InsaneJournal

Title: The Continuing Adventures of Bungalow Bill and the Eggmen.
Character Pairing: Caradoc Dearborn/Sturgis Podmore (pre-slash)
Other Pairings: pre-Ted Tonks/Andromeda Black, pre-Emmeline Vance/Hestia Jones.
Prompt: "fundamental."
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~720
Summary: "Don't put it all on me, Mister Walrus, mate. I get by with a little help from my friends."
Author's Notes: The slash is still not happening, but it will eventually. Blah blah, based on dontsayaword canon; Sturgis is musify's and Ted is venezia's; Emmeline and Hestia are not based on comagirly's or theblev's. Any Beatles references belong to John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
Link to Prompt Table: Over yonder!

Of the group into which he's assimilated himself, Sturgis is the only one who doesn't get a Prefect's badge, come fifth year. Ted and Hestia join Frank Longbottom, Amelia Bones, Amos Diggory, and Kate Madley as Hufflepuff's two new Prefects, Emmeline pinned on her Ravenclaw badge as soon as they were on the train, and though he's not wearing it, Caradoc keeps turning over the silver symbol of his new place in the student hierarchy. He's being quiet. This isn't like him. "Andromeda Black," Emmeline sighs pensively, scribbling notes into her journal. "Why on Earth Professor Dumbledore picked her, I'll never understand. At least Hadrian Vaisey isn't an idiot." "Could you believe her?" Hestia gasps, leaning against Emmeline's free shoulder. "Sturgis, the girl asked if she really needed to take care of her first years! Fifth-year Prefects take care of our first-years -- it's our job -- and she tried to shunt them off onto that ice queen, Araminta Meliflua." "Yeah, because Araminta will play along with that just because they're second cousins." "Aren't all the Purebloods second cousins?" "Not quite, Hes, but it's close enough." Emmeline pauses and smirks. "I guess it could be worse. I could be working with Xenophilius Lovegood instead of David." Hestia laughs, turning her head towards Emmeline's neck. "Don't even joke like that, Emme! I'm so glad Ravenclaw's got you and Goldstein. Then Gryffindor's got Doc and Evelyn Brown. And at least Vaisey won't be completely incompetent. Between us, them, and Ted, someone can make up for Andromeda." "Hey," Ted interjects, turning pink and crossing his arms over his chest. "I know she's not acting like she really cares about the position, but... she's probably just scared. I look at her sisters. You've got the little one being a bossy bint and the older one being scary beyond all reason... it's probably the first time anyone's really thought she's special and capable of being something different, you know?" "That younger one's such a ringleader," Emmeline comments. "She's going to be a Prefect when she's old enough, just watch. I mean, granted, it helps her that all the Slytherin girls in her year defer to her for everything, but she'll get the badge on charisma and process of elimination." "Maybe so, but... try not to give Andromeda a hard time, alright? The more you heckle her, the worse she'll do and that's not good for anybody." Hestia looks ready to question why Ted cares, but Sturgis cuts her off and diverts the conversation. Wrapping an arm around Caradoc's skinny shoulders, he asks, "Doc? What's goin' on up in that head of yours, mate?" Caradoc doesn't look up from his badge. "I'm fine, just... I can't stop thinking about my mum. She -- she, well... her opinion of the student authority's not that high." Oh, Merlin, Caradoc's hippie mother -- Sturgis likes her well enough, and he still owes her for tuning him on to The Beatles and the other Muggle music that she likes, but tactful is one thing she isn't. "You're being so quiet," Emmeline points out incredulously. "What'd she say to you?" "Oh, just... she was rather going on about how student authority's all a bunch of sell-outs, and snitches, and rats... right before the owl with my badge came in and dropped it off. Then she sort of back-tracked and clarified what she really meant by that, but not until Lorca wandered in and asked if I'm a sell-out rat-snitch. Like I weren't questioning why Dumbledore picked me enough already..." In unison, Emmeline and Hestia start cooing, and Ted says that they're all there for him, but Sturgis just leans Doc's head down on his shoulder and holds onto him. Before they get off the train, he pins Doc's badge onto his robes and tells him how not weird it looks. "Googoogajoob, Mister Taxman. Get a gander at you, looking all official like that." Caradoc blushes as they leave the compartment. "Don't put it all on me, Mister Walrus, mate. I get by with a little help from my friends."