Dear Christina,

Congratulations on surviving the first little bit of school! I held off on writing to you for a few days because I wanted to give you time to properly adjust to a new school. It's important that you get acquainted and start getting to know the people in your class.

What I wanted to tell you back on the platform as the train was leaving was that I think I went there too. I think being on the platform jogged my memory, because now I remember standing there with my own luggage trolley wearing a school robe. Someone who was with me said I was a freak, someone named Tuney. I don't remember who she is but I intend to find out.

How are your classes going? How are your teachers? Do you have any favorites? Please tell me all about your new life. I'm so proud of you and everything you're doing.

Much love, Mum.

Christina folded her mum's letter and tucked it safely inside her robes. Her mother had gone to school here too. It seemed impossible, that her own mother had walked these same halls for seven years. That she was a witch too.

"Christina come on!" Derrick called to her. "Don't want to be late for class!"

Christina picked up her bag and ran after her friends. Defense was her favorite class, along with most of the rest of the school. The only ones who didn't seem to like Professor Lupin were Draco Malfoy and his Slytherin posse. Professor Lupin always had something cool in store for the group. After the first practical lesson, he'd started them in the very basics of dueling. They knew how to bow, face each other and prepare to fight, and Lupin had promised to teach them a simple disarming spell soon.

Defense was the best class, but others were good too. Transfiguration was a lot of hard work, but McGonagall was a very good teacher. There was no tomfoolery in that class, and something about McGongall's firm demeanor made Christina want to rise to the occasion. Astronomy was lots of fun too, since you got to go out to the astronomy tower at midnight to chart the stars and the phases of the moon. Christina figured Hogwarts was probably the only school that held classes for eleven-year-olds at midnight. Flying was another good one, especially now that they were learning to fly higher and longer and take soaring loops around the castle.

Potions class might have been fun if they had a different teacher. It was fun to cut up and measure out strange, magical ingredients and watch them come together, but all the fun was squashed out by Professor Snape, the scariest teacher Christina had ever seen. His face was framed by greasy black hair and he had a habit of flapping around the classroom in his long black robes, giving him a ludicrous resemblance to a bat. His voice was cold and hard and he seemed to enjoy ridiculing students who messed up, especially Gryffindors. Worst of all was the weird way he kept looking at Christina, like he recognized her or expected her to recognize him. Snape was definitely a weirdo.

As the fall term progressed, the school began to look forward to the first Hogsmeade weekend, which happened to fall on the same day as the Halloween feast. Everyone third year and up was abuzz with excitement for Hogsmeade, while the others prepared for Halloween. For the first years and second years in Gryffindor, Percy Weasley had organized a house chess tournament in lieu of Hogsmeade, which nobody really wanted to go to but did so anyway out of politeness.

"Have you ever played chess before, Christina?" Percy asked as he set a chess board down in front of her.

"I played a little muggle chess back home. Is wizard chess different?"

"A little. The pieces move on their own, and all you have to do is call out where you'd like them to go. Do you want to try against me? I promise I'll go easy on you."

"Are you any good?" Christina asked as she picked up a pawn.

"I've been playing since I was about four. I'd say I do all right."

"He's plenty good." Said Colin Creevey, who had been sitting in an armchair looking through photos on his camera. "He taught Ron how to play, and Ron once won fifty house points for playing a great game of chess. I only wish I'd been there to see it."

"Wait, Ron won fifty points for a game of chess? What even is this school?"

"Ron won points for his role in helping to save the sorcerer's stone, which the chess was part of." Said Percy. "That was two years ago. Our defense professor, Professor Quierrell, was in league with you-know-who to steal the sorcerer's stone and use it to bring the dark lord back to life. However, Harry, Ron, and Hermione successfully stopped him from doing so."

"What'd the chess have to do with it?"

"One of the protections in place for the stone was a giant chess board which you had tospan class="Apple-converted-space" /spanplay on and win to get across." Said Percy. "Ron played for the black side and won safe passage for Harry and Hermione, even though he had to sacrifice himself in order to win. Needless to say we were all very proud of him back home."

"And then last year they saved us from the chamber of secrets." Said Colin.

"The what?"

"The chamber of secrets. When the school was being built, Salazar Slytherin built a secret chamber inside with some creepy evil stuff like a giant snake meant for his heir to use to kill muggleborns with. Last time it was opened, like fifty years ago, they managed to kill a girl named Myrtle. She haunts the second floor girls' bathroom if you want to go talk to her. She's kinda weird though. Anyway, everyone thought Harry was the heir of Slytherin because he can talk to snakes and stuff, but it turned out he wasn't. You-know-who was possessing Ginny and making her carry out evil stuff, until Harry destroyed the diary you-know-who was using to possess her. Don't mention it to Ginny," he added, "She's kind of sensitive about it."

"Wait, so Harry Potter's been involved in two fights with you-know-who in his time here?"

"Two here, three if you count when he faced you-know-who as a baby. Now he's got Sirius Black trying to kill him too."

"That must really suck for him." Said Christina.

"Yeah. I don't envy him. Except I kinda do because he's famous and all. He's so cool. Sometimes he kinda looks at me the way you look at an annoying pet, and I feel honored that he's looking at me. Oh here he comes now. Hi Harry!

"Hi Colin." Said Harry glumly as he walked into the common room.

"Not in Hogsmeade, Harry?" Percy asked.

"No, the Dursleys wouldn't sign my form. Professor McGonagall won't let me go either because of the whole Sirius Black thing." He slumped into a chair.

"Well, I've been holding a chess tournament for the younger students." Said Percy. "Care to join?"

"No, that's all right. Do you know when they'll get back from Hogsmeade?"

"Shouldn't be that much longer, since they do have the feast tonight to prepare for." Said Percy. "Your move, Christina."

Christina moved her knight and watched with satisfaction as it blasted Percy's bishop off the board. As few moves later and she found Percy's king backed into a corner with no way out. "Checkmate."

"Excellent job, Christina." Said Percy.

"You were going easy on me, weren't you."

"A little, yes. Had I been playing at full strength I probably would have knocked you out pretty early on. Good game. All right, I've got to go prepare for the feast since I do have important duties as head boy. See you later."

The only people left in the room besides Christina were Harry and Colin. Colin had gone back to fiddling with his camera and Harry looked like he didn't want to talk. He was just sitting in one of those squashy armchairs, staring deep into the fire. Perhaps he was worried about the whole situation with Sirius Black, or maybe he was just wondering about his friends. Christina tried to follow his gaze, but he wasn't looking at anything in particular. His green eyes were bright and intelligent.

Christina was about to head back to her room when Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, jumped into her lap. Christina smiled and sank her hands into his thick soft fur. He'd tried to eat Ron's rat a few nights ago, and most of Gryffindor house had witnessed it. Christina privately thought Scabbers looked more like roadkill than an actual pet, and that Crookshanks was justified in wanting to kill him. It was what cats did.

Ron and Hermione burst through the door a moment later carrying large bags of sweets. "Harry, we've bought you loads of stuff!" Ron yelled. "Peppermint toads, sugar quills, some chocolate . . . ooh, there's some squeaking sugar mice in here too!"

Harry perked up and began rummaging through the bag of sweets, which Christina took as her cue to leave. It was time to find her friends and go to the feast.

Sam and Derrick were already waiting outside the portrait hole. "You guys ready?" Asked Derrick. "I'm so excited. The Halloween feast is supposed to be one of the best at Hogwarts."

"Yeah, yeah, come on, let's go!" Abigail took the lead down the hallway. "What actually happens at the Halloween feast?"

"Well, it's a feast." Said Sam. "I've heard there's floating pumpkins and lots of candy." They ran down the passage towards the great hall.

Inside the great hall were Hagrid's pumpkins, big enough for a person to sit inside and lit up with colorful flames. Some of the smaller ones were filled with candy, which first years eagerly stuffed into their pockets, and even smaller ones hung in the air in place of the usual candles. The tables were spread with Hogwarts' best food, and even some muggle junk food like purple and orange Jell-o.

Christina and her friends all squeezed in at the Gryffindor table and began eating. The food was delicious, and Christina could see why everyone looked forward to the Halloween feast so much.

"So do wizards celebrate Halloween like muggles do?" Abigail asked.

"The weird thing about Halloween is it's when muggles engage with stuff they don't think actually exists, like witches and broomsticks and ghosts." Said Derrick. "It's always interesting to wander through muggle shops around this time and see what they're selling."

"Halloween's taking on a new meaning in the wizarding world too." Said Sam. "Since that's the day Harry Potter survived the killing curse. Lots of people would celebrate it as Harry Potter day back in the early eighties."

"It isn't celebrated like that anymore?" Asked Christina.

"Well, after Harry got to Hogwarts people were less keen on celebrating a random student who didn't even remember what he was famous for." Said Derrick. "Pus weird shit started happening on Halloween, did you hear about any of that Sam? Or did your brother?"

"Yeah, my brother's a year older than Harry." Said Sam. "He told me all about the troll in the dungeons during the Halloween feast a few years ago. And then the next year they found Filch's cat petrified after the feast."

"A quiet feast seems like too much to ask." Derrick grunted.

"Well, maybe this year will be different." Christina stabbed her fork into a mound of mashed potatoes.

"Let's hope so." Said Derrick. He leaned over to talk to Paolo and Andy, and soon the conversation turned to their latest transfiguration lesson and how Andy had messed up horribly and accidentally set fire to his quill.

As they headed back up to Gryffindor tower they were all feeling a little sleepy from the amount of food they's consumed, but they couldn't go to bed just yet: Fred and George had promised a house-wide Halloween party stocked with Hogsmeade sweets they'd bought earlier that day. Christina was wondering if magical parties were any different from muggle parties when she bumped into the person ahead of her.

"What's going on? Why are we stopped?" A crowd had formed in front of the Fat Lady, but no one had gone inside.

"Let me through!" Percy shouted. "Excuse me, I'm head boy!" The crowd parted to let him through, and as those in front moved away the ones behind gasped in horror. The Fat Lady's portrait had been slashed through, torn strips of canvas dangling over the edge of the frame. The Fat Lady herself was nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on?" Someone screamed.

"Someone get Dumbledore!" Percy shouted. "Get Dumbledore now!"

But Professor Dumbledore was already coming up the stairs, McGonagall and Filch in tow. He took in the slashed portrait, his face grim. "All you go down to the great hall, immediately! And Minerva, find the Fat Lady now."

"She's over there!" Said Dean Thomas, pointing to a picture on the opposite wall. The Fat Lady was squeezed in at a table full of monks, and one of them had offered her a tankard of ale to calm her down.

"My dear Lady," Said Dumbledore calmly, "Can you tell us who did this to you? Did you see his face?"

"It was him!" The Fat Lady screamed. "It was him! Sirius Black!"

"Argus, secure the castle!" Dumbledore bellowed. "Minerva, take your students down to the great hall."

"Come along, this way students!" McGonagall called. Her face was grim, even grimmer than the day Andy had accidentally set his quill on fire in class. She gripped her wand firmly. "No wandering off, any of you!"

The students poured into the great hall, the older ones clutching wands, the younger ones clinging to siblings and friends. Professor McGonagall waved her wand and hundreds of purple sleeping bags appeared on the floor. "It's safest for you all to sleep here tonight." She said. "We will search the castle for Black. In the meantime, make yourselves comfortable."

Soon enough they were joined by students from Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Sam and Derrick extricated themselves from their houses and joined Christina and Abigail.

" "Is it true?" Said Derrick. "Did Sirius Black really cut up the portrait?"

"Yes, he did!" Said Abigail. "Or at least, that's what the Fat Lady said."

"Hogwarts is supposed to be the safest place in Britain!" Christina cried. "How did he get in?"

"He got out of Azkaban." Sam shuddered. "He can probably get in or out of anywhere he wants."

"It's bloody terrifying." Said Derrick. "At least Professor Dumbledore's guarding the great hall. No one can get past him."

"You're right about that." Said Abigail. "We're safe here, so we might as well get some sleep." She wiggled into her sleeping bag and the others followed suit. Students across the hall were also settling in for the night, and few minutes later Dumbledore dimmed the lights and took his post by the door.

"You know, today's twelve years since the Potters were murdered." Said Sam, her voice echoing in the darkness. "I'll bet you anything Black wanted to kill Harry on this day just to be symbolic or something."

Christina rolled over and didn't answer. It had just occurred to her that today was also twelve years since her mother's daring escape from someone bad and her horrible fall. Was it possible the two were connected?