Thanks for all the well-wishes everyone! Graduation went well and it was totally awesome!
Also, for those of you who actually visit my profile, you'll notice a little flag change. I'm now in Jamaica! I have returned here to live for the foreseeable future and this is the first time that I'll post any fanfiction from here while actually living here!
Hermione and Ron walked down the corridor of the Hogwarts Express to their prefects' meeting, having a chat about random things.
Hermione's brand new Head Girl badge gleamed as she walked with him.
As they went, other students stared at them when they passed.
"You'd think they'd find something else to look at..." Ron murmured.
"Well, since Harry's gone, it's looks like we're some of the most interesting people at Hogwarts right now, besides Neville, Ginny and Luna..." Hermione shrugged.
"With us knowing about Harry being between Magix and Tir Nan Og now and him dating an actual princess... Merlin help him if he ever comes back..." Ron opened the door to the carriage where the Prefects' meeting was to take place.
All the prefects from their year were there, including Ernie MacMillan, who'd been made Head Boy.
"Ah, so it's you who's Head Girl this year, Granger." Ernie stood up to shake Hermione's hand as she entered. "Congratulations. I expected that it would be you..."
"Thank you, MacMillan." Hermione smiled as she shook his hand firmly. "The same to you as well. It'll be a pleasure working with you."
Pansy scoffed.
"Anything you have to say about it, Parkinson?" Padma looked at the Slytherin girl with a straight face. "You weren't hoping to get the badge were you?"
The other prefects- the only familiar face amongst which was Colin Creevey, all snickered, some more openly than others.
"I think she was, Patil." a brown-haired Slytherin girl that they vaguely recognised commented.
"I'd advise you to shut up, Greengrass. You're just a Fifth Year prefect!" Pansy growled.
"I'd like you to try to make me shut up, Parkinson..." the girl retorted.
"Astoria..." an auburn-haired boy, apparently her male counterpart, put a hand on her shoulder warningly.
"Don't worry about me, Andrew. I can take care of myself." Astoria reassured him. "Besides, I was just taking the p-"
"Anyway," Ernie took control of the meeting, his tone and the look on his face leaving no room for arguments. "We're all present now and since our Fifth Years are the newbies here, why don't you introduce yourselves?"
"Astoria Greengrass." Astoria introduced herself.
"Andrew Mercer." Andrew said.
An Arabic girl stood up and introduced herself as Jamilah Aziz, the Gryffindor female prefect and a curly-haired blond boy introduced himself as Horatio Donner, her male counterpart.
A strawberry blonde girl with her hair rolled into a bun introduced herself as Michelle Patrick, the Hufflepuff female prefect while a tall, dark-skinned boy introduced himself as Martin Quimby, her male counterpart.
Juliet Wallace, a petite girl with curly, shoulder-length black hair and Neil Keller, a light-brown haired boy that rivalled Martin in height were introduced as the new Ravenclaw prefects.
"Great. Now that all that's over, how shall we schedule the patrols this year? I assume you'll have other commitments such as studying, Quidditch practice and other things..." Hermione said.
"Yes. I'll be in Charms Club, so I wouldn't want that to clash. I know being a Prefect is important and all, but..." Jamilah spoke up as Martin, a blonde girl who was introduced as Colin's fellow 6th Year Gryffindor Prefect Annette Robinson and a black haired boy they all knew as the 6th Year male Hufflepuff Prefect called Alan Nevett all nodded in agreement with her.
They discussed other items on their agenda before the conversation turned to patrolling schedules.
"Whatever." Draco rolled his eyes and slouched back in his seat.
"I guess you don't value being a Prefect as much, do you Malfoy?" Flora Carrow, the 6th Year female Slytherin Prefect, a girl with long, straight black hair and dark grey eyes narrowed her eyes at him. "If you can't even deal with a little thing like patrolling schedules..."
"It's not as if being a Prefect is going to matter out there in the real world, what with the Dark Lord being out there and all." Malfoy shrugged.
"If it doesn't matter to you, I know a few others who wouldn't mind having your badge. Zabini for instance. Or perhaps Nott?" David Selwyn, Flora's male counterpart raised a dark brown eyebrow.
Miranda Ballantine, Alan's counterpart, as well as the Ravenclaw 6th Year Prefects Grace Felix and Joaquin Delacroix made ooh-ing noises as they watched.
The non-Slytherins in the cabin watched the byplay fascinated, temporarily forgetting all thoughts of Prefect duties.
"Why would anyone actually want to serve the Dark Lord? If your only ambition in life is to kiss his robes and serve him, then you don't embody the ambition our noble House is supposed to have at all!" Andrew pointed out.
Pansy nearly hissed at that.
"Not all of us sympathise with the Dark Lord like those two do." Astoria inclined her head towards the seething Draco and Pansy.
"Astoria is right. Ambition has no place for us if we're all under the rule of a despot who doesn't care who he kills. Murdering anyone who disagrees with him- Blood Status be damned." Andrew added.
Ron and Hermione looked at one another incredulously.
"Despite the reputation of my father's lovely cousins," Flora eyed Draco and Pansy befoe turning her gaze to Ron and Hermione. "we don't all want to be Death Eaters. My sister and I certainly don't!"
"Come, Draco. We don't have to put up with these aspersions on your character!" Pansy pulled on Draco's hand and led him out of the compartment.
Silence reigned amongst the remaining prefects for several moments before Miranda broke it, twirling her auburn curls nervously.
"Well, that was an interesting display..." she spoke quietly.
"I'd say! I'm not even in the same year or House as him and I don't like him!" Grace flicked some of her long, black hair out of her face.
"What do you think that those of us in Slytherin have to deal with?" Astoria let out a rather unladylike snort.
"Draco is, pardon my language, a little shit." David said.
"He isn't as popular in Slytherin as you might think," Andrew said. "It's always 'my father this' and 'my father that'. His father was outed as a Death Eater. He has no clout in respectable society anymore!"
"We're in two camps in Slytherin really: the ones like him and the ones with a little more... intelligence and finesse about things, shall we say." Flora explained to the still stunned carriage occupants.
"So..." Juliet looked around awkwardly. "The meeting's over then?"
Ernie shook his head to clear it. "Yes. Yes it is. Go on..."
Only the Seventh Years remained after the others had gone.
"That was rather enlightening..." Hermione commented.
"It... was. I used to think that all Slytherins were like Draco, but I guess they're really not. Doesn't mean I'm going to go be best friends with one now though..." Ron shrugged.
"Okay, fellows. Let's get ready to come in for a landing..." Harry sat at the controls of one of Red Fountain's flying ships as a mountain range came into view around them.
He and the others were all dressed in what looked like hiking gear as they all took their places on the ship.
"Gotcha, Harry." Darian buckled himself in. "You know, you're actually better at flying this ship than I thought you would be!"
"Thanks. I still prefer the bikes though, but alas, I need to learn this so I need the practice..." Harry shrugged and returned his attention to the control panel, pressing a few buttons and turning a knob before grabbing the steering device.
"You're still not better than I am though." Aki piped up.
"Oh please. He's far better at it than you. You nearly crashed the damn thing on your first flight, yet Harry handled it like a pro!" Lucas waved him off as he sat next to Harry in the co-pilot chair and began helping him prepare for landing.
"Not to mention that he's actually amazing on the hover bikes. He out-rode Tony and Tony is the fastest in our year!" Darian exclaimed.
"Was the fastest in our year." Aki corrected gleefully. "Now it's Harry that's the hover bike speedster around these parts!"
Harry rolled his eyes.
"You don't strike me as the 'ride potentially dangerous vehicles even more dangerously' type, Harry..." Lucas mused aloud.
"Well," Harry shrugged. "when the wind gets in your hair..."
"And another bit of madness: he did it without a helmet on! What if he'd fallen and broken his skull?!" Aki wondered.
"I've been through worse. A cracked skull wouldn't have kept me down." Harry spoke matter-of-factly as the ship finally landed in a clearing, where a few other ships and Red Fountain students were waiting.
Darian, Aki and Lucas stared at him for a moment, before shaking it off.
A few minutes later, they got up, stretched and gathered together their backpacks and crates of supplies as they waited for the door to open and the ramp to lower itself.
"Ah. Harry, Darian, Lucas and Aki. How nice of you to join us." one of their professors, a tall, middle-aged man with light blue hair in a short ponytail and tattoos all over his exposed arms tipped his hat to them.
"Good to be here, Professor Maximus." Harry did a little salute with one hand, while continuing to support one end of the crate he was carrying with Aki's assistance with his other hand.
"We all got here thanks to him. If we had let Aki fly the ship, we wouldn't have made it yet!" Darian commented.
"Or at all..." Lucas muttered.
Aki growled.
Professor Maximus chuckled. "That's enough, boys. Just go wait with the others until everyone is here, then I'll give you your briefing."
They nodded in acknowledgement and went off to join the others.
A few minutes, five ships and several students later, they were all present and accounted for.
"Okay gentlemen. You're all Sophomores now. You are no longer the babies of this school. Your Freshman year is behind you. Which means you get to put some of your skills to the test in the real world even more than before." Professor Maximus paced up and down in front of them.
Harry and his squad mates watched him as he paced up and down.
"To that end, you're going to spend your weekend testing your survival skills. You've all packed all the supplies you'll need... I hope." He surveyed the students, some of whom looked nervous.
"What I didn't tell you is that you are all going to be scattered at random points through the mountain range and you'd have to make your way back here, testing out your navigational skills too!" Professor Maximus grinned. "Without magic, since its use is restricted in this area!"
He seemed to grin even more at the expressions of some of the more incredulous looking students around him.
"What? Did you think this was going to be some little boy scout trip? Roasting marshmallows around a campfire and singing songs? NO! You're pretty much men now, so that's all in the past!" Maximus exclaimed.
"And you get to write a three thousand report on the experience, minimum."
The students groaned.
"Each. As in, individually. From your point of view."
The students groaned even more and Aki actually face-palmed, though he wasn't the only one.
"I should warn you that this mountain range also has several... unpleasant creatures to deal with lurking in its cracks... and I don't just mean mosquitoes, wasps or even snakes..." He chuckled slightly at the increasing levels of apprehension amongst his students.
"So... With all of that fun stuff being said..." He clapped his hands and dark green circles appeared around each squad of students and their supplies. "HAVE FUN!" He laughed as he clapped his hands again and this time, the students were all teleported away to random locations.
H e turned his back on where his students had just been standing and chuckled to himself. "I love teaching this class. The expressions on their faces every time I do that... I can't wait to see what they'll be like when they finally get out!"
"I hate that man." Aki groaned as he fell hard on the ground from several feet in the air. "Truly, I hate that man..."
"How..." Harry sputtered and coughed as he emerged from a river, drenched from head to toe. "... do you think I feel?" He coughed again as water and a small fish fell out of his mouth.
On the bank of the river, a few feet from Aki (albeit in different directions) were Lucas and Darian, looking dishevelled and a bit more than peeved as they retrieved their scattered supplies, which had somehow survived the tumultuous teleportation trip.
Harry fished a towel out of one of the backpacks and began to dry off, muttering to himself the entire time about perhaps 'dumping Voldemort in that bone chilling water to kill him off.'
"Ah. So... now that we're all dry and our supplies are in good condition..." Darian looked around at his squad mates. "What do we do now?"
"Get the bloody hell out of here is what..." Harry muttered.
They heard the sounds of several unpleasant creatures in the distance.
"If we can survive getting out of here first, that is..." Harry looked around warily as their surroundings began to get even darker as the sun began to set.
I wouldn't be surprised if we all had a teacher like Professor Maximus at some point. The one that pretty much throws us unto things and we hate with a passion at times.
Let me know what you thought in your reviews!