Alexandra Weasley: Book 5

44

It was fourteen days after Alex's conversation with Hermione. Twelve since Alexandra's.

"So, have you decided?" Hermione asked. Alexandra looked at my friend.

"All this, my relationship with my family, it goes away, right? I become Alex again, and go back to a life of fear and pain and secrets?"

"You don't have to. You can be you. You'll have your memories of this time, and you'll know your past doesn't define you. The narrative you've been telling yourself for years- about not deserving to be who you are, not deserving your life or happiness, about having irreparably damaged your relationships with your family. You'll know it's not true. You got to be Alexandra for three months. You might not want to be called Alexandra, but what's in a name?"

"That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet." Hermione grinned.

"I knew you liked that play."

"I don't think I did."

"It's all a little romantic."

"Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but didn't they both die?"

"Because they loved each other so much."

"Isn't it like the other me wanting to fade away and stop existing because Cedric died? That doesn't sound romantic. It sounds horribly overly dependent." Hermione opened her mouth but closed it.

"That's a very good point."

"I think there was another reason I didn't like it, but I can't remember."

"One of the things you don't want to know."

"If I'm going to remember anyway, merge with the other me- would you mind telling me? Maybe I can see myself objectively?"

"I'm not so sure-"

"I'm going to remember. But if I'm going to go through with this, I need to know who I was. I need a perception of myself with the mindset of who I am now. I need to know if I'm making the biggest mistake by becoming Alex." Hermione sighed.

"Fine, your parents are going to kill me for this if it backfires, so please don't do anything drastic until you've become Alex. Otherwise, not only will your mother kill me, so will you." Alexandra nodded. "You're adopted, kind of."

"What?" Alexandra's hands immediately reached up to her hair, self consciously.

"You're biological lineage is dark. On your mother's side at least. Her father was evil incarnate. Your father was a muggle. A squib, technically. I don't know much about that side of your family except that you have a biological great grandmother, but you don't know anything about her either. I know you've met your biological father, but he didn't know who you were at the time. You were freaking out about it afterwards. We don't really talk much about his side of the family, about his parents or anything. Your biological mother's side is what we usually talk about. Like I said, her family was dark. Her father killed her mother when she reached her teens. Very dysfunctional. She grew up hating muggles. That's who she was. But she met your biological father, and she realised the way she'd been taught to think was wrong and fell in love with him. And then she got pregnant, and she wanted to keep you far away from her father so she found help and Dumbledore helped her get away. She stayed with her best friend but she died and Dumbledore had arranged it so that you would go to your family where you could have a loving and good upbringing."

"Was I angry at my parents for that? That's kind of dumb. They've raised me and loved me." Hermione smiled.

"No, you know that. You're not angry at your parents. You're just... afraid, I guess. The last clear memory you have is the night before you went to Diagon Alley, yes?" Alexandra nodded. "It started off as a great day, and you and Ron went to go to the sweet shop for a little while. There was someone following you, so you told Ron to go into the shop and you confronted the man. Stupid of you, by the way. You were eleven." Alexandra shrugged sheepishly. "He threatened to hurt Ron unless you went with him, so you went. Ron only saw you disappear with a strange man and he yelled for help but it was too late. It was your grandfather, sort of. He had people working for him."

"Oh." Alexandra wrapped her arms around herself. The story was taking a dark turn and it was a little chilling to hear. Especially knowing it was something true.

"He told you your mother was dead, and you thought he was talking about Mrs Weasley. You didn't know of any other mother. For a couple months, you believed your mother was dead and you grieved and you were utterly disheartened. You were afraid more of your family would die if you tried to get away. But you couldn't stay cooped up for so long so you tried to get away. A couple times, actually, until-"

"Tell me I get away." Alexandra pleaded.

"Not yet. There were werewolves outside. It was a full moon. You got caught by one and it bit you. On the shoulder." Alex looked at the mark on her shoulder.

"So that's what this is? But I'm not a werewolf."

"No, you're not. Your guards found you after the fact and tried hard to make sure you wouldn't turn. There was a healer who managed to half succeed. He ended up turning you into something that could be manipulated. You'd need a special potion to keep you bound to him instead of the moon, but it kept you alive and not a werewolf. It was like a half transformation. You never physically changed, but when he took control, you were trapped in your own mind. Eventually, you managed to get away. You managed to escape."

A/N- so Alexandra knows a bit of what Alex has gone through, now.

Favourite line is "That doesn't sound romantic. It sounds horribly overly dependent."