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location=[[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry|Hogwarts]]|
daterange=throughout the series|
characters=[[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Percy_WeasleyPercy Weasley|Percy Weasley]], [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Penelope_ClearwaterPenelope Clearwater|Penelope Clearwater]], [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Ron_WeasleyRon Weasley|Ron Weasley]], [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Hermione_GrangerHermione Granger|Hermione Granger]], [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Draco_MalfoyDraco Malfoy|Draco Malfoy]]
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{{Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Beginner Spoiler}}
Specific tasks and privileges are accorded to Prefects in the Harry Potter books. On the journey to [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/Hogwarts_School_of_Witchcraft_and_WizardryHogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry|Hogwarts]] on the Hogwarts Express, prefects have a special compartment at the head of the train; they are expected to gather there at the start of the trip, to receive instructions presumably, and then periodically patrol the corridors of the train to keep the rowdiness down. While they are also presumably expected to do the same during the return trip, no mention is made of this in any of the books, even by [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Hermione_GrangerHermione Granger|Hermione]], who at all other times is punctilious about her duties. Prefects are charged with maintaining order in the common rooms as well as in the hallways of the castle, and are also responsible for making sure the lower grades learn their way around the castle in the early part of the year. One privilege of being a Prefect is that you have access to the Prefect's bathroom, as [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Harry_PotterHarry Potter|Harry]] finds out in [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Goblet of Fire/Chapter 23|Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]].
In [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Philosopher's_Stones Stone|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]], [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Percy_WeasleyPercy Weasley|Percy Weasley]] has just been made Prefect, and is inordinately proud of his shiny new Prefect's badge. His (apparently pre-existing) pomposity is increased significantly by this recognition of his "superiority" over the rest of his year group. In [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Chamber_of_SecretsChamber of Secrets/Chapter_4Chapter 4|Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]], Percy is spotted reading a book entitled ''Prefects who Gained Power'', "a study of Hogwarts prefects and their later careers".
In [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Chamber_of_SecretsChamber of Secrets|Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]], we learn that Percy's girlfriend, [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Penelope_ClearwaterPenelope Clearwater|Penelope Clearwater]], is also a prefect, albeit in Ravenclaw House.
In [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order_of_the_PhoenixOrder of the Phoenix|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]], [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Ron_WeasleyRon Weasley|Ron Weasley]] is appointed Prefect for Gryffindor, much to the amazement of everyone; it had been thought that [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Harry_PotterHarry Potter|Harry]] would be tipped for that job. Of course, nobody is surprised that [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Hermione_GrangerHermione Granger|Hermione Granger]] becomes a Prefect as well, and there is equally little amazement at the selection of [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Draco_MalfoyDraco Malfoy|Draco Malfoy]] for Slytherin House. Other prefects appointed at the same time are [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Pansy Parkinson|Pansy Parkinson]] from Slytherin, [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Ernie Macmillan|Ernie Macmillan]] and [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Hannah Abbott|Hannah Abbott]] from Hufflepuff, and [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Anthony Goldstein|Anthony Goldstein]] and [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Padma Patil|Padma Patil]] from Ravenclaw.
It is mentioned in [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order of the Phoenix/Chapter 9|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]] that [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Remus Lupin|Remus Lupin]] had been a prefect at Hogwarts when he, [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Sirius Black|Sirius Black]], and [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/James Potter|Harry's father]] had been there.
== Notable Consequences ==
Percy has just become a Prefect when we first meet him in [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Philosopher's_Stones Stone/Chapter_6Chapter 6|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]], so we cannot easily judge what he was like before he became a Prefect. From the reaction later when he became [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Major Events/Head Boy|Head Boy]], one can extrapolate that he was always pompous and always a little ashamed of his family's lack of ambition; his becoming Prefect is part of the process that ends up with him being estranged from his family by Harry's [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order of the Phoenix|fifth year]].
In [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order_of_the_PhoenixOrder of the Phoenix/Chapter_9Chapter 9|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]], [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Hermione_GrangerHermione Granger|Hermione]] becomes a prefect, to nobody's surprise. What is a surprise is that [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Harry_PotterHarry Potter|Harry]] is passed over in favour of [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Ron_WeasleyRon Weasley|Ron]] for the position. Ron's being made a prefect threatens to destroy the friendship between him and Harry, as Harry shares the general feeling that the position '''ought''' to have gone to Harry; in the end, though, Harry resolves to make the best of it, and their friendship goes on pretty much as before. Harry's feelings about this office having gone to Ron are somewhat eased by the revelation that Harry's father was passed over for Prefect in his day as well, that "honor" instead going to Remus Lupin. This issue is not completely resolved until the end of the book, however; in his interview with [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Albus_DumbledoreAlbus Dumbledore|Professor Dumbledore]] after the [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Major Events/Battle at the Department of Mysteries|Battle at the Department of Mysteries]], Dumbledore explains why he had passed over Harry for the position: "I must confess... that I rather thought... you had enough responsibility to be going on with."
== Analysis ==
Ron and Hermione's approach to the office of Prefect shows the two sides of the appointment. Both are extremely glad to get selected, of course; but Ron makes extensive use of the privileges, bossing the younger kids around, where Hermione is greatly taken up with the responsibilities, trying to keep the common room in order (and being thwarted at every turn by [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Fred and George Weasley|the Weasley twins]]). [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Draco_MalfoyDraco Malfoy|Malfoy's]] prefect style is an almost grotesque increase in ugliness over Ron's; he is not ashamed to use his powers to get anything he wants for himself. What little we see of Malfoy's tenure as Prefect simply screams "Abuse of Power". On the other hand, Percy's stuffiness as a prefect is equally as extreme, but in the opposite direction; Percy's natural pompousness seems to expand into an over-inflated sense of his own importance in the scheme of things.
The dynamic of the story requires, in [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Chamber_of_SecretsChamber of Secrets/Chapter_16Chapter 16|Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]], that Percy should have some secret that he prefers [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Ginny_WeasleyGinny Weasley|Ginny]] not reveal. The obvious one would be that Percy has a girlfriend, which turns out to be [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Penelope_ClearwaterPenelope Clearwater|Penelope Clearwater]]. When she gets [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Chamber_of_SecretsChamber of Secrets/Chapter_14Chapter 14|Petrified]], there has to be a reason that Percy gets distraught, other than the fact that she is his girlfriend, to keep that secret concealed for a few more weeks; the author uses Percy's apparent belief in Prefect invulnerability (as put forward by [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/George_WeasleyGeorge Weasley|George Weasley]]) as explanation for his dismay.
There is some question as to whether prefects are allowed to dock house points. In [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Half-Blood Prince|Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]], Ron seems to believe that prefects cannot dock house points; Draco Malfoy agrees, but then goes on to say that members of the Inquisitorial Squad, specially appointed by the High Inquisitor [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Dolores Umbridge|Dolores Umbridge]] can, and then goes on to do that. In [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Chamber of Secrets/Chapter 9|Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]], Percy does dock House points from Gryffindor, and he is only a prefect at that point. While [http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=40 the author has stated] that Percy was more likely right than Ron was, it is equally likely that Percy in fact was overstepping his authority, and though he said he was removing house points from Gryffindor, his statement had no real effect.
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