True to our word, Garrett, Catherine, and I joined Nathan at his house during the last two weeks of summer. I hadn't seen any of them since school ended, so I was very excited to be there. Garrett seemed like he had grown an inch, making him at least 5'11". I realized I had actually missed his clear blue eyes and sandy colored hair that never seemed to lay entirely flat.

Nathan's house was interesting because it didn't have too many traces of magic in it. It was a muggle house, and was entirely new to me since I grew up in the wizarding world.

As we stood around the room Garrett leaned over and whispered to me, "His parents are muggles?"

"Obviously," I replied jokingly. However, Garrett didn't laugh. He just bit his lip and shook his head.

I liked Nathan's parents- they were very friendly and seemed like sweet people. We all chatted for a little while and then Nathan's mother came into the room. "Nathan, can you come help me get ready for dinner?"

"Mum, I'm here with all my friends!" complained Nathan.

"Young man, you get in that kitchen. I don't want to have to make a scene in front of your friends."

Nathan did as he was told and reluctantly went into the kitchen. Catherine, Garrett and I sat around on the couch for awhile and discussed some trivial things, asking each other how our summers had been so far and if anything exciting had happened. Then out of nowhere Catherine said, "Garrett, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Sure, go ahead," said Garrett.

"Why are you in Slytherin?" Catherine said it, but it was something I had been wondering as well. Why was Garrett, one of the nicest and sweetest guys I know, in a house that was generally made up of cold, cruel, and manipulative people?

He shrugged. "I guess I just fit the criteria."

"How on earth can that be?" pressed Catherine. "You're nothing like the other Slytherins."

"Well, the qualities of a Slytherin are ambitious and cunning. I think I'm both of those."

"You're definitely ambitious," I told him. "You work so hard at everything. And I guess you could be a bit cunning as well. But why not Ravenclaw then? It seems more like you should be one of us."

"Yeah," agreed Catherine. "It's not like you want to go out and kill all the muggleborns like Salazar Slytherin probably did."

Garrett looked uncomfortable. "Salazar Slytherin and I don't have as opposite point of views are you might expect. I do agree with some of the stuff that he believed."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well…" Garrett paused. "You're going to hate me for saying this, but I don't think muggleborns should be allowed to attend Hogwarts."

There was an eerie silence in the room. I couldn't believe Garrett would be so discriminatory. He seemed like such a logical, reasonable guy. I couldn't help speaking up. "Garrett, why would you think that? Muggleborns are no different than any other people. Everyone should be treated the same."

"Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against muggleborns as people. I'm quite willing to treat them fairly and I don't even mind being friends with them. I just don't think they should be involved in the magical world."

"But why?" asked Catherine.

"There's a bunch of reasons why I think that." Garrett looked a bit uneasy. "First of all, they haven't grown up in the wizarding world. There are so many things they have to learn about us and I just think it's something one should be exposed to their whole entire life."

He stopped to take a breath and then continued. "Aside from that, allowing muggleborns into Hogwarts makes it too easy for muggles to find out about our world. All the people connected with them will find out about it. Their family, of course, will have to know about it. Maybe they're not supposed to tell anyone else, but how many people do you think actually follow those rules? I'm sure that an eleven year old girl who gets accepted into a magical school is going to tell all of her friends, even if she's not supposed to. It'll make our world obsolete in time."

Garrett really seemed to be into his argument at this point. "I don't see why they even bother. They're not really needed in our world, and they'll never be as powerful as more magical witches and wizards. People that have long lines of purebloods have deep roots in the ancient magic, and that contributes to the quality of the powers today. Granted, it's not the only thing, but I think it definitely plays a role."

Catherine and I were speechless. Sweet, kindly Garrett just gave that crazy speech? No one knew what to say and we sat staring at each other for the longest time. Finally Garrett spoke again. "I know you guys probably disagree with me. That's okay, but my point of view isn't going to change."

At that moment Nathan walked back into the room. "Hey guys, it's time to eat!" He didn't seem to realize the change that had happened when he was gone, and we were all glad for the excuse to drop the conversation and talk about something else.

I wasn't sure how to digest everything that Garrett had just said. In the end I decided not to worry about it. After all, it was his point of view and didn't really affect me. Besides, everyone has fault, so this was probably Garrett's. I couldn't expect him to be a perfect guy, especially since I wasn't the perfect girl and he liked me anyway.

oooooooooooooooooooooo

It was a week before school started when the owls arrived with our Hogwarts letters. We had been having a good time at Nathan's, and Garrett was kind and respectful and never let on about his opposition to muggleborns in the magical world.

A large tawny owl landed by my arm and offered me an envelope with emerald green writing on it. I took it from his beak and realized he had two letters for me, so I grabbed them both.

I ripped open the first one and quickly skimmed through the list of school supplies and books that we needed.

"We'll have to take a trip to Diagon Alley soon," said Nathan. "We're gonna have to pick up all these new books."

Catherine whistled. "Professor Dumbledore has us getting a new transfiguration book. I heard this one is pretty advanced. I hope I can handle it."

"You'll be fine," I reassured her as I began to open the second letter. "You're-"

Suddenly I stopped. Another letter from the school was in the envelope, as well as a shiny new badge. "Wow," I whispered.

"What is it, Phoebe?" Catherine asked curiously.

A grin spread across my face as I held up the badge for everyone to see. "They made me Head Girl!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A/N: For this chapter a lot was inspired by reviews I received. I realized that I needed a reason why Garrett was in Slytherin, and that sort of became the basis for this chapter.

I also wanted to let you guys know that I started my own C2 community. It's just starting out so it's not much yet. I just wanted to have a place where I could put some of the really good HP fanfics I've found and share them with others. So if you want to join you can get to it by going to my profile and clicking on my C2 communities. It says I only have 3 stories archived, but if you go to "Fiction Rating: all" there will be 8 stories available. I hope to add more throughout the next few weeks.