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13 OCTOBER, 1990

CLAIRE SAT AT THE HUFFLEPUFF TABLE in the Great Hall, her personal copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them open to the page on Nifflers. As she haphazardly shoveled her breakfast into her mouth, her eyes scanned the page, flitting back and forth between the actual text and the handwritten notes crammed into the margins, trying to soak in as much information as possible.

"I don't think I've ever seen you interested in a book before," a voice said to her from across the table. Claire glanced up briefly to see Alexander sitting down across from her, his black hair smooth and styled, white button-down tucked cleanly into black pants, and yellow-and-black tie hanging loosely around his shoulders.

"Already reviewing for our O.W.L.s?" he continued, grabbing a muffin from the center of the table. Claire shook her head slightly.

"No, this is more for...personal research," she said as Alexander dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a strange-looking metal thing. Another one of his Muggle trinkets, no doubt.

"Personal research? What are you even reading?" he asked, and without a word, Claire propped the book up to show him the cover, her eyes still glued to the page as she tried to read a particularly cramped bit of writing that was shoved into the margins next to the section titled, "Dietary Needs."

"Oh, I didn't recognize it — is it your grandfather's manuscript or something?" Alexander asked. Claire nodded silently and didn't look up from her book until she heard a faint hiss from across the table and a yelp of pain; Claire finally glanced up to see a few sparks fly out from the strange metal object Alexander was holding. He appeared to have been prodding it with his wand and set it off somehow.

A freckled, broad-shouldered figure with tousled red hair sidled onto the bench next to Claire, and Charlie Weasley let out a laugh as Alexander shook out the hand that had been shocked. "Back to fiddling with Muggle things at a wizarding school, Alexander?" Charlie joked, grabbing a couple pieces of toast from the center of the table. He leaned to look over Claire's shoulder as he stuffed an entire slice of toast in his mouth. "Whatcha reading?" he asked, his voice muffled to near incoherence by the mass of bread in his throat.

Claire sighed, turning and propping the book up once more so Charlie could read the cover. As she skimmed the section titled "Species-Specific Quirks," Claire watched out of the corner of her eye as Charlie's jaw dropped.

"Is that...?" he whispered.

"Yup."

"Holy shit! So it's got all of Newt Scamander's original notes and everything?"

"Yup."

"Holy shit!"

Claire looked up from the book to see Charlie's face lit up like a child on Christmas morning. His wide, excited, shameless grin was unlike anything Claire had ever seen, and she couldn't help but crack a small smile herself upon seeing it.

"Do you want to take a look?" She said, flipping the book shut and holding it out towards the wide-eyed Weasley. Claire didn't even need to know his response; the look on his face told her everything. "Be gentle with it, it's nearly 70 years old," she added, laying the book down in front of Charlie on the table. He eagerly picked up the tome and began scouring through its pages.

Alexander snorted. "Who's the dork now?"

Charlie barely glanced up, thoroughly engrossed in the new reading. "Still you."

Claire reached down and grabbed a pad of paper, a quill, and a bottle of ink from her book bag under the table. Flipping open the pad to the next blank page, she wrote at the top: Animal Care To-Do, 13 October 1990. Underneath, she began writing notes on various magical creatures, including habitat care and feeding schedules.

"Hey, Charlie?" Claire asked, and the redhead's face popped out from behind the book. "Real quick, can you read off the Dietary Needs section of a Bowtruckle for me? And then also any comments my grandfather wrote in the margins?" Charlie nodded, grinning, and began to read. As he did, Claire wrote down several notes on her pad of paper, erasing a few and revising them to make more sense in her itinerary of duties for the day.

When he had finished, Charlie looked up from the book, and Claire noticed his gaze land on her pad of paper. "Animal care?" He asked. "What other surprises do you have? Have you been working with Professor Kettleburn, too, and you didn't tell me?" At this point, Alexander had looked up from his own work as well, curious as to what he was missing out on.

Claire hesitated. She'd only ever shared the suitcase with her grandmother and grandfather. No one at Hogwarts even knew about it, let alone explored its contents. Yes, while Charlie and Alexander certainly were the closest friends Claire had ever had, she still had only known them for a little over a month. She felt herself begin to close off, wanting to be careful and cautious and refuse to allow herself or her animals to come to any harm by trusting the wrong people.

And yet, she felt a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach drawing herself towards the desire to open up to them. Neither had done anything untrustworthy, and Charlie even had experience working with Professor Kettleburn and his animals. No doubt they would be fascinated by the wonders contained inside her grandfather's trunk.

"Are either of you busy for the next several hours?" Claire said hesitantly, closing the top on her ink bottle and wiping down her quill.

"Not anymore!" Charlie said quickly, hopping up from his seat at the table.

"When do I ever do anything besides hang out with you?" Alexander said with a sigh, though the gleam in his eyes said he was excited, too. At this point, Charlie was bouncing on his feet in anticipation.

Claire packed up her gear, beckoning Charlie to hand back her father's manuscript. Once her things were returned safely to her book bag, she stood up as well. Claire took a deep sigh, preparing herself for what was inevitably going to be the most mind-boggling experience for either of her friends.

"Follow me."

The trio made their way through the corridors towards the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room. As they walked, Charlie's face still bore the expression of an eager and impatient child; meanwhile, Alexander looked a little more nervous, as though he had no idea what was about to happen and wasn't certain if he was going to enjoy it or not.

Knowing what was coming, Claire reckoned Alexander was going to be more prepared, as neither of them had any idea just what they were getting themselves into.

As they approached the barrels leading to the common room, Claire turned around to face Charlie. "I'm really sorry, Charlie, but you're going to have to wait here."

The red-headed boy made a move to argue, but stopped himself and gave a simple nod. In all of Hogwarts history, a non-Hufflepuff had never entered the Hufflepuff Common Room, and Claire was not going to be the one to break that tradition. Claire gave him a soft smile and placed a small hand on his cheek. "Be patient. I'll be right back." With that, Charlie's expression softened and he nodded again. He turned around, allowing for Claire and Alexander to tap on the barrels guarding the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

Once they'd entered, the two scrambled down the stairs to the fifth year dormitories. Claire scanned the room, making sure there were no other lingering fifth years in the room, and walked over to her bed.

"Hey, so what was that back there?" Alexander asked, scraping his foot against the floor as he took a seat on his own bed.

"What?" Claire replied, not fully paying attention as she kneeled down on the floor next to her bed. She extended a hand out, carefully feeling around the floorboards.

"Charlie seemed far too content with you putting your hand on his face, and you seemed far too eager to do it," he shot back. Claire froze, feeling her face heat up. It was lucky she was on the floor; if Alexander could see her, he would easily see that she was flushed bright red.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said quietly, continuing to search the floorboards for the hollow spot.

After another moment, she found it, and hit a beam in the floor with her fist. It sprung open, revealing her grandfather's suitcase, which she pulled carefully out of its nook in the floorboards.

"A suitcase?" Alexander asked, returning to the matter at hand. Claire didn't respond, she just gave a small nod and turned to walk back up the staircase. Now seemingly even more intrigued, Alexander bounded after her, following Claire up the stairs and back out of Hufflepuff House to meet Charlie outside.

Once the trio had reconvened, Claire set the suitcase on the ground, taking a seat on the floor of the corridor next to it. She looked up at Charlie and Alexander and sucked in a careful, heavy breath. Once she opened the case, there was no going back.

"Are you ready? I can't have this open for long, so you have to be ready," said Claire.

"Ready for what?" Charlie asked.

"You're going to climb inside," she replied matter-of-factly. Charlie and Alexander gave each other a look of bewilderment, before Alexander turned back to face Claire, this time looking rather amused with himself.

"Does it go to Narnia?" he asked. Now it was Charlie and Claire's turn to share a confused glance.

"Excuse me?" Claire replied. She'd heard of many different and obscure places in her lifetime from studying magical creatures with her grandfather, but never before had she heard of a 'Narnia.'

Alexander's grin faltered for a moment, but he continued anyway. "The trunk, if we go in, are we gonna go to Narnia?"

Charlie turned his confused gaze onto Alexander. "What the hell is Narnia?" he asked incredulously.

"No way, don't tell me you've never heard of Narnia!" Alexander looked between Claire and Charlie as though he was hoping one of them would show a spark of recognition, but Claire merely shook her head in response. She felt rather bad about it, for if Alexander was a fan of this 'Narnia,' it must be interesting, but she had no memory of such a place. She watched his face fall in dejection. "Nevermind," he said.

The three turned their attention back towards the suitcase. Claire unhooked the first latch, then looked up at Charlie and Alexander. "Are you ready?" she repeated.

"Ready," the two boys said in unison.

Claire nodded, unlocking the second latch and swinging the lid of the suitcase open. Charlie ran up to the suitcase first, giving Claire an excited yet nervous look as he stepped into the suitcase. After a moment of hesitation, it appeared he figured out what he was doing and climbed down until he was just a tuft of red hair peeking out above the lip of the suitcase. Then another step, and he was gone.

Alexander learned quicker, probably from watching Charlie struggle, and clambered into the suitcase behind him, quickly descending into the suitcase before disappearing entirely. Claire scooted around to face the front of the suitcase and stuck her head inside. She could see a ladder that led down into a room where Charlie and Alexander both stood, looking around in astonishment at their surroundings.

"Boys," she said, grabbing their attention. "I'll be right back." Without another word, Claire closed the lid of the suitcase and latched it. She stood up, picking the suitcase up off the floor, and headed back into the Hufflepuff Common Room, all the while her heart hammered away in excitement and anxiety.

No one aside from her and her grandparents had ever set foot in the suitcase – well, not that Claire knew of, anyway. For all she knew, her grandfather could have had half of Great Britain in this suitcase at one point, but he'd never mentioned it. It seemed like a special thing, however, and Claire was now sharing this with her two best friends.

She made her way down to the fifth-year dormitories and placed the suitcase on her bed. Grabbing her bookbag off the floor and slinging over her shoulder, Claire opened the latches of the case and climbed in herself, being sure to shut the lid of the trunk behind her as she descended down the rickety ladder.

Once she reached the bottom, Claire spun around to meet Charlie and Alexander's astonished faces. The small, wooden shack they shared opened up to a vast landscape, each quarter divided up into different habitats holding a myriad of different creatures. As the boys looked around, a small, fluffy, platypus-looking animal crawled into the room and climbed up onto the wooden counter. The animal sat up on its hind legs and peered curiously at a silver glint peeking out of Alexander's pocket.

"Careful, Alexander, Ricky's got an eye on your pocket," said Claire with a smile. Alexander whipped around, but he wasn't quick enough. The creature had snatched the object out of his pocket and was actively stuffing it into the folds of its fur. Upon being caught, it looked up guiltily at the three people now staring at it.

Charlie laughed. "You named a Niffler Ricky?" he said, reaching forwards to grab the strange, metal object from the Niffler's arms. It took a few shakes, but Ricky eventually let go, falling back onto the counter with a soft thud.

"Well, his full name is Ricky Niffs, actually," Claire replied with a sheepish grin. "Grandfather let me name him when he was born. I was five." She walked over to pick Ricky up, who sat defiantly on the counter, clearly irritated that his precious trinket had been ripped away from him. Claire scooped up the Niffler and placed him on top of her shoulder, where he curled up and started fiddling with her necklace.

Charlie took a look at the metal object in his hand before offering it back to Alexander. "So what even is this?" he asked.

"It's a screwdriver," Alexander responded. "Please tell me you've at least heard of that."

Claire once again gave her friend a sad, blank stare, as this was seemingly another Muggle thing she'd never heard of. On the other hand, however, Claire saw a spark of recognition flash in Charlie's eyes.

"That's what a screwdriver is?" he said, astonished. "Dad keeps talking about those and I never knew what he meant! Fascinating."

Alexander sighed with a smile. "Well, at least you know what I'm talking about this time. Anyways, can we get out of this shack? I want to see what else is in here." Charlie nodded vigorously in agreement.

Claire grinned and extended an arm to guide them out into the habitats around them. As they walked out, she reached down into her book bag and pulled out the notepad with her instructions on them. "Alright, so first, we need to clean out the bowtruckle's nest..."

As the three made their rounds through the landscapes of the suitcase, Claire was reminded of Alexander's comment earlier, how he joked that there was something between her and Charlie. She laughed to herself quietly as she worked. It was ridiculous; they had only known each other a little over a month. They were just friends.

Right?