Mahoutokoro was great. Alex spoke to Hermione every other day via the magic mirror, wrote home every weekend, and spent a lot of time studying. She lived with the headmistress who doubled as a potions master, which was fantastic because Emiko and Haru were almost as eager about potions as she was. Haru more so than Emiko. In fact Haru was almost as studious as she- something that really grated on Emiko.
"Alex, you mustn't let my brother corrupt you. You are in Japan. Take some time to explore, why don't you?" The Kurata family all spoke to her in Japanese, and Alex was proud to say she was almost totally fluent by the end of her first week. There was something almost fun about it too. Almost as if by leaving behind the English language and Britain, she could leave behind all the pain and fear and bad things that she'd gone through. She could assume a different identity. Back at Hogwarts, her siblings yearned for the sister they'd lost. She knew that, and they knew that, and even if Ron had come around to calling her Alex, he still thought of her as Alexandra, and that was the last thing she wanted. "Alex? Come on. I am taking you on a tour!" Emiko insisted and Alex followed her out.
"Only if you convince your mother to let me ride a storm petrel on my own. I've been here for two weeks and she still doesn't think I can do it."
"Deal."
"You're surprisingly good at this, for someone who hates flying." Haru commented. Emiko had kept to her promise and helped convince her mother to allow Alex to ride a storm petrel to school alone. They were still required to stay close to one another.
"I never said I hated flying." Alex called back over the wind. "I just hate quidditch."
"Me too." He grinned toothily at her. He
reminded her of Ernie- so easily excitable.
"Mum! There's two of them now! I don't need another Haru!" Emiko complained to her mother. The headmistress did not reply.
"Hermione, it's brilliant." Alex was speaking English to Hermione, sitting on her bed. "I mean, really brilliant. You'd love it here."
"I'm sure." The Gryffindor said, grinning at her friend's enthusiasm. She did look a bit weird, with her furry face. Alex felt a pang of guilt for not being there while Hermione brewed the polyjuice potion. Of course, the potion was perfect, but Hermione's mistake at picking cat hair from Bulstrode really had disastrous consequences. She wouldn't even let Alex see her at first, facing the mirror to the wall when they talked. "Tell me what your classes are like."
"H, I swear, it's the best. I had my first ever alchemy class, and it was so amazing. I mean, it was just an introduction to the class, and we learnt about Flamel and I guess that bit was kind of boring, but it was so cool and the library is amazing and we were basically given free rein to research and you'd really love it here!"
"You've mentioned." Hermione laughed.
"How's Hogwarts?"
"Everything's good on our end."
"Any more petrifications?" Hermione didn't answer. "That's good news, 'Mione. It means you're safe."
"I miss you."
"I miss you too. But it's not like we'll never see each other again. Plus we have this mirror. Besides, you already have a back-up Weasley."
"For the last time, Ron is not a substitute for you. No one is!" Hermione said, exasperated.
Alex always had trouble replying back to her parents. But she was still grateful for the letters she got. There were topics that had quickly become taboo- Snape being her uncle, the fact that she spent a whole year with her evil grandfather and didn't tell anyone, the fact that she wasn't even really a human anymore. Maybe it was because those were probably topics best left face to face, but her parents had avoided it during the spare two days she had between Hogwarts and Mahoutokoro. Or maybe they just hadn't wanted to lose those two days. Still, she found herself struggling to put quill to parchment every Saturday.
"Every week, you sit down and get lost in thought." Emiko appeared beside her desk.
