metanoia

Chapter Thirty-four

"Hey."

Alex looked up from her sketchbook, seeing that Amos Diggory was standing a few feet in front of her with a large notebook similar to the one in her own hand. The tall Hufflepuff's light grey eyes were bloodshot and glazed but he tried to disguise it with a smile.

Amos pointed to the spot on the ground beside her, loosening his already loose tie with the other, "Could I join you?"

Without saying a word to him, answering his request to join her, she moved her messenger bag to her left to free the space for him to seat himself. The pair sat in complete silence. Both ignoring their problems and finding some peace in the empty Herbology greenhouse as they each sketched in their notebooks.

"Are you okay?"

Alex looked up from her notebook, ceasing the light shading of the drawn face's pronounced cheekbones, countering as she met his eye, "I could ask you the same thing, Diggory."

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Amos, taking her avoidance as an answer and ignoring her counter response as he lightly ran his charcoal pencil against the paper.

"You first."

Amos dropped his charcoal, nodding softly as he turned to face her. He cleared his throat, playing with his fingers as he focused his gaze on them,  "Fair enough. So apparently my ex-girlfriend is pregnant with my baby. And she just told me this, after I broke up with her in December. And to be completely honest with you, I'm not ready to be a father nor do I want to marry her."

The blonde's jaw became slack, profoundly amazed by the Hufflepuff's personal problems. Struggling to formulate a coherent response, something to make him feel better about his impending fatherhood, Alex laid a hand on his knee. 

Amos sniffled for a moment, shaking himself out of his momentary pity party. Forcing a smile, he looked up from the comforting hand that was resting on his knee and met her sympathetic eyes, "Alright, I told you my pathetic problems. Now it's your turn."

Alex widened her eyes, thinking that Cedric was insinuating that her problems would be pathetic as well. Amos realized what he said and what it might have sounded like to her and instantly regretted it, "Not that your problems are pathetic. I'm-I'm sorry. I mean, I'm listening. What's going on?"

Alex laughed at his desperate attempt to make her know that he didn't think she was pathetic, nodding her head in agreement, "Fine, a deal's a deal. My friends and I-"

"The Marauders? Or Letti and the Prewett twins?"

"The Marauders," the blonde quickly answered, smiling at the question. "Anyways, we're all in this really big, I guess fight is the best word to describe our situation right now. Well, really I'm only really mad at Sirius, he did something really fucked up. And I can't be around him without wanting to set Sirius' hair on fire. So, now I'm here. The silence helps me think."

Amos bit his lip, taking in Alex's problem with Sirius Black, he drummed his hands on his thighs, "Okay-"

"Hey, Digs, you in here? It's Sunday mate, which means it's time for you to try and teach me how to play Quidditch," Nicholas called, looking around the greenhouse for the sixth year Hufflepuff.

Amos smiled at the blonde as he pushed himself off the ground, waving at Nicholas to join them. He extended his hand to the Gryffindor, with a bright smile as Nicholas appeared at his side, "Seems like you could use a distraction. So, would you like to join us? Maybe together we can finally teach Nicky here how to not be total rubbish at Quidditch."

"No, I couldn't impose on-"

Nicholas stopped her objections, smiling down at the blonde that was a foot shorter than him and his best friend as she pulled her messenger bag onto her shoulder, "You wouldn't be imposing at all, Alex. Please, come hang out with us and play some Quidditch. We can even get Cissa and Charlie and Letti and the Twins and make a whole day of it. So what do you say?"

"Fine, twist my arm," she groaned, chuckling at the Slytherin-Hufflepuff duo's persistence and wide smiles as she agreed. 

"I'll go get Charlie and I'm sure Eddie would want to play too. Nick, you go get Narcissa. And Alex, you go get your friends. We'll meet you down at the Quidditch Pitch," Amos instructed as the three left the Greenhouse and made their ways towards their House Common Rooms.

Now in a slightly better mood, Alex made her way through the absurdly large Hogwarts Castle, up hundreds of stairs and seven floors to the Gryffindor Tower. Bouncing happily on her feet, ready to play the game she loves with her friends, she climbed through the Fat Lady's portrait hole and into the Common Room to find all of her friends, current and old, scattered across the circular room.

"Alex?"

The blonde ignored the dark haired boy's beckoning, skipping over to the couch that Letti and the Twins were seated on and smiled at Remus as he sat comfortably in the armchair near the fireplace with his Potions essay sitting on his lap and James and Lily as they played Wizards Chess at the little coffee table beside him, "So, I was just in the greenhouse with Amos Diggory and he invited me to come play Quidditch with him and Nicholas Parker. They said I could invite my friends and they were gonna go invite Charlie, Eddie, and Narcissa. Would you lot like to come play with us?"

"I'm in, just let me go get some warm clothes on since it's colder than a witch's tit outside," Fabian announced as he arose and headed up the spiral staircase to get changed, with Gideon and Letti following behind him both agreeing to meet Alex down at the Quidditch Pitch.

Remus rolled up his Potions essay, tossed it at the blonde as she plopped down on the couch and called up the stairs telling her three best friends that she'd wait for them, "If you hold onto that for me for class tomorrow, I'm in. I could use a break from all this homework."

"Don't you have Prefect duty tonight, Rem?"

The werewolf shook his head no, looking over at James and Lily's chess game, "No Lils, it's Malfoy and Mary's night tonight. James, are you going to come play with us or are you going to stay and play Chess with your girlfriend who's about to lose in about 5 moves?"

"I see her losing in three, if James plays his pieces right," Alex corrected, throwing Remus' parchment into her messenger bag as Lily moved her pawn forward.

Lily groaned, watching as James' rook smashed into her white knight, "I'm coming. I give up, I'm bound to lose anyways. So, I'll come and ref the game and make sure you guys play fair."

"Since when are you and Amos Diggory all buddy buddy?" Sirius questioned, growing tired of being ignored by all of his friends and listening to them make plans of hanging out together and knowing that he wasn't invited.

"Since my former best friend turned out to be a selfish, arrogant, stupid dick head who doesn't give two shits about his friends," Alex spat at him venomously, marching out the Common Room door as Letti and the Prewetts descended the stairs and announced that they were ready to go.

When the group of Gryffindors reached the Quidditch Pitch, they found Amos Diggory, Charlie Johnson and Eddie Bones accompanied by Nicholas Parker and Narcissa Black. When he made eye contact with Alex, Amos' smile got brighter and he left his conversation with Eddie and Charlie to jog to her and Remus. "Hi, so who's ready for a game?"

"Me, I need to hit something."