dedicated to ellabunny123 for the beautiful cover on the side, I know you haven't been on recently, I hope you are doing alright! x

Ch. 28: Perfect Prefect [this is filler, sorry guys!]

Song for Chapter: Running For Cover - Ivan & Alyosha

"Well well well," Malfoy's voice cut through the hallways as Jenna, Lana, and I made our way towards the Great Hall for lunch. "Look who's back for another year at Hogwarts." The sound of his million sickle shoes echoed off the vacant walls as I merely rolled my eyes at my two friends, both of them debating whether we should keep walking or wait for him to shut up. "And I thought this year couldn't get any worse," He spat, brow furrowing with distaste.

Jenna scoffed at this, crossing her arms over her chest and shooting Draco a playful eye. "Oh, please Draco, you know your life has much improved since you met us, other wise, your life would be boring and filled with people who despise you."

"Watch it, Chase," Draco's jaw tightened as he shot Jenna a cold glare, shifting on his feet nervously despite the front he was pulling. "Hall is no longer here for you guys to hold over me."

"Who," I interrupted, "Blake? You know I could just owl her..."

"Very brave," Malfoy shot me a glare, "Don't think I've forgotten about the last time we were together, Granger."

Lana's eyes flickered between Malfoy and I before she chuckled a bit, brow scrunching up with a sense of hidden confusion, "Erm," She cleared her throat, poking me lightly on the shoulder, "Ellie, what happened the last time you two 'were together'?" She wiggled her brow suggestively, multicolored eyes swimming with humor.

"N-Nothing!" I shoved her back, "I have a boyfriend, mind you!"

"You didn't at the time," Draco interjected coldly, and I shot him a fiery glare.

"-Shut up right now," I hissed.

Jenna's mouth audibly made a popping noise as her jaw practically hit the floor. "W-wait, I thought Lana was joking - you -," She pointed a shaking finger at me as her eyes were glued to Malfoy's unamused stance, arms crossed over his chest, "You two, but - I don't - huh?!"

Rolling my eyes, I flipped off Draco. "Thank you so much, Draco," I spat out, sarcasm coursing through my veins instead of blood, "And, no, Jenna. The last time I was with Draco Malfoy here, I kneed him in the balls and ran away to save the world."

"Oh don't be so melodramatic, Mudblood." Draco fixed his robes, but the way his eyes were frozen solid told me that the small humor that I, and my friends, had been able to draw out of him, was gone. Perhaps forever.

Worry filled the pit of my stomach as I watched his movements. Something had taken root inside Draco since the summer months. Something dark. And, I couldn't help be feel the change inside of him. Swallowing a small lump in my throat, I reached out and took Lana and Jenna by the arms, leading them out of the hallways and into the Great Hall, no further words to Malfoy as we did.

"Also, ten points from Gryffindor for your mouth, Granger," He sneered out, catching my attention one last time before we'd completely made it into the Hall.

"You can't do that," I mused, furrow carved into my brow as I allowed my gaze to settle back upon the white-haired boy. "You're not a teacher."

A smug smile slunk onto his lips as he lifted the front of his coat out, displaying, proudly, a silver and green badge that was stuck on his chest. "Slytherin Prefect, Granger. Pansy and I have the authority now."

"Oh," I quirked a brow at him, shrugging it off, "So it's 'Pansy and I' now, aye? Well - I hope you two are very happy."

With that, I tossed my long hair behind my shoulder flippantly and continued walking inside the Great Hall, striking the most confident strut I could muster because I didn't want to seem worried that Malfoy and Parkinson would be on my tail this year.

"Well," Jenna huffed, blowing a strand of blonde hair away from her eyes, "That was pleasant. I'm glad to see that Draco and you are on the same terms as you were last time I was here."

"What are you talking about?"

"Flirting dangerously," Lana interjected, snickering under her breath while I shoved the both of them a bit too harshly, taking my seat between Hermione and Ginny while they decided to permanently claim Fred and George's old spot.

A small quirk lifted the corner of my lips as I watched them sit there, and, I thought about how it was only natural that two misfits in my life had vacated those seats only for the other two misfits, that had once been missing, to fill them once more.

"I'm starved," Hermione stated, as if that was an appropriate hello now-a-days.

"Hello to you too, sis," I nodded, grabbing a grilled cheese sandwich off a large platter and a saucer of tomato soup. "How's your classes been treating you so far this year?"

"Who, me?" Hermione asked, and I noticed that she seemed quiet distracted by a certain redheaded male that was simply sitting across from her, face scrunched up as he struggled through a textbook.

"No, not you," I rolled my eyes, "I was talking to Ginevra - because, you know, I call her 'sis' all the time."

Ginny chuckled beside me, tucking a long strand of red hair behind her ear and sparing me a devious, glimmering eye, "Well - maybe one day." I practically choked on my tomato soup as a beet red coloring spread on my cheeks.

"Let's not go there," I coughed, "I'm only a sixth year, here people."

Jenna opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off with a new topic, feeling a change of subject would be best for all of us, "So - where's the Chosen One?"

Ron stopped mid-chew on a drumstick he was working on and swallowed, nodding towards the teacher's table. "Dumbledore wanted to talk with him, but he didn't want to take him away from class. So, I reckon that he's in his office."

"Thanks, Ron." I offered him a grin, not expecting him to respond to my question and mildly surprised that he managed to stop eating to answer me. For a tall, skinny boy, he sure could eat. Perhaps that was a trait of all the Weasley men.

My eyes zeroed in on the badge that was sitting, tilted but displayed, on his robe front. "Uh, Ron - don't tell me that you were elected as Gryffindor Prefect?"

Beside me, Hermione huffed out a sigh and nodded, "Yes, and Ron hasn't attended any of the Prefect meetings yet." She leant closer towards him from across the table, face stamped with a smart frown, it was then that I noticed the prefect badge she was wearing as well. "You know you can get your badge revoked if you don't follow the rules, right?" Had I been completely blind these past days, or had she purposefully been hiding the fact that she was now a walking nark?

Ron waved her off with a funny look screwed onto his face, as if he wasn't taking her seriously, or if he didn't really care. "I've got bigger things to think about, 'Mione."

"Like Quidditch try-outs tomorrow?" Ginny snickered, arching her brow towards her brother as she lightly took a bite out of her sandwich. "I hear you're going for Keeper, huh?"

Ron spared her a withered glare, but nodded. "Yeah, and I hear that you are going for Chaser."

"Yup!" Ginny smirked, "And, maybe Seeker."

I tapped a finger to my chin, "Wait, that sounds familiar. Isn't that... Isn't that the position that Harry plays?"

Jenna's hand reached past my face as she grabbed for a roll, "Uh, yeah - but, there can be backup players for different Quidditch positions," She hummed out, about to take a bite from the buttered bread, but she caught the glances of surprise we were tossing her and she scoffed, "Oh, puh-lease. You think I don't know anything about Quidditch? I'll have you know that my uncle is the coach of the Fitchburg Finches."

"Oh," Ginny and Ron sneered at her words, both shivering as if they'd heard something disturbing.

"What?" Jenna rose a brow, pulling her roll apart with her slim, pale fingers.

Ron shook his head at her, wiping his hands on his pants before giving her a calculative frown. "The Fitchburg Finches are bloody terrible." Jenna opened her mouth to object, but Ginny cut her off with a confirming nod. "He's not wrong."

"I never said they were good," Jenna pouted, "I just meant that I know what I'm talking about."

Lana scoffed and gave Jenna a reassuring pat on the shoulder, refraining from saying anything snarky in response to the way she was childishly pouting, "I got what you meant, crazy."

Well, I thought to myself, She almost restrained herself from a snarky comment.... But, it's the thought that counts, right?

As lunch was drawing to a close, I found my eyes wandering towards the Slytherin table where Draco was sulking beside a new girl that I'd never seen before, that I could recall at least. Her face seemed as if it had been carved out of stone, she was so emotionally with drawn from everything around her. Her eyes flickered up towards me, and she sent me a sharp glare, causing the sandwich in my stomach to churn uneasily.

Abruptly, I averted my eyes and turned to Hermione, hoping that she would recognize the intimidating, and new, friend of Malfoy. "Hermione, who's that? Do you know her?" The only indication I could give my twin was a simple nod of the head to seem inconspicuous, in case the girl was still watching me with her cold eyes.

With a shallow sigh, Hermione's eyes traveled around the Slytherin table until she finally realized whom I was referring to. "Oh," She huffed out, a small frown tilting on her lips as she turned back towards the Gryffindor table once more. "Yes, that would be Rachel Harvard."

"Like the college?"

She shot me an unamused brow, but continued to tell me more about the scary creature. "Yes, she's a seventh year. I've had her in a class before. She doesn't talk much, but something about her is..."

"Intimidating?" Jenna blurted out, as if tossing a random word out into a conversation would allow her to sneak into it. "Who are we talking about?"

"Your mother," Lana told her from the sidelines, "She called and told them it's not polite to listen in on other people's conversations, Jennifer."

A mocking whine came from Jenna's lips that I imagined was supposed to mimic what Lana had just said, "Are we back to that again?" I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose before waving for Hermione to finish the tale of Rachel Harvard. "Go on, please."

"She's very private about everything, so, I don't really know what else there is to say. She's a Slytherin, Pure blood, more than likely a rich family," Hermione tucked some fluffy hair behind her ear and offered me a curt shrug of her shoulders, "That's all I know."

"Oh, well, I'd never seen her before, but it's good to be aware of the smallest things," I reminded my friends, as if that made complete sense for my moment of blatant 'nosy-ness'.

Lunch officially came to a close and I grabbed my bag, making sure I had my Divination book. I had never been too good with that stuffy, perfumed room, nor the lessons that the 'seer' taught, but I hadn't given up the class (like Hermione) because I figured it may open up doors if I wanted to change my career in the future.

As if I even had a plan at the moment.

Jenna hopped up and adjusted her skirt, blonde curls bouncing with a new light as she drug a cursing Lana away from her seat. "Oh, come on Lana Banana," Jenna chirped, causing Lana's mouth to stop spewing out whispered obscenities and her to watch Jenna with a look of despise, "Let's go to Divination - I'm thirsty."

"You're always thirsty," Lana and I chimed back at her at the same time, grinning and high-fiving each other at her expense.

The three of us walked in comfortable silence as we climbed all the way up to the top-most floor. However, when we reached the seventh floor, across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, we found Malfoy pacing beside the wall, head down as if he was in deep thought.

"What do you think he's thinking about?" Jenna whispered as we slowly crept past him.

I shrugged, thinking that it was odd he would be randomly pacing the hall instead of attending class. "Maybe he has free period?" Lana shrugged at both of our questions as we snuck around the corner of the hall, peering at him from a, somewhat, safe hiding place.

Then, I remembered the tapestry, and the seventh floor. But, could he have known where the room was? "Of course he does - that little shit!" I blurted out, getting Lana to shush me, reminding my pin-head to stay quiet if we wanted to remain invisible.

"Hey - what are you guys doing?" A voice rang out from behind us, "You look really odd with your heads craned around the corner while your bodies are on the other side," Ginny commented, not holding back anything that she thought.

Sighing, I faced Ginny and composed myself as Jenna and Lana started bickering quietly behind me about who looked silliest. "We are just spying and being stalkers," I flippantly stated, waving my hand, "What you doing up here?"

"Oh," She chuckled as if that was a perfectly acceptable explanation, "I've got Divination with you too, it seems," Ginny held up her book with a half smile, then glanced towards the other hall where people where starting to climb up the ladder to get into class, "I guess I"ll see you guys there?"

Nodding, I wavered her off. The best thing about Ginny? She doesn't hover.

Well, she hovers... But only when she really cares about the information that people are hiding from her. Other than that, yeah, she doesn't hover.

"Dude!" Lana lightly hit the two of us, eyes glued to the spot Malfoy had been, "He's gone."

"Gone?" Jenna asked, brow crumpling, "But, there's a wall at the end of that corridor, he would have needed to come back this way to disappear."

"Actually," I trailed off, shooting them a sheepish smile while Jenna put her hands on her hips and Lana merely arched a brow, "There's another way that he could have disappeared, which I will explain at another time." Glancing at Jenna, I played with my fingers, "Hey, Jenn, I kinda need you to do me a favor."

"Does it have to do with boys?" She grinned, blue eyes swimming with an inner excitement that not even I could explain.

"Yes. Yes it does."

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