Alexandra Weasley

47

The next day, Alexandra sought Hermione out and took her to feed Snuffles after breakfast. Hermione complied knowing she'd promised and if she ever wanted Alexandra to trust her word again she had to face her fear.
"I hate you, you know." Hermione glared at her friend.

"Okay."

"What if he bites me?"

"I'll take you to Madam Pomfrey."

"What if I bleed out before I get there?"

"Just get in there, Hermione." Alexandra nudged her friend forward. She shoved a steak at her and Snuffles turned his gaze into Hermione. "Now throw it to him. Don't pick a head in particular. Just in his general direction. He doesn't like it when we favour one head over the others."

"You're really enjoying this aren't you?"

"Absolutely." Hermione glared again but Alexandra was smiling. A true smile, and that was rare. It was hard to stay mad at Alexandra like this.

"I hate you." Hermione grumbled again, still not meaning it. She took a slab of meat and threw it rather pathetically at the Cerberus.

"You've got to do better than that."

"Well excuse me if I've not got much in the way of physical prowess."

"You can do better than that." Hermione huffed and pulled out her wand.

"Wingardium Leviosa." She said, swishing and flicking her wand towards Snuffles. He caught it with his right head, and she turned back to Alexandra, smug.

"That's one way to do it."

"I don't know why you insist on feeding him. He probably gets fed enough by people who's actual job this is."

"Hagrid can only come up so often without raising suspicion and he says all the other Hogwarts professors are too afraid to."

"You talked to Hagrid? What happened to your people allergy?"

"It was once and it was to talk about Snuffles. Plus not many people really care about Hagrid, so his opinion doesn't matter."

"Yes it does!"

"I'm not saying it to be mean, Hermione. It's the truth. You, Ron, Harry and the other professors are the only people who'll go anywhere near him. To anyone other than you, it doesn't matter."

"He's just misunderstood."

"Probably. But I'm talking about what other people think. Just like a lot of people have trouble believing that you're a really smart witch just because you're muggleborn. And you know that's not what I think."

"Oh." She said. "Wait- is that why you're friendly with me?"

"No. If that were why I was friendly with you, then nobody else would know. But as it stands, everyone who knows me knows that you're my best friend, and the one to go to if they would like to manipulate me." Hermione laughed at her dramatics as Alexandra threw the last steak at Snuffles's middle head.

"I thought we weren't supposed to favour a head."

"The other two already ate. It would just be offensive if I didn't feed the middle head."

"You feed him often, don't you?"

"He should be outside, in the forbidden forest, catching his own food." Alexandra stepped forward. She reached up and the head on the left nuzzled its head into her palm. She looked upset. "Instead, he's chained indoors, tasked with protecting a trapdoor, without anyone to look out for him."

"You make him sound like an underdog."

"He is. He's misunderstood." Alexandra softly petted him.

"Of course he is." Hermione rolled her eyes at her friend. "Can we go now? I need to go to the library and do some more revision."

"Fine." Alexandra huffed. She hugged Snuffles, scratching the top of its head. "Bye bye. I'll come see you soon." The Cerberus bowed his head down slightly. "I know, I don't want to go either. But I have to."

"Really?" Hermione asked and Alexandra laughed.

"Don't worry. Hermione and I will come back again tomorrow to feed you."

"Really?" Hermione repeated.

"You promised an entire week. We're holding you to that promise."

"Fine. I guess it's not so bad, anyways." She peeked at Snuffles.

"Bye, Snuffles." Alexandra said, one last time, before picking up her bag and walking alongside Hermione.

Hermione continued to help Alexandra feed Snuffles and almost found herself enjoying it. He really was just like a large dog. But she didn't want to admit that to her friend so she feigned indifference when the week ended. After that she started dragging Ron and Harry to the library. Alexandra, on the other hand continued her lessons with Snape. He began teaching her legilimency, keeping to the theory for as long as he could- somehow finding more books and texts for her to read up on, and giving her long quizzes.

Weeks began to pass more quickly, and soon it was almost exam season. Hermione had come to find Alexandra in the Hufflepuff dorms, respecting the residents enough not to barge in and instead wait for an invitation inside. She was allowed in and she gone to Alexandra to tell her that Ron was in the hospital wing. It didn't take more to get Alexandra jumping out of bed and following her to see Ron.
"Ronald!" Alexandra rushed for his side. She saw his arm, swollen and green. "What happened?"

"Alexandra?" He asked and glanced at Hermione confused.

"What happened? What bit you?"

"A dog?" He tried. Alexandra rolled her eyes and looked at Hermione.

"Dragon." Hermione told her. Ron glared at her and she shrugged. "She scares me more than you do."

"Where can you even find a dragon to bite you?"

"Hagrid." Hermione said. Alexandra rolled her eyes.

"Of course. What did Madam Pomfrey say?"

"Oh, your brother will be fine." The matron assured walking over to Ron's bed. "He has a rough night ahead, but he'll be okay."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey." The matron smiled, checking Ron's temperature.

"Your brother is in good hands, now go. It's getting late. You can come visit tomorrow but he needs his rest."

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey." Hermione said and the girls left.