The Headlines that September were some of the bleakest they had ever been; the world was already declining into madness. People were already desperate for help but when everyone, the entire human race, woke up one morning with the knowledge that magic not only existed but there were practitioners of magic living separate but alongside the rest of the population it was only a matter of time before hatred started to develop.

 

It was the same in much of the world. There would be reports of entire groups finding a family of these magical people and pestering them until inevitably someone got hurt. Seeking solutions to their problems, non-magic people would approach one of the institutions of magical learning to implore anyone that would listen for aid. The worst effected were the children of these families. The adults could hide their ‘abilities’ more skillfully but the children, having not been trained properly, were prone to outbursts of sometimes-harmful magic. As hatred became more widespread the children were taught to deny their magic and obscurous related deaths became more prevalent.

 

Rather than watch the magical communities dwindle down to nothing there was a mass exodus of these families in search of a place where they could live unbothered lives. One such place was England by virtue of the British sensibility to leave well enough alone. The minister for magic had made himself known to the muggle minister yet the magical community had avoided attention from the press. Hogwarts remained open and thanks to an undetectable extension charm there was room for the influx of international students.

 

Sixth year Slytherin Jessica sighed and laid her forehead against the page she had just read while studying with her friends in the library. “I’ll never remember all this stuff. I’ve got six chapters in potions and ten diagrams in charms.” She pulled on the immaculate sleeve of the Ravenclaw seated next to her, “Emmy,” she whined, “could you please help me with a memory charm.”

 

Emmy shook her head, “No, I’ve told you a million times. That is grounds for expulsion. I don’t want to get my wand snapped.” Her expression softened somewhat. “I’m sorry Jess, If you want me to help you study then all you have to do is ask but we cant do anything against the rules.”

 

Her best friend, Gabi, piped up, “Why don’t you just imagine Moon teaching it to you. I’m sure you’d remember it then.” She smiled across the table to show that she was only joking. She wore Huffelpuff robes and a prefect’s badge. She fixed Jessica with a stare. “Where’s your badge by the way?”

 

“Ugh.” Jessica groaned. “Common room. The darn thing kept poking me today. Something’s wrong with the clasp so I took it off between lessons and left it in with my schoolbooks that I didn’t need today. The people in my house know not to mess with my things.”

 

At Gabi’s elbow sat a girl in Gryffindor robes wearing a focused expression. She looked up from the material she was studying, “ I could write it on the back of his head. It would be payback for the jinx the other Slytherin boys cast on the first year girls.” She wore a Prefect badge even though she said, herself, that she didn’t deserve it.

 

“Sam!!!” the other Gryffindor prefect at the study table whispered as if scandalized, “You cant do that. You’ll lose your badge.” She was a stickler for the rules but just wanted her friends to do well for themselves.

 

“Katelyn,” Sam rolled her eyes, “Its not like I’m doing anything worthwhile anyway. I’m just keeping these delinquents from killing themselves while trying my hardest to get good grades so I don’t get a chewing out from my dad at Christmas.” Sam had a different view of the rules than most other prefects. “What Gabi said would work even though she said it as a joke.”

 

Sofi, the exotic Amazon in Slytherin robes thought for a moment before speaking up, “Sam has a point. I have those diagrams in charms too. Imagine Jongup doing the actions shown in them.”

 

Jessi thought for a moment, “Okay that actually works. What about the potions work?”

 

“Simple,” Aly a Ravenclaw girl with beautiful curly hair and Emmy’s best friend spoke, “you’ve seen the potion brewed successfully. Just imagine him telling you the ingredients.” She nodded as if confirming what she said.

 

“And the History of Magic? Its so dull I cant even get through half a page without falling asleep.”

 

Janina, Emmy’s sister, a Huffelpuff chimed in “but Jessi, you lived that didn’t you? Your mum and dad had to leave California because they were being harassed.”

 

“Oh my god, Nina, you remember that story too?” Malu, A Gryffindor with a wide-eyed expression excitedly tittered, “I remember going over to Jess’s house and her dad ordering in a bunch of pizzas and having us all over for dinner after we spent hours out in the snow.” She turned to Jessica, “Jessi we should do that again this Christmas except at another person’s house.” She addressed the group now, “my parent’s would love to host you guys.”

 

“I’m down for it if you’re sure.” Jessica slouched comfortably in her chair. “Hang on, how come you guys were all so quick to volunteer study techniques?”

 

“Easy Jess,” Sam piped in again, “they all do it.” The color rose in her cheeks as she looked in the direction of the door. “Please excuse me, I’m going to keep an eye on the delinquents for a while. I’ll see you at dinner.” She slid her things into her school bag and walked out as one of the male Gryffindor prefects walked in with his group of friends.

 

There was a chorus of hurriedly shuffling papers and calls of wait for me as the rest of the group left the library.

 

Suddenly having a feeling of deja vu Malu stopped short; She didn’t have a prefect’s badge but still wanted to go with her friends. “Stupid visions,” she thought until Janina grabbed one hand and Sofi the other to tow her along with the group.

 

Her vision played out while she was led along by her two friends. She saw the events of the day they had all met each other; It was a cooler day than back home. Her parents were busy unpacking from the move so little Malu, aged ten, was out playing at the park in her new neighborhood. There were other children there. Pretty girls in warm looking jumpers there were a few boys but they didn’t really interest Malu who was eager to make new friends in her new home. She came upon one girl who was looking at the sky expectantly. After finally getting her attention with a “Hello, My name is Malu. What’s your name?” she got a warm toothy smile from the girl who said in an adorable American Southern accent, “Hi I’m Samantha. Call me Sam.” She looked back up at the sky, “Hold off, I didn’t mean it for today.”

Malu was confused so she looked at the spot in the clouds where Sam was looking, “What did you not mean for today?”

Sam sheepishly grinned at her companion, “Well it is my birthday tomorrow and I’m from South Carolina so we hardly ever see snow. My sister and I, she’s a fifth year at Hogwarts, she and I did a spell of sorts last night so that it would snow on my birthday.”

Malu was in disbelief, “are you,” she chose her next words carefully, “sure it worked? I mean it’s July.” She didn’t want to upset her new friend so soon after meeting her.

Sam crossed her arms over her chest. “It worked alright. You’ll see. My sister’s spells never go wrong.”

Then Malu’s mother had called her back inside because there was a front approaching. Sam also left, still looking up. It snowed for three hours solid just on their street and then cleared up. All the kids in the neighborhood were out building snowmen and having snowball fights. Malu found Sam again in the middle of all the fun. “Are you a witch too?” She asked.

“Yes.” She continued, “Almost everyone here is either magical or the family of someone magical in this neighborhood. Let me introduce you around.” She grabbed Malu’s hand and pulled her around.

That day Malu had met Aly, Emmy, her sister Janina, Sofi, Jessica, Gabi, and Katelyn among others. In the following weeks all her friends, including herself, received their acceptance letters and grew closer together.

 

Yongguk smiled inwardly as Sam passed. “They’re in the study room, all accounted for.” Since the incident with the Slytherin boys and the first year girls the prefects had to keep constant watch over their houses. It had gotten to the point where they had to study in shifts and had to eat while listening to everything being said.

 

“Yongguk, hey, do you need help with your Charms homework?” It was Himchan, exactly the guy you wanted to help you with charms. He was almost better than Flitwick and his cat had taken to following Kiki around like one of her own kittens when they were out of the common rooms. Himchan was a Ravenclaw and smart as a whip but a little lazy when it came to theory, often saying that he needed to, “get the feel for the magic”.

 

Yongguk clapped Himchan on the shoulder, “Yeah thanks, I just can’t seem to get the movements right.” They had a system they would tutor each other in subjects that they were lacking in. Yongguk was best in Defense against the dark arts so he tutored the group in that subject. The headmistress liked this arrangement as long as they didn’t get too rowdy.

 

Speaking of the headmistress, who also taught transfiguration; she chose that moment to walk by with a tight-lipped smile for her star pupil. Said pupil, Choi Junhong, waited till she had passed and did a dance in her direction that would normally be seen as funny but because of the suggestiveness of it came off as rather disrespectful. Yongguk shot him a glare and he abruptly stopped. The headmistress walked by and addressed him, “Mr. Bang, keeping your group on the straight and narrow I trust.”

 

He inclined his head respectfully, “Yes Ma’am.” This earned him snickers from the rest of his group. He knew who deserved respect though so he wasn’t ashamed to give it.

 

A Ravenclaw boy with a soft look to him muttered to the Huffelpuff boy who was his best friend, “Never thought I’d see the day when we first met him, Eh Daehyun? Every time he steps foot on the grounds he starts acting like a gentleman. Its bizarre.”

 

As the Head had departed their presence and before Daehyun could finish telling his buddy to pipe down Yongguk had his arm around the Ravenclaw’s shoulders, “Hey Youngjae, you’re so smart. How about you tell me and everyone the story of the battle at Hogwarts.”

 

The soft bookworm, started stammering, “W-well you know, It was fought against the darkest wizard in history. Right here at the school. Many lives were lost.”

 

“And who fought for the winning side?”

 

“S-students and regular people in addition to professors at this school.” Not only was Youngjae visibly stressing but also Daehyun next to him had gone completely rigid. Sometimes you had to pull rank to remind everyone whom he or she was dealing with.

 

“That’s right,” Yongguk walked around to the front and fixed Youngjae with a stare, “our headmistress is a veteran not once but twice. What’s happening now is like a war and she deals with it so that we can learn in peace. She deserves our respect.”

 

“That was really scary. Is that your prefect face?” Jongup was only half joking, “come on guys let’s go study I have a feeling that if captain twinkle toes doesn’t get some guidance he’ll let loose a deadly plant on all of us.” Jongup was a Quidditch captain too but for Slytherin. The rivalry got a bit heated at times but the two remained good friends.

 

Insoo, a Huffelpuff, puffed up with pride, “That’s my cue.” He walked over to the table where Daewon, The other Slytherin, was already seated. “Hey Lazy bones why did you leave the group? Were you really in such a hurry to get started on homework?”

 

Daewon grinned at him sarcastically, “I just got tired of standing around like a bunch of statues. Lets get to it.”

 

Yongguk sat down, “Hey Daewon, I haven’t seen you in a while.” He really didn’t want to accuse him but he needed to know something, “do you know who was responsible for the jinx on the first year girls?”

 

Daewon looked around the table, “before you go around seeing what everyone’s last spell was no but I’m guessing that it was because of something professor Slughorn said as a joke. Jongup and I weren’t there but I overheard that human filth Rodney Latterson talking about it. Apparently old Sluggy told a group of students that if the female student body wasn’t their cup of tea they just had to wait for a new crop of firsties. Apparently someone took the old ert seriously because we had first year girls walking around with numbers on their foreheads without knowing it.