I managed to keep up my early morning running routine, despite all my friends making different bets about when I'd finally give it up. I sat down to breakfast that morning to George looking somber (he bet I would quit Monday morning. He lost) and started buttering my toast.
George was quickly distracted from his sour mood by the owl post, which came swooping into the Great Hall with a disruptive noise I hadn't quite managed to get used to yet. Every one of my friends was scanning for a little red letter, all of them excited by the possibility of another crazy letter from my crazy family. A tawny owl was coming straight for me, but to my friends' disappointment, it carried a normal letter in its beak.
"Dang Alexa, that's a lot of mail for barely a week into the year!" said Lee as I pulled the letter from the owl's leg.
"I know! I don't really get it, but I like it," I joked. I opened the letter to see the same messy scrawl that had been written on regular messages in the Common Room last year, and on the whiteboard in the Quidditch lockerrooms.
Oliver had written me back.
Alexa,
That sounds perfect! Practicing Keeping with someone who actually has superspeed will give me just the competitive edge I need. I'm free to start training this weekend, and I can do two hours a day from there. Let me know. Thanks for the help, Assistant Captain.
Oliver
"Who's it from Alexa?" asked Angelina.
"It's Oliver. I told him I have a family member with superspeed who can help him practice his Keeper reflexes, and apparently he wants to start this weekend. I gotta write him back real quick, I need to tell him I can't do it before Christmas before he clears his entire schedule."
I wrote Oliver a quick note explaining that I still had school, but that we could get some good Keeper practice in over break in December. I hated to crush such intense excitement, but I couldn't make an earlier time work, and there was no way I was letting Pietro go anywhere in the magical world unsupervised.
Once the owl was off, my Gryffindor friends and I met up with Cedric and the rest of the Hufflepuffs to head to Charms. Muggle school officially started today, and while it would be easy for at least the first week, it was junior year. The year of AP tests and SATs. Classes today were going to be mixed with a new level of stress.
Fortunately for me, I had the perfect free period at the end of the day to take care of things. Jackson tried to convince me it would be a good idea to multitask and work on things in potions, but despite my slightly-reckless nature I didn't actually have a death wish. I told him no, and that it was a bad idea, and then I spent the rest of the period fighting to keep him from pulling out his laptop to prove me wrong.
Potions was a fairly interesting subject last year, but this year it was on a whole other level.
We walked up from the dungeons after Potions for lunch, and I was starving. I basically had to wrestle Jackson to stop him from opening his laptop in the middle of Snape's class, and even with Nat's training I wouldn't have been able to stop him without Adrian's help. It was a hell of a workout, and now I wanted to eat a bunch of food and relax with Jackson far away on the opposite side of the Great Hall.
"Alexa!" I was stopped just outside the doors to food by someone calling my name. I stopped, waving for my friends to carry on, and turned around to see Cassidy bouncing excitedly towards me.
"Hey Cassidy!" I said, smiling as she came to a stop in front of me. "How was your first week of the year?"
"Good! It's nice not being a first year anymore," she said with a laugh. "But I wanted to come and ask if we were going to do WWHRS again this year!"
"Oh shoot, I totally forgot about that." I ran a hand through my hair, trying to think. I might be able to fit it into my schedule now, but as soon as both schools picked up I wouldn't stand a chance. And I was willing to bet the Triwizard Tournament would take up a ton of my time too, even if I wasn't chosen as a champion. "Cassidy, I'm so sorry, but I don't think I can this year. There's a lot going on, and I just know I won't be able to keep up that time commitment."
"Oh. That's alright Alexa, I understand." Cassidy was calm, but she looked so disappointed it just about broke my heart.
"But don't worry, we can keep doing little science experiments and stuff if you want! And if you have any science stuff you want to talk about, you can always come to me. We can keep the spirit of the club alive even if we don't do weekly meetings."
"I like that idea," she said with a grin, sounding much more cheery than she had a minute ago.
"I'm glad. Now come on, let's go get some food." I threw one arm around her shoulders as we headed into the Great Hall together before parting ways to our separate tables. I made a mental note to dig up some cool science stuff to share with Cassidy if she didn't come to me with something on her own in the next week or so.
The next few days of classes went smoothly, and I fell into a good routine. The workout schedule was brutal, and trying to maintain the self-discipline to go practice the Mystic Arts after dinner instead of hanging out by the fire with my friends was worse, but it did feel good to be productive. And the sense of peace I got by going out running in the mornings was still going strong.
I woke up early Wednesday morning, like usual, and headed down the stairs in workout clothes for my laps around the lake. My usual routine was interrupted just before I got out the doors, when somebody called out and stopped me.
"Alexa!"
I turned to see Cedric, waving as he came over to me and wearing athletic clothes like me. He had bags under his eyes, but he was smiling so much they were barely noticiable.
"Hi Cedric," I said, smiling back although I had no idea what he was doing. "What are you doing up?"
"Well, I've been thinking... you know, if I really want to be selected Hogwarts champion, I should start getting ready in case I get picked. I thought I could join you on your morning runs." Cedric smiled, then suddenly his face dropped with worry. "Of course, if you're alright with me tagging along. I don't want to slow you down..."
"Cedric, I'd love for you to run with me!" His face lit up, and I felt my heart skip a beat. I refocused as I turned and started heading for the door, Cedric coming with me. "Although, I do have to warn you, I'm not gonna go easy on you."
"I'll take that as a challenge," he said with a grin. We reached the lake, and Cedric followed me in a couple of stretches to warm up, and then I took off at a pace slightly slower than normal.
"So, how's your muggle school going?" he asked.
"Good so far. It hasn't been much work yet, which is nice, but I'm sure that'll change soon enough. We're taking the SAT this year."
"What's that?"
"Ugh. Alright, we've still got a lot of running ahead of us, so I'll give you the long explanation."
I told Cedric all about the American muggle version of N.E.W.T.s (basically), and how a bunch of practices and the test were supposed to be this big, important factor for how we got into college. I was more stressed than I probably would have been at home, mostly because I had so many other things going on here.
"Figures some big once-in-a-lifetime tournament is happening the year I'm supposed to take this test," I finished.
Cedric grinned. "You're starting to approach Harry's level of bad luck and bad timing."
"I don't know, having someone specifically trying to kill you at eleven is pretty bad." We laughed, and then Cedric got a little more serious.
"So what do you think you want to do after Hogwarts?"
I sighed. I'd been thinking about this for a while, and I usually came up with the same answer every time.
"I think I'll probably go back to the muggle world. Maybe go to MIT, since that's where my dad went, or maybe somewhere else. I don't know. After college I'll join Stark Industries and really start working on becoming part of the family legacy."
"Is that what you want?"
I didn't respond at first. I wanted to give Cedric a good answer, one that was definitely true. I loved the wizarding world, with all my friends and especially the anonymity I enjoyed. But the muggle world, with my dad and the rest of my family, is where I belonged.
"Yeah, it is. I came to Hogwarts for a break from all that, and it's been exactly what I needed. But when it's over, I'll be ready to get back to Stark Industries." Cedric nodded, looking deep in thought as we ran. He looked remarkably not winded, and I decided it was because I'd been doing most of the talking. That needed to change. "How about you? Got any big plans for after Hogwarts?"
"Actually, yes. I've been thinking about it a lot, and I know things could still change, but I think I want to be a journalist after school. Get a job with the Prophet, covering Quidditch maybe. Mostly I want to be out doing something, not trapped behind a desk all day. Find an interesting story, go cover it. Take pictures of everything, document the whole story, and get it out there."
"Cedric, that's awesome! The world can always use more good journalists."
"Yeah, well, we'll see. We've still got a bit longer before either of us has to really think about our futures." He smiled, and I did too. I kept asking him questions, about classes and his family and everything else. I got to learn a lot about him, even though we'd already been friends for a while, and as an added bonus he was suddenly looking more winded than before.
After a few laps of the lake, we stopped and started heading back to the castle for breakfast.
"How are you feeling?" I asked, trying not to laugh. Cedric was breathing heavily, and I worried I might have pushed him a little too far.
"I'm doing great!" he responded a little too quickly. "I feel refreshed."
"Cedric, that's a damn lie. But I appreciate you running with me, it was nice to get to hang out with you outside of class more."
Cedric beamed back at me, but didn't say anything. He was still trying to catch his breath without me realizing just how tired he really was.
We parted ways for a few minutes while we both used magic to change and get less sweaty, then we met up again and walked to breakfast.
"I can't believe you have a free period to do whatever you want while I have to go sit in a dungeon with Snape for the next two hours," said Cedric, shaking his head as we cleared the doors to the Great Hall.
"If it makes you feel any better I'll pretty much just be doing homework. The only difference is that I can do it outside on the lawn, instead of from a dingy potions basement. Don't worry, I'll get a nice tan on behalf of both of us."
Cedric just laughed and shook his head. "Don't rub it in!"
"I'd wave to you from outside, but the dungeon doesn't have windows," I continued.
I got an eye roll paired with a massive grin as Cedric moved to sit with his friends at his table. I smiled back, and the smile didn't leave my face as I turned away to sit with my friends. I was grinning down at my plate as I grabbed some toast and eggs, and when I finally looked up I was met with stares from every single one of my Gryffindor friends.
"What?"
"What? You seriously don't know?" Angelica exclaimed. I gave her a confused look, and Alicia quickly explained.
"You and Cedric!" I shushed her with a panicked look around the Hall. Did she have to yell? "You two looked awfully cute when you walked in here together."
I rolled my eyes and tried to control my blush as the twins wiggled their eyebrows at me.
"Alright, enough," I said, fighting back a smile. "We went on a run, that's it. No need for all of you to start giggling and whispering like we're thirteen again."
Despite my words, my friends kept shooting me looks throughout breakfast. I loved them dearly, but I was a little relieved when they had to leave for History of Magic.
I went out to the Hogwarts lawn to do homework, and as much as it was absolutely no fun, I did my best to stay focused with the promise of enough free time on Friday to enjoy the day with my friends.
At least, as long as none of my AP classes really ratcheted up the homework before I got to Friday.
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A/N: Hey guys! I've been doing an insane amount of writing lately (like seriously, you have no idea 😂) so I've decided to post the next chapter in two days again, instead of four! I'm not changing my normal update schedule just yet, but if I did, would you all prefer every three days or every other day (two days)? I don't want to leave you hanging for too long if I shorten my updates, but I also don't want to overwhelm you guys with long chapters. Just let me know in the comments! Whatever your answer I promise it won't hurt my feelings, I just want to hear what you really think 😄 No promises that anything's changing yet, I just want to see where you're all at.