"Behold, a rare occurrence. The great Alex has decided to grace us with her presence." Megan said sarcastically.
"Sorry." Alex said. "I didn't mean to spend so much time away."
"Everything okay?" Charlie asked kindly.
"Yes. Everything's better now, thank you." Megan rolled her eyes, derisively.
"Of course it is."
"I really didn't mean to be so antisocial lately. I promise I will tell you someday, but right now, it's really important that no one knows."
"Life and death?" Megan asked. "Like that time when you skipped out on potions?"
"Less urgent. More like continual survival."
"What does that even mean?"
"Megan." Charlie stepped in.
"What? She disappears, she doesn't even come back to bed at night, and we're supposed to accept that it's all a big secret? Maybe we should see what Professor Sprout thinks."
"Megan!" This time Hannah came to Alex's defense.
"You can't. Professor Sprout will go to Dumbledore, and he's already debating not letting me go to Mahoutokoro."
"What?" Megan faltered.
"It's complicated, but please don't go to any Professor."
"Why wouldn't Dumbledore let you go to Japan? Wasn't it his idea?"
"He had questions I couldn't answer. Can we just talk about more pleasant things? Oh, who's done the charms homework?" She said and the girls reluctantly let the subject change.
"Aren't you partnered with Malfoy and Zabini?"
"Yeah." She shrugged. "I told them we could take turns with the homework. One week, I do it. The next week, they could. And we'll tell Binns we worked on it together."
"What if they screw you? Tell Flitwick you didn't do the work one week?"
"I'll say they're lying. Or tell Flitwick the arrangement. Besides, they won't. They don't want to work with me any more than I want to work with them. This way, we interact less than we need to."
"They're Slytherins." Susan said, as though that were reason enough.
"So?"
"They're snakes. You know that."
"That's probably true on Malfoy and Zabini's count, but probably not for all Slytherins. I mean, they're cunning and ambitious, not all jerks."
"I suppose." Hannah said.
"So is it your week to do the homework?"
"Nope. But I also always write a backup. Just in case." She shrugged.
"Yeah, because you can't trust anyone. Right?"
"I thought you were against my putting any faith in Malfoy and Zabini." Megan huffed and stood.
"I'm going for a walk." She flounced out of the common room and Alex looked after her guiltily.
"I should go talk to her." She said. "I'll come back, I promise."
"Sure." Susan nodded and Alex ran after Megan.
"Megan, wait." She called. She caught up to the other girl. "I really am sorry. I don't want to make you mad."
"You know you've apologised more today that you have since we met?"
"That's not actually possible."
"Be serious."
"You're right. And I am being so very secretive and probably the worst roommate ever and I know that it bothers you when I act like I don't really care or like you guys, but I do. You guys are my friends, no matter how long it took for me to see that. And I care about you a lot. And I so very wish I could tell you what is going on, but I swear to you there's a real reason that I can't and I will someday. Not now, probably not for a few weeks-"
"This is going to go on for a few weeks?"
"I will try to spend more time in the Hufflepuff common room. It was very critical that I didn't before, but now I can get away a little more."
"It's hard to tell you off when you basically do it yourself."
"Sorry?" Alex tried and Megan rolled her eyes.
"I know Hermione's your best friend, but sometimes it feels like you think of her as your only friend. She's the only one you trust."
"It's not about trust. She doesn't know where I am or what is going on either."
"She doesn't?"
"No."
"Okay, fine. Just promise you'll tell us soon?"
"Maybe Christmas time." Alex shrugged.
"That sounds about right." Megan sounded resigned and Alex smiled.
They enjoyed a pleasant walk before heading back to the common room. They crossed paths with Cedric though, who was walking with his broom.
"Hi." Alex greeted.
"Hello." He said.
"I'll just meet you back in the dorms." Megan said, before awkwardly turning to leave.
"I didn't get to say congratulations on the match."
"Yeah, you kind of disappeared."
"I thought I'd wait in the common room, but then the rest of the team came back without you. I didn't know how long you'd be with Cho, so I asked Hermione to pass on my compliments."
"She did." He nodded and was silent for a second before speaking up again. "I really wasn't long. Lee was completely off point with his remarks."
"What, you mean there was no blooming of love?" She teased.
"Definitely not."
"Does Cho know that?"
"She does, and I thought you should know too."
"Oh." She said, a faint blush on her cheeks.
"Maxine says she roped you in to join our arithmancy study group?"
"She asked." She shrugged. "I'll join next week."
"It's nice to see you making new friends."
"What was I supposed to do? Turn down someone asking for help?"
"Guess not." He smiled.
"Sorry if it felt like I was avoiding you. I've got this special project going on and I haven't really spent any time with anyone."
"Special project?"
"It's also a secret." She told him.
"I though we were past secrets."
"Telling you one or two of my secrets doesn't mean you know everything about me."
"That's all right." He said, grinning. "I like a bit of mystery."
"Come on." She smiled again. "We should head back to the common room."
