Disclaimin it up: Fo' shizzle, this izntizzle the rizzle thizzle.
Yes, I know I'm dumb. But disclaimers are always so very boring.
Anyway, lets get to it!
OoOoO
Chapter Seven
I was so nervous today. My hands shook, my voice ached, and the only thing that I could do was try to get myself in control. I need control. I'm expected to have it. And I'm not going to let her take it away from me.
"Hello, Malfoy," I said, trying not to let a smile creep onto my face. He doesn't know that I found out the card was from him! Pulling one over on my would-be manipulator simply made me smirk.
"Get out of here, Malfoy." Ron's expression of disgust intensified, fixed on the pale boy as he slowly reached for his wand.
"Bloody hell, Ron, don't get in trouble before we even get to the school," I reprimanded. Ha, ha, Malfoy doesn't know! I thought in a singsong way.
"Oh, look at the Muggle-born, cursing!" Malfoy carped, eyeing me with mock-surprise. "What's the matter, Granger, did someone finally take that wand out of your arse?" he asked. That prick!
"Just sod off, Malfoy," Harry said tiredly.
"Oh, as much as I would love to," Malfoy said with a put-upon sigh, "I am actually here because some new prefect – Rachel Fordwin, most likely – came back from this compartment, telling tales." Oh. So that was the fifth-year's name.
"What did she have to say?" Ginny asked. The venom in her voice made me remember that Michael Corner was now going out with that same Ravenclaw. Ginny's reaction was now startling in itself; Ginny, the jealous type?
Malfoy flecked a piece of dust off of his shoulder. "Oh, something about how Granger here told her to bugger off," he said disdainfully. "I assumed she was lying, but now that I've actually heard Granger swearing like a sailor, I don't know what to believe!"
"Malfoy, what are you doing here?" I asked. Gods, this was getting old.
He smiled at me. "I had to investigate the reports, of course. And the Head Boy sent me to get all of the prefects up to the front compartment," he said, in a much more matter-of-fact voice.
Fighting back the urge to ask who the Head Boy was, I changed tactics. "Well, now you've told me. Could you leave now?"
"Tetchy, Granger?" Malfoy laughed. "Come on." Without another glance, he turned on his heel and took off down the corridor.
Arrogant bastard. It's as if he simply assumes that I will follow him, like an obedient dog.
But then I remembered that the Heads were calling for us, and that I had no choice. With a sigh, I made for the door. "Come on, Ron, Luna. We'd better go to the front compartment," I said. My happiness over besting Malfoy was indeed short-lived.
The hall on the Express was filled with doors opening and closing, people running back and forth between compartments, all scurrying around the unruffled witch who ran the snack cart.
"Six sickles," I heard her say to Dennis Creevy, who was hiding in a compartment with several other second-years. I passed by with a wave, earning a woozy smile from Dennis. While his older brother had been obsessed with Harry, the younger Gryffindor had apparently developed the same obsession with me. I rolled my eyes. Oh joy, just what I need: A hyperactive, eager-to-please pest who happens to be four years younger than me. He's like that annoying distant cousin who always follows you around at family gatherings.
The thing is, I had memorized the speech Professor McGonagall had given us first years the first time I had ever set foot in the castle. And what's worse, I had taken it to heart. She told us that while we were in Hogwarts, our houses would be like our families. That's the way I felt.
Well, for the most part.
I shot Ron a look, noticing his lack of argument over Seamus, who I had apparently snogged.
How very strange, I thought. Ron glanced back over at me, apparently thinking along the same lines that I had been a moment earlier.
"Seamus?" he demanded. "And you always told me how I was a prefect! No Ron, you shouldn't drink that firewhiskey, you are a prefect!" he said, mimicking my voice. So much for not being argumentative.
"Firewhiskey happens to be a lot stronger than what I was drinking, Ron," I sighed. "And besides, with your brothers, I would expect you to know that witches and wizards aren't as affected by say, vodka, as much as Muggles are!" I omitted that I had probably matched the quality of the Wizards' alcohol with quantity of Muggle Smirnoff.
"What's that mean, 'with your brothers?'" Ron pounced.
"Oh, no," I said, starting to get angry. "Don't you play innocent with me. You know better than anyone that Fred and George were practically bootleggers for the Gryffindor tower!"
"So what if they were? It's obvious you don't really mind the drinking laws at home," Ron said.
"Actually, I think she was minding the law fairly well," Luna reasoned with a spacey smile. "She never did get arrested."
Ron scowled at her and turned back to me, ready to fire another remark. "We're here," I said. He closed his mouth and stepped inside the Prefects' Compartment after me, followed by a still-smiling Luna.
The Prefects' Compartment was decorated similarly to the rest of the train, except that all of the benches faced the front, towards the conductor's station behind the door. Twenty-three people were already inside the compartment (two for each year of each house, with the exception of Hannah Abbot, who was on a snack run). A podium stood to the left of the front door, where a familiar girl with dark hair and freckles stood in readiness.
She cleared her throat. "Alright, for those of you who don't know, I am Cho Chang, the new Head Girl this year, and Christopher Harrington is the new Head Boy." A shorter bloke, maybe 5'7", stood up beside her. He had light hair and a decent tan, but simply screamed Slytherin! The shift in his eyes as he smiled at the assembled prefects was a dead giveaway.
"This year, for those more experienced Prefects, will be much like any other," Cho continued. "That means the right to assign referrals to Heads of Houses, rights to the prefects' common room and bathrooms, and unfortunately – patrolling duties." Most of the others groaned at this, at which Cho smiled prettily. "Yes, I know – being a prefect means extra duties, responsibilities and rights, as I'm sure you all read in your letters when you received your badges. This year, there is a particular emphasis on making sure that everyone stays in their dormitories after curfew, what with the War on." I started at the casual mention of Voldemort's return, but was determined to keep my eyes on Cho. I shot a particularly nasty look at one of the Slytherin prefects, though, who had let out a bark of laughter. "This doesn't mean that the other offenses will be ingnored, though, so I need to remind everyone what constitutes a referrable offense."
At this, Cho slammed out a huge tome onto the podium with such force that I thought that it would crack. She flipped open the front cover, pulled out a tiny list of notes, and began to read.
"Referrals can be given for using magic in corridors, outside of Hogwarts grounds while still under care of the school, or in the Great Hall, for using any one of the eight hundred and twenty-two banned items on Filch's list, for provoking another student, for attacking another student, for being out past curfew, for disobeying a professor's command, for reading books in the restricted section without a note, stealing, sneaking out of the school or into the Forbidden Forest without permission, skipping detentions, threatening any students or portraits, vandalizing school property, or turning a fellow student into a badger against his or her will." She looked up at the last one. "Apparently, that's a long story."
I laughed. But what was really funny was that though everyone had generally accepted my as a teachers' pet, I had broken every single one of those rules before my sixth year had even begun, with the possible exception of the Badger Rule.
Notice that I said a possible exception. I may have turned Ron into a badger by accident once while duelling in DA, but I couldn't really tell because he had just sent a Tripping Hex at my head.
And that hex isn't only for your feet.
So even though I aimed a spell and saw Ron turn into a badger, it may not have really happened.
It was also funny that though Ron had attacked me for my supposed hypocrisy about drinking, he had actually given me my first substance-associated experience. He had never found out, of course, because it was a very weak hex. But it's still strange how these things turn out.
The Head Boy, Christopher, stepped up to the podium next. He was very good-looking, or at least had a sort of aura about him. He had charisma coming out of his ears. He smiled briefly at us all (I tried to clamp down on the giggly feeling I was building up) and began his speech. "Yes, right. So I'm Chris Harrington, I'll be the head boy. I have to say that my older brother was responsible for the Badger Rule– apparently he flicked instead of jabbed while learning mammal transfiguration in sixth year, and one of his house-mates happened to be nearby, the poor bloke." Harrington gave a sigh of pity, cracked a smile and continued.
"As you all know, it is customary for prefects to patrol the halls after curfew. This would usually be done by checking in with one of your respective Heads of House before patrol, and submitting the time and status at which you returned. However, there will be a new system this year. Cho, may I?"
Harrington took the small piece of parchment from Cho, unfolded it, and held it out at arm's length. "Er– oh, right. Ahem." He smiled. "From now on, prefects will be patrolling in pairs. This is one of the many measures that have been implemented for the sake of prefects' safety. A prefect's partner may be anyone, as long as you all take turns. No one can skive off their duties by saying that someone else took their shift or partner. Prefects will sign up for shifts in times they are available on the list that will be located on the bulletin board just outside the Great Hall. No one will be able to change or erase another person's name, so don't get a friend to sign up for you. Lists will be posted at the beginning of each month. Please sign up before the Feast tonight – everyone has to do two shifts a month. Early ones are generally claimed first."
"As soon as everyone reads the duty parchment, you all can go. Thanks," Cho finished, with an agreeable smile from Harrington.
I got up immediately, on my tiptoes behind everyone who was clumped around the parchment posted by the doorway. I scanned the lines quickly. It was full of everything Cho had just told us. Grabbing Ron and Luna, I made my way back to our compartment.
Ron looked at his watch. "Glad that didn't take as long as last year. Merlin, I thought the heads would never stop talking."
"It was just an introduction speech, Ron. The Head boy and girl have no say over how long they had to be," I said reasonably.
"That doesn't mean that last year they had to go around the room introducing people as 'the kid who spit up slugs when he tried to curse Malfoy,'" Ron said grumpily.
"I take it you're happy they graduated, Ronald," Luna quipped. Ron huffed and slid oped the door to our compartment.
"Where's Harry?"
Ron and I stepped into the tiny room, I thinking of a place Harry could have gone and Ron looking around, as if he would spot a bit of black hair underneath an old copy of The Quibbler. Luna peered over my shoulder. "Ginny and Neville are gone, too," she observed.
"I saw them in Lavender's compartment," I responded. Where is that boy? "I can't think of where he would go," I said finally.
"Private compartment." Oh, lovely. Dennis Creevy. "He snuck off to use that one in the back of the train, near the luggage compartment. I do wonder what he's up to . . ." He looked to be dying of curiosity, judging from the purple in his face. Turning to blue. Oh, he's really quite pale. Green? Why isn't he breathing?
"Dennis, are you alright?" Luna asked.
The small boy's eyes widened as he nodded, seemingly remembering to breathe. Oh, Merlin. He's staring at me. "Thank you, Dennis," I said. Please leave me alone! He nodded again.
He didn't get the hint.
"Let's find Harry, I want to see what he's up to," Ron said. I was only too eager to lead the way. The again-breathing, nervous Creevy was left behind as Ron and Luna trailed after me.
I say trailed. I mean 'Ron was right behind me.' Practically on top of me. My own small crush aside, he should have been standing right beside me when I opened the door to the last room on the train, if only we could have shared the initial shock of finding Harry –
Holy mother of magic!
Well!
. . .I wondered what he'd been doing all summer.
OoOoO
a/n: Ha! This is definitely an intriguing development. Don't you think?
Now, before your minds all run away with themselves, I have an apology to make.
OH PLEASE REVIEWERS! FORGIVE THIS HUMBLE WRITER FOR HER TRANSGRESSIONS AGAINST PROMPTNESS AND GOOD WRITING! PLEASE HAVE MERCY ON HER SOUL!
Ahem. PLEASE!
Jesus, Cami, pull it together!
Ohhhhmmmmmmmmm . . .
Better.
Anyway, much thanks for the reviews, muchos gracias! Merci beaucoup! Spaceba! (I don't remember if that one's right.)
Happy Easter/ late Ostara/ Passover/ Spring break party time from your friendly writer! (Who has her prom dress – which is so hot and rocks hardcore! But, alas, no date. How ironic.)
Love and chocolate cadbury eggs,
Cameo
