Alexandra Weasley: Book 5

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It was pretty cold out on the quidditch pitch. Alexandra shivered next to Hermione. "Where are the heating charms?"

"They've been cast. Are you still cold?"

"Yep."

"Well, you always got cold easily."

"True."

"You'd usually use Cedric as your personal blanket, or he'd give you his jumper. Or both." Hermione smiled wistfully. "You two were so stupidly cute like that."

"Did you know Cedric?" Alexandra asked Luna who nodded.

"Yes. He was a very kind soul." A noise from the quidditch stands grabbed her attention. The Slytherins were chanting, and getting progressively louder as people quietended to listen.

"Weasley cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring,
That's why Slytherins all sing:
Weasley is our King.
Weasley was born in a bin
He always lets the Quaffle in
Weasley will make sure we win
Weasley is our King."

"That toerag ferret wanker." Hermione growled.

"Who?" Alexandra asked.

"Malfoy." She spat.

"Are you sure?" Alexandra asked.

"Positive." Hermione glared. "Who else would it be? He's trying to make Ron lose his head and lose the game." She noticed Alexandra's frown. "I know you think he's your friend, and I guess he sort of is, but you also knew how much of a pillock Malfoy is and you never approved of it either."

By the end of the match, Gryffindor had won though Ron was in a dark mood. Alex rushed to go see her brother rather than waiting around on the pitch and caught up to him just before he reached the boys changing rooms.
"Ronald!" She said, and he turned to face her.

"I was hopeless." He said. "If Harry hadn't caught the snitch, I'd have lost us the match."

"You're not hopeless. You just let Malfoy get in your head." She assured. "You're a good keeper, honest. I know you are."

"I was rubbish before the Slytherins started to sing."

"Nerves." She promised. "Don't give up. You just need to learn to tune them out and practice a little more."

"Maybe." He didn't look convinced. "I'll see you later, Alexandra." He pushed into the room and she sighed.

"How bad is it?" Alexandra turned to see Hermione not too far back.

"He's really upset." She shrugged. "He just needs some comforting and assurances that he's not a loser. Malfoy really botched up his first game."

"He'll be fine though, right?"

"Of course he will." Alexandra smiled. "Okay, I'm really not going to get through to him for a while. And you promised to tell me how I lost my memories today."

"I did." Hermione agreed.

"So what happened?"

"Not here." Hermione said. "Come."

Hermione led Alex out to the black lake. It was far out and easy to spot anyone who might've come too close.
"Last chance to back out." Hermione begged. "Are you sure you don't want to leave it?"

"I need to know. I was horrible and I don't know why, and I might never get my memories back. Maybe that is a good thing. Maybe I can be better this time round. I still want to know."

"You weren't horrible." Hermione cut in.

"I've seen it with my own eyes. I've seen my own brother flinch away from me, my supposed friends wait for me to bark insults at them. I was friends with a boy who just publicly humiliated my brother, and I'm willing to bet it wasn't the first time. I don't know why you even tolerated me when I was such a brat. I know even you avoid me sometimes."

"Let me tell you a bit about my Alex. She was always in pain. She was always sad. She loved her siblings to death and would never let anything happen to them. She sacrificed herself for her brother, not that she'd ever tell him. The only reason she put up a cold front with everyone was because she were scared. Do you want to know how you and I really became friends?" Alexandra nodded. "It was after charms and before I was friends with Ron and Harry. You and I were sort of acquaintances. We competed in class, and have a laugh winding each other up. We annoyed Flitwick with all the points we racked up for our respective houses. One day, after class, Ron said something mean about me. I think it was that I was such a know it all and who'd want to be friends with me."

"What?"

"Yeah, and I got upset and went to the bathroom. You overheard too and came after me and spent hours making me feel better. You made me laugh and let me cry and comforted me until past dinner. Then a troll came in. We didn't know because we missed the feast, but a troll had gotten loose in the castle. Ron and Harry, not realising we were in the bathroom, locked the troll inside with us. Anyways, by the time they came inside, you were fighting the troll and you outsmarted it and got it to drop its bat on its own head. It knocked itself out and I think that's what really cemented our friendship."

"You've never told me that before."

"You also singlehandedly dragged Harry to find help after he defeated Quildemort. And I do mean that literally. You had to carry him across a large room. In second year, when you were afraid you were the heir of Slytherin- which you weren't, you just thought that because you were always asleep during the attacks- you told Dumbledore and asked if you could leave Hogwarts early and go to Mahoutokoro a term early so that you didn't hurt anyone else. And even across continents, you helped me figure out there was a basilisk, but then we both got petrified. Still, we got the knowledge to the boys. In third year, when Ginny was upset and traumatised over the whole heir of Slytherin fiasco, you were the one who noticed and made her feel better. When Sirius Black dragged Ron into the weeping willow, you jumped in without a second thought and kept him and the rest of us safe. You even tied up Sirius, even though he ended up not being a mass murderer or a traitor or anything."

"What?"

"Long story. My point is, you don't know who Alex was. She was my best friend. And she's been holding so many responsibilities and so much sadness, so when Cedric died, she couldn't handle it. She tried, but everywhere in Hogwarts was a reminder of him. A taunt that he was gone, and the only way she could continue to survive was if she forgot him. So using the research she'd put together to make a memory aid potion, and reverse engineering it, she made a forgetting potion that would actually take away memories. The potion required a second step that she needed help with but she knew no one would help her forget Cedric. So she tried to remove her memories of him all by herself. The potion, without a guide, responded to her heart and erased all her memories up until the last time she felt happy and safe."

"I did this? To myself?"

"Accidentally, but yes. You were hurt and in pain and it got too much. You can't judge Alex. You don't know her. She's definitely not everything bad you think of her."

"I created a potion to help memory?"

"Yeah, with Haru. He's a boy from Japan, sort of a little brother. He loved potions as much as you." Hermione sighed. "Ron knows you. He knows you care about him. He frequently teased your inability to actually be cold to him. You could try, but you'd always end up slipping and showing him how much you cared."

"Why is he so afraid of the forest? What did I do to make him so scared?"

"A bit of a joke, actually. But I'm not comfortable telling you yet. I really don't think you're ready and I would very much appreciate your discretion and your patience."

"Sure. Thank you for telling me about all the other stuff. I guess I was so focused on how much I'd changed and how different I'd become that I only saw the bad."

A/N- My favourite line here is "You can't judge Alex. You don't know her. She's definitely not everything bad you think of her."

Hermione's gonna defend her friend. She's never gonna let anyone badmouth her lol.