"See, I told you, you were stressing over nothing." Blaise accused Alex and Draco as they left the charms classroom.
"You very nearly missed the paperweight candle! We had every right to stress." Alex said.
"Oh relax, I didn't miss it." Blaise shrugged.
"I wouldn't prod, if I were you. He's always like this. He always very nearly makes a mistake only to correct himself in time." Draco explained and she made a face.
"If I don't see you before tomorrow- I guess this may very well be the last time we talk." Alex said.
"Keep in touch. They have owls in Mahoutokoro, don't they?"
"No, of course not. They send their mail through a service that sends it off once a week. Students submit a letter and at the end of the week, mailmen fly over on giant storm petrels to deliver each letter."
"By hand?" Alex nodded before laughing.
"I'm kidding. Yes, they have owls in Japan. Although students do fly the petrels to and from the school. It's a day school and inaccessible by any other mode of transport."
"Now you're having us on." Draco said. She didn't answer.
"Never thought I'd say this, but you two aren't as terrible as you pretend to be." Alex said.
"Careful. We might start thinking you're our friend." Blaise grinned.
"Merlin's wand, what could give you that idea?" She said, horrified. "A Weasley befriending a Malfoy and a Zabini?"
"Exactly." Blaise grinned.
"Seriously though. You two weren't the worst partners. So thanks for that." She said before leaving them behind.
Alex headed out to Kichiro and planned to spend time with him until dinner.
"Hey, boy." She said seeing him trot over to her. She took a seat. "How are you?" He snorted and she smiled. "That's good. I'm going to miss you so much. I leave tomorrow. But you'll have Luna and Cedric and they'll take good care of you. And I'll be here first thing in the morning before I leave, so don't worry. This isn't the last time you'll see me." She reached out to pet his soft gold coat. Against her will, her eyes seemed to droop and she let go of him. "Sorry, but you're so soft, I'm getting sleepy. We can't have that." Kichiro leaned forward, nudging her with his face. "Hey, stop that." She laughed, pushing him back a little. Not too hard. She pulled out a parchment she'd been working with and another object. "So I've been doing duplication spells. It's kind of a gift. A gag gift really, for Cedric. And you, I guess. I mean, I'm half doing it to annoy Cedric and to make sure he comes to see you often enough. So you have to be nice to him, okay? You too, Venus." Alex said, looking up at Kichiro's mother. The mare was a few metres away. She walked closer, with an almost disappointed look in her eyes. She snorted and a silver mist settled on Alex's face, causing the young witch to fall asleep.
When Alex woke up, it was dark. She glanced around and noticed she wasn't on the log that she'd fallen asleep on. Luna was sitting there, just staring. She almost jumped.
"Luna?"
"Good evening." She replied politely. "How are you?"
"I'm fine. How are you?"
"I'm well." Luna smiled, as though there was nothing peculiar about the situation. Alex glanced up and saw Kichiro asleep.
"How long have you been here?" Alex asked.
"Oh, no more than ten minutes." Luna shrugged. "I came after dinner. It was quite hard, though. All the teachers are trying to keep a close eye on the students. It's simply awful what happened."
"What happened?" Alex asked. "Did someone get petrified?"
"I thought you'd heard." Alex's eyes widened.
"Who?"
"A Hufflepuff. Justin Finch-Fletchley." Alex jumped up and ran out of the forest to the school. She rushed into the first bathroom she found, and tried washing her hands. She squirted some soap into her palm and furiously scrubbed her hands raw, crying as she did. She didn't notice Myrtle hovering up in the corner of the bathroom, her mind focused on the task before her. She was like that for a while, just scrubbing and washing and scrubbing and washing when Hermione walked in.
"Alex." She said, huffing out a breath of relief. "I've been looking all over for you." Alex didn't answer, just scrubbed at her hands. "Alex? Alex!" Hermione pulled her away from the sink, holding her shoulders and Alex stiffened, her eyes full of fear. Hermione immediately let go. "Sorry, I forgot. I was just trying to get your attention. What are you doing?"
"I- uh... Justin. My fault. If he dies- if they die- that's just more blood on my hands and it won't go away. It won't ever go away. I just what it all off!" She turned to scrub her hands again.
"Stop that!" Hermione demanded, gently tugging her away from the sink, making sure not to trap Alex. "Stop! Do you actually remember petrifying Justin? Or even Colin or Sir Nick or Mrs Norris? Any of them. Do you remember standing there using a monster to hurt them?"
"No, but-?"
"Your only proof is that every time this happened, you've been asleep."
"Yeah."
"And you were asleep today?"
"Venus knocked me out again. I wasn't even in pain, so I don't know why-"
"Maybe because you are in pain? Because you haven't slept in who knows how long?" At Alex's guilty look she continued. "You didn't think I'd figure it out? Impressive piece of work, don't get me wrong, but seriously? Zapping yourself with your bracelet?"
"I didn't want to hurt anyone."
"You and I are going to Madam Pomfrey, and I'm going to ask her to do a full check up on you, to see how long you haven't been sleeping. God, have you even been eating?"
"Yes! You've seen me."
"I only saw you at breakfast today."
"I had an early lunch so I could go do my charms, and Venus knocked me out so I missed dinner."
"Since you've been lying for a long time, I'm gonna assume breakfast is the last you've eaten. I'll also go see professor Snape and talk to him, no matter how scary he is."
"I'm not going to the hospital wing."
"Yes, you are."
"You're gonna force me to sleep next to my victims?"
"If, and this is a very big if, it is you behind all this, then you're just as much a victim as they are."
"Am I? Because I'm still walking around."
"You're practically on death's door. You're so weak right now, without proper nutrition and sleep- I don't even know how you're alive!"
"Probably because I'm a mutant."
"Well, if you meet professor X, give him my regards."
"Professor who?" Hermione almost smiled at Alex's confusion.
"Actually, it's doctor who."
"Hermione, you're making absolutely no sense." Hermione just shrugged.
"Sorry, muggle references."
"Please don't make me go to Madam Pomfrey. I can't sleep next to- I can't. Please?" Hermione sighed, sympathetically.
"Okay, but I'm coming and sleeping over in your dorm tonight. We'll put alarm spells over your bed so that I'm alerted in case you sleepwalk. And you can get a nice, long sleep. Deal?"
"Sure."
"Good, now let's go."
"I'll meet you there. You can get your PJs. I wanna talk to professor Snape."
"Why?"
"I need a potion." Hermione nodded and Alex almost felt bad for letting her assume which kind of potion.
