Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Sixty-Two

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, looking around at me in alarm, but I shot past him and tackled Luke in a hug.

"Miss McKeon," McGonagall said. "I see you've noticed your newest Housemate."

"What's he doing here?" I asked her. I turned to Luke. "What are you doing here?"

"Tournament stuff," Luke said, grinning.

"Yes, Mr. Castellan has come from America to help with the third task of the Triwizard Tournament," McGonagall explained.

"Wait," Ron said, with a hold-everything gesture. "You're Luke?"

"No, Ron, it's You-Know-Who," I said sarcastically. "Of course it's Luke, I thought I showed you the pictures from camp!" I turned back to Luke and punched him hard in the shoulder. "I can't believe you actually came and didn't tell me!"

"It was meant to be a surprise," Luke said, rubbing his arm. "And now I get to meet all of your Hogwarts friends."

"We've heard a lot about you," Hermione said amiably, shaking Luke's hand.

"All good things, I hope."

"Actually, we did hear about the Baby Back Ribs Incident —"

"Ash!" Luke complained.

"I had to, it was too funny! And I made up for it by sending you that picture of Ma— um— I mean the ferret," I said quickly, knowing I'd probably get in trouble if McGonagall found out I'd taken a picture of the Ferret Incident.

"Well," said McGonagall briskly. "Since you lot all know each other, I'll ask you to show Mr. Castellan the way to Gryffindor Tower and fill him in on everything he needs to know."

"Of course, Professor," I said enthusiastically. "Come on, Luke, you gotta try the shepherd's pie, it's to die for..."

"Okay," Luke said when we sat down. "So I think I've heard enough from Ash to figure everyone's names out. You're Ron, the one who loves food — " He pointed at Ron, who gave me an indignant look.

"That's all you told him about me? That I like food?"

"No, no, she's told me plenty of other stuff, but the food thing was, like, the first thing she told me. Anyways, you're Ron, you're Hermione, the One With All the Answers and the Books—"

"That's your official title," I told Hermione, who looked pleased that this had been the first thing I'd told Luke about her.

"Hang on," Ron interrupted again. "So she's the 'One With All the Answers, etcetera,' and I'm just the bloke who loves food?"

"You do love food!"

"I know I do, but that's not the point!"

"Okay, fine, new title for you. You're the 'Lovable Jerk Who I Find Moderately Funny.' "

"Never mind, I'll take the food one."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Dude," Luke said, shaking his head. "This."

"I know, it's chaos," I laughed.

"So you're Ron, you're Hermione, which makes you—" He gestured at Harry, whom I realized hadn't spoken since we'd discovered Luke, "Harry Potter." Luke squinted at Harry thoughtfully.

"What?" Harry asked him, looking a bit annoyed.

"Nothing, Ash just told me that your eyes look like if you extracted pure green dye from pine trees and moss, mixed those dyes together, and then dumped it into a pond. Those words exactly."