A/N: Hey, all! Welcome to my revamp of my old story of the same name. This time I plan to actually go through an entire school year instead of rushing everything really quickly because I tend to be a lazy writer who wants to get things done quickly. I won't talk for too long (I'm sure that will come in later author's notes) and will just finish with the statement that the characters, locations, objects, etc in this story are not my possessions. They all belong to J.K. Rowling.

Enjoy! (And review!)

Ginny Potter felt movement next to her and forced her eyelids open, expecting to be hit by bright morning light and the realization that she had slept past her alarm. Instead, she was met by a dark room with only a sliver of moonlight visible through the curtains. She turned to look at her alarm clock and saw that it read 3:16 A.M. There was movement to her right again and, remembering the reason she had woken up so unwillingly, she turned to investigate.

Her husband, Harry, was twitching, a grimace of pain on his face. There was sweat shining on his forehead and his eyes were squeezed shut. Frowning, Ginny ran a hand through his dark hair, looking down to where his fists were clenched tightly around their sheets. "Harry?" she asked quietly, moving her hand down so that her fingers could trace his cheek. "Harry, wake up."

"No," Harry groaned, and a quick glance down to his still clenched fists told Ginny that he was still asleep. "No, don't."

"Harry, wake up," she said more loudly this time. At the sound of her voice, Harry turned into her hand, which still rested on his cheek, but he didn't wake and continued to moan.

"Don't…please, don't…"

"Harry," Ginny said as loudly as she could without waking the other residents of the house. She felt Harry start suddenly and sighed in relief as his eyelids opened.

"Gin-what-"

"You were having a nightmare, I think," Ginny said.

"Yeah," Harry said, sitting up and running a hand through his hair, "Yeah, I reckon I was. Did I say anything?"

"Just, well, you were sort of begging," Ginny said. She noticed that despite the fact that Harry was awake and sitting up, he had not let go of the sheets. "You kept saying no, don't, please don't. That sort of thing."

"Oh," Harry said absently, "Yeah, that makes sense."

Ginny stared at him expectantly, waiting for further explanation. When none came, she said, "What was the dream about?"

"I dunno, exactly. I can't remember," Harry said, looking not at Ginny, but at the sheets. "I just…I have a bad feeling. Like something really heavy is sitting on my shoulders but I can't figure out what it is."

"Oddly poetic, Potter," Ginny said, making an attempt at a joke. Harry looked up at her with an expression that clearly told her that said joke had fallen flat. "I er, I mean, it was just a dream, right?"

Harry gave her a look. "Yeah, but, I've just got this feeling that something bad is going to happen."

Ginny reached out and put a hand over one of Harry's tight fists, rubbing her thumb in circles against his skin soothingly. "I think the biggest thing we have to worry about is the fact that Hogwarts letters are on the way and if Rose doesn't get Head Girl, she's going to absolute hell to be around for the rest of the summer," she said, taking another shot at a joke.

Harry laughed stiffly. "I suppose she is here a lot isn't she?"

"The downsides of her being so damn close to Al, I guess."

"Who do you think the Head Boy is going to be?"

"Hmm," Ginny pondered, "Maybe Colin Wood, Oliver's kid? He was the other Gryffindor Prefect."

"Maybe," Harry said, "They like to have people from different houses tho- Hey. You distracted me."

Ginny smiled weakly. "You caught me?"

"I'm serious, Gin, I feel like something bad is going to happen," Harry said, the hand that wasn't under hers twitching. "I haven't felt like this since…well."

Ginny sighed, leaning her head onto his shoulder. "How about this – if you remember the dream, we will investigate further, but until then we'll just be on the look out for anything fishy, all right?"

Harry wrapped his arm around her waist, tugging her closer and pressing his lips to the top of her head. "All right," he said, "Can you try to listen in to gossip at the Prophet? Maybe, I don't know, some sort of underground movement or something or-"

Harry had begun to ramble, but Ginny's insistent lips suddenly pressed against his, cutting him off mid-sentence. "Shh," she mumbled against his lips. "I'm tired. I want to go back to bed. We can talk about this in the morning when we're not completely delirious. Okay?"

Harry nodded and they both slid back down to their pillows, still facing each other. "Okay. Pending Rose not destroying the country in celebration or disappointment, of course."

"Thought that was implied, Potter."

"Guess we're on the same page then, Potter."

Ginny rolled her eyes as Harry draped an arm around her waist again, pulling her into his chest before very quickly dozing back off. Snuggled into his chest, his warm breath heating up her hair and his woodsy scent surrounding her, Ginny figured that the likelihood of something bad happening was slim to none.

"Oh bloody hell…" Albus muttered, staring down at the shiny object resting on his desk.

This had to be a mistake. That was it, Albus thought. They sent it to the wrong person and before he knew it, the tawny owl that had woken him up half an hour ago would be back with an apology letter and a request to please send the badge back because it was supposed to go to someone else like Colin Wood or Phillip Macmillan or-

Scorpius.

"He's going to kill me," Al mumbled to himself, closing his eyes. "He's going to bloody kill me."

Scorpius Malfoy, Albus's best friend – or at least former best friend, because there was no way he was going to be able to look Albus in the eye after this – was the Slytherin prefect. He had gotten all O's on his O.W.L.s. He was smart and a good leader and he deserved this. He had earned this.

You're not completely unqualified, a voice in Albus' head told him. You're Quidditch captain. You're a good leader, that's something. Albus briefly agreed with the voice before shaking his head. He was completely unqualified and could barely handle his course load and Quidditch at the same time, so there was absolutely no way that he would be able to handle N.E.W.T. level coursework, Quidditch and Head Boy duties which he had no clue how to perform, given that he wasn't even a prefect.

Grandpa was Head Boy and he wasn't a prefect, the voice said again, and Albus had to agree. His grandfather, James Potter, had been spontaneously made Head Boy after six straight years of troublemaking. James Potter had been Quidditch captain too, except James Potter had gotten much better grades than Albus and was significantly better at leading people and, as his dad said very often, it's likely that his grandmother Lily had pulled most of the weight in that Head Student partnership.

"Oh, Merlin," Albus said suddenly, pulled out of his self-deprecating thoughts by a far more pressing one. "Rose."

His cousin and best friend Rose Weasley was Scorpius' equal in grades and prefect-standing, with the addition of being the best Keeper the Gryffindor Quidditch team had seen in decades and possessing a fierce sort of disciplining ability that made adults cower when she was angry. She was the most likely candidate for Head Girl, but at the same time…

If Scorpius hadn't gone Head Boy when he was clearly the most qualified, there was a chance that Rose hadn't been given what she had deserved. And if Rose hadn't gotten Head Girl…

"ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER!"

Right on cue, Rose's voice reached him from where she was screaming on the first floor of his house. Albus knew that she had planned to apparate here as soon as she received her letter, with good news or bad news. Quickly thrusting the badge into his pocket, Albus sped out his door and down the stairs. He made a quick decision to not show her the badge unless she was screeching happily. Even then, he wasn't completely sure he wanted to show it to her at all.

As he jumped the last stair, bright red curly hair, warm arms, and a loud piercing scream that seemed to have no end in sight very suddenly smothered him.

"Rose?"

"I GOT IT, I GOT IT, I GOT IT, I GOT IT, I GOT IT!" Rose was bouncing up and down as she screamed this into his ear, trying to force him to jump with her.

Thank Merlin, Albus thought before joining in with her happy movement. "YOU GOT IT!"

Rose pulled away and beamed at him. The Head Girl badge was in her hand and she was waving it around. "Al, I got it. I'm Head Girl." As she said this, the truth of it seemed to hit her and she started jumping again, yelling, "I'M HEAD GIRL!"

"You're Head Girl!" Albus repeated excitedly, and the badge in his pocket felt less heavy. Somewhat.

"Who do you think the Head Boy is? I hope it's Scorpius, he's going to be a right pain in the arse if he didn't get it, although he'll be a right pain in the arse if he did get it as well, just a different kind of arse pain, I suppose, and sharing a dormitory with him might be a little odd but I'm sure we'll adjust, but anyway I'm sure he did, I mean who else would-" Rose rambled before stopping suddenly. She was staring at Albus with a look of suspicion.

"What?" he asked, staring back at her with an equally suspicious look.

"You have a weird look on your face. What's wrong with you?" Rose asked.

"Nothing, except for the fact that you're looking at me like there should be something wrong," Albus said.

"Where's your Hogwarts letter?"

"Er…"

"Is it upstairs? Can I see it?"

"Why do you need to see it?" Albus asked.

"Why are you afraid to show it to me?" Rose countered.

"I'm not afraid," Albus said exasperatedly. "I just don't understand why you need to see my letter when yours says the exact same thing."

"The exact same thing? Really? Your letter says that you're Head Girl?"

"No, but the supplies list is essentially the same, except I'm not taking N.E.W.T. level Ancient Runes-"

"Why are you blocking the stairs?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrows.

"What? I'm not-" Albus started, before noticing that he had indeed unconsciously stepped back towards the stairs, his arms spread slightly out as though to block her entrance. He quickly snapped his arms to his sides. "I didn't know I was doing that."

"Albus Severus Potter, what are you hiding from me?" Rose asked, her eyebrows drawing together in suspicion.

"I'm not hiding anything."

"Then let me see your letter."

"WHY? There's no reason for you to look at my letter!"

"There's no reason for you to hide it from me, unless-" Rose's mouth suddenly dropped open, forming an "O."

"Rose, what-"

"ARE YOU HEAD BOY?"

"I-"

"YOU'RE HEAD BOY, AREN'T YOU? Oh my god. You're Head Boy. We're Head Boy and Girl. Oh, Merlin, we're Head Boy and Girl." Rose's eyes looked like they were going to fall out of her head and roll away, but not before they found the slight bulge in Albus' pocket. "Is that...?"

She lunged forward and reached into his pocket, ignoring his exclamation of "HEY!" and pulled out the badge, staring at it in awe.

"Scorpius is going to kill you."

Albus groaned. "I know that. I don't know what to do, Rose, this has to be a mistake."

Rose looked up at him and he could tell by the look on her face that her brain was going a million times faster than should be humanly possible. "It's not a mistake, Al. You'll do a good job, or McGonagall wouldn't have picked you."

Although her voice sounded reassuring, her tone didn't reach her eyes. "Don't lie to me, Rose," Albus said. "You wanted it to be Scorpius, you don't have to pretend you're not disappointed. I would be too."

"I'm not disappointed, just, you know, a little caught off guard," Rose said.

Albus rolled his eyes. "Okay, sure. What about Scorpius?"

"He won't kill you, that was an overstatement, but, well, he might be a little upset," Rose said.

Albus laughed dryly. "Yeah, or, he might never speak to me again."

"What are you trying to get at, Al? That this is somehow your fault?"

"I definitely didn't do anything worthy of getting this."

"You're a good student," Rose said.

"Not as good as you or Scorpius."

"You're Quidditch Captain," Rose said.

"Yeah, and you and Scorp were prefects," Albus responded. "Which I wasn't. I was never a prefect. I don't know how to discipline people!"

"I, and I'm sure the rest of the team, would disagree with that fact purely based on the kind of cruel and unusual drills you put us through when we lose a match."

"That's not the same thing," Al said. "You and Scorpius have wanted this for years and I just get it without even wanting it? That's not fair. I want to deny the position."

Rose rolled her eyes. "You can't deny the position, Al. That's stupid. Think how good this will look on job applications!"

"I don't deserve that. I don't deserve this. It should've been Scorpius."

"You know what, maybe it should have. He wouldn't be sitting here whining about getting a position a lot of people would kill to be considered for. He would be excited and not ruin my previously great mood," Rose said, her tone dropping from reassuring to cutting in half a second.

"Rose-"

"No, Al, maybe you're right. I don't want to work with you if you're just going to be moaning about how you wish you could give up the position for the greater good. Maybe you should try to see if you can get out of this. Go on, go write a letter to McGonagall right now."

"Write a letter about what?" Lily, Albus's younger sister, asked as she walked down the stairs. Her eyes found the two badges in Rose's hands, Rose's look of annoyance and Albus's look of exasperation. "No. Way."

"Lily, don't-" Albus started, but was cut off by Lily's scream, which was about five times louder than Rose's.

"MUM! DAD! ALBUS GOT HEAD BOY! ALBUS GOT HEAD BOY!"

"What?"

"What?"

Harry and Ginny's confused voices were soon joined by their equally confused faces as they rushed down the stairs. Ginny's hair was sticking up in the back and Harry had forgotten his glasses, but they seemed extremely alert.

"Albus got what?" Ginny asked, looking at the three teenagers.

"He got Head Boy," Lily repeated at a much more reasonable volume.

"I got Head Girl, if anyone cares about that," Rose said, her ears slowly turning red.

"Congratulations!" Harry said.

"Good job, sweetie!" Ginny said, pulling Rose into a hug. Rose reluctantly hugged her back. Ginny then turned to Albus. "You got what?"

Albus smiled weakly and pointed to his badge, which Rose was still holding. "That."

"I-wow, Al, this is-" Harry started to say.

"Unexpected and undeserved. Yeah."

"No, no, no, sweetie," Ginny said, moving forward and yanking Albus into a hug. "Unexpected, yes, but not undeserved."

Albus shrugged out of his mother's grip. "That's debatable."

Ginny opened her mouth to argue, but Harry gave her a look that clearly said drop it. She said, "Well, we have to celebrate. We'll have Ron, Hermione and Hugo over for dinner later. Maybe Teddy and Vic and-"

"No," Al said. "Please just Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione and Hugo. I don't want the rest of them over."

"Right, because it's only your celebration and you get all the say!" Rose said, crossing her arms tightly. "You don't even want the position but you already love bossing everyone around, don't you?"

"Rose!" Ginny exclaimed.

"It's fine," Albus said, staring at Rose, who stared right back, her eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"It's not fine, that was completely unnecessary," Ginny said.

"Well then, if I'm completely unnecessary, I'll just be on my way," Rose said. "Have this back, and write McGonagall that letter, would you?" She threw Albus' badge back at him – it bounced off his chest and fell to the ground – and turned around, stomping out the door and to the Potter's apparition spot before anyone could stop her. A loud crack was heard from outside and she was gone.

"Well, that was…" Harry started, "interesting."

Ginny glared at him, but Albus nodded in agreement. "This year is going to be hell."

"The entire school is going to fall apart under you two," Lily added.

"Thanks for the reassurance, Lil," Albus said.

"Anytime!" she said with a grin, skipping back up the stairs.

Albus sat down on the bottom stair and put his face in his hands, trying to ignore the light reflecting off the shiny badge that was still visible through his fingers.