Alexandra managed to avoid Snape until the next day. Before lunch she had defence against the dark arts- the class Hermione had gushed about. Apparently, Lockhart thought the students should get a chance to stop a threat as some kind of test. That and a pop quiz, Hermione warned. Alexandra rolled her eyes. She'd read the assigned books. He always seemed to go off on some tangent to talk about himself.
"Ah, come in come in!" He smiled brightly. Alexandra took a seat as far away from the front as she could. "I am your defence teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart. I see you've all brought my books with you. Well done. I hope you've read through them all."
"Yes, Professor." Half the class chorused. He smiled, showing off all his teeth again.
"Oh, isn't he amazing?" Hannah sighed dreamily next to her.
"Do you need a dictionary to read up on the definition of amazing?"
"Of course you wouldn't think so. Nothing's good enough for you." Megan was sitting in front of her.
"I love reading and even I found it hard to get through his books."
"They're so exciting."
"There's hardly any facts. They're mostly stories about him."
"Exactly. He's reminding us that he is just like the rest of us, even if he is brave enough to achieve all his heroics."
"I'm going to throw up." Alexandra grimaced as Lockhart handed out pieces of paper. She looked at it, before raising her hand.
"Yes?"
"I just remembered, I was supposed to go see professor Dumbledore. May I be excused?"
"It can't wait?"
"I'd rather not keep the headmaster waiting."
"Well then, you should go." He said and she walked out. She headed to Dumbledore's office and bumped into Snape on her way.
"Hi." She said, a little sheepishly.
"What are you doing out of class?"
"I wanted to talk to Professor Dumbledore." She said. "Professor, I-"
"It's okay." He said.
"Can I have DADA lessons with you again?"
"What's wrong with Lockhart?"
"He gave us a quiz on his favourite colour, countries, creatures and we had to list all of the awards that he's won."
"Can you?"
"I did, unfortunately, read his books."
"Well, I was just about to head to Dumbledore's office. Why not come along and ask the headmaster yourself?"
"Well, I did tell Professor Lockhart that I had to see Professor Dumbledore."
"Lying already? And on your second day?"
"I will not apologise for trying to get out of that class." She said, as they stepped into the lift.
"Miss Weasley, this is a surprise." Dumbledore greeted her, not looking surprised at all.
"Good morning, headmaster." She greeted.
"What can I do for you?" He asked.
"Can I have DADA lessons with professor Snape again? Like last year?"
"The agreement was that you would give the class a try with Professor Lockhart this year. Isn't today your first class with him?"
"I tried it, but I don't feel that I'm learning anything new." Dumbledore peered at her over his glasses, and she was sure he was going to call her out on her lie.
"Of course you may." He said, surprising her.
"Thank you." She said, and left. Dumbledore waited until she was gone before looking at Snape.
"You look troubled, Severus. What's wrong?"
"I need to request two days leave."
"What for?"
"Personal issues. It's extremely urgent."
"It's the second day of school, Severus. What happened?"
"All due respect, headmaster, it's personal."
"Very well. I can possibly find a substitute for you next week."
"I need to leave now. I'll assign textbook classwork and the prefects can watch over the classes."
"Very well."
"I also need to make use of your fireplace."
"And you're sure you don't want to tell me anything?"
"Not yet, Albus." Dumbledore nodded.
"It's all yours." Dumbledore gestured to the fireplace.
Alexandra hid herself in the room of requirement for the rest of lunch. She emerged ten minutes before her charms class. She chose a random seat and waited for class to begin. Charlie sat on one side of her, the only Hufflepuff who would talk to her. It didn't go unnoticed that the seat on her other side was avoided like a plague. That is, until a certain Slytherin walked in late. Malfoy sneered at her, before reluctantly sitting beside her.
"Good afternoon. I hope you've all enjoyed yourselves over the summer. I, myself, had a splendid time. I spent my summer abroad in Italy with my daughter." There were some snickers and mutterings about whether she'd inherited the dwarf height from their goblin ancestors. His face grew red with indignation. "Alright, I thought for our first lesson back, you might like a relaxing class. If you'd rather focus on your work instead, then suit yourselves. By the end of this year, I will be testing your abilities to identify, reverse and perform concealment charms. You will do so in pairs. As this is a class of odd numbers, there will be one group of three. And before you think about pairing up with your friends, I will be assigning partners." There was a collective groan.
"Do you think he'll pair Slytherins and Hufflepuffs?" Charlie whispered.
"Probably." Alexandra replied. "I just hope I'm not stuck in the group of three."
"The pairings are as follows. Pansy Parkinson with Ernest Macmillan." Alexandra glanced back at Ernie who seemed to shrink in his seat at Pansy's cold glare. "Leanne Robertson and Tracey Davis. Millicent Bulstrode and Gregory Goyle. Daphne Greengrass and Vincent Crabbe. Zacharias Smith and Theodore Nott. Charlotte Little and Megan Jones. Hannah Abbott and Rachel Falls. Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchley. Wayne Hopkins and Ben Foster. Draco Malfoy, Alexandra Weasley and Blaise Zabini."
"Ouch, getting stuck with two Slytherins?" Charlotte said sympathetically. Alexandra scowled.
"I'll survive. I'd take two Slytherin boys over Pansy Parkinson any day of the week. Poor Ernie."
"Don't forget, you're still stuck with Malfoy."
"Maybe I can get out of it."
"Well, if Flitwick agrees, you could always join Megan and I."
"Thanks." Alexandra said.
"So, you're being nice this year? Are you still Alex or have you been replaced by an alien clone?"
"Relax, it's only the second day. There'll be plenty of time for me to alienate you guys all over again."
