Hermione had told him he should be more accepting of others and allow them to get to know him as a means of demolishing his perceived image. It was rather tarnished after the thing with Draco last year she'd reminded him. Which he needed to apologize for since there was no reason to actually injure him. Ginny, she said, was very popular with her age group and could carry the truth about him to her classmates. And contact with Harry personally would help her realize he was just a normal boy like all the others. Harry personally thought her age group were fools if they really liked and trusted her considering she'd already killed one of their number. Nor would he be apologizing again when he already had twice and been rejected both times.
Ronald claimed Harry was only angry with her over something that wasn't her fault and could've happened to anyone which was true to a degree. He berated Harry for repaying his friendship by trying to make Ron choose between Harry and his sister, though Harry wasn't doing any such thing. Once again he tried to play the life debt card to force Harry into accepting Ginny into his circle. Then capped it all off by saying Harry should be grateful Ginny thought she liked him as she was a girl of high station and could have any boy she wanted when she grew up. But she believed she wanted him. So he should be grateful and accept while she wanted to be with him.
Both of them claimed Harry needed to forgive her since she'd only been a child and hadn't had any way to know the nature of that cursed diary. Which Harry thought was utter bull given what her father and oldest brother made their lives doing. Besides which, both claimed there had never been any danger to Harry personally in saving her. They both openly claimed she'd been the one in actual danger. Not him. And if she was willing to forgive Harry for the danger she'd been in, then the least he could do was accept her offer of companionship. Nor would they hear anything Harry said to disagree with them about the matter. Not even the mentioning of Colin's name had made them retract that foolish statement. Dumbledore had told them the basilisk had only been a common variety snake and not even a poisonous one. Since Hermione believed she knew there were no poisonous snakes in Britain, she believed him and convinced both Ron and Ginny the Headmaster was right. So in their eyes, Harry had never been in danger of dying as Ginerva had been from the diary shade.
Neither paused to wonder how then Harry had destroyed said diary with a fang of a basilisk if said creature was only a common variety non-poisonous snake. Or how Colin had died from making eye contact with it if the snake was merely a harmless little gardener snake. Or how his scar on his arm was so large if the snake had been so very small. Just like neither of them bothered to remember Dumbledore hadn't actually been present in the Chamber and had even gone so far as to deny all year long that he knew the location of said Chamber. Let alone who was opening it or letting the Creature into the halls of the school to terrorize the student body. So how then had he known what kind of a snake Harry had come up against? But then they worshiped at the Altar of Dumbledore and his word was unquestionable to them.
Dumbledore had also hired Remus Lupin to be the instructor for the Dark Arts course since once again the school had lost their teacher in that subject before the former year was over. At least, Harry hadn't killed Lockhart. Indeed, he hadn't done anything at all to the fraud. Nor was it in any manner his fault the Fraud had been dragged into the end of the year conflict. Ron had selected him as the go-to teacher. Not Harry. Harry wouldn't have chosen such a useless fop to drag along if he'd had his choice in the matter. Of course, given Harry's feelings about the teaching population at the school and the fact he hadn't even wished to take part in the fiasco, Harry wouldn't actually have taken any of the staff down there with him and Ronald knew it. But Dumbledore had wanted the Fraud to be part of the end of the year event so Ron had made sure to grab him before getting Harry from his room. Harry could only wonder if this teacher would last the year and if not how would his contract be brought to an end.
Remus was a good teacher who taught at both a pace and a level his students could understand and enjoy while still learning. What Harry hadn't known until almost the end of the year was the connection between his father, Remus Lupin and the escaped convict who was supposedly out to finish the job he had begun twelve years earlier on the night Lord Voldemort had attacked the Potter family.