Disclaimer: I do not own the world of Harry Potter or its characters.
Priya was surprised that she wasn't the first to reach the Prefects carriage; then again, from what she knew of Hermione Granger it wasn't that surprising. The girl was notorious for being a bit of, well, a brown-nose, though Priya knew she didn't have room to talk when it came to having a reputation.
The Prefects' Carriage was larger than any others, near the front of the train. It was large enough to fit a round table and ten chairs comfortably without losing elbow room. The walls were plush maroon and the windows tinted, even with a curtain to give them the ultimate privacy, with room for all ten of their trunks to fit neatly.
Next to Hermione sat Ronald Weasley, whom she supposed got dragged here early by the other girl. She was shocked, to say the least, that he was there; she honestly thought the job would have been given to Potter, not that she was disappointed.
"Ah, you must be Priya Tollop!" The Head Boy and fellow Ravenclaw, Charles Waltford, greeted, grinning at her. "Come on in, sit anywhere you'd like."
"Thank you," Priya responded, putting away her trunk and choosing a seat near him, away from Granger and Weasley.
"Priya Tollop," she heard Weasley whisper (spectacularly badly) to Granger. "Isn't that the Ice Que –"
He grunted, meaning Granger must have elbowed or kicked him or something, not that Priya had noticed; she was pretending to be busy getting parchment and a quill out of her bag.
She wasn't stupid; far from. She knew she had a reputation and not necessarily a good one. Sure she was smart (though it bugged her to always be just below Hermione Granger all the blasted time) and some would even go as far as to call her pretty, with her milk chocolate skin, deep brown eyes, and her shoulder length, tight, black curls. Her personality though, left much to be desired. In the four previous years, she had proven herself to be aloof, tending to only be seen with a couple of the girls from her house, and a bit cold. Rarely did she smile or provide a kind word, preferring to always be straightforward, even when it was harsh.
Ice Queen, they called her. Heartless.
It wasn't completely true. She did laugh. She did smile. She was very kind. She was just very selective about who saw that side of her. She still didn't like the spotlight. It was easier to fade into the background when she distanced herself. As it was, she detested the fact that she was made Prefect; she could have sworn it would have gone to Padma Patil. Her parents and grandmother couldn't have been more thrilled.
"I was a prefect, you know," her grandmother declared, holding the badge to her heart.
"I don't doubt it," Priya had responded.
After a while, the other Prefects and the Head Girl came, the train leaving the station. As everyone got settled, a hand clapped gently on her shoulder, causing her to turn slightly and meet Anthony Goldstein's blue eyes. The blond grinned at her. "Nice to see you, Priya."
"And you."
"I think we'll work well together, don't you?"
"I suppose we'll see." Priya turned away abruptly, ending the conversation as the Head Girl cleared her throat.
"Hello everyone and thank you for coming," she said, giving them all a bright smile. "My name is Pippa Swoth and I'll be your Head Girl, this year. Oh! Hufflepuff proud," she added, giggling and pointing to the yellow 'Head Girl' badge on her robes. "This is Charles Waltford, your Head Boy."
"Ravenclaw," he added, smiling up at his partner and Priya fought the urge to roll her eyes; he was absolutely smitten with Pippa, she could tell. "You probably all know everyone here but why don't we go around and introduce ourselves by stating our names and houses. We'll start with you," he added, gesturing to a blond boy who seemed to have a permanent sneer on his face.
"Draco Malfoy," he responded. "Slytherin."
"Pansy Parkinson. Slytherin."
"Ernie Macmillian. Hufflepuff."
"Hannah Abbott. Hufflepuff."
"Hermione Granger. Gryffindor."
"Ron Weasley. Gryffindor."
"Anthony Goldstein. Ravenclaw."
"Priya Tollop. Ravenclaw."
"Now that we've got that sorted –"
"Your surname," Parkinson interjected, interrupting Charles, her pointed gaze on Priya, "sounds awfully familiar."
Priya kept her face blank though her heart thudded in her chest. No one knows, just breathe. "I'm a pureblood, if that's what you're wondering."
"Not that it matters," Pippa declared with a bit of her glee forced. "But what does matter is that you all are sitting next to your Housemate! Before we get any further in this meeting I would like for you all to switch seats, sit next to someone who isn't from your House."
No one moved at first until Granger pushed back her chair, grabbing her things. With that, the rest of them were all forced to move, scuttling around until they were settled again. Priya found herself sitting next to Draco Malfoy, who seemed like the lesser of the evils when considering the obnoxious Gryffindors, the cheery Hufflepuffs, and the suspicious Parkinson.
"Great!" Charles praised, pulling some timetables out of his bag. "Let's go over what your expectations are going to be for the year."
It all seemed simple enough. They were given this position because they all showed a sense of responsibility (i.e. do not abuse your position as Prefects to take away points). They would receive timetables at the beginning of the month, during the monthly meetings, for patrols of the castle (make sure no one was out breaking curfew; that means you, Potter). They would often be working with Prefects from the other Houses (i.e., learn to get along).
"I think that'll be it for now!" Charles told them. "You're free to go find seats with your friends. On the hour, patrol your part of the train, make sure everyone is following the rules."
"Thanks everyone!" Pippa added as everyone got up, gathering their things. Priya followed her fellow Prefects out of the room, Anthony turning around backwards to talk to her.
"Have you got a compartment to go to? My friends said they were going to pick one close to –"
"I'm sure I'll find one," she interrupted, moving past him. A small voice in the back of her head (probably her mother's or Stella's) tugged at her, giving her pause. Try to be nice. "But thank you, anyways."
Anthony's smile had fallen but it came back slightly at her pleasantry. "I'll see you at Hogwarts then."
Priya nodded, walking away from him, down towards the end of the train. She reached the last compartment and pulled it open, finding her dormmates laughing. They looked up and grinned. "Pris!" they yelled.
She instantly felt herself relax, an easy smile coming to her face. "Hey girls."
Their little group consisted of the five of them, friends since first year and Priya was glad for them. There was Stella Locken, a pretty, blonde Muggle-born who had latched to Priya in their first year after the sorting, refusing to stop talking to the point where Priya just learned to go along with it. By Halloween, she and Stella had gotten close with their other roommates: Guinevere Chisolm, a half-blood tomboy if ever there was one, Chaser for their Quidditch team, Munirah Okeke, a pureblood dark-skinned beauty who could pass for a model if she so chose, and Elodie Parish, the Muggle-born bookworm of their quintet.
They got along because of their mutual need for just a bit of distance from everyone else. Muni, Guinn, and Stella had an easier time of making friends than El and Priya but when it came down to it, they were inseparable. Plus, they complimented each other well, in personality, talent, and knowledge. Stella was, obviously, cheerful, kept their spirits up and was brilliant at Charms. Guinn knew a lot about magical creatures and was adventurous, with an ability to get the other girls out of their comfort zones, not to mention probably the most considerate of the lot of them. Muni was a potions prodigy and always had good makeup tips, as well as just being good at reading people. Elodie had a knack for D.A.D.A and tended to be the calming presence they needed when they were angry. Priya came in with the voice of reason, was great at standing up to anyone who had anything negative to say, and was the best when they needed tutoring in Transfigurations. They were like pieces to the perfect puzzle.
"We saved you a Pumpkin Pasty," Elodie murmured, handing it to her as she sat down.
"You're a life saver," Priya answered, shoving her trunk up near Muni's and plopping into her seat, ripping open the packaging with her teeth.
"Please, please, please, tell me Potter is the Gryffindor Prefect," Guinn crowed, tugging on her brown ponytail. "I just feel like that would be the ultimate poetic justice."
"Actually he's not, but both his friends are. Granger and Weasley."
Muni scoffed. "That's a shocker. Dumbledore usually bends over backwards for Saint Potter. Who else was there?"
"Anthony Goldstein. Hufflepuff was Ernie Macmillian and Hannah Abbott. Slytherin was Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson."
"Ugh, I can't stand that Malfoy, kid," Guinn cried out. "Remember when his dad bought the whole Slytherin Team new brooms?"
"All just to show up Potter," Stella reminisced. "That was one of your more infamous rants, Pris."
"I'm proud of that one. This year, though, I'm swearing off my Potter rants."
"What? Why?"
Priya raised one of her shoulders as she tugged all her hair into a giant puff on her head. "I have a weird feeling this year will be different. Besides, he's probably getting enough flack from all the articles written about him this summer without my ranting about him."
"He probably doesn't even know it's a thing you do," Elodie argued. "Our Silencing Charms are too perfect for anything to get through."
"Don't tell me you're going soft on him," Muni asked, a slight smirk playing across her lips.
"I still can't stand the boy," Priya reassured them, "but there was something kind of – disarming about hearing my Nana refer to him as 'that Potter boy'. Anytime an article came out, she had something negative to say."
"And you realized you sounded just like her?"
Priya shivered. "Don't remind me."
The other girls laughed. Priya loved her grandmother dearly. The older woman was glamorous and talented, but also an attention hog if there ever was one and just a bit arrogant (though she sort of earned the right). She was always trying to get Priya to embrace that side of her family/personality, but Priya was glad to just be a Tollop, only letting these four other girls know whom she was related to.
"I love your grandmother," Muni admitted. "I want to be like her."
"She loves you too, believe me. We'll trade places."
"You kidding? Just say the word! Who wouldn't want to be Madam –"
The compartment door slid open and Muni bit her tongue, the five of them turning to face Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. With the latch of the door, the smile fell from Priya's face. Malfoy leaned against the door frame, staring down at her. She raised an eyebrow. "Is there something we can help you with?"
Malfoy smirked. "You know, when they called you the Ice Queen, I thought they were exaggerating. But you're really quite dull, aren't you? As heartless as they say Ravenclaws are."
"Is there a purpose for you being here besides insulting me?" Priya asked, before her friends could jump to her defense, checking her cuticles. "Your presence is honestly only tolerable for short amounts of time."
Her friends snickered, causing Malfoy to shoot them a glare. "We're patrolling, like we were told, making sure everyone's staying in line. That includes blood-traitors and Mud –"
Muni and Guinn had jumped to their feet, but it was Priya's who stepped in front of him, head tilted to the side as she took a breath. "I'm bored with you. Your use of that word shows just how small you really are and how stupid you must be if you thought the commonality of us both having wizards for parents would give you permission to try and call two of my friends that in front of me. And look at you. Big man you must be, picking on girls, resorting to taunts like a child. Let me remind you, Draco Malfoy, prefect that you may be, you are an insignificant little worm, or should I say ferret, compared to the five of us and most definitely compared to the two girls you just tried to insult so I suggest that you and your little shadow of a friend take your leave before you find out just how heartless I can be."
And there was the other piece of the puzzle. Priya was unstoppable when she got like this. She seemed to know the right points to hit to get someone to walk away. Call it a lack of a filter, like some others did, but she knew what she was doing, knew how to make people keep their distance. With a slight narrowing of her eyes and a constant stream of words, you honestly just couldn't tell what she would and wouldn't do. Finding out just how heartless she could be could mean anything from a continuing barrage of insults to her hexing you into oblivion.
There was tense standoff before the smirk returned to Malfoy's face. "See you around, Tollop."
With that, he left, Parkinson shooting them once last sneer before she followed. Priya closed the door gently, despite the anger vibrating through her. She turned to release the torrent of curses on the tip of her tongue, deflating when she realized all her friends were grinning at her, Stella's smile the widest of them all. "I love when you do that."
Priya laughed, the tension broken as the rest of them laughed as well, tears coming to their eyes as the three of them took their seats again. Muni gasped for air. "Did you see his face when you called him a ferret?"
"How do you do that?" Elodie asked, smiling softly. "Five years later and I still don't know how you can tear someone apart like that with a straight face and almost in a single breath."
"Nana would say I'm meant for the stage," Priya responded, giving Elodie a lopsided grin. "But it was nothing but the truth. You're worth thousands of him. Both of you," she added, looking over at Stella.
"Oh we know," Stella responded, flicking her hair over shoulder. "Next time, though, I'm hitting him with a Jelly-Leg Jinx so I can laugh while he writhes on the floor."
"And ladies we just lost Stella to the dark side," Guinevere said.
The rest of the trip past by quickly enough, the girls getting changed and Stella helping to pin Priya's badge to her robes. "There. You're officially a teacher's pet."
"Oh stuff it."
The compartment door opened, mask in place, Priya left the compartment first to go monitor that all the first-years got into their boats, noting the strange appearance of Professor Grubbly-Plank over Hagrid. On the way back to the carriage where El was waiting for her, waving, she passed by Harry Potter. He was staring at the empty space in front of the carriages, eyes wide and nervous and then a very strange thing happened.
Priya Tollop and Harry Potter made eye contact for the first time in their entire school career.
There weren't any sparks. There were no fireworks. If anything, Priya's eyes narrowed as she walked past, unable to honestly keep her dislike off her face. And of course, Harry knew of her reputation, though he had not once experienced her sharp tongue himself.
Nothing would happen, not quite yet. Both would cast it aside as pure circumstance and not mention it to their friends.
But from that moment on, their meeting was unavoidable.
A/N: Eventually I will let on who Priya's Nana is but as of right now, you'll just have to wait!