After leaving the last two train cars, the students who appeared before Link finally started to seem normal again.
He continued as before, leaving a few seasoned "old hands" in each compartment to maintain order while taking the rest with him to patrol further ahead.
This approach won unanimous praise from the old hands.
They'd already tasted the benefits of their position.
Although they were technically just "volunteers" (laborers) that Link had recruited, without any real authority to punish or deduct points, no one dared to disobey them when they flaunted Link's name and authority.
Of course, these old hands also knew better than to "abuse their power" or take revenge by picking on classmates.
They were slick, yes, but not evil.
In fact, they especially despised bullying the weak, it was practically an unspoken rule among them. Anyone who broke it would be ganged up on.
And besides, Link would never allow that kind of behavior anyway, it concerned his reputation and prestige among the regular students. That was a hard line. Anyone who crossed it would be "dead".
Even so, despite all the restrictions, strutting down the train acting all high and mighty gave the old hands a thrill they couldn't resist.
Many of them were just now realizing, being a prefect was actually awesome!
George and Fred felt this most strongly. Because of Percy's constant bossy attitude, they'd always hated prefects the most. They'd even secretly called them "loyal dogs."
But now, they were starting to understand why Percy acted the way he did.
Being a prefect was just too satisfying.
Link kept assigning people to compartments as he went, and by the time he reached the front section of the Hogwarts Express, all his old hands had been left behind.
But that was fine, he didn't need them anymore.
The students here were all "law-abiding comrades," fully capable of keeping order without supervision.
Naturally, they were also much friendlier than those in the back cars. When they saw Link, they greeted him warmly. A few girls even shyly ran up to stuff cookies or chocolates into his hands before darting away blushing.
Link accepted their gifts with a smile, but he definitely didn't dare eat them.
After all, his mother had taught him from a young age never to eat food from strangers.
That might sound childish to Muggles, but in a world full of advanced potions, it was golden wisdom.
At least a few poor souls at Hogwarts every year ended up under the control of love potions.
The most infamous case was the Kingsley Incident five years ago.
Kingsley, a tall, rich, and handsome Slytherin, accidentally ate a cookie laced with love potion, and immediately fell madly in love with the "giantess" Elena (also Slytherin, 191 cm tall, 213 kg).
During their "relationship," they did every inappropriate thing imaginable, and even made a daily spectacle of themselves in the Great Hall, to the point that everyone lost their appetite.
The wildest part was, when someone suggested Kingsley might be under a love potion's influence, he flew into a rage, got into a fight, and declared that he loved only Elena forever, carving that oath right into the Slytherin common room wall.
Thanks to his stubborn devotion, their romance lasted nearly half a year, only ending when Elena could no longer afford new doses of love potion.
Link didn't know exactly how deep Kingsley's trauma went, but it couldn't have been small. Supposedly, once he regained his senses, he immediately transferred schools and emigrated to America overnight.
Probably the best decision he ever made. Even now, Kingsley's story was still passed down among Hogwarts students.
He'd become one of the school's legendary figures.
Some students even made a yearly pilgrimage to the Slytherin common room to "pay respects" to his carved oath.
"Link!"
As Link was recalling Kingsley's tale, a familiar voice called out.
He turned slightly and saw Hermione at the entrance of a nearby carriage, waving excitedly.
When she noticed Link looking, she pushed through the crowd and came right up to him.
During that time, Link also noticed the shiny prefect badge gleaming on Hermione's chest.
He smiled and said approvingly, "Hermione, congratulations on becoming a prefect! I've got to say, Professor McGonagall made the best decision in five years choosing you as Gryffindor's fifth-year girl prefect. No one could be more suited!"
"Ah! Th-thank you!"
Hermione seemed completely flustered by the praise, even forgetting what she originally wanted to say. She just kept her head down, blushing, and mumbling thanks.
It took her quite a while to gather herself again before suddenly looking up and saying, "Right, Link, why didn't you come to the prefects' compartment? President Cedric just gave a talk to all the new prefects, he taught us so much. He was so inspiring! You really should've come!"
"So Cedric really is the Student Council President this year, huh."
Link nodded.
Yes, Hogwarts actually had a student council, it was an organization built on top of the prefect system.
Each year, professors from every house chose one boy and one girl from the fifth-years to serve as prefects. Those prefects handled responsibilities by year level, and eventually, one of the eight seventh-year prefects would be chosen as Student Council President to oversee them all.
Cedric, who in the original story was chosen as Hogwarts' Champion, becoming president this year was practically guaranteed.
Hermione frowned when she saw Link's unsurprised reaction.
"You knew Cedric would become president?"
Link nodded and explained, "It wasn't exactly a secret, Cedric's too outstanding. Honestly, if I hadn't been around last year, he probably would've been Hogwarts' Triwizard Champion instead."
Hermione's face showed a flicker of disbelief and indignation. That was normal, Gryffindors and Slytherins were both notoriously proud. Gryffindors didn't call Hufflepuffs 'duffers' like Slytherins did, but deep down they still looked down on them. Naturally, she wasn't about to admit Cedric was that impressive.
Link just smiled.
"Well, he's president now. You and Harry will have plenty of chances to work with him. You'll see for yourself whether he's as good as I said."
Hermione finally nodded but soon looked a little awkward and said, "Um… Link, the new Gryffindor prefect this year isn't Harry."
"If not Harry, then who else could it be?"
Link blurted it out instinctively, then froze.
That was his own bias talking. He'd just assumed Dumbledore's "golden boy" would of course become prefect. But now that Hermione mentioned it, he remembered, Harry wasn't a prefect in the original story.
"Ugh… come on, I'll show you."
Hermione didn't know how else to explain, so she tugged Link forward toward the next compartment.
They entered quickly and saw Harry, Ron, and Neville sitting together with a dreamy-looking girl wearing a necklace of radishes, chatting away.
Well, Ron was doing most of the talking, while the others listened, occasionally nodding.
"…Maybe I should patrol the corridor more. That way, if anyone's up to no good, I can punish them. Like Malfoy's goons, what are their names again? Oh right, Crabbe and Goyle! I'll make Goyle write lines, that'll kill him! He hates writing! Let me show you, I'll just, 'I… must… not…'"
Watching Ron imitate Goyle's goofy gestures, Link's eye twitched. Then he turned to look at Hermione.
Her face went from blushing to thunderous in seconds, because Ron was wearing a prefect badge on his chest.
"So… the new Gryffindor prefect is Ron?"
"Y-yeah…" Hermione said awkwardly, taking a deep breath. "Don't worry, Link. I'll handle this embarrassing idiot myself!"
Without clarifying what she meant by "handle," she grabbed Link and marched into the compartment, slamming the sliding door shut behind them.
BANG!
The noise made Ron, Harry, and Neville all jump.
Before they could react, Hermione's fist came down hard on Ron's shoulder.
"Ron! We can't abuse our authority!"
"Ow! That hurts! I was just thinking about fighting fire with fire! Malfoy's a prefect too, you know. Don't you think he'll abuse his authority?"
"So you're saying you want to lower yourself to his level?"
"Of course not! I just want to make sure that before he bullies my friends, I get to his first. That's not, oh! Link! You're finally here! I was wondering why you didn't come to the prefect meeting earlier!"
Halfway through his excuse, Ron finally noticed Link and waved happily.
Link nodded in acknowledgment, but Hermione, seeing Ron still distracted, exploded again.
"For heaven's sake, Ron!"
She raised her fist again, but Ron quickly yelped,
"No, no! You can't hit me! I'm a prefect now too! You have to treat me with some respect! And besides, Link's watching!"
At that, Hermione froze. She lowered her raised fist, whether because of Ron's prefect status or because Link was there, who knew.
Still, while she spared him from physical punishment, she didn't let him off the hook, continuing to lecture him thoroughly.
Yes, verbally.
As for Link, he sat down beside Harry, casually unwrapped a chocolate frog from their table, and took a bite.
"Mmm. Chocolate's probably my favorite food besides pumpkin, it always puts me in a good mood."
Chewing, he glanced at Neville across from him, who was shaking and sweating profusely.
"What's wrong, Neville? You feeling sick?"
"N-n-no, I'm fine! Just… cold! Don't worry about me, Link."
Neville hunched his shoulders protectively, even covering his pet toad's eyes, as if to spare it from witnessing this "cruel" scene.
Link just shrugged and turned to Harry.
But before he could say anything, Harry clasped his hands together and said in a pleading tone, "Please, Link, don't ask me why I didn't get a prefect badge. I've already been asked a hundred times, and I really don't know. And I don't mind Ron being a prefect, I'm happy for him. We're friends!"
Link closed his half-open mouth and looked straight into Harry's eyes.
Using Legilimency, he could clearly sense a dark, almost tangible cloud of resentment swirling around Harry.
So, he was lying.
And it made perfect sense.
Everyone who knew about Harry's special relationship with Dumbledore had assumed he'd be a prefect. Over time, Harry himself probably came to believe it too.
But Dumbledore had given the badge to someone else. How could Harry not feel slighted?
Even if he hadn't cared much about the role before, once it went to someone else, it stung.
People's whispers behind his back, Ron's smugness, all of it would naturally build frustration inside him.
If Link were a schemer, just a few well-placed words could've easily turned Harry against Dumbledore, or even Ron.
It would've been so easy.
But since he and Dumbledore were still allies, Link just smacked his lips and said lightly, "I think I might know why."
Immediately, Harry, who'd been keeping his distance, leaned in close again, eyes shining with curiosity.
"Why?" he blurted out, then quickly tried to play it off. "I mean, just curious, that's all. Really."
Link found the whole display amusing.
And right then, the sliding door opened again.
A pale head with slicked-back platinum hair poked in, and an arrogant voice rang out, "Ah-ha! So this is where you're hiding, Harry Potter!"
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