Alexandra Weasley: Book 4

8

Alex had one other meeting with Shay before the quidditch game.

After the weekend, Hermione came over- a day before Harry. It made Alex's day, banishing Ron anytime he tried to join them.
"You're rather mean to him." Hermione shook her head.

"You were my friend way before you were his. He can wait for Harry to get here." Alex shrugged.

"How was Malfoy's party?" She asked with a scowl.

"Well, for a moment one person hated me. Did you know no one knows Cedric and I are together?"

"You two aren't exactly obvious." Hermione answered and Alex frowned. "You were friends for ages before anything happened. It's not weird to see you together."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you knew. I just thought you didn't want to make a big deal out of it."

"Well, I do care." She said. "Blaise thought Cedric was dating Cho Chang."

"Oh." Hermione said. "Yikes."

"Exactly."

"Did you hex him?"

"I left my wand at home." Alex said.

"Shame."

"You're being petty, H." Alex grinned. "I like it."

"I don't really want you to have hexed him." She said.

"I know."

"You guys are friends now, aren't you?"

"Ish, remember?"

"Just checking."

"Think of it this way. I don't really like Harry and Ron, but they're your friends."

"That's not the same. You don't dislike Harry and Ron. It's more for appearances sake."

"No it's not." Alex said.

"Really? You forget I've seen you protect both of them?"

"If Draco was in a burning building, would you just leave him there?" Hermione didn't answer. "H!" Alex rebuked.

"Okay, fine. I'd help him, of course." She muttered.

When Harry came the next day, Alex was the only one to not go down to greet him. All she cared about was that she was that much closer to seeing Cedric again. Shortly after he came, her father called for her to come down. He had a thunderous look on his face as he dismissed the twins who looked properly chided. Her mother's arms were crossed and she knew she was in trouble. What for, she had no idea.
"Care to explain yourself?" He asked. She shrugged.

"Explain what?"

"Why you gave Harry poison to use against his muggle family."

"Oh." She said, understanding what her father was talking about. "That."

"Alexandra!" Her mother said aghast.

"Don't call me that." She said. "And it's not like it was real poison. Harry's relatives have a history of starving him and locking him up. I thought having protection would ensure he survived until the start of the next term. Besides, it was just dreamless sleep."

"Frightening those muggles only hurts our muggle-wizarding relations."

"It's muggles like that who hurt inter-community relations." She argued back. "They mistreat him. They lock him up unless he's doing chores. They hardly feed him at all and they lock up anything he has that might have anything to do with magic."

"And you only gave him dreamless sleep potion?"

"Yes. I pretended it was poisonous to them, but it's not like I know how to make toxic potions. Or like I would actually give some to Harry. With his luck, he'd probably end up downing it himself." She frowned at her parents. "Did you really think I made some poison and gave it to Harry." Her father looked rather sheepish. "I would never!"

"Well, after the prank your brothers just played..." her mother said.

"I'm not the twins. Can I go now?" Her father nodded and she left. Hermione was standing at the top of the stairs.

"Everything okay?"

"They found out about the dreamless sleep potion I gave Harry last year." Hermione's eyes widened.

"Are you in trouble?"

"Not anymore. They thought I gave Harry real poison."

"You gave Harry poison?" The twins popped up out of their room.

"Fake poison. Why is everyone so ready to believe I carry around real poison? Who says I can even make poison?" Hermione scoffed. "Okay, fine, but I would never brew some."

"You can make poison?" George asked.

"I know what's harmful so that I don't use it in harmless potions. I know what doesn't work well together so that I can know what does work well together."

"Blimey."

"Is there nothing you can do that isn't frightening?"

"Sword fighting."

"Poison brewing."

"Japanese martial arts."

"You really shouldn't cross me then, should you?" The twins looked at each other and shrugged. She rolled her eyes.

"Hermione." Harry and Ron peeked out of their room.

"She's a little busy. Why don't you boys just gossip and catch up without her?" Alex glared. "Or can you just not function alone?"

"Alex." Hermione said. "Look, why don't we all go down for dinner?"

"No thanks." Alex scowled.

"You're going." Hermione insisted.

"I'll come down in a bit. You guys go ahead." She said, and slipped into her own room. She sat at her desk and began to scribe some letters.