The next morning, Alex woke up normally after having actually slept normally surprisingly the night before. Her nightmares and sleepless nights seemed to be more at bay without any mentions of her father recently. It also helped having talked things out with Harry even if they were in slight disagreement again.
She quickly climbed out of bed and got dressed before grabbing her Firebolt, still smiling over the fact that it was hers and she knew nothing would stop the team from winning the match that day. Running down the steps of the dorms, she entered to find people beginning to make their way to breakfast, all sporting some kind of Gryffindor gear for the game. She spotted Fred and George standing by the couch but both ceased their conversation when they saw her enter.
"Ahh, there she is!" George exclaimed happily. "We thought we'd walk with you to breakfast, y'know, make sure nothing happens to you or your magnificent broom on the way there."
Alex eyed them suspiciously but cautiously agreed as they left the common room. True to their word, they walked down to the Great Hall. However, just before entering, George snatched the broom suddenly from her hand, causing her to stop in her step.
"George, what are yo - AGH!"
Taking advantage of her distracted moment, Fred had knelt down and pulled her onto his shoulder before standing to his full height, which made her high off the ground. George then handed the broom back to her from where she was on his twins' shoulder so she could hold it over her shoulder again. He moved to stand next to Fred on the other side, both boys supporting her on their shoulders as they entered the Great Hall. It was quite easy, seeing as she was smaller than them.
"Make way!" George announced, which made Alex laugh as all eyes turned to see the odd scene. "Great Firebolt making its way in!"
"Yes, out of the way, peasants!" Fred yelled.
They carried her the entire way to the Gryffindor table where Harry and the rest of the team was already sitting with his own Firebolt. She jokingly waved her hand in a royal manner and blew kisses as she spared a glance around to see people watching with wonder. Almost everybody's jaws had dropped in amazement, except those at the Slytherin table, who had gone pale when they saw that there wasn't just one, but two Firebolts on the Gryffindor team now. Most of the Gryffindors beamed with pride as the twins finally set Alex down with a laugh.
"Well, that was quite the entrance," a voice spoke, causing them to turn and see Cedric standing there.
"They sort of surprised me by doing that," Alex told him breathlessly with a laugh.
Cedric's eyes were on the Firebolt as she laid it on the table right by Harry's on Wood's instructions. "Those are very impressive," he told her before congratulating them on the brooms. "Good luck on your game!"
"Thanks, Ced!" She told him before sitting down with the rest of the team.
More people from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff came over to check out their brooms and Harry couldn't help but nudge Alex with pride over their brooms as they ate their breakfast happily.
"Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?" Malfoy's voice spoke as he stood with Crabbe and Goyle flanking him. "You as well, Selwyn?"
"Yeah, reckon so," Harry answered for the both of them.
"Got plenty of special features, don't they?" He continued asking maliciously. "Shame they don't come with parachutes - in case either of you gets too near a dementor."
"Pity you can't attach an extra arm to yours, Malfoy," Harry sneered. "Then it could catch the Snitch for you."
The entire Gryffindor team laughed loudly at that statement. Alex, who had been drinking some pumpkin juice, spit it out, which ended up landing on the front of Draco's robes, who jumped back in disgust. That only fed to everyone's laughter.
"Ugh, you're disgusting!" Malfoy barked angrily at Alex.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Malfoy," Alex spoke, pretending to sound genuinely concerned. "Next time, I'll make sure to aim for your face." The entire table was now in stitches of laughter as Malfoy and his goons stalked off.
"You are something else, woman," Fred told her with a nudge.
"Thank you very much," she responded, wiping the pumpkin juice that was dripping down her chin.
After everyone had eaten, the team made their way down to the locker rooms. The weather was a complete opposite of what their first match was like as the day was clear, which Alex was grateful for. She didn't feel like suffering from hypothermia for this match. Fred and George kept making the joke that they were going to lift her onto their shoulders again, which resulted in her running the entire way down to the pitch, screaming as they chased after her as a joke. And she learned in that moment just how terrifying it was having the twins chase after her.
"Hey Alex!" Fred called before she could disappear fully into the locker room. "I actually have something to say."
"What?" She asked, coming up to stand by him just outside of the girls section of the locker room.
"No broken bones this match, okay?" He told her with a teasing smile.
Alex rolled her eyes and nudged him, but he grabbed her hand before she could pull away completely. It was then that she realized how close their faces were.
"I'm serious," he told her, slowly leaning toward her.
Her heart pounded before Wood called for Fred to begin getting ready, causing them both to pull apart quickly. Alex felt the blush burning her face as she turned to go change.
"Wait!" Fred exclaimed, quickly grabbing her hand to pull her back. "Good luck." Then he kissed her cheek.
Alex tried to respond with her own "Good luck" to him but she stuttered over her words and she knew her face was burning red as Fred smiled at her flustered state. Without wanting to embarrass herself further, she quickly ran into the changing rooms, trying to avoid both Angelina and Alicia's curious eyes. She took a few deep breaths before slipping her uniform on and knowing her face wasn't blushing anymore, she looked up.
"Angie, can you braid my hair back please?"
"Sure, c'mere," the older girl told her.
Alex obliged and as she braided her hair, Alicia came and sat next to Alex. "So, was I seeing things or did Fred Weasley just kiss your cheek as a good luck?" The older girl asked with a smirk.
Alex felt her stomach tighten. "Um, that is the last thing we should be thinking about before a match," she tried to tell her, but her face felt warm and she was certain it was as red as a Weasley's hair.
"Okay, but you're gonna tell us later," Angelina teased with a smile before finishing off the braid down her back.
"Right, let's go!" She exclaimed, grabbing her Firebolt and not waiting if they were following, she just wanted to avoid the conversation for a bit longer. They eventually joined the boys and Alex made a point to avoid eye contact with Fred, who was stealing glances at her blushing face.
"You know what we've got to do," Wood told the team. "If we lose this match, we're out of the running. Just - just fly like you did in practice yesterday, and we'll be okay!"
Walking out of the locker rooms, Alex felt the pressure as the applause rang loudly in her ears. She eyed the Ravenclaw quidditch team, noting how Cho was the only girl on the team. But she could tell that the Chasers on the rival team were not going to be a match against the Chasers on the Gryffindor team.
After the captains shook hands, everyone mounted their brooms and kicked off when Madam Hooch told them to. Alex's smirk grew as she immediately zoomed off, spotting Harry doing the same thing as they soared around the pitch.
"They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolts that Harry Potter and Alexandria Selwyn are flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship -"
Alex laughed when she heard Lee Jordan being scolded by Professor McGonagall to talk about what was happening in the match itself rather than the Firebolts. When the Quaffle was tossed, she didn't hesitate and quickly grabbed it, flying out of the way of Roger Davies, who attempted to steal it from her.
She easily flew past all of the Chasers, who were attempting to snatch the Quaffle from under her arm as she made a beeline for the goal posts. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a Bludger whacked directly at her, but in a flurry of red, Fred had appeared and whacked it towards one of the Ravenclaw Chasers, who was following right behind Alex.
"Thanks!" She called before chucking the Quaffle as hard as she could at the posts the Ravenclaw Keeper wasn't in front of and scoring for Gryffindor. The crowd cheered for her as she high-fived both Angelina and Alicia before zooming right after the Ravenclaw Chaser, who had possession of the Quaffle.
She easily caught up and immediately punched the Quaffle out from under his arm, allowing it to land in Alicia's waiting hands. The three Chasers immediately made their way back to other side of the pitch, tossing the Quaffle around in a Thimblerig Shuffle before Angelina took the Quaffle and scored another point, much to the Gryffindor crowds pleasure and the Ravenclaw crowds disappointment.
The game only got more intense from there as the Ravenclaw Beaters were not too pleased with Alex continually stealing the Quaffle from their Chasers because of the speed of her broom. They began to deliberately whack any Bludger that came their way directly at her, but she was grateful for said speed the Firebolt offered to get out of the line of fire quickly.
Fred and George made sure to whack the Bludgers back at them as well. But Alex didn't let the Ravenclaw Beaters vendetta against her stop her from aiding in scoring point after point with Angelina and Alicia.
Alex paused for a second to catch her breath and saw Harry accelerating towards the Gryffindor goalpost, only for Cho to cut him off. He swerved to avoid crashing into her but that didn't sit well with Wood.
"HARRY, THIS IS NO TIME TO BE A GENTLEMAN!" The team captain shouted at the Seeker. "KNOCK HER OFF HER BROOM IF YOU HAVE TO!"
"Wood, Hell will freeze over before you get a girlfriend, even if you are as attractive as you are," Alex spoke more to herself but another figure flew up beside her.
"You think Wood's attractive, do you?" Fred asked, though his tone wasn't teasing, he was asking a genuine question, one he wasn't sure he wanted the answer to.
"I mean, sure," she shrugged. "But he's also a seventh year and I'm still in my third year."
Before Fred could respond, Alex accelerated after Angelina, who had the Quaffle. She tossed it to Alex, who scored a point for Gryffindor again before a bright light caught her attention and she watched Harry produce a Patronus against some dementors on the ground.
Then everyone seemed to hold their breath as they watched Harry accelerate his broom and catch the Snitch with ease, meaning they won. The Gryffindor crowd roared as Alex immediately followed the team to land. She was the first to throw her arms around Harry with an excited laugh before being pulled away as everybody else wanted to congratulate him as well.
Before she could say or do anything else, she was picked up in a giant hug and laughed as her feet left the ground. She looked to see Oliver had lifted her into the hug, which made her laugh harder as she hugged him back. She had never been hugged by him before, so it was certainly interesting.
"Brilliant flying on that broom, Alex!" He told her before kissing her cheek.
Alex shook her head before turning to group hug Angelina and Alicia out of excitement. But the sound of McGonagall's scolding caught her attention and she pushed through the crowd to find that the "dementors" Harry had fought off were actually Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Marcus Flint disguised as them. She doubled over in laughter as she watched Malfoy try to get out of the black robes.
"Oh, that's just rich," Alex laughed as she wiped under her eyes before Fred grabbed her and lifted her into a hug.
"You were absolutely brilliant on that broom," he told her, still holding her off the ground. "And no broken bones this time."
Alex laughed before pulling him into a tighter hug, enjoying being in his arms a little too much before George called for a party in Gryffindor common room. Fred offered to give Alex a piggyback ride back to the castle, which she accepted as the Gryffindor team led the way back up to the school. The entire way up, Alex was laughing as she clung to Fred.
Nothing could dampen her mood.
☽
After everyone returned to the Gryffindor common room, Fred and George left to get treats for the party, which gave Alex time to shower. She changed into a white t-shirt with some dark colored jeans and her black and white trainers. She dried her hair and let it fall down over shoulders before rejoining the party downstairs as Fred and George returned with treats and bottles of butterbeer.
She gladly accepted a bottle of butterbeer from Angelina, who then pulled the younger girl to begin dancing to some music. Someone had begun playing some Muggle music on a gramophone in the corner of the room.
Alex laughed as Angelina twirled her around in the crowd of students, who were dancing as well. Eventually, Fred and George made their way over and danced along with the girls, which made Alex blush when Fred pulled her into his arms to dance with him.
After awhile, Alex pulled away to go sit down to take a breather. Angelina made her way over with Alicia, both smirking as the sat by Alex, who was chugging her butterbeer.
"Look at that, I'm out of butterbeer!" She exclaimed as she knew their intentions. "I'm gonna go get more."
"Sit down," Alicia told her sternly.
Alex slumped back, already blushing. "Okay, so Fred kissed you," Angelina began.
"Correction, he kissed my cheek," Alex reminded her.
"Do you like him?" Alicia asked, ignoring Alex's correction.
Pursing her lips, Alex nodded, causing the two girls to squeal. "You should totally go for it!" Angelina urged, all of them glancing over in the direction of where the twins were still dancing with the crowd.
"No!" Alex exclaimed. "Boys are the last thing on my mind, especially since my dad is still on the loose."
"But life is short!" Alicia told her. "Just think about it, please!"
Alex shook her head, standing up. "I don't even know if he feels that way and I don't want to lose him as a friend if things ended up going bad," she responded, looking over at where he was laughing with George.
Without waiting for a response, she walked over to grab another drink, ignoring the older's girl's sympathetic glances. Alex sighed as she chugged some more butterbeer before hearing Ron's voice over the music, "If Scabbers hadn't just been eaten, he could have had some of these Fudge Flies. He used to really like them -"
Furrowing her brow, she watched as Hermione ran from the common room sobbing. Alex scoffed as she walked over to where he stood and splashed her butterbeer directly in his face, causing everyone to gasp and a few people to laugh.
"You never even liked that rat, Ronald," she spat. "Let us know when you decide to quit being a complete and utter prat."
She immediately followed Hermione up the stairs. Upon entering, she found Hermione sitting on her bed, her face in her hands as she sobbed. Alex crossed the room and pulled Hermione into her arms.
"It's okay," Alex told her. "I'm here."
"I just don't know what to do anymore, Alex," Hermione sobbed.
"There is absolutely nothing that you need to do, 'Mione," Alex responded, pulling away to look at her. "He is being a prat and you shouldn't accept any apologies from him unless he's on his knees begging."
Hermione gave a small laugh before wiping her tears. "I'm sorry I made you leave the party, you can go join back if you want to."
"Nah, I'd rather keep you company," Alex told her. "But I'll go get some treats so we can spend the rest of the night in here."
"Okay," Hermione sniffled before Alex exited.
She ran back into the common room to steal some treats from the table. Sneaking a glance, she saw Ron had used a spell to clean up the butterbeer but he looked bitter over being embarrassed like that.
"You amaze me more and more," a voice spoke, causing her to turn and see Fred standing there, smirking.
She shrugged. "I have no problem putting your brother in his place if it's needed, you should know that."
He laughed and took a step closer. "I do, but still," he leaned down to her ear, "I'm amazed."
Alex took a shaky breath before grabbing a few more treats, as well as a bottle of butterbeer for Hermione since she hadn't had a bottle yet. "Well, I'm going to keep Hermione company in the dorms since Ron's being a twat, enjoy the rest of the party," she told him, fighting her blush and running up the stairs quickly.
Fred watched her go, kicking himself for not trying to convince her to stay. He really did like her and he wanted to talk about the feelings since things regarding her dad seemed to be calming down. Maybe, just maybe, they could give whatever they were feeling a go.
Alex walked back in and sat on Hermione's bed with the treats in hand. "Alright, let's study!"
☽
The two girls ended up falling asleep on Hermione's bed. Alex laid at the end of the bed, curled up with Crookshanks as Hermione was clinging to her Muggle Studied textbook. Alex was actually sleeping without any dreams or nightmares to plague her rest. She even had a smile on her face.
She was so deep in sleep the sound of the dorm door opening didn't disturb her. A figure walked over to the bed where the two girls were asleep and admired the dark haired girl, who had Crookshanks cuddled up in her arms. Softly, a hand brushed some of her hair from her face, causing the young girl to stir slightly before cuddling further into the bed, the figure pulling their hand away quickly. Alex let out a content sigh as she continued sleeping.
However, her sleep was cut short as she heard a scream coming from the direction of the boys dorms. The figure immediately ran out of the room, slamming the door on their way. Alex sat up with a gasp, causing Crookshanks to spit and hiss as she scrambled out of the bed, along with the other girls. She grabbed her wand before walking out to look over the balcony. Two figures were running out of the common room.
"Hey!" She yelled, causing the two figures to stop for a second and to look back at her before they quickly ran out of the dirty common room.
Her thoughts were disrupted as she heard voices coming down the steps of the boys side of the dorms and quickly joined them, still in her clothes from the party.
"What's going on?" She asked Harry as he appeared.
"Excellent, are we carrying on?" Fred asked as he appeared as well, causing Alex to shake her head.
"Everybody back upstairs!" Percy called as he stomped down the steps, pinning his Head Boy badge to his pajamas.
"Perce - Sirius Black!" Ron spoke in almost a whisper but everyone had heard. "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"
Alex gasped and covered her mouth in shock as everyone fell silent. A shudder ran down her spine as Fred walked over and placed a comforting arm around her shoulders, which she gladly leaned into, feeling frightened. Several students who knew she was his daughter glanced in her direction, almost looking accusingly at her, which didn't sit well with her.
"Nonsense!" Percy exclaimed. "You had too much to eat, Ron - had a nightmare -"
"Now, really, enough's enough!" Professor McGonagall voice exclaimed as she entered the common room. "I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!"
"I certainly didn't authorize this, Professor!" Percy told her. "I was just telling them all to get back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare -"
"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron yelled, which made Alex jump and cling onto the front of Fred's pajama shirt, which he let her do. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"
McGonagall was silent before shaking her head. "Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"
"Ask him!" Ron exclaimed, pointing to Sir Cadagon with a shaking finger. "Ask him if he saw -"
Professor McGonagall quickly walked out of the portrait door to see the painting of the knight. "Sir Cadagon, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?" She asked.
"Certainly, good lady!" He cried. "Had a lovely lady with him as well!"
Alex's eyes widened as she looked up at Fred with worry, his own expression mirroring hers as well. There was a lady with him and Alex was pretty sure she had made a pit stop in Alex's dorm. Everyone had fallen silent.
"You - You did? But - But the password!" McGonagall exclaimed worriedly.
"They had 'em!" Cadagon continued proudly. "Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"
McGonagall walked back into the common room where everyone still was, silent and waiting for her to say something. "Which person," she began, her voice shaking with an unfamiliar tone even Alex didn't recognize, "which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"
To no one, including Alex's surprise, Neville Longbottom slowly raised his hand, shaking from head to toe over the inevitable consequences coming his way.
☽
In honor of PiercingLight for turning my day around and making me smile and laugh with their comments, I decided to post another chapter.
GUYS, PLEASE COMMENT BECAUSE THEY MAKE ME SO HAPPY! Seriously, love to read your comments!
Don't forget to VOTE and COMMENT!
Love you guys!
-Squid☽