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HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Ms. Clearwater,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen to be a Fifth-Year Prefect for Ravenclaw House in the upcoming academic year. If you accept this role, you must accept the role of Sixth- and Seventh-Year Prefect (unless, of course, you are chosen as Head Girl) for the following academic years.
Being given the title and position of School Prefect is an honour and a privilege and we hope that you will look back on your time in this role with a sense of pride, particularly in future years when you move on from Hogwarts. As a Prefect, a weight of responsibility rests on your shoulders. Professors will ask you to take on extra duties in addition to your normal studies and extracurricular activities and expect you to behave in an exemplary manner at all times, setting the standard by which the other students measure themselves.
The other students will look up to you and will follow your lead, therefore it is imperative that you set a good example. You will need to treat all students equally and fairly and work to ensure that the students you represent are cared for and supported. At times they will need you to listen to them and they will need your help and advice to work through their problems. There may be new students who feel alone or left out and it is your responsibility to make these students feel welcome and included in aspects of school life. In essence, being a School Prefect is not about you: it is about the students you represent.
In performing your duties as Prefect, you will be expected to:
- Observe the school rules at all times
- Be dressed appropriately at all times (including wearing your Prefect's badge)
- Be punctual for your duties
- Be cooperative, helpful, well-mannered, trustworthy, and responsible
- Be respectful toward teachers, your peers, and the school environment
- Be willing to take on extra responsibility
- Maintain a good academic record
Additionally, all Prefects are required to perform duties several times a week during break times and after hours, mostly in the form of patrolling the corridors and helping wayward students. These will be further explained by your Head Boy and Girl. Please meet them on the Hogwarts Express in the Prefect Carriage on 1 September.
If you wish to forfeit your chance to be a Prefect, please respond to this letter before 17 August. Otherwise, your badge has been enclosed.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Penelope turned the badge over and over in her hand, smoothing a hand over the letter "P" until the metal was warm to the touch.
Her parents had made a huge fuss about it, taking her out to her favorite restaurant, and bragging about it to their friends for weeks. She'd let them; it wasn't like they got to brag about her much anyway. All their friends thought she was enrolled in some obscure independent school in Scotland. Well, it wasn't completely a lie.
She wouldn't admit it, but Penelope was secretly pleased that she'd been chosen. Most people thought they were a bunch of prats, but Penelope remembered how it felt, all the way back in the first week of first year, when she'd gotten horribly lost on the way to her common room, and a prefect helped her back. She'd somehow ended up near the Divination classroom, and couldn't figure out how the stairs worked, and she'd had no friends nor family to be there for her. Penelope had been tired and homesick and stressed and so so lost. A Slytherin prefect, Andrew Yaxley, had found her in the middle of a panic attack, sitting on the cold floor, bawling her eyes out. He'd helped her up, given her a hug and a chocolate, and walked her to the Ravenclaw Common Room, even going out of the way to answer the riddle for her.
Now that she was older, Penelope wanted to be that influence for another student. She didn't mind setting an example for others, and maybe she'd be able to pay it forward and help out a younger student too. Also, being a prefect showed leadership, and her future employer would probably love that.
"My perfect prefect Penelope!" Her mother trilled as she pushed open the door, "It's time to go! Matthew just called, and he's right outside the Diagon Alley with Gemma and Natasha. I told them to just go inside, and you'll meet them at that ice cream place, but we've got to go or we'll be late."
Penelope immediately jumped to her feet and jammed the prefect badge into her extendable purse. "Sorry, mum! I lost track of time!"
"Mmm-hmm? I'm sure ya did. Reaal distracted by your new shiny badge." Her mother started down the hallway of their flat, and Penelope hurried behind. "She's already leaving us behind, honey."
Penelope's father turned from the kitchen stove to add, "Don't let all those snooty wizards corrupt my baby girl—Oh, they grow up so fast!" He wiped an imaginary tear from his eye, and Penelope rolled her eyes as she walked out the door. "I love you," her father called after her.
"I love you too, Dad," Penelope called back, before she followed her mother to the Underground. A couple stops and a quick walk later, they were at the Leaky Cauldron. Or rather, Penelope was at the Leaky Cauldron, since her mother couldn't see it.
"Alright, have fun with your friends. I'm going to shop around for a bit, so call me when you get back out. We've got to be back before 7, don't forget, okay?" Penelope's mother gave her a tight squeeze and watched her disappear into the space between shops.
Penelope wove through the crowded pub, tapped the brick, and walked to Florean Fortescue's, where her friends were waiting. They were all Ravenclaws, and had been friends since first year, when Matthew Frazier accidentally squirted Natasha Lin in the eye with a gobstone, Gemma Fawley made him apologize, and Penelope Clearwater just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
She stood outside the window of the shop for a minute, just looking in and observing. It probably looked a little creepy to anyone who noticed, but Penelope always liked to watch her friends first before joining. Right now, if she scooted to the left and angled her head, she could see around the elderly couple sitting at the table closest to the window and have a pretty good view at her friends in a booth in the back of the shop. Gemma had her head thrown back laughing, face red, pounding the table with her fist until it shook. Matthew was sitting next to her with a half-annoyed half-bemused expression (clearly the joke had not been THAT funny). Natasha was busy protecting the three different cups of ice cream from Gemma's fists and with three spoons between the gaps of her fingers. Penelope froze the scene in her mind and tucked it away for a rainy day. She took a breath, waited a beat, and then walked in.
"Pennyyyy!" Natasha called.
"Took you long enough," Matthew tsked, "As a fellow prefect, I must say that was NOT exemplary behavior. You're not getting ice cream, by the way."
"You know I don't like it," Penelope replied easily, stealing Gemma's maraschino cherry and popping it into her mouth.
Matthew clapped a palm to his chest in faux pain. "Every time I remember...it's AGONY. How could I be friends with a sociopath like you?"
She flicked a wayward chocolate chip at him."Oh come off it. Are you all finished yet? I'd quite like to see the new Flourish and Blotts section."
"We're all finished except for fucking Snail-Boy over here," Gemma said, dodging Matthew's slap, "and besides, we're going to Madam Malkin's first, right?" Gemma waved a scrap of parchment covered in ink.
"Oh riiigght, the itinerary," Penelope teased, "What would we do without you, Gem? Tell me, did I come late?"
"No, you're on time actually. But we really ought to get going if we want to get to all the shops on time, and that means"--Gemma shot Matthew a dirty look--"finishing our ice cream at a reasonable time."
"Yeah, yeah, got it, I'll eat on the way, let's go girls!" Matthew jumped up and dragged Penelope and Natasha with him by the elbows. Gemma rolled her eyes and followed suit, muttering something about the importance of punctuality.
Gemma and Matthew teased and bickered, so Natasha linked arms with Penelope and they enjoyed a peaceful walk to Madam Malkin's.
There wasn't much at the robes shop that Penelope really wanted to buy; if she fancied something a little more stylish or comfortable or anything that wasn't her uniform, she usually just wore her muggle clothes. So, while Matthew oohed and Natasha aahed over the new autumn collection, Penelope and Gemma (all her clothes were custom orders) amused themselves by arranging all the mannequins into more interesting positions. After Penelope got bored of making the mannequins snog, she wandered over to Gemma's side. The blonde was crafting an intricate tableau of one mannequin fixing its wedgie while three others pointed and laughed. Every time Penelope thought she was finished, she would fix a mannequin's posture, or point its head in the right direction: things that Penelope would never have noticed but seemed so obviously better now. Penelope had just noticed that one of the pointing mannequin's sleeves was caught in its elbow joint, and was about to fix it when a loud voice stopped her.
"And what do you think you're doing?" Penelope and Gemma jumped and quickly turned around to see Madam Malkin herself standing with her arms crossed, surveying the damage. Neither girl had noticed that the shopkeeper had finished showing off the new collection to Matthew and Natasha. Gemma opened her mouth and started to make an excuse, but clearly decided the evidence was too damning. She grabbed Penelope's hand and the two made a run for it. "AND DON'T YOU COME BACK!"
The pair dissolved into giggles the minute they left the store, collapsing against the front window. Whenever they quieted themselves, they would look up and see two of the mannequins fiercely groping each other, under the twinkling sign "This Autumn, Drift into Love" and start all over again. They had finally calmed down when Matthew and Natasha both stepped up to the front window, looking aghast at the indecency. Penelope smirked up at them and blew a kiss. Gemma got her last laughs out, and suddenly she squinted her eyes and lowered her brows: Thinking Face. Gemma whipped out the itinerary and scanned down the list until she found what she'd been looking for.
"Pen, let's go to the Apothecary and pick up all the potions ingredients, since it'll be a quick stop and it's only two doors down," Gemma said as she scribbled out the original Apothecary stop from her itinerary.
"Erm, alright." Penelope said. Gemma barely acknowledged it, already starting to signal where they were going to the others. Penelope let her mouth the words "Meet us at Flourish and Blotts" to the confused Matthew and Natasha with increasingly bigger mouth movements. Finally, Gemma gave her an exasperated look and Penelope decided to put the girl out of her misery by grabbing the itinerary out of her hand and pointing to the words "Flourish and Blotts" on the paper, which the other two seemed to understand.
After that, the two girls hurried to the Apothecary, and hurried their way through grabbing four sets of each ingredient. Gemma waited impatiently at the register as Penelope paused at the display of fangs. "Of course you still find an excuse to dilly dally in the apothecary." Penelope supposed Gemma was trying to sound admonishing, but since she was holding her nose against the smell of herbs, she just sounded like a duck. But Penelope still didn't want to incur the other girl's wrath, so she quickly hurried over with the rest of the ingredients, they paid, and they hurried back out.
"Honestly, you'd think they'd be able to control the smell with magic," Gemma huffed as they walked to Flourish and Blotts.
"Well I suppose their customers want to be able to smell the plants, to see if they're good or not," Penelope said thoughtfully.
Gemma snorted. "It's not like they'll be able to tell much, with the scent of every other herb and flower in that shop overlaid on top. Now, if I ran that place..." She shook her head disapprovingly.
Just then, they arrived at Flourish and Blott's, and Penelope took a deep breath, trying to absorb the smell of books and hide it in her skin forever. Before Penelope could even ask her, Gemma grumbled that she would take over the school shopping, and Penelope practically skipped over to the new books section.
She found Natasha already there, nose buried in a mystery book. Penelope hummed as she picked through the shelves, and it felt like space-time was warping around her, creating a little universe with just her and the books. She was lost to humanity, lost to the sands of time, she would wander for--
"Hey. Are you ready to go yet?" Matthew tapped her on the shoulder, "Everyone's already in line."
"What? Already? But we just got here!" Even as she said it, Penelope knew it couldn't be true as she looked down at her thick stack of books.
Matthew rolled his eyes. "We've been here for forty minutes. C'mon, let's cut in line before they finish buying." Penelope reluctantly followed suit. As they waited in line, she picked through her stack to find which ones she wanted to buy, and which she would just check out from the Hogwarts library. The library usually had all the books she wanted to read, and on the rare occasion that it didn't, Penelope could usually persuade Pince to buy it with a cup of tea and a tin of biscuits (charmed to not drop crumbs on books or tables, of course). After making two piles, Penelope bought the ones she wanted to, wrote down the names of the others, and put them back on their shelves.
Next was the stationery shop. Penelope usually used the Hogwarts paper and charmed her writing to look like it was written by a quill (how her friends survived by crossing out all their mistakes was beyond her), so she just wandered around the shop.
"Merlin's pants, G," Matthew said, "What on earth do you need all that parchment for? Leave some for the rest of us." Gemma probably shot him a glare, but it was hard to tell over the mountainous stack of scrolls she was cradling. Natasha, sensing possible danger, came over and scooped up the top half of Gemma's scroll mountain, calling over her shoulder,
"Don't be a twat, Matty. It's not a good look." Natasha and Gemma walked over to the counter together, looking like a hill next to a volcano.
Matthew shook his head. "Everybody hates me," he lamented to Penelope. She smiled indulgently, and patted him on the head, like he was some sort of dog.
She checked the time. 6:45 pm. Perfect timing. Penelope had gotten everything she needed to, and her social battery was running a bit low, so she was glad for the excuse. She said her goodbyes and wove back through Diagon Alley, through the Leaky Cauldron, and found her mother waiting outside.
"Ready for dinner?" Penelope's mother put an arm around her daughter and they walked back to the subway.
Surprisingly, Penelope was early for the Hogwarts Express. This was due to a combination of factors: Firstly, a pigeon flew into her window at 7:51 am, which on its own wouldn't have been enough to wake her up, but after it fell onto the ledge below, it picked itself back up and flew right into her window again, sufficiently waking Penelope up much earlier than she usually would be. Secondly, her father had decided to fry some bacon for breakfast to commemorate her first day of school (as well as her first year as a prefect), instead of the usual toast and jam, which made sure Penelope actually got out of bed early to investigate. Thirdly, since she was up earlier, none of her preferred shows were on. Therefore, after Penelope ate, she headed right back to her room and started checking that she had truly packed everything, tossing last minute items into her trunk.
All of this meant that Penelope bid farewell to her parents and entered the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 at King's Cross station with seventeen minutes to spare. Since there wasn't much else to do, and being surrounded by tearful families saying their goodbyes would just make her miss her parents more, Penelope decided to put her trunk away and get to the prefect carriage early.
The Prefect Carriage was located in the middle of the train. Penelope presumed this was because they would be able to dispatch prefects as quickly as possible if there was any trouble making. From the outside, it looked like two regular compartments and a sign hung between them. However, when Penelope peered through the window, she could see that the two compartments were connected and the inside was magically enlarged to fit over twenty chairs, all facing a chalkboard and podium at the front. It sort of resembled a testing hall, especially since each chair had a tiny desk attached to it.
The only people there were the Head Boy, Marcus Garcia; the Head Girl, Constance Goldfinch; and another seventh year prefect. The three were already chatting about this and that, so Penelope headed for a seat in the middle. She put her backpack on the seat next to her to save it for Matthew, and got back to reading one of the books she'd bought at Diagon Alley. It was called Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart, and though some parts seemed a bit exaggerated, Lockhart was a very compelling writer. Penelope was soon sucked into the book, and barely noticed the room filling up around her.
"Hey." Penelope started up from her book as Matthew sat down beside her. "Lockhart? I read his autobiography: it's full of bollocks, but he's just hot enough to make up for it."
Penelope snorted a laugh. "Was the book enjoyable at least?"
"Nope. He spends forty-two and a half minutes a day on his hair, and he describes the whole process in great detail for EIGHT PAGES."
"Merlin. At least this one's alright, you should check it out?" Penelope let Matthew get a good look at the title and cover, before closing it and putting the book back in her bag. She listened patiently as Matthew continued ranting about the atrocities of Lockhart's autobiography, until they were interrupted by a loud whistle from Constance Goldfinch. The room quieted, and with a flick of her wand, all the shades on the windows dropped so that only she and Matthew were illuminated at the front. The two were squeezed behind the tiny podium at the front, which was clearly only equipped to fit one person, and thus created the illusion that they were one person with two heads.
Constance: HELLLO prefects! If you're a new prefect, welcome! And if you've done this before, welcome back! My name is Constance Goldfinch--
Marcus: And I'm Marcus Garcia, and we're your Head Girl and Head Boy for the 1991-1992 academic year!
Constance: Alright, the first item on the agenda is reviewing your role as a prefect!
Marcus: If you're a fifth year, we'll just be going through the details of the stuff in that letter McGonagall sent you, and if you're a sixth or seventh year, it doesn't hurt to review!
Constance: First, always observe the school rules. This covers a lot of stuff: [inhale] Always go to class Don't use magic in the hallways Always wear your uniform and badge when you're on duty and between the hours of 6 am and 10 pm on weekdays (when you're not in your dorm) Don't break curfew unless you're scheduled to patrol Always attend your prefect duties or find someone who can cover your shift Don't leave campus unless you have permission (yes, even if you're seventeen already) Don't cheat on schoolwork Don't fight other students Don't get caught having sex Don't drink or smoke or get high in any way shape or form (or at least don't let anyone find out), and just...[deep breath] be rational, okay?
Marcus: Second [hold up two fingers], always help other students. Remember, you represent them. If someone is lost or injured or struggling, it is your prefect duty to help them out. Now, this may seem like you shouldn't take away house points or give detention. Quite the opposite. Many students need the discipline in order to help them grow as people. You also don't have to say yes to everything (and by everything I mean tutoring) if you're really busy. However, if you can't help someone out, please refer them to a fellow prefect who can. This is what the system is for, people!
Constance: Now, what can or can't you do as a prefect? You [point at someone random] can give detentions (with the support of the student's head of house) and remove house points, but you can NOT remove detentions or award house points. Why, you ask? Because there's no reason for you to be giving people house points (I mean, it's not like you're going to see someone do an exemplary act in the hallway between classes), so the power of awarding house points would only be abused. If you really actually do see someone do something that's deserving of house points, just tell a teacher (preferably their head of house).
Marcus: You also have access to the Prefect Bathroom! It's located on the fifth floor, four doors to the left of a statue of Boris the Bewildered. Currently, the password for the bathroom is "Cornflower", but in all future meetings we will vote to decide the new password. In past years, there has been a schedule for when each of you can use the bathroom; there will not be a schedule this year! [pause for cheer] Because of our campaigning, the faculty has done some spells on the place so that it magically expands or shrinks to fit the capacity. You also don't have to worry about privacy because all showers and baths are surrounded by an automatic bubble when you enter, so you can see out but other people can't see in.
"Any questions?" The two panted together, tired from pushing the other out of the way whenever it was their turn to speak. Penelope did zone out in the middle for a bit, but she had to admit they had great showmanship, since she'd paid attention for longer than usual.
"Wonderful," said Marcus, "Let's move on to patrolling. You should walk through the entirety of the school during your patrol, barring common rooms and the teachers' quarters. Everyone has their own preferences; I don't care if it's top to bottom, left to right, inside to out, as long as you get through all of it. Each patrol consists of a group of four and will last two hours. During the week, this is from 11 am to 1 pm and 6 pm to 12 am, broken into 2 hour chunks. On weekends, this is from 8 am to 12 am, broken into 2 hour chunks. We've partnered you with another prefect who you will do all of your patrols with for the year. If you don't like your partner, too bad! We spent far too much time on this schedule to swap people around. Each patrol will have two pairs of partners who should split the castle up into two equal sections and each and patrol their section. We also have access to all of your schedules, so we made sure none of your patrols happen during a class, and if you are assigned for a late night patrol you won't have class first block the next day."
"Here is the schedule!" Constance finally stepped away from the podium and flicked her wand at the blackboard, where a detailed schedule based on the day of the week appeared. Before Penelope could start scanning for her name, Marcus rushed over and flicked his wand, erasing the board.
"No, no!" He gasped, "Constance, we talked about--" His voice dropped to a whisper just then, and Marcus and Constance had a hushed but heated argument at the front. Finally, Constance threw up her hands and walked to the side, and Marcus went back to the podium. "Now, we will announce the partners!"
"Maeve Flint and Catherine Bones? Please stand up."
"Astrid Cohen and Matthew Frazier? Please stand up."
"Ian Wallace and Lewis Evans? Please stand up." And so on, until--
"Penelope Clearwater and Percy Weasley? Please stand up." Penelope sighed internally and stood up. On top of being her academic nemesis, Percy Weasley was an absolute prat, and she was not very excited to spend several hours a week alone with him. But as she looked around, she didn't see him. Could it be that he'd missed the train? Or decided to drop out of Hogwarts? "Percy Weasley?" Marcus called again. Where was he? Percy was usually--
BAM!
Percy Weasley barged into the compartment, panting. His glasses were askew and his face was red. His eyes darted around wildly, giving him the impression of a crazed animal. After a second, he seemed to realize that there was an important official prefect meeting going on, and quickly collected himself.
Percy had always been a scrawny guy, swimming in the school robes that were previously worn by his bigger brothers. However, over the summer, he'd grown another couple inches and his body had filled out, especially his face, shoulders, and legs. It also helped that he'd gotten a new set of robes that fit tighter around the shoulders and had narrower sleeves, which complemented him. Usually, Percy wore his school uniform perfectly with his outer robe pinned together so that only the top of his shirt and tie peeked out, but in these unusual circumstances, it appeared that he'd forgotten to clip together the front or had forgone the extra step while rushing to the compartment. It made him look like he was wearing an unbuttoned trench coat, rather than wizard robes. Beneath it, besides the uniform shirt, Penelope was surprised to discover that he wore straight-leg slightly baggy trousers. She had seen many other boys her age wear them, but she'd expected he would go with the classic tapered fit. He also must have loosened his Gryffindor tie on the way due to a lack of breath, and he now adjusted it self consciously (Penelope noted that his fingers had grown too). Instead of looking all stretched out like he usually did, he just looked slender, or even classy. Penelope decided that this display only illuminated the power of good styling and well-fitting clothes.
But...his proportions did have a sort of elegance that they definitely didn't have before. And had the smattering of freckles across his cheeks always highlighted his eyes like that? All his facial features seemed to have found their proper space on his face, which made him look more refined, rather than pointy. And his throat was very long (Penelope didn't really know why this thought came to her, but it surely contributed to something). She really couldn't keep looking for logical reasons and she couldn't believe herself but Percy Weasley was kind of...hot?
Oh Penelope, what are you thinking?