Chapter 37

Harry stormed through several carriages before coming to a stop. His confrontations with Ron and Hermione had him literally trembling with suppressed rage.

He had not planned on being so harsh with them, but Ron's whole attitude had just caused him to snap at them.

The accusation from Ron that Harry had deliberately obtained his new position purely to outshine the red headed git hurt deeply, but it also woke Harry up to a truth about Ron that he had long known, but long ignored.

Ron was a glory hound.

Any chance to be the centre of attention and Ron took it. And that forced Harry to wonder if the only reason that Ron befriended him in the first place was so that he could bask in the reflected glow of Harry's own personal fame. He had certainly lapped up all the attention he could get after partaking in the events of the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament back in February.

In fact he had greatly embellished upon his role, claiming to any and all who would listen that his placement at the bottom of the lake for Harry to rescue him had been the end result of his single-handed struggle against fifty spear-wielding Mermen who had to beat him into submission before tying him up, a tale which stood in stark contrast to those of the other hostages, all of whom told how they, Ron included, were escorted to an office, told what was going to happen and then were put into an enchanted sleep after agreeing to take part.

And any chance to outshine Harry completely was manna from heaven in Ron's eyes. And his reaction to Harry's new position meant that Harry could almost see the prat now, strutting about the Burrow, smug in the knowledge that he had been granted a prefects badge whereas Harry had not.

And as far as Harry could tell, that was all that the position of prefect meant to Ron. It was something that he had that Harry did not. That was the prat's reason for valuing the position bestowed upon him.

Then on top of that there was Hermione, who had the gall to not only attempt to pass off the blame for her own mistake onto others, but to then try to question him about where he had been during the summer, after it had been she who had decided to not only cut off all contact with him during those weeks, but to also keep his pet owl hostage so that he could contact no one else.

Said owl was still on his shoulder and caught his attention with a soft, mewling pyee-pyee.

Harry reached up a hand and scratched her affectionately, and muttered "Well, at least I've still got you Hedwig."

In answer the female snowy owl butted her head affectionately against his cheek.

Harry moved on to the next carriage, and was quite surprised to make out raised voices coming from the compartment at the far end.

As he got closer, he realised that one of the voices belonged to Draco Malfoy.

"This this is Slytherin business, Patil, so it doesn't concern you. Now butt out."

The voice of the fifth year Ravenclaw prefect Padma Patil responded "For your information, Malfoy, when I am on patrol and bad behaviour is my business!"

"Oh, why don't you just piss off you stupid cow?" asked the snide voice of Pansy Parkinson.

"Fine," retorted Padma, and there was an edge to her voice now "Fine then. I'll leave, and I'll get Harry. And I'm quite sure that he will take great pleasure in informing your head of house that you have each gotten a strike against you before the school term has even officially started!"

"Oh please," scoffed Malfoy dismissively "Potter can't do anything to me and he knows it."

At this, Harry slid the door to the compartment open and said "Can't I, Draco? Are you absolutely sure of that?"

Harry was pleased to see Draco's usually sneering face pale slightly at his sudden entrance. Like all bullies, Draco Malfoy lived in fear of being discovered for what he really was by an authority figure. Or at least, an authority figure who could be bothered to take the time and effort to actually punish him for his misdemeanours. And whether he actually publically acknowledged it or not, Draco knew, on some level, that Harry Potter was one of those authority figures.

His reaction was only momentary however, and he quickly fixed a superior sneer on his face, drew himself up and demanded "What are you doing here Potter? Poking your nose into other peoples' business?"

"I am merely doing my job, Draco," Harry replied calmly "As I am required to make sure that all prefects are able to perform their duties effectively, I am patrolling with them to see how well they are doing. When I heard the raised voice of Prefect Patil, here, I realised that she was dealing with a troublesome student or two, and decided to come and see her in action. Can you imagine my surprise to find that she was locked in a dispute with not one, but two other prefects, one of whom attempted to undermine her authority whilst the other verbally insulted her? Not behaviour very becoming of prefects."

For the first time in their respective lives, Draco and Pansy both simultaneously managed to summon the willpower to not bite out and ill thought out retort.

Harry took the time to take a look around the compartment. Aside from Padma, Draco and Pansy, there were five other Slytherins present. Two of them were Malfoy's personal goons, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, two individuals who were extremely lacking in the brains department and were mostly there to look intimidating.

The other three Slytherins were girls, each one being members of Pansy Parkinson's gang, a bunch of sycophants whose sole purpose for existence had always appeared to be to offer up peals of squealing laughter every time Pansy said something mildly insulting to anyone else.

Today, however, something appeared to be off about that situation. One of the girls, Tracey Davis was sporting an angry red mark on the side of her face, making it look as though she had been slapped by someone, and hard. Tears were stinging at the edges of her eyes, but she seemed to possess a steely resolve, utterly determined to not let them fall.

The other two girls Harry also knew. They were the Greengrass sisters, the daughters of Cyrus Greengrass who had helped Harry out so much over the summer.

The older sister, Daphne, appeared to be absolutely furious with the situation, appearing ready to lash out at a moment's notice. She was positioned on the opposite side of the compartment, her body turned slightly as though to protect her younger sister, Astoria, who was pressed up against the wall, were eyes wide with fear.

Resigning himself to dealing with a nasty situation, Harry turned to Padma and said "Alright, Prefect Patil, report please."

Not quite used to being addressed in such a way, Padma took a short moment to gather herself before replying "I was passing the compartment door when I heard raised voices coming from within. I went to the window and although the blinds were closed, I was able to look in by crouching down and looking through the gap beneath the bind. Malfoy was giving a speech about how things would change in Slytherin house now that he was a prefect. It seems he was planning on attempting to give detentions to every younger students and half-blood who failed to address him as "Sir." This includes Tracey, who told him to shove the idea up his – um…, well where the sun doesn't shine. In response Draco hit her, and that is when I intervened."

Harry listened to and thought over her answer before turning to the three girls sitting in the seats to his left and asking "Can you confirm this?"

Tracey watched him for a moment before looking towards Pansy, who glared back furiously. She then glanced towards Daphne before turning back to Harry and answering "Yes, Padma's version of events is the truth."

Harry nodded before turning his gaze upon the other two "And you?"

Daphne too turned to Pansy, who again glared back. Daphne returned the look, however, before answering Harry with "It's the truth," as behind her Astoria nodded her head vigorously.

"You bitch!" screeched Pansy as she launched herself towards Daphne, who was more than ready for her. A scrap quickly began between the two girls, but Harry was quick to react.

"Alight!" he shouted over the noise the two girls were making "That's enough of that!"

When neither girl showed signs of backing down, Padma stepped forwards and seized Pansy around the middle and dragged her back. Pansy refused to relent though, and held on tightly to a fistful of Daphne's long blond hair.

Astoria sprang out from her position behind Daphne, grabbed Pansy's hand and began to forcefully prize her fist apart as the girl tried to extract herself for Padma's hold. Pansy managed to wrench an arm free, but it was grabbed by Tracey.

"Let go of me!" the Slytherin prefect.

"Let go of Daphne's hair and I might," retorted Tracey.

Rather than get involved himself, Draco turned to his two goons and raged "Don't just stand there, you idiots!"

Taking that as their cue, Crabbe and Goyle both jumped out of their seats simultaneously and made to join in.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" said Harry, warningly.

The two thugs paused for a moments, shared a look and then turned to face Harry.

"We don't take orders from you, Potter." said Crabbe in a menacing tone.

"Right," said Harry "I've had enough of this! Stupefy!"

Having suddenly drawn his wand, Harry caught everyone off guard and so Crabbe hit the floor of the compartment like a sack of potatoes. Goyle quickly joined him, and a moment later Pansy went limp in Padma's arms.

Draco was just reaching for his wand when he too was hit.

Harry stowed his wand again and looked to Padma "Prefect Patil, please escort these three to another compartment. And make sure that it is well away from this one. Then come back here, as I might need some help with these four. If you can find any other prefects, then ask them to come as well."

Padma nodded in response and turned to Tracey, Daphne and Astoria and said "Come on," gesturing towards the door.

All three walked from the room. Daphne, the last of the three to leave, paused next to Harry and looked him up and down, as though sizing him up, before following her sister and Tracey out of the compartment, Padma following on.

Harry slid the door shut and then turned to look over the four Slytherin students that remained.

Deciding to leave Crabbe and Goyle where they were for the time being, Harry heaved first Draco and then Pansy up into a sitting.

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