A week passed. Harry never apologised, but he didn't blow up at us again, which was okay. The trial for Harry's expulsion came quickly.

While he was at the Ministry of Magic dealing with that, Hermione, Ron, and I were surprised with our Hogwarts letters coming in. I started opening mine, when Hermione stopped me.

"We should wait for Harry, then open them all together."

I agreed, and almost as if he was waiting for us to say his name, the front door opened to allow Harry to enter the building.

"Harry! How did it go?" Hermione squealed, rushing up to him.

"Quite well, actually, I was cleared of all charges," he answered.

"That's amazing! Glad you'll be at Hogwarts, mate!" Ron exclaimed.

"That reminds me," Hermione said, "our Hogwarts letters came! We were waiting for you to come back to open them."

Ron handed him his letter, and we each ripped open ours. A green and silver pendant dropped from my envelope, confusing me for a moment before I read my letter. "'We are glad to announce that you, Y/n Potter, have been chosen to be a Slytherin prefect'," I read aloud.

"Y/n! I got the same thing!" Hermione said happily. Ron held up his pendant.

"You all became prefects, but not me?" Harry scoffed. "Maybe Dumbledore really doesn't like me."

"Oh, Harry," Hermione started, "you know that's not true."

My brother tried to respond, but was cut off by Mrs Weasley entering the room and hugging Ron tightly. "Another Prefect! That makes everyone so far!"

"What are George and I, next-door neighbours?" Fred Weasley said, standing in the doorway. We laughed with him, but I turned to Harry, concerned. He seemed lost in thought, but aggravated. Why? Being a Prefect wasn't that big of a deal.

"Oh, Y/n, who's the other Slytherin Prefect?" Hermione asked, looking over my letter to find the answer herself.

I read with her, curious. "Draco."

Her expression was one of pity, but I didn't share that feeling.

"Hey, Draco isn't that bad," I defended. "He's really nice once you get to know him."

"Tell that to Harry," she answered. "Anyway, I'm going into the kitchen to help Fred and Mrs Weasley prepare dinner."

~~~

I was walking down a long corridor, the walls black and grey. The hallway was dim, lit by only one torch at the entrance, which I could barely see at this point. I continued walking down the never-ending hallway, looking around to find something, anything that could help me escape. A dark door stood at the end of the hallway, seemingly miles away. Would I ever reach it? Could I ever reach it?

I hissed in pain as I awoke, my scar burning against my neck.

"Get up, Y/n, Mum's going to go ballistic! She's saying we'll miss the train!" Ginny, Ron's younger sister, said, plopping my suitcase onto my bed and opening it so I could grab my clothes.

"I'm coming," I mumbled, dressing quickly and stumbling to get my shoes on.

I headed out of the room and followed Hermione down the stairs, suitcase in hand. My cat followed me down the stairs, pawing at Hermione's cat the whole time.

"Harry and Y/n, you're coming with me and Tonks," Mrs Weasley said quickly. "Leave your trunks and pets, Alastor's going to deal with the luggage. Oh, for heaven's sake, Sirius, Dumbledore said no!"

A bearlike black dog had appeared at Harry's side, smiling.

"Oh, honestly, well, on your own head be it!" Mrs Weasley answered, giving up on fighting him. Harry and I followed her outside where we met an elderly woman, who seemed to be waiting for our arrival.

"Better hurry up, hadn't we, Molly?" she said, checking her watch.

"Oh, shush, Tonks."

I took a double take at the woman. She was definitely elderly and small, unlike the Tonks I had met earlier.

"She's a Metamorphmagus," Harry whispered, noticing and clearing my confusion.

It took nearly twenty minutes to get to King's Cross station by foot. Once inside the station, we stood casually near the barrier between platforms, and once the coast was clear, leaned against it and fell easily through to platform nine and three-quarters.

"Oh good," said Mrs Weasley, sounding relieved, "here's Alastor with the luggage."

Moody came over to us, pushing a cart with all of our suitcases. My cat sat on top, licking her paws and enjoying the ride.

A second later, Mr Weasley emerged onto the platform, followed by Ron and Hermione. We had almost unloaded all of the luggage by the time Fred, George, and Ginny arrived with Lupin.

"No trouble?" growled Moody.

"No trouble," Lupin responded.

Moody turned to look at all of us. "Be careful what you children put in writing. If in doubt, don't put it in a letter at all," he warned.

"It's been great meeting all of you," said Tonks, hugging Hermione, Ginny, and me. "We'll see you soon, I expect."

A whistle sounded, and we all started rushing onto the train.

"Shall we go and find a compartment?" Harry asked as we walked.

Ron turned to look at Hermione, unsure of what to say.

"We're supposed to go to the Prefect carriage," I answered for them.

"Oh," said Harry. "Right."

We parted ways, heading to the front of the train. I followed Ron and Hermione. We reached a large compartment labelled "Prefects only" and entered, putting our luggage in the racks above. I took a seat on the Slytherin bench, waiting for Draco.

Once the compartment was full and the train was moving, Professor McGonagall entered.

"Hello, students," she said. "You are all fifth-years now, meaning that your level of responsibilities have grown, including the O.W.L.s. However, Headmaster Dumbledore and I have decided that the eight of you are sufficient, and will be very successful this year. You are to watch over your peers and respect the school's rules. You will have the opportunity to hand out punishments for misbehaving students, but you are not to abuse your position. If any of you are caught doing so, we will dismiss you immediately."

She paused, scanning the room. "I'm glad to see familiar faces in this compartment. I am lucky enough to know you, but the others might not be. If each of you could introduce yourself, that would be lovely. Gryffindor, you may start."

Ron and Hermione perked up and introduced themselves quickly.

A blond Hufflepuff spoke next. "I'm Ernie Macmillan."

"Hannah Abbot," said the girl sitting next to him.

Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil were the Ravenclaw Prefects, and finally Draco and I introduced ourselves to the others.

"Once we return to Hogwarts, your duty will be to patrol the hallways until eleven tonight. Do not forget your pendant," McGonagall explained. "You will also have access to the Prefect's bathroom. Your sixth- and seventh-year Prefect companions will have similar perks and responsibilities as you. You are know free to return to your preferred compartments," she finished, and we grabbed our luggage and left.

I walked with Draco through the train. We passed the compartment Star was in, surprising me. "Where are we going?" I asked.

He didn't answer, but he didn't need to. I knew as soon as we stopped. He slid open the compartment door.

"What?" my brother asked aggressively.

"Draco," I warned.

"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," drawled Draco Malfoy with a smirk. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."

"Yeah," said Harry, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone."

"Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter?" he asked.

"Shut up, Malfoy," said Hermione sharply.

"I seem to have touched a nerve," said Draco, his smirk back. "Well, just watch yourself, Potter, because I'll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of line."

I put my hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. "Hey, cut it out. It might be fun to tease him, but he's still my brother."

"What do I care?" he asked. "You and I might be friends, but that doesn't mean I like your brother any more than I did before Star brought you into this."

"I'm not asking you to like him. All I want is for you two to get along, at least most of the time, okay?"

"I don't need you to tell me what to do. You're still a Potter."

"And?"

"And that means that we aren't equal."

I shook my head and walked into Harry's compartment.

"Really, Y/n? You're really going to put up with Malfoy?"

"I don't need this from you too."

"I think you need to hear it!" Harry answered. "Do you care about me? I'm your brother. I was the only one you had growing up, you know that, right? And now you're just going to leave me for what, a Malfoy?"

"Harry," Ron offered. He was shushed.

"If you won't even stop him from teasing us, you're no better than him!" Harry shouted. "Go with him, then! Leave me for the Malfoy twins. You'll see who really cares about you.""It obviously isn't you!" I yelled in response, tears filling my eyes already. I slammed the compartment door shut and walked away to find Star. Hopefully, she was alone.