Sighing, Sybil shoved past the crowed doorway of the train and started to search for Alithea and Caroline. As she walked she noticed Harry sitting with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, a fellow Ravenclaw who she had tutored in Charms last year. She walked on, occasionally meeting someone she knew and greeting them. Near the end of the train she finally saw her two best friends sitting with the rest of their friend group in a compartment, so she slid the compartment door open and stepped inside.

"Ah there you are Syb! I'd begun to think you'd lost the train!" Alithea said standing up and making room for Sybil in the crowed compartment.

"And pull a Ron and Harry, no thank you!" replied Sybil smartly smiling and then waving to her other friends. In the compartment were Alithea; Caroline; Natalie Prokes, a Hufflepuff in her year; Armina Patel, another Hufflepuff; Saorise Craven, a Slytherin; and Anthony Goldstein, a Ravenclaw who was in the year below.

A small round of 'hello's were exchanged and then Anthony said, "Hey Sybil, we should probably go up to the prefects carriage, if we want to get there early for the meeting."

"Oh yes, oh my gosh I had completely forgotten!" She exclaimed, with the madness of the day, the fact that she had made Prefect had slipped her mind. "I still have to change into my robes, so I'll just meet you there. Thank you so much for reminding me!" she said to Anthony, setting down her backpack and pulling out her Ravenclaw robes and blue Prefect badge.

"Catch up with you guys later!" She said to the others in the compartment, carefully placing her broom against the window and animatedly rushing out into the corridor after Anthony.

Once they were out of the compartment, Sybil and Anthony agreed to meet each other at the prefect's carriage in five minutes and then parted ways, Sybil going to the back towards the bathrooms to change and Anthony towards the front to say hello to his other friends.

Sybil reached the bathroom and went into a stall, hastily pulling off her jumper to put on her uniform. Once she was done, she unlocked the door and looked into the mirror, carefully pinning her prefect badge on the left side of her robes. Her dark brown hair sat shining down her back as her grey eyes twinkled with pride and her thick eyebrows framed her kind face. She smiled and looked at her reflection, her parents would have been so proud of her making Prefect again, especially her mother, who had also been a prefect in her time. Her father too, if he hadn't been acting all weird.

Sybil turned to the bathroom door as it was opened by Cho Chang, a sixth year Ravenclaw like Sybil. Cho looked absolutely dreadful, as though she had been crying quite a bit. It was understandable, as Cho had been dating Cedric Diggory last year and it seemed that she hadn't gotten over his death quite yet.

"Oh Cho, hi! Are you okay?" Sybil said, hugging Cho tightly. She looked as if she really needed a hug.

"Hi Sybil, you're so kind, don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Cho responded, hugging Sybil back. The girls weren't best friends, but they had gotten to know each other well by sharing a dorm room for five years.

"I'm sorry but I've got to go to the prefect's meeting, but I guess I'll see you later?" Sybil said.

"Yes of course, bye." Cho replied.

Giving Cho a wave and a smile, Sybil side stepped her and continued down the corridor to the front of the train, where the prefect's carriage resided.

Once inside the cabin, Sybil glanced around to the other prefects and made her way to where the Ravenclaws were. She only knew a couple of the other Prefects such as Anthony and Padma Patil who were the fifth year Ravenclaw Prefects, Alex Sykes and Maximus Blake the sixth year Hufflepuff Prefects, Gemma Farley one of the sixth year Slytherin Prefects, and Hermione Granger and, surprisingly, Ron Weasley who were the fifth year Gryffindor Prefects. Sybil was also happy to see Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott as the fifth year Prefects for Hufflepuff, as they were close friends of Anthony. She was less enthusiastic about seeing Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson as the Slytherin Prefects. Though they had never taunted Sybil, she did not appreciate how they treated others.

Looking around the room, Sybil noticed that she did not know who her fellow sixth year Ravenclaw Prefect was, and neither where he was, as he was not in the compartment with them. Then, the door burst open and Nicholas Selwyn came tumbling in, a shining Prefect badge proudly sitting on his robes.

"Oh thank god, I thought I was late." He sighed walking over to where Sybil was standing with her mouth hanging open.

"You're the new Ravenclaw Prefect?" She managed to spew out, raising her eyebrows lightly.

"What are you surprised Sybil?" He replied, smirking. Adrian Agrent had been the Ravenclaw Prefect with Sybil last year, but he had decided that the role wasn't for him and gave it up, as he was Ravenclaw's self-proclaimed trouble-maker. Nicholas was Adrian's best mate, so Sybil had no idea why he had been given the job. Even though Nicholas was more focused on school than Adrian, who was on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, they both caused trouble.

"Yes actually I am, I honestly expected Greggory or Dramon to be replacing Adrian, not you." She bluntly said.

"Aw man that hurt Sybs, I thought you liked me." He said faking hurt and putting a tanned hand over his heart.

"Yeah, I don't like you as much as you think Nicky-nick." Sybil replied, now it was her turn to be smirking.

"Ok deal," he said, "I won't call you 'Sybs' but you cannot call me 'Nicky-Nick' alright?"

"Sure, but how about you also add 'behaving' to your side of the bargain." said Sybil.

"You know what? Sure I'll 'behave'." said Nicholas. Sybil was taken aback, she had not expected him to respond that way.

He smirked at her and then turned to the Head Boy and Girl, who had begun the meeting. Sybil kept her eyes on Nicholas as he turned away, studying him. It was very unlike him to be kind to her, as he and Adrian never really talked to her and her friends, usually going more for the other people in their year. Nicholas was the same height as Sybil but his wavy, brown hair, which was laying in a slight quiff, added one or two inches to his height and so he looked taller.

"Hello I am Robert Hilliard, and I am the Head Boy." said Robert a tall pale boy with brown dusty hair. Sybil was pleased that a Ravenclaw had been chosen as Head Boy, and she remembered him being a good Prefect last year.

"And I am Cyril Meakin, the Head Girl." said the olive-skinned girl beside Robert.

They went on to talk about the plans for the year and protocols for patrols they would have to do later on the train, and at school after curfew. They also explained what the Prefect's conduct was supposed to be and how they were to treat the younger students. Sybil could see Draco and Pansy sniggering at someone else in the room, and clearly not paying attention to the Head Boy and Girl. Who in their right mind would have made them two Prefects?

At the end of the meeting, Robert and Cyril dismissed everyone and handed them their timetables for the patrols when they got to the school. Nicholas then turned back to Sybil, "Well, I guess I'll see you soon Sybil." He said, running his hand through his hair and then walking away to speak with some of his Gryffindor friends. Sybil narrowed her eyes at him as he walked away. He was very strange.

Tearing her thoughts away from Nicholas, Sybil decided to leave the Prefects carriage, as Anthony was conversing with his fellow fifth year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. She waved to Gemma, as she was a friend of Saorsie and then continued out to meet her friends.

"How was the meeting?" asked Natalie when Sybil got back to the compartment.

"Same as last year, the Head Boy is a Ravenclaw, Robert Hilliard? He was a Prefect last year." replied Sybil. "But guess what? Nicholas Selwyn made Prefect with me!"

"No you're kidding!" said Alithea, widening her eyes.

"I thought Adrian was the Prefect?" added Saorsie.

"Yeah well they had informed me last year that Adrian had given up the job because it was to much responsibility, but then they went and made Nicholas his replacement!"

"Aw man I'm so sorry for you Sybil." Armina said grinning and patting Sybil on the back. Sybil rolled her eyes, Armina and Natalie had started to make matches for people they'd think would end up together and one of their top "ships" was Sybil and Nicholas, but Sybil had no idea why they'd think that.

"Who were the other Prefects?" asked Caroline.

"Ah, Alex and Max for Hufflepuff and then Gemma was one of the Slytherins, and I think Roderick and Julie were the Gryffindors..." thought Sybil before saying, "Well, let's not talk about it. I want to hear about your summers!"

As Sybil listened to Armina's trip to India, she realized how happy she was to be back with her friends and on her way to Hogwarts. All her friends looked happy to be back at school, despite the ever growing cloud of darkness that hung over the wizarding world. She knew that Armina was a Muggleborn and that she and her twin brother had not told their family about You-Know-Who's return, but other than that most of her friends were half-bloods and purebloods like her, and shared the unpopular opinion that Voldemort had indeed returned. Natalie hadn't expressed her beliefs on the subject at the end of the previous year, but Sybil could only hope she was one their side as well.

Her mind once again shifted to her father, maybe her father had been blackmailed by Death Eaters into breaking into the Department of Mysteries, because after all she had herd from the Order it seemed like a possible solution. But then Sybil thought she was being to optimistic, her father could have done it without any influence. She pushed the thoughts away, she would have to wait a couple more days, at least until her aunt sent her an owl with the news from her father's hearings. Sybil noticed Alithea looking at her with a questionable look so she mouthed "Later" and turned her attention back to the conversation.

"How was your summer Sybil?"

"Meh it was fine, I didn't do much" said Sybil, which was true, just not the whole truth.

"Yeah same," said Saorsie. "I'm not supposed to tell you guys this, but my parents were pretty pissed all summer because they said that Death Eaters have been trying to recruit them." The compartment then got very quiet. They all knew that this subject was going to come up sooner or later but it was evident that it was going to be a sad thing to discuss.

"I saw Cho earlier crying in the bathroom." said Sybil, breaking the silence.

"Yeah I talked to her before getting on the train as well. Oh I feel so bad for her and the Diggory's." sighed Caroline.

"He has been keeping a rather low profile though, You-Know-Who." stated Armina, "I just hope that it doesn't end up being like World War Two all over again."

"Don't worry Mina, we'll make sure that no one hurts you." said Alithea, the only one understanding the reference, as she was a half-blood.

Sybil could see the hesitance in Natalie's eyes when Saorsie had brought up Death Eaters, and noticed how she squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. Sybil pursed her lips and turned to look oustside.

The mood was rather subdued after that, no one wanted to really speak so they all resorted to doing their own things to pass the time until they arrived.
~~~~~
The Hogwarts Express slowed to a stop and Sybil was awoken by Natalie shaking her shoulder.

"We're here Sybil." she said. Sybil noticed they had all changed into their robes while she was asleep.

Yawning and stretching, Sybil stood up and remembered that she had indeed forgotten to patrol the train during the trip. "Aw crap I hope Flitwick isn't too mad I forgot to patrol." she said aloud, though not really caring if anyone was listening.

"I'm sure it's ok, there are many other Prefects you know." replied Caroline.

Sybil smiled at Caroline and then grabbed her broom and backpack so that they could leave the train and get a carriage before they all left. Stepping off of the train she saw her trunk in the midst of all the others, being hauled off and onto the castle, she would see it later anyway. She gazed up at the marvelous castle before her and thought ahh it never gets old... Alithea then grabbed her arm and pulled her into a carriage before it rolled away.

"Thanks Thea." Sybil said breathlessly.

"So who do you think is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" asked Saorsie.

Ever since they had begun school, every year they had a new teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts. In their first year they had a Professor named Graimes but it was rumored that she left because her husband was killed. Then Professor Quirrell, who ended up dying because he had You-Know-Who in the back of his head; Professor Lockhart, who was a complete fraud and now in St. Mungo's because he managed to erase all of his memories; Professor Lupin, who was the best teacher they had but left when it was revealed that he was a werewolf; and finally Professor Moody, though in the end it never really was the real Alastor Moody as he was impersonated by a Death Eater. It was said that there was a jinx on the position, as no one could hold the job for more than a year.

"Honestly I have no bloody idea. We have to hope Dumbledore choose someone that won't leave at the end of the year." replied Armina.

"As if that's likely! We have Harry Potter at our school!" Alithea said raising her eyebrows.

"Hey it's not his fault." said Sybil.

"Yes but that doesn't change the fact that we haven't had a normal year ever since he has started." said Alithea. Sybil stayed quiet for the rest of the ride, her body itching to be in the castle and preform magic once again.

The carriages rolled to a stop and students started to climb out and walk up the great stones steps and into the Great Hall. As Sybil walked up to the castle, she noticed a small first year from a couple of carriages behind them, had their robe stuck under the wheel of the carriage as it was still moving. She saw that no one had seen the first year, so she quickly rushed away from her friends to help him.

"Hey hey! Kid don't worry I'll help you!" she said. Bending down to help. "What's your name?"

"Euan Abercrombie." he said.

"Okay well Euan, calm down I'll get you unstuck." Sybil pulled at the robe and noticed that it was caught on a nail of the wheel. She scooted to the very front of the carriage and tried to get the nail off without ripping the boy's robe.

Then, everything happened in a blur.

Sybil managed to free the robe from the nail, but the force she had used to pull the nail out sent her stumbling backwards. She hit something invisible with her head and had put her hand up to touch the spot that she hit, when the invisible thing came at her again and hit her very hard in the head once more. The thing then backed up and seemed to walk on top of Sybil, completely crushing her chest and her arms as she tried to scramble away.

The last thing she remembered was lifting her right arm to her face to see that it was very painfully bloody and mangled. Sybil panicked and tried to scream but she realized that she couldn't as her lungs wouldn't let any air into her body.

She saw countless people turning around to notice the scene and rushing over to her aid, before fainting and completely blacking out.