Rose and her two new Hufflepuff friends, Helena, a black haired girl, and Maya, a brunette, walked down the hallway to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. "This place is so cool!" Maya gushed, admiring the medieval style of the castle. "And we get to use magic! This is, like, a dream come true!"

The three entered the room, where a handful of their other housemates were seated and mingling amongst one and another. Maya found a place where there were three desks next to each other and gestured for them to sit down. Maya continued talking about how different the wizarding world was from the muffle world and the two others were hanging onto each and every word. Truth be told, Rose had heard from Liz a lot of the things that were coming out of Maya's mouth in a rapid fire. That said, her third year friend would only criticize the wizarding world, saying that "no-maj technology was far more advanced in comparison ta wizardin' technology." This fact, Rose had always refused to believe, but after seeing Liz explain the "pencil," she wasn't so sure.

Likewise, Helena had taken it upon herself to read books on muggle society and knew almost everything about them. This included their technology, government, history, and culture. However, she was still interested in an actual muggleborn's point of view.

After all of the students were comfortably seated, the professor introduced herself as Professor Bones. She gave a briefing of the basic rules before jumping right into the main lesson: gnomes. Now, of course, Maya's first ideal thought when she heard the word "gnome" were the smiling little ceramic garden decorations resembling Santa Clauses with fishing rods. Any person living in a muggle area would think the same. What she was definitely, absolutely NOT expecting was a wrinkly, bald, potato like creature with a humanoid body composed of stubby limbs.

"What is that?" Maya whispered to Rose.

"A gnome," Rose replied. "Weren't you listening?"

"My god, that was not what I had in mind," Maya gagged, looking at the creature.

Rose looked at her friend in confusion. "What did you have in mind?"

"Those adorable Santa Claus fishermen in those funny American commercials! Not... that... that thing."

"Never mind," Maya sighed, not wanting to look at the deformed monstrosity that wizards claimed were "gnomes."

"To catch a gnome," the professor began, "You will have to grab the gnome, preferably by the neck, and spin it around. This is so they become dizzy and can't make it back to their burrows. Usually, you would throw it out of a garden, but today, we will just throw away from you. Be careful though, because their bites sting."

"They're making us catch the gnomes?" Helena asked, "...what if it bites? And won't it hurt the gnomes?"

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Maya said, though a bit nervously.

"I'm releasing the gnomes!" Professor Bones said, and opened a crate filled with about twenty gnomes.

"Ah!" Helena shrieked, "There's a gnome coming for me! What do I do? I don't think I can-" Helena put her arms around herself as the gnome came closer to her. "What do I do?" She looked around wildly, but the only thing she saw was a Slytherin girl smiling to herself amusedly at Helena's current predicament. Helena sighed, since what she heard about Slytherins meant that she shouldn't expect any help from the girl. "Maya? Rose? Help, please!"

Unfortunately, both Maya and Rose were a little busy with their own gnomes, so Helena was on her own. Helena could just imagine the gnome clamping it's jaws around her ankle. She had a very low tolerance for pain, so it would most likely not go well. The gnome was now visibly opening its mouth, and Helena jumped back. "Oh my god!" she said frantically, looking around wildly for help.

Much to Helena's surprise, the Slytherin girl stepped over. "Do you need any help?" she asked.

"Yes, please!" Helena said, "Can you please show me how to catch it?" The girl nodded, approaching the gnome and looking at it before kicking it in the face, causing Helena to jump slightly at the sudden action. "Is that how you're supposed to do it?" Helena asked nervously. The girl merely shrugged as the gnome stumbled back, looking more annoyed than hurt. The girl sighed and pursued the gnome again, kicking it in the stomach this time and knocking it down in the process. She landed in a few more kicks in its face until she was satisfied that she had knocked it out.

"There you go," she said, the corners of her mouth slightly quirked. "I'm Kiara."

"I'm Helena," she replied. "Thanks for that, but do you mind teaching me how to do it properly?"

"Oh, sure, I guess," Kiara said, shrugging. She walked over to another gnome and started demonstrating to Helena. "So, what you want to do is sneak up on it first, which is easy since the don't have very sharp senses. Then, you clamp it by the neck." Kiara squeezed the neck of the gnome as it wriggled around in her hands, completely trapped. "Finally, you spin it around and throw it as far away from you as possible." Kiara launched the gnome into the air and the two watched as it sailed metres away from them. "You can try it on that one," she said, pointing to a gnome a close by.

"Umm, okay..." Helena started to approach the gnome cautiously, before falling back a step. "What if I can't do it?" she asked fretfully, "would I get a bad grade?"

"I won't know if you don't try," Kiara encouraged, "and hey, if something goes wrong, at least you have magic to fix you up, right?"

"That's not very motivating," Helena grumbled, but approached the gnome nonetheless. She tried using all of the steps Kiara told her, and watched as it barely managed to fly a metre away from her.

"It could use some work, but all around, not bad," Kiara told her.

"Thank you!" Helena said gratefully, smiling. Kiara nodded before melting back into the crowd of students in the classroom.

"I hope I don't get a bad grade for this class," Helena fretted nervously after DADA had ended. She walked down the halls with Maya and Rose, worry evident on her face.

"I'm sure you won't," Maya reassured, but after listening to her friend's recap of the class incident, she couldn't be too sure. "Look on the bright side; we have Transfiguration next. I'm sure you will be great at it. Actually, we should all do fine. It can't be too hard, right?"

Halfway into the class, Rose wish she could agree with that statement. Maya must have jinxed her with that sentence. There was no other way, as almost every except for Rose had successfully turned their match into a needle, Helena even managing to convert it back. Her two friend and Professor Davies looked at Rose with concern as she tried again. And failed. Again. Rose let out a frustrated noise, her face unreadable. "Rose?" Helena asked, watching as her friend stabbed at the match with her wand in a helpless manner. "Do you need any help?"

"You can't help," Rose moaned, banging her head against the desk. "This is an independent assignment. And there isn't much else you can do other than tell me how to point and gesture with my wand. That probably won't do anything."

Professor Davies made his way over to Rose and rested a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay if you don't get it," he said. "This is only your first day. However, it is rather peculiar that you can't complete this task." Those words did not help at all in terms of boosting Rose's confidence. Rather than give up, however, Rose decided persist. She decided not to ponder whether or not it was a good or bad thing. Concentrating more than she ever had before, Rose pointed her wand at the match, determined to get it correct this time.

BANG!

A booming explosion rang throughout the classroom as a fire erupted from the tip of the match, piercing every student's ears and causing majority to jump or scream or both. The fire singed Rose's eyebrows slightly, but that was the least of her worries. Seeing as majority of the classroom consisted of wooden objects, the fire easily spread from one desk to another. Professor Davies waved his wand almost frantically and managed to douse the desks in water and extinguish the fire. Smoke tendrils curled up from the burnt wood and Rose's eyebrows. The professor flicked his wrist and the desks returned back to its previously pristine shape.

When the chaos died down, Professor Davies looked at Rose with a stern gaze. "Miss Lynn," he said slowly as Rose wavered, guilt in her eyes. She gulped and looked down at the floor. "I hope you know that there will be consequences for practically blowing up my classroom. I will be lenient with you, since this is the first day, but I'm afraid that will be twenty points deducted from your house."

"But it was an accident," Rose protested, though she knew that nothing good would come out of it.

"Would you like another twenty points deducted?" the professor asked. He didn't mean to be unkind, but his voice was strict.

"No, sir!" Rose answered quickly.

"Good." He nodded, then addressed the class. "Since that… incident took up the rest of the class, you are all dismissed. Have a nice remainder of the day."

Rose, Helena, and Maya sat together at a wooden table inside the cozy, cheerful Hufflepuff common room as they waited for the dinner bell to ring. The latter two were in a deep discussion about muggle household appliances and the former was sitting silently, lost in thought. How did I manage to mess up two classes in one day? she wondered. I can't be that bad, right? Maybe I should ask Liz for tips. She's good at EVERYTHING… wait, no, she said she was iffy at Herbology, even with help from Professor Longbottom… but I'm not bad at that! Rose eyed the dancing plants that decorated the common room. Maybe it's a Hufflepuff thing. She was finally pulled out of her thoughts when Maya managed to get her attention.

"Hey, Rose," her friend said, "how do you think they make the food here? Because it's really good and I can't see the Headmistress cooking."

"Uh, I dunno," Rose shrugged. She hadn't paid mind when the food was served, since she was too busy actually eating it. "They're wizards, maybe the conjure it out of nowhere."

"Isn't the kitchen really close to here?" Helena asked.

"I dunno," Rose replied.

"I think," Maya added. "Maybe the older Hufflepuffs know. We could ask." Silence overcame the three, none willing to actually complete the suggestion.

"Whatever." Rose shrugged again. "It probably won't do us any good."

"Yeah, you're right," Maya agreed. "But do you know what's really exciting?"

"What?" Rose asked.

"Flying on broomsticks!"

Rose shrugged again. It seemed like the only thing she was capable of. "I'm not to good at Quidditch since I'm not athletic, but whatever."

"Yeah, I'm not the best at sports, and it's sort of boring to watch, no offense to the quidditch players."

Maya shot her a questioning glance. "What's quidditch?" Rose briefly explained the wizarding game to her muggleborn friend. "That sounds amazing!" Maya grinned. "Everything in the wizarding world is so much cooler than in the muggle world!"

"Really?" Helena said. "From my books and your descriptions, the muggle world seems plenty interesting. Lifts, escalators, and computers? I personally find that fascinating."

"But you guys have magic!" Maya argued. The two continued to talk and compare the two different worlds, Rose occasionally pitching in to add her thoughts and opinions. Just as they were about to start talking about the differences in education, the bell rang, signaling the start of dinner. The three made their way to the great hall to fill their stomachs.

"I just remembered something!" Helena exclaimed. "Harry Potter's children are in the school with us!"

Rose paused, raising her head. "Oh yeah, you're right."

"Who's Harry Potter?" Maya asked.

"He's the most famous wizard of all!" Helena said excitedly. "He's the only person ever to survive the killing curse and he defeated Lord Voldemort during the Second Wizarding War!"

"What's that?" Maya was still confused.

"The Second Wizarding War? That was when Lord Voldemort and his group of supports, the Death Eaters, tried to wipe out all muggleborns and wizards with muggle heritage. Previously, he had tried to use the killing curse to kill Harry Potter, but failed. He disappeared for years until he returned in full strength."

The three girls hadn't noticed the Fat Friar drift over until he spoke up. "It was a truly horrible time," the ghost said, practically tearing up. "The Dark Lord killed Cedric Diggory, one of the students in our house. What a fine lad, he was. So much potential, but he met the wrong fate."

"Isn't he the bloke in the painting next to the lady?" Rose asked. The ghost nodded before drifting away.

"After that," Helena continued, "Lord Voldemort continued to kill other muggleborns. His death eaters started taking control of Hogwarts after Severus Snape became the headmaster. When Lord Voldemort returned to Hogwarts, he and his Death Eaters faced off Dumbledore's Army, a militia made up of students. There were so many casualties, but Harry potter managed to kill his enemy once and for all. It has changed the history of the wizarding world. And Harry Potter's children attend this school too."

"Woah," Maya said. All of this information was new to her, so it was hard for her to take it in all at once.

"Basically," Rose said, "Voldy was evil. Voldy tried to kill baby Potter, but baby lived. Potter grew up, Voldy tried again but killed Diggory instead. Voldy tried one more time, Voldy died. The stuff in between doesn't matter." Rose summarized what Helena said in less than a minute. A little bit after, all of them went back to the common room. They talked for a bit before retiring to bed.

Rose rolled around in bed, still wide awake. She wasn't tired yet and she was bored out of her mind. Finally, she crept out of bed, put on her shoes, and decided to go for a walk. Rose tiptoed as quietly as she could, making sure not to generate any noise. The common room was empty, save for the two paintings, which were asleep. She snuck out of the common room and ventured out in the halls.

A few metres away from the barrels that lead to the Hufflepuff dorms, Rose bumped into something. She stumbled backwards, her heart racing and fear overtaking her. Rose looked around frantically, but didn't see anyone. Suddenly, her eyes focused on a shadowy figure rubbing it's arm. "Liz?"

It was indeed her third year Slytherin friend, a bag over her shoulder, much to Rose's disbelief. Elizabeth jolted when she was addressed and whipped her head to face her. "What the hell are ya doin' out here this late?" Elizabeth hissed, glaring at Rose.

"I was bored- wait, what are you doing?" Rose whispered.

"Nothin'."

"Liz, I'm not dumb. The Slytherin dorms are on the other side of the school."

"Fine," Elizabeth said, pursing her lips. "I'll show you. Follow me." Elizabeth looked at Rose before snickering. "Nice pjs ya got there." She silenced, raising her hands in surrender when Rose shot her a look.

Elizabeth lead her through the halls for a short walk before they reached a painting of a fruit basket. She reached up and tickled the pear until it turned into a handle. Elizabeth pulled and gestured for Rose to follow her as she stepped through. Rose's breath got caught in her throat as she looked inside. House elves bustled around in a nicely lit room, doing all sorts of things. Half of them stopped when they saw Elizabeth. "Does missus want her things?" one of them asked.

"That'd be great," Elizabeth replied. "Thanks, Vinnie." A few seconds later, the elf handed her a large platter. On it was a plate of fish, a jar of honey, and an assortment of steaming mugs. Elizabeth took the honey and one of the mugs, setting them on a nearby table. She took the platter and shoved it into her bag, laughing at Rose's horrified expression. "Don't worry, the bag's charmed."

"Is this… the kitchen?" Rose asked. Elizabeth nodded as she took a large sip from her mug.

"Just ask the wee elves what ya wanna eat and they give it ta ya," she said. "They're such nice little fellas. I've been doing this for such a long time that they memorized what I usually get."

"Wait, what are you even doing here?" Rose demanded.

"Gettin' food?" Elizabeth responded, raising her eyebrows as she took another sip. "Duh?"

"No, I mean- argh- it's late and you could get caught!"

"Wow," Elizabeth said, mocking surprise. "Ya care about my well being." She laughed, taking another sip. "Nah, I've been doin' this since I met Fred. So, two an' a half years? Anyway, I have a few aces up my sleeve. As in, I'm the ace and I'm in my sleeves." Elizabeth let out another laugh, much to Rose's dismay. "Anyway, I know a basic invisibility spell that works wonders. That's why ya couldn't see me before. My prefects are totally chill with it, as long as I bring them coffee. Well, actually, Nat prefers tea, but that's beside the point. It's also a convenient way ta pick up food for Elizabeth. She only eats smoked mackerel an' grilled herring. But, I mean, she is Norwegian, so it makes sense. The honey is for me. It helps with my weak immune system an' my sleep cycle. 'S a basic muggle remedy thing."

Elizabeth paused to take another sip. Rose wondered how she could possibly fall asleep if that was coffee, even with the honey. "So…" Elizabeth ventured, "how's yer day been?"

At that, Rose let out a groan. "Liz, do you have any tips on transfiguration and potions?"

"What? Why?"

"I… accidentally set fire to Professor Davies classroom and messed up a potion when I tried stirring." Rose looked at her friend, whose face remained blank. Then, upon closer examination, she saw Elizabeth biting her lip and pinching her thigh to keep herself from laughing. It didn't work, seeing as Elizabeth doubled over, tears in her eyes, laughing silently and heaving.

"Good god," she said between breaths, "you can't be that bad!" Elizabeth finally managed to compose herself, but a smile was still plastered on her face. "For potions, as long as ya follow the instructions exactly, ya can't mess up. For Transfig, well, that's harder. It's not really somethin' ya can think about. You gotta feel it in your bones or whatever, yeah?"

Rose looked at her friend. "That's dumbo."

"That's magic. 'S not like I'm the full blooded witch or whatever. I can't explain it."

"That's more dumbo."

"Okay, I get it. Anyway, I gotta tag, so see ya." Elizabeth shot Rose a finger gun before pulling her wand out and flicking her wrist. Her friend vanished, but she could see the honey and mug disappear and the painting door open and close. Rose contemplated whether or not she should get a slice of pie from the elves, but decided that the sugar wouldn't do her any good. However, she did take a small biscuit lying on the table before quickly leaving and going back to the Hufflepuff dorms.

(Author's Notes)

Dear Reader-

Ohhhh my goddddd. Sometimes I forget how much I hate editing until I actually have to edit. And there's probably punctuation errors EVERYWHERE. But I had, like, three cups of coffee this morning, so everything isn't too bad. (Btw, coffee is an excellent supplement to replace sleep.) Anyway, I hope you like the new chapter. The two of us are trying to find more time to work together between Lupus' ridiculously packed schedule. Message us(cough cough me cough) if you got all of the references up to now.

I've been listening to a lot of EDEN recently, and also "Checkpoint" by Hyper Potions and Nitro Fun, so that's what I recommend.

-Luna

(P.S. I'm in a sleep deprived condition right now, so I'm sorry if everything I type makes no sense.)

.

Well, there you have it. I don't really have much time so I'm just gonna say that Rose blowing things up was my idea. I'm too lazy to do a book rec.

Au revoir

-Lupus