Takes place during The Bad Beginning.

Y/N Strauss was sitting in the library rereading her favourite novel. Just as she was flipping the page, she heard a knock at the door.

"Y/N! Can you get that?" Justice Strauss called from the garden outside.

"Yes Auntie!" the young girl replied. She frantically looked around the library for a bookmark until at last she found one. Placing her novel on a table, she walked to the front door. Upon opening it, she saw three children, two of which appeared to be around her age.

"Hello," the oldest girl said. "I'm Violet, and these are my siblings Klaus and Sunny. Is Justice Strauss home?"

"Yes, she is," Y/N replied, noticing the bruise on the boy's face. "I'm Y/N, her niece. You three must be Count Olaf's new children. I hope you're enjoying living with him." The Baudelaires glanced at each other uncomfortably.

"Well," Klaus began, "not exactly. He's kind of-"

"Who's kind of what?" Justice Strauss asked, appearing behind her niece in the doorway.

"We were just talking about Count Olaf," Y/N said.

"Yes," Klaus continued, thinking fast. "He's kind of different from our parents."

"It's hard to get used to," Violet added.

Justice Strauss smiled sympathetically at the orphans. "Well, let me guess. You three are here to use my library. Come right on in."

The woman led the four children into the library. "Make yourselves at home. I'll be outside gardening if you need me." Justice Strauss walked out of the room.

For a few moments, it was silent. The Baudelaire children didn't know if they could trust Y/N with their real motives for visiting: to try and discover Count Olaf's plan.

"It's hard," Y/N said, breaking the silence. "Losing a parent, I mean. I lost my mom when I was young, and I've been living with just my dad ever since. I visit Auntie often, though, because my dad's almost always away on a business trip."

Violet smiled sadly. "It's nice to know someone who understands what we're going through," she commented. "Well, Klaus, I guess we should start reading," the inventor said, turning to her brother.

"Yeah," he agreed. As Y/N sat down and picked up her novel, Violet and Klaus walked over to one of the many bookcases, scanning the spines of books and pulling out anything that looked useful.

"What are you guys looking for? I know this library pretty well, so I can help you find books," Y/N offered. Klaus glanced at Violet, who nodded at him.

"Well, we're looking for books on inheritance law," the boy said cautiously.

"You see," Violet continued, "Our parents left us a fortune, and we think Count Olaf wants to get his hands on it. It might have something to do with the play, The Marvelous Marriage, that he's making us be a part of."

"Did I hear you fellows talking about the big performance?" Justice Strauss asked, stepping into the room. Her sudden appearance startled the Baudelaire children, but Y/N seemed to be used to it.

"Yes, we were talking about the big performance. Are you excited about it?" Violet asked hesitantly.

Justice Strauss's face lit up. "Oh yes," she said. "I've always wanted to perform onstage, ever since I was a little girl. And now Count Olaf has given me the opportunity to live my lifelong dream. Aren't you thrilled to be a part of the theatre?"

"I guess so," Violet said.

"Of course you are," Justice Straus said, stars in her eyes ... . (The Bad Beginning, pages 91-92)

"Wow, your aunt seems pretty stagestruck," Klaus commented.

"Yeah," Y/N commented. "Ever since Count Olaf gave her the news, she hasn't stopped talking about it. She's been going on and on about how professional the whole play will be, with the official wedding vows and papers and everything."

"Wait," Klaus began. "Official papers? So it's like an official wedding?" He shared a nervous glance with his sister, who looked worried.

"I... don't know. I guess we'd better start reading these books," Y/N said, standing from her chair and walking to the pile of books that the eldest Baudelaire siblings had gathered.

"Oh, you don't need to help us," Violet said.

"We can read these books ourselves," Klaus added.

"No, I want to help," Y/N insisted. "If I had an enormous fortune, I wouldn't want Count Olaf getting his hands on it. He honestly scares me."

"Aussi," Sunny said, which meant something along the lines "Us too." Violet was quick to translate for Y/N.

"Thank you so much. We really appreciate it," Violet said. Y/N gave the siblings a small smile, and they all began to scour the law books (except Sunny, of course).

After a few minutes of reading, a voice came through the doorway, and surprisingly, it didn't belong Justice Strauss.

"You kids! Count Olaf sent me to bring you back immediately." The four children turned to look at the source of the voice, which turned out to be one of Olaf's associates, the hook-handed man.

"Excuse me," Y/N said, standing up. "What are you doing in my aunt's house?"

The hook-handed man was taken aback, not realizing that there was an extra person in the room.

"Justice Strauss invited me in, of course," the man stammered. Y/N glanced out of the library's window, which provided a lovely view of Justice Strauss gardening in the backyard.

"No, she didn't. So will you please leave this house?" Y/N asked politely, wondering how the man had gotten in in the first place.

"No, it's alright," Violet said quickly. "He's a friend of Count Olaf, and we really should go with him." The girl glanced at Y/N, and it was clear from her expression that she did not want to go with this man.

"Yeah, Violet's right. We have to go. Bye Y/N!" Klaus said, picking Sunny up from a table she had been sitting on.

"Well, just hurry up," the hook-handed man said, leading the Baudelaires out of the room and back to the one place they did not want to go. As soon as the man turned his back, Y/N quickly passed a book entitled on nuptial law to Klaus. Thank you, the boy mouthed, untucking his shirt and placing the book underneath. In that moment, Klaus hoped. He hoped Count Olaf wouldn't notice the book-shaped lump in his shirt when they arrived at his house. He hoped the book would help him discover what Count Olaf was planning. And lastly, he hoped that he and his siblings would see Y/N again, because she seemed like a nice person and potential friend. As the hook-handed man and the Baudelaires walked out the front door of Justice Strauss's house, Klaus turned back one more time to smile at Y/N.

Word count: 1151
To be continued. Just so you guys know, I do take requests! Thanks for reading!