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Harry knew that he should probably be helping Theo with the running and overseeing of Hogwarts. After all, the Circle—well, most of them—had come to Earth and Hogwarts because Harry had been so insistent over the situation there.
Admittedly, he’d been a bit naive. He hadn’t expected it to become such an involved affair or that it would take so long to find qualified, responsible, and trustworthy adults capable of running the school as a school should be run.
Sometimes, though, he wished that there were simple problems with simple solutions.
He turned his head when a pale hand touched his arm, drawing his attention away from his thoughts.
Did you see Bran in the Great Hall for lunch? Quinn asked. He wasn’t in the apartment when I served it up for those that picked that option.
Harry thought for a moment, then shook his head when he couldn’t remember seeing that particular Bonded during the meal. Or since they’d gotten ready for the day, for that matter.
He had a fairly good idea where Bran was, however.
“I’ll take a plate to him,” he said, catching the unhappy look on Quinn’s face. Because that was a simple problem with a simple solution, and it would get him out of at least one scheduled meeting for that afternoon.
From the look on Quinn’s face, the Healer knew what Harry was scheming, but he didn’t call him out for it. Instead, he summoned the plate that had already been made up, just as Harry had known there would be.
Several staff members hadn’t opted to come back to Hogwarts when the school reopened, understandably. Madam Pince had been one of them, but someone had to monitor the Restricted Section and go through all the books to make sure there weren’t any absurd protection spells on them—Harry still shuddered at the memory of a book spelled to physically assault students who scribbled in its pages. Bran had volunteered for that particular task, so more often than not, he could be found in the library.
Which is why Harry headed there first, plate in hand.
He’d never realized just how many little nooks and sequestered tables there were in the library back when he was a student. He wondered if Hermione knew that there were actual cages in one lower-level section of the library, where students could literally lock themselves in to study without distractions.
He poked through the ones he’d already discovered, to no avail. He could tell where Bran had been, though, based on the stacks of books scattered around on the tables and floors, making a perimeter around each nook.
Whenever they finally hired a librarian, they were probably going to quit within a day if the re-shelving situation wasn’t brought under control.
It quickly became obvious that Bran wasn’t in one of the nooks Harry had found him in in the past, but instead had found a new one. In a new section at that.
Harry was thankful that there was a warming charm on the plate, because otherwise the food would have long gone cold by the time he finally found Bran.
He stared up at the window seat, fairly sure that it hadn’t been designed to be used that way considering that there was no easy way to get up to the window. If students were supposed to sit that high up, surely there would have been a ladder nearby.
But that was what magic was for, he supposed. He shook his head fondly. Leave it to Bran to find one of the higher places in the library as a reading place.
Using a spell that Bran had taught him, Harry shaped the air into a small platform to stand on, and then levitated the platform upwards, the plate floating beside him. It was a rocky and unsteady process and when he was finally high enough, he pushed his way onto the window ledge, resisting the urge to pull out his wings and use them instead.
There definitely wasn’t enough room for wings.
“Lunch,” he announced when he realized that yellow eyes were tracking his every move. “Unless you want a lecture from Quinn later tonight.” He started to hand the plate over, but hesitated when he saw that Bran’s hands and lap were full with books and he was now sitting in the only free space available. “Don’t tell me that you got stuck up here.”
Bran sniffed haughtily. “I am Air, we don’t get stuck in high places.”
“You’re Nameless.”
Bran rolled his eyes at Harry. “Air affinity. No, I got wrapped up in this and lost track of time.”
“Well eat now, since I was distracting enough to get your attention.” Thankfully one of the things on the plate was a wrap, so Harry picked it up and held it out to Bran.
The other dragel arched an eyebrow, as if asking if they were really going to do that, but leaned forward and took a bite of the wrap. Then he picked up the next book on his stack and ran a hand over the cover, then the spine.
“Why up here?” Harry wanted to know, looking down at the rest of the library. There was actually a pretty good view of several sections from up here, giving him a better grasp of just how large the library was, but he was sure that Bran hadn’t chosen this particular place for the view or to better monitor the stacks.
“I started out in the Restricted Section. Did you know there’s a lower level?”
“No,” Harry said. Hermione probably knew, though.
“And a basement. With a ghost.” Bran made a face as he took another bite of the sandwich.
Harry didn’t bother to hide his smile. “I see.”
“And another room below that, one that I’ve decided I’m not going to investigate because I’m not a ghost hunter like my cousin and I actually have some semblance of common sense and know not to going poking around when there’s ghosts and things are already that level of creepy.”
“I’ll get Hadrian to check it out,” Harry promised. “Unless you want to call your cousin in instead?”
“If he comes around, there’s a seventy percent chance that the castle won’t be standing anymore after a week. I don’t think Theo would approve.”
Harry winced. Theo would definitely not approve. Not after all the work they were putting into restoring Hogwarts. “I’ll get Hadrian on it.”