Alexandra Weasley: Book 5

40

Alexandra woke up very early the next morning. Dumbledore came to take her to the entry point. He wasn't allowed to go any further though. He was only allowed to confirm her place.

There were ten participants all in all, ranging from ages seventeen to twenty one. A blonde girl came up to her.
"Alex!" She said, excitedly.

"Call me Alexandra, please." She said. The girl- Amélie, she assumed, nodded.

"I can't believe you lost your memories and still beat out Danny for the position of Hogwarts champion." Amélie snickered. Alexandra didn't know how to respond. "What happened to your hair?"

"I cut it, apparently. I don't really remember." Amélie nodded giddily.

"You need to be reintroduced to your competition." Amélie said. She led Alexandra over to a boy with reddish-brown hair. "This is Artemii from Koldovstoretz. Artemii, Alexandra's lost her memories, so she doesn't remember anything."

"It is nice to see you." He said. "I am sorry to hear about your broken mind."

"My mind isn't broken." She defended herself. "I just... don't have many memories of the past five years."

"Artemii doesn't mean offence. He's just a little rusty with the English language and his people skills."

"I apologise for causing you offence." He said.

"It's okay." She smiled. She held out her hand. "Let's start over. I'm Alexandra."

"I am Artemii." He told her, taking her hand. Instead of shaking it, he raised the back of her hand to his lips and planted a gentle kiss.

It wasn't long until each person had been assigned their designated spaces. A sort of portal had been opened which would deposit everyone in different areas of the forest. The participants were expected to collect ingredients they thought they might need. Cauldrons were kept at checkpoints and couldn't be moved. For potions that required a lengthier time than the couple minutes they were allowed to spend there, there were special stirring rods that could speed up the time their potion would take.

Alexandra bent down to pick up the red bellbulbs and added it to her first pouch. She continued, glancing up at the trees for apples every once in a while.

Half an hour later her workbelt had been filled up so she carefully made her way to the closest cauldron checkpoint. She sidestepped quite a few traps designed to set her back to where she started.

Meanwhile, at Grimmauld Place, the occupants were having breakfast.
"Where's Alexandra?" Harry asked noting the empty seat. She usually came down for breakfast in the mornings.

"The enchanted garden." Hermione said.

"There's a garden?" Harry asked.

"No. She's at the wizarding schools potions contest. No one knows the exact location. Except, maybe Dumbledore. They have to get through an enchanted garden."

"Who is she competing against?"

"Champions from the wizarding school's across the world. There's Artemii from Koldovstoretz, Amélie from beauxbatons, Kazuko from Mahoutokoro. I don't know who's going to be representing Ilvermorny, Ugadou or Castelobruxo or any of the other schools." Harry looked befuddled. "Yes, Harry, there are more than three wizarding schools."

"I know that." He said. "Maybe. Wait, how many are there?"

"I don't know, somewhere north of twenty five." She said. "Most are pretty small."

"What's this competition?" Tonks asked, curious.

"The wizarding schools potions championship. It's held every seven years and open to seventeen to twenty one year olds. The winner gets a gold cauldron and recognition for their potioneering skills. They get offers to apprentice under a selection of potion masters and mistresses across the world immediately or, if they're yet to finish school, once they graduate."

"Cool."

"It's intense. She can only use ingredients available to her in the forest. Brews potions she might need and has to use them against magical creatures set in her path to stop her from reaching the centre of the garden all the while having to get there before anyone else. A single mistake in a potion could cost her the entire tournament." Hermione said. "No one from Hogwarts has won in centuries."

"Hogwarts has done this for centuries? I've never heard of it."

"Yeah, if you want to take part, you're kind of expected to figure it out yourself."

"Oh."

"I think, also, Hogwarts hates losing and doesn't want to make such a big deal out of a competition we've lost countless times. This season we've only had four people competing to be Hogwarts's champion. And only one other is still currently a student at Hogwarts."

"How long is she going to be gone?"

"She should be back the day after tomorrow." Ginny shrugged. "She'll be fine. She went up against Amélie and Artemii two years ago and won, so she'll be fine."

"Wait, when?" Harry was confused.

"She took part in an annual potions competition. There's a double ranking. Every individual who comes in first for their school gets to compete to be their school's champion. But they also get to be scored altogether. Alexandra came in first, Amélie second, I think Danny came in third, and Artemii fourth. Someone else came in fifth, I don't know. Alexandra, Amélie and Artemii kind of forged a friendship and all disliked Danny."

"That's that Slytherin guy who dumped paint on her right?" Harry asked and Ron nodded.

"Yeah, and she made him cut off all his hair." He said proudly.

"How'd she do that?" Tonks asked. Molly looked interested and Hermione blushed.

"I don't know the finer details. I think she worked with Peeves." She said. "And still got punished by Dumbledore."

"Had to help out in Care of Magical creatures."

"The look on Malfoy's face when she rode out on the unicorns." Ron smirked and Harry grinned.

"Oh, like you two were much better." Hermione scoffed.

"Excuse us for not being used to the unicorns. We're not the ones Alex chose to show them to."

"She's very protective of them." Hermione said. "She didn't even show me until third year."

"At least she showed you."

"Like I said, she's protective of them. Plus, unicorns instinctively prefer females."

"She showed Cedric." He pouted.

"Yeah, that's a whole other story." Hermione shook her head.

A/N- oop, competition time!

Favourite line is "I am sorry to hear about your broken mind." Because lmfao Artemii. I also like the bit where Harry goes "There's a garden?"