บท 299: The Prefects' Carriage

"Hello, Draco," said Oleandra slightly viciously. "Did you miss me?"

She then turned to the prefects from Houses Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, who were sitting opposite from him. From the former House, she recognized Ernie Macmillan, who'd been looking rather depressed before she came in, but she did not know his female companion by name. From the latter House, she recognized Padma Patil, but she had never seen her male counterpart in her life.

She then extended her hand to them, stating, "Oleandra Greengrass; perhaps you've heard of me?"

The four remained frozen; they had seen Harry Potter return from the third task with her lifeless body in his arms, and Dumbledore himself had declared her dead. She'd very clearly passed away, so what was she doing here in front of them, wearing a prefect's badge?

The first one to thaw out was one of the Ravenclaw prefects.

"Anthony Goldstein," he said, accepting her handshake in a rather stiff manner.

He then looked at his hand in astonishment, as though he'd been expecting the cold and clammy grip of a corpse, instead of the warm hand of a very much alive girl.

"No need to look so surprised…" Oleandra muttered, feeling slightly aggrieved.

With the ice broken, the other prefects quickly shook themselves out of their trance, introducing themselves in turn. And with that, Oleandra finally learned the name of the female Hufflepuff prefect: it was Susan Bones.

"From the Bones family?" Oleandra queried. "Any relation to Amelia Bones, of the Wizengamot?"

Susan nodded, but before Oleandra could start making connections in high places, the door slid open behind her; no doubt the Gryffindor prefects had finally deigned to make an appearance.

"What did I tell you, Hermione?" came Ron's disgusted voice, "I told you it'd be Malfoy; and I bet that his bulldog of a girlfriend…"

"Who's this bloke's girlfriend?" said Oleandra in displeasure, turning on her heel to face the pair.

Oleandra was beginning to get used to people turning as white as a sheet upon seeing her face.

"If this is supposed to be a joke, then it's not a very funny one," snarled Ron, once he had regained his senses. "Polyjuice, innit?"

"Wizard chess, fifteen moves? Does that ring any bells?" Oleandra asked matter-of-factly. "At the Yule Ball, you had a sip of my juice— grenadine— and you got badly poisoned."

Ron looked back and forth between Oleandra and Hermione. The bushy-haired girl shook her head. She had never told anyone that Oleandra had badly beaten Ron at chess; Wizard chess being his one and only charm point.

"Harry kept saying you survived, but we never believed him…" Hermione breathed. "That makes you the second person ever to survive the Killing Curse— how did you do it?"

The other prefects leaned forward in interest; save for one.

"That's because she didn't; isn't it obvious? Potter and Dumbledore made it all up," Antony Goldstein snorted. "They got Greengrass to help with their silly attention-grabbing plan; it's the only logical explanation. Besides, where's the scar?"

Everyone looked at her, and Oleandra's face started burning red.

"Er… well…" she mumbled. "It's not… somewhere… easily accessible…"

Ron looked her up and down in interest, so Hermione slapped him lightly in the back of the head.

"What was that for?" he complained.

"I didn't like that look in your eye," Hermione grumbled.

"And besides, Anthony," Hermione shot back at Goldstein, "what's in it for her to go along with Dumbledore's supposed plans? Oleandra's just supposed to give up two months of her life for nothing? Her family doesn't lack money, so what could possibly be worth the trouble of faking her own death?"

He opened his mouth as if to answer, then closed it again upon failing to find a reason why Oleandra would ever help the headmaster and his favourite student with their antics. And there was also the fact that Harry had claimed to anyone who'd listen that Oleandra hadn't died, contrasting with Dumbledore's warnings that Oleandra was only the first of many to die, if nothing was done to stop Voldemort's return…

The only reasonable explanation, Antony thought to himself, was that Dumbledore had gone batty; senile. The headmaster picked the prefects, so it didn't make any logical sense for him to select a dead girl. Especially since he'd claimed that Voldemort, of all people, had murdered her. If this was all somehow part of some master plan, Anthony had no idea where it was leading.

In any case, Hermione still wanted to know how exactly Oleandra had survived the Avada Kedavra, but she managed to get her to wait more-or-less patiently. Oleandra didn't want to have to keep answering the same questions over and over; it would quickly get bothersome.

In any case, Oleandra didn't want anyone to look into her summer adventures too closely, so her plan was to play dumb, and let Harry explain everything for her. Of course, there was no way he'd know how she'd survived the Killing Curse, but she also wanted to hear what had happened that fateful night. What exactly had transpired between him and Lord Voldemort, while she'd been lying cold in the dirt, unconscious?

A knock at the door suddenly interrupted their little reunion— the door slid open a moment later, allowing Cedric Diggory to step inside the compartment. He was as handsome as ever, and there was a shiny black and yellow badge pinned to his chest that read, 'Head Boy.'

His gaze glided over each of the people in the compartment, before finally landing on Oleandra.

"Congratulations to all of you!" he said with a boyish grin, though to Oleandra, it didn't feel like his smile reached his eyes. "Not just anybody can become a prefect— but you should always bear in mind that this position is both a great honour and a great responsibility."

He then began to explain what exactly it was a prefect did; Oleandra already had an inkling of her future responsibilities, as she had already spent four years at Hogwarts.

Essentially, prefects took turns to patrol the corridors of Hogwarts at night; and that was the bulk of their activities. They also escorted first years to their common room after the first feast, but that was only once per year. They were also the first to be informed of their respective common room's new password, whenever it changed.

To her disappointment, Oleandra learned that she couldn't deduct points from students. However, she could report a student's illicit activities to a teacher to indirectly deduct points. And on the bright side, she could give other students detention. Except other prefects, of course.

But it wasn't all work and no play; she now had access to the prefects' bathroom with its fabulous pool-sized bath, which was regrettably coed. Since Oleandra did not want to strip naked in front of other people and show her scar to the world, she would have to pass on that particular perk.

Incidentally, Quidditch captains could also use this bathroom!