Disclaimer: All recognized characters and elements goes to J.K Rowling

So I actually had the time to go through and edit this after I was done, so hopefully there are less mistakes and stuff.

Enjoy!

"Potter, what are you doing here?"

Harry tugged at his robes and made sure to allow his hands to flutter around in a nervous gesture, "I-I, the letter…" he ducked his head and deliberately tilted his body so that the Head Boy is able to see his gleaming new prefect badge.

"You're the Gryffindor fifth year prefect?" a loud voice cut in.

Harry nodded his head, his eyes still downcast. Without even looking up, the fifth year can tell that it was Hermione Granger speaking to him; the proud bossy voice is unmistakable.

Harry fought a smile when he heard Draco Malfoy mutter, "It's true, Dumbledore has gone insane…"

Oh, if only you knew… he thought wryly.

To be honest, Harry himself was confused as to why he was chosen to be the Gryffindor prefect for his year. He knew that he himself was smart… but Dumbledore certainly didn't. He made sure that all of his marks were lower than average, but high enough so that it wasn't too suspicious.

It didn't matter though, when he had received his Hogwart's letter in mid-July, he had found an attached letter on it congratulating him on making prefect. Harry had not expected to be given this position. It just comes to show how desperate Dumbledore is to connect with the boy-who-lived. Harry had always assumed that the boy prefect would be Neville Longbottom; he certainly fits the criteria, popular, kind, and decent grades. In fact, if Harry hadn't been the boy-who-lived, Longbottom would be the one sitting here, not him.

Judging by Granger's reaction, she had also thought that her counterpart would be one of her closest friend. The Golden Trio, Harry mused silently as he watched the Head students, Roger Davis and Adrianna Kline, start the meeting. Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasely; three extremely different people with such a strong friendship. Harry had always wondered how their friendship worked, it seems tiring from what he had observed. Throw in the constant rivalry they have with Malfoy's posse and Macmillan's crew, how exhausting.

"Potter!" Kline barked as she focused her dark eyes on him.

Harry jolted at the sudden sound and hurriedly hunched is shoulders as he looked up feebly, "Y-yes?"

The Slytherin rolled her eyes, "It's traditional for the new fifth year prefects to do train patrol so you're on with Boot for the next hour. You'll trade off with Macmillan and Malfoy later."

Harry nodded as his eyes quickly darted to Terry Boot before slanting down to focus on his interlaced fingers again.

"Got it everyone?" Davis asked, "Good, now get going."

"Mione? What's wrong?" Neville asked as he turned to watch his brunette friend enter the compartment.

"Nothing." She huffed as she sat down on the seat next to him.

"No something's wrong alright." Ginny Weasely said as she looked up from the silenced game of Exploding Snap she was playing with her brother.

"Did you pull a Potter Mione? Is that why you're so… you know." Ron asked loudly.

Neville watched with interest as the girl's eyebrow twitched, "I did not pull a Potter and I never will Ronald. But…Potter's male prefect."

Neville felt his eyebrows rise at the news, a flash of annoyance raced through him but he quickly stamped that feeling out, "Oh… I thought it was going to be Thomas when I…"

Here, he trailed off but everyone in the compartment can fill in the blanks …when I didn't get the prefect badge like we had all expected…

The brief moment of silence was interrupted when the compartment door was opened. Even Luna, who had been starring off into space, jumped at the sudden intrusion.

"Right, sorry. You all okay here?" Terry Boot from Ravenclaw asked as he entered.

Neville smiled at him, "Yeah, we're all good Terry. Having fun with your prefect duties?"

Terry shrugged, "As good as it can get."

"Didn't pull a Potter yet did you?" Ron asked boisterously.

"Ron!" Ginny hissed as she swiftly delivered a kick to her brother's shin.

"Ow Gin, what was that fo-"

Neville hadn't even noticed that a second person had entered the compartment until he spotted a small movement from the corner of his eyes, "…"

A thick silence settled over the seven students.

"… Uh, hi Potter… didn't see you there." Ron said hesitantly as red flooded his cheeks. At that moment, the Longbottom Heir desperately wanted to slap Ron upside the head for being so blunt.

Neville felt a twinge of pity for the dark haired boy as he shuffled his feet nervously, "H-hi."

"Your head is infested with Wrackspurts." Luna said airily as she looked at Potter.

He heard Hermione cough delicately as if unsure of what to do at the random comment.

"Wrackspurts huh?" Neville said as he forced a carefree smile onto his face, he cocked his head at Potter, "What can possibly be bothering you? At least you don't have to worry about pulling a Potter!"

The compartment erupted with snickers and laughter, even Hermione cracked a smile. Neville glanced at Potter, hoping that he hadn't offended the boy with his attempt at smoothing things over. He felt a stab of guilt when he saw that the boy had shrunk even more into himself.

Briefly, his eyes met those clear striking emerald orbs and he saw a glimmer of… approval? But the glint disappeared and was replaced by the usual shy uncertainty.

The next time Neville looked back, both of the male prefects were gone.

"Wrackspurts huh? ...What can possibly be bothering you? At least you don't have to worry about pulling a Potter!"

The compartment at the very end of the train held only one occupant. Harry replayed those words over and over in his mind as he twisted the rubik's cube around in his hands. To any other person, those words would've been interpreted as an insult. But not Harry, oh no, he can spot an insult a mile away. That was most definitely not an insult. A clever save on Longbottom's part, using what was out there and turning it around; not only did it smooth out the previous mess up made by Weasely, but it also served as an amusing joke and Harry always appreciates humor.

Harry's got to admit, he was impressed.

His respect for Longbottom had just gone up another notch, not that it was considered low to begin with. No, it was never low. How could it be? From the very beginning Neville Longbottom had been the Golden Boy, everything that Harry Potter should've been. At first, Harry had been jealous of all the compliments the other boy had received. But the jealousy faded to neutral acceptance when it was discovered that Longbottom had gone into the Forbidden Corridor and came out with a ton of injuries and an extra hundred points for Gryffindor House. Even until now, the details for that adventure were still hazy. But an adventure is an adventure, Hogwarts students are not picky.

Throughout the first three years, Harry had watched from a distance as Neville Longbottom did everything that he was supposed to do. He watched as Neville Longbottom lived up to his expectations. He had watched all this with amusement. The Golden Trio was certainly entertaining, what with them running around solving mysteries and breaking rules. The first three years of observation had always been disconnected, like a movie; none of it was actually personal to Harry.

But it all changed when Harry's name was drawn out of the Goblet of Fire in his fourth year. Or perhaps nothing really changed since Harry continued to play the part of a dense and shy boy during the whole of the Tournament.

The other Houses hadn't seemed to care that much when Harry's name was drawn as the fourth champion. Everyone had known right away that Harry hadn't put his name in the Cup. After all, he is the boy-who-lived-to-be-a-disappointment.

No, the other Houses had only looked at Harry with pity and slight worry. It was the visiting schools, more specifically, Beauxbatons, that were the problem.

In the beginning it had been amusing watching the Veela seethe; but after the third week, Harry had become extremely annoyed and even slightly agitated. He hadn't expected anyone to stand up for him when he was harassed by the French students; a few looks of sympathy here and there, but certainly not a full out confrontation.

Of course, like usual, Neville Longbottom went and broke all expectations. He had come charging into the group of French students when they had started harassing Harry again. With his large group of friends at his side, the Gryffindor had given the French one long whopping speech about integrity and honor.

After that incident, Harry had decided that if there was one person in Hogwarts that did not deserve to be manipulated for the sake of sating his twisted sense of humor, it was Neville Longbottom.

To this very day, Harry still suspects that the speech had been pre-prepared, most likely written by Granger considering all the advanced vocabulary that was in it.

Alone, in the compartment at the very end of the train, Harry Potter set down the now properly color coordinated Rubik's cube. He relaxed into his seat and enjoyed the silence the well warded compartment offered him.

Another year of amusement, another year going through the same act, another typical school year…

Oh, how very wrong he was.

Coming up next: Most likely going to be about the first day of classes.

Yay! Another chapter is complete.

Review!

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