Mum and Dad waved us on to the train as usual. Hugo ignored them as soon as we got onto the platform, ditching us for his other 3rd year friends. We met up with Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, and I left with Al and James to go find our cousins, and best friends, Dom and Fred. We ended up getting a carriage together, as we usually do. Our younger cousins were in the carriage next door, and by the sounds of it they were tormenting Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, who're starting first year.
In our carriage, Al and I are the only 5th years, as James, Dom and Fred are all in sixth year. We're all great friends though, so it doesn't really matter. Even the fact that Al is in Slytherin hasn't kept the Potter/Weasley clan apart.
James stretches out, placing his feet on the empty seat opposite him, yawning.
"So, Rose, how ya been? We haven't seen you, in, what, a week?" James smiles his crooked grin, now helping himself to some of Dom's Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.
"Mmm," I replied, picking my own bean carefully. You never know what you're going to get with these beans. I've had a dirt flavoured one once, and I can tell you, it wasn't fun. I think I ended up spitting it in James's face, actually. "Yeah, a whole week, that must be a record for us." I grinned.
We were always over at the Potter's house. Hugo and I had practically been raised in three house; our own, the Potter's and the Burrow. We had big family dinners every Sunday night at the Burrow when we weren't all at Molly loved to cook for us all, something I'd never understand. My speciality was burnt toast.
About an hour in, a second year came with a note for me, from the Head Boy. Curious, I opened it. I'd been told when I got my Prefect letter that there would be a Prefect meeting near the start of term, which was odd since it usually occured on the Hogwarts Express. The note detailed the meeting, which was to take place tomorrow night, and our duties for the day, mainly sheperding the younger students around. We also got the password, which was Gobbledegook this year. Whoever comes up with these passwords must be slightly insane.
We spend most of the train ride after that planning our first Hogsmeade trip and eating our way through the stack of sweets that James had bought. Lily came in at one point, nagging us all to put on our school robes. I swear that girl is more responsible that all the rest of us put together.
We all heave our luggage off the train and onto the platform, and wait for a carriage. Lucy, my cousin, and Louis, another cousin, Dom's little brother, both 2nd years, come up to us whilst we're waiting. They're both incredibly excited to be taking the carriages this year.
"Is it true that Thestrals are invisibile? Barty was telling me that he can see them, but I don't believe him." Lucy exclaims, clearly put out with Barty, whoever that was.
"Of course you can't see them Luce, everyone knows that." Louis rolls his eyes. "I can't wait to get there! I wonder what house Lorcan and Lysander will be sorted into?"
The two then discuss the Sorting, drawing in Dom and Al. James, Fred and I pretend to keep and eye out for an available carriage, but in relality James and Fred are planning a prank. Again. So I, as usual, end up being the one to spot a carriage, and run towards it before someone else can snag it. We all squash in somehow, which makes the ride up to school quite uncomfortable, with seven people in a carriage.
Lily and Hugo catch up to us as we enter the Great Hall after dumping our luggage, their excitement obvious. Though they're both in third year, they still find the Sorting thrilling. Wait till they get to 5th year, when all you're hanging out for is the chocolate pudding.
We all take our seats. Molly, Uncle Percy's oldest and Lucy's sister sits at the Ravenclaw table with Louis. Louis is nice enough, but Molly, in my opinion, is an insufferable know-it-all. Al heads off to Slytherin, with James jeering at him all the way. The rest of us take our seats at Gryffindor. I sit impatiently, my stomach grumbling, through the Sorting. Of course, I cheer when Lorcan and Lysander are sorted, both into Ravenclaw. I don't know them very well, though their parents are friends with my Mum and Dad. They're both a bit wierd, very bookish, so Hugo and I tend to stay away from them when they come over.
And then it's time for the feast. James's face visibly lights up. He digs in, grabbing a massive portion of the casseroule directly in front of him. Dom looks at him with disgust evident on her face. I stifle a laugh at the two of them as I also tuck in. Dom is such a girl, taking after her Mum and her Veela heritage. James is the exact opposite, living to prank people and not caring what other's think. I like to think I'm a mix of the two.
"Hey, Rose," Fred says, turning to me, "You all excited for your O. this year?" He grins, and I grimace at him, wrinkling my nose. Dom laughs at my reaction.
"Oh, Rose, they aren't that bad. Just pay attention and keep good notes, you'll be fine. You inherited your mother's brains, after all." She smiles at me, and I smile back. She's right. I'm usually top of my class with little effort, so I really had nothing to worry about. Yet, I knew I'd be stressing about homework by this time tomorrow. I can't help it, it's just who I am.
"Pff, Rose won't even have to do anything to pass. Hell, I did nothing and I still got into N.E.W.T Defence, Charms, Herbology and Transfiguration classes. 5th year's a breeze." James states matter of factly. Dom glares at him, as do I, but he's back to stuffing his face and doesn't notice.
All too quickly, McGonagall, our Headmistress, stands up to make her start of term speech. I actually see half the student body, including James and Fred, tune out. James pulls the Marauder's map out of his pocket, though what he's looking for on it is beyond me since everyone's in the Great Hall. Fred closes his eyes, looking ready to go to sleep. Really, they should pay more attention. Especially James, he is Qudditch Captain, after all. I listen attentively, living up to the Prefect badge on my chest.
When we're dismissed, I lead the first years up to Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady winks at me as I arrive.
"Welcome back, Rose! Congratulations on becoming a Prefect, dear, I knew McGonagall would pick you." She smiles warmly at me.
I smile back. She's always had a soft spot for me, though I have no idea why.
"Gobbledegook." I say, and the portrait swings wide, welcoming me back home.
I wake up early, having forgotten to draw my curtains around my bed. Blinking in the sun, I get dressed and head downstairs. I don't see a single soul on my way down, although it's past seven. Heading down to breakfast, I run into a few first and second years, but most of the older students are still in bed. Clearly, they need their sleep. I wake up slowly over a glass of pumpkin juice, joined shortly by Lily, Hugo and Dom. Dom looks half asleep, her hair all messed up. Though I'll be my best quill that she still looks far better that I do. Stupid part-Veela.
Flitwick comes around and hands out our timetables once a few more people have arrived. James, as usual, arrives just as we're leaving for first period. Flitwick docks him a point for sleeping in. I think that's a personal record for James. Usually it takes him at least 24 hours to lose a point for Gryffindor. Mind you, he'll earn them all back in the first Quidditch game of the season, so no one really minds.
I head off to first period Potions alone. When I get to our classroom in the dungeons, I smile warmly at Al. Seems we're sharing this class with the Slytherins. I head over to talk to him, not noticing who's standing next to him till it's too late. Scorpius Malfoy. Great, just great.
Scorpius is the one person in our year that can beat me on a test. Only occasionally, though. I beat him every time in Transfiguration. We glare at each other. We've been rivals since first year, both in class and in Quidditch. He's Chaser for the Slytherin team, I'm a Chaser for Gryffindor. Al and James are both Seekers, so they share a fair bit of rivalry too. The first game of the season's going to be a great one, Slytherin versus Gryffindor.
"Hey, Rose." Al says, completley ignoring the obvious hatred between me and Malfoy. I don't reply, choosing to glare at Malfoy instead. Al rolls his eyes. Luckily, Professor Slughorn ushers us all inside before we start a duel.
Slughorn's the oldest Professor at school, closely followed by McGonagall and Flitwick. He's over 100 years old, but he's still as enthusiastic about potions as ever. Mum and Dad told me about the 'Slug Club' he used to run in their day, though it doesn't exist anymore. I think McGonagall banned it.
"Good morning 5th years! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are ready to jump right into Potions! Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level; the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation." Slughorn goes through the specifics of the potion, and we all jump up to grab ingredients for the potion. It's incredibly difficult, much harder than anything we had to brew for fourth year.
Somehow, I ended up between Al and Malfoy. Well, that's just perfect. Most of the class keep looking around, into their neighbours cauldrons, not sure what to do. Malfoy and I, however, being insanely competitive, are entirely focused on our task. I get to the half way point first, my potion already emitting a silver vapour. I sneer at Scorpius, who narrows his eyes, and goes back to his potion. He's not far behind me, so I also quickly return to the task at hand.
Albus, on the other side of me, isn't having so much luck. His potion is emitting green sparks every so often, and he's glancing at it worriedly, re-reading the text book, trying desperatley to figure out what he did wrong.
The bell rings, signalling the end of the lesson. Slughorn walks among us, writing down a grade whilst we pack our books and ingredients up. Neither Malfoy nor I finished, though we both got close. Slughorn smiles at me when he sees my potion, and I grin smugly at Malfoy. Slughorn seems impressed by his potion too, to my dismay.
"Haha, Weasley, looks like you aren't the top of the class today." Malfoy remarks, smirking at me as we leave the classroom. I glare at him.
"You're potion wasn't any better than mine. You can't possibly know that you got the top grade." I say, trying to keep my worry from showing on my face. What if he did beat me? I don't think I could live that down.
"Of course I got the top grade; I'm a Slytherin, and Slughorn's head of our house." With one final smirk, he heads off with some other Slytherin's to his next class.
I glare after him. The grading system does not work that way, everyone knows that. He's just trying to annoy me. Unfortunatley, he's very good at it.
Thoroughly disgruntled, I sit down next to Molly in second period Charms, the class we share with the Ravenclaws. Thankfully, she doesn't ask what's up with me. She's too engrossed in her textbook. Typical. She studies way more than I do, yet she never seems to do brilliantly. Guess I got the good genes in the family. Molly's a prefect, like me, but, unlike me, she loves lording her power over everyone. She really is exactly like Uncle Percy.
Morning break couldn't come fast enough. I plonk myself on the bench next to Dom, grumbling. She looks at me, eyebrows raised. Dom's one of my closest friends, she can always tell when something's up.
"Malfoy." I say, saying the name like it's a curse. Which to me, it was. I get to be the one sitting next to him in Potions for the rest of the year. Won't that be fun?
"What about him?" Dom asks innocently. I glare at her.
"What do you think? He pissed me off in potions. There is no way his potion was better than mine. Definetley not." I cross my arms, glaring at the first years that walk past, who scurry off looking scared.
Dom sighs, having heard my rants about Scorpius many a time. Every year I end up in at least one class with him, and every year we compete like crazy for top spot. One time we actually had a duel over whose rat looked more like the wine glass we were 'sposed to be transforming it into. Needless to say, we both got dentention for that.
"Rose, can't you just give it a rest with Malfoy for once? You're both just as good as eachother." I glare at her.
"He is not as good as me! I am far, far better." I sniff. Dom rolls her eyes at my antics. She refuses to engage with me as I rant and rave about Malfoy for the rest of the break.
My dorm mates, Alison and Tiffany find me before Transfiguration. I only briefly saw them last night, and neither of them made it to breakfast. Ali and Tiff are my closest friends at Hogwarts, along with Dom. Ali's on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, a beater. She's the classic tomboy, making her a fantastic beater, along with my cousin Fred. Between the two of them, the other teams hardly stood a chance. There was one match last year when Stewart Alwart, Hufflepuff chaser, actually flew in the other direction when he saw them approach him, armed with Beater's bats. What can I say; our team is good, though slightly scary.
Tiff, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. Her Mum's a muggle, and a model for some big American magazine that none of us have ever heard off. Tiff herself is absolutley gorgeous, with long blonde hair and sky blue eyes. The only person who matches her for beauty is Dom, and she's part Veela.
"Hey, Rose." Tiff says, grinning at me. "Did I just hear you ranting about Malfoy?"
I rolled my eyes at her. Both she and Ali were used to my constant battle with Malfoy, having been witness to it for 4 years.
"Maybe." I grunted, still put out over the potions debarcle. Ali laughed.
"Well, at least we know that hasn't changed." She slung her arm around my shoulders and we entered our Transfiguration class.
McGonagall proceded to lecture us about the importance of our O., so I took notes while most of the class dozed off. She then set us an absolute mountain of homework, causing the class to leave, groaning, for lunch.
Ali, Tiff and I sit at the Gryffindor table, joined shortly by Dom, Lily, Hugo and Lucy, all from their different classes. James comes late, muttering something about Flitwick and 'detention'. Typical.
"Hey, James." Tiff says, shoving me over to make room for James to sit next to her. Ali and I roll our eyes at eachother. Tiff was always after one boy or another, and apparently her current target was James.
"Oh, does anyone know who the other 5th year prefects are?" I asked, generally curious. "Besides Molly, that is." Molly had spent an entire week bragging about the fact that she'd been made Hufflepuff Prefect.
My cousin's shrugged. Seems I'd have to wait till tonight to find out who I'd be sharing my new found power with.
I paced up and down outside the empty classroom that was the designated meeting point for the Prefect Meeting. Honestly, the meeting was supposed to start in 2 minutes, and I was the only one here. Talk about a lack of responsibility.
"Hey Rose!" It was Molly, looking breathless like she'd run here all the way from the Hufflepuff common room 3 floors below. Which, come to think of it, she probably had.
"I was absolutley sure I was going to be late, where is everybody?" She asked, looking around like they were suddenly going to appear from behind the suit of armor shouting 'Surprise!'
"No idea." I replied, hoping desperatley that someone would show up and save me from an overdose of Molly.
Footsteps approached from around the corner, and who would it be other than Scorpius Malfoy? I guess I spoke too soon; I'd rather spend 4 days straight alone with Molly, locked in the Divination classroom than find out that Malfoy is a prefect.
"Hi Weasleys." Malfoy smirks at us. The prefect badge on his chest glints annoyingly at me. I can't believe he made prefect, who in their right mind would pick him? True, there aren't that many Slytherin's worthy of the title, but I would have though Al had a shot. Apparently not, though. I guess Al was a shoo in for Quidditch Captain anyway.
The other prefect's arrive shortly. I know most of them, and wave at Roger, the other Gryffindor Prefect. I had a feeling he'd get it, but I wasn't sure. I guess I'm glad to know I'll be patrolling the corrindors with him. Roger's one of the most popular, and nicest guys in our year. Delia Pucey is the other 5th year Slytherin prefect, and she goes to stand beside Malfoy.
The Head Boy and Head Girl, a Ravenclaw called David and a Hufflepuff, Claire, quickly detail our basic duties, most of which we already know. They then talk about out rounds. Prefects have to make sure all the students aren't out of bed after hours, after 8:00 for first to fourth years, and till 9 for older students.
"This year, we've decided to shake things up a bit. As you all know, most years your round partner is the Prefect whose in the same year and house as you. However, David and I feel that we should increase inter-house relations, so we've decided to mix it up. The round pairs for this semester are..." She reads down the list, pairing the female 5th year Hufflepuff prefect with Roger. I tune out till she mentions my name.
"Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy." I stare at her. I could not have heard right. Did she just say Scorpius Malfoy was my partner? No. Way.
David and Claire dismiss us, and everyone starts to leave expect Scorpius and I, who diverge on Claire.
"We are not pairing up-" I say angrily.
"I am not working with her!" Scorpius says, even louder than me.
Claire raises her eyebrows at us.
"I'm sorry, you two, but this was the point of the pairings. You two are a perfect example of house rivalry, and if you can figure out how to work together, you'll be a great example to the other students."
She smiled encouragingly at us. We just glare at her, before resuming our protests. She rolls her eyes, and leaves, followed by David, both of them ignoring every word we say.
Malfoy and I are left alone, glaring at each other.
After a solid minute of glaring, I look down at the schedule for rounds that was passed around. Malfoy and I don't have to patrol till Friday, which is good I guess. Though it will ruin my Friday. Malfoy's analysing his schedule, so I take advantage of his distraction to use levicorpus on him. Grinning, I leave the classroom whilst he curses me, hanging upside down by his ankle. I get half way down the corridor before I wave my wand, saying the counter spell. I hear a satisfying thud as he falls to the ground.
I speed up, wanting to be far out of Malfoy's reach so he can't retaliate. Not that causing a duel between us wouldn't be fun, but I don't particularly feel like suffering through a weeks worth of detentions.
I'm still grinning as I go to bed, picturing his face when he was hoisted up by his ankle. I'm not particularly sure why we have such a strong rivalry. I usually put it down to the Weasley/Malfoy rivalry, but none of my cousins seem to hate him as much as I do. I mean, Al's friends with him, for Merlin's sake. I shake my head. I'm probably the only sane one in my family, I wouldn't be surprised.