"Any questions?" Waker looked around at the half-moon of borrowed chairs. Her Head of House had been kind enough to let her magic them out of a storage closet before the usual brigade of unofficial Corridor Football recruiters nicked them for an impromptu Hogwarts World Cup (complete with broken stained glass windows and black eyes). Waker hadn't yet been able to tackle the problem of indoor sports, not on her own, but she knew that the chances of anyone wanting to spend detention with Graham Bombay over a dozen wooden chairs was about equivalent to the chances of one finding water during a drought in the Sahara. No one was going to gripe tonight... and the football matches? Would be postponed indefinitely, if the Head Girl had anything to say about it.

"Alright, then," she continued, speaking up before anyone could really complain about the temporary partnerships. Part of her job was to pry people out of their comfort zones-- they worked better without their friends, once they actually went about it-- and in the process, to step out of her own. She had thus spent three hours putting together the most awkward list of Prefect pairs she could dream up. And even poor Leon and Grace hadn't been spared. She only hoped her fellow Head student would be able to get through his own agenda. (They'd split the work for practicalities' sake, and Waker had been the one to come up with this month's patrol groups, printed neatly atop the charm-copied binders of parchment she'd handed out.) "Before we get into this football epidemic, does anyone want to remind us of the protocol for apprehending our peers?"

...Anyone?

Looking at the board with her pairing for the month, Jordyn sighed.  This was suitably awkward for her.  One of her best friend’s exes and her other best friend’s current, and that best friend happened to be a boy.  Better her than anyone else though.  Even if she had a million reasons to dislike Sasha, she also had a million to be nice to him anyway, and those were the important ones. She had an obligation to Fergie and to her duties as a prefect.  Besides, he was at least intelligent and could probably hold a decent conversation if they were to ever have to speak to one another.

Granted though, he wasn’t here yet, which struck her as odd.  Now that she was officially accepting the relationship of Fergie and Sasha as well as hearing every last bit of gossip she could about it (she couldn’t be expected not to live vicariously through him, after all), it didn’t strike her as in character for him to be missing the meeting.  Perhaps he had something else to do and had already told Waker, which clearly made sense, he was the responsible type and Waker did not seem perturbed.  That must have been the case.

They were moving on in the meeting anyway, and Jordyn smiled to herself.  She could definitely see herself filling Waker’s shoes one day, organizing the Prefects and running these sorts of meetings.  She already felt like she was being groomed for the job.  Since the skiing trip (which went exceptionally well in Jordyn’s humble opinion), she just felt like she had it in the bag if she kept things going smoothly - granted, that was easier said than done. 

Slytherin house was having its share of issues at the moment which was keeping it from looking like things were absolutely under control, but she was only a fifth year, so she couldn’t be expected to fix everything.  It was her only saving grace at this point from a total humiliation of being unable to run a good house.  As Waker asked her question though, Jordyn sighed, she was all too familiar with this sort of thing. She wasn’t sure she followed protocol exactly, but she was trying to get the job done. 

Raising her hand briefly, Jordyn began with, “You start by identifying them by name, getting their attention and identifying the action you witnessed…” she looked around, hoping someone else would pick up so she wouldn’t have to ramble on incessantly. 

In Analiza's absence, Declan had made it his primary objective to make sure that he was heavily involved in the goings on of Hogwarts. He wanted to take his position seriously, and wanted to make sure that the students knew that he had ears and eyes everywhere. When the deputy headmaster had heard of the head students going out of their way to ensure that the prefects were scheduled to make their rounds and assigning partners, he made it a point to be present at the meeting.

He was sitting in a chair in the corner- there mostly to observe, and not to interfere (unless he needed to make sure that students behaved appropriately). Declan resettled his glasses on the bridge of his nose and crossed his legs, copying down the schedule and partnerships for corridor monitors. Hopefully they would work well together and focus on their jobs instead of who their partners were.

Declan turned his attention to Miss Dimbleby as she began to answer Waker's question. It really was a shame that the brilliant Slytherin girl hadn't taken his class. Declan had heard nothing but good things about her. He nodded in approval as she began to speak, impressed she had the common sense to trail off and let others continue instead of giving the total answer and hogging any glory- though what glory there was to be had in such a meeting, he wasn't sure, but it was smart to know to give others a chance.

Rue was trying not to sulk. She really was - but after everything at the dance... the way Dion behaved; both completely like and unlike himself in one fell swoop. She didn't agree with his style of militant disipline and while it was no secret she had a soft side for some infractions the fact Toko was spending the next week being Professor Georg Kirchlehner's errand boy after lessons for his detention proved she knew how to handle things when they went too far. Dion was just a jerk and she really - she paused then to take a deep breath and exhale slowly.

"Then; depending on the house and infraction you may either issue a warning, detention, or deduct points however if they're from another house it is best to hand the matter over to a prefect from the student in questions house or suggest punishment to their Head of House,*" it was a land textbook answer and not exactly how Ruby did things. She felt above all else they were meant to offer guidance to act as a moral code - a code they were then expected to live by. Folding her hands neatly in her lap she continued; 'I think it's important to illustrate the cause and effect of a situation - ie you made this choice and this is the consequence. It works best on the younger years though I suppose".

---

* Taken from the decision by curators after we had a problem with student deducting points from other houses. If it's wrong or the stance has changed let me know!

Dion sat next to Ruby, one leg cocked to the side and his arms loosely crossed over his chest. Since the ball he'd calmed down considerably, having vowed to put the whole thing out of his mind. Ruby kissing him hadn't helped the emotion-storm in the slightest, either, since it now had him confused about exactly how much she hated him, if at all.

And now he had to patrol with her. It wasn't his week, was it? He wondered if Nolan was after him for the Toko incident too. Merlin - grap one kid's arm when you're annoyed and everyone acts like he'd hauled off and bitch-slapped the kid's face off. Dax grabbed Toko by the waist and ran off with him all the time, even when Toko asked him not to and no one cared, did they? Hmph.

The fact both of the Hufflepuff 7th year prefects were in various stages of sulk probably didn't help Nolan any, so he kept his face carefully blank.

Ruby's follow up was the textbook answer and more or less the complete procedure, and so he had little to add to it other than to smile slightly. In the case of his brother he'd always ignored protocol and hauled off and punched him, or lectured him or made him do extra homework. Dax in detention was a better punishment for the teacher involved.

Still, Dax's recent behavior had him worried. He couldn't help but feel his brother was planning something, and not his usual playful planning, either; Dax had been angy lately, which was weird.  He could only hope Ó Móráin didn't mistake Dax for him and take away his Prefect-ship if Dax hauled off and turned someone's face inside out.

Clearing his throat as Ruby finished, he half-raised a hand to get Waker's attention. "I'm assuming you have specific issues you want to discuss, Miss Nolan," he said in his usual polite tone. "Did you want us to contribute our own to discuss, or..."

" There is one problem. I haven't seen Sasha for a bit, and I don't imagine he'd miss the prefect meeting. We might need to  rearrange the partnerships so Jordyn isn't on her own. Unless anyone knows why he's apparently missing?" Josh said, not adding to what the other prefects said about the procedure for dealing with rulebreakers.

Declan was surprised that the students did not know yet what had happened to Sasha. "If you don't mind, Miss Nolan, I can answer that question," Declan piped up. He intended to remain silent throughout the meeting if he could, but this needed a delicately worded answer. Not everyone needed to know the full details of the situation with Sasha Schlagenweit, but a half-truth ought to work rather well.

"Due to Mr. Schlagenweits unfortunate luck this year, the board of governors decided the best thing to do was to give him the rest of this term off off," he said. "Sasha will not be returning to school this term, though he is free to do so for the summer. It was determined that he needed appropriate time to grieve and to handle his personal and familial stress and problems. As of now there is no replacement prefect for Mr. Schlagenweit." With that, Declan fell silent, hoping it would satisfy curiosities enough. "I do not intend to answer any further questions on the matter. That is all the explanation you will receive, any further questions should be forwarded to Mr. Schlagenweit via owl- or the governors, if you so wish."

"My apologies, Miss Nolan, for interrupting. Please, everybody, turn your attentions back to your head girl and she will continue the discussion and continue to give out any instructions needed for making rounds and keeping up your prefect duties."

Eirene sat on her hands, bouncing excitedly in her seat every few minutes. She listened to Waker Nolan - Headgirl, with rapt attention, nodding often and making approving little "mmhmm's". This meeting was absolutely fascinating. Eirene was thrilled that Waker had invited her to attend, and planned on sending her an extra large fruit basket later to show her gratitude. Declan O Morain - deputy headmaster, was also in attendance! In fact, all the important people were there!

Well, almost.

Josh Harcroft wondered where Sasha Schlagenweit was, and Eirene, expert on all things Sasha, somberly raised her hand, then lowered it again when Professor O Morain explained.

Josh's eyes narrowed slightly, but he let the fact they were clearly being kept out of the loop lie for now. " so Jordyn has no partner. Having one person to patrol a whole floor of the castle's a bit much, in my opinion. " Josh said, picking his words carefully. He didn't want to imply he was insulting Jordyn's ability as a prefect.

Joshua Harcroft.  There were not many nice things Jordyn had to say about the boy, in fact, there was just about nothing nice she could say at all.  Even if she liked to follow the rules, she still knew how to let up for a bit and have some fun, which he clearly seemed to know nothing about - at least not in her mind - and here he was, interrupting a perfectly sound meeting with something about not having seen Schlagenweit?  Was it really that big of a deal? 

Of course, then Professor O Moiran began speaking and Jordyn started paying attention.  Best not to look bored and distracted while a professor was talking, even if you didn’t take that person’s class.  She was somewhat upset that she didn’t now - he was definitely an attractive, proper slytherin alumni, and she heard good things about how he conducted his class in accordance with his background.  Of course, Jordyn was not very good with animals and despised getting dirty at all, so it was not really a class for her, even if the professor seemed like one she would get along with swimmingly. 

He was all business too, gave them just what they needed to know and moved on.  There was reasoning in it and Jordyn couldn’t argue, though she did feel a pang of guilt for Fergie.  He would be upset, she knew it, but there were always letters, and they could see one another over break.  It wasn’t as though the whole of the United Kingdom was going to keep them apart (even if it seemed like every force imaginable was attempting that very thing).  It wasn’t a matter that really needed to be addressed right now though, was it?

And then he asked about her patrol duties?  Rolling her eyes, Jordyn raised her hand only briefly again (just out of respect) and spoke immediately, “I think it’d be better to figure that out later,” she turned her glare into an obliging and soft look, smiling at Waker.  “Perhaps, after the meeting is over, we might be able to work something out?  I believe you were asking us about apprehension of our classmates, however. Wasn’t that right?” 

Ruby looked at Josh - and for the millionth time wondered why he was a Prefect. No one could stand him (the look on Jordy's face made that plain as day - though it did quickly flutter away). Of course the bigger indication that no one cared to speak to Josh was that he had no idea that Sasha was gone. The seventh years at least had heard rumors of the Ravenclaw's removal. Why did Josh have to be such a bossy Bruce. He needed to worry less about everyone else and try getting in touch with his own housemates that had little to no respect for him.

The mention of missing students did cause her to scan the room for Ryker. She had been so happy to see him at the dance. They weren't close like he and Sophie but she knew enough to be angry as hell at his mother and worried about him drawing back in his shell given some of the more dramatic elements of Valentine's night. Clearing her throat she raised her hand slowly;  "Not to cut Jordyn short - but  I've been meaning to bring up peer counseling since..." her voice trailed off as her eyes lowered - just how did she phrase the way things had been since Ava's death?

"I think the spike in pranks and overall angst that seems to be brewing needs to be dealt with on a personal level. I feel as Prefects our job isn't just to enforce rules and hand out punishments - I think it's also our job to bring our houses together. For seven years we spend our lives together - we become like a family; dysfunctional though we maybe I feel....I believe that our housemates should know they can come to us. I've always tried to behave and act according to the belief that we offer care and guidance beyond doling out punishments like the Gestopo," she couldn't help the look that flickered to Dion then.

" Fine, I was just concerned that it might casue a problem for you Jordyn if your partner was missing. " Josh said in reply to Jordyn's reply.

" I agree, Ruby, but it's a question of how we can encourage people to come to us with problems. Unfortunately, most of the time we interect with people as prefects, it's because someone's done something wrong. I should hope none of the prefects act like the Gestapo, however." Josh said, frowning slightly, one of the few wizards that would understand the gestapo reference.

So that was where Sasha had been - Dion had personally assumed the kid had finally had a nervous breakdown and was in the Hospital Hut overnight yet again, especially since the professors seemed confused as to why the boy had skipped classes as well.

He kind of hoped Jordyn would get lumped with him and Ruby. It'd be nice to just be able to just do his job for once and not have to deal with being called a tyrant for taking away points. The horror.

Dion caught Ruby's look and couldn't have stopped his eyes rolling if he tried, nor could he have halted the exasperated sigh. "Yes, you're completely right, Ruby - handing out detentions for serious infractions and deducting points for minor ones is such a slipperly slope. Do that to much and we'll wind up using thumbscrews again."

The woman had to be on her period or something. She was acting like he had a firing squad outside the school for use when someone got drunk or accidently hexed another student.

He rubbed one of his temples and looked up at the meeting again. "On a more serious note - the vast majority of students do not view the prefects as a guidance standpoint." He glanced at Eirene, the obvious exception. "If they have an issue with bullying, emotional problems, or otherwise, they're far more likely to consult with a teacher, their Head of House or the school's Counselor." He smiled ruefully; most of the prefects knew the kind of student he was referring to next. "As for the ones with...from our stance, the real issues - they rarely think anything is wrong with their actions, or their emotional state. Most of those, I've found, will only accept discipline from a teacher. We're just suck-ups, as far as they're concerned."

All Arielle could say was, thank Merlin I’m not with Beatrix, she would rather the anyone over the bubble gum haired freak. She had to admit being paired with the head girl was somewhat of an honour, or she at least in her own opinion. Arielle hadn’t many words with the older Ravenclaw, and rounds this month were going to lead to more opportunity to interact with the head girl.

Arielle simply listened as Waker started onto a topic. She was listening despite the fact she was not giving input to conversation currently. She shifted uncomfortably in the seat crossing and uncrossing her legs and holding her skirt in place as she adjusted her position. Arielle looked up with a smile as she heard Jordyn speak, someone was at least answering the questions. Arielle thought it to be a good start, and Ruby seemed to give a good finish to the answer Jordyn had started. Arielle found it a little irksome that point deduction from another house was such an issue, but it only made sense to hand off inter-house issues to their head of house. Arielle knew for sure some house rivalries could result in deduction just for rivalries sake. When it came to legitimate reasons for point deduction handing it off to a head of house did take away some satisfaction.

Okay, so maybe Ruby was also right that the prefects were here not just to deduct points, even if as a fifth year it seemed that was all they were doing these days. Guidance was definitely for the younger years and her own fellow classmates it was probably best to hand off the issue to the professors. Why were her classmates such barbarians some times?

Arielle was a tad embarrassed that she had not noticed Sasha missing from this engagement. She couldn’t exactly be faulted since he was not someone she spent a lot of time with, but he was a fellow classmate and prefect. Arielle understood the reasons for Sasha’s departure as the deputy headmaster spoke. It seemed to make sense that Sasha needed some time to grieve and adjust; he had a big spot of bad luck this year. Well at least he had a glimmer of good with Ferguson in his life. Arielle approved of the couple when she saw them at the dance a few days prior.

Arielle snapped out of her thoughts though as the discussion continued and moved towards guidance. She listened as both Ruby and Dion spoke up and finally felt it might be time to add a few words. “I somewhat agree with both of you. Dion is right in saying that many of the students would not see us as peer counsellors. Many see us as those who are going to get them into trouble for breathing wrong.” Arielle sighed as if a little disappointed about this. “I feel we would be more capable to give guidance or support to the younger years. I for one would prefer to go to a professor than someone my own age, but when I was younger I always looked up to the older students.” Arielle glanced over to the first year girl, Eirene she thought her name was. It was obvious she would be keen to guidance of prefects and the more senior students.

Ruby took a deep breath to keep from telling Dion to to fiddle with the broomstick up his bum before shifting her eyes to Arielle then Josh and nodding slowly; "That's just it - they feel as though they can't trust us which is the problem I'm trying to address. As fifth years you are quite right that an upper year wouldn't feel comfortable talking about whatever issues they're having with you - but first and third years should feel safe and encouraged to seek out your guidance".

Twisting the silver band around her middle finger she tried to choose her next words carefully; "I realize that in general some of us are graced with a more...nurturing nature," she paused looking at Dion out of the corner of her eye. He was about as nurturing as any of several species that ate it's young. He had bullied Toko at the dance outright but in general he was just... distant, awkward, the word frigid came to mind. "The thing is... it takes one tiny step at a time to build trust; to become a confidant. We keep our eyes so readily peeled for infractions - but how many times a day do you notice a housemate or someone in your year just... not being themselves"?

She tucked a stray bang behind her ear before going on; "I realize that I am often mocked as Mother Earth incarnate," again she threw a look to Dion but it was fleeting, "I just think this year has been so hard, so horrible, so devastating that we have to reach out twice as far, listen three times as closely. There could be a ticking time bomb in any one of our houses in any one of our years... if or when it goes off I don't want it to be because one of us failed to see the signs because it was more important to hand out detentions than to touch base and make each of our housemates feel like someone, even if it's just one person gives a damn". She took a deep breath and bowed her head suddenly very interesting in her nails