Disclaimer: I don't own it.

I've had a couple of questions about who's going to end up with who. And I'm not going to tell you. After this chappie, maybe try and guess again.

After that, I didn't see any of them until school started. The next day, when I was drinking my coffee on the porch swing, my Hogwarts letter came. It was thicker than usual, and when I pulled it out, something fell through the cracks of the deck. Swearing, I crawled underneath, and amid all the loose change and single shoes, I found a Prefect's badge. I stared at it, lying there under the deck for a moment, then crawled out. I'd forgotten that Prefects were chosen fifth year. If I'd remembered, I would have thought Lily, or Hope Finnegan maybe. Not me. I'm too much trouble!

I wondered who the boys would be, for a moment, then I shook my head; no way to tell. All I knew was that it wouldn't be Mike Creevey. That boy did not have a leading bone in his body. They were both model students are respectable members of society, not a scruffy weirdo who barely passed Transfiguration in third year, like me.

That very day, I went to Diagon Alley to get my books for fifth year, as well as potions ingredients and new robes; my old ones still fit, but were extremely worn.

A week later, I found myself wandering through the steam at Platform 9 ¾, searching for my friends. My mum was staying at Neville's flat, helping him pack it up, so I'd had to lock the house up and leave by myself. It had been an unsettling experience, heading to Hogwarts on my own, but I just ignored it as best I could. I realized that I'd be doing more things by myself, now that mum was married.

I was squinting through the mist when three people ran up to me, two girls and a boy. The girls were Charlotte Fleming and Demelza Thomas, and the boy was Thomas Bannister. All three were in Gryffindor, the same year as me.

'Saoirse! How was your summer?' Demelza has caramel skin and her hair is always up somehow, in braids or a ponytail.

'All right, yours?' I replied.

'Pretty good,' she said.

'What about you two? Good summer?' I asked Charlotte and Thom.

'Same-same,' replied Char. 'Pretty uneventful. I'm craving a little conversation with people who know about magic. I'm always like; "Damn, I can't remember the incantation for such-and-such spell" and my parents are like "Huh?" It's maddening."

Thom laughed. "Yeah, I don't have that problem. Actually, my summer was really good. My parents bought me a new broom for my birthday.' Thom plays Keeper on the Gryffindor Quidditch team (on which I'm currently a Chaser, though now that James is gone, I'm trying out for Seeker.)

'So, Thom, did you make Prefect?' I asked the question casually.

'No, I didn't. I thought that it'd probably be Asher,' he replied.

'I dunno, I haven't seen him in a week.'

'Did you?' asked Demelza. I reached into my pocket and held up my badge for them to see. They congratulated me, and we all went to load our trunks. Then I said my goodbyes and headed for the Prefect's carriage at the front of the train, with my satchel slung over my shoulder and Tonks in her basket in my arms.

Entering the Prefect's carriage, I found that I was the first one there. I felt awkward, out of place, like an imposter. I gazed out the window at all the parents saying goodbye to their kids and I felt really lonely, all of a sudden. I saw Deva Patil kiss her mother goodbye, and a minute later, she was walking into the Prefect's carriage, where I sat.

'Deva! How are you?'

'Good. My mum was so excited when I got my letter. I can't believe I'm a Prefect!' Deva was a Ravenclaw with dark hair, dark skin, and eyes of the bluest blue. She was striking in an almost otherworldly way. Absolutely shattering.

'Me neither. I was completely not expecting it. You're like, this model student. If anyone had asked me about the Ravenclaw Prefects, I would have said you right away, And Terry for the guy.'

'What's that about me?' Terence Boot asked, walking in.

'Just that I thought you'd be a Prefect,' I said. 'But now that I see you, also that you're getting tall.' He was, probably 6'4", with blondish brown hair and brown eyes.

'Yep. That's me. If I was a Muggle, I'd be a shoo-in for the netball team. Unlike you,' He said, eyeing me, but in a nice way. 'You used to be taller than nearly all of the guys. Now you're shorter than Hugo! What's with that?'

I shrugged.

'Oh, lay off her,' Deva chided him. 'It's not her fault that she's short.' Deva's actually shorter than me, but that doesn't stop her.

'She's not short.' A voice came from behind Terry. 'She's perfect just the way she is.' Asher leaned against the doorframe.

'Asher! You're the other Prefect?' I asked.

'Yeah. I'm surprised too.'

'So was I. I was expecting Lily, or Hope.'

'Yeah, maybe someone who doesn't half-kill themselves over a necklace,' he teased.

'Shut up. I was curious, and it's not like I fell on purpose.' Deva and Terry were looking at us curiously, so I told them the story of that day at the pond.

'So, that's the necklace?' Terry asked, sitting down next to me and touching it with a finger.

'Yeah. I like it. I think that it was worth it, although I do have a wicked bruise on my back.' By this point, the other new prefects were beginning to file in, so Asher sat down on Deva's other side. I recognized Lilac Zeller and Chris Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff and Brittany Ackens and Alex Zabini from Slytherin. Then Al, in his capacity as Head Boy, came in, and we all shut up to listen.

He gave us a speech about how Prefects were role models, how we weren't supposed to abuse our power or shirk our responsibilities, what our powers and responsibilities were, exactly. When he was done, everyone filed out, but I hung back to talk to Al.

'Congrats! You're a Prefect!' he gave me a hug. He was taller than me, and, objectively speaking, fairly handsome. He looked just like his father; bright green eyes, messy black hair, skinny.

'Thanks. To tell the truth, I totally wasn't expecting it.' I replied.

'Really? I'm not surprised at all.' I looked at him, to see if he was kidding, but it appeared that he wasn't. He saw the look. 'Really. You're clever, you're talented, and you're a brilliant role model.'

I colored a little as he said this, and cursed my paleness, which made it obvious. 'I would say that you're totally off your rocker, but then I'd be accused of fishing for compliments, so I'm just going to drop it.' He laughed. I noticed that he was a little red as well. 'C'mon, let's go patrol the corridors, looking out for miscreants.'

He gestured towards the door. 'Ladies first.' I looked at him like he was crazy, then looked over my shoulder.

'Ladies? Where?' he laughed again, and followed me out into the corridor. We did an entire length of the train, sending some first years playing tag back to their compartments and breaking up a couple of fourth-years who were snogging in the hallway. We walked slowly, talking and laughing. When we'd done the length, we said goodbye and headed off to find our respective groups of friends.

I found Asher, Lily, Hugo and Deva in a compartment near the end of the train. Deva and Lily were talking animatedly, while Hugo and Asher spoke in quiet voices. They all stopped when I came in.

Lily jumped up to give me a hug. 'Prefect. Congrats!' she looked like she really meant it.

'I'm sorry, I totally expected it to be you!' I said. She waved me off.

'Pshaw. I don't care. It's too much responsibility for me anyway. You're definitely the best one for the job.'

'Thanks. Hey, Hughie.' He said 'Hi' back, but without much enthusiasm. He seemed fairly sulky. I looked at Lily and she shrugged, so I let it go.

Hugo was a little taller than me, then, and solidly built. His flaming red hair was getting too long, and he was always having to push it out of his brown eyes. He actually looked a lot like his uncle Charlie, now, and was touchy like his father, a bad combination, which often got him into trouble. From which we often saved him, because we are excellent friends.

Muahahahahahahaah!

Just because I'm cool like that.