Alexandra Weasley: Book 4

22

Hermione didn't leave it. In her defence, Alex had known her for years and should know better by now. The next time she had a potions class, she packed up slowly. Harry and Ron never stayed behind in the lab any longer than they had to. So she didn't have to worry about them waiting for her. She was the only student left, soon enough. Snape glanced once at her and ignored her, looking through papers on his desk.

"I need to talk to you about Alex."

"I don't think that's wise."

"Then will you talk to her? I don't know what happened but I know it's got something to do with you."

"She doesn't want me to talk to her."

"You have to fix it, sir. She's starting to skip meals again. I'm worried about her." He was silent for a minute.

"I'll speak to her." He eventually said. Hermione left, satisfied.

Alex lounged on a chair in the common room, her head resting on Cedric's lap as she read up on Elias Ashmole.
"Dragon tears." He said suddenly. "They're incompatible with eye of newt, correct?"

"Yep." He nodded and continued his work.

"Hey, Cedric!" Herbert from the quidditch team called. "Are we gonna practice or what?"

"Give me an hour!" He called back. "Gotta finish this."

"Meet you out by the pitch?" Herbert suggested and Cedric nodded.

"How much more've you got left?" Alex asked.

"Just a few more questions." He replied. "How's your reading going?"

"Interesting." She answered, turning a page.

"Cool." He turned back to his sheet.

As soon as he finished, he closed his book and leant down to kiss her forehead. "Have fun." She said, and picked her head up so he could leave.

"Do you want to come watch?" He asked.

"Not particularly." He pouted and she sighed. "Fine, but I'm bringing my book." She said and let him drag her up.

Halloween soon arrived and the triwizard champions were to be announced after the school feast. Which meant her anniversary date with Cedric had to end before the feast because Alex could not miss it. Neither could Cedric of course, but she had to be there too. Especially with the way all the Gryffindors were dissing Cedric, claiming he could not possibly be a champion. As much as she'd rather he wasn't, it did mean a lot to him. So listening to Harry, Ron and the twins scoff over Cedric volunteering annoyed her. She couldn't wait to get back at them all.

"What do you have in mind?" Cedric asked.

"You'll see." She said, as she led him into the forest.

"Is this safe?" He asked and she shrugged.

"Well, it's not protected by unicorn magic, but there's no real dangerous creatures out here. I mean, that way-" she pointed to the west of them. "There you can find annoying centaurs. But it's fine, we're avoiding them. And the acromantulas aren't for at least a half hour's walk north west of here, so that's fine too. There's a Gryffin, like, deep into the forest, somewhere even further behind Gryffindor's grove so there's no reason to worry."

"When have you ever had the time to explore the forest so deeply?" He sounded amazed.

"We're going to be passing the dryads in a minute." She told him. He heard giggles soon enough, and whipped his head around the seemingly empty forest and saw nothing. The laughing got louder with his puzzlement. "Ash, don't be mean."