About the Hogsmeade weekends:
So the dates for Hogsmeade change wildly, and I know these two visits seem close together. But usually the first Hogsmeade weekend is around Hallowe’en or even later – in GoF, it was later in November. As here, it was in the beginning of October, just as in OotP, I figured it wouldn’t be stretching things too much to place one at the end of November. In GoF, the next Hogsmeade weekend was at the beginning of January, which is just over a month from the last, so almost two months seemed not-too-suspicious.
About taking points:
J. K. Rowling says here that Ron got it wrong and that prefects actually can take points. So that’s why Draco threatens to do so, at the end of Chapter Nine.
About the fic in general:
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me, encouraged me, or otherwise helped me in the writing process. And again, to Susan, I couldn’t have done this without you. You are fantastic. :)