Prefect
Isa's bedroom was his sanctuary. At Hogwarts, he shared with five other boys, which meant that there was barely a moment's peace, and only as much privacy as a drawn curtain would allow. During the holidays, Isa's room was a private zone.
On first appearances, it looked perfectly normal, even neat, for a teenager's room. Isa kept his floor clear, his clothes neatly folded or hung, and he made his bed every morning. There were some books, and Quidditch paraphernalia, and photographs of two boys, one blue haired, and one very red haired, that play fought, and noogied each other, and smiled at the viewer.
When you opened the wardrobe, a non-moving poster of a woman with large assets and very little clothing looked back. A peek under the pillow revealed a digital watch. Tucked in a drawer in the desk was an awful model of the Eiffel tower.
Isa's mother didn't approve of the muggle artefacts, which was why Isa didn't let on that he had them.
Isa lay draped across his bed on his front, writing a letter on parchment, in ballpoint pen. It made his handwriting awful and spidery, but it was cool, and he was determined to practice. Besides, there was no messing about with ink, which was a bonus.
He was disturbed when Athena flew in, and instead of depositing half a dead mouse (which was infinitely better than the time she'd brought back half a live one, although it hadn't remained live for very much longer), dropped a letter on Isa's bed and hooted at him. He rolled off the bed, and retrieved some owl treats, putting them in her bowl in her cage before he picked up his post. It wasn't from Lea, because Lea had written to him yesterday; they'd spent the start of the holiday hanging out together, but now Lea was three days in to a family holiday in Spain that, much to Lea's dismay, included his grandparents. They stayed in touch via the owl post, but Isa was still missing him a lot.
When he saw the Hogwarts' crest Isa pulled a face. The annual book list was not something to look forward to, and half the contents got predictable after the second list. He finished his letter to Lea before he opened it.
There was more than the book list inside.
*****
Isa waited in a compartment on the train for Lea. He hadn't told him about the news, and wasn't in a hurry to do so, which was why he wasn't wearing his new badge yet. It was also why he hadn't hung around on the platform with his mother, who had been nauseating when he'd told her.
Lea found him easily enough on the train, and hauled himself, and his luggage, into the compartment before flopping down, all spiked hair and tanned skin. “How long you been here?” He asked, grinning brightly as he made himself comfortable.
“Long enough,” Isa replied. “Mother was being insufferable,” he said, by way of explanation and apology.
Lea shrugged one shoulder and flashed Isa a crooked smile. “Isn't she always? What about this time?”
Isa looked at Lea, a frown etched across his lips before he retrieved something from his pocket and tossed it to Lea, who caught it in surprise, and then looked down at it. The 'P' and its meaning was unmistakeable. He looked back up at Isa in shock. “You got made prefect?” Isa nodded, almost glumly, and Lea grinned brightly again and asked, “Johnson must have been really stuck this year.”
“Shut up,” Isa replied, defensively. “I notice you didn't get one.”
“Nope,” Lea agreed, “I'm way too cool for that. Only dorks get to be prefects.”
Isa raised an eyebrow. “I'd like to see you say that to the other prefect in our house.”
“Why?” Lea asked.
“It's Tayuya.”
Lea sat up sharply, looking horrified. “What?”
“I checked at the prefect's carriage before coming here; she was already there. So was Nel; she's the new head girl.”
Lea's mouth twisted in horror and incomprehension. “How desperate was Johnson to make you and Tayuya prefects?”
Isa folded his arms and looked at Lea, unhappily. “I'll have to go back to the carriage when everyone's here for my instructions. I'll find out who else has been made prefect then.”
“It's not like they can be any worse.”
“There will be two new Slytherin prefects, remember?”
Lea fell silent. The reminder was an unwelcome one. After a moment of horrified silence he said, “Maybe there won't? Not even Professor Inferius would be that horrible, right?” Not that Lea sounded convinced of his own argument.
“I'll let you know when I find out who they are.”
*****
“You're late, Selwyn.” The disapproving voice came from the tall, dark haired Hufflepuff that Isa recognised as his and Lea's nemesis the year before. He was a Hufflepuff prefect, called Abban, and he completely lacked a sense of humour as far as either Isa or Lea could tell. He'd definitely lacked one where Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-Bangs were concerned.
“Sorry,” Isa replied, without any real remorse.
“If this is how you intend to continue, you should be stripped of your duties now,” Abban said.
Isa didn't have a chance to respond before a female voice cut across the brewing argument; “Oh, lay off him, Abban. He was here before you at first.” Nel smiled as she spoke, and caught Isa's eye before winking at him.
Isa swallowed hard and hoped to hell he wasn't blushing, even though his cheeks felt suddenly hot.
“Are we all here now?” Someone asked; a nerdy Ravenclaw who looked a bit nervous, probably because he was there with Lisa, whose nose was buried in a book and yet she still looked intimidating. Isa vaguely recalled him as something-Warrick; one of the Ravenclaw Chasers.
Across from him was someone Isa recognised all too well. “We are still waiting for the new Slytherin prefects,” Ulquiorra answered, casting Isa a cursory glance, and then apparently disregarding his existence as trash, as usual.
Abban huffed, unhappily. Isa figured that was the guy's default state and ignored it. Abban was the sort of prefect who took it too seriously, tried too hard, and was a right pain in the body-parts. Isa pitied the Hufflepuffs; their prefects always seemed to come from the same stock. Ulquiorra was like a miniature version of Abban, and Ulquiorra's prefecting partner was Catlin, who was all right if you liked girls to be scary and severe looking, and capable of beating your head in with a bludger.
Which Isa didn't have any particular objection to, because Catlin was kind of cool, and pretty, in a severe sort of way, and being good at Quidditch was only a bonus. He just wouldn't admit to this kind of thing in front of Lea, because Lea would laugh and accuse him of having another crush on another scary girl.
“They'll be showing off their badges to all their buddies,” Tayuya growled.
“Do you know who they are?” Isa asked.
Tayuya shrugged one shoulder in response. “Don't need to; they're Slytherins, from our year. There's only so many options, and none of 'em are good.”
“You shouldn't talk about your fellow prefects that way,” an older Slytherin prefect said. He sounded severe, but not outright nasty. He was seated near Abban, and Isa recognised him as the Slytherin Beater, Seely.
He recognised the new Head Boy, too, tucked against a window with his head bowed, and his eyes closed. He looked like he'd been forced to get up much too early this morning, but Isa knew better than to underestimate him. Stark looked that way all the time, but if you weren't careful, he could unseat one of your Chasers with a vicious bludger strike.
Tayuya responded to Seely with a curl of her upper lip, but she knew better than to say anything else.
The Slytherin prefects showed up a while later. Isa felt his stomach drop with horror. Larxene sashayed into the carriage, scanning the watching faces. A smirk twitched on her lips as she spotted Isa. She'd been suspended for using the cruciatus curse on him, and still Inferius had seen fit to make her a prefect.
Kimbley was as bad, with his hair tied back and a wicked smile on his face.
“You're late.” Isa had expected it from Abban, but this time it was Nel who issued the reprimand.
Larxene waved a hand, carelessly. “So sorry,” she said, in complete insincerity. “Time got away from us.”
Nel looked at Larxene coolly; it seemed like a challenge. “So long as it doesn't happen again.”
“It won't,” Larxene replied, with a smirk.
*****
“Professor Inferius has officially lost it,” Isa said as he slipped into the compartment Lea occupied. He hadn't been alone the whole journey; Isa recognised their dormitory mates' trunks, stashed out of the way, but he was alone at that moment.
Lea was heartily tucking into a pumpkin pastie, and he shoved a second one, and a couple of cauldron cakes at Isa. “More than usual?” He asked, with his mouth full.
Isa frowned at him for it, but didn't comment, picking up his own pastie a little gratefully. He hadn't had chance to buy anything off the trolley. “Kimbley and Larxene are prefects,” he said, as though it was all the proof required.
Lea paused, and then swallowed his mouthful before he asked, “Even though she got caught casting an unforgivable?” Isa nodded. “You're sure she didn't steal it off one of the others?”
“She was on Nel's list,” Isa replied.
Lea mulled this factoid over as he finished his pastie, giving Isa a chance to start his. After a few moments of contemplation he asked, “Who else is there?”
Isa swallowed, because unlike Lea, he had manners, and then counted off on slightly greasy fingers, “Catlin and Ulquiorra for Hufflepuff, Larxene and Kimbley, me and Tayuya, and Lisa and Justin for Ravenclaw.” Isa saw the look on Lea's face at the names and added, “Justin's the dorky Chaser that walks around with Ulquiorra.”
“It's Ravenclaw,” Lea pointed out, “all the Chasers are dorky, got it memorised?” Then Lea paused and re-evaluated his statement. “Actually, all the Ravenclaws are dorky, no exceptions.”
“Some of them aren't too bad,” Isa said, a little defensively.
“Just because you fancy Lisa doesn't make her less dorky, Isa.”
Isa threw Lea a flat look. “I do not fancy Lisa.”
“Actually,” Lea said, musing out loud, “you were just stuck in a carriage with Lisa, Catlin, Tayuya, Nel, Paine, Temari,” he stopped, and shook his head, “if it was anyone else, I'd feel sorry for them, but you probably enjoyed it, you weirdo.”
“There's nothing wrong with any of them,” Isa answered, with a faint scowl.
“They're scary,” Lea pointed out.
“No they're not.”
Lea folded his arms and tilted his head, giving Isa a calculating look. “You tell me one way Catlin isn't scary.”
Isa made to answer, and realised he didn't have an answer and quickly shut his mouth again. After a few moments Lea looked smug. “See. Can't, can you?”
“She's,” Isa tried, and failed, again. “All right, Catlin's scary, but Nel's really nice.”
Lea pointed at Isa. “You're going to be like that Ravenclaw guy, Shikamaru. The one who always says he won't go out with strong women, and then hooks up with the scariest girl that will have him.”
“Now you're being ridiculous.”
“Yeah, you're right,” Lea said, grinning brightly. “None of them will have you anyway.”
Isa looked at Lea dispassionately for a moment before he picked up one of the cauldron cakes, and threw it at Lea's head.