"Alix, have you seen the news?"
Alix raised an eyebrow at Sue and she expressed her own surprise when the disturbed muggle-born raised a newspaper in front of her in the hallway where they stood. The headlines wrote:
"A Wendigo spotted in London? What?!" She would have been scolded by her mother without any second for shouting, but she couldn't help herself. And she was confident that people who saw the news were unable to prevent themselves from screaming in shock either.
Alix grabs the newspaper from Sue's hands without any warning. She reads as fast as she could through the news. It entails how there was an attack in muggle London, a whole farm being wiped out and Muggles assuming it was an attack from wolves. Her mother was mentioned as the one who was in charge of the hunt for the rampant beast. It ended with the Minister warning everyone to stop roaming around at night to protect themselves, especially those who live nearby.
"Salazar, what is going on?" she asked, finally looking up from the paper to her friend who had a terrified expression on her face.
"Are you alright, Sue?" Alix asked.
"Yeah, just...worried. You know I live in London" Sue said, before taking Alix's arm and started to walk. The Chinese girl had chased Alix from the halls as soon as she saw the news to inform her.
"It'll be alright, Sue. But if you are still worried, you and your parents will be welcomed in our manor" Alix said, patting the hand that rested on her arm.
"Thank you. How will I ever fight something like that? I'm only a second-year" Sue said and Alix frowned, looking at her friend with firmness.
"You don't. When you see something like that, ever, you run. Do not look back. A wendigo is one-if not the foulest beast on earth. It attacks anything and anyone" Alix said, she took a breath before continuing. "And the amount of power and strength it has" she shivered, not from the cold, but from fear.
"It is extremely dangerous; it takes at least 10 experienced Aurors and at least 5 in my family to take one on. And the odds of winning would still be unknown"
Sue looked even more frightened now. "Have you seen one?" she asked.
"No, fortunately not, and hopefully, I won't ever get to see one in my life" Alix answered grimly and with the seriousness unexpected of a young girl.
"From what I've read, are they not from America? What is one of them doing here in Britain?" Sue asked.
"That is a curious question but I don't have the answer for that. We can only speculate"
Sue swallowed. Oh, she didn't want to be the one to break the news to her parents. They would be terrified. Much more so than her. She didn't know how they would react.
"Sue, don't worry. If you want, I can look up books from our family archives that tells you how to protect us from a wendigo" Alix said, holding both of Sue's hands in an attempt to comfort.
Alix gently smiles and Sue calmed a bit. "I would appreciate that," she said.
"You know, Alix, you really feel like a mother sometimes"
Alix snorted, which was awfully unbecoming of her. "How so?"
"You always know how to comfort us. Or maybe it is the fact that you are taller than almost all of us" Sue answered, smiling in a childlike manner.
"Sometimes I feel like it, too. Ever since Luna, I've been thinking about how I felt like I adopted another kitten" she said, a lovely smile on her lips as she thinks about the new addition to their group. An odd addition where they are not really sure if the girl was a seer or simply a loon.
Sue laughed at that. "She has that effect on people. The one where it feels like you need to take care of her"
"Well, but I'm sure Luna would disagree. She's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, after all," Alix said, recalling how the girl was walking to her class without any shoes on or when she would come to breakfast without a tie and dishevelled hair.
"And I guess Draco is the problem child"
"Surely you must be confused, the problem child is Blaise"
And to that, they both choked, before letting go and filling the halls with their merry laughter.
Alix sat still, a book on the desk before her, as she listened with contempt and distaste visible on her face, to Lockhart teaching them DADA. Though rather than teaching, it felt as if he was listing his accomplishments instead. She lets out a quiet breath, attempting to make her expression as neutral as she could. After all, it is against the rules to show how your emotions so openly to people you do not particularly care for.
"I see you've all brought a complete set of my books. Well done!" he said smiling brightly.
"I thought we'd start today with a little quiz, nothing to worry about-just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in" he pulled a stack parchment from his desk before distributing them one by one, like a muggle.
Alix wonders why he did not just use his magic.
Once he got back to the front, he said, "you have thirty minutes, start now!"
When Alix looked down on the parchment, her brow gave a twitch. She reread all of the questions once more, disbelief etched across her face, suddenly forgetting everything that was taught to her regarding pureblood customs.
1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?
2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
All, until question number 54 was about Gilderoy Lockhart. Alix peered down at her paper, having the urge to burn the thing with her wand.
First off, how would she know his favourite colour? If she were to guess, she would say pink, seeing how it seems to suit his pompous personality so much. Second, how is she to know his secret ambition if it was secret? What sort of question is that? And his greatest achievement? Alix would say it was managing to even get all of the books published.
She wrote down her answers, uncaring if they were rude. She tries to stop her hand from trembling with anger as she wrote down nonsense answers for the nonsense questions of the quiz.
Alix really needs to have a word with Lucius.
When the quiz finished, everyone watched their professor read some of the answers from the test. Slowly, Lockhart's face looked disappointed and he looks back up to the class, tutting.
"Hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is Lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wandering with Werewolves more carefully, I clearly state in there that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic people-though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky!" he laughs, a sound that made Alix want to hex the male in front even further.
When he winked, it made Alix's skin crawl, a disgusting feeling as her eyes twitched again. She starts to calm herself, repeatedly saying patience in her mind like a mantra.
She hears a snort beside her and sees Sue hiding her laughter, but it was not only her. A few Gryffindors who Alix recognized to be Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan were trembling with laughter as well.
Suddenly, an idea pops into her mind.
She turns to Mina, who stayed on her other side as Alix was seated on the seat on the farthest side of the room. The Zouwu looks up from where she was laying and looks at her human. Alix smiled, and she knew Mina would get it instantly.
And she did.
The large beast stood up, stretching her arms and yawning, showing off her large mouth and sharp teeth as she glanced around the room that turned silent. Mina looks at the professor who froze, and slowly, she started walking towards him.
"U-Uh, Alix, dear? Is there something wrong with your pet?" Lockhart asked, sweat running down his forehead.
Alix smiled but did not answer, choosing to let Mina frighten the life out of Lockhart who started to pace backwards as he clumsily reaches for his wand to somehow try and protect himself from the Zouwu.
"M-Miss Clementine?" Lockhart called once more when Mina feigned another large yawn, as her eyes glowed like the sun, walking slowly towards the wizard like a predator.
"Mina" Alix called, her eyes turning into half-moons when she gave an eerie smile to the professor. And Lockhart shivered when he sees her purple eyes glowing. He stops breathing, as he tries to avert his gaze from his student's terrifying stare but fails miserably. It felt as if something had slithered across his body, preventing him from moving.
"Oh my, professor. I apologize" Alix tilted her head, showing off an innocent expression. "Mina must have thought you were prey. She is getting quite hungry" she said, smiling maliciously once more as she looks at Lockhart the same way that Mina had done. Like she was a predator.
A little prank would not hurt, right?
Lockhart dismissed all of them after that, sputtering nervously as he continued to sweat and regain his composure. He said they would meet next time, and told Alix to feed her familiar nervously. To which Alix nodded and showed a sickly sweet smile. Her thoughts were filled with how pathetic Lockhart was and how it proved to be right that he did not do all of those things he had written about.
"Of course, professor," she said.
When they left the classroom, Sue giggles, meeting eyes with Anthony who seemed just as amused as her. "Draco and the other would have a tantrum if they knew what they just missed"
Alix maintained her smile, caressing the fur of her familiar beside her. "Well, I am not sure I know what you are talking about," she said.
She sees Harry and his friends looking at her as they walk. She winks at them and notices how Harry laughs merrily and gives her a thumbs-up, Ron smiling as he shakes his head, and Hermione blushing.
"You scared the poor guy. He looked traumatized for life" Anthony said. His words could have shown his concern, but the satisfied grin on his lips betrayed that.
"I do not know how that is my fault. Mina was just hungry, are you not, dear?" Alix glanced at Mina who only purred, agreeing to whatever she says.
Alix couldn't help but think that Lockhart deserved every bit of that scare.
The next days, Alix noticed, with great joy, how Lockhart did his best to avoid her. Though he proved to have been rubbish at subtlety. Still, he avoided her and refuses to talk to her until she did. To think a small prank would do that to him. Alix wonders if she should do it often. Just to make sure he would stay far away from her.
Draco, Theo, and Blaise had been severely disappointed that they had missed their friend's small show. Still, a retelling from Anthony's own mouth was enough to have sated their dissatisfaction.
What had happened did not stay secret though, seeing how many students had been witness to the event. And it did not take long for the other professors and staff to hear of it.
Snape had been the first to know, and when Alix had been called to his office, she expected a long scolding about what she had done and if she knew what she did wrong. But when she came to his office, however.
"Did you threaten Lockhart that Mina will devour him if he did not stop talking?" he had asked and Alix wondered just what the rumour grew into. Because that was not what had happened at all.
"My, no, how could I do that to a teacher?" Alix asked.
"Mina was about to eat him, she sensed that he was prey and then I told her to stop and apologized and said that Mina was hungry and sees him as food" Lockhart did not even get a small scratch from the Zouwu.
Snape's stoned expression did not change, but a twitch from his lips was enough for Alix to know that he was amused. And it gave her relief that he was not going to scold her or threaten to tell her parents that she was being a bratty child.
"Is that all, professor?" Alix asked when Severus did not say anymore.
"Yes," Alix nodded and was about to turn when Severus called again. "And Alix," she turns back, her brows raised in question. "10 points to Ravenclaw for wearing your uniform properly" the 2nd-year eagle gaped as she froze and blinks a few times as if making sure that it was her grumpy godfather in front of her.
"Now, scram," Severus said and Alix did so without arguments.
She does not believe that Severus had just given her 10 points for scaring Lockhart. No, she didn't.
It was another day, however, that she was called to another office, with Mina alongside her as she had always been. This time, it was the headmaster's call. And Alix knew it was about her prank. And she was also aware that Dumbledore was not Severus. Therefore, he would not let her off easily after disrespecting a professor.
When she entered the office of the headmaster, she glances around, immediately noticing the majestic phoenix that perched on top of a wooden stand, staring at her curiously.
"How lovely" she whispered.
"He is so, Miss Clementine" a voice spoke behind her and when Alix turns, she sees Dumbledore walking to her, smiling as he sits down on the chair behind the desk.
"Please, sit" Dumbledore offered, gesturing to the chair placed in front of the large table.
When Alix sat, Dumbledore picks up a wrapped candy from the bowl beside him. "Lemon drop?" he offered and Alix takes the candy graciously. Turns out, Lemon drops were absolutely divine. Alix had always loved citrus candies.
"Now, you must know why I called you here?"
Alix nods, looking down at her hands. She was not ashamed of what she did and she knew she needed to accept whatever punishment Dumbledore gives her.
"You must also be aware that as the headmaster of this school, I must give you a fitting punishment?"
Alix nods again. "Yes, professor," she said.
"But first, Miss Clementine, I must know. Why did you do it?" Dumbledore asked.
Alix raises her head, her lilac eyes wide upon seeing the same amusement that Severus had in the twitch of his lips. The headmaster looked entertained by what has happened.
Alix thinks and decides she will give a truthful answer to the headmaster. There was no use in lying to him, after all. "I don't like him. He is arrogant and incredibly stupid. I do not know the reason why you hired him" she says.
Dumbledore chuckled, an odd sound that Alix never heard from him before. The old wizard usually just smiles. "He is the only one who had applied for the position. The rest were too scared due to the rumours of the position's curse"
Ah, Alix knew of that rumour, of course. About someone cursing the position which in turn made it impossible for someone to remain as the DADA professor for more than a year. A curse that hurts the wizard or witch that would apply for the job.
"Why do you not ask for a curse breaker?" Alix asked.
"We did, but they were unable to remove it. The one who put the curse was too powerful" Dumbledore had a nostalgic look on his face that made Alix wonder if he was even a little sad that the curse cannot be removed.
"Did you know who put it there?"
"I have only an idea as to who did it," Dumbledore said and refused to say anymore. Alix wonders, then, who placed that powerful curse in the DADA position and why they had done it.
Later on, Dumbledore gave Alix her punishment. In return for disrespecting a professor, she would have to clean Myrtle's bathroom, as the ghost had flooded it during one of her tantrums. It was not the kind of punishment she had expected at all. And she certainly did not expect it to be at Myrtle's bathroom, the same location she concluded was the entrance to Slytherin's chamber.
She observes the headmaster, waiting for his expression to give away if he knew of anything that she was planning to do. But when there was nothing, she shrugs the thought.
"You may do your detention tomorrow night. Filch will be waiting for you by the door, he will give you the cleaning supplies" Dumbledore noted and Alix nodded, already accepting that she had to clean without magic as detention.
Still, it was a good chance to find how to open the chamber. After all, Alix had already planned to go during the night or the next. It would be like hitting two birds with a stone for her.
"I understand, I'll be going now, headmaster, I'm sorry for the trouble" Alix excused herself and left the headmaster's office, looking forward to her detention night.
When she enters the Ravenclaw dorms, she was met with Anthony and Sue's worried expressions. "What detention were you given, Alix?" Sue was the one to ask as they walk to sit down on one of the many couches that were scattered across the common room.
"Oh, nothing too difficult. I just need to clean the bathroom that Moaning Myrtle flooded" Alix sees Luna sitting by herself, reading. "Luna!" she calls out and the blonde's clear eyes turn to her.
"Come, join us," Alix said, failing to notice some of the first years' glances at her and Luna Lovegood.
Luna stood and walked to them, an already knowing smile on her lips. She sat down beside Anthony, continuing her reading as she did, seemingly not listening to their conversation.
"Won't that be difficult for you, Alix?" Anthony asked, meeting eyes with Sue who happened to look at him as well.
Alix raised an eyebrow. "Why?" she asked.
"Don't mind him" Sue said. "I'm surprised you got off too easily, though"
Alix huffs, realization in her small smile. "It seems the headmaster is not too fond of him as well" she chuckles.
Luna raises her head from the book on her lap. She tilts her head to show herself to Alix. "Good luck, Alix," she says before returning her attention to her book.
"Thank you, Luna," Alix said.
A day passed and night came once more. Alix was quite in a predicament as she stood in front of Filch who was sneering down at her as he pushes the empty bucket and mop towards her. Mina stood beside Alix, already planning to stay away from the empty bathroom to avoid getting her paws wet. Still, Alix did not pay her familiar any mind, because she has just realized something.
Alix does not know how to use a mop.
Nor does she know how to clean without magic. Or maybe even with magic.
Alix accepts the bucket and mop, and a moment later, Filch leaves her alone. Not a word was exchanged between the two.
"Alix, what are you doing? You need to start cleaning now if you want to find the entrance" Mina said beside her.
"Well..." she trailed off as she looks at the mop and bucket in her hands uncertainly.
Mina realized almost immediately why Alix had frozen like a cat in water. "Don't tell me...you don't know how to clean?"
Alix takes a deep breath, grimacing at her ignorance. "Nope, merlin. Why don't I know how to clean?" she asked Mina as if the Zouwu has the answer.
"Don't ask me!"
Alix sighs and straightened her posture. "Well, it seems I will be learning tonight"
She enters the bathroom, Mina choosing to stay by the door instead as the floor was too wet. Alix sees the ghost sitting by the large circular window, looking at the view outside. When she turns around, Alix rolls her eyes at the smile she gives her. "Well, well, the great Clementine is in charge of cleaning tonight, huh," she says, her voice feeling like chalk on board.
"Hello, Myrtle" Alix greets, unable to let herself from being polite.
"Detention?" Myrtle asked.
Alix nods and does not answer. "How sad" Myrtle does not seem much interested to talk to her tonight, and Alix was more than relieved.
When Alix started cleaning, she quickly realizes that it was a mistake to let her hair down. As its length got in the way of her vision. She huffs impatiently as she re-tucks her hair for the tenth time. Salazar, it had just been 10 minutes since she started attempting to mop the floor and she was going nowhere with her hair! She takes a deep breath to calm herself.
Alix takes out her wand from the holster on her sleeve. She twists her waist-length hair around the wand, just like how Luna had taught her when Alix noticed how she tied her hair using her wand. It did not feel right, but at least it kept her hair out of her face.
"This is the first time I've ever seen you so unkempt, Alix" Mina commented by the open door.
Alix glares and growls at the Zouwu. "If only you would help as well, maybe we can finish this immediately!" she said.
Mina purrs. "I am a beast, I do not know how to clean"
Alix decided to ignore her familiar for the sake of her patience. She got back to trying to clean. She wipes the floor using the mop, but how does she rid the mop of the water? Is it charmed to absorb all water? No, Dumbledore did say she would be cleaning without magic.
Everything is certainly proving to be more difficult than she thought. She had never needed to clean in her entire life. They had several house-elves for that. And she certainly had never seen their house-elves clean without magic.
"Twist the mop, Alix, I think that's how you rid of the water," Mina said.
Alix did so, twisting the long wooden handle of the mop. When she hears Myrtle laugh mockingly behind her and Mina sighing by the door, she turns scarlet from embarrassment. She had never been as flustered in her life as she did now. Alix was already planning to read every single book about cleaning that she would find.
"What are you doing? Are you, perhaps, trying to squeeze the water from the mop?" Myrtle asked.
Alix's reddened ears and face betrays the stony expression she was sporting at the moment. She nods at Myrtle, choosing to stay silent. She feels she would not be able to stop herself from stuttering if she spoke.
"Your face is so red, how funny" Myrtle chuckles once more, before disappearing to who-knows-where. Alix was just glad to be rid of her and that no one apart from Mina and Myrtle had seen her shameful moment earlier.
"Not the handle, Alix, the end part. Twist it and squeeze it" Mina instructed again and Alix did as she said, moving to the ends of the mop and squeezing the water down to the bucket. When she succeeds, her face brightened and she forgets her embarrassment. She looks at Mina with a smile.
"I did it!" she said triumphantly and the Zouwu only huffs fondly at her.
So Alix continued her cleaning. 30 minutes later, she was almost done, but her arms were now completely wet, and she frowns in disgust at the feeling of her soaked sleeves and school robes. She should have rolled up her sleeves earlier. Well, that was another thing that she had learned tonight.
Alix takes off her school robes and tossed them to Mina who caught them with her mouth. The Ravenclaw took off her empty wand holster and pocketed it, relieved when it fit inside her skirt pocket. She rolls up her sleeves next, showcasing the soulmark of a serpent slithered around her arm with purple-coloured flowers around its scales. She does not pay the mark any mind and continued on in cleaning.
Later on, when she was finally finished, Myrtle came back, instantly eyeing and laughing with her high-pitched voice that Alix hated when she saw her dishevelled appearance. "You look so dirty" she commented but stopped when she notices something.
"Is that your soulmark?" she asked, eyeing down on Alix's arm.
Alix gave her own mark a short glance before turning to Myrtle. "Yes," she answered.
"Of course, you have a soulmate as well" Myrtle spit with envy in her tone.
It did not take a genius to realize that the ghost did not have her own soulmate. Alix did not say anything and remained silent. She did not want to comfort the ghost. Not when she did not like her one bit. She did not want to pretend to care as well.
"Did you know how I died?" Alix turns away. No, she does not want to hear how Myrtle died.
"I killed myself, I ended my own suffering" Myrtle laughs manically. And Alix continues on squeezing the last bit of water from the mop, ignoring the ghost by the window.
"You must have never suffered in your life before. You are a Clementine after all" Alix clenches her jaw at the ghost's words. "Pretty and perfect Clementine" Myrtle's voice turned higher, it made Alix's ears twitch.
Who was she to say that?
When she does not even know Alix's life.
Alix tries to take a deep breath, images of her uncle's funeral flashing through her mind. Her uncle, who sacrificed his life to protect them. Her lips trembled when she remembers the sight of her dead body inside the casket, before being buried alongside his sister, Alix's aunt who died before she was born.
She hears a loud growl by the door and sees Mina glaring threateningly at the ghost. "Whatever" Myrtle rolls her eyes and disappears again.
"Do not listen to her yapping, Alix!" Mina said.
"I know" Alix softly replied.
Alix removes the thoughts of her uncle from her mind. She pulls the bucket, her eyes roaming around the bathroom to make sure there was no spot she had missed when her eyes noticed something off for a small second that she almost missed if she did not look once more.
Alix gently drops the bucket and mop before moving towards the circular sink located in the middle of the bathroom.
On one of the sinks, on the bronze faucet, was a small, barely noticeable carving of a serpent. The symbol of Slytherin.
She swallows and runs a hand across the carved serpent. "Open" she spoke in the language of snakes, feeling as if she finally found the answer.
And she did.
For the sink moved, and slowly, Alix watches it transform into something she had been searching for for a long time.
The entrance to the chamber.
She finally found it.
------------------------------
Dear fellow witches and wizards,
I have returned, everyone! Finals are finished! And as a gift from me to you, I offer you all this chapter. It did get delayed for a bit though, cause I got distracted by Thranduil's beauty. And I got reminded that I'm actually in love with him. But do not worry, I am back to Tom Riddle's side and will not be leaving anytime soon. Thank you for all the kudos, I greatly appreciate it, my AO3 readers. And to my Wattpad readers, thank you for the comments and votes! Also, why are we almost at 6k reads already? I am very surprised when I opened Wattpad on my laptop.
I do hope you all enjoy this small offering of mine <3
From platform 9 and 3/4,
El
ps. I almost got scared that I won't be able to continue writing this fic after I wrote a fic about 'the hobbit' but thankfully, my addiction to harry potter still is going strong to this day :))