Alexandra Weasley: Book 5

16

Alex's first act of defiance against her uncle was in potions. She did the homework and didn't hand it in (she ended up sneaking her letter within Hannah's pages before it was collected). And then, when his back was turned to write on the board, she snuck out of the class.

Actually being confrontational would give him reason to give her detention, she had to be passive about her aggression. After some thinking, she'd understood his request. He still had to report back to Voldemort. Voldemort who was a very skilled legilimens. He must have glimpsed some memory that showed she had once cared for him. He needed material to show why he couldn't get to her for Voldemort. Why suddenly she didn't trust him. Faking memories was hard, and almost impossible to do with Voldemort. Manipulating memories, still hard but also possible. At least this way, whatever explanation Snape gave for her sudden mistrust of him- finding the letter to Ashburn, or just a distrust now that Voldemort was back and she was afraid- whatever reason he gave could be backed up by memories.

It took her longer than she'd like to admit to come to the conclusion. It took several deliberations over his letter, before she understood. She'd been a victim to Voldemort's legilimency. Snape was a skilled occlumens, but he'd be expected to bare his mind. To have no secrets. He might be able to bury a few of their memories, but the more emotion attached to the memory, the harder it was to suppress.

Alex bumped into Harry in the courtyard.
"Sorry." He muttered. She could smell the faint aroma of murtlap essence. She scanned him, looking for any sign of a wound.

"Where are you hurt?" She asked.

"I'm not." He retorted defensively.

"Hermione researching healing spells could be purely academic, but her using the murtlap essence on you clearly isn't. I can smell it."

"That why you gave her the potion? So you could sniff it out and figure out what we might be up to?" She rolled her eyes.

"Do you ever hear what you say? Like, I know thinking before you speak isn't really a Gryffindor trait, but still. You must hear yourself. Hermione's been spending entirely too long researching healing spells that could counteract spells that are neither light nor dark, without adverse effects, and wouldn't need healer training to apply. She needed something she'd have access to, and I know when Hermione's on the verge of falling down the rabbit hole of obsession. That's why we work so well, we help keep each other from falling in. So I helped her find a solution. I had no idea what she wanted to use it for. When I say Hermione and I tell each other everything, I don't mean other people's private business. But the murtlap essence has a specific stench, and I can smell it, so I know she was looking to heal you. You're hurt. How?"

"What can you do about it?"

"Like it or not, we run in the same circles. Same school, some of the same classes, my brother and my best friend are two of your closest friends. Same enemy."

"Is he your enemy? You tell so many stories, I don't know what's real."

"He's the reason nothing is okay. Everything bad happened because of him. I was content and happy. I had siblings I adored, parents I could trust. Now I'm afraid they'll all end up dead. Do you know why the sorting hat put me in Hufflepuff?" Harry shook his head. "Because I'm loyal. Now who do you think deserves my loyalty? The monster who stole my life, who murdered the boy I loved, or my family who only ever tried to protect me and love me?"

"What does Dumbledore know?"

"Everything." Alex said. "I did see a book with the names of all his followers. I did memorise, rewrite and give it to Dumbledore. But I also shared my memories. He watched them in his pensieve- everything. Every secret I have, I poured it into that pensieve and let Dumbledore see."

"Really?"

"Ask him yourself. And no, I'm not telling you everything. You'd be asking me to trust you with the worst things that ever happened to me. Worse than you could imagine. But I don't know you that well."

"Detentions." Harry finally said, rolling up his sleeve and unwrapping the bandage soaked with murtlap essence. There was a scar. A sentence- 'I must not tell lies'.

"What?"

"Detentions with Umbridge. She makes me write with this quill without ink and it writes on my arm. So what are you going to do about that?"

"Why won't you tell a teacher?"

"And give her the satisfaction?"

"This isn't a game. It isn't winning and losing. She's torturing you, plain and simple."

"Even if Dumbledore and the teachers believe me, what can they do? She's a ministry official. They won't recall her, especially not because I say she's making me write lines." He wrapped his arm again. "I'm an attention seeker, haven't you heard? At least you were smart about it, didn't go yelling to the world because you knew they wouldn't believe you."

"That wasn't why. Not at first. I was scared. That's all. I'd just escaped the most psychotic monster and I was afraid of being back under his control. I was afraid I'd be in trouble. So I said nothing, until I eventually said something. I was a coward, and it wasn't very Gryffindor of me."

"You were young." He disregarded.

"So are you. Do you have any more  detentions?"

"Another week." He answered. "Every evening."

"Okay, what you're going to do is, leave your common room as you usually would, take your cloak with you, sneak into the library without anyone seeing you, and do the homework I'm sure you're behind on."

"I can't do that." He said. "She'll just give me more, and I can hardly miss more quidditch practice."

"I'll handle it. You just have to make sure you're not seen anywhere."

"I'm fine."

"I'm not setting you up, Harry. And I swear, she'll never miss your presence. But you have to stay hidden otherwise the jig'll be up."

"What jig?"

"Leave it to me. But you'll need to trust me."

"I don't even know what you're going to do."

"I'm going to clone you." She said. "Not actually clone you. Just long enough for the detentions. A fake you will be sitting through them and the real you will be in the library or somewhere no one will see you. I really suggest the library since it's always empty at that time." Harry still looked hesitant. "I can't do this if you're not on board. If you show up to the detention, she's going to realise and we'll both be in trouble. So you need to make your choice now, Harry."

"You can really do this?" He asked and she nodded. "Okay."

"Alright. Tonight, as usual, you'll leave the common room. But where you would usually go to her office you've got to go to the library, and stay hidden so you're not seen." He nodded.

"Cheers."

"Don't mention it."

A/N- 👀 favourite line is "Do you ever hear what you say? Like, I know thinking before you speak isn't really a Gryffindor trait, but still. You must hear yourself."