The tunnel is very long, that much the two girls can tell. They have to crouch down a bit so they don't hit their heads on the ceiling. The only light is from the tip of their wands. Finally, after about what seems to be a half hour, the girls reach the end of the tunnel.

"Dead end." Julia feels the back of the wall to make sure there's no secret door. Unfortunately, it's as solid as a rock.

Maria points her wand upward and sees the outline of a door above her. "Julia, I think it's a trap door. Help me lift it up."

The two Hogwarts students push open the trap door quietly. Maria climbs up first, and helps Julia out of the tunnel. It's very late at night, so the windows aren't pouring in any sunlight. The girls seem to have climbed into a closet, and when they peek through the closet door, they see some sort of restaurant.

"Oh, I know this place!" Julia whispers so she doesn't draw attention to the few people sitting at the bar. "My mum brought me here a few times to do stuff for work. It's a pub called the Three Broomsticks."

"So it's like a wizard bar?" Maria asks, a bit fascinated that she climbed through a tunnel from Hogwarts and ended up at a restaurant.

"Well, it's a bar stationed in a wizard village. Muggles can't see the village, so we are more safe to sell things and live here. It's kind of like Diagon Alley." Julia explains. She remembers that her mother brought her a few times because she was doing some detective Auror things.

"That's amazing!" Maria is blown away by there being an all wizard village. She remembers the sensation of being in Diagon Alley. "How many all wizarding villages are there?"

"Quite a few, but they're all smaller than regular Muggle villages. The boy, Harry Potter, was born in an all wizarding village." Julia thinks of another example. "It's called Godric's Hollow."

"Can we walk around?" Maria can't help herself. She's just too excited about seeing the village.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Julia then stops herself from opening the closet door further. "We should take our ties off so we don't look like Hogwarts students."

"Good idea." Maria agrees and starts taking off her tie. The two put their ties in the trap door, so they can get them when they leave. After the girls think that they don't look like students anymore, they turn off the light of their wands and tiptoe out of the closet.

The Three Broomsticks is mostly empty, probably because it's so late. Rush hour for the bar is over now, and the owners are serving the last few stowaways. Julia and Maria make it to the front door of the Three Broomsticks without being spotted or questioned. When Julia opens the door to the outside, Maria is amazed.

The shops are just closing up and everyone is heading to their houses for the night. Despite the lack of shops to enter, Maria feels overwhelmed by the amount of wizards and witches that are on the street. It's just like Diagon Alley all over again, except this time no Muggles are allowed at all. It's a pure magical community.

"This is Hogsmeade." Julia explains. Maria forgot that she mentioned she has been here a couple of times. "I haven't seen much in my visits here, but I do know that Hogwarts third years and up get to visit on the weekends."

The girls walk around for awhile, and soon they forget why they're here. They forget that they're supposed to be snuggled up in their dorms fast asleep with the rest of the students. They even forget why they were in the mirror room in the first place. The two are so excited and having too much fun to remember any of those things.

After around two hours of walking around, the streets start thinning out, and Maria remembers that they aren't supposed to be here. "It's getting really late."

"Merlin's beard you're right! The moon is just to the West..." Julia takes a moment to do the Astronomy calculations in her head. "It should be about 2:56am."

"Almost three?!" Maria doesn't question how Julia was able to tell the time just by looking at the moon's position. Instead, she's just surprised that they lost track of time so quickly.

"Yeah. As much as I would love to stay here," Julia holds out her hand for Maria to take. "I think we should be going back. We don't want to get in trouble."

"Hey, that's my line!" Maria laughs playfully and takes Julia's hand.

As the girls speedwalk back to the Three Broomsticks, they realize how cold they are. They didn't notice the snowflakes falling and covering the ground. They huddle together to try and preserve body heat. This makes them walk a tad slower, but at least their fingers aren't falling off from the cold.

Finally, the girls make it to the Three Broomsticks. Julia grabs the handle, and she freezes when it doesn't budge. "Oh no... we are locked out."

"Shoot, shoot, shoot! What are we going to do?!" Maria tries her best to not panic, but she can't help herself as thoughts race through her head. What if everyone knows they're gone? What if Dumbledore is waiting for them to come back so he can expel them?

"There's an unlocking charm that I heard of, but I have no idea how to do it." Julia stares at her wand, trying to think of the charm that unlocks doors. "I can't even remember the incantation!"

"What if there's a back door?" Maria suggests, barely any hope in her voice.

"I guess we can try..." Julia's voice trails off as she starts walking around the building. She sees a back door handle and slowly reaches toward it. Surprisingly, it opens with just a faint squeak.

Julia covers her mouth to hide her gasp, and her smile grows under her hands. She quickly turns to Maria and puts a finger up to her mouth to remind her to be quiet. Together, the two girls quietly enter the back of the Three Broomsticks.

It's extremely dark in the back hallway, but the girls don't want to light up their wands just in case there is someone still in here. They walk very slowly so they don't stumble into or over anything. At the end of the hallway, Julia and Maria pause when they see a faint orange glow around the corner. Someone is still at the bar.

The two girls know they have to go through the eating area in order to get to the closet where the tunnel is. They both peek around the corner to where the bar is to see how many people there are.

Around seven or eight in total from what the girls can see. They are all sitting at a round table near the bar with one lamp at the center of the table, emitting an orange light. The girls can only see a few of their faces clearly. One has black curly hair that could go up against Agnes' hair for the title of most messy. She has cold, black eyes and very pale skin like she hasn't seen the sun in months.

Another one has caramel brown hair tied up in a tight, small man bun. His face is stretched back a bit from how tightly his hair is pulled back. His eyes glow icy blue in the orange lamplight. His nose is a bit longer than the other's, but not as long as Snape's. His appearance looks nice, but something is off about him that the girls can't quite put their fingers on.

The last wizard that they can see scares Maria and Julia the most. Not because of his slick black hair, dark brown eyes, or pale ghostly skin, but because he can't seem to stay still. His long fingers tap impatiently on the table, and his leg bounces up and down on his toes. The insane look in his eyes makes his smile seem unhinged. He looks like he could snag a bird out of the sky with his long fingers and laugh while eating it right then and there. That's how crazy he looks.

"I TOLD YOU!" Maria and Julia grab each other's hands when the crazy man snaps. "It's only a temporary setback."

"Elias, how many times have I told you to keep your voice down!" One of the shadowed wizards that the girls can't see whisper-shouts at the crazy man, who the girls guess is named Elias.

"Whatever the setback is!" The curly haired witch takes a deep breath to keep herself from screaming. "You know what I need, so make it happen."

"Bellatrix, darling," The caramel head man says in a calm voice. He seems the most composed out of the whole group. "The girl seems to always be with someone. We can't get her alone. She's always with this group of four other girls."

"Men." The curly haired girl, Bellatrix, rolls her eyes. "Then kill all of them! It's not like we need her alive. Didn't you attempt to murder the brat at the Quidditch match?"

"Yes, but that Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor-" the shadowed man is cut off by the crazy man.

"Poor Cade has gone soft." The crazy man's voice seems to be like he's singing, but then it turns into a terrifying growl. "Kill the teacher then kill those five girls! How hard is it?!"

Cade, the shadowed man, stands up angrily. "Why don't you try it, then? You try murdering first year girls without being caught while Albus Dumbledore is right there in the stands watching!"

"Gentlemen! Calm yourselves." Another man that's shadowed raises his hands and stands up. He seems to be a bit shorter than the rest, and his voice also suggests that he's a bit crazy. "Cade, if you need help, then just ask."

"No! You all know the plan. Once I have all the pieces in place, then you strike. It'll be done by the end of the school year." Cade sits back down slowly and spins something long and thin in his hands. It looks like a wand.

Julia senses that their meeting is about to be over. She turns to Maria and tilts her head toward the closet. Maria understands and nods, her heart pounding at what they're going to attempt to do. Julia takes her wand out with her free hand just in case, while her other hand grasps Maria's. The Hufflepuff does the same. Slowly and as quietly as they can, the two girls creep along the wall.

The darkness hides them fairly well, and they are able to get extra cover behind tables and chairs. They only catch some snippets of the rest of the wizards' conversation, but they don't really care about it. All they want is to get out of here without being spotted.

Julia reaches up toward the handle for the closet door and slowly turns it. Maria holds her breath, watching the group of adult wizards. Right when Julia manages to crack open the door, the adults stand up at their table. Quickly, Julia opens the door and pulls Maria inside. The two girls run over to the trap door, lift it open, and jump in. When they land, the door slips from their fingers and it slams against the ceiling of the tunnel. Julia and Maria start sprinting down the tunnel, out of Hogsmeade and back to Hogwarts.

The girls burst through the curtain and land in the mirror room. They are both completely out of breath and shaking from how scared they are. After a few moments of composing themselves, Julia stands up and helps her friend stand as well. "W-we should go back to our dorms."

Maria squeezes Julia's hand and shakes her head, "I don't want to go back by myself... They're going to kill us! Shouldn't we tell someone?"

"Who would believe us? We'd be admitting to leaving the castle after hours!" Julia points out, reminding Maria that they could get in trouble.

"We can just show them the passageway and explain that we found it during the day when-" Maria cuts herself off when she feels a solid wall in the middle of the mirror frame. She completely turns to face the wall, expecting to feel the curtain, but her fingers brush against brick instead. "What?"

"The curtain..." Julia feels the wall as well, not believing that it seemed to have solidified for some reason. "Well, that means they can't get through, right?"

"This doesn't make sense..." Maria sighs, her brain starting to hurt. "Should we tell Hannah and the others?"

Julia nods. "Yeah, I think so. This concerns all of us. But, now that those people have no way to get inside, I doubt we will have anymore troubles with them."

"That's true. Maybe later we can find out why the passage is sealed." Maria suggests. "But for now, let's go back. Do you mind if I come with you?"

"No, not at all!" Julia smiles and takes Maria's hand. "But we should probably go to your common room instead. That way, we can just leave for breakfast before anyone comes downstairs."

"That's a good idea. Most of the Hufflepuffs have gone back home for the holidays anyway. Plus, it's the nearest to the kitchens." Maria agrees and starts leading Julia to where the Hufflepuff common room is.

The two girls exit the mirror room and start walking down the stairs. After they get to the main floor, they turn right toward the kitchens. Maria is about to turn left at the next intersecting hallway, but she stops, making Julia run into her slightly. Julia looks at Maria, confused. "Why did you-"

Maria puts a hand over the younger girl's mouth. Julia stops making noise and notices there's a faint voice coming from around the corner. It starts to get louder and louder, and the person seems to be talking to himself. When he rounds the corner, Julia and Maria see that it's only Peeves the Poltergeist.

Peeves' eyes widen at the sight of the girls, but then smiles when he realizes they aren't supposed to be up. Before Julia and Maria can do anything, Peeves inhales and screams, "FIRST YEARS IN THE CORRIDOR! FIRST YEARS OUT OF BED!"

Maria grabs Julia's arm and starts sprinting down the hallway. Their steps are surprisingly quiet compared to Peeves' yelling voice. Maria rounds a few more corners and the two stop running when they can't hear Peeves anymore. Julia takes a deep breath and does her best to smile. "That was close."

"Yeah. Let's keep going. The common room is this way." Maria feels as if her common room is the furthest away from everything. It seems to be its own isolated section of the castle. They probably should have gone straight to Gryffindor's common room, but it's too late to turn back now.

A couple more hallways and they're almost to the kitchen. This time, it's Julia that hears the sound. Footsteps seem to be coming straight at them from in front. "Maria, wait!" Julia whispers and pulls her back. However, they had nowhere to hide as Professor Snape rounds the corner, stopping right in front of them.

Snape seems to be in shock for a couple of seconds like how Peeves was. But as he begins to understand the situation, Snape can't help but to smile. "My, my. Two first years out of bed. So, the first night of break you thought you could go wherever you so pleased at anytime in the day?"

"N-no!" Julia tries to think up a quick excuse. "We both left our stuff by the Astronomy tower on accident. So, we were heading back from the tower to the Hufflepuff common room to have a sleepover."

She knows it sounded stupid, but Julia takes her star chart out of her pocket to prove her point even further. Snape inspects the parchment and slowly gives it back to her. "Why are your robes wet?"

Julia freezes internally. She had not realized that her hair and robes were wet from the falling snow. She doesn't know what to say to this. Maria, however, quickly says, "Peeves threw a bucket of water on us. Luckily it wasn't that filled."

"Hmm..." Snape studies the girls' faces for any sign of lying. He finds nothing, but that doesn't stop him from punishing them. "Ten points from Hufflepuff and Gryffindor for not waiting until the morning to obtain your Astronomy star charts. I don't want to see you two wandering the halls at night again. Now, head back to the common room."

"Yes, Professor." Maria and Julia quickly say at the same time before continuing on their journey. They finally reach the common room and Maria plays the tune to open the secret door. They run to the nearest couch and flop onto it.

"That was a close one!" Julia wipes the water off her head that dripped from her hair. "We dodged like three bullets tonight!"

"No kidding!" Maria groans and sits up on the couch. "What do you think those people are after, anyway?"

"I have no idea. We didn't hear much on what they wanted. Other than that Bellatrix girl wants it very badly." Julia tries to think of anything else they overheard, but nothing comes up. "Maybe Lauren can figure it out when we tell her about it."

"Yeah, maybe." Maria knows there's something off about this whole thing. Like, why do those people want to kill her friend group anyway? What did they do to them? Maria knows her friends can't have anything those people want, or else they'd know, right? It'd have to be something of value, something rare. Or else, those people wouldn't be after them! Ugh, all this thinking is hurting Maria's head. Little does she know, Julia is thinking the exact same things. Their thoughts only last so long though, as they both fall asleep on opposite ends of the couch.