After crying for what felt like hours next to Harry over their broomsticks, Alex somehow managed to make it back to the Gryffindor Common Room with the help of Fred to have a proper shower and to get all of the mud and grime off from the match. But she just continued crying in the shower, which didn't go unnoticed by Hermione, who felt bad for her friend.
Harry spent the night in the hospital wing at Madam Pomfrey's insistence and the next morning, the entire quidditch team went back, along with Wood to see him. Alex was still upset about her broomstick and she could see that Harry was as well, so she didn't bring it up.
Wood, who looked as though he hadn't slept at all the night before, told Harry, "I don't blame you," he mumbled as though it was rehearsed, which she suspected it was, judging by the way Angelina and Alicia were looking at him sternly, "not in the slightest."
The rest of the team left but Alex stayed behind as they waited for Ron and Hermione to show up. She looked up at Harry to see that something was bothering him, causing her to grab his arm gently.
"Something's eating at you," she told him with a smirk. "I can see it behind your eyes."
Harry sighed, thinking back to seeing the Grim during the game and he knew that the only person who would give an outside perspective was Alex, seeing as she wasn't taking Divination. She most likely wouldn't think that he was going to die like Ron or scoff at the idea like Hermione would.
"What I'm about to tell you stays between us, okay?" He told her to which she nodded, waiting for him to continue. "I think I saw the Grim at the game," he told her quickly, waiting to see what she would say.
Alex's eyes widened at his statement. "What do you mean?"
Harry sighed. "I saw this black shaggy dog at the game, watching," he added. "I mean, it could've been my eyes just playing tricks on me, right?" Alex stayed silent, which didn't settle Harry's nerves.
"Right?" Harry repeated.
With a shaky breath, she looked at Harry. He had seen the same thing she saw, which made her stomach tighten with anxiety. "Harry," she whispered, glancing around to make sure no one could be listening, "I saw the same thing."
Harry almost toppled out of bed at her confession. "What?"
She could only nod. "I swear, I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me as well, but hearing you say that, now I know that what I saw wasn't just my imagination."
Harry could only run his hand through his messy hair with a sharp breath. "What does this mean?" He asked. "Could it have to do with Sirius Black, do you reckon?"
At that moment, Alex wanted to tell him the truth. How Sirius Black was her father, but she had no connection to him because he was incarcerated by the time she was three years old. How she didn't know why he would be after her like he was after Harry, but that didn't mean she was against Harry. Why she kept the information to keep him from getting hurt by the truth.
But as she opened her mouth to admit the truth, Ron and Hermione walked into the hospital wing. Harry looked at her, giving a subtle nod as if to say that what they talked about was to stay between them, which she agreed to.
"How are you feeling, Harry?" Hermione asked as they made their way over.
Harry shrugged. "As well as can be expected, I guess," he answered truthfully. "I'm just ready to get out of here."
At that moment, Madam Pomfrey walked over to check on Harry and after giving him another piece of chocolate, he was released. The four teens made their way out of the hospital wing and made for the Great Hall for lunch.
Unfortunately for them, Malfoy had deemed this the perfect time to get rid of the bandages and reenact Harry's fall, flailing his arms about while Pansy pretended to look like Alex when the Bludger hit her arm and she, too, fell from her broom. If there weren't that many witnesses, Alex would've hexed them into oblivion.
"So what do you reckon we should do about our brooms?" Harry asked Alex as they sat next to each other, trying to ignore the Slytherins just a few tables away.
She could only shrug. "I don't know," she admitted. "I'm sure Oliver has a catalog we can look at to order new brooms-"
Suddenly, she remembered the Firebolt under her bed and felt her throat tighten. She still hadn't been able to figure out who had sent it to her, no matter how many times she tried to find the names Tally and Padfoot anywhere.
"You okay, Alex?" Harry asked.
Breaking out of her thought, she only nodded before excusing herself and running out of the Great Hall. She made it to Gryffindor Tower without running into anyone and ran up to her dorm room. Seeing that no one else was in there, she leaned down and pulled the Brandee new, untouched broomstick out, looking it over and running her hands along the smooth and shiny wood.
"It wouldn't hurt to take you for a test run, would it?" She questioned the broom as if it would answer her.
But how would she explain how she had this broomstick and hadn't paid for it herself? She had the money to buy one but she didn't dare because Severus would've been furious with her. She didn't want to feel the wrath of Severus Snape.
Not only that, but she didn't know who sent it to her. They very well could be trying to kill her by tricking her into getting onto such a nice broom as this one, only for it to throw her off. And what if it was Sirius Black who had sent it to her?
With a defeated sigh, she slid the broomstick back under her bed, hiding it behind her trunk and several spare blankets. She left the dorm room, just deciding to look at getting another Comet 260 since it was more within her budget and she knew it was a reliable model.
☽
The next day, Alex had managed to catch up with the trio on their way to Defense Against the Dark Arts, but even she was nervous if Severus was going to be teaching them that day. He had been rather short with Gryffindor students lately.
Alex couldn't help but wonder if it was because of the dungbomb that she and Fred had thrown into the Slytherin Common Room. According to the Slytherins, the smell had yet to leave, which made her that much happier that she was the one to cause their strife.
"If Snape's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again, I'm skiving off," Ron told the group.
"I'm with you, Ron," Alex agreed. "Check who's in there, Hermione."
Hermione peeked around the corner as Alex asked and sighed in relief. "It's okay!"
They all walked in to find Professor Lupin sitting at his desk, though he certainly looked like he had been through the wringer. Everyone didn't care as they began complaining about how Snape was assigning them homework but Lupin reassured them that he would talk to Snape and that they wouldn't have to do the assignment.
"Oh, no," Hermione spoke, "I've already finished it!"
Alex couldn't help but laugh as she patted Hermione's arm reassuringly. "We know, 'Mione," she teased. "We know."
The lesson Lupin had planned was delightful as they learned about hinkypunks, which was a one-legged creature that would lure travelers into bogs. It was quite funny to Alex to watch the creature within the glass box.
When the bell rang, she made her way out of the class quickly and to the library since Lupin was still trying to talk to her regarding the boggart lesson and she wasn't ready. She didn't know if she would ever be ready.
Not only was she avoiding Lupin, but she had a study session with Cedric before he had to go to practice. Upon entering, she spotted him at the front and walked over with a smile on her face.
"Fancy seeing you here," she teased as she sat next to him.
He laughed with a shrug. "I could say the same to you," he told her. "By the way, I did better on that potions test than I thought I would, so thank you for those study notes."
"I told you they'd help, didn't I?" She said with a smile before pulling out her own homework.
They worked silently, Cedric helping with her transfiguration homework and Alex helping with his potions assignment. However, their time was cut short as Cedric's teammates came in and ushered him out for practice. The match against Ravenclaw was in a few weeks and they weren't playing games when it came to practice.
"I'll see you later, Alex!" Cedric called as his friends literally dragged him out of the library.
She waved goodbye before continuing with her homework. However, when it became too confusing for her to continue, she put her things away and decided to take a walk around the castle.
The weather was beginning to get colder as December neared. She was excited for the holidays, especially since she was staying at the castle to spend it with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. It would also help that she could forget, even if it was just for two weeks, that her father was still out there.
Rounding a corner, she bumped into someone and backed away. "I'm so sorry-"
Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up at Remus Lupin, her stomach tightening as he had a knowing look in his eye. "Alex, how wonderful to see you," he told her. "I was actually coming to look for you. Why don't we take a walk?"
Alex began to think of an excuse but when she couldn't think of one, she followed next to him down the corridor. She knew he wanted to talk about the boggart lesson from months before but she had always been able to avoid it.
Now she couldn't.
"Professor, we really don't have to talk about it," she tried to tell him as he sat at one of the window seats.
"I think we do, Alex," he told her, softly patting the spot next to him.
She sighed but sat down with him, unable to meet his eye. Remus looked down at her, seeing the tears beginning to well in her eyes as if she knew what he was going to say.
"Alex, you remember how I told you how good of a friend I was with your mother?"
Sniffling, Alex nodded.
"So I think I would be right in saying that your boggart is not an accurate representation of who your mother was as a person," he told her.
"How could you know?" Alex asked. "You told me yourself that the last time you saw her was when my father was thrown in Azkaban."
"And you know what I saw?" He asked, to which Alex shook her head. "A mother who would have gone to ends of the earth to keep her daughter safe from any and all harm."
More tears began to fall down her cheeks as she thought of the boggart's words ringing in her head.
"This is all your fault!"
"This is why I left you!"
"You're worthless!"
"Alex," Remus spoke softly, the boggart's words fading as she looked at him, tears flowing down her cheeks, "your mother loved you before you were even born, I saw it. If she left you, it was for your safety and your safety alone. She did not love you any less than you think she did."
Sniffling, Alex shook her head. "I wish I could believe you, professor," she whispered. "But I don't because I need to hear those words from my mother, not you."
With that final statement, she stood up and walked down the corridor. Remus watched her go, a defeated sigh leaving him before he walked back toward his office. What neither of them had noticed was the tawny owl perched just in the window seat next to them, having heard every word of the conversation.
☽
The day of the quidditch game between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had come. Alex woke up that morning, having gotten very little sleep the night before. Ever since the conversation she had with Remus, she had been plagued with nightmares of the boggart, but it was usually saying different things to her, most of it being that she didn't love Alex or want anything to do with her.
Sitting up in bed, she noted how her roommates were still sleeping and didn't move to wake any since she assumed she'd be the only member of Gryffindor going to the quidditch game. Climbing out of bed, she quickly got dressed, making sure to put on Cedric's jumper and grab a bigger goat to wear over it since it was a cold day.
Alex made her way to the Great Hall to find an excited buzz coming from both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but not much from the other two houses, which is how it usually went when it came to quidditch. She walked over to the Gryffindor table to find the twins awake and eating breakfast.
"Good morning, Alex," they chorused together.
"It's still weird how you both manage to do that," she laughed. "How is it even possible?"
"Twin telepathy," they chorused again.
Alex laughed again before serving herself some of the breakfast in front of her. They fell silent as they ate breakfast before a fourth person came up and they all looked up.
"Hey Cedric," Alex greeted with a smile. "Nervous for the game?"
He shook his head as he took a seat next to her, much to the annoyance of Fred. Ever since the quidditch game, Alex and Cedric had been spending more time together when he wasn't holding quidditch practices and when she wasn't busy herself. Not only that, but Fred had begun to go down to the common room most nights to see if Alex would come down so they could talk.
But she wasn't down there on nights he did.
"No," Cedric told her with a confident smile. "I actually wanted to ask you something."
"What's up?"
Awkwardly clearing his throat, he side-eyed the twins, who were watching the whole interaction before looking back at her, noting just how annoyed Fred looked. "Well, I'm sure you've heard there's one last time Hogsmeade trip before the holidays, right?"
She nodded.
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go together, just the two of us?" He asked.
Alex's stomach erupted with excitement at his request that she nearly choked on the toast she was eating. Cedric gently patted her back as she coughed before drinking some juice to clear her throat.
"Like-Like a date?" She stuttered, her face flushing red.
Cedric smiled, gently taking her hand. "Yeah," he told her confidently. "Like a date."
From across the table, Fred's fists were clenched under the table as he watched the interaction happening. Cedric swooping in right in front of Fred's eyes was the biggest slap to the face but he couldn't say anything because he hadn't tried talking to Alex about how he was feeling towards her.
Alex smiled before nodding. "Yeah, I'd like that."
Letting out a sigh of relief, he smiled before his teammates called for him to head down to the pitch. "I've got to go warm up with the team, but I'll see you after, okay?"
She nodded before he leaned over, gently kissing her cheek, which made her blush even more. He then walked out of the hall, leaving Alex there with her face as red as a Weasley's hair.
Still smiling, she faced towards her food. George looked at his twin before looking at Alex, trying to think quickly.
"Hey, Alex," he spoke, "do you need someone to accompany you to the game?"
Alex furrowed her brow. "I mean, I was just thinking I'd end up sitting by myself, why?"
"We'll come along!" George told her with a smile.
"You will?" Alex questioned.
"We will?" Fred asked, slightly bewildered at his twin's declaration.
"Yeah, it'll give us a chance to watch out for Ravenclaw's Beater's techniques for when we go up against them," George told the both of them like it was a common fact.
"Alright, if you guys want to," she told them before standing up. "Meet you guys in the Entrance Hall, okay?"
After she was a good distance away, Fred turned to George, fuming. "What are you doing?" The older twin snapped. "I don't want to go to a game where she's gonna be cheering Diggory on."
"Just trust me, Freddie," George reassured him with a wink.
The twins ran up to get their jackets from the Gryffindor Common Room. As they went to make their way to the Entrance Hall to meet Alex, George claimed to forget something and ran back up to the common room, yelling for them to not wait for him.
Then it got awkward when it was just Fred and Alex.
"Shall we head down then?" Alex offered, to which Fred shrugged.
Silently, they walked with the crowd down to the pitch, neither knowing what to say to the other. Fred wanted to address when she told him to stop sending mixed signals but he wasn't sure how to bring it up. Alex didn't know what she wanted to talk about, but she missed talking to Fred, they hadn't really spoken just the two of them in a few weeks.
After settling into some seats towards the top, they remained silent before Fred turned to Alex to see her pulling her jacket closer to keep warm.
"You cold?" He asked.
Alex only nodded. "I thought this jacket would keep me warm enough, but it's not," she admitted.
"And you're even wearing that jumper that Diggory gave you," he teased, causing her to nudge his arm.
"Shut up," she laughed, her teeth chattering slightly.
"Here, take this then," he told her, pulling his jacket off before pulling his green signature Weasley jumper with the 'F' on the front of it.
"And you won't get cold?" She asked as she held it in her hands, the smell of cologne making its way into her nose.
"I'm alright," he reassured with a smile.
Without waiting another second, she pulled it over her head and his cologne scent immediately engulfed her senses. She even closed her eyes for a second to savor the smell before Fred's voice broke her out of her thoughts.
"Looks like your boyfriend's taking the field."
Alex nudged him. "He's not my boyfriend, Fred," she reminded him.
"Then what was that with him asking you out to Hogsmeade?"
"Just because someone asks me doesn't mean I am automatically taken, Weasley," she stated firmly. "Believe it or not, but I would like, when the time comes with the right boy, he would have the decency to ask me to be his girlfriend instead of just declaring it."
"Noted," Fred mumbled under his breath before looking around. "Where is George?"
"I don't know but he's most likely going to miss the game at this point," she spoke as the balls were released into the air.
They both fell silent as Fred watched how the Beaters worked and Alex focused on how the Chasers were moving with each other. Ravenclaw was in the lead as the Beaters from their team were managing to whack the Bludgers whenever the Quaffle came into Hufflepuff's possession right to whoever was holding it.
"It's quite impressive, wouldn't you say?" Fred voiced, not taking his eyes off the field. Alex only nodded in response, eyes equally glued to every movement of every player.
"Look!" Someone in front of them exclaimed.
Fred and Alex's eyes immediately looked over to where Cedric and the Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang, were chasing after the Snitch, neck in neck. Alex couldn't help but slowly stand to her feet, Fred right alongside her as they watched Cho's broom zoom forward a little more as her fingers wrapped around the Snitch.
"YES, SHE CAUGHT THE SNITCH!" Alex yelled happily as she and Fred jumped up and down together. "GRYFFINDOR STILL HAS A CHANCE!"
Alex threw her arms around Fred with a happy cry as he spun her around. Then he set her down, the both of them just looking at each other for a second, seemingly in their own world for a minute. Fred gently pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and she shuddered slightly at the feeling of his warm fingers on her cheek.
How were they so warm in this cold? She wondered in her mind.
Then Fred began to lean in.
Alex's eyes widened before they fluttered close, along with Fred's, who was only mere inches from her lips. This was it. She was going to have her first kiss. And it was going to be with Fred Weasley.
"Alex!"
Immediately, her eyes flew open as she pulled away from Fred, who looked ready to murder someone, particularly who had yelled her name. They both looked over to see Cedric still on his broom, hovering just right by where they were standing.
"Hey, Ced!" She yelled. "Sorry about the loss but truthfully, it's good news for Gryffindor, so I'm not completely sorry!"
He laughed before eying Fred, who looked annoyed over the interruption. "I'm gonna go change and then head back to my common room, so I'll see you at dinner, okay?"
"Sounds good!" She called back before following the crowd of students down from the stands, Fred following right behind her.
"You know what this means, right?" Fred asked as they walked up towards the castle.
"What?" She asked, wondering if his mind was still on the kiss they almost shared just a few minutes prior.
"The fact that Hufflepuff lost means that we're still in the running for the Cup, which means Wood is going go be pushing us harder in practices," he reminded her. "You're not going to be able to hang out with Diggory as much as you normally would."
Alex laughed before nudging him. "It will all be worth it when that Quidditch House Cup has Gryffindor's name right across it," she told him.
Just as they reached the Entrance Hall, Fred grabbed her hand and pulled her right behind a pillar. Even if the moment had been ruined by Cedric for Fred's chance to kiss her, he wanted to make sure he did something that would implant into her mind just how much he cared for her.
"I don't doubt we'll win this year," he whispered into her ear before pressing a kiss to her cheek, the corner of his lips grazing the corner of her lips, just like the night of her birthday.
Alex's eyes widened as she looked up at Fred, who smiled softly before walking away and heading for Gryffindor Tower. Her cheek tingled where his lips had been, as well as the corner of her lips and she couldn't help but let her fingers brush over the spot, a stupid smile crossing her face before she followed after him.
Upon entering, they found George sitting by the fire and saw the two of them entering. "I'm terribly sorry!" He gushed, rather dramatically, Alex almost thought he was overcompensating for something behind his words. "I couldn't find what I was looking for and by the time I did, the game was already over, so I just stayed put."
"No worries," Alex told him, her cheeks still warm from the kiss Fred had planted on it. "Hufflepuff lost, which means we still have a chance."
"THANK YOU, MERLIN!" George yelled. "But let's keep that tidbit of information from Wood for now, okay? I'd like to enjoy the rest of the weekend."
Alex and Fred agreed before Alex bid them goodbye to go and work on her homework up in the dorms. It could've been her ears playing tricks on her, but she swore that she heard George tell Fred, "You're welcome."
☽
In honor of September first and the journey back to Hogwarts, here ya go!
I finished my training also, so I can focus more on my writing! I'm so excited for this story to further!
Also I potentially have a George fanfic coming soon... we shall see...
Don't forget to vote and comment!
Love you guys!
-Squid☽