Alex Weasley: Book 3

8

Hermione sat with Alex at the welcome back feast. While Hermione's presence at the Hufflepuff wasn't a very unusual occurrence, it certainly raised eyebrows. Students always sat with their houses at the feast.
"You don't have to keep such a close watch." Alex muttered as the first years were sorted.

"I reserve the right to worry about my friend."

"Worry from afar. Ron'll probably choke on his dessert without you."

"Alex."

"I'm not going to Snape."

"Why not?"

"For starters he's got head of year duties."

"The firsties are getting sent straight to bed after dinner. The train was delayed and now it's too late for a proper welcome wagon." Cedric was sat opposite Alex and Hermione. The seat on Alex's other side had deliberately been left open like she preferred, especially after bad days. "The head of years will be attending the dorms in the morning to talk to them and help them get settled."

"Shh." Alex hissed at both Cedric and Hermione, clapping for the newly sorted Hufflepuff.

"Either you go talk to Snape or I will." Hermione said. "And if he happens to legilimise me and see for himself what happened, then I do believe he'll act with the appropriate level of concern."

"Fine." Alex hissed. "I'll talk to him."

"After dinner?"

"Tomorrow." Alex said and Hermione rolled her eyes.

It took everything in Alex to convince Hermione to stay in the Gryffindor tower that night. Eventually Alex settled on telling her she wouldn't be let in. And since Hermione only knew the location of the dorms and not how to actually get inside, it was a compelling argument.
"If you need to talk, just pick up your mirror. I'll sleep with mine under the pillow, so I'll be readily available. And make sure you get some sleep. Take some of the dreamless sleep potion. I'll be in the library as soon as I wake up, so meet me there before breakfast. Do you want me to leave Crookshanks with you tonight? I can quickly go get him."

"Hermione, I will be fine. Believe it or not, but I'm a big girl. I can handle sleeping in a dorm with four other girls. I'll see you in the library. And no, I do not need your cat. So go to your room and I'll see you in the morning."

"We'll look out for her." Emiko promised.

"Okay." Hermione relented. "Library. Morning. Don't forget."

"I won't." Alex vowed. Hermione walked away.

"Come on, Alex. Pretty sure Hermione will kill me if I don't make sure you're in bed in the next half hour."

"She'd murder us both." Alex said, before leading her to the Hufflepuff basement.

Alex was expecting the night to suck. But it wasn't until she was in her bed, comfortably tucked in that she realised how bad it'd suck. She had two choices. One, either go to sleep and be plagued by vivid nightmares. Or two, stay up but spend the night thinking and recalling things she didn't want to be reminded of. Eventually she chose to take a dreamless sleep potion. Either way, she'd be thinking about the worst time in her life. At least this way, her body could get some rest.

She woke up three hours later, her heart beating uncontrollably. She sat up and picked up her book and cardigan before moving to the common room. It was always empty at this time. She pulled on her top and got comfortable, rereading her favourite potions book again. She enjoyed grade four more than any of the others.

At six am, she made her way to the library. She caught sight of Hermione waiting outside.
"Did you sleep?"

"Yes."

"No lies?"

"No lies. Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"I had a feeling you'd be here as soon as the library opened so I figured I'd beat you here."

"What if I didn't come to the library?"

"You would. Books." Hermione said simply and Alex rolled her eyes. They walked in and found a table to sit at.

"Vanishing room."

"Finishing all the books here. We're halfway through, and you want to finish it all this year."

"Yeah, okay. But I could've gone to Kichiro."

"And risk Venus knocking you out? Not till tonight."

"Okay, fine. If you know me so well, tell me what I'm doing today."

"At eight, we're going down to see Professor Snape. Then I'm going to leave you after I'm sure you'll actually tell him and we'll meet at breakfast. Afterwards we have to go meet Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore and talk about our schedules."

"Right, at ten."

"Yes. Then we'll come back to the library, and do a little more reading for our classes. I personally want to focus on ancient runes today."

"I'll do some arithmancy."

"Then we'll go to lunch, even if I have to drag you with me. And then you're to spend time with your roommates but I'm hoping to see you at dinner. I assume you'll go see Kichiro afterwards. You'll probably stick to the woods all night."

"I'm getting predictable." Alex looked upset.

"Only because I know you so well. You're still an enigma to everyone else." Hermione assured. Alex crossed her arms with a pout.

"Are you sure?"

"I promise." Hermione placated patronisingly, as though speaking to a child.