Harley Potter arrived at the prefects' compartment a little late. By then, quite a few students were already seated inside.
Hogwarts actually had quite a number of prefects, since each House selected one male and one female prefect from the fifth years.
These prefects would remain in the position until graduation unless they committed some serious mistake and were removed.
In other words, each House would have six prefects at the same time—two each from the fifth, sixth, and seventh years.
The ones responsible for holding meetings for the prefects were the Head Boy and Head Girl, so this compartment could hold as many as twenty-six people, and no fewer than twenty-four.
After all, although the Head Boy and Head Girl were usually chosen from among the prefects, there were occasional exceptions.
When Sirius had been praising the Gryffindor prefects during the summer break, he had mentioned that Lupin had been a prefect in their year.
Yet by seventh year, Professor Dumbledore had chosen Harley's father, James, as Head Boy.
The moment Harley appeared, the compartment quickly fell silent, and the atmosphere turned somewhat strange.
Nearly all the prefects held their breath. Some looked at her with awe, others with pride, and of course, some with hostility.
Leaving aside the huge commotion at the end of last term and over the summer, Harley's victory in the International Wizarding Duelling Tournament alone was enough to earn the other prefects' immense respect.
Thanks to Rita's enthusiastic explanations, everyone understood that the duelling tournament was nothing like the Six-Wizard Tournament.
Even Dark wizards who had killed people took part in that competition. Its danger was self-evident.
And Harley had fought her way through a tournament like that... Though reluctant to admit it, even the Slytherin prefects had to acknowledge that Harley had become