The house colours were somehow enhanced by the fire and blanketed her in the otherwise quite large room. Red and gold enveloped her mind and soon she felt like no time whatsoever had passed. If she wandered up to her bed, she could find Hannah and Tabitha sleeping peacefully. If she were to poke her head out into the hall, she'd probably be able to spot a slightly drunk Professor Slughorn ambling about. She could almost hear Timothy Clemens, a boy a few years younger than her, talking in his sleep from the boys' dormitory.
"Hey, are you alright? Fred and George told me you had detention with Snape," whispered Hermione coming down the staircase. Alex whipped around her wand in her hand and pointed it at her. The younger girl gaped at her with saucer-sized eyes. As soon as Alex snapped out of her dazed and realised it was Hermione, she dropped her wand to the floor.
"Sorry—I'm a bit jumpy," Alex apologized quickly.
"No worries," the girl replied hesitantly as she stood behind the long sofa.
"I won't bite, scout's honour," Alex tried.
"I'm not worried about that, mind you," Hermione admitted.
"I've been in my fair share of duel, let's say," Alex replied.
"I don't mean to pry, but is that why you transferred from Ilvermorny?" Hermione asked. That question put Alex on the spot. I'm already going to hell for lying and almost hexing the living daylights out of a thirteen-year-old, what's a little more lying going to do? she thought.
"House rivalry is ruthless there. I got hurt and the people who did it weren't caught, so I chose to transfer," Alex shrugged.
"I'm sorry," Hermione said.
"It's fine. I'm here now and if it weren't for them, I wouldn't have met you and I definitely wouldn't have seen all this," Alex waved her hand around.
"Did you get sorted last night?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah. The hat was a bit unsure of where to put me, though," Alex said.
"Really? I was almost sorted into Ravenclaw."
"My parents are both descendants of a long line Slytherins, then my father somehow ended up in Hufflepuff."
Alex felt a sharp twinge in her chest. Her parents had been dead since she was thirteen; they'd been blown up in a Ministry raid done by infiltrated Death Eaters.
"Really? So, the hat wanted to put you in Slytherin?"
Alex nodded sadly. Her Sorting ceremony hadn't gone that smooth. She'd stalled the Hat for a good ten minutes. The poor Hat kept almost sorting her into Slytherin but then he'd freak out and start the process all over again, asking her increasingly odd questions. McGonagall had look bewildered, then as the hat shouted 'Gryffindor' she had actually smiled and for weeks she'd had a proud expression lingering on her face.
"What happened to your hand?" Hermione asked panicked.
"Oh, it's just a cut," Alex said trying her best to sound reassuring. The gaping wound she had was now replaced with a mean looking cut, good thing blood wasn't dripping everywhere anymore.
"You should go ask Madame Pomfrey to have a look at it."
"I'll go tomorrow morning before class. You should go back to sleep, Hermione, don't let me keep you."
"You need to sleep, too."
"I'll be up in a bit; I need to sort out an essay. We can study together if you want tomorrow," Alex said. Hermione nodded vigorously which earned her a laugh from Alex and then disappeared up the steps.
As soon as Alex was alone, she tidied up after herself and left. After casting an adequate Disillusionment Charm on herself, she made her way to the library. Alex knew she'd get little to no sleep as all she saw when she closed her eyes were all the people she couldn't save. Her two best friends were dead; killed with their families during the summer of her fourth year. Half of what would have been her graduating class was now six feet under. Thoughts whizzed about her mind, almost resembling whispers of those she'd seen die.
She silently opened the door to the library, then to the Restricted section. Strangely enough, there was no sign of Mrs. Norris or Filch. He hadn't been particularly happy to see her in the halls. Dumbledore must have mentioned her to him because he'd looked daggers at her that morning.
Alex caressed the spines of a few books before settling in a chair with a few Transfiguration books hovering beside her. She read on into the night and soon enough the sun was beginning to rise. Alex sighed. She could have sworn she'd been there only a few minutes, but time had once again fooled her. Still concealed, she went back to her Common Room. It was nearly a quarter past six. If she was lucky, she'd be able to sleep an hour. It was still better than nothing. Alex had always had problems when it came to sleeping. The whole idleness of the activity made her worry endlessly on what she had and hadn't done, thus resulting in many sleepless nights. Even on Nusquam, she often spent hours on end reading or staring absently at her surroundings instead of sleeping. Then again, she couldn't really consider that normal since her heart hadn't uttered a single thump in the years she spent up there.
As thoughts of the galaxies above whirled before her eyes, Alex found respite finally dozing off, fully dressed on her bed.
***A/N: Hey, how are you guys doing? Hope you're all well. I know this chapter is quite short, I'll make up for it. My insomnia has been keeping me up quite a lot lately and it's quite harrowing to balance online classes, writing and my acting training. These chapters might feel like 'fillers' but they're not; I reckon every chapter is an important part of the story. Sending ghost hugs - O ***
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A Draught of Firelight (Prof. Severus Snape x OC)
Fanfiction[...] "It's alright. You'll understand soon," she said as the flames swallowed her leaving the men staring at the burnt marks on wood floor. "It's a flower," Albus remarked as he knelt. The old man's eyes were shimmering brightly. "It's an oleande...
