Alexandra Weasley: Book 4

51

"What are you doing?" Charlie questioned as Alex opened up a heavy tome.

"Runes."

"With that big book?"

"Professor Babbling gave it to me. Said it's an overview of years 3, 4, 5 and 6. Sort of to make sure I can pass the OWLs at the end of the year." Charlie grimaced. "It's fun. Some of the runes look very similar so I have to look properly to make sure I get the right rune."

"How is that fun?" She asked, looking as though Alex rigorously copied out runes onto parchment. "Are you trying to do all of that today?"

"The sooner I get it done, the sooner I can get back to my class project." She said. "And continue to help prepare Ced for his third task."

"And to think you were so against it, just months ago."

"I don't love the tournament. I still hate it, but I support Cedric." She shrugged.

"Ugh, love." Charlie groaned. "I want to fall in love."

"It's not as fairytale as Alex and Cedric make it seem. They're just weird. They're an anomaly."

"Good use of the word." Alex said patronisingly and Megan flipped her off.

"Still, I want to be in love." Charlie sighed. "I want butterflies in my stomach, and heart eyes when I think of them." Megan snorted and Charlie ignored her, turning to Alex. "Is your sister dating Neville?"

"No, why?"

"He looked alright at the dance." She said. "He's sweet."

"You'd break him, Char." Megan said. "Ask Alex to hook you up with one of the Slytherins. Or Ravenclaws."

"No, most of the Ravenclaws are prats." Alex said. She looked up at Charlie. "Wait, do you really want me to set you up with someone?"

Charlotte shrugged. "Sure, why not."

"Okay, fine. Preferences."

"Not a bookworm."

"From Hogwarts or from any of the schools?"

"I don't mind. I'm just bored, so I want something."

"What about Marcel?" Alex said, not looking up from her work. Charlie's eyes lit up.

"He's pretty." She said dreamily and Megan snorted.

"Alright, we'll see. I'll ask Amélie if he's single."

"Great." There was silence.

"Do you guys really not have anything to do, right now?" Alex asked as they sat in silence.

"You already made sure we did our homework, and it's the weekend."

"Plus Megan won't let us pretend to have a premonition about my falling off the stairs to get points from Trelawney."

"Just because you won't snap your neck, doesn't mean you won't get hurt." Megan admonished.

"Most you'd get is a broken leg and madam Pomfrey would fix that in a snap." Alex said absentmindedly.

"See. Or even the astronomy tower. Imagine the points we'd get for that."

"No!" Alex said harshly. "There's no such enchantment protecting the astronomy tower. It's too high up."

"What, really? Okay, what other places don't have such enchantments?"

"Just the astronomy tower. That's why it's out of bounds unless there's a teacher present." Alex sighed. "I have a task for you. Read Hogwarts: a history."

"Why would we torture ourselves?"

"So you know what's safe to do and what's not. And so you can leave me alone." She said.

"Aren't you supposed to be relaxing today? Taking a break from all the studying and revision you've been doing with Cedric?" Charlie asked.

"This is relaxing." Alex defended, and Megan rolled her eyes.

"Come on, it's lunch in ten." She said. "And after that, we'll sit by the lake and do some actual relaxing."

Megan didn't get the chance to force Alex to her brand of relaxation. Hermione got hold of Alex after lunch claiming she needed her. Alex knew it was serious when Hermione led her to the vanishing room.
"What's up, H?"

"Why were you mad at Snape?"

"What?"

"In October, you were mad at Snape. You said you couldn't trust him. Why?"

"I was overreacting to part of a story."

"Is it because he was a death eater?" Alex's face tightened.

"Hermione-"

"How can you trust him again, after finding out?"

"I always knew." Alex said. Hermione's jaw dropped. "I know all of the names, remember?"

"So why would you ever-?"

"It wasn't up to me to tell."

"But you trusted him."

"I did. I do."

"Even before you knew he was your uncle. How? Why?"

"At first, it was because Dumbledore trusted him. I knew Snape was a spy, but I also knew Dumbledore knew that and trusted him still. I figured he'd found a way to be good, despite the bad in his past. I thought, well hoped really, that if he could then so could I.  Plus there was instinct. I guess the beast part of me could sense the kinship between us and part of me just always felt less guarded around him. It also helped that he was a good teacher and didn't push when I needed him not to. Then we found out he was my uncle, and he protected me too. And you know, years went by, and he's proved himself time and again."

"Except whatever happened in October."

"I don't want to talk about that. I blamed him for something that wasn't entirely his fault."

"How sure are you?"

"Positive. And I made him tell me the whole story as to how he ended up a spy. We can trust him, H. I promise."

"So Snape really was a death eater?" Hermione asked. "I was hoping you'd tell me I was wrong."

"How did you find out?"

"Harry was talking to Dumbledore and was lured into the pensieve. He saw some of the trials, including one in which Karkaroff implicated Snape."

"Why was the memory in the pensieve?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why was that memory in the pensieve. Dumbledore keeps his memories in vials locked away. For Harry to stumble across that memory in the pensieve, Dumbledore had to have been looking at it. But why?"

"I don't know. Maybe he just wanted to recall the trial. What with Crouch's disappearance and all." Alex didn't look convinced but let it go. "Help me figure out how Rita Skeeter knows things she shouldn't, would you?"