Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

Original A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter One Hundred Twenty-One

Start of Term

"You don't have to be so nervous Hermione," Ron said to his very anxious girlfriend. "Either she allows you to be a Prefect or not … you don't have to get so worked up about it."

Hermione turned to give him a scorching look.

"Right, sorry," Ron said smiling slightly. "You can't help but to get worked up about this."

The scorching look didn't loosen at all by the comment; in fact it seemed to only get worse.

Luckily for him the carriage that they were now in stopped as they reached the castle. "Well we better get going," he said nervously as he got out of the carriage.

Hermione followed him as the others started to get out as well. As they were walking towards the castle she immediately noticed that McGonagall was standing by the entrance. This only seemed to make Hermione more nervous, though she supposed it was best to talk sooner rather than later so she wouldn't have to worry about what was going to happen.

"Miss Granger, follow me please," McGonagall said, and Hermione wasn't encouraged by the stern expression and thin lips, she was even more sure that it was impossible for her to actually become a Prefect. Still, Hermione followed McGonagall until they got to her office and went inside without saying a word. "Have a seat, please."

Again Hermione did what she was told without a word, her hands were closed tightly over the Prefect badge that Parvati had given her.

"As I'm sure you are aware, Miss Patil does not wish to be a Prefect," McGonagall said stiffly, now seated in her chair on the opposite side of the desk, "she also informed me that Miss Brown would not like to be Prefect either."

Hermione nodded her head to show she did know this, her heart hammering in her chest as she waited to hear what McGonagall's verdict would be.

"As you know I had reasons for not picking you as Prefect and I don't particularly appreciate that my choice in the matter is being disputed," McGonagall grumbled her irritation.

"I understand," Hermione replied in a detached voice as she started to put the badge on McGonagall's desk.

"I don't believe you do understand," McGonagall said her stern expression softening slightly. "You must have realized that when I said that none of you were eligible to become Prefects or have any other academic standing that the punishment was mostly directed at you."

Hermione nodded her head, she had thought that.

"I had expected more from you than the others," McGonagall continue to say.

Hermione bowed her head, "I'm sorry."

"I took away your eligibility to be a Prefect because I knew that was the harshest punishment that I could give you," McGonagall explained. "And I need you, more than any of the others, to understand that you shouldn't try to undertake such complicated spells without supervision."

"Why me more than the others?" Hermione asked.

"You have a lot of potential, Hermione," McGonagall said, startling Hermione by using her first name, "you have a natural inner-strength and the thirst for knowledge that allows you to learn very quickly. You are capable of reading about advanced spells and performing them correctly on your own. You have probably already done this many times and found yourself to be successful at it."

Hermione nodded her head, not sure if this admittance was getting her in more trouble or not.

"For the most part that is perfectly acceptable," McGonagall went on. "A good number of the books publish today are filled with spells with different degrees of difficulties that are meant to be learn at ones leisure. These spells have been tested and deemed to have a low risk of being dangerous if preformed incorrectly. However, there are also spells and potions that are high risk and those you should not attempt to do by yourself … or with your peers. You need to understand that even though you are quite capable of doing a lot of things, there is a limit to what is within your ability. If you continue the way you are going you might not know what your limit is until you reached it."

"I understand."

"I also expected you to be the voice of reason, to dissuade Potter from attempting such a dangerous spell," McGonagall added.

Hermione grimaced; it was hard to dissuade Harry from doing anything he had a real desire to do, though in truth she knew she didn't do her best job in concerns of this. Part of her wanted to become an Animagus, for much of the reasons that McGonagall had just said, and so she had allowed Harry to convince her instead of the other way around.

"As Sirius has just informed me, that might be a feat to difficult for anyone to accomplish," McGonagall said. "He has also advised me to allow you to remain as Prefect on a probationary basis, insisting that you have learned from your mistake."

Hermione sat up straighter in her chair holding her breath.

"And I agree," McGonagall finally said. "You are now the fifth year Gryffindor Prefect, but understand that if you break the rules or cause any trouble, I will be taking the badge back."

"I understand," Hermione said the same sentence she had used twice already in this conversation, but this time her tone was excited as oppose to dejected.

O

Ten minutes later Hermione was making her way across the Great Hall to the Gryffindor table. She noticed a few people looking at her but she ignored their stares as she found her seat next to Ron.

"How did it go?" Ron asked passing her a plate of food and it was only then that she noticed that the table was full of desserts.

"I missed the sorting and dinner," Hermione was surprised, it didn't seem like her talk with McGonagall took that long.

"Yeah, now how did it go?" Ron repeated impatiently.

"She made me Prefect," Hermione answered smiling broadly. "On a probationary basis of course, but still … I'm a Prefect."

"I always knew you were perfect," Ron said to her, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Well, I'm glad about that," Dean said, he was sitting on the other side of Ron, "I would have hated to have to do all the Prefect duties alone."

"Well, I wouldn't want you to do that," Hermione said.

"You're still upset about something," Ron said frowning a few minutes later as he watched Hermione pick at her food.

"It's nothing," Hermione waved him off and he gave her a pointed look. "Fine," she gave in, "I just feel like I got off too easy. In McGonagall's office I just felt so relieved that I could actually be a Prefect it didn't really all sink in."

"Don't worry about that Hermione, I'm sure you're going to remember what you've learned without having to have extended punishment put on you," Ron said. "McGonagall is no fool; I bet she put a huge guilt trip on you before she even got to telling you, you can be a Prefect. She probably gave you a speech about how this punishment was for you and how disappointed she was in you for not standing up to your friends and crap like that."

Hermione gawped at him, "how do you know that?"

Ron smirked, "So I was right!"

Hermione nodded her head.

"Well, she's always been good with making me feel guilty and I don't care about things the way you do," Ron then explained.

"Thanks Ron," Hermione smiled at him, he had an excellent habit of making her feel better.

"You're welcome," Ron said, "now you better hurry up and finish your dinner before I am force to take some food off your plate."

"I bet you ate three plates full of food before I got here and I've watched you eat two pieces of pie," Hermione said shaking her head at him but she did eat her dinner knowing that Ron's warning was no idle threat.

It wasn't long after that that Dumbledore stood and gave his speech, starting with introducing Sirius as the newest Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. There were a few people that cheered for him, of course Harry and the others were the loudest, but most people were likely waiting until after the first lesson to judge if Sirius would be a good professor or not. Dumbledore then continued on in his speech, which included warning about Voldemort's return. The atmosphere in the Great Hall got tense as they listened to him and as soon as he was finished and he dismissed everyone, many whispered conversation started.

Hermione didn't pay attention to that as she stood up, and with the help of Dean, got the first year students organized. She was a little annoyed that she hadn't been informed that she was a Prefect sooner, for she would have planned what to say and the best route to take the first years to the common room.

"So what do you think guys, do you want to learn the fastest way to our common room or would like to learn the easiest way," Dean asked the first years directly after they were all gathered together.

"It's probably best if we show them the easiest way," Hermione answered.

"Yeah probably," Dean agreed. "How about anyone that would like to learn one of the short cuts to the Great Hall from our common room met me tomorrow morning at 7:30 and I'll show you the way. I won't wait for you, so make sure you get there on time."

There were a few people that muttered their agreement as others looked too in awe to really hear what he said. Hermione just smiled at them, "well come on, we'll show you the most straightforward path to the common room. As Dean already said there are many ways to get around the castle. There's hidden passage ways and trick steps."

"And walls that pretend to be doors," Dean added, "and moving staircases. It's a big mess really, so feel free to ask us question if you need to."

They continued to walk until they got to the Fat Lady and said the password; they then explained where the dormitories were.

"That went rather well if I do say so myself," Dean said cheerfully.

"Yes," Hermione agreed. "You were really good with them."

"My sister is that age," Dean shrugged. "I just kept thinking what she would need to hear to help her."

Hermione said goodnight to Dean and then went to her room where she could hear talking. When she opened the door she found that Parvati and Lavender were staring at her, Parvati had narrowed eyes.

"Er … hello?" Hermione said to the looks she was getting.

"You let me go on about being Prefect and you didn't even tell me!" Parvati demanded.

"Tell you …?" Hermione cocked her head to the side. "Tell you what?"

"About you and Ron of course!" Parvati said.

"Oh," Hermione blinked, "that."

"So it is true! You and Ron are going out?" Lavender asked.

"Yes," Hermione said and then she turned to Parvati, "how did you even know?"

"Please, the way he was looking at you," Parvati wave her hand. "But why didn't you tell me before!"

"I couldn't think after what you said about …" Hermione started.

"That's no excuse," Parvati said. "Now you're going to tell me how this happened. And you're not getting out of it after what I did for you today."

"I didn't realize that there were conditions to getting the badge from you," Hermione said.

"I didn't mean it like that Hermione," Parvati roll her eyes. "It would be nice to talk, you know."

Hermione wasn't sure if she really agreed with that, but Parvati was right she did owe the other girl. And maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be able to talk a little about her joy over finally starting to date Ron with someone that wasn't related to him.

O

After saying goodnight to Hermione, Dean walked up the stairs slowly. He had an ominous feeling about going to his dorm room after talking to Seamus that day so he wasn't that surprised to hear shouting when he opened the door.

"… then don't have a go at me mam," this shout came from Seamus.

"I'll have a go at anyone that calls me mad," Harry snapped back.

"What's going on here?" Dean demanded though it was quite obvious, he wasn't really sure how else he could make his presence know and help stop the fight.

"Seamus reckons Harry is a lying attention seeking prat," Ron said glaring daggers at Seamus.

"Well he's entitled to his opinion," Dean answered, and Ron and Harry both shifted their glares to him. "I'm not saying he's right, I'm just saying that shouting at him isn't helping anything."

"So what do you think … about all of this?" Harry asked.

"I believe you Harry," Dean said simply and now Seamus was glaring at him. He was getting along well with his dorm mates tonight. "You're not about to lie about all of this."

Harry visible relaxed and then said, "thanks."

Dean just shrugged in replied not really sure how else he could respond.

Harry then looked at Seamus, still obviously annoyed before turning to his bed and announcing he was going to sleep. Ron did the same a few seconds after, leaving Dean alone with Seamus still glaring at him before he too went to bed, pulling the curtains around himself. Dean pinched the bridge of his nose, if this was a sign of things to come; this was going to be a long year.