"I'm telling you, second years have the best schedules!" Maria reads the parchment with her classes on it over and over again. "It's like year one without the flying class."

"Yeah, but look at our Fridays! Charms, Transfiguration, and double Herbology! Year one we just had flying for half a year then we got it off." Agnes complains about her loaded Friday schedule.

"At least everyone has Herbology together on Fridays. We can suffer together." Lauren giggles and points out that everyone has to take double Herbology at the same time. "And we get to switch up our partners too. Look, I have Charms with Slytherins on Fridays instead of with Gryffindors like the other days. Then I have Transfiguration with Hufflepuffs instead of Gryffindors."

"And we have Charms together on Fridays, Maria." Julia smiles, glad that she gets to have a class with Hufflepuffs that's more active. "Ugh but it looks like we have to be with Slytherins during Friday Transfiguration."

"That's alright. It's probably best if we switch it up every now and then." Hannah folds her schedule and puts it in a planner she bought for the school year. "Anyway, we should be getting to class just like Alana said."

Agnes sighs loudly and slings her bag over her shoulder before standing up. "I can't believe she went to find her classes already, and that she ended up being in Hufflepuff."

"Hey, it's better than being stuck in Slytherin where none of us are," Maria sarcastically comments. She doesn't know what she'd do if she was sorted into Slytherin where icky Olivia and her friends are.

Olivia Monic is a Slytherin in their year who hates the group of girls for some reason. She almost put a curse on Maria during day one last year, but Julia stepped in and attacked Olivia first. Even though she got a detention for it, Julia doesn't regret her actions. Olivia has her own posse of Slytherins that follow her around and do her bidding. There's Alex who's obsessed with Lauren, Max who creepily stalked the group last year, two guys that always follow Olivia around but they don't know their names, and Talon who's just annoying.

The girls all stand up and start heading to their classes. The three Gryffindor girls and Lauren head off to Charms while Maria breaks off to go to Transfiguration with the Slytherins. Maria gets to her class easily and finds an open seat next to Alana in the front row. "You excited!?"

"Am I? You better believe it! Ilvermorny was really strict and we barely got to do magic even in the classroom." Alana rolls her eyes when she thinks back on her old classes. She regrets even attempting to go there. She knows she made the right choice to transfer.

"Good morning class! Let's not waste time now, I have a very specific time restraint on our lesson for today." Professor McGonagall stands up from behind her desk and chalk starts magically writing words down on the chalkboard. "Today I will be preparing you for year two Transfigurations starting with goblet transformations."

Maria starts writing down all the steps to transfiguring an animal or insect into a goblet. She is really surprised to see Alana catching right onto the lesson and seemingly having no troubles keeping up with Professor McGonagall. When the lesson is halfway over, however, Maria feels stares at the back of her neck. She glances behind her and sees Olivia a few rows behind her, glaring at her. No, she's not glaring at her, she's glaring at Alana. Maria smiles, realizing that Alana took Olivia's seat so that she can't sit by her and harass her throughout the lesson. The blonde thinks this will be a good turning point and make this year way better than the last one.

Hannah, Agnes, Julia, and Lauren start off class by refreshing their charms skills. They each successfully perform the levitation spell, Wingardium Leviosa, multiple times on their quills. The first charms they ever learned last year, Lumos and Nox, are so simple that they can almost do it without saying the words out loud. Agnes is so happy about doing magic for the first time in forever that she actually takes notes throughout the whole class. Today they're learning the basics to a new charm called Alohomora, which is an unlocking charm. They don't perform the spell yet, just learn how to do it.

"That was so much fun!" Agnes says as she closes her notebook. She stuffs it recklessly back into her bag and follows her friends out of the classroom. "We actually got to do stuff today!"

"I agree. I hope that Defense Against the Dark Arts is better this year since we are getting a new professor." Lauren crosses her fingers. She has that class next with Maria and Alana. Professor Laney was their teacher last year, and although he wasn't a bad person, he wasn't that great of a teacher.

"It'll rock, girl. Don't worry." Julia smiles, but it quickly vanishes when they get to the point in the hallway where they have to part ways with Lauren. "See you after classes today. Wish us luck in Potions."

"Of course, good luck guys!" Lauren waves and heads over to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Julia, Hannah, and Agnes walk down a long set of stairs until they reach the dungeons where the Potions classroom is held. They get there surprisingly earlier than normal and manage to get seats close to one another. After a few moments, a shy Gryffindor boy that Hannah recognizes walks into the class. It's Adam, the boy who she fell onto last year when she was being attacked by a rogue Bludger at a Quidditch game. Hannah smiles at Adam. "Hi, do you need a Potions partner?"

"Y-yeah, actually." Adam tries to meet Hannah's eyes, but keeps looking down at the floor. His hands grip his bag a bit tightly while his face becomes flushed.

"I'll move and partner with Agnes. Hannah, sit here." Julia and Hannah switch seats and Adam sits next to Hannah. Julia is silently grateful that Adam needed a partner because she didn't want to be stuck with Raymond, an annoying Gryffindor in her year, again.

Right when Adam gets settled, Professor Snape whisks into the room. His black robes make him look akin to a phantom of some kind, but the three girls are used to it. They would find it really weird if Snape showed up in neon yellow shoes and bright pink robes. The thought makes Agnes laugh.

"Today is a partner potion making lesson. Open your books to page 500 and get started right away. You will need all the time in this class to complete the potion." Professor Snape writes the instructions on the chalkboard and goes to sit at his desk.

Before he can, Hannah raises her hand timidly and speaks when he makes eye contact with her. "Professor, a lot of us don't have our books because, well... we weren't able to acquire them from Diagon Alley."

"Ms. Miller, what year are you in?" Professor Snape asks with a tone that screams why are you this stupid?

"Th-this is my second year, sir." Hannah doesn't know where this is going, but she knows it isn't going to end well.

"Starting your second year it would be smart to assume that you would be starting Potions Two. The books for the class Potions Two never change, and therefore you didn't need to wait for your letter to get them from Diagon Alley. Using the late letters as an excuse is unacceptable, Ms. Miller. Turn to page 500 and get started on your potions. For those of you without your books, I want a foot long essay on which ingredient to let simmer in the Draught of Living Death for homework. I want everyone to have their potions on my desk by the end of class." Professor Snape stares at Hannah, daring her to say something else, but she doesn't.

Hannah almost cries of joy when Adam says he has his own Potions Two book. They let Julia and Agnes share for a while, but Snape comes over and tells them off for cheating. Ten points are taken from Gryffindor, and Julia and Agnes have to figure out the rest of the potion by themselves without instructions. They try to copy what Hannah and Adam are doing, but they're going way too slow to be able to finish on time. In the end, Julia and Agnes's potion just looks like a vial of sandy slime. Well, at least they didn't blow anything up. Hannah and Adam's on the other hand is next to perfect. Once they're finished, the four of them put their potions on his desk and leave, passing a smirking Olivia with her book opened and reading from page 500.

Defense Against the Dark Arts is not better than last year. Lauren and Maria would do anything to have Professor Laney back. The new professor, Professor Knisley, seems very strict. Even though his name is pronounced 'nicely', he is anything but nice. Maria let Alana sit next to Lauren, but right when they sat down, Professor Knisley stood up and yelled at them to switch places. "There won't be any rearranging in my classroom! You were sorted into your houses and that's where you'll stay!"

Professor Knisley forces all the Ravenclaws to sit on one side and all the Hufflepuffs on the other. Probably because she was the first to go against his unspoken rule, he makes Lauren sit in the far back corner away from Maria and Alana. To make things extra worse, these are the seats they will sit in for the entirety of the school year. Once the class actually starts, all they do for the entire time is learn about the different rules of the classroom. "Never ever be late, students. I was very generous today letting some strays into the room after the bell, but this is the first and only time that will happen! If you're late, you miss out on everything! If you try to cheat and get the information from another student after class is over, you'll be serving detention with me, understand?!"

The class is a nightmare, and the three friends are beyond relieved when it's over. Maria, Alana, and Lauren quickly walk over to the Great Hall to meet up with their Gryffindor friends and complain about the class they had to endure.

"He's so demanding! The guy has no respect for his students at all, and I'm sure he believes that everyone is trying to cheat or something!" Alana stabs her sandwich harshly with her fork and rips off a piece. She doesn't normally eat a sandwich with silverware, but she needed to get her anger out.

"Yeah he's a real jerk. At least Professor Laney was nice to us. He even had a sense of humor." Maria recalls the time she asked Professor Laney a question out of class, but then Julia ran out of the room and ditched her. Professor Laney could barely hold in his laughter that day.

Hannah doesn't say anything on the topic, remembering that he was probably being mind controlled for most of the year by the death eater who tried to kill her. Lauren sighs and scoops up some soup into her spoon. "All we have to do is follow his rules and we will be fine. He probably has a reason for the way he teaches."

"And that's only your story. You won't believe what happened to Hannah in Potions!" Agnes tells the three other friends about Hannah's questions she asked about the books. She tells about how they have to write an extra essay for homework. When they hear how Professor Snape responded, they get really angry.

"How does he expect anyone to have their books?! Diagon Alley was practically abandoned after what happened!" Alana grips her fork so hard she almost snaps it in half. "Luckily I wasn't in the bookstore when the explosion went off."

"We ran inside," Julia explains, "We were walking to the store because that's the last place we needed to go, and the explosion happened. Hannah's siblings were inside, so we ran to go help them."

"That's awful! I was in Gringotts when it happened. Are your siblings okay?" Alana looks worriedly at Hannah.

The brunette smiles and nods at the concerned Hufflepuff. "Yeah, they just got buried by books. We probably should have bought them then and there but we didn't."

"Hannah, Snape shouldn't have said that to you. It wasn't right of him to do that." Maria tries to make Hannah feel better, but it only works a little. Hannah just thinks it's best if she stays quiet during class from now on, especially in Potions.

Maria is about to say something else, but a black and white owl flies through the window of the Great Hall and plops a letter on her lap. Maria gives the bird a few nuts before opening the envelope and reading what's inscribed. "Maria, I'm sorry it's such late notice, but I'm not coming back to school this year. My parents think it's unsafe and aren't letting me come back. I wish you the best and hope this year is way better than the last one. Your friend, Kyah."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Maria. I know you two got along well." Lauren sighs when she hears the letter read out loud.

"It's fine. Just kind of sucks. I guess it is just gonna be Claudia, Emmy and us then, Alana!" Maria looks on the brighter side of the situation. If Mary or Kyah didn't leave, then Alana would be in a different dorm.

"You know it, girl!" Alana smiles and finishes her lunch.

The girls leave right before the warning bell rings and they go to their third classes of the day. Lauren goes outside into the greenhouse with the Slytherins, and luckily manages to get a table with her roommates Jenna and Jasmine. Maria, Alana, Julia, Agnes, and Hannah head over to History of Magic.

Maria is able to tolerate History of Magic while actually finding some of it intriguing, but the others don't and have trouble staying awake during the class. Professor Binns is their teacher, and he's a ghost who died in a fire and just came to work the next day without his body. It doesn't help that his personality is as bland as how would one imagine a ghost's personality to be.

Lauren is rather fond of Herbology and thinks it's a real breather. Even though Alex is in her class, she does everything she can to avoid his eye. Thankfully, her friend helped put him in his place last year, so he's being less stalkerish than normal. Once class is over, Lauren heads over to Potions with Maria and Alana while Julia, Agnes, and Hannah go to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

It is about as bad as the Gryffindors made it sound, except Professor Snape doesn't seem as hard on them. Maria took a seat with Claudia as her partner to let Lauren and Alana work together. Even though none of them have their books, Professor Snape didn't give them an essay for homework. All they have to do is figure out a way to get a book as soon as they can. The class is a bit hard since they don't have their instructions, but they manage to at least get something done without setting their cauldrons on fire.

Thankfully, Julia, Agnes, and Hannah are all Gryffindors. They get to sit near each other even through Professor Knisley's rules. The class goes just as the Hufflepuffs and Lauren said it would. All they are lectured on is about the rules and how if they break even none of them, it's a detention. Once the class is over, the Gryffindors are completely wiped out. They forgot how exhausting classes were, but at least their first half of the school day was fun.

"Oh man I can't wait to go to sleep." Alana rests her head on Agnes's shoulder and starts snoring loudly.

Agnes walks a little to the right, making Alana's head drop off. "Yeah and then wake up just to go to school again."

"Well, we do get a free period tomorrow." Hannah looks over her schedule once again. "In the third period. All of us have a break. Wanna head over to the lake and do homework?"

The girls all nod and agree to meet up at the lake. That's where they normally went last year when they had a break period or when they just wanted to hang out together. Julia stretches her hands over her head and yawns as they all reach the bottom of the stairs. "Well, this is where we part ways. I'm going to get my stuff ready for tomorrow and have some dinner in the Gryffindor common room. Homework can wait until tomorrow."

"Psst."

"I agree. I might do some Transfiguration stuff, but then I'm off to bed." Lauren brushes her hair back and adjusts her bag.

"PSST!"

"Meet in the Great Hall for breakfast. See you all tommo-" Julia cuts herself off when she hears someone whisper her name. She turns around quickly and holds up her wand, making her five friends on edge.

On a wall a little to her right a door cracks open, and a boy peeks his head out quickly. "Psst, Julia!"

"Oh... my... gosh..." Julia puts her wand back onto her belt and runs over to the door. She flings it open and has to remember to breathe when she sees who's standing there. "Ethan?!"

The five other girls run over to Julia once they hear her say her brother's name. Maria and Hannah are the first to say, "What?!"

"What, wait... what?!" Agnes almost drops her wand, but thankfully catches it.

"What's going on?" Alana is a bit confused. She thought Julia was the only child that attended Hogwarts and her siblings were too young.

"Julia, are you..." Lauren walks over and then spots Ethan. "WHAT?!"

"Shh! Get in!" Ethan pulls Julia inside and the other girls follow. Lauren closes the door and makes sure it's tightly shut while the others all light up their wands with the Lumos charm.

"Oh my gosh, Ethan what the heck are you doing here?!" Julia almost faints and scrambles to find her words. She whisper-shouts to get her point across. "How did you? Why did you? What did you?! You better start explaining right now!"

"Okay, okay! Just listen!" Ethan looks at all the girls individually and then takes a deep breath to gather his thoughts. "That wizarding camp thing was just a front to trick mum and dad. My friend and I have been hearing rumors after the Diagon Alley incident. We knew no one would believe the rumors, so I told him that I should sneak over and make sure everyone stays safe!"

"What were the rumors...?" Hannah asks the question on everyone's mind.

"Someone is going to break into the school to find something that was lost during the attack at the alley." Ethan pauses to let that sink in.

Lauren becomes a bit confused, however, and says, "Ethan, everything was accounted for in the bookstore after the fight. Nothing was taken."

"That's what they want everyone to think so that no one freaks out! Apparently the item was brought here. I have to make sure it stays hidden to protect the school!" Ethan explains.

Agnes puts up her hands and looks at everyone. "This is all very interesting, but wouldn't anyone like to know how Ethan got into the school in the first place?!"

Everyone silently agrees and looks at Ethan for an explanation. "I bought school robes from the robe shop with the money dad gave me. Sorry, Julia, but I also stole one of your ties. My friend and I followed you from a distance at the train station and I snuck around while everyone's parents said their goodbyes. Then I got on the train in the far back. I pretended to be a second year since I had a tie already and took a carriage to the school. When everyone went to the Great Hall, I mentioned going to the bathroom and hid in here instead."

Everyone is so shocked and confused. Way more shocked and confused than Stephen getting sorted into Hufflepuff last night. The girls all look from Ethan to each other, and the only thing they can say is, "What?!"