Pulling all-nighters was both a rite of passage and a mark of shame in Ravenclaw. It showed dedication to one's work, but too many of them and you could look lazy and unorganized.

Of their trio, Ben was the most egregious violator of this rule, usually doing his homework at the last minute, if he did it at all. Hallie would begin her assignments a few days before they were due so she could finish in plenty of time, but frankly cared too much about sleep to have too many all-nighters past those required for any major projects or finals. Asha started her homework the moment it was assigned but still would stay up the night before a deadline in a panic to make sure that her essays were perfect and that she memorized every possible fact she could, no matter how much she worked in the days before.

Ben was already at the Ravenclaw table when Hallie walked into the Great Hall the next morning, morosely picking apart a croissant.

"Let me guess. She didn't show?"

"Five points to Ravenclaw," Hallie sighed, sitting down across from him. They both paused.

"You don't think that would actually give us the points if it was a joke…"

"You already said it. Just accept it," Ben said, cheered up. Hallie rolled her eyes but smiled and began piling her plate with scrambled eggs.

"I didn't see her this morning. I was going to go stop by the library with some food after breakfast."

Ben began to speak but then nodded over her shoulder towards the door.

Asha stumbled through the doorway, hair falling out of a braid. Even from across the Great Hall, it was obvious she was exhausted.

Hallie wordlessly pushed a banana towards Asha as she sat down.

"Thanks, I'm starving." Ben shot Hallie an alarmed look as she began wolfing down the banana and piling her plate with food simultaneously. Up close, they could see her smudged eyeliner and ink stains on her hands. Even her skin was a bit duller than usual.

"Ash, did you stay in the library all night?" Hallie asked gently.

"Yeah, I finally figured out the Impediment Jinx! I can only hold it for three seconds though but whatever." A flash of frustration came over Asha's face but it was gone momentarily. Hallie nudged her in comfort.

"That's still great. The timing doesn't matter. But Ben and I actually wanted to talk to you about staying in the library."

"What do you mean?" Asha instantly became defensive, like she and Ben had predicted. "It's not like I was alone. There were at least 20 other people doing the same thing I was."
"Yeah, but it's not exactly healthy, is it?" Ben cut in.

"I've only done it once so far this term. And it worked! I just told you I figured out the Impediment Jinx."

Hallie and Ben locked eyes, both knowing that although Asha may not have technically pulled all-nighters, she had definitely stayed up to 3 am several nights already. Ben shook his head subtly. This wasn't the time to have a full confrontation with Asha. They'd have to settle for her promises for now.

"Why can't you just be happy that I figured this out? Sorry I don't just pick it up automatically like you guys do." Asha's voice sounded angry and on the verge of tears. Hallie and Ben hastened to assure her they were happy for her accomplishment

"We don't want you to lose a lot of sleep and focus only on school again. It's good to take breaks now and then." Asha appeared like she was about to snap back so Hallie cut in quickly before they could delve into a full blown argument. "We just want you to be alright. OWLs suck for all of us, yeah? So we can go work with the professors after class if we have questions and keep each other on track so none of us need too many late nights."

Asha rolled her eyes but had a faint smile. "Alright, fine. I promise no more overnight study sessions. You guys seriously need to relax though; I'm totally fine."

Hallie simply smiled and Ben gave a noncommittal noise, neither convinced by Asha's less-than-stellar appearance as a result of her study habits.

As they fell back into their regular conversation, Hallie spotted a group of sixth years further down the Ravenclaw table whispering among themselves and casting judgemental glances at Asha. Luckily, Asha was too focused on her food and friends to notice but Hallie surreptitiously kicked Ben underneath the table to alert him. Luckily he caught on quickly and gave her a nod.

They successfully kept Asha from looking over by distracting her with their dilemma from last night—shag, marry, or kill the Marauders. ("Hallie said she'd kill Potter and Pettigrew. Can you believe it?" Ben said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Remus is sweet! He'd be a great husband." Hallie defended her choices.")

But then Charlotte Mueller stood up from the group of sixth years, a nasty smirk on her face and her eyes trained directly on an unsuspecting Asha. Given that Charlotte had viciously torn apart Emilia in front of the whole common room by stealing her Transfiguration test and mocking the P Emilia had gotten, Hallie and her friends made sure to steer clear and keep a low profile from her. When even their roommate Elena, herself quite nasty to others, didn't mess with Charlotte, it was a clear warning sign.

Ben registered Charlotte's movement with alarm as well.

"Time to go to class!" he yelped, shoving the papers around him in his bag without concern to how they crumpled. Asha glanced up, startled at the non sequitur.

"But we still have 20 minutes—"

"Nope." Hallie grabbed her arm and began dragging her away from her unfinished yogurt cup. "I heard Flitwick's having a pop quiz so we should get there early to study up."

"A quiz? Are you serious?" Asha moaned but followed them willingly.

Hallie felt guilty over causing her friend more unneeded stress about school. But when the alternative was another older Ravenclaw ready to crush them, what could she do?

As they rushed out of the Great Hall, Sirius caught her eye and gave her a cheerful wave from the Gryffindor Table. Apparently getting in trouble together made him friendlier. Hallie responded with just a casual nod, aware of the eyes on them.

Asha insultingly looked behind them to see who he was waving to before realizing it was indeed Hallie and her mouth dropped open. Even Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Why did Sirius Black just wave at you?" Asha exclaimed.

"Shhh!"

"I wouldn't think he'd be happy to see you after you gave him detention," Ben added.

"You gave Sirius Black a detention? For what? Was he mad?"

"We ran into McGonagall so I had to give him detention so she wouldn't get mad at me too. I think he understood it wasn't personal or anything." It was technically true, she rationalized to herself.

"You told Ben before me?" Asha said, offended.

"You could have known if you'd been back in Ravenclaw last night," Hallie reminded her.

"Maybe being a prefect is actually more exciting than we thought. If you get run-ins with guys like Sirius Black…" Asha said dreamily.

"It's not like that," Hallie said quickly, ignoring the sudden knot in her stomach. "It's quite boring actually. Come on, we're going to be late to Charms at this rate."

"Maybe we should go back to patrolling together, don't you think?" Garrett seemed oddly nervous this week. "It'll be safer for you at least. And we'll have more time together."

The last sentence was said hesitantly but Hallie ignored it in favor of his previous words.

"I'll be fine, Garrett," she said, not bothering to hide her irritation on the subject. "I haven't needed any protection from you so far and I doubt I'll need it now."

She spun around to start her usual patrolling routes. Thankfully, Garrett didn't follow and she could stew in anger without being disrupted. She was better than he was in Defense and Charms! Sure, Garrett was pretty smart and a genius in Potions but how the fuck would Potions help them in a dangerous patrol situation? Garrett was from a traditional pureblood family that still believed in antiquated gender roles and, yeah, he probably meant well. But, come on!

About halfway through her route, she ran into Sirius.

"What's up, Ravenclaw?"

"Nothing much," she said glumly. "Back to running?"

"You know it." He seemed to be scrutinizing her expression. Hallie fought the urge to take her hair down and hide behind it. "You ok? You don't seem very happy."

"Garrett wants to patrol together again. He implied that I needed him to 'protect me' or some bullshit." She rolled her eyes. "Nothing major, I'm fine. Thanks for asking though."

"Clearly he hasn't been on the receiving end of one of your jinxes." He gave her an unamused look. Hallie rolled her eyes.

"You deserved it. Don't even try to argue with me on that."

"Hm." Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's the only reason he wants to patrol together again?"

Hallie tilted her head in thought. "You think something scared him last time?"

"Not exactly." He gave her an odd smirk and she had the feeling he was holding something. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. You sure you don't want me to stay?"

Sirius appeared concerned for her, which was sweet, but he was also bouncing on the toes of his feet and kept looking longingly towards the direction of the lake.

"Go ahead. You look like you need to get some energy out." She waved him away.

"Thanks, Halls. Try not to give out any detentions. Unless it's a Slytherin, obviously." He tugged her ponytail teasingly and jogged away.

The rest of her patrols proceeded normally. She caught a couple in an empty classroom but let them off with just some points taken off and sent them back to their dorms.

All too soon, it was time to reconvene with Garrett. Hallie thought about just heading back to Ravenclaw Tower but she felt a twinge of guilt at leaving him waiting for her, especially since she did it accidentally last week. She'd just have to make it short.

Garrett was waiting in front of the fourth floor Charms classroom, looking out of a window and worrying his lip.

"Hey, Garrett," Hallie said, walking up to him. He jerked back at her voice with a sheepish look.

"Hallie—" he started.

"I found Jessica Butler and Gabriel Acharya in the old Divination classroom but that was it. Anything on your end?"

"Uh, no, there wasn't anyone out. But I—"

"Great. Good night." Hallie turned around but he called out after her again. "Yes?" She tried not to sound too impatient but what else could he want to discuss.

"I was wondering, well, since we're both prefects and we're going to be spending a lot of time together this year…" His voice squeaked in the middle of his sentence but he barrelled on.

God, I hope not, she thought a bit desperately.

"We should probably get to know each other a bit better, don't you think?" His voice grew more confident.

"Um…"

"So would you go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

Hallie choked.

"I… um, I don't… well…"

He stared at her expectantly as she floundered for several painful seconds.

"I… fine," she sighed in defeat. No point in prolonging the awkwardness since she clearly couldn't figure out how to say the word 'no.'

"Great!" He brightened up. "I'll meet you in front of the carriages on Saturday at 9."

"Yay," she deadpanned. Luckily (or unluckily), Garrett didn't pick up on her tone and continued walking away much more cheerfully than he'd been before. The boy had never been good at social cues, she thought.

Well, fuck. Ben and Asha would get a kick out of this.

"You must be joking." Sirius snorted, emerging from the classroom next to where Hallie was standing. He stepped in front of the large window, the shadows from the moonlight highlighting his sharp jawline. His hair was a bit messier than before and a bit damp so he apparently did go on his run. It was impossible to forget how pretty he was sometimes. "You actually said yes?"

"You heard that?" she whispered, horrified. Hallie forced herself not to physically cringe. At least it was dark enough that he probably couldn't see her blush. "Eavesdropping isn't polite, you know."

"I couldn't resist." His teeth gleamed in the moonlight as he let out a low chuckle. "Once I heard that voice crack, I knew it would be good."

"Ok, I think it's time for you to go back to bed." She grabbed his arm and tried to push him back towards the direction of Gryffindor Tower.

"Or what?" He was still amused, not taking her seriously.

"Or detention, Black. And I'll make sure it's with Filch."

"Alright, alright, relax." He held up his hands in defeat as he walked away. "So where do you think he'll take you on your date?"

"Oh my god, shut up!" Hallie dropped her head in her hands.

"Have fun! But not too much fun," he called back innocently, snickering as he left.