Pink in the Night.

Chapter Eighteen.

"I don't know why you care so much about looking plain," said Hermione. "It's not like anyone cares."

"I do. I care," (Y/n) said. "And that's what matters to me."

"Perfect prefect (Y/n)," Fred greeted when she entered the dining room. (Y/n) yawned boredly and took a seat. Throughout breakfast, she was subtly pinning her club pins and her awards beneath her Ravenclaw crest.

"What's that?" Ginny asked suddenly, pointing at the pin (Y/n) was still holding.
To (Y/n), it was a crystal ball being held in two hands. The ball read 'Strange Women Society.' For Ginny (and everyone else for that matter), the ball was enchanted to look like a (flower that starts with your first initial) with a row of pearls beneath it, a diamond for a centre, and another diamond at the end of the stem.

"That's a secret," (Y/n) said, grinning before biting into a piece of bacon.
Bill and Charlie decided to come and see everyone off at King's Cross station, but Percy, apologizing most profusely, said that he really needed to get to work.

"I just can't justify taking more time off at the moment," he told them. "Mr. Crouch is really starting to rely on me."

"Yeah, you know what, Percy?" said George seriously. "I reckon he'll know your name soon."

Molly had braved the telephone in the village post office to order three ordinary Muggle taxis to take them into London.
"Arthur tried to borrow Ministry cars for us," Molly whispered to Harry as they stood in the rain-washed yard, watching the taxi drivers heaving multiple Hogwarts trunks into their cars. "But there weren't any to spare... Oh dear, they don't look happy, do they?"
Harry didn't like to tell Molly that Muggle taxi drivers rarely transported overexcited owls, and Pigwidgeon was making an earsplitting racket. Nor did it help that a number of Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks went off unexpectedly when Fred's trunk sprang open, causing the driver carrying it to yell with fright and pain as Crookshanks clawed his way up the man's leg.

(Y/n) was very lucky to be the only one with a decent car ride. The trunk only had her suitcases and therefore they weren't jammed in the back like the others. Molly had ridden in the front with the twins and Ginny in the back; Harry, Ron, and Hermione were stuck together with their owls and Crookshanks; and (Y/n) happily rode with Bill and Charlie.
"Good day to have an umbrella," (Y/n) mumbled. By the time they reached London, the rain came down harder than ever. Bill and Charlie snorted.
(Y/n), who had her own umbrella, and Bill, who Hermione leant her umbrella to, were tasked with getting carts for the lot of them. It took a total of four trips, three of which were actually grabbing carts, to get into the station. By then, they were all soaked.
The task of getting onto platform nine and three-quarters was a simple matter of walking straight through the solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. The only tricky part was doing this in an unobtrusive way, so as to avoid attracting Muggle attention. They did it in groups just like normal; Harry, Ron, and Hermione (the most conspicuous since they were accompanied by Pigwidgeon and Crookshanks, who were causing a ruckus) went first; (Y/n) and the twins (one of whom had a very important task to get to) went second; Bill, Charlie, and Ginny went next; and Molly rounded them up.
(Y/n) was dragged away by her ecstatic godmothers before she even had the chance to look around the station. Yvette had cast a simple spell that dried (Y/n) off and warmed her clothes up, Valorie was fixing (Y/n)'s hair and uniform, and Anastasia was patiently waiting with a camera. Valorie held (Y/n)'s robes in her hands and stood back with Yvette on the other side of Valorie. (Y/n)'s tie was tucked back into her blazer.
That's how things were around her godmothers: perfect, perfect, perfect. She wouldn't dare step too large of a toe out of line, she always met their standards and beyond, and, though overshadowed by Harry, she did her absolute best in terms of proving herself.

"Smile— Ooh, wait—" Anastasia cut herself off. "Val, will you make sure (Y/n)'s prefect badge can actually be seen?" she requested.

"Should I just move it to the opposite side?" Valorie asked.

"That'll work. I don't even know why you'd want it to be blended in with your other clubs and achievements, (Y/n)," Anastasia mused. "That badge is an achievement of its own." (Y/n) grumbled under her breath. The point of having it blend in was to not draw more attention to herself. "Ready?" (Y/n) nodded and put on the best fake smile she could muster. She had perfected those by this point. Anastasia snapped a couple others just for safety. "Now... where's Harry? I'd like a picture of him too..."

"Here's our gifts and a gift from Remus. He said he's sorry for being unable to show up," Yvette said, striding forward and giving (Y/n) three small boxes. "Couldn't send you to Hogwarts without them." She smiled and rather roughly patted (Y/n)'s cheek. All three of her godmothers were gone and (Y/n) was left alone, pressing a cold hand to her cheek.

"(Y/n)!" a voice exclaimed.

"Cass!" (Y/n) beamed at Cassius Warrington. "How was your summer?" she asked, hugging him.

"Busy and chaotic," he mused. "You a prefect?"

"It appears so," (Y/n) laughed.

"Congratulations!" Cassius exclaimed. (Y/n) tried to hide her grimace. "What? You don't want to be a prefect?"

"Cass, I'm probably the most non-confrontational person you know."

"...fair point," Cassius chuckles. "But you do know how to keep people in line. There's an air of... respect around you whenever you enter a room. Even if someone somehow doesn't like you, they wouldn't dare admit it." (Y/n) smiled and bumped her shoulder with his.

"You don't know what you're talking about," she said. Her eyes fell to the awaiting Weasleys, Hermione, and Harry. "I'll catch you later," she said, waving her fingers at him before slowly striding over to the Weasleys.

"Who's that?"

"He just wanted to congratulate me," (Y/n) said dismissively. And so began their goodbyes.

"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," said Charlie, grinning, as he hugged Ginny goodbye.

"Why?" said Fred keenly.

"You'll see," said Charlie. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it... it's 'classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it,' after all."

"Yeah, I sort of wish I was back at Hogwarts this year," said Bill, hands in his pockets, looking almost wistfully at the train.

"Why?" said George impatiently.

"You're going to have an interesting year," said Bill, his eyes twinkling. "I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it..."

"A bit of what?" Ron pressed.
But at that moment, the whistle blew, and Molly chivvied them toward the train doors.

"Thanks for having us to stay, Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione as they climbed aboard, closed the door, and leaned out the window to talk to her.

"Yeah, thanks for everything, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry.

"You really do give us the world Mum— Mumlly— Molly— Mrs. Weasley—" (Y/n)'s hand flew over her mouth and she took off towards the front of the train before they had time to laugh at her. "Wait— Where's Effie?" she cried, coming to a halt.

"In here!" Ginny managed to get out in between her fit of laughter.

"It was my pleasure, dears," said Molly, her eyes twinkling at (Y/n). "I'd invite you for Christmas, but... well, I expect you're all going to want to stay at Hogwarts, what with... one thing and another."

"Mum!" said Ron irritably. "What d'you three know that we don't?"

"You'll find out this evening, I expect," said Molly, smiling. "It's going to be very exciting— mind you, I'm very glad they've changed the rules—"

"What rules?" said Harry, Ron, Fred, and George together.

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will tell you... Now, behave, won't you? Won't you, Fred? And you, George?"
The pistons hissed loudly and the train began to move.

"Tell us what's happening at Hogwarts!" Fred bellowed out of the window as Molly, Bill, and Charlie sped away from them. "What rules are they changing?"
But Molly only smiled and waved. Before the train had rounded the corner, she, Bill, and Charlie had Disapparated.