metanoia

Chapter Thirteen

The Marauders, Prewetts, Lily, Letti and Charlie all waited in the corridor outside of Professor Dumbledore's office, anxious to hear Dumbledore's explanation as to why Alex did what she did during Muggle Studies. Letti, James, Sirius and Remus were all pacing up and down the hall, all four crashing into Alex when she came into view, neglecting to remember that the petite blonde wasn't comfortable with human contact.

"Alex!" The group of nine collectively gasped as the four Gryffindors suffocated the blonde in their arms.

"What did Professor Dumbledore say?" Remus demanded eagerly as they released her from the embrace, shoving his hands into the pockets of his cardigan.

Alex didn't know what to say,  not having had much time to fabricate a lie to tell them like Dumbledore requested of her but she had to come up with a lie and fast. She didn't want to lie but she knew that she had to, for their own safety, "Dumbledore, uh, Professor Dumbledore thinks that I just was... uh, was just sleep talking."

The six boys seemed convinced by her spur of the moment lie, it was a valid explanation because many people talk in their sleep and they all knew how tired Alex was going into their lesson that morning. But Letti, Charlie and Lily, however, didn't seem as convinced. 

"Sleep talking? Since when do you sleep talk?" Letti challenged skeptically, trying to analyze Alex's microexpressions, knowing the blonde's tells for when she's lying.

"But you were awake not even 2 minutes before. Yeah, you don't sleep talk," Lily adds.

"Lily, did you know that you talk in your sleep?" Alex quickly countered, Lily's face turning a deeper shade of red than her hair after hearing the suggested falsification. "And for your information, sleep talking can be caused by stress and sleep deprivation."

"And you didn't get any sleep last night because of that nightmare," Sirius finished for her, solidifying her farfetched lie with a snippet of the truth.

"Exactly, now that we've covered that, can we please go get some food? I'm starving," the blonde asked, walking toward the Great Hall in yet another attempt to avoid the conversation.

Gideon threw his arm around the short girl, chuckling as he pulled her close as they walked side by side, "Yeah, let's go eat. We can't have a tired and hangry Lex. That won't end well for any of us."

"Gideon Frederick Prewett, I do not get hangry. I'm always hungry so it's not my fault if any other extreme emotion takes place at the same time," Alex gasped, jumping away from him and into Letti and Fabian.

"You do too," Letti laughed as she pushed her friend forward, accidently pushing her right into a group of Slytherin.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry," Alex immediately apologized, not seeing who she had landed on.

Bellatrix Black wrinkled her nose in disgust, pushing the sixth year Gryffindor off of her and her sister before straightening out her robes, "You should be, you filthy little Mudblood."

Those accompanying Bellatrix were her sister, Regulus, Lucius Malfoy,  and Severus Snape. While the men in present company chuckled at the derogatory term Bellatrix spat at the Gryffindor, Narcissa's hazel eyes looked apologetic. Severus stopped chuckling with his friends, looking at the group ahead, curious by what took place in Muggle Studies that morning, "Hey Worth, what was that you were mumbling about in class earlier?"

"That's none of your concern, Snape," Lily spat the Slytherin that was once one of her closest friends.

"Watch your tone, Mudblood," Bellatrix hissed at the ginger, making the Gryffindor shrink back slightly into Sirius at the term used against her.

After seeing her friend's hurt expression Alex took a step forward, shaking off Charlie's loose hold on her wrist, closing the gap between her and the wild haired Slytherin, making them chest to chest, "Don't call her that, Black. Now apologize."

Bellatrix laughed at the demand as she took a step back from the blonde, looking Lily in her emerald green eyes, mocking fake sincerity, "Oh Evans, I'm so sorry that you're a Mudblood. That Worth is a Mudblood, that Lightwood is a Mudblood and that you're friends with my Blood Traitor of a cousin."

Alex clenched her jaw, grabbing Bellatrix by her tie and pulling her closer, "Now you have two options here Black: you can apologize to Sirius, Letti and Lily for calling them those insulting names or I can show you how we handle disgusting, narcissistic bullies where I'm from. Your pick."

The Marauders didn't know what to do about the scene unfolding in front of them, they've seen Alex get into duels and standoffs with Bellatrix before but never an actual fist fight. Letti chuckled watching the scene amused, she's been waiting for the day Alex snapped on Bellatrix and apparently today was the day. 

Bellatrix looked down her nose at the blonde, who had her silver and green tie gripped tightly in her hand, deciding to take her chances, she slapped the blonde across the face, hissing, "I'm not afraid of you, Mudblood."

Alex didn't stumble when she was slapped, she didn't gasp, instead she smiled rather gleefully at the older Slytherin, laughing at her choice, "I was really hoping you'd be dumb enough to pick that one."

She wrapped Bellatrix's green tie tighter around her fist, pulling it tight as she yanked down on it to bring Bellatrix's face to her knee. Hearing the satisfying crunch of her nose breaking against her knee, Alex let go of the house tie, shoving her backward. Bellatrix started to draw her wand on the Gryffindor but Alex sucked her teeth and wagged her finger at the 7th year yelling, "Expelliarmus." She caught her arched wand, handing both their wands to the nearest Gryffindor, laughing, "Oh no. You chose to fight. So we're fighting my way, bitch."

Bellatrix growled at her, wiping the dripping blood from her nostril, "Okay then. Game on."

Bellatrix swung her left fist at the blonde's face, which she easily evaded. As Alex ducked from under the left hook, she sucker punched Bellatrix in the stomach. As she clutched her stomach groaning, Alex took that moment to kick her in the stomach again, knocking the Slytherin to the ground in front of Severus and Regulus' feet. Bellatrix kicked her leg out, taking her opponent's legs out from under her. When Alex hit the ground, Bellatrix pinned the girl's shoulders down with her knees and slammed the blonde's head into the ground.

After the third time her head hit the stone ground, Alex's vision started to get dark and spotty. Knowing that she now had a concussion, Alex forced herself to stay awake and ignore the slight throbbing of her skull. So with all the strength she could muster she kicked her legs up, connecting with her opponent's head, giving herself a small window of time to scramble out from under her. Alex is easily thirty pounds lighter than Bellatrix, so she literally sat on her chest and punched her in the face until she knew that she knocked her out.

Climbing off the unconscious Slytherin, her head pounding, Alex took Bellatrix's wand from Lily and tossed it to Regulus, "Bitch broke my bracelet. Tell her that the next time she thinks she can take on a Muggleborn in a fist fight, consider whether or not she actually has a chance at winning. If she wants to go another round, tell her she knows where to find me."

Alex looked at her friends, touching the back of her head where it had been hit against the stone floor, "Now if she made me miss lunch, I will be hangry. Let's go get food. Charlie, can you fix the bracelet she broke?"

"Of course, silly. That's the only friendship bracelet you've let me make you," Charlie chuckles as Alex drops the unravelling bracelet into her palm.

"I think I'm in love," Sirius chuckled in James' ear as they followed Alex and Charlie to the Great Hall for lunch.

Letti, who heard it as she passed him to join her best friends' side, snickered, "In your dreams, Pretty boy."

"You think I'm pretty?" Sirius laughed behind her.

Lisette smirked to Alex, both snorting, "Nope."