Alexandra Weasley

22

Alexandra was exhausted. She'd made five potions and took a written exam, transfigured a hedgehog into a pincushion, she couldn't quite turn the frog into an owl (she had only managed to turn it into a bat) and had conjured quite a few random objects. She'd had a written exam about vanishing spells and doubling charms too. She'd identified an endless amount of plants though, thankfully, professor Sprout hadn't expected her to grow any. She'd done a written exam that was two hours long. By the time she finished her Herbology exam, it was dinner time.

"Where've you been all day?" Charlotte asked once she sat down. Alexandra shrugged.

"Alex, come on. We find out it's your birthday and then you disappear all day?"

"You weren't meant to find out."

"What'd you do?"

"I mean, the twins were grumbling something about having to go to lessons, so you weren't with them."

"I decided to take a me day, and spent it out in the forest."

"Not that that wouldn't be a totally you thing to do, but we don't believe you." Susan said. Alexandra shrugged and put some food on her plate. It was barely much, but enough to avoid suspicion.

"Alex-"

"Hey, Alex, how exactly did you manage to gain fifty points for our house?" Cedric asked. She cursed her choice of seat internally, he was only sitting on the other side of the table with a few of the other quidditch team members.

"It wasn't me."

"Everyone on this table knows it was you." He said and she glared at him. She took a bite of her food, pushed the rest around on her plate and left. Hermione must have noticed because she came out after her.

"Alex." She said.

"Hi." Alexandra said, sounding drained.

"How are you? Ron says it's your birthday today. Is that true?"

"Yeah."

"And you don't want to spend it with your brothers?"

"I can't, Hermione."

"I know you think they'll hate you but this time last year they didn't know if you were okay. If you were alive, if you were eating. It must've been especially hard. Just give them a few minutes. Let them see you're really back."

"No."

"You can't just completely cut ties." Hermione shook her head. Alexandra looked behind her before sighing.

"I have to. It's the only way. I have to go to bed now. I'm really tired."

"Sure. Good night, Alex."

"Goodnight."

"Everyone's saying you won fifty points for Hufflepuff. Is that true?"

"Meet me tomorrow after dinner. I'll be with Snuffles."

"Can't we go anywhere else?"

"Would you prefer the forbidden forest?"

"Snuffles it is." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Happy birthday, Alex. I do truly wish you had a good day."

"I did. Thank you." Alex nodded. She walked away. She headed to her dorm and found a pile of boxes in her room. She locked the door with a spell, for privacy and began opening her gifts. There was a rather huge one on her bed. She put it to the side and instead opened the one from her mother and Ginny. It was a potions kit, stocked up with the ingredients she didn't have in her standard school one. She smiled, and opened the note. Her mother was always thoughtful. She opened the one from her father next. He'd gotten her some muggle stationary- pens and paper. There was a note with that too. Her father was odd, but she loved him for it. There was one other box left- a gift from Bill. Alexandra felt somewhat guilty that she'd been treating her siblings badly, and keeping her whole family at arms length. She opened it slowly to find a photo album. Filled with pictures of her and her family, before the last year. She looked through the pictures, the one of Percy with green hair as a result of her prank with the twins made her laugh. He sent her quite a simple note, unlike her parents who gushed at her being so grown. It simply read Happy Birthday and that he wished he could be there with her. She put her new things in her bedside table before looking at the gift she'd put aside. She had a feeling she knew who it was from, and didn't really want to look inside. She put the box under her bed instead, and lay on her bed, unlocking the door. She didn't get any sleep that night. Had Quildemort actually gone inside her room or had he sent it magically. She hoped it was the latter- she didn't want the creep inside.