American Royalty at Hogwarts

Chapter 23: Forgive and forget? No thanks

Third-Person PoV:

Ron nearly fell down the stairs a mess of gangly limbs and red hair; he clutched onto the handrail and carried on his quick pace down the corridor. He had woken up late again, a huff of hair left his mouth as he turned the corner, Hermione wouldn't have let him sleep in so late, she'd have stormed up the stairs, her hair frizzled like a halo around her head and shake him awake-

The fond smile on his face promptly faded only to be replaced with a deep scowl and a curl of the lips; Ron stomped over to the doors of the Great Hall and quickly plopped himself next to Harry.

"Sorry for sleeping in again, mate; I think I should try seeing one of them muggle alarms wou-" the redhead paused in dishing himself some bacon and toast when he looked into Hermione's brown eyes. Her usually wild hair was almost glossy and fell in messy, loose curls-wait was that some mascara she was wearing?

"Good morning Ronald." Her smile was tight as she took a sip of the hot drink that let off steam in her mug.

"W-what are you doing here?"

"This is the Gryffindor table, last time I checked, there was no ban on allowing me to sit here."

"Uhh, morning Ron. You sleep well?" Harry's eyes switched between the two of them as the tension seemed to rise.

"I was." He spooned some ketchup onto his hastily made bacon sandwich. "So when did you start talking with her again? You seem to have forgotten how quickly she betrayed us."

"Hermione never betrayed us, Ron; she was right, you know. I think we all need to sit down with each other and really listen to wha-"

"Sit down and listen? She never listens to us-"

"I know I didn't, but neither did you, Ron; the only time you really seemed to listen was whenever I was giving you answers to the homework."

The redhead's mouth opened and closed for a few seconds, "N-no, I didn't, I did listen to you..."

"I think we were all a bit rubbish at listening to each other, we-we could all learn to listen better together?" Harry gave them both a shy smile, his words offering an olive branch.

Ron's lips pressed together and fixed his eyes on the two opposite him, his eyes softened-

A screech sounded from the Ravenclaw table as a figure landed on the table. You couldn't quite make out what they looked like, they were blurry, and the body seemed to be whipped by an invisible wind.

"Marquess Leo Valdez, I have a letter for you from her Majesty Queen Calypso."

"Thank you for taking the time to deliver this to me; I hope your journey back is safe." The figure nodded before it rose through the air and seemingly disappeared.

"Do you have nothing better to do than stare?" Leo hunched his shoulders, glancing around the hall the letter clutched tightly in his hands.

The students slowly went back to their conversations, breakfast and rushed homework.

"Queen Calypso? Who is that? And why is she sending letters to a Marquess?" Hermione muttered.

"Never heard of her, I thought there were only three Queen's, the ones married to the three kings."

"There's probably another wizarding royalty out there that is less talked of, maybe even muggle royalty." Hermione considered Ron's words and nodded.

"You're right, we've found out more about the American Royal Family with them staying with us than their whole time interacting with the wizarding world, I wouldn't be surprised if there's even more than the wizarding world doesn't know about."