An American At Hogwarts: Book Three

Chapter Eighteen

Despite how much they harassed their brother, the twins took the opportunity to throw Ron a party as soon as we got back to the Common Room. I provided some fun muggle music while they managed to dig up a bunch of snacks and drinks, and I could tell Ron was having one of the best days of his life.

Hermione passed out on the couch from sheer exhaustion part way through the party, and the twins took advantage of another opportunity to test some of their magical joke shop products on a group of first years. Hermione had been at war with the twins over that practice lately, and I'd very carefully and intentionally stayed out of the whole thing.

In the process of continuing to avoid their battle, I ran into Harry, who looked dead-on-his-feet exhausted.

"Hey!" I called, waving to him as I headed over. "Sorry you had to miss tryouts, and almost got murdered by Angelina for it."

Harry gave me a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Thanks. Sorry to hear you didn't make Keeper."

I shook my head. "I so didn't want to be Keeper. Ron's gonna do a great job, and now I don't have to be at Quidditch every single day of the week. It worked out perfectly for me."

Harry gave me a strange look, but apparently he was too tired to dig into why I didn't want to be Keeper. When he didn't say anything else, I spoke up again.

"So I heard you yelled at Umbridge in the middle of her class."

"Yeah. Yeah, I did."

"Good. She deserved it. I'm just sorry she's been going after you so hard, and I haven't been getting any of the heat. You shouldn't have to deal with it by yourself, especially when you weren't the only one there. I saw Voldemort too. I should've been louder about that this summer."

Harry sighed, but when he smiled at me, the spark in his eyes seemed to be coming back.

"Honestly Alexa, it's alright. Better the whole school only thinks one of us is a complete loony." I started to protest, but Harry continued before I could. "Even though the Durselys never approved of your father or your family, you were on the news enough that I know a fair bit about them. It can't hurt to have somebody in the castle who can be sneaky like a spy that Umbridge doesn't know about."

Now it was my turn to smile. I clapped Harry on the back and closed the distance between us, dropping my voice so I couldn't be overheard.

"If you ever want me to back you up, just say the words, and I'll be shouting the truth from the rooftops at full volume. Hell, I'll even come into your DADA class and fight Umbridge for you. But as long as you can stand being the only one handling this fight publicly, subterfuge and subtlety are absolutely the order of the day for undermining this pink bitch and her whole regime."

I stepped back, and now Harry and I were fully grinning at each other. He still looked tired, but his fight was back, and he had a spark of mischief and determination in his eyes that actually rivaled the twins. Jackson and I weren't the only ones determined not to let Umbridge win this year.

"If you ever decide you want another outlet for some rebellion, feel free to swing by the muggle science club Hermione, Cassidy, and I started," I said, taking a few steps back towards the stairs. It had been a long day, and now that Harry seemed to be feeling better, I was ready for bed. "Obviously it's good that the wizards are learning science, but I'm not going to pretend I didn't start it back up this year specifically to piss off Umbridge. She can control what we waste our time on in her classroom, but she can't control what we do in our clubs."

"Thanks, Alexa," said Harry, giving me one last smile as he started heading to where Hermione sat passed out on the couch. "Muggle technology's not really my thing, but I promise I'll keep it in mind."