The List

Chapter 1. Forces to be reckoned with.

— Everyone, move out of the way! — Garreth shouted as the three Gryffindor friends walked through the corridor of the train. — New Head Girl incoming!

Everleigh exchanged a look with Natsai and they both chuckled softly. However, the American girl was still blushing under the eyes of every Hogwarts student that glanced their way as they marched down the hallway.

Everleigh Grayson had been offered the tittle of Head Girl over the summer, which was an achievement on its own, but combined with all the extracurricular activities she had on her back that school year, it had already started to feel overwhelming.

— Take it one day at a time.

Natsai said with a faint smile when the three of them finally made it into one empty compartment. Everleigh dropped her weight on the cushioned seat and her handbag next to her body, while the other two Gryffindors sat across from her. Garreth extended his feet to rest them next to the blonde girl's legs, slumping comfortably.

— Oh, yes. One day at a time. And if necessary, renounce to the tittle because being Quidditch's Captain comes first. — The boy flashed a grin at her and she responded with a glare, a quite normal response to Garreth's commentaries. — We need to pulverize Slytherin again.

— It's only going to be one year. - Everleigh glanced out of the moving train, leaning her head back. — I can manage being Head Girl and Captain.

— You are also helping Nurse Blainey in the infirmary, right?

— Just a couple of days a week, to get some practice in before I send an application to St. Mungus. — The girl reached inside the pocket of her handbag, pulling out a piece of parchment to show them. — Look, I even made a schedule.

Natsai and Garreth stared at it with furrowed eyebrows.

— This is lovely. — The red head boy adopted a tone of sarcasm as he grabbed the paper from her. — Classes all morning. Quidditch's practice Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoon. Infirmary on the weekends and Head Girl duties on free periods and evenings. Who needs to sleep or eat when you can die an agonizing death, instead?

Everleigh squinted her eyes at Garreth, snatching the parchment from him. She was received by a string of giggles that she ignored as she shoved the schedule back into her handbag.

— Who's the Head Boy?

Natty asked, with a calm voice, as if trying to pacify the atmosphere. However, there was a lingering smile hanging from her lips.

— Amit Takkar, from Ravenclaw. — The blonde girl grabbed a strand of her own hair and twirled it around her index, in an unconscious gesture. — He wrote me over the summer, remember? I mentioned it at dinner a few weeks ago. He said he was looking forward to share duties with me... — Garreth snorted but Everleigh ignored him. — ...and that he would happily do most of the assignment sheets and the paperwork.

— Huh. — Natty raised an eyebrow with a pondering expression on her face. — I'm not exactly sure of how much paperwork you have to do...

— ...a lot of it, I'm sure.

The red headed boy mumbled under his breath but Natsai continued.

— ...but why would he do that?

Everleigh shrugged imperceptibly in response, but she then bit her bottom lip with a long exhale.

— Because he not only wants me to deal with the Gryffindor Prefects, but the Slytherin's as well. And to take the lead in our biweekly meetings. You know Amit doesn't do well with public speaking. He is willing to do the majority of work behind as long as I'm the one dealing with the social activities up front. The poor boy is also terrified of Slytherins ever since they locked him in the passageway behind the One-Eye Witch, on the third corridor. It was full of spiders, and he hates spiders.