If Lua Taylor could sleep in with the best of them, luxuriating in mismatched pjs and bed head, the newly badged Gryffindor could usually also wrangle herself into a chipper, albeit still-messy-haired hallway (non) patroller pre-breakfast, too.

Or during breakfast, technically, since it had started quite a bit ago.

Lua made up for the time by speed-walk-skipping somehow rather unhurriedly down the very corridor she’d have to keep a more careful eye on later… after curfew… with a fellow more practical prefect.

That she had been chosen for the role had come as a pleasant surprise to the muggleborn, who had spent her summer thinking of anything but homework, school rules, or house points. But Lua looked upon the badge with honor, and was determined to make an experience of it— if as more of a chatty shepherd than a docker of points.

It was thus she made it down several flights of stairs without chastising a single, loitering soul for flashing contraband, being rowdy (in a friendly way), or giving strong indication that they planned to ditch class and take breakfast back to the dormitory. If Lua saw any of these things— or signs of them— she offered only her usual smile, maybe a little bright (bright[er]) with suggestion, and let the badge speak for itself. It was an honor system, in a way, wasn’t it? Or it could be!

Lua liked to think the best of people. They were just adjusting from the summer. She understood: her house full of siblings, adopted pets, constant visitors, and hippie parents had meant a resounding lack of structure, house rules, or scheduling. Some of the Taylor-Woods household woke in the middle of the night, one or two miraculously at dawn, and the rest well after the sun. Lua didn’t blame any of her schoolmates for dragging their feet or accidentally missing first period for a week or two… even if they happened to have parents who used alarm clocks more routinely.

Shouting happily through walls had always been a good way to wake a family member, but it paled to the hollering which grew louder and louder as the fifth year approached breakfast.

By the time she hopped from the final step of the staircase, it was obvious someone had been sent a howler. And not the earnest school newspaper kind. Lua could almost hear its red envelope before she even saw it— which she did, a moment later, as it hovered aggressively over the head of a bewildered student.[1]

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!”

The words boomed across the hall like a tidal wave. Lua’s eyes widened, mouth opened, everything rounded cartoonishly. But everyone else seemed to be staring, too, some awkwardly, others smirking. Keeping her wand exactly where it was, the Gryffindor sprang forward, toward the letter’s recipient, and attempted to jump and catch it. “Oh— I’m— that’s not any fun, is it?” She asked, words stilted but not discouraged as she jumped— and finally remembered her wand. She pulled it out and offered another smile, one that looked as if it were an earnest attempt to mask the other person’s probable mortification. Lua understood.

“I imagine it happens to a lot of people, though. There are so many angry people in the world,” she continued. There was a sigh in her voice, like she didn’t understand. Her attempts to summon the Howler had thus far not worked— as if those sorts of letters anticipated and planned for such schemes. But Lua wasn’t going to give up. “I think most of them just need to destress! Or have chocolate,” she chattered on, trying a different spell. “Which can be the same thing.” She paused in her wand work, looked sideways at a crooked angle and grinned. “I have some chocolate, if you want to send it back. It might be a little melty.”

1.	Your character or an NPC!