Alexandra Weasley: Book 4

26

When Alex reached Snape's office again, she knocked on the door.
"Come in." He called. Her plate of untouched lunch was sitting on the desk still. She closed the door but didn't move further.

"You need to eat." He said. "There's a stasis charm, so it's still warm."

"I'm not hungry."

"When was the last time you ate a proper meal?"

"It's none of your concern." She antagonised.

"Hate me all you want, but do not insult either of us by questioning my care for you. I am your teacher and your uncle. It is very much my concern." He said. "Sit and try to eat as much as you can or you can go without any of your questions answered."

She stared, trying to see if he was bluffing but came up empty. "Fine." She grumbled and slouched onto the chair. He said nothing until she took her first bite.

"You know somewhat of my childhood." He stated and she nodded. "My mother was a pureblood witch and my father a muggle. My mother's side of the family were old families. Not the sacred twenty eight, but still purebloods for generations. So when my mother fell in love with a muggle, my grandmother was angry. She cut her off leaving my parents to struggle. My father began to resent my mother. She wouldn't use magic to make money. He wouldn't let her work. I think he expected her duplicate what he had. Then my brother was born, and I a few years later. It was not an easy life. For the most part, Ty and I raised ourselves, or I should say he raised me as well as himself. He would make sure I was fed, and had clothes on my back. He'd protect me from our father as much as he could. Most of the time, we ended up spending our time outside. I was seven when I met my first friend." He smiled at the memory. "Ty and I were going down to the park and saw a pair of sisters. One was clearly magical. Muggleborn, so she didn't know. Ty and I had seen our mother do magic around the house and we had books so we knew what she was. I could do magic too, though Titus couldn't. I naturally gravitated towards Lily. She was kind and friendly and everything her sister wasn't. Her older sister Petunia made fun of our clothes and the fact that we weren't as well off as her family."

"She sounds mean."

"She was. But Lily was kind and it didn't matter. I finally had a friend so Ty didn't feel so bad about going to hang with his own friends without me, or annoyed by my constant presence when he did get to. Lily loved magic. We couldn't do spells, but we could go with our instincts. Bringing a near dead plant back to health. Jumping off swings so high, we probably would have gotten hurt without magic. And she was eager to learn. Sometimes I'd sneak some of my mother's books out just so she could have a reference."

"Is she the reason your patronus is a doe?" He nodded. "Oh."

"We grew up more, her sister bitter and annoyed. Lily would defend me and Tuney'd go off in a huff. I think that's when Ty and I started to drift apart. As much as I must have annoyed him, he and I were incredibly close. And suddenly I was spending most of my time with Lily freeing up most of his. And we hardly saw each other much. When he turned eleven, he didn't get a Hogwarts letter, and I guess that's when it sunk in that he didn't have magic. He was in a bad mood for weeks but then he got over it and we were back to normal." Snape looked pointedly at her plate and she took another bite. "Ty started secondary so I never saw him much at school anymore, and Lily and I only met in the park or sometimes at her house. We went to wildly different schools in different neighbourhoods. It was a lot more lonely without Ty, so I became bolder with the books I took from my mother's collection. Potions fascinated me but so did the dark arts. To an extent, of course. Nothing sacrificial, but definitely spells Hogwarts wouldn't approve of."

"Sort of like the bestio mutatio upon contact spell?"

"Yeah." He said. "And when I turned eleven, my letter came. Lily's came on the same month, so neither of us needed to wait long. I was at her house on the day, because I didn't want to miss it. That was when I first met Professor Mcgonagall."

"What was she like back then?"

"Almost exactly the same. She loved Lily, as did anyone who ever met her. We met some boys on the train who were rude and idiotic. One in particular couldn't fathom why Lily would hang out with me. But she stood with me and told him where to go and we found another carriage. We made a promise to each other that we'd always be friends. Eat." He said and Alex took another bite. "When we got to Hogwarts, she was sorted before me. She got sorted into Gryffindor along with the boys from the train and I got sorted into Slytherin. I didn't think she'd want to have much to do with me after that but she wasn't like the rest of the school. She stayed my friend. We had several classes together and we'd sit beside each other in every single one despite what both of our houses thought. We'd do our homework in the library together and she would read my mother's books with me. James, the boy from the train, hated it. He'd cut in as often as he could. He'd disturb us, insult me, steal my things. He saw some of my personal work and labelled me a dark wizard. The thought of Lily knowing about it or even studying it with me never came to his mind. He spread rumours all around the school. It wasn't as detrimental to me as he'd thought. I didn't really know anyone from the other houses and mine were thrilled with the idea. That's how I met Draco's father. He was a seventh year then, but his family had been in service with the dark lord for as long as he could remember. He gave me status amongst the Slytherins and protection from them. So I shared some of my thoughts and he was delighted. Lily thought I was stupid for it but understood that I needed the support of my house if I were to survive Hogwarts. After Lucius left, we didn't stop contact. I would speak to Narcissa and she was kinder. She was disapproving of Lily but I wouldn't hear of it. Narcissa's sister, in fact, was your mother's friend."

"Andromeda Black?" She asked and he nodded before looked down at her plate. She took another bite.

A/N- The voting between McGonagall's Slytherin granddaughter and Hermione's Slytherin sister ends tomorrow, so if you haven't already voted, now's your window, xx
Hope you guys enjoyed this.