So I would like to formally apologize for not updating more frequently. Life has happened and my own novel took the front seat. And while I would like to say that I am back, I can't promise you that. I would like to but I can't. In any case, here is the next chapter and I am sorry that it took two months to get it.
Alexa avoided Sue the entire day, her heart hammering in her chest every time she thought about telling Sue the truth. How could she tell her friend that she was Muggleborn?
If only she had been sorted somewhere else, she thought for the hundredth time that day, then she wouldn't have to worry about being abandoned by her friend for not being Pureblood.
Finally, as they left Transfiguration that afternoon, Sue grabbed Alexa's arm, pulling her back from the crowds.
They stood like that until everyone had gone except for McGonagall, who questioned what they were still doing in her classroom.
"Oh, er, I left a book," Sue lied quickly. She held up her Transfiguration book in show then added, "I've found it and now we're leaving."
McGonagall fixed a stern look on both Sue and Alexa, the latter of whom swallowed nervously until Sue dragged her from the room and out into the emptying corridor.
"You have something to tell me, Alexa, and I'll wager it's not something trivial," Sue said as soon as they were out of earshot of McGonagall.
Alexa stared morosely ahead. "I hope you're not terribly hungry. It's not something I want to tell you when other people can hear."
Sue looked flummoxed, but she followed Alexa to the chilly courtyard and the two settled down onto a stone bench while the sky overhead slowly darkened.
"What is it, Alexa?" Sue pressed as she drew her cloak tighter around her. "It's cold out here."
"You have to promise me not to get angry with me," Alexa said, her throat dry. She couldn't look at Sue, couldn't bear to see the look of shame and horror n her friend's face when she told her the truth.
"Why on earth would I get angry with you?" Sue demanded, sounding annoyed.
Alexa took a deep breath then said, "I'm a Muggleborn."
Sue was silent for a moment and when Alexa dared to steal a look at her friend, she was surprised to see Sue with a small smile on her face, shaking her head slightly.
"What?" Alexa asked, jumping to her feet. "What is it?"
"Alexa, I already knew you were a Muggleborn," Sue said softly. "You hardly know anything at all, and even Purebloods know more than nothing when they come here. But it's alright. I don't care about your heritage the way some others might."
She paused and Alexa knew that they were both thinking of the three girls they shared a dorm with.
"So…you're not angry with me?" Alexa was desperate to know.
"How could I be?" Sue asked with a shrug. "I've got my fair share of Muggleborns and even Muggles in my family. I'm not about to not be your friend just because you're a Muggleborn."
"I just thought that, because we're in Slytherin, that you might not like me because of it," Alexa explained in a small voice.
Sue sighed and got to her feet, her hands reaching out for Alexa's.
"I hardly care about what you are, Alexa, just so long as you are a good person, because I cannot, and will not, be friends with someone like Pansy Parkinson," Sue said sternly.
Alexa laughed a little and only just realized she was crying when Sue hugged her.
"Let's just keep this between ourselves, shall we?" Sue suggested as she pulled away. Alexa wiped her eyes and nodded. "I'm sure Mum and Dad will be thrilled to know I've made friends with someone who is not Pansy."
"Or Millicent or Daphne," Alexa added with a small laugh.
It was as they were walking down to the Great Hall for dinner, arm in arm, that Alexa suddenly said, "Liam knows."
Sue stopped dead in her tracks, pulling Alexa up short.
"He what?" she demanded.
"He guessed it!" Alexa exclaimed. "The other night, he told me that he knew. He doesn't care," she added quickly at the look on her friend's face. "He even explained to me about You-Know-Who and who most of the kids are from."
"Yes, they're all children of Death Eaters!" Sue cried. "And I'm sure Liam is too! He could tell his parents about you and then they would tell their kids and then everyone in Slytherin House would know that you're, well…you know."
"He won't tell," Alexa said, sounding surer than she felt. "I don't think he would have confronted me about it if he had ulterior motives."
Sue sighed heavily. "Every Slytherin has their own agenda and if you happen to be a casualty of it, then so be it. They couldn't care less."
Alexa leveled a look at Sue. "We're Slytherin's, Sue. Does that mean we have our own agendas?"
Sue gave Alexa a haughty look and, rather than reply, walked ahead of Alexa and straight in to the Great Hall alone, leaving Alexa standing alone outside the massive doors, the voices from the students filtering out to her.
Her appetite had vanished a while ago and she had no desire to pretend to eat and so, instead, Alexa headed back to the common room where she wrote out quick letters to her parents, Jo, and even her grandmother before escaping to the dormitory just as the first Slytherin's started filing in from dinner.
On the morning of Halloween, even from the great distance from the Great Hall that the Slytherin common rooms were, Alexa could smell the deliciously thick scent of cooking food and surmised that there would be a feast that night.
Sure enough, when she and Sue walked into the Great Hall, carved pumpkins and live bats hung under a gloomy sky.
To Alexa's relief, the day passed quickly, though she had been thrilled when they had learned an actual charm in Charms class that made object fly.
It was just before lunch that she and Sue found themselves behind a familiar bushy-haired girl.
Sue was busy chattering away about something Alexa had long since stopped listening to upon seeing Hermione Granger's sagging shoulders and hanging head.
Picking up the pace as discreetly as possible, Alexa and Sue were soon just feet behind Hermione and, thus, Alexa overheard what a group of boys ahead of Hermione were saying.
"…no one can stand her," a red-haired boy ahead of them was saying, "she's a nightmare, honestly."
At that moment, Hermione practically ran forward, bumping hard into a boy with untidy black hair that Alexa realized, too late, was Harry Potter.
"I think she heard you," Harry said softly.
"So?" the red-haired boy asked harshly. "She must've noticed that she's got no friends."
After ascertaining the direction Hermione disappeared to, Alexa told Sue she would catch up with her and headed for the girl's bathroom.
Inside, she could hear soft sniffling and Alexa tentatively called out for Hermione.
"Go away," Hermione cried.
Stubborn, Alexa stood before the closed stall door, hands on her hips, and said, "Hermione, come out now."
"I said go away," Hermione said harshly.
"You've got a whole afternoon of classes left," Alexa pressed. "Are you going to skip them all?"
"I'll hex you," Hermione warned, hiccoughing a little.
Knowing very well that Hermione could easily hex her, Alexa stepped back until she bumped into a sink behind her.
"If it means anything at all, I like you," Alexa said gently.
Hermione laughed a little. "You're a Slytherin," she said scathingly. "I can hardly be friends with you."
Hurt, Alexa spun on her heel and stomped out into the empty corridor.
After taking several deep, calming breaths, Alexa reasoned with herself that Hermione herself was hurt after that insolent red-haired boys awful comments and that she was lashing out.
"Yes, that's it," Alexa said to herself.
"Start talking to yourself and you'll become a mad woman!" a voice screeched overhead.
Alexa shrieked and jumped back, spotting Peeves the Poltergeist hanging upside-down above her.
"Go away," Alexa said as she started stumbling towards the Great Hall.
Peeves simply cackled madly then vanished, leaving Alexa alone once more.
Once her heart had calmed down, Alexa glanced at the bathroom one last time, debated for a brief moment, then stuck her head inside long enough to say, "Slytherin or not, I would be glad to be your friend, Hermione."
Hurrying away before Hermione could truly jinx her, Alexa sped down to the Great Hall.
Later that evening, during the feast, while Alexa was busy biting in to a candy apple, the Great Hall doors burst open and Professor Quirrell, one hand holding his falling turban on his head, sprinted between two tables up to Professor Dumbledore and, when the entire hall fell silent, said in a terrified voice, "Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know!"
He slumped to the floor in a dead faint and, not a full ten seconds later, chaos broke out and it took several firecrackers that exploded from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to restore order in the Hall.
"Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately," he roared and, immediately, the two Prefects from Slytherin house leapt into action, ordering the first years up to the front of the queue while, all around her, Alexa heard the same panicked question asked over and over again by those in her house.
"But our dorms are in the dungeons!"
"Does he expect us to sacrifice ourselves for the good of the rest of the school?"
"Merlin's beard, my parents will get him fired if that damned troll takes one step in our direction."
As they were hurrying from the Great Hall, Alexa suddenly wondered if Hermione had left the bathrooms, if she knew at all that there was a troll in the school.
"How could a troll get in the school?" Alexa asked Sue as they walked quickly down the stairs to the dungeons. "I mean, it can't just walk in here, can it?"
Sue shook her head, her face pale. "Of course it can't. I suppose someone must've let it in."
When they were safely back in their dormitory and finishing the feast, Alexa made a mental note to not tell anyone that a troll had managed to find its way into Hogwarts.
I hope you enjoyed it and please, please review. You have no idea how much it means, not only to me, but to any fanfic writer to get reviews. We really do cherish them.