The next few days were a blur. Not because they went by fast, but because they were so busy. Agnes, Hannah, Maria, Julia, and Lauren barely had any time to rest because of their classes. Even their free time was packed with homework.

If you needed Lauren, she was in the library. That's where she went to get all her homework done, because her resources were just right there on the bookshelves. Maria can normally be found either in the Hufflepuff common room, the library with Lauren, or doing her homework in the Great Hall while eating. Hannah found a secret hiding spot to do her homework where there was no one around to disturb her. She has a knack for finding said places because she grew up in a house of seven kids. Hannah did her work in a small room by the tower the owls rested in. Julia usually does her homework in the Great Hall with Maria, or in the common room by the fire. Agnes doesn't mind noise when she's working, so she usually does her homework in the common room or in class right before it starts.

Wednesday put a weird dent into everyone's schedules. Late at night on Wednesday, all of the first years went outside for Astronomy class. This was by far Julia's favorite, and the other four girls sat by her so she could help them with their star charts.

By Thursday, the girls were so tired that they all fell asleep during lunch. Maria is the only one awake. She watches as the other four girls sleep with their heads on the table, and she tries not to nod off herself. After Astronomy class last night, they all had to stay up extra late to get their homework done for Thursday. As a plus, the Gryffindors just got out of double Potions and the other two just got out of double Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Maria is just about to close her eyes when she hears the soft fluttering of owl wings. She manages to lift her head and keep her eyes open to see Julia's owl land on the sleeping head of its owner, a piece of parchment in its beak.

The Hufflepuff girl manages to chuckle at the sight and takes the letter from the owl. She takes off a piece of a cracker and gives the owl her treat. Maria reads the back of the envelope to see it's addressed to Julia. Maria shakes Julia's shoulder. "Get up, you got a letter!"

After a couple more moments of shaking her, Julia finally slowly sits up. "Urg... is it time to go to class already?"

"No, silly. Your owl brought you a letter." At Maria's words, Julia becomes more alert.

Maria hands Julia her letter and the Gryffindor opens it frantically. She scooches closer to Maria so the girl can read what's there as well:

Julia,

I'm guessing this Professor Snape is the head of the Slytherin House. Don't get too worked up on what happened, we are proud of you for standing up to that bully. If Snape keeps giving you a hard time, we advise you to head over to Hagrid. He's the keeper of the keys, and he has direct ties to Dumbledore. I, your father, got in trouble a lot at school for small things just like that because the Slytherin Head of House caught me. Again, don't get too worked up, it happens to a lot of people.

(This is Ethan) I can't believe you got in trouble your first day! I just lost a bet with my friend Dylan thanks to you! Although, I am proud that you're a Gryffindor.

(Hi Julia! This is Andrew) I can not bewieve that a teacher is a meanie to you! Wen I get there, I will beat him up four you.

We love you, Goosie!

Love, the fam.

"You're parents are so cool." Maria chuckles when she reads the note. "My family would have probably sent me home."

"And leave you with no way to learn how to control your magic? That wouldn't be very smart." Julia folds up the note and tosses it onto the table. "How is it living with Muggles anyway?"

Maria thinks for a moment, trying to find the right words. "It can be fun at times, but knowing what I know now, it can be really boring. You must do magic a lot at home since you knew how to do that attack spell."

Julia looks around her, making sure no one is listening. "My dad taught me a few things when my mom wasn't home. He said that I should know how to defend myself just in case..."

"In case?" Maria asks just when Agnes and Lauren wake up. Lauren shakes Hannah awake and the brunette slowly sits up in her seat.

"We should be heading to class now." Lauren looks at the clock in the Great Hall, and reads they have five minutes before class starts.

"Wait!" Maria doesn't want to change the subject just yet, and she gets everyone's attention. "Julia, in case what?"

Everyone looks at Julia with a confused face. Julia looks at Hannah, since she might be the only other person that knows. "You-Know-Who."

Hannah's eyes widen and Agnes laughs, thinking this is a joke. "You-Know-Who? What type of person would want people to call them that?!"

"Oh, you mean Voldemort?" At Lauren's question, Hannah and Julia shush her harshly. Lauren's green eyes widen and she puts her hands up in defense. "Sorry, but I thought he was gone for good!"

"Who's Voldemort?" Maria asks. At the sound of his name, Julia puts her hand over Maria's mouth.

"Call him You-Know-Who. He is a very bad dark wizard that was terrorizing wizards, witches, and Muggles for years." Hannah explains. She makes sure everyone is paying attention before she continues. "Three years ago, You-Know-Who went to kill a family named the Potter family. He managed to kill the mother and father, but the one year old boy, named Harry Potter, didn't die. Instead, You-Know-Who disappeared, leaving the mystery as to how Harry survived."

"So, if he's gone," Agnes puts a hand in her chin and asks, "why can't we say his name?"

"His followers." Julia answers the question simply, knowing it was coming up. "Some of his followers are still loyal to him. They think You-Know-Who managed to split from his body and is still out there somewhere. And believe me, they can all be dangerous in their own special ways."

"How do you know? If You-Know-Who vanished three years ago, we would have been like seven or eight years old! Did you run into any of his minions?" Maria asks, fear in her voice.

"Oh no, we never had bad experiences with his followers." Hannah's expression brightens, her brown eyes filled with pride. "My dad and Julia's parents were apart of the wizard group who fought back against You-Know-Who!"

The clock rings throughout the Great Hall, and the five girls look around to see everyone has left for class. Lauren stands up, pulling Hannah and Agnes out of their seats as well. "We can talk about this later! We are late for class!"

Professor Laney didn't seem to mind at all when the three Gryffindors entered the classroom late. The only thing he did was ask for their homework assignment, which they gladly gave to him, and he let them take their seats. The entire class, and mind you it's a double period today, is spent going over the homework in detail and writing another essay on basically the same topic.

"This is downright abuse." Agnes grumbles to Hannah quietly so the professor can't hear her. "When are we actually going to do something interesting? Something that will help us in a dangerous situation?"

Hannah looks up from her notes and sighs. "Maybe after the first week? We might be getting all the basics down first and then onto the good stuff."

"We better be." Agnes rolls her eyes and goes back to her notes. Out of all the classes, this one is her favorite, and she wants to actually have something to look forward to during it.

"Wait! I have an idea." Lauren grabs Maria's hand and pulls her into the library behind her.

Maria has no idea what Lauren is doing, but decides not to question it. Lauren takes a random book off the shelf and plops it on the librarian's desk. In a confident voice, Lauren says, "We were getting this book for our Potions class. Professor Snape asked us to also get a note from you to make sure we didn't skip class."

Madam Irma Pince, the scary librarian, eyes the two girls like a vulture. She slowly checks out the book and writes a note to Professor Snape. Lauren thanks Madam Pince and exits the library with Maria following her.

"That was brilliant!" Maria whispers once they are out of earshot.

Lauren smiles and inspects the note. "It says: Please excuse these girls from missing a section of class. They were at the library picking up a book. Signed, Madam Pince. Okay, this is our ticket inside. Let's go."

Maria is so glad to have a Ravenclaw friend. She would have never thought to get a note from another teacher as an excuse for being tardy. When she reaches the door to Snape's class, she isn't nearly as frightened as she would have been without the note.

Lauren and Maria slowly open the door to find their fellow Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs getting supplies from the closet. Maria notices Snape at his desk with his head down, seeming to be deeply engrossed in a book. Lauren finds this odd and slips the note into her pocket. She glances at a student's open book and finds the page number.

The two girls get to their desk and Lauren whispers to Maria, "Heat up the pot and turn to page 189. I'll get the ingredients."

Maria does as Lauren says and together, they start the potion. Professor Snape doesn't even seem to notice that they came in late, and now they have a missing class note from the librarian that they don't know what to do with.

Surprisingly, Lauren and Maria are the third group done with their potion. They quickly pack their things and rush over to the Great Hall so they can tell their Gryffindor friends what happened.

Agnes, Julia, and Hannah sit at the table with Lauren and Maria, and are immediately bombarded with their friends' story. After Lauren and Maria are done explaining, they show the Gryffindors their note.

Julia picks up the note and takes a look at it carefully. "There's no date written, and no spell date mark. We could use this for anything, it doesn't even say Professor Snape's name!"

"Yeah, the librarian is a joker." The five girls jump and turn around to see an older looking girl with short, wavy brown hair and piercing yellow eyes. Julia recognizes her as the girl who helped her out in Potions one time, Delphia. "I'd keep that safe if I were you. A lot of students have tried and failed to get a fail safe note like that."

"Well, we are not going to actually use it, right guys?" Hannah crosses her arms and looks around at her friends to back her up.

Delphia chuckles. "Well, if you don't want it, I'll just-"

"No!" Lauren snatches the note back up into her hand to keep it out of Delphia's reach. "Think about it, Hannah. We are a group of five, we might need it at some point."

Maria stares at Delphia, thinking that she's going to call them out or take it forcefully. Instead, Delphia only smirks and winks before walking away. "Exactly."

After Delphia walks away, Agnes turns to the others. "So, what are we going to do with this thing? Use it if we are tardy?"

Lauren shrugs and puts it safely in her bag. "Who knows? We might need it for something important too, so only use it for emergencies."

Everyone agrees with Lauren and starts eating their dinner. Julia brings up the note her parents sent her and lets the other three girls read over it. Hannah becomes excited when she reads Hagrid's name. "Can I go with you to meet him, Julia?!"

"Sure! Anyone else want to go?" Julia asks. Maria, Agnes, and Lauren all agree to go, and they set the time to be after classes tomorrow. After all, they only have one class on Fridays, and it's a double period Flying Class.

"We will meet you out in the fields then." Lauren suggests, gesturing to herself and Maria. "Right after class, we will all head over to Hagrid's."

Just then, Julia remembers something and sinks in her seat. "Oh no, tomorrow is Friday! I have detention with Snape!"

Maria groans, remembering the girl's detention as well. "If only that note would get you out of detention. What time do you have to be in his classroom?"

"Five o'clock..." Julia glumly answers.

"Well, class ends at three. We should have around two hours to see Hagrid and then walk Julia to her detention," Hannah explains.

"You mean walk her to her doom." Agnes smirks at Julia, making her flop her forehead onto the table.

Lauren puts a hand on Julia's back and rubs circles to comfort her. "It's alright, Julia. Maybe a talk with Hagrid will help. He might give you some advice, you never know! Plus, the detention can't be that bad. What's the worst he can do?"

Julia lifts her head and smiles, feeling a bit better. The five friends continue to eat, and are almost done when Agnes asks, "Oh and what was the book you pulled out of the library?"

Lauren's eyes widen, completely in shock that she forgot to check the book. She quickly takes it out of her bag and reads the title. "Rare Magical Creatures and Items Gained from Them."

"Hagrid will love that book." Hannah says as she kicks her spoon clean. "He loves magical creatures."

"I'll bring it then. I have a week until is has to be brought back to the library." Lauren shrugs and puts the book back in her bag.

The five friends say goodnight and head to their rooms, all of them a bit excited and nervous for tomorrow. There is something they all can relate about, though. All five girls are extremely excited to meet this Hagrid fellow, and also learn how to fly on broomsticks.