"As prefects and Heads, of course, I will expect the best and most prudent behaviour from all of you," Professor McGonagall began. She stared at them each in turn, a ruthless look in her eyes. "Any misbehaviour from you will result in the strictest of discipline. You are to set an example! Any misuse of your privileges will not be tolerated. If anybody notices another student using their privileges incorrectly, they are to report it immediately to me. Do you understand?"

Hermione glanced around; most of the faces around her were now filled with apprehension as they nodded. Zabini looked bored - then again, Hermione had never seen him disobey the rules. Ernie looked as focussed as ever, if perhaps a little affronted that McGonagall even suggest that he was capable of such actions.

As her eyes passed over Malfoy, he locked eyes with her. She frowned, wondering why he was looking at her. He sneered at her expression, his eyes passing over her bushy hair and furrowed brows. Irritated, she turned back to McGonagall.

"-only in cases of small, petty crimes, of course. If anything serious crops up, you are to report to a teacher. Now, prefects, your first duties are to patrol the Express. While walking here, I noticed several cases of mischief-making - a girl in, I believe, sixth-year was tormenting some new students, in fact." She sounded scandalised.

Hermione's hand was in the air before the last sentence had issued from the teacher's mouth. "Actually, Professor, I have already sorted that case out on the way to this compartment."

McGonagall smiled. "Very good, Miss Granger. Prefects, take note! One must always act. You are dismissed."

The prefects rose and left in silence - a silence that soon changed into the noise of lively discussion as the compartment door closed. Hermione noticed Lavender as one of the prefects, surprisingly, and also Luna Lovegood. Then again, Luna could just have wandered into the wrong compartment.

Her and Zabini were the only students now in the compartment, and McGonagall leaned forward on the central table to address them. "Now, as Heads, you have certain other privileges that prefects do not, and that, perhaps, you do not know about. Of course, there are the Head's rooms."

Hermione nodded enthusiastically, noting that even Zabini's lips curved into a smile.

"Now, they are by no means luxury. You have one small bedroom, each, with a wardrobe. There is also a small study for you to share, and a very small kitchen. There is also a small connection to the Hogwarts kitchens, where you may request that the house-elves assist you or prepare you small snacks. Please, do not abuse this. The house-elves are usually very busy and they might not have time to help you, which is why there is a kitchen. And of course, a common room. Nowhere near as large as the House ones, of course, but it should be sufficient for two people." McGonagall's eyes narrowed at that. "We do remind you that these are Head Girl and Boy privileges and should not be overly shared with other students."

Ha. Hermione's smug smile provoked no reaction in Zabini, who merely looked away, still smiling.

"And then, of course, there is the Head's bathroom."

Finally.

"These are, you will find, larger and more well-equipped than the prefects'. The password for that is separate, of course. You are expected to be, let us say, private with these resources and use them sensibly. We have had some mishaps in the past." McGonagall's face twisted into one of distaste. "If this happens again, the use of the bathroom will be removed from you for as long as we see fit.

"Now, you are allowed to furnish the Head's rooms as you see fit, and you will receive an initial, small allowance to buy any essential furnishings - for example, extra storage space. Students in the past have used this money to purchase clothes and other foolishness. If this occurs here, we will remove the allowance. So be sensible. If you wish to purchase anything else, you must use your own money."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. This was unexpected. They were to receive money to furnish the rooms? She'd never heard about that.

"Other privileges include the deduction of house points in quantities of less than fifty at a time per student. You may also give detentions and organise them yourself, however, they will be supervised by a teacher occasionally to ensure that you are not abusing this right and that the tasks fit the rules. You may also leave your bedrooms after hours, although this should be for purely educational or disciplinary reasons. You have the right to communicate with other houses' common rooms using the Floo Network, and to enter other house's common rooms and dormitories."

McGonagall reached below the table and produced two slim volumes, giving one to Zabini and one to Hermione. Hermione flicked through it idly. It contained the rules in more detail and the passwords of each House common room, their own rooms, and the prefects' and Heads' bathroom.

"These booklets have been enchanted to change whenever the password for each room changes. Of course, the Ravenclaw Tower may only be entered by answering a question correctly - however, you may request another question if the one asked of you is too difficult. The Hufflepuff Tower, as I'm sure you know, is possible to enter only if one allows in any other students waiting at the door for someone who knows the password, but that should present no difficulty."

Hermione began raising her hand, before realising that there was only one other student in the room, and lowered her arm. "Professor, our responsibilities -"

"-are listed and explained in your booklet," McGonagall answered swiftly. She paused, waiting for any other questions; there were none. She rose. "I'm sure you are eager to return to your compartments and change into your robes. It's rather late, but if you finish dressing quickly, you should ensure that you leave the train first to assist the first-years. We have a new gameskeeper who is now responsible for taking the first-years across the lake, so you should help them find him. I'm sure you won't miss him." Was that a half-smile on her lips? "Now, you should be returning to your friends."

Hermione got to her feet a little unsteadily, as the train was juddering slightly, and left the compartment.

Zabini was close on her heels. "Granger!"

She stopped. "What is it, Zabini?"

"If you have a moment, we need to sort out where and when our patrols begin and end - we don't want to patrol the same areas at the same time," he replied smoothly.

Oh. Hermione had been expecting a scathing comment. "That would be fine, Zabini."

"My compartment?" he suggested, gesturing an open door close by.

"Certainly."

As she glanced in, the first thing Hermione noticed was the total lack of mess. In the compartment she shared with Harry and Ron, the floor was littered with Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans from bean-eating contests that had ended violently, discarded quills, sandwich wrappings and other rubbish. In here, the floor, seats and table was pristine.

God, even his books are arranged by height. Hermione couldn't hide her amazement.

Zabini caught sight of her expression, and laughed. "I like things to be neat."

"Oh, me too!" she gushed, before catching herself. "I mean, it's so much more convenient.

"Yes," he agreed, "and looks so much more pleasant."

She smiled in disbelief. "You think so too?"

"Of course," he said, raising an eyebrow. She reddened, and sat down quickly.

There was a muffled 'oof!', and Malfoy shoved her, hard, before sitting upright. Oops.

"Granger! Look where you're sitting!" he snarled, red in the face.

Her cheeks burned, but she held her head high. "Oh, go away, Malfoy. What on earth were you doing under the table anyway?"

"None of your business, actually," he retorted, "but in fact I was picking up my wand; which I dropped in utter surprise that Blaise had invited a Mudblood into the compartment."

Hermione's mouth fell open.

Zabini merely looked amused. "Careful, Draco, she'll give you detention."

"Oh, really?" Malfoy scoffed. "She'd never dare."

"Good luck with that," Zabini replied, glancing at Hermione's face. Two red splotches covered her cheeks, while her eyes snapped in anger. Malfoy followed his gaze, and quieted down.

There was a long pause in which Hermione decided what to do. Eventually, she sat down heavily on the opposite chair to Malfoy, moving as far away from him as possible before opening her booklet. Zabini followed suit, wearing an expression of exaggerated relief.

A/N: I'm going to combine chapters in the second draft...right now, I'm just going to do it as my thoughts run. Anyway. Thanks so much for all the feedback! I was so pleased to get some favourites and alerts and reviews, it made my week. Please, please, please alert me to any mistakes and please feel free to suggest anything I can add to improve the story at all. I'm attempting to follow the characters in the books, but it's tricky if you read a lot of OOC fanfiction like me, heh.

-CadmiumYellow