Nightly patrols of the prefects were supposed to be a time for the pair to get to know one another and to make sure that no rule breaking was going on in the halls of Hogwarts. For most of the prefects it was a mildly annoying time having to bust friends or housemates for breaking silly rules that they themselves saw little point in. There were the odd couples that would purposefully lay in wait for people to come to a specific place or break a certain rule before sweeping down upon them and docking points or assigning detention. There was a great many prefects that, while the chore was annoying, didn't mind doing it the once or twice a week that was being forced upon them. Hermione Granger was a completely different story.

The year previously when she was first made a prefect she thought of all the wonderful responsibility that she would have to take on and felt up to the challenge. During the school year, what with Umbridge's reign of terror against Harry and the general malaise of Ron, she felt overwhelmed with the responsibility of being a prefect and a student at the same time. She was generally upset with the fact that Ron didn't bother to do even the most basic of prefect duties like taking away banned items from the students that would blatantly use them in front of the rather lazy prefect. While that was bad, Hermione held out hope that maybe Ron would mature over the summer and get better with enforcing the rules; unfortunately for her, none such thing had taken place.

Because of the rather forceful falling out that the trio had over the summer, starting with the letter and ending with her rather comical potions accident, Ron didn't seem inclined to help more than the bare minimum this year. With the patrols, the prefects were supposed to look in broom cupboards, check classroom doors, and basically keep an eye out for anyone that might be sneaking around at night. Previously Hermione and Ron would talk and argue occasionally while walking on patrols, with Hermione doing most of the checking while Ron just complained about Umbridge and the Slytherins or some new stupid Quidditch thing that had just come out on the market. She took a little pride in the fact that she was doing a good job, but had to console herself that Ron would get whatever credit as well if something major happened, even if he did nothing at all.

The first patrol night for the Gryffindor sixth year prefects started off well enough with them meeting in the common room. Harry had already met with the three girls a few hours before just after dinner and was sitting reading a textbook preparing for class when the two prefects got together for the usual pre-patrol rundown. Ron made a show of glaring at Harry for most of the time before Hermione had to physically drag the redhead out of the portrait hole and into the hallway.

"Now then, we should-" Hermione was talking before she got rudely interrupted.

"Piss off, traitor." Ron grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he started to walk up the halls at random. The boy rarely followed the route that they were supposed to take, randomly walking in circles for an hour and then proclaiming that they were done.

Hermione groaned and rolled her eyes as she followed behind him. For Harry's plan to work perfectly they needed to be at a certain point in the patrol at a certain time, and it would only ruin things if Ron walked off randomly again. "Ron, we have to work together or at least walk together."

Ron gave a grunt to say that he had heard her, but didn't bother slowing down or changing direction. At the first turn, Hermione rushed ahead of him and followed the proscribed route, forcing the redhead to either follow her or disappear down into the dungeons alone. This was a calculated risk on her part as she knew that he could very well decide to go off on his own, but her instincts held true and he followed her. She had counted on his fear of being alone near the Slytherin common room to override any hatred that he had for her and she was thus far proven correct.

The route hadn't changed in so many years that Hermione could almost do it on autopilot, looking at random doors to make sure that they were locked and listening at broom cupboards to make sure that they weren't occupied at the moment. Her mind on this patrol was a little off however as she thought about what Harry had wanted accomplished as well as what had happened with the redhead that was walking next to her. She worried her lip for a moment and then opened her mouth to speak.

"Don't bother; I don't want to hear anything that you have to say." Ron crossed his arms over his chest and purposefully looked away. "Let's get this over with quickly, I want to get back to my Quidditch magazine."

"That's all you think about, Quidditch and food, Ronald." Hermione retorted, all her prepared remarks about mending their friendship had seemingly flew from her mind as she put her hands on her hips and glared at the man next to her. "Grow up, Ronald. You've moped around for long enough acting like the jealous prat that you are."

"Listen, traitor." Ron spun on her and for a moment she thought that he was going to physically strike her. "I wasn't the one that went running to precious Potter as soon as something happened that you couldn't control. Everyone thinks that he's so great, even my bloody sister…" He was mumbling at this point and had turned on his heel and was stomping down the hallway towards the stairs that led up towards the Astronomy Tower.

"What did Harry ever do to you except save your life a dozen times and that of your sister and your father; don't you remember any of that?" She held up a hand to stop him and forcefully poked him in the chest, making him stumble a little from the strength. "And, if I remember right, it was your sluty little sister and you that insisted you come with Harry to the Ministry last year, and no one dragged you along."

They had reached the base of the stairs to the Astronomy Tower when Ron turned on Hermione with his wand raised and pointed between her eyes. "How dare you insult my sister? I seem to remember a friendless nobody latching on-"

Hermione interrupted him. "Shut up and listen, you idiot." He was going to retort with something nasty when he actually started to listen and heard it to.

From down the stairs they could hear the soft gentle moans of a female voice. The moans seemed to be rather heated and they could both tell that whoever was up there was rather active as there was some grunting also involved. Ron turned a little red, but he started to make for the stairs with Hermione on his heels with a small grin. She wasn't sure what they would find, but she was pretty sure on whom they would be finding. As inconspicuous as she could she slipped a small green crystal into the palm of her hand and tapped it with her wand, turning it to face outwards from the folds of her robes.

She had just finished the activation of the crystal when Ron burst through the door at the top of the tower with his wand out and squinting into the darkness. The night was rather clear with a half crescent moon hanging just a few degrees off to the left side of the tower offering very little light to the small scene. The pair of prefects could just make out a pair of bodies writhing together on the ground before them on what looked to be a large blanket in the very still and silent night; the moans were even louder now than they had been at the base of the stairs.

"All right, you two, break it up." Ron advanced towards the pair as they sprang apart and attempted to cover themselves with the blanket, neither doing a very good job of it. Ron's wand lit up at a command and he moved forward to throw the figures into the light. "All right then, det….GINNY?" The redhead had stopped when the light of his wand had thrown into contrast the sweaty and rather red face of his sister.

"Ron, how dare you interrupt my date with Harry? And stop looking at me like that, I'm a grown woman now." While she was still clothed for the most part in a rather risqué lingerie that covered her breasts and down to her stomach with a matching set of panties, it still showed off quite a bit of cleavage. The set was pretty well transparent showing off the flabby stomach and wide hips of the girl.

"Harry's in the common room, I saw him there before we left." Ron threw his hands in the air and motioned back towards Hermione whom was still standing near the door and trying her hardest not to burst out laughing. She had lit her wand as well, but kept it close to the door, wanting Ron to be the one to discover the identity of the other figure with Ginny.

"Then who…" Ginny stopped as she was trying to squint through the darkness at the identity of her companion. It was rather embarrassing not to know the identity of her lover, but she had originally thought that the darkness added some romance and mystery to the entire encounter. Now she was thinking that this might not have been such a good idea in the first place.

Ron swept his wand to the left towards the other hulking figure that was next to Ginny and trying valiantly to pull the blanket over the figure. The light from the wand made the figure full in contrast and forced both of the redheads to pale and hold back their vomit; in the background Hermione was trying her hardest not to laugh her ass off. Sitting in the pale light was the rather large figure of Millicent Bulstrode.

It seemed that the large girl had tried to doll herself up for the night and her face was painted with red lipstick and a faint dusting of blush across her cheeks. The make-up didn't do much to hide the rather manly features of the poor girl or the rather large boil that showed clearly now on the side of her neck. Her greasy black hair had been done in a long elegant braid that fell to the middle of her back showing off her broad shoulders. Like Ginny she had tried to go for the sultry and sexy with the lingerie, but the pureblood clearly didn't know what accentuated her body. The nightie that she wore looked more like a black trash bag with holes for her arms, legs and head.

"But…But…." Ginny was stammering as she stared into the cobalt eyes of her mystery lover sitting across from her. The redhead had let the blanket slip a little showing off more skin than she would have if she had the presence of mind to remember that her brother was standing in front of her.

Bulstrode pouted a little, making it more like she was constipated than anything. She rounded on the two prefects still standing nearby; Ron had frozen on the spot while his mouth worked up and down in a slow motion. "We'll be good, we promise, just let me take care of my Venus like she needs it." She leaned closer to Ginny and licked her large lips.

The motion of the larger girl towards the smaller seemed to send a bolt of energy through the redhead like caffeine in a squirrel. The half-second before the large girl's lips could proceed to re-enact what had been going on moments before the redhead had screeched, jumped up and bolted towards the door that Hermione was still standing beside. The prefect let her go by as she was waving her arms in the air and screaming bloody murder at the time; and mostly because Hermione was trying so hard to prevent herself from falling over laughing that she just didn't have the mental capacity to stop the poor girl.

"Ginny darling, wait for me!" Bulstrode had jumped up and skipped towards the door, taking her time making it down the stairs, the two still left on the tower could hear her calling out. "My Goddess, I wish to worship at your feet…"

Hermione let out a small snort and turned back towards the door leading down before she realized that Ron wasn't with her. The lanky redhead was still standing staring at the now empty blanket with his lit wand turned lightly to the side. His mouth was opening and closing slowly as if he were a fish out of water, but no sound was coming out. He hadn't moved the entire time that the girls had already moved away and his eyes were still fixed on the spot where they had been seated only moments before.

The girl took a little pity on the poor boy and came up behind him, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. When that proved no response she decided to try a little more direct. "Ron, the Cannons won the Cup!"

This seemed to do it as he whirled around with a wide smile on his lips before he looked around and seemed to remember where he was. "What are we doing up here, Hermione?" He waggled his eyebrows at her a little as he leered. "Did we come up here for you to apologize properly?"

Hermione tried to hold in her laughter, she really did, but finally she let out a loud snort and started to laugh. Clutching her stomach she turned back towards the door and looked back over her shoulder. "Ginny and Bulstrode." That was all it took for the boy to turn a sickly green and rush towards the side of the tower. In a moment the sound of retching could be heard as well as far away splashes of vomit hitting the courtyard far below the tower.

XoXo

Harry was able to pass on the message that he wanted to talk to Claire, Cassie and Rachel all together in an unused classroom just after dinner. Cassie was easiest as she was with him at the table, and Luna passed on the message to Claire and Rachel as well. He had gotten confirmation that all the girls wanted to meet with him as well and spend some time catching up. It had been a hectic few days since they were back and it would be even more as time went on.

Harry entered the classroom to find an odd scene before him. Claire was pacing back and forth in the middle of the room sending off curses every once in a while to either side of the room. There was already a pile of broken desks and chairs piled up towards the front of the room as well as a few scorch marks on either side of the door when he entered. He could hear her muttering something as she continued to pace, seemingly not seeing him coming into the room. Cassie and Rachel were off to the side behind a rather impressive blue dome shield that was produced from a wand sitting on the table between them; the strange thing was that the two girls were sitting with a desk and a deck of cards between them.

Slipping around the raging girl and into the small dome of protection caused the sound of the girl's voice to be silenced. Harry looked down at the pair as he shook his head. "What's going on here?"

Both girls didn't even look up when he came near them and it was a moment later before Cassie cried out. "Gin!" She slammed down her entire hand and even Harry could see that it only contained five cards.

"For the last time, you little airhead, we're playing poker." Rachel snarled and threw her cards down on the top of the pile of Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans that had amassed in the middle of the table. Her voice showed that she was irritated, but not really enough to be truly angry.

Cassie stuck her tongue out at her former aunt and scooped the beans into a small pile that she had on her side of the table. "You're just jealous that I won, again." She cut off the older girl from saying anything more by finally turning towards Harry. "Oh, there you are, lover boy."

Harry smiled and shook his head before indicating the still silently fuming witch that was pacing behind him. "Something that I should know about?"

Rachel sighed and shook her head as she watched her sister still pacing and throwing curses as she walked. "Don't worry about her, she gets like this sometimes when someone really pisses her off. Even with the rings Lucius still managed to piss her off this bad a few times." She shook her head slowly. "It was actually fun to see him cowering behind a couch while she methodically shredded it to pieces while screaming at him."

Cassie giggled a little. "Do we even need to ask what he did to deserve such a thoroughly pissed off super-witch?"

Rachel's eyes misted over with pain for a moment, causing Harry to be at her side and wrapping his arms around the witch. He gently squeezed her closer to him as he smiled. "You never have to go back to them, ever, you have my promise on that. At the very least you'll be able to blast the sick bastard into space for what he did to you and your sister." He felt a small tinkling warmth in the back of his head that reminded him of laughter and a feeling that almost guaranteed that something like that was going to happen to the former husbands.

Cassie reached over and gripped the witch's hand as well giving it a small squeeze. "You have a whole family here to support you now. You don't have to worry about anything happening like that again. We'll make sure that any boy that wants to date you has to go through a rigorous screening process."

Rachel giggled as she wiped her eyes on Harry's shirt before looking at the pair of them. "Thank you both so much. I know that I have a good support here now that I can lean on." She sighed and took a deep breath. "I suppose part of my future should be forgiving my past. Do you think I should talk to Neville?" This was directed at Harry.

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his black hair for a moment before he fixed the girl with a hard stare directed into her eyes. "I know that it's going to be hard on him as well as yourself to rehash some of the past. My advice would be to get to know the boy a little more before throwing yourself at his feet and begging for mercy. I do still have the memory of your confession about the rings as well as everything else, but I don't want him to have to see it."

The girls were silent for a moment before a loud crash drew their attention back around. Claire was standing in the middle of the room with her arms by her side and fuming so much that her nostrils were flared and her aura was almost visible. A faint haze of air was around her as she glared hard at the seemingly innocent trio that was just sitting there before a table. Almost out of instinct, or survival, Rachel dislodged herself from Harry and joined Cassie in diving behind the table and cowering in fear. It took a moment; it seemed, for the blonde haired girl to finally realize who was standing before her.

"Oh, Hello Harry, when did you get here?" The girl seemed to visibly deflate as if she was going to fall down at any moment. Harry was at her side and gently lead her over to a chair where she collapsed down into it. "Thank you, I haven't let loose that much raw magic in so long I forgot how exhausting it could be."

She was going to continue when a small stick rose up over the side of the table brandishing what appeared to be a white undershirt. "Is it safe to come out yet?" Cassie sounded fearful as she waved the small make-shift flag around.

Harry chuckled while Claire flushed a little and muttered about immature children, but eventually the two behind the table were allowed to come up and join them seated around the table. Cassie hopped up onto the side of an overturned desk and dangled her legs down the side. Rachel took up a slightly more dignified seating on a nearby chair that had been ripped from the accompanying desk; the desk portion of the combination lay in five or six pieces scattered around the room in a wide arc from the middle of the floor where the irate teenager had been pacing. In fact there was a large cleared open space on the floor before the debris was piled up along the walls almost to the point of blocking the door.

"All right, I don't have a lot of time. I've got to be back in the common room before Hermione and Ron take off for their patrol." Harry spoke first, seated still at the side of the table with Claire on the other side of him and turned so that he could see all three of them. "I wanted to touch base with you all though since I know that we don't get to spend a lot of time together."

"Why don't you have a lot of time tonight?" Cassie asked as she swung her legs back and forth a little, dangling her Mary Jane from her toes a little as she had partially slipped it off her foot.

"They both have to see me for our prank on Ginny to work tonight." He smiled as the others snickered, but Claire seemed to be lost in thought. He touched her shoulder and she nearly jumped in the air.

"I'm sorry." She flushed a little as she looked at the other three. "I was just a little upset about what I heard in the common room before I came down here." The others didn't have to ask her as she let out a long breath before she started speaking again. "I was helping Luna get ready for her date with Hermione tonight when I heard a few things that I got me angry."

"Luna's going to surprise Hermione with a nice date tonight after her rounds?" Rachel asked as she sat down next to her sister on a chair and wrapped her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders.

Claire smiled and nodded. "She's going to take a picnic basket filled with all sorts of good food down to one of the unused classrooms on the fifth floor and spread out a blanket. She's already got the candles and everything set up." She sighed a little wistfully. "I was helping her with her hair when I heard…" She broke off and looked as if she was going to start throwing curses around once more.

Harry gently patted her shoulder. "Is it something to do with other Ravenclaws or are you pining after your days of being a married woman?"

Claire flushed a little and glared at Harry. "I never loved Lucius, but it was nice to be a nicely kept woman at times, yes. What had me so mad though was a little….childish….I mean….I can't believe I let her get to me like that." She sighed and let her head fall onto her crossed arms, her hair falling around her head and obscuring her face briefly from the other three.

"We can take a magical oath not to tell anyone that you nearly destroyed the castle if it will make you feel any better." Cassie said it with all seriousness, but there was a large smile threatening to push the boundaries of facial muscles.

Claire giggled through the mass of curls that was her hair before she began to speak. Her voice was small, but it still got to the other three around the table. "I was helping Luna with her hair in the common room when I overheard Cho Chang holding court. She seemed to be under the impression that Harry here was going to be her new beau for the year."

Harry groaned and rolled his eyes. "Honestly, one horrible date and the girl thinks that she and I are soul mates." The girl's giggled a little before Clair continued.

"At any rate she kept going on and on about what happened last year, making it seem like you two snogged until your lips were sore and then went on to shag in Hogsmeade. According to her, your breaking up was an elaborate ruse to confuse the Ministry so that her family wasn't targeted the same as you were last year. She expects to get back together sometime soon."

Harry waved his hand around the destroyed room. "And all of this is from that?" Claire flushed a little, only seen because it reached her hair and seemed to color her face the same shade as a tomato. The other two didn't make any comment, but Harry smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for getting mad for me, but honestly I don't care about her anymore."

Claire pulled her head up and stared into Harry's eyes for a while, getting lost in the color before Rachel's voice broke through the haze. "What actually did happen between you two?"

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair before he stepped back and started to pace. Rachel and Cassie had to smile when he assumed the same route that their supposed sister had been taking only a moment before. "I kissed her just before the Christmas holidays, worst possible kiss that could have happened. She was so wet from crying her eyes out that I could barely keep a hold of her lips." The girls snickered, but didn't say anything as he continued. "Then that date….ugh….Madam Puddifoots."

A bark of laughter came from Cassie just before she toppled over the desk and out of sight. A slight thud and a cloud of dust came up before she struggled back towards her perch. "She actually took you there, on your first date?"

"I assume you know a little about the place." Harry raised his eyebrow a little that caused the clumsy girl to almost fall back over her small and precarious perch.

"A little. I used to take boys there to scare them off, would give this whole girly girl routine wanting all the lace and such." She shuddered as she tapped her finger against her chin. "Worked all the way up to George Carmichael who seemed to rather enjoy the frilly things in life; he's living in Devonshire with a muggle lawyer now if I'm not mistaken."

Harry waved it away a little. "In any case, I had to meet Hermione later that day and invited Cho along, but she flew into a rage about me meeting another girl."

Rachel winced slightly and shook her head. "You're such a boy, but I guess I can't expect you to do everything right. Yes, it was a little insensitive that you were meeting another girl while you were supposed to be out with Cho."

"That was the day I gave the interview for the Quibbler though." Harry paused and stared up at the ceiling. "You think Hermione scheduled that meeting on purpose so that it would disrupt my date?"

Claire shrugged her shoulders as she picked at a few beans still left on the table as if she were looking for something in particular. "I suppose it's possible, but it wouldn't matter much at the moment considering you're a bachelor and she's courting the lovely Miss Lovegood."

He shrugged. "I guess I can't blame her if she did, it did save me the embarrassment of having to leave that horrid tea shop with an excuse of my own." He gave a shudder a little as did Cassie and then broke out in laughter at the synchronized movement.

Claire giggled slightly, some of her earlier anger and frustration bleeding away into exhaustion as she gave a loud yawn. "You should probably also know that two of the new Puffs are also vying for your attentions."

Harry had to pause a moment in thought before he groaned and slapped his hand against his forehead. "I completely forgot about them. I'm such a bad friend, but how would you know about it?"

Claire giggled again. "Apparently it's no secret that I'm in thick with you or at least with your friends as I was cornered by the little one….Morgan I think her name was. She was increasingly excited when I told her that I was indeed a friend of yours and would pass on that she and her sister both wanted to speak with you about something."

Harry groaned and closed his eyes, staring up at the ceiling that made Rachel and Cassie start to giggle. "All right, all right. I didn't think you three would get acclimated to your teenage hormones quite so quickly." This got a blush from all three of the girls, but Rachel recovered faster.

"Damn puberty. It was hell going through it the first time. Now all of a sudden I have these thoughts of boys and fashion." She threw herself on the floor and started beating her fists into the ground. "Make it stop, make it stop!"

Cassie couldn't take it and toppled over backwards off her chair once more, sending up a cloud of dust. "I'm ok, just a little bruised." Her voice came up a little muffled from the other side of the debris wall.

Claire stood slowly and moved to her sister's side. "Come on, you crazy witch. I'll walk you back to the dungeons and we can talk about your newly discovered love life."

Rachel hopped to her feet and dusted off her robes. She got an evil glint in her eye as she stared at her sister and hooked her arm around the other witch. "Oh, but talking about your not so secret love life is much more interesting. I do have to wonder when all that pent up frustration is going to cause you to…" But by the time she was there she had already moved beyond the door and pulled the flushed Claire around the corner with her.

Harry shook his head as Cassie launched herself off the wall and sprinted towards the door. "Hey you two, I want to hear about Claire's sordid love life as well. We all know which wizard she wants to bounce-"

"Shut the bloody hell up!" The voice echoed across the stones and down the hallway, only drowned out by the laughter of the other two girls. Harry laughed as well, although not knowing quite sure why before he fixed up the room and left it in pristine condition heading back towards his own common room whistling a jaunty tune.