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Prefects Badges


Harold Minchum was Minister. The Prophet splashed photos of his acceptance of the office for days. It became iconic - Minchum’s solemn nod and handshake with Moody, who’d been the one to make the announcement. Within days, over twenty-seven Ministry officials had been fired after investigations had shown they were affiliated with the Dark Lord or his associates - twelve of them had been sent to Azkaban to await trial, including George Rosier, and several others whose surnames Sirius and the other Marauders recognized all too well from the Slytherin house…

The next great news came three days after Minchum’s assignment of Minister. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would be starting term, as was tradition, on 1 September, 1975, with the newly reappointed headmaster Albus Dumbledore. The Prophet showed a photo of Harold Minchum and Albus Dumbledore on the steps of Hogwarts as Minchum welcomed Dumbledore home and clapped him on the back with a strong, happy hug. “Now, Hogwarts will be safe once again,” announced Minchum, “And we will officially be on the path to showing the Dark Lord that he cannot rule our lives! Let him stand in opposition to our happiness, let him cover his ears in pain as we shout for joy! May he see that our lights cannot be put out!”

James wrote this phrase on the rubber trim of his new trainers in permanent markers, much to Dora’s horror and dismay. “Mum,” James said patiently, “That’s the sort of quote you keep about you everywhere you go. Think of it as I’m always walking in what I believe.” He grinned.

The letters from Hogwarts came by the end of the week on the wings of Hogwarts school owls; one for James, one for Remus, and -- he had never been so thankful for an envelope bearing his name upon it in all of his life before -- one for Sirius as well.

“I’M NOT EXPELLED ANYMORE!” Sirius cried, ecstatic.

They opened their envelopes about the breakfast table as Dora, Charlus, Ned Veigler, Tina, and Newt Scamander all watched. Newt was getting stronger and it was the second day in a row at the occupants of his briefcase had ventured out to partake of breakfast with the Potters, Sirius, and Remus. Ned was grinning at Remus as he looked over at Sirius and James’s envelopes, “Are yours heavy?” he asked, “Mine is heavy.”

“Heavy?” Sirius asked, glancing over. “What’s it heavy for?”

“Dunno.”

“Well open it, you git,” Sirius demanded.

Nervous and excited, Remus tore open his envelope and out fell a shiny crest-shaped pin, Gryffindor red, with golden lettering across it, reading… “Prefect?” breathed Remus. He looked at the other two with wide eyes. “Me?”

Sirius clapped Remus on the back. “BRILLIANT.”

James grinned.

Dora gasped, “Oh, Remus, I’m so proud of you, dear!” She rushed about the table and kissed the side of his head, messing up his blonde curls and making him wobble, stunned, in his seat.

Ned Veigler smiled, “Good job, Remus.”

“I mean one of us had to be Prefect,” said James, “It was either gonna be Rey or Peter. Sirius and I are certainly not Prefect material.” Sirius grinned and he and James clinked their cups of pumpkin juice together in a cheers to their unruliness.

Remus stared at the letter in stunned silence.




“PREFECT!” Mrs. Evans held the pin in her palm, beaming with joy at it as Lily bit her lips. She’d been expecting the pin - after all, there was a boy and a girl prefect from each year in each house and, being the only girl… She opened her mouth to tell her mum she had no competition, but Mrs. Evans looked so bloody pleased that Lily just couldn’t bring herself to do it. After all, prefect was something that Mrs. Evans understood the accomplishment of. Mrs. Evans couldn’t appreciate quite as much how difficult a particular spell might’ve been that Lily had successfully done first, or how complicated mixing a potion could be… She couldn’t appreciate those sorts of successes with as much understanding as this, being appointed prefect. “Put the pin on, I want to see how it looks!” She beamed and slipped the pin back into Lily’s hand.

Lily stuck it on her chest and smiled at Mrs. Evans.

“Oh look how lovely and shiny it is!” her eyes sparkled with admiration and joy.

Lily flushed.

“We are so very proud of you, our little prefect,” added Mr. Evans, who had even put down his newspaper for the occasion of admiring Lily’s new badge.

Petunia scowled across the table.




“My boyfriend’s a Prefect, Potter,” Sirius reminded James Friday night, as they were packing James’s things into a duffle bag to go to their camping trip with Peter Pettigrew. “You best be nice to me this year, or I’ll make him give you a detention.”

Remus was sitting on the floor, the Prefect’s badge in his hand, turning it over and over. He had taken to carrying it about with him everywhere because the one time that had left it in his room in the laboratory in the briefcase, the Niffler had snuck in and stolen it and Newt Scamander had spent over an hour bargaining with her to make her give it back from the collection of shiny gold things hidden in her pouch. Remus looked up, “I can’t give detentions just because you tell me to, Padfoot,” he said, “That would be a violation of the oath of the office of Prefect that they’ll make me say!”

“There isn’t an oath of office!” Sirius said.

“There is, I read about it in Hogwarts a History,” Remus said, “Written by Helga Hufflepuff, the oath of office for Prefects and Head Boys and Girls are some of the most solemn traditions of the school. They were instated in the fifth year after it’s founding to represent the --”

“YAWN… BORING…” Sirius interrupted.

James smirked. “I think what we need to take away from this is that you can’t threaten me with your Prefect Boyfriend.”

“Remus! Do you hear this? He thinks he can walk all over you…”

Remus said, “Actually, he thinks you can’t walk over me is more like.”

“I’ll drive you mad, turning you on ‘til you can’t stand it anymore and then I’ll deprive you of my sex until you give him detention, Moony,” Sirius threatened.

Remus turned red. “That’s extortion.”

“It’s what?” asked Sirius, not knowing the word.

“Extortion, it’s a political term,” Remus explained, “It’s when you use threats or bribery to get your way illegally.”

“So extortion is like power,” announced Sirius proudly, grinning.

“No, Sirius, it’s not like power -- it’s like blackmail.”

“Blackmail? Every bit of mail I send is Black mail.” Sirius grinned. “Very Sirius, Black mail.”

James snickered and shoved the last of his things into his bag. “You’re in for a long year, Rey.”

Sirius leaned over and kissed Remus’s forehead. “Are you ever.” He winked.

“Bloody hell,” Remus whispered.




They walked all together across the field behind the Potters’ house to cut through the woods to the square in the center of Godric’s Hollow to meet Peter at the Knight Bus. The moment they were through the edge of the trees and out of view of the house, Sirius burst into Snuffles and ran ahead, barking, his tail wagging excitedly as he jumped and dodged his way through the brush and trees. James walked alongside Remus, watching their idiot friend frolicing along, his tail lolling out of his mouth.

James glanced over at Remus, then he said, “So.”

“So,” Remus echoed.

“Camping.”

“Yeah.”

“Haven’t done that in awhile.”

“A year,” Remus nodded.

They walked along some more. Sirius was officially out of view, having run after a rabbit that had dared to cross their path. James stopped walking. “I just wanted to see that you were okay with everything,” he said quietly, so Sirius couldn’t overhear. “You know - you and Sirius. You’ve been kinda quiet about it and Sirius being such a big mouth…”

Remus turned red, “Well, I wish he’d shut up. I sort of would have liked it being private between him and I.”

James winced. “Sorry.”

“Why are you sorry for?”

“Asking him so he’d tell me,” James answered.

Remus snorted. “You don’t seriously think for even a moment that Sirius Black didn’t one hundred percent plan on telling you the moment he got an opportunity, do you? Of course he did! You’re his ruddy best friend. I’m sure he’s done a good bit of locker room talking with you.”

James couldn’t really deny it. He ran his hand over his hair, messing it up, “Well. I mean. If you ever need to locker room talk --”

Remus flushed.

“Well, I’m here for you anyway.”

“Thanks.”

James flung his arm about Remus’s shoulders. “If it help any, I specifically made certain that no details whatsoever were given.”

“Thank Merlin.”

James grinned.

Peter arrived on the Knight Bus right as they were arriving to the square - James and Remus with their shaggy black dog, who ran circles around Peter, barking and lapping his hands with excitement, making Peter laugh. “Stop that,” he said, “You’re an idiot, Snuffles.” But he reached in his pocket and pulled out a shortbread biscuit and tossed it to the dog, who crunched it down merrily.

“Happy Birthday, Peter!” said James, tugging Peter into a warm hug.

“Yeah, Pete, welcome to being fifteen!” Remus said, smiling, “We’re all the same age now!”

“Actually, we’re fifteen and a half, and Sirius is fifteen and three quarters,” James corrected. “But yeah, the same age!”

“Thanks,” Peter said. Then he pointed to the shiny badge on Remus’s shirt. “You made prefect, good on you! Must be you and Lily Evans, then.”

James’s eyes widened as Snuffles ran about behind them. “Wait, that’s right, I forgot there’s one of each… Blimey, you’ll be spending a lot of time with Evans, won’t you?”

“Suppose so,” Remus replied.

James suddenly wished he’d applied himself more, and, remembering his cheers with Sirius when Remus’s pin had come in the post, he wished he was a bit more material for prefect. Then maybe he could spend a lot of time with Evans, too, maybe he could make her see what a brilliant person he was and then ---

No, Potter, he thought, cutting across his own imaginings. You’ve got a girlfriend! Maryrose!... Blimey, I really ought to write her.

Peter said, “I’m glad it was you. I wouldn’t have wanted to be it.”

“And the castle would’ve gone up in flames if it was Sirius,” James intoned.

The dog growled at him and they all laughed.

“C’mon, this way guys, I know just the place we can set up our tent,” James announced and he waved for the other three to follow him.

As they walked, they talked, filling Peter in on all that had happened in Newt’s briefcase and around the Potter house and Peter listened with wide eyes and gasps and said, “Wow! You guys had a good summer. Mine was horrible. I didn’t get to do much of anything. My mum’s just sat about blubbering the whole time… and my dad, too…” he sighed.

“I’m sorry, Pete,” James said, “You should’ve come by sooner.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, “I should’ve done.”

Remus put his arm over Peter’s shoulders.

They were before an old house with a white picket fence and James stood before them, “Remus, Peter… this is the old Dumbledore house. He grew up here. It wasn’t so built up ‘round it before, of course, they owned loads more land than is here now. They say Dumbledore’s brother still owns it, but he doesn’t ever come by. Got arrested by muggle police for… well, he loved a goat a bit too much, they say.”

“Bloody hell.” Remus said, shaking his head, “Not everything is meant to be buggered!”

Snuffles spun about chasing his tail a couple times at this and James smirked, “Oh I’m sure you have loads to say about the topic.” He laughed. “Anyway, it’s been empty for ages. There’s a thick wood outback and there used to be this tale that the house is haunted by Dumbledore’s ---” James stopped mid-sentence, seeing Peter staring up at him with wide eyes, and he realized midway through the tale that it was very insensitive to be telling Peter about it. He stopped and cleared his throat. “Anyway, let’s pitch our tent out back of it.”

They trooped around the house and across a field that stretched off a ways behind it. Peter ran ahead with the dog, excited, his bag flopping over his back as he went, laughing and happy for the first time all summer. Remus hung back, “Who haunts the house?” he asked James quietly.

“Dumbledore’s dead sister, they say. Ariana. That’s why the brother doesn’t ever come back,” James answered.

Remus shivered, but he understood why James had interrupted himself.

After all, Maggie Pettigrew was as good as dead.