Alexandra Weasley: Book 5

56

"Harry said you were nice." Hermione said, sort of accusingly. "Sort of."

"Is that a crime?"

"Just tell me if you're up to something."

"He's not going to learn from me if he doesn't trust me. Especially with something as delicate as occlumency."

"And...?"

"And, if the connection is a two way street, I really hope grandfather dearest sees me help his mortal enemy."

"You're insane." Hermione told her. "Why do you insist on provoking him? I mean, the letter last year, and this with Harry?"

"He was the source of my fear for way too long. I need to show him I'm not afraid. I need to prove it."

"You don't need to prove anything to him."

"Maybe not. But I need to prove it to myself." She said.

Her sessions with Harry continued. He was still a novice. It was taking too long to teach him, but it was something. She wasn't sure if his occluding would hold during his sleep, but she was hopeful that he was good enough at blocking during the day.

The twins stopped her on her way out to Kichiro.
"Calling in a favour." They said, holding up one of the coupons she made them for christmas.

"I can't believe I ever thought that was a good idea." She groaned. "What is it?"

"Look over some of our work for us?"

"What work?"

"Portable swamp. Trying to get it done soon."

"If you unleash a swamp in school, Filch is going to murder you. And Umbridge will probably help."

"They won't do anything to us."

"You guys are already on thin ground with the fireworks display you set off."

"You know, we don't really care."

"Mum's going to kill you if you get expelled."

"Can't get expelled if you're not a student."

"There's still a few months before school ends. You haven't even taken your exams."

"We're not going to, because we don't need them."

"That's a joke, right? You need qualifications." She grabbed one of their ears each. "You are not quitting school in your final year."

"Ow ow ow." They said as she pulled them close.

"You have a few months left. No one is telling you to go into further education but your NEWTs are part of your core education. They are important. I know you want to open your own prank shop. I wholeheartedly support that. I'm not saying it's going to fail. It'll actually probably be really successful, alright. I do believe in you. But you are not wasting away your education."

"Alex-"

"No! Do whatever you want after you leave Hogwarts. But you literally have three months left. Less than, since you don't have any classes after your exams."

"Don't worry, sis. We've got it all planned out."

"You are not going to become dropouts." She said in a low voice. "Absolutely not."

"Okay, okay. We hear what you're saying."

"But consider this, why waste time on exams that we don't need."

"They could be useful in the future."

"For what?"

"All your products are going to be made by you, correct?"

"Yeah."

"If you get sued because some disgruntled customer thinks you have no idea what you're doing, you can't prove that you do know what you're doing because you haven't had your NEWTs."

"We have you for that. Double checking our orders and everything."

"I'm going to Japan after I graduate or to Romania. I'm either going to get my BATs or train to be tamer at Charlie's reserve. I'm not exactly going to be around to work with you. Please, just keep it up for a few weeks? Get your NEWTs. Try hard. Do well. Pass. What will a few more months do?"

"We've already got the building. We need to start working out of it. Stocking up supplies. Mailing orders. Otherwise it's going to turn into a money pit we can't afford."

"You can't just throw away your education."

"Studying's your thing, Alex. School, learning, tests. Those are your things."

"We're more on hand. Practical."

"We don't need NEWTs. We've looked into it."

"We've taken our OWLs and technically that's all we need."

"Especially since we're self-employed."

"Why can't you wait a few more months? Two. You just need to wait two." She begged.

"Another two with Umbridge as Hogwarts' personal dark lord?"

"You said no takebacks. These coupons are your promises." Fred reminded.

"I'll look over your swamp thing. I'm still disappointed." She grabbed the small device George was holding and stormed away.

When her brothers departed from Hogwarts, she wasn't there to see them off. She'd taken to ignoring them after giving them her assessment of the swamp.

"They may be Gryffindors, but they're legends." Blaise said.

"One more word about the twins, Zabini, and I'll silence you. Permanently."

"You have to admit, what they did to Umbridge-"

"Was immature? Dumb? Idiotic?"

"Downright terrific, I would say."

"They dropped out of school, Blaise. Nothing terrific about that." She glared, reaching for her wand.

"Okay, subject change. Absolutely. Wanna sneak into Hogsmeade? You could get us some firewhiskey." He said.

"You just turned sixteen." She shook her head. "But I do want some. See ya." She stood up and left.

"Great." He groaned.

"Max, do you have any firewhiskey. You guys sometimes keep some on hand, right?"

"Think we got some left, yeah."

"Can I get a glass?"

"Sure." Maxine left and returned with a bottle, and two glasses. "So, what are we drinking to?"

"Idiot brothers, and idiot friends and being surrounded by idiots in general."

A/N- Alex is really pissed at her brothers oop. There is a reason though, she's not just being judgey.

Favourite line is "I really hope grandfather dearest sees me help his mortal enemy."