Help to understand this conversation?

Question

> The Great Hall looked its usual splendid self, decorated for the start-of-term feast. Golden plates and goblets gleamed by the light of hundreds and hundreds of candles, floating over the tables in midair. The four long House tables were packed with chattering students; at the top of the Hall, the staff sat along one side of a fifth table, facing their pupils. It was much warmer in here. Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked past the Slytherins, the Ravenclaws, and the Hufflepuffs, and sat down with the rest of the Gryffindors at the far side of the Hall, next to Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost. Pearly white and semitransparent, Nick was dressed tonight in his usual doublet, but with a particularly large ruff, which served the dual purpose of looking extra-festive, and insuring that his head didn't wobble too much on his partially severed neck. > **“Good evening,” he said, beaming at them.**> > **“Says who?” said Harry**, taking off his sneakers and emptying them of> water. “Hope they hurry up with the Sorting. I'm starving.”> > The Sorting of the new students into Houses took place at the start of> every school year, but by an unlucky combination of circumstances,> Harry hadn't been present at one since his own. He was quite looking> forward to it. Just then, a highly excited, breathless voice called> down the table.There are a couple of things I don't understand from the conversation above. 1. Who said "Good evening,"? Is it Nick?2. Why Harry said "Says who?"I don't really understand what the purpose of this conversation is. To me, it's not that relevant to the whole context here. Can anyone help me with it?

Answer 1

Since the prior sentences are focused on describing Nick, it is indeed Nick that greets them with a Good Evening. As a rule, if a pronoun is used to explain who is speaking rather than a name, then it is typically referring to the last name mentioned in the text.

After Harry says "Says who?" he is described as emptying out his shoes of water. It seems as though someone who is wet or has shoes full of water, may not think that an evening is going particularly well or "good".

As for the context and how it relates to the overall story, most of the time when introducing a new scene or describing people, authors may include conversations or details that may not necessarily have a particular purpose other than to move the story to the next critical plot point.