Insomnia | Fred Weasley |

29. Alexandria Selwyn, Beater extraordinaire

"Merlin, if I ever see another cauldron, it'll be too soon," Alex grumbled as she and Fred walked out of the dungeons.

After finishing dinner, they ventured down to Snape's office where he had them scrubbing every single cauldron until he was able to see his reflection in them (Fred had to refrain from the comment so desperately trying to escape from his mouth.) And he didn't let them use magic.  And anytime they tried to talk, Snape would shush them and tell them to work in silence.

"Agreed," Fred yawned as they made it back to their common room.  They had managed to get done fairly quickly, but their arms ached because the longer they were in Snape's company, the more foul their moods became.

They walked in to find everyone gathered around the bulletin board. Alex strained her neck to look, but when she couldn't see, Fred picked her up his arms, causing her to squeal as she was now able to see the sign but Fred was holding her very close to him.

"Hogsmeade trip next weekend," she told him, fighting the blush.  "You can put me down now."

"So how about that butterbeer you promised?" Fred teased as he sat her down, but kept his arms gently on her waist.

Alex nodded. "Alright, butterbeers are on me for the trip," she told him. "You can bring George too."

After that, she walked over to where Hermione was working behind the giant piles of books that Alex had found her at before dinner. They both began to silently work on their separate homework since Hermione was looking rather tense as she scribbled down on her parchment.

"Are you okay, 'Mione?" Alex asked, looking up from her Ancient Runes book.

Hermione only nodded before voices caught their attention and they both looked over to see Harry and Ron discussing the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend. Immediately, Hermione shook her head in disapproval but continued listening in.

"Hogsmeade, next weekend!" Ron told Harry. "What d'you reckon?"

"Well, Filch hasn't done anything about the passage into Honeydukes..." Harry spoke quietly but both Alex and Hermione heard from where they were sitting.

"Harry!" Hermione hissed. Both boys looked over to watch as Hermione pushed aside one of the piles of books. "Harry, if you go into Hogsmeade again... I'll tell Professor McGonagall about that map!"

"Can you hear someone talking, Harry?" Ron growled, not looking at Hermione.

Alex gritted her teeth as she watched a look of hurt flash across Hermione's eyes but she didn't let it stop her from arguing over the matter. "Ron, how can you let him go with you? After what Sirius Black nearly did to you! I mean it, I'll tell -"

"So now you're trying to get Harry expelled!" Ron accused. "Haven't you done enough damage this year?"

Before Hermione could respond, Crookshanks leaped into her lap. Taking one last frightened look at Ron, she scooped Crookshanks into her arms and ran up to the girl's dormitories. With Hermione out of sight to disapprove of her actions, Alex quickly stood and walked over to Ron holding her Ancient Runes textbook in one hand and her Muggle Studies textbook in the other.