The Simple House of Duffrey

(39) The Silver Pin

I put on my pin and reluctantly stepped forward into a whole set of new duties. The first was to go and sit in the prefect's car at the head of the train. It was meant for quick access since we were the policemen of our juniors. Quite a few students were still knocking about in the hallways. They even bumped into me ungraciously that is until someone finally saw my badge from beneath my curly mop of hair. Next thing I knew a path had cleared and the first years were all scampering to get away out of sight. Rather since I had arrived late I was in too much of a hurry to care if people were switching seats or trading frog cards.

Finally arriving up front just as the train began to hit full speed out of the station I found the car box full. Two Hufflepuff seventh years I didn't quite recognize sitting with a Ravenclaw of their class. All three looked up at me with not so friendly eyes. On the other booth seat however was an unhappy looking David Searle, as another new face it seemed like they were also avoiding him. I quickly looked out the other side of the train to see the Gryffindor seventh year I was paired with arguing with the Slytherin prefects that had sat in the other car.

"Anna, you're new too that's great" David said reaching for my hand and pulling me in headlong down to the empty seat next to him. It was easy to tumble anyway since the car was rolling. "sorry, got a bit excited there" he said whispering now as I righted myself upward. I would have to make a habit of using that lion-brush on my hair so that I could keep it styled and out of the way. For now, I just bunched it into a knotted bun at the back of my head.

"So, you got yours in the owl letter as well?" I asked pointing at his pin.

"Yeah, oh and I did get first in Astronomy too" he beamed, obviously he was referring mostly to the written since one couldn't tell from only the final score.

"That's great, I got an E" I nodded happily. "...so, what did it say in your letter about the pin?" I asked further.

"What do you mean just the usual rules and instructions. Was there something else?" he replied, thank heavens he was capable of whispering after all because I didn't feel like divulging to strangers about my odd summer.

"Oh, there was a small message from the headmaster in mine" I told him but quickly covered my tracks when he looked curious. "It could just be because I met him twice and I think he knew my family, though he said he only heard about them from Prof. Cragg"

From there on out the ride was describing how we felt about our exams from last year. I made a pact with David that if we ever could work together as Prefects that I would always be friendly with him. My partner of course, was the middle brother of the Smitts family named Frederick. He was quite a tattletale and overly serious though I hadn't minded so much when he had taken care of the victims of the Mulberry goop. Still he seemed to believe that I had been complicit in that still even though the teachers, nay the investigator had cleared me.

When the train came to a halt at Hogsmeade station it was time for us to break into action. The girls favored helping students off the train and breaking them back into age groups. The boys commanded the luggage wagons though David looked a bit to be struggling.

"You can go with the first years" Frederick ordered me with his hawk nose sticking high into the air. David waved me off from the carriages, having forgotten the spell for levitation it seems. I hadn't been across the boats on the lake in quite some time. I was extra thankful that this summer had got me over my fear of water. Plus, by now Sam had probably trained the giant Squid as a makeshift lifeguard thanks to feeding it so much.

So along with the caretaker who gave me a recognizable smile, we set off in boats across the loch. It looked as though there were maybe fifty or less new students this year. In my boat of course, was a dirty-blonde boy tormenting the others with echoing there fears about sorting. It rather reminded me of how Parker and I had met but this boy seemed to have no intention of making friends.