This is the chapter. Literally the chapter. Sort of. It holds something everyone who's been following this has been waiting for. Maybe. Probably not. But I have seen a few people excited for this. Here it is, Chapter 11.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. :P
Hermione glared at Ron. Why couldn't he just eat like a normal, civilized person? Especially when she had invited the new girl to sit with them at breakfast. She wished he had a least a little bit more dignity.
"Honestly, Ronald. You act like you've never had food before!"
"Oh, come on, Hermione. I'm hungry! I can eat however I want too!"
"Well you could at least do it a bit more maturely. You're a prefect, and I asked the new girl to sit with us." Harry looked at her with a surprised expression. "You didn't know?" she asked, sounding more than a little exasperated. "The rumors were flying around Gryffindor tower all of last night after Lavender came in and met her."
Harry was bewildered by this. Never had he heard of a student coming in the middle of their schooling. Apparently neither had anyone else, however. He heard quite a few people talking about it. In fact, even some people at the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables were, too! He wondered if what she looked like, or even what her name was.
"Uh, Hermione, what's her-"
"Alex. Alex Thompson. And try to be nice around her, okay? She had a rough life before this." This confused Harry even more.
"What do you mean, rough life?"
Hermione lowered her voice before speaking. "Her parents taught her magic, but abused her. Literally. They would hit her and not feed her if she messed up a spell. Once her dad shot her. She had to run away, and she came here." Harry knew this must be serious, because most magical families would have no idea what a gun was.
Hermione glanced at the doorway to the Great Hall. She surprised Harry by suddenly throwing up her arm and waving. Harry followed her gaze and saw her standing in the doorway. It was the girl he kept running into! She was the new student? That made no sense. She had been with the Malfoys, yet her last name was Thompson, and she said she lived with her family. It just didn't work right. Who was she really?
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Alex stood nervously in the entrance hall. She had no idea where the Gryffindor table was, much less where Hermione Granger was sitting. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the Great Hall. It definitely lived up to its name. The thing was huge! Four tables ran the length, as well as a large table across the front were the staff was sitting. The ceiling looked like the sky outside, bright blue with wispy little clouds dotting it. Suddenly, something from one of the tables caught her attention.
Looking over, Alex saw that it was Hermione waving at her. She smiled and walked over. Sitting next to Hermione was a tall boy with bright red hair. He was busy stuffing his face with who knows what. What surprised her the most was that sitting across from Hermione was a shorter boy with black hair that stuck up in the back. Alex didn't make the connection at first, but then it clicked. Harry.
Knowing she mustn't seem scared, Alex slid smoothly into the empty seat beside Harry. Smiling, she held her hand out to him.
"Hi, my name's Alex Thompson. And you are?" Harry was very surprised she didn't already know his name. That, or she was pretending for the sake of courtesy. He really couldn't tell.
"I'm Harry. Harry Potter." Her eyes widened slightly at this, but she recovered quickly. Harry looked at her for a moment more, trying to decide if she was acting or not. If she was, she was exceptionally good at it.
"I already know you Hermione. Thanks for letting me sit with you, by the way," she added. Looking at Ron, she raised an eyebrow. Hermione gave sort of a, "I really don't know why he does it," shrug. That seemed to be enough for Alex. "What's your name?"
"Ron Weasley." He went back to stuffing his face.
"Right then... Anyway, Ron, Harry, nice to meet you!" She started helping herself to the food. Hermione obviously thought nothing was wrong, so she continued eating. Harry however, had a hard time processing what had just happened. He knew she was the same girl from Diagon Alley, and most likely that girl he had run into in Little Whinging. But if she had lived with the Malfoys, why had she been in Little Whinging in the first place? And why was she lying to Dumbledore?
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Alex knew this was a class she would not enjoy. The teacher, Professor Snape, hated her. It's not like she did anything! He also hated Harry. She wondered if it had anything to do with them being in Gryffindor. It's not like he knew they were twins, so it couldn't be a grudge against their family or anything. Right?
While she let her potion stew, Alex looked around the classroom. It seemed to be set up with two different sides. On one was the Slytherins. That included Draco and his friends. She wondered if he had already told his father she was at Hogwarts. If he had, she knew she needed to tread carefully.
On the opposite side, where Alex was sitting, were the Gyffindors. She was at a table with Harry, Ron, and Hermione again. Unfortunately, they seemed to have established their own little group. It made sense, they had been at Hogwarts for four years together, but Alex was feeling pretty alone. It didn't help that a group of boys at the next table over kept trying to catch her eye. She thought their names were Neville, Seamus, and Dean, but she wasn't sure.
Halfway through the class, Alex noticed Harry was about to add the wrong thing to his cauldron. He hadn't seemed to have added the syrup of hellebore. Not wanting Snape to have a reason to torment him, she opened her mouth, about to warn him. Unfortunately, she was too slow and he already added the first ingredient on the next line. She inwardly cringed, hoping Snape wouldn't notice.
Of course, Snape did notice. He seemed to have been keeping an eye on Harry, waiting for him to do something wrong. So, by default, he knew exactly when Harry made a mistake. He sauntered over, looking like a cat that had just caught a bird.
"What is it that you are making, Potter?"
"The Draught of Peace."
"Can you read, Potter?" At this the Slytherins across the room chuckled quietly. It seemed to bring them great joy seeing the famous Potter be criticized.
"Yes, Professor, as a matter of fact I can."
"Read the class the third line." Harry read the line of instructions out loud. Alex saw his face fall, and knew he had realized what he did wrong.
"Did you do everything on that line, Potter?"
"No."
"Speak up Potter."
"No," he said louder. "I forgot the hellebore..." Alex knew what was going to happen, and felt very, very sorry for him.
"Yes, I realized. Unlike you, I am not incompetent. This is a useless mess, Potter. Evanesco." Harry's cauldron was now empty. He was going to get a zero, just because Snape hated him too much. When he went to check her cauldron however, he seemed to have nothing to criticize and walked away.
After having everyone else fill a flagon with their potion and hand it in, Snape assigned a twelve-inch essay on the use of moonstone in potion-making. He then dismissed them with the bell. Harry shot out of his seat and was the first one out the door. Alex watched him go sadly, wishing there was something she could do.
I want to apologize, the end of this chapter was really sucky. My cousins are currently visiting me, and they provide for quite the distraction. Hopefully I can concentrate better on the next few chapters. Until then, though, I really am sorry. But hey, at least they finally met! :) Time is going to be going really slow in the next chapter. Just a warning. I'll speed things up a bit soon. Can anyone guess what I'm gonna say next?