Alexandra Weasley: Book 4

13

Alex went to go see Kichiro on her own on her first night at Hogwarts.
"Hi!" She cooed, and he trotted over to her, looking a lot taller. He was almost as tall as her. She glanced at his head and saw his horn was missing, though there was a small bump where it was beginning to grow. "Your horn fell out! You're really getting to be a big boy, aren't you?" She said, as he nudged her face. She was so focused on him she almost missed Venus coming to her. She dropped something in front of Alex and Alex bent down to pick it up. "His horn." She said. "You're giving this to me?" Venus snorted in agreement and Alex began to tear up. She brushed the dirt off gently. "Thank you."

Hermione met Alex in the library, early the next morning looking for books on house elves.

"How can you stand it?" Hermione said, letting a large book on the origins of house elves slam onto the table.

"Hermione-"

"You of all people! You believe in equality for all creatures, human or not. You care about everything. So why don't you care about house elves?"

"I d-"

"I mean they're treated so harshly. The way Mr Crouch treated Winky-"

"Shut up for a moment and listen." Alex cut her off effectively silencing her. Hermione looked sheepish. "I do think house elf rights need to be amended. Like, severely. But sometimes it's best not to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut."

"What are you saying?"

"It's a societal problem. It's going to take years, maybe. And it's definitely not something we can achieve right now. The entire wizarding world's not going to listen to teenagers who want to disrupt their ways of life. So many wizarding family, especially the more important and richer families- the more dangerous ones- use house elves as a crutch. Nannies for their children, cooks, cleaners. House elves aren't like them so they're seen as less. And they've been conditioned to think that way. It's going to take a large force- a force bigger than us to stop them."

"So what do we do?"

"For now, research. Talk to the people you know, but don't try making big waves unless you wanna end up on the wrong side of someone's wand. You are capable of changing our world. So beef up your arsenal. Use your words, and when you leave Hogwarts, join the ministry. The department for the regulation and control of magical creatures. You can guilt Harry and Ron into helping and trust me, your voice will get louder."

"That's at least four years away."

"If you try to now, you'll be shut down and it will be that much harder to do any real work in the future. You can't just jump into it without a plan." Hermione looked forlorn. "I know it sucks, but Hogwarts elves aren't treated so bad. Hogwarts employs hundreds of them so they aren't overworked. They have places to rest and they aren't mistreated or abused. Plus, some of them really good conversationalists. They're as much a part of Hogwarts as Dumbledore."

"They don't get time off."

"They get summers off when there's no student. Last year when Botty got sick, she and Mizzy got time off so that she could feel better and Mizzy could nurse her back to health. They get time off if they need it and all they've got to do is ask Sonny. The problem is they don't like to ask."

"I didn't know you were so close to them."

"Oh, yeah, how many times have I fetched us food from there, or fetched meat for Snuffles the first and Saphira? Ooh and some feed for Kichiro and Venus sometimes. Mainly Kichiro. Turns out Botty wasn't sick, but pregnant. I think she was due in the summer or this month." Hermione looked lost and Alex stood. "Just- don't go crazy. I gotta go see Snape."

"See you." Hermione said and Alex left.

Alex knocked on the open door to Snape's office and he looked up from where he was making notes on a book.

"Enter." He said, barely looking up.

"Hi." She said, closing the door behind her. She sat down on a chair.

"Glad to be back?"

"I think Dumbledore's making it his mission to choose the worst defense teachers."

"Moody's a good auror. He's very skilled."

"That's the problem. One look at me and he'll probably know everything and want to kill me or lock me up." Snape glanced at her wearily. "I've heard the stories."

"I suppose private DADA lessons have become somewhat of a tradition by now." He said.

"Evil grandfather, bumbling idiot, werewolf and an auror who would probably kill me if given half the chance. Maybe next year will be a year with a regular DADA teacher." Snape scoffed. "Tell me the truth. Am I just bad luck or were there just never any decent teachers?"

"The year before you started, we had a second Trelawney. He split the students into groups according to aura and taught them spells that matched their energy. Pretty sure a quarter of the seventh years passed their NEWTs with first year levitation charms." Alex's eyes widened.

"I'm glad I missed that!"

"And the year before that, well let's just say Azkaban would have been too good for him."

"I thought the twins liked him."

"He was possibly the worst person Dumbledore could have hired." Alex looked confused but let it go. Snape clearly didn't want to expand so she moved on.

"What about the year before?"

"Think of Filch with powers. A big fan of corporal punishment."

"Why doesn't Dumbledore get rid of DADA? The curriculums haven't been adjusted in a century. They could do with a little tweaking anyway."

"It's an old tradition. People aren't so good with changing tradition." Alex thought back to the near identical words she'd been telling Hermione just before coming over.

"Yeah, I know." She said.

"Are you excited for the triwizard tournament?" She scowled.

"It's stupid."

"Eternal glory."

"Some risks aren't worth eternal glory. I mean, they'll at least have to face dragons."

"How do you know?"

"Charlie hinted he'd see us at Hogwarts. It's not that hard to put together knowing we're hosting the tournament." She said as though it were obvious.

"Of course." She put the horn up on the table and Snape looked interested. "Is that-?"

"Kichiro's horn. It fell out over the summer, and Venus gave it to me."

"I don't think I've heard of a unicorn horn that had willingly been given." He said. She shrugged.

"He's almost two already." She said. "Can you believe it?"

"Are you doing anything special like last year?"

"Maybe another sleepover trip. Might take Ginny and Laila with us this time."

"Make sure you're careful and that you don't get caught."

"Shouldn't you be trying to stop me? Detentions?"

"I'm not sure I could do anything to stop you from seeing your unicorn." He replied.

"True." She hesitated before holding out the horn. "Can you hold onto this for me? I just want it to be safe."

"Are you sure?"

"I know I can trust you. And if you must shave a little bit off, just make sure it's minuscule?"

"I'll look after it for you." He promised.

"And not in your pantry. It's easy to get into. Your quarters or something."

"I'm aware students ravage the cupboards. It will be well hidden." He vowed.