. "The Shawshank Redemption, a good movie from a couple of years ago, about how a banker named Andy, wrongfully convicted, eventually breaks out of prison."
"Isn't that basically Mr. Sirius Black?" Seamus arched an eyebrow. This story sounded damn familiar.
Harry suddenly saw the light—that's why the story had felt familiar the whole time.
"Come on, come on." Neville dug a pile of snacks out of his trunk. "We'll eat while we watch. Just watching a movie is boring, you've got to munch on something."
That reminded Harry; he rummaged in his wallet and pulled out a crate of Muggle cola and set it down in the dorm.
Alfonso had now been handed over to Vivi, and Harry's wallet was empty again.
Still, after sending Alfonso away, cleaning the bones out of the wallet really had been a chore.
If it weren't for the House‑Elves helping, Harry would've been thinking about changing wallets.
They sat down on the conjured sofa, comfortable as could be.
Harry activated the Crystal Ball and projected the film onto the screen.
As for where the movie came from… don't ask. If you must ask, it's from Mr. Leme's marvelous gadgets.
It wasn't until ten o'clock that a worn‑out Ron finally came back to the dorm.
The moment he stepped through the door, Ron froze.
Then he let out a howl of anguish and demanded, "What are you lot doing?!"
"As you can see." Harry said cheerfully, "We're watching a movie."
"You're watching a movie without me!" Ron stomped over, shoved Neville off his sofa, and conjured one for himself.
He grabbed a handful of snacks, then looked up and asked, "How long have you been watching?"
"It's almost over." Seamus drooped his eyebrows and said, "But if you want to watch something, we can stay up and watch another with you."
"That's more like it!" Ron snorted.
When The Shawshank Redemption finished, Harry found another movie called The Godfather.
"I've heard Mr. Granger say," Ron's eyes lit up, "The Godfather is the Bible every man has to read—I mean watch. I think I should really pay attention."
And then, once they'd finished the movie, Ron's entire demeanor changed.
"Let's go to bed, Ron." Seamus yawned. "The movie was brilliant, sure, but I'm about to fall over—and we still have class tomorrow."
Who would've thought: Ron suddenly spoke in this rough, sandpaper kind of voice. "Seamus, Seamus, I don't know what I did wrong to make you show me such disrespect—you won't even call me Class Prefect!"
Seamus was so mad he threw a pillow straight into Ron's face.
Next morning, Ron was still imitating the old Godfather.
"This year's not bad." Hermione stood in the common room with her hands on her hips, looking at the clean walls. "No pair of clone‑pranksters making a racket, and no random flyers pasted everywhere. Everything's moving in the right direction."
"Yeah, those clone‑pranksters are my brothers." Ron said.
"Oh, I'm quite glad you haven't trained with them into another little mischief‑sprite." Hermione said dryly.
The two of them went with Harry through the portrait hole and headed for the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Stop right there!" Hermione said, and grabbed a fourth‑year around the shoulders. He was clutching a dark‑green disk in his hand, trying to squeeze past her.
"Wolf‑Tooth Saucer is contraband. Hand it over." Hermione told him sternly.
The boy pulled a woeful face as he surrendered the snarling saucer, then ducked under Hermione's arm and ran after his friends.
Once he was far enough away, Ron snatched the saucer out of Hermione's hand.
"Brilliant, I've wanted one of these for ages." Ron said, eyeing the saucer.
"That's confiscated loot!" Hermione snatched it right back. "Kindly keep your hands to yourself, please!"
"All right, all right." Ron shrugged.
They made their way into the Great Hall and sat down to have breakfast.
The Great Hall's ceiling was a tile‑blue sky with a few wisps of cloud drifting lazily by, just like the sky outside a row of tall windows.
Harry and Ron downed their porridge and tucked into eggs and ham while chatting with Hermione about the movies they'd watched last night.
"You actually watched The Shawshank Redemption?" Hermione's eyes sparkled. "That's my favorite movie…"
"I didn't." Ron said, a bit glum. "They watched it while you and I were at the meeting. By the time I got back to the dorm, it was almost over—I only caught the ending. But I did watch The Godfather, you know, the one Mr. Granger likes best."
"That one's a classic too, but I don't really care for it." Hermione frowned slightly. "Too violent. How can that sort of thing even be allowed? You two good boys had better not pick up any bad habits from it."