A/N This one is coming in by the skin of its teeth. I think this might be the first time that Sphinx Club has ever only just been finished on its post date, barring a final pass for errors. I've been admittedly a little burned out with writing in general, and Sphinx Club gets to feel that the worst because I've been writing it so long I lost the initial loving spark I had with it. I normally take a break between years, and hadn't for 4 and 5. Maybe I should have. It will NOT be abandoned though. I have everything planned out through the end, it's just burnout that's making writing the individual chapters hard. I'll be taking a break from Sphinx Club for the rest of October, maybe part of November. Heart of a Hero will continue with the backlog I have for it while I try and get my mojo back. For now, on with the chapter.
Despite having done so nearly a dozen times now, boarding the Hogwarts Express was always a stressful endeavor. The size of Harry's group (that he still actively refused to call a harem, no matter what Padma and Daphne said) made finding a place to sit rather difficult. They needed their own completely empty car, which was in high demand. Thankfully they did manage to find one towards the middle of the train, and while they weren't directly across from the car that contained the other Sphinx Club members, they were within the same section.
After they put up their luggage for the trip, Harry, Hermione, and Susan made their way to the front of the train, where the prefects were set to meet.
In the carriage that appeared to have been enlarged for this specific purpose, Harry saw this year's head boy, a Gryffindor by the name of Jonathan Tressel, and the head girl, a Slytherin named Emily Drayton. The pair glanced over the gathered prefects, doing a quick headcount to ensure that all of them were present. Each house had 6 prefects, a boy and girl each from the fifth, sixth, and seventh years, although two of the seventh year prefects became Head Boy and Head Girl. The twenty-four students gathered in the room, idly awaiting instruction.
"Alright everyone, ears open. We've got work to sort out." Emily started, looking over the group. "You all are prefects, the sixth and seventh years should already know what that responsibility means, but I'll repeat it for the newcomers. You are the go-between for the students and the staff. There will be first years who come to you completely lost, or overwhelmed, or in need of help. There will be second years who need tutoring. There will be third and fourth years you need to pull out of broom closets because they're seeing how far down each other's throats they can put their tongues. Honestly, that's not exclusive to the younger years, happens with every year. Technically, I am supposed to tell you we are to strictly enforce the rules, and insure that everyone follows them always. However, it should be known that that is both not feasible, and also not needed."
Jonathan took over. "While yes, it is important to keep the school rules in mind, and you should report instances of active bullying, physical violence, or actively dangerous substances, you are also expected to use your best judgment on the severity of things. You don't need to feel obligated to report every hidden bottle of firewhiskey or couple caught getting freaky in an abandoned classroom. For the most part, catching those kinds of people in the act is usually a good enough deterrent to stop repeat performances, the point of us is to be approachable by students, but capable of getting the staff when need be. The staff knows this, and while formally they tell us it is required to bring all rule violations to their attention, it's a waste of their time and ours."
"Long story short, if it's dangerous? Report that. If it's not? Use your judgment on if handling it is worthwhile. Someone with a couple bottles of firewhiskey they're using to celebrate a quidditch match? Probably not worth your time. Someone consistently smuggling them in to sell to other students? That's a problem." Emily continued, before looking over the others. "Beyond that, Jonathan and I are your go betweens for the staff. If there's something going on that you aren't sure if it should get escalated? Talk to us first, you will never be in trouble or be looked down upon for consulting with us about something, assisting you is literally our job as Head students. I consulted the Head girl constantly for the past two years, and I'm sure Jonathan consulted the head boy a few times."
"Didn't really the last one, but that's beside the point. He was a tosser." Jonathan said, rolling his eyes. The last head boy would have been Roger Davies who despite being academically successful, tended to spend more of his time hitting on Fleur or other girls than actually doing his job as Head Boy. Harry disliked that once upon a time he'd looked up to the boy. Jonathan continued, "You can approach me, and don't feel like you're locked down gender lines like that. Emily just happened to have a good relationship with the head girl, and I had a decent one with Percy Weasley when he was Head Boy. The girls can come to me for advice if they need it, and the guys can go to Emily, we just imagine you'll be more comfortable approaching one of us."
"That being said, we need to divvy up responsibilities for the train ride. We've got 3 sections that need patrolled for the next 8 hours. We'll be pairing you up, because this is the perfect time for you to get to know your fellow prefect if you don't already know them. We'll do 2 hour shifts. First shift I want the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw fifth years to cover the front, middle, and back respectively. I need to have a word with you all before you go, so stick around when I send the others off. Second shift will be Slytherin Fifth Years, Gryffindor Sixth, and Ravenclaw Sixth. Third Shift Hufflepuff Sixths, Slytherin Sixths, and Ravenclaw Sevenths. Final shift is Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin Sevenths. Everyone understand that?" Emily said, looking to everyone. A few outwardly said yes, most just nodded. "Alright. I'll be towards the front of the train if you need me. Shouldn't be too hard to find me. Jonathan, you're towards the middle, right?"
"Yeah. You're all dismissed, the ones I mentioned need to stick around." Jonathan said.
As Malfoy and Parkinson started walking out of the car, he bumped into Harry's shoulder. "Must be nice, Potter. Getting special treatment already? You haven't even done your first duty yet." Draco said, a snide venom in his voice.
"They have, actually Malfoy. Showing up to this meeting IS their first duty. They also aren't getting any special treatment, and Emily will be happy to tell you the same thing. Now I recommend you make your way back to your cabin." Jonathan said as he gave Draco a look that said 'don't try me'. Draco merely nodded and stepped out.
"So what did you need us for, Jonathan?" Justin Finch-Fletchly asked, looking at the Head Boy.
"Technically I didn't need you here Justin, but it was easier to just call you lot out together." Jonathan said, looking to the others. "You all are in that Sphinx Club, right?"
"Yes, we are." Harry said for the group, Hermione, Susan, Neville, and Lavender all nodding beside him.
"There's no issue with you being in it, and you aren't in trouble or anything. As prefects, you have a responsibility to be available to your house though, as such, you'll need to spend more time in your common rooms, and less time in your club room. Don't take that as meaning you never need to be there, but try and work with the other prefects to make sure there's someone in the common room more or less at all times." Jonathan said. "Don't feel like you're getting singled out for this, we'd give this same talk to anyone who had a club that kept them out of their common rooms often. Quidditch is just in-house so they spend their time in the common rooms anyway, and Gobstones only meets for a couple hours every day."
"We understand." Hermione said, nodding.
After a brief trip back to their cabin to let everyone else know that they had the first round for patrolling the cars, Harry, Hermione, and Susan broke off to do their duties. Susan and Justin took the middle section of the train, while Harry and Hermione took the back.
Patrolling down the back of the train was a relatively boring affair, students were well behaved generally, and barring some introductions, they really just spent the time chatting as they moved up and down the rows.
"Are you excited to be a prefect, Harry?" Hermione asked, looking to her boyfriend with bright eyes and a smile.
"A bit I suppose. I like that my hard work is being rewarded, and that I could maybe help some students… but I worry about spreading myself thin again." Harry said, sighing a bit. "Remember how I was in third year? Non-stop between my dueling lessons, the lessons with Remus, the study sessions with everyone else, and keeping you girls happy?"
"Yeah… you were pushing yourself extra hard then… but you pulled through." Hermione said, letting out a little sigh. "We might have to find ways to ease your load a bit. We do have our O.W.L.s this year, so that's extra studying, do you plan on going back to the dueling circuit?"
Harry sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I don't know. I want to keep practicing… but I'm not sure if it's right for me to enter the tournaments again. The Triwizard tournament was a bigger and more intense competition and I won that, then there's also the question on whether or not I'd even be safe to attend. Those are public events, a Death Eater in the crowd could fire off a spell and I'd be dead before anyone could know it… I guess I'll need to speak with Dumbledore on if he thinks that's safe enough."
Hermione's eyes watered a bit at the thought. She knew how much Harry enjoyed dueling, how much he loved the competition and the training. The idea of pushing himself to be the best. He loved the friends he made there too. Fleur would be with them this year, but Ivan and Marianne were back in their home countries going to their own schools. The Triwizard had deepened those friendships, and now it seemed they would only be able to be continued in letters. The odds that he'd ever see any of his foreign friends again were… limited. "You'd do it if it was safe?"
"I don't know. I just… I've faced things beyond what any of the rest of them ever could. Ivan, Marianne and I were already a good head and shoulders above a lot of the rest of the competition. Then we spent an entire year pushing ourselves against Viktor, Fleur, and Cedric. Fleur was already the cream of the crop in the tier above us, and Viktor and Cedric would have been right with her if they competed. And… well they've all said I'm better. That fills me with a lot of pride, I'm happy that I'm good at something I enjoy… but does that make it fair for the others? Is it fair to Ivan or Marianne that I compete? I'm not saying they could never beat me… but I worry I've just pushed beyond the competition. I went toe to toe with a literal Dark Lord, and managed a stalemate. I trained with Sirius and Remus and Nym… and I kept up with them." Harry said, his tone defeated.
"You've moved the curve too far forward. The same way the professors don't look at our scores anymore when setting the curve on tests, you're removing yourself from the curve on competition." Hermione said, putting Harry's thoughts into words better than he could have.
"Yeah." He sighed.
"Wouldn't that cheapen the victory for the others though? That they might be publicly the best, but they actually aren't?" Hermione asked.
"No, because there are loads of people who are good enough to compete that don't. You, Padma, and Neville are all probably as good or better than most of the competition. Probably only Marianne, Ivan, or Thomas from Austria are better than you all, and I'm not convinced Thomas could beat Neville." Harry said. "Going into the tournaments, you push as hard as you can, and hope for the best. Making it to the end, regardless of the path is an achievement you should be proud of. Even if you aren't the best, you earned that spot."
"So you earned your spot at the top?" Hermione posited.
"During third year? Yeah. I worked hard, and it paid off. Maybe I didn't work the hardest, maybe I wasn't even the best, but I gave it everything I could and it was enough." Harry said, sighing after a moment. "Maybe if I had been able to compete last year, I'd feel differently. I'd see the new competition and be excited… but I know deep down that if I go, it'll be me, Ivan, and Marianne fighting for the top spot… and I'd rather them have it. I'd rather see them smiling on top of that podium, knowing that the loser has to pay for dinner, even though Ivan will be buying it either way. They know if they want to test against me, its just a matter of finding the time and a place to meet up. The trophy MEANS more to them. It's a cup to me."
"You want them to have their chance to claim the glory, you don't care about it, you've won once, and then won a more dangerous tournament as well." Hermione said.
"Yeah. Ivan beat me our first year competing, so he's won before, but he and Marianne both gave up their chance to win last year because they didn't want to win without me being there to challenge them." Harry said.
"And you think they'll feel better about it now?" Hermione asked, her face quizzical as she tried to gather this information. It seemed odd to her, but she was never a competitive one for sport or anything.
"Probably not… but me dropping out of the competition is my choice this time. Last time it was made for me." Harry paused as he sighed. "I'm just so worried about everything. Voldemort is back, by all accounts I should be spending every waking moment training in case I have to fight him again. Sirius told me that that isn't a healthy mindset, and I agree with him, but it's hard to shake it."
"Time spent preparing for tournament dueling is time not spent on the kind of actual dueling you feel you might need to do. Not really dueling at all… fighting." Hermione said, putting words to Harry's thoughts again.
"How do you somehow know what I'm feeling better than I do?" Harry asked.
"I am in love with you, you dolt. You don't have a good track record for understanding your own feelings. I do." Hermione said, flushing a bit as she placed a kiss on his lips. "I, the other girls, and the rest of the Sphinx Club are here to support you, 100%. You never have to do anything alone Harry. You've got us, and we're not going anywhere."
Harry couldn't help but feel loved.