Friday was very awkward to say the least. Maria and Alana practically hid themselves from Professor Sprout's view during Herbology, Alana just relieved she didn't have to worry about the first half of that class due to her being in Divination. Everyone was on time to Professor Flitwick's class, but he called them each out for having multiple assignments late. Transfiguration was morbidly embarrassing for the Gryffindors because she made them sit in front. Let's just say, everyone is beyond relieved when the weekend comes.

Turns out, Jeff and Kyle were bluffing when they said Agnes and Julia couldn't play this weekend. Gryffindor doesn't play at all, they just wanted to knock some sense into their star Seeker and Chaser. Today, the game is Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff, but none of the friends are going to attend. Alana even let Amy announce the whole game to dedicate the day to her homework. They have a lot of schoolwork to catch up on, and they have to start studying for exams. Even though it's the beginning of March, they feel like if they stop to rest then exams will be knocking on the front door.

Everyone is gathered in the Great Hall where Snape can keep an eye on them. He isn't attending the Quidditch game either, and is "coincidentally" having lunch the same time the seven second years are.

They decide to work on one subject each day, and get as much done as possible. Yesterday, everyone updated their star charts with Julia's guidance and wrote different essays on why Saturn's positioning is helpful to Divination practices. Right now they are working on Transfiguration with Ethan and Lauren leading the lesson. Astronomy was a breeze compared to the work McGonagall loaded onto their plate. They have to research five different Transfiguration spells and write two rolls of parchment on each, explaining the differences in usage and times where they'd be useful. To make sure their essays are all different, they had to pick thirty-five Transfiguration spells and assign five to each person. By the time they are finishing up their third essay, everyone's hands start to cramp and they start to get tired.

"I'd rather have detention every week than all these assignments. We have stuff like this for every class and we are only on class number two." Agnes rubs her eyes with her fists and rolls up her parchments, knowing she can't work on it anymore.

"Hey, if we get all of this done and we do it well, then we are back on track for our grades. It could be worse," Lauren points out, trying to be the optimist. At least their grades will survive the year and might even turn out better than expected.

"You're right, there could be an unstable potion somewhere in the castle that we started and might blow up any day now. Oh, wait." After Julia's statement, everyone pauses and then cracks up laughing. Agnes clutches her stomach and rests her forehead on the table, Maria and Hannah lean on each other's shoulders, Alana pats Agnes's back while trying to calm down herself, Julia and Ethan wipe their eyes with napkins because they start tearing up, and Lauren almost chokes on her food because she started laughing with a mouth full. All this work and lack of sleep from the past two months must be really getting to them.

Hannah puts her hand in the middle of the table and says, "I say, right now, we agree to never ever do this again. The last thing we are is a group of professional Potioneers."

Everyone, still chuckling, puts their hands on top of Hannah's and says, "Agreed!"

"Anyway, now that that's over, I have something to tell you." Ethan takes a deep breath to settle his giggles and then takes a book out of his bag.

Alana immediately lunges across Agnes's lap and forces the book back into his bag. "You kept a book from the library?! Do you know how much trouble we'd get in if-"

"Yes, I know! Which is why I've been very careful while reading it!" Ethan puts his hands up in a surrender motion to calm Alana down.

"You are clearly being so careful. Like that time you expertly almost showed us the book while Professor Snape is watching us," Maria sarcastically comments, and Ethan spots Snape glancing at them from the head table.

The friends all chuckle except for Ethan who wants to say something back, but can't think of anything and starts pouting. Agnes pats his back and says, "It's okay. Tell us what you found!"

"Fine. So, when Snape said that you or someone close to you can be the seal for the potion, it got me thinking. Why didn't the potion accept our voices as the seal? I did a bit of digging in the first year Potions book, and listen to this," Ethan pulls out his notebook he's been writing in about the potion, "Binding seals are a spell unlike any other that require a pure blooded soul to conjure. These seals are very powerful, and only a wizard who is very close to this pure blooded person can transfer the spell from the binder to the potion perfectly. Now, it doesn't say what type of pure blood, so I'm kind of stuck on that."

"That's so weird. Agnes and I are friends, and I'm a pure blood. When I sang to the potion, it still didn't work." Julia sighs and leans her cheek onto one of her palms. "Maybe it's a special type of pure blood, like you said."

"There's different pure blood types?" Maria asks before Alana can, and looks at Julia and Ethan for confirmation.

"Yeah, 'pure blood' is a loose term. There's only eleven families or so who are actual pure blooded wizards that have no history at all with Muggle family members," Julia starts explaining.

"In other words, almost everyone has some family members who are blood related Muggles," Ethan adds.

"It gets a little confusing when you keep dating your family tree back, so most people just say they're pure blood, half blood, or Muggle born based on their parents being wizards or not." Julia finishes the explanation, and everyone starts to understand a little better.

"Maybe we need a true pure blood to sing to the potion then. Do you know anyone who's a true pure blood?" Lauren looks at Julia and Ethan, and the siblings look at each other.

Thankfully, Hannah answers instead. "You've all met one. Mr. Lucius Malfoy."

"You've got to - no there can't be - how in the bloody world are we going to get him to sing to the potion?!" Agnes sits up straight and says in a mocking voice, "Here, Mr. Malfoy, could you just give me a do, re, mi, to this cauldron? Make sure it can hear you!"

"I'm not sure it'll work anyway. Ethan said the pure blood has to be very close to the brewer," Alana points out after laughing, which makes the others relieved.

The friends decide to drop the subject for now and start eating their lunch. A few of them continue their essays with a little bit of food being eaten, and soon everyone is back to Transfiguration writing. As time drags on, Professor McGonagall enters the Great Hall for some food and is very pleased to see the seven working on her assignment so diligently. However, when she takes a closer look, she becomes very concerned at how much parchment is lying on the table. "Um, what exactly are you doing?"

"Writing your essays." Julia puts down her quill and holds up her parchment to let McGonagall see. "Look, I'm on parchment one of the fourth spell. I chose the conjuring spell, Archera, which shoots arrows out of the tip of the wizard's wand. I think it's really cool! It was one of the first Transfiguration spells ever found, and therefore was used in a lot of battles during the medieval times."

"That is very intuitive, Ms. Copper, but-"

Hannah cuts Professor McGonagall off and holds up her essay, pointing to the title. "And I'm writing about Ferula, a spell that conjures a wooden rod and bandages."

"Very good, Ms. Miller, however, I-"

"It might seem like we're all doing conjuring spells, but that's the way we organized it. The first essay we wrote about different Transformation spells, the second one was Untransfiguration, third was Vanishment, and now we are on Conjuring. The last one we will just write about our favorite Transfiguration spell since there's only four categories," Lauren explains the reasoning behind their choices.

Professor McGonagall raises her voice to catch their attention so she won't be cut off again. "I am proud of you all, but you do realize this assignment was meant to take up a few weeks at most! I didn't expect you to do it all in one day."

The seven students blink, pausing for a moment. Alana grabs her Vanishment essay and gives it to Professor McGonagall. "Here, we can all give you our third essays and you can check them for quality. We aren't trying to rush! We're just genuinely interested."

"Very well, hand me your Vanishment essays and I will read them over. I'll let you know by the end of the weekend if changes need to be made." The friends hand their third essays to McGonagall and she carries all the parchments in her arms over to the head table.

The students continue to work on their fourth essay for a good half hour, but then Ethan slams his quill on the table, which catches the attention of the group, some other stray students, and even Professors McGonagall and Snape. "No actual way that's possible..."

"What? E-Kevin, what are you talking about?" Hannah looks across the table at her cousin, a concerned expression plastered on her face.

"The book used the term 'pure blooded' not 'pure blood'. But, no, it can be possible, it just can't! There's never been any record of..." Ethan tries to explain himself, but nothing logical is coming out of his mouth. His mind is thinking clearly, but his tongue isn't able to translate. He swings his legs over the bench and sprints up to the head table, looking at McGonagall. "Is the Quidditch match still going on?!"

"Er, well, when I was out there the Snitch still hadn't been spotted. Usually after games, the Great Hall is filled with students, so I assume it's still being played," Professor McGonagall answers, a bit confused at Ethan's behavior.

Ethan runs back to his friends who are all staring at him, and he starts rolling up their essays. "Come on, essays can wait! We have to go to the field right now!"

Still asking questions they aren't getting answers to, the girls pack their things quickly and rush out of the Great Hall with Ethan in the lead. McGonagall watches them all leave and looks down at all their rolled up essays in her arms. "I'll tell you, Severus, that group is quite the handful."

"You have no idea how happy it makes me to not have them all in the same Potions class at once." Snape completely agrees with McGonagall at her claim.

The seven make it to the outside of the Quidditch field right as it ends. As the people file out, Ethan keeps looking for someone in particular, and muttering things to himself like, "She might not be here... what if she isn't? We can't wait another week or the potion will explode..."

"Ethan, who are we even looking for?" Maria tries to get one solid answer out of the nine year old. She's starting to feel stupid trying to look through the crowd aimlessly.

"We have to find-" Ethan cuts himself off and his face brightens up. He runs forward and yells, "MARY!"

"Hey guys! I didn't see you in the stands. Everything alright?" Mary waves and jogs up to the group of second years.

"Oh, hi, Mary! What are you doing here? Gryffindor isn't playing today." Agnes is a bit confused as to why her sister attended the game.

"I wanted to see you! Gryffindor hasn't played in forever, and I couldn't wait any longer. How has it been?" Mary brushes some of her hair behind her ear, feeling a little uncomfortable. Students who are still leaving pass them and stare at her.

"Man, do we have a story to tell you! Basically-"

Ethan starts speaking before Lauren can go into the story of this past Tuesday. "Actually, we need your help. We can explain when we get up to the mirror room. Come on!"

Everyone reluctantly, but quickly follow Ethan back into the castle and into the mirror room. They pass Professor Knisely on the way, and have to hide from Professor Flitwick before they go up the stairs. Then, when they enter the hallway where the door is located, they have to wait for Snape to pass them so he doesn't stop to ask questions. Luckily, he is going the other way and doesn't even face them. Once everyone settles in the room, they start explaining.

Lauren continues the story and starts off with the beginning of the school year. She explains the real purpose behind the Persequi Potion and how far they've gotten. When she talks about the potion becoming unstable, Maria takes over and tells about what happened on Tuesday. She talks about how they have been going to the wrong classes, their grades being messed up, and the growing threat of the Persequi Potion. Mary scolds them all for acting that way, but is proud of them for changing. Next, Agnes takes the reins and explains how they have been working nonstop to heighten their grades. All was going well until Ethan had some sort of realization.

Then, they all direct their attention toward Ethan. He stands up proudly, starts pacing, and explains, "As I said before, the first year Potions book used the terminology 'pure blooded' instead of 'pure blood'. This has nothing to do with the amount of magic inside of you, or your family being related to Muggles at all. It's just what everyone assumes it means!"

"Well, then what does it mean exactly?" Julia asks her brother.

Before Ethan can answer, Lauren puts her hands over her mouth and gasps. "Ethan... you're right. I can't believe it."

Ethan smiles and dramatically gestures to Mary. "Agnes's sister is a complete, pure blooded Muggle. She is extremely close to Agnes and therefore qualifies to be the seal for this potion!"

"Ethan, are you sure? There has never been a Muggle documented to be needed for any type of magic!" Julia isn't sure this will work, not believing that her brother actually came up with such a preposterous idea.

"Of course I'm sure. Why not try it? We have nothing to lose at this point!" Ethan grabs the cauldron, wipes the rim with a towel, and places it in the center of the room once more. He gives the stirring rod to Agnes and steps back.

The girls all slowly follow his actions and watch as Mary and Agnes look down at the potion. Agnes places the rod into the cauldron and nods at Mary. The older sibling closes her eyes and starts singing as Agnes stirs. Everyone stares in disbelief as the potion starts illuminating the room in a white glow. When Mary stops singing, the glow dies down and everyone walks toward the cauldron, peering inside.

It has stopped bubbling, and the liquid is clear and unmoving. It might look like nothing is there at all if you just quickly glance at it. Agnes takes the black cloth out of her pocket and gently places it in the liquid. The fabric catches on fire, but no heat emanates from the flame. Agnes pushes it down further into the potion, and the cloth shrivels up entirely before it vanishes, making the potion perfectly clear once again.

"The final step of the Persequi Potion: the song of a Muggle," Hannah says in disbelief. Agnes touches the liquid with her rod again, as when it makes contact with it, the liquid turns neon green where the rod hits. When she pulls it out, the potion becomes clear again.

"Wow... I helped make that?!" Mary starts to feel all giddy on the inside and her smile widens.

"Yeah! You think you can stay and see where it leads?" Alana asks with a hopeful tone in her voice.

Mary frowns, not wanting to disappoint her friends. "I wish. I have to get back and look after our little brother to make sure he does his homework. He tends to not be very good at keeping track of everything. It was fun, though!"

"It's okay. I'll send you an owl and tell you how it goes!" Agnes promises and hugs her sister goodbye. Everyone else waves as she leaves, also saying their farewells to their Muggle friend.

"Let's wait and come back once everyone is sleeping. That way all the students will be out of the way, and we will have clear access to the mirror room and the tunnel," Julia suggests, and most of them agree.

Alana, however, shifts in her spot and worriedly asks, "We're going back through the tunnel tonight?"

The group looks over at the golden mirror frame and Agnes nods. "Yes. We have to find the culprit and put an end to this."

And so, the seven unanimously decide to come back at nightfall. For the rest of the day, they work on their essays, but they can barely pay attention anymore. Finally, once the moon rises, the second years gather once again in the room around the potion.

Agnes dips a glass into the potion and scoops up the liquid. When the potion comes into contact with the glass, it turns neon green. Agnes looks at her friends individually before taking a few huge gulps of the potion. It goes down easily, and when she opens her eyes, they glow bright neon green. The same color the potion changes to when disturbed.

"What can you see? Is there a path or do you just feel something?" Ethan asks as Agnes looks around, blinking.

"There's... a smoky green path. But, only when I close my eyes." Agnes raises her hand slowly and points to the door that leads to the hallway. "It goes there."

"What? It doesn't go through the tunnel?" Maria starts to get nervous, and her breath hitches when Agnes shakes her head.

"We'll follow you, then. Lead the way." Alana puts her hand on Agnes's shoulder, giving her confidence. Agnes takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and starts walking.

They find out quickly that Agnes can't see walls or steps, so they have to make sure she doesn't run into anything as she guides them. Alana and Julia grip her arms and walk her down the steps all the way to the first floor. Lauren and Maria stay close to each other and follow closely, Hannah and Ethan bringing up the rear. Slowly, they wander around the halls and head through a small corridor on the other side of the castle.

"No way, this is where the professors sleep." Lauren whispers and points to some of the doors as they pass. They are very spread out along the curved hallway, meaning the rooms are probably huge behind the doors. "Flitwick, Sprout, Sinistra, Trelawney..."

Everyone holds their breath, not daring to make a sound, as they continue to follow Agnes. Suddenly, she turns and stops against a door. "It goes through here."

Hannah looks up at the label above the door and whispers in shock, "Professor Knisely?"

Julia twists the handle and opens the door just enough for Agnes and a few others to peek through. Agnes sees the smoky trail swerve around and end at a man sleeping at his desk. "No, this can't be true. The path ends at Professor Knisely."