The rest of the week went just as well for Ethan as the first day had, but Maria is making it a lot better for him. She allowed him to look at her notes from Defense Against the Dark Arts and some of her electives, which made him feel less babied. Starting their Saturday is a decent pile of first week homework and therefore all of the friends are working together inside the library at one huge desk.

"I think we should start expanding our star charts next. Professor Sinistra told us to have all the moons of Jupiter plotted and explained by next class," Julia suggests as they wrap up their Herbology.

"Can we take a break? I wanna get some broom riding in so I can practice for tryouts." Agnes groans and rolls her eyes. "It's only ten and we've finished so much so far."

"I agree. I told Adam I'd meet up with him before noon so we could work on our Potions homework together." Hannah pulls out the assignment as she states her claim, making sure she has everything.

"Come on, guys. Star charts don't take that long." Julia waves her paper in front of their faces, but Maria only chuckles and shakes her head playfully.

"Taking a break is good for your brain, Jules. Go outside with Agnes or something." Maria tries to convince her hard working friend to put down her utensils.

Seeing her starting to pout, Lauren perks up and pulls out one of her textbooks. "I'll do Divination with you, Julia. Let the others rest for a bit."

The Gryffindor thankfully agrees and the rest are free to do their own thing. Ethan stands up with Dylan to look around the library, Agnes jumps up and sprints outside to utilize her key to the Quidditch shed, Hannah starts walking to the courtyard to meet Adam, and Maria slides to the end of the table to give her working friends some space. Not really knowing what to do, Maria pulls out a small book from her bag and opens it to the page she last bookmarked.

It's the book of her dad. She's been thinking about it lately, well, more of the mystery of who sent it to her. For now, however, she just has to settle with her theories and accepting the book is in her possession for a reason.

She's gotten halfway through it so far, loving to reread the pages over and over again so she gets a full look at it before she continues onward. Flipping the page, she finds a moving picture of her dad smiling and holding his wand by his side. He seems to be wearing an ugly sweater colored navy blue and bronze labeled with an eagle on the chest. There are decorations in the background, signaling that it's Christmas time. As the picture moves, enchanted snow starts to fall on his head and he yells happily at the trick. After watching the picture move back and forth for a few moments, Maria notices something inscribed in the corner of the page.

She has only seen a few sloppy messages written in the book so far, so Maria has to hold in her gasps as she tries to read it. The handwriting is smudged, but she can just make out the words: First Christmas... learned my favorite spell...

What spell? What is his favorite spell?! Heart dropping like lead, Maria stares at the last smudge with a hard gaze, trying desperately to read what it says. Frustrated, she closes the book and leans her head back to look at the ceiling. This must be how Agnes feels when she tries to read Alana's handwriting. She should talk to her about that, maybe it'll make her feel better.

Maria stands up and heads out to look for Agnes after telling her two friends where she's going. She passes a bunch of students as she wanders around the halls, trying to make her way up to the front of the building, but one voice in particular makes her completely stop in her tracks and turn down a new corridor. To her annoyance, Olivia stands there with her short, blonde haired best friend and blocking a red headed Hufflepuff. Maria becomes even more irritated when she sees that Hufflepuff is her cousin, Claudia.

Walking closer, she can hear Olivia snarling, "Sorry, but that club is for smart people. We are taking the last two spots."

"Well, if this club is for smart people, and you're signing up, then I will surely make the cut." Claudia does not sound amused at all, rolling her eyes at Olivia's statement.

"You can't. You need a partner to participate! Unless you wish to just magick up a fake friend," the blonde girl says with a snicker.

Maria marches up to the scene and takes her wand out. Olivia gasps and takes a step back, but is shocked when she sees her turn toward the sign up sheet and write her name. "I'll be your partner, Ccii."

Claudia smiles triumphantly and turns to face Olivia's friend. Neither of them look happy, Olivia especially. "You don't even know what you signed up for!"

"And yet I know I'll be better at it than you." Maria crosses her arms and glares down at the Slytherin.

Seeing she's not going to win this fight, Olivia sighs dramatically while rolling her eyes and growls, "Whatever, I know you're all talk you little halfblood."

Something sparks from inside Maria's chest, flickering into a fire that she thinks is anger. Under Olivia's left foot, a huge explosion makes the ground erupt and throw the bully off balance. The flooring breaks into little pebbles as it hits the ceiling and rains down on Olivia's head.

Everyone in the hallway turns and stares at Maria with a slight look of fear. Even Claudia jumped back at the explosion. Olivia scoots a few paces away from her, breathing rapidly while her friend shields herself behind her and says, "W-what are you playing at?!"

Olivia looks behind Maria, and she could tell she would have smiled if she wasn't so scared. She points at Maria and yells, "Professor Snape, she tried to kill me!"

Maria spins around so quickly that she almost gives herself whiplash. Professor Snape must have come in right after the event occurred. He looks at the wand in Maria's hand and becomes concerned. He takes out his own and waves it, allowing the destroyed flooring to put itself back together. "Come with me, Ms. Brown." Snape puts a hand on Maria's shoulder and leads her away. Claudia starts to follow them, but he stares at her right in the eye and orders, "Just Ms. Brown."

Claudia steps back and Maria is led out of the hallway by Professor Snape. She thought he would lead her to his or Dumbledore's office, but it turns out that his classroom is closer than either of those. At least it's empty so people don't have to witness her expulsion. Professor Snape closes the door and Maria expects him to walk behind his desk, but he pulls out a stool from a student's instead and sits down. He puts his wand on the table and nods at the third year. "Explain."

Maria bursts out into words, trying not to hyperventilate as she recounts the events over in her head. It wasn't a very long interaction, so she only needs a few moments to tell the whole story. She holds back the urge to cry once she's done, looking at Snape as he thinks long and hard about what she told him. Finally, he turns back to her and asks, "You don't know the spell you used? Intriguing."

"What does that mean, Professor? I thought every spell had an incantation you spoke aloud to trigger the spell. That's what I learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts." At Maria's question, Snape slightly rolls his eyes.

"Clearly your professor lacks the competence of advanced magic. Starting year six you will learn how to use spells without requiring a spoken incantation." Snape stands up and places a hand on his chin, slowly walking over to his desk. His footsteps stop and he turns to look at her once again. "And you didn't think of any incantation?"

Maria only shakes her head in response and watches as he attempts to process the information given to him. Finally, he opens his mouth to speak but before he can say anything, the classroom door bursts open. To their surprise, Mr. Harlowe rushes inside and only trips over the scattered stools a few times. "W-wait, Professor Snape! I know what she did looks bad, but hear me out."

"Before you try to convince me to not expel Ms. Brown, I'll let you know that was never my intention." Professor Snape glares at the intruder, unamused. "And, perhaps, you should fix your appearance before you head out into public."

She didn't notice when he ran inside, but Maria sees that Professor Snape is right. Mr. Harlowe's hair looks darker than usual and is completely messed up. Along with that, he has freckles all over his face and one of his eyes is purple while the other retains its normal color. Mr. Harlowe looks confused at the question, but he laughs after a moment and stands up straight. "Oh, this," he points his finger at his face, "was me trying to demonstrate how to defend against Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class yesterday. Those seventh years know how to fight if I tell you the truth."

Professor Snape is about to say something else, but Mr. Harlowe interrupts his thought, "As I was saying, I heard about what happened by the club sign up sheet. Professor McLaughlin and I would love to offer our personal training to Ms. Brown and teach her how to control her powers more effectively."

With venom laced in the back of his voice, Snape does not lower his glare and says, "I think Ms. Brown would benefit more with a teacher who knew how to defend themselves against seventh year Transfiguration students." Maria can't help but to widen her eyes at the insult and he continues, "I will be the one to help her. If I'm correct, you have a free block?"

Maria takes a moment to realize the question was directed at her. She turns to Professor Snape and nods. "Thursdays in the afternoon... after my Care of Magical Creatures class."

"Then it's settled." Professor Snape leans back against his desk and smirks at Mr. Harlowe.

However, the Defense Against the Dark Arts assistant refuses to give up so easily. His face turns a bit pink with anger and he looks between Snape and Maria. "I really don't think-"

"I said it's settled," Snape says impatiently. He waves his wand and the door of the classroom opens, indicating that it's Mr. Harlowe's cue to leave.

Clearly angered, he glares at the professor one last time before marching out of the room and saying loudly, "But when she doesn't make any progress, McLaughlin's door is always open!"

"Next week after your Care of Magical Creatures class, you are to come straight here. Bring your Defense Against the Dark Arts book with you," Snape orders once he's sure Mr. Harlowe fully left.

Trying not to show her sadness, Maria nods and says, "Alright, Professor. I'll be here."

"You may go." Professor Snape waves in front of him, gesturing for Maria to leave. She doesn't ask anything else as she heads back into the hallway.

She walks back to the club sign up sheet, but Claudia isn't there. Olivia and her friend most likely ran to the hospital wing despite receiving no actual injuries. Maria turns and decides to continue with the whole reason she was walking in the first place, to find Agnes.

Of course, she finds her friend on the Quidditch field zooming around in one of the brooms from the shed. Agnes must have noticed her because she drops from the sky and lands roughly on the ground, needing to bend her knees from how fast she fell. She runs over to the blonde with a huge grin. "Maria! What urged you to leave the library? Want to fly with me and get over your fear of heights?"

"That would be great, but I'm actively avoiding that. I wanted to talk to you, but first I have to tell you what happened on my way here." Maria explains her encounter with Olivia and how there was an explosion in the hallway as they walk over to the stands to sit down.

Agnes gasps loudly when Snape enters the story and rolls her eyes when Maria tells her about how she has an extra class now. "That should be extra credit or something! That's more work. Does he really think he can make you take an extra class with him?"

"I don't know, but I think it will help. Whatever happened made him very concerned." Maria sighs and looks out into the field. "Mr. Harlowe came rushing in and wanted to train me with Professor McLaughlin, but I don't want to make Professor Snape angry. I think I'm going to attend the first class and see what happens."

"It would be for the best, but if I were you I'd go to McLaughlin. He is the Defense teacher, and what you did sounded pretty defensive." Agnes shrugs, trying to give some solid advice. She hasn't thought of herself as the best at giving advice, but she can always try when needed. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Maria takes a deep breath and looks at her friend. "I was wondering if you'd tell me more about how you read Alana's Map." She sees that Agnes's eyes flicker into a darker color for a moment, so she pulls out her book. "I'll show you something personal first if it helps."

"Alright." Agnes's voice is small, but it's better than a denial. Maria opens her book to the marked page, telling her about her dad and what she's learned so far. Agnes becomes intrigued. "And you don't know who sent it?"

"No, it's something I know I can't answer right now. What's bugging me is what he wrote here." Maria points to the message from her dad.

"It looks like... a smudge. Maybe it means a spell that deals with Transfiguration?" Agnes suggests.

Maria laughs, but doesn't think it's a symbol. "No, I doubt he would do that. It's a picture book not a riddle book."

"Well, you did say he was a Ravenclaw." Agnes shrugs and opens her bag to carefully pull out the folded map. "Okay, you still want to take a look with me?"

"If you're fine with it." Maria nods, but doesn't want to pry Agnes with information she doesn't want to share. To her surprise, she spreads out the parchment and lays it over both their laps. Maria gets completely overwhelmed with everything going on with the map. Her eyes try to follow the constantly moving arrows while her brain attempts to figure out the significance of the many areas circled in random places of the map. "Woah... this is crazy."

"I know. I can barely read her handwriting." At Agnes's comment, Maria looks at a long message that was scribbled in the corner of the map. She didn't even think to look at the writings all over the parchment yet, too transfixed by the pictures, circles, arrows, and all the movement.

"How many places are circled?" Maria asks, getting too distracted by the moving arrows to count.

"Twelve. Which makes me believe there's twelve artifacts." Agnes reaches over and points to one circled place on Maria's side. "I've only figured out this one. It's Gringotts."

"And the message under it has the number 711 included." Maria scans through the very bad cursive writing and picks out the numbers.

"Exactly. Before school started, I went to Gringotts with my sister to see what was inside vault 711, but the bloody Goblin running the place wouldn't let me inside!" Agnes sighs with a small growl and puts a hand on her forehead. "My only lead and I couldn't investigate. Wouldn't even tell me who it belonged to. I've been trying to decipher another one of these sections, but I'm starting to think I'm unfit for this."

"No, she chose you for a reason. We can figure it out together," Maria offers, hoping Agnes accepts.

"I would really like that. Going through this alone has been a pain." Agnes sighs in relief and goes to continue looking over the map, but movement on the field makes her gaze shift upward. "Hang on. Who's that?"

Maria's eyes shoot to be level with Agnes's and she looks at the Quidditch field as well. She is surprised to see a tall person in a black robe walking quickly over to where they're sitting. She would have no idea who he was if not for his platinum blonde, long hair and thin black cane. "Why is Lucius Malfoy walking toward us?"