Things didn't get better for Alexandra the next day. Professor Slughorn kept watching her like she was doing something wrong. Lucius never missed a chance to make fun of Alexandra.
Alexandra did have to admit one thing that was good about the day and that was that she and Remus were going out. When Alexandra went down to the common room that morning Remus gave her a kiss and she decided nothing would get her down today. Though nothing exciting really happened until lunch.
Everyone had come for lunch except James and Sirius. "Where are those two?" Alexandra asked.
"Knowing them they are probably getting in trouble." Lily answered.
"I hope they aren't doing anything stupid."
"We're talking about James and Sirius." Remus said.
"Hey Alexandra." Cleo said. Cleo as a friend Alexandra had in Hufflepuff. "I'm so happy for you and Remus. I hope you two stay together for a long time." Then she went over to the Hufflepuff table.
Alexandra looked after her a little confused. "I didn't tell her we were going out."
"Remus, you grabbed one great girl." Jake form Ravenclaw said. "Don't let her go.
A few more people had congratulated Alexandra and Remus on getting together and both of them were confused since they couldn't remember telling anyone.
Zack from Gryffindor came up to Alexandra and Remus. "I didn't know you to were going out. Way to go."
"Where did you hear that?" Remus asked. "I don't think we have told anyone yet."
"Follow me." Alexandra and Remus followed Zack out of the Great Hall; Lily being curious also followed.
When they got out in the hall there was a crowd of people and when they noticed Alexandra and Remus they started clapping, mostly the Gryffindors. Alexandra was confused until she saw the wall behind the crowd. There in big red letters was Remus and Alexandra are finally dating.
Alexandra looked around and saw James and Sirius standing near the wall with big smiles on their faces; Alexandra walked over to them.
"I can't believe you two did this."
"We couldn't resist." Sirius said.
"We came up with this idea on the way to lunch so we decided to do it." James said.
"I guess that saves time with telling people." Remus said.
"What is going on out here?" A stern voice asked.
Everyone looked behind them and saw Professor McGonagall; they quickly went into the Great Hall. She looked at the wall and then at James and Sirius. "I expect this wall to be clean by the end of lunch." She turned to go back in the Great hall, but stopped and looked at Alexandra and Remus. "I wish you two the best." Then she left and Alexandra thought she saw McGonagall smile.
As everyone else headed into the Great Hall James looked at Sirius. "You ready to start our other plan?"
"Of course."
Before their next class started James and Sirius said they left something down in the dungeons. Alexandra was curious on what they were actually doing because neither one of them had been in the dungeons all day. James and Sirius arrived at their class just in time.
"What were you two doing?" Alexandra asked.
"Getting something from the dungeon." Sirius answered.
"Getting what?"
"Just something."
Alexandra was still wondering what they did, but didn't press the subject,
That night at eight o'clock Alexandra went down to the dungeons for her detention. Remus and Lily said they would wait up for her. When Alexandra asked where James and Sirius were Remus said he didn't know and Lily said probably getting in trouble again.
Alexandra wasn't looking forward to another detention with Lucius, but she thought that if she survived yesterday she could survive tonight.
Alexandra knocked on the door and waited for Slughorn to say enter. When he did Alexandra opened the door and was greeted by Slughorn saying, "It's about time." Lucius was glaring at her like always and there sitting in two of the seats next to the door was James and Sirius.
"Hey Alex." James said.
"What are you two doing here?"
"They thought it would be funny to set a dung bomb in one of the dungeons."
Alexandra smiled at them knowing that they did that so she wouldn't have to be alone with Lucius.
"I will not have any mishaps like last night." Slughorn said as he stood up. "Mr. Malfoy, I want you to rearrange the potions in that cupboard in order of how powerful they are. Mr. Black, I want you to clean out that cupboard and put the books in order starting with first year. Mr. Potter, I want you to dust those shelves and be careful not to break anything. And Ms. Sawyer, I want you to clean those caldrons."
Everyone went where they were told and started cleaning. Lucius was still cursing under his breath for having to clean. Alexandra thought that cleaning caldrons wouldn't be so hard…that was until she saw how dirty they were. It looked like they haven't been cleaned in weeks.
Doesn't he ever clean his own stuff? Alexandra thought.
After half an hour Alexandra's hands were turning red from scrubbing so much. Alexandra looked over at James and Sirius and saw that they were bored. They didn't have to put themselves in detention for her, but she was still grateful.
Just then there was yelling coming from outside the classroom. "Now what's going on?" Slughorn said as he went out.
Lucius took this time to stop rearranging the potions. James and Sirius did the same thing. "I've never dusted so much in my life." James said.
"I didn't know there were so many books." Sirius said.
"You guys didn't have to get detention just for me." Alexandra said.
"Of course they did." Lucius said. "They didn't want to leave their precious Alexandra alone in detention."
"We just didn't want her to be alone with you." James said.
"I don't want anything to do with that mudblood."
James and Sirius quickly took out their wands. "Don't call her that." Sirius said.
"And what are you going to do about it? Hex me?" Before anyone realized what he did Lucius grabbed Alexandra and held her in front of him. "Go ahead. Oh, but if you do then you'll hurt your friend."
"Let her go, you coward." James said as he stepped closer to Lucius.
"What will you do if I don't? You can't hurt me without hurting her."
"But I can." Alexandra said. Then Alexandra stepped on Lucius' foot and he let her go. Then she kicked him where it really hurts and Lucius fell to the floor. "Don't ever use me as a shield again.
"Way to go Alex." Sirius said.
"Nicely done." James said.
They all heard footsteps and figured Slughorn was coming back so they quickly went back to cleaning while Lucius was still on the ground.
"Lousy first years." Slughorn mumbled. "Mr. Malfoy, what are you doing on the ground?"
Lucius just pointed to Alexandra as he tried to stand up. Slughorn rounded on Alexandra who wasn't sure what she was going to say. Before either Slughorn or Alexandra could say anything James said something first.
"It wasn't her fault. Malfoy was being a jerk to her"
"So she decided to hurt him?" Slughorn asked as he looked at James.
"Malfoy started it." Sirius said. "He grabbed Alex and threatened her.
"I don't care who started it. No more fighting now get back to work." Without another word they started cleaning once again.
The rest of detention wasn't as boring as the beginning. James, Sirius and Lucius kept glaring at each other every so often. Alexandra could feel the tension between them, though Slughorn didn't notice anything.
Lucius pointed his wand at one of the bottles James had just put on the shelf and silently said a spell to make it fall. James being quick caught it before it fell; James glared at Lucius.
While Lucius was glaring at James Sirius pointed his wand at a bottle on the shelf Lucius was cleaning and made one of the bottles fall. Lucius looked at the bottle and then at Sirius who just smirked.
Slughorn looked up from his work. "Mr. Malfoy, please be more careful with what you are doing. Now clean up that mess."
"Yes, Professor." Then Lucius went to the closet to get a mop.
Alexandra laughed a little and then went back to cleaning the caldrons. James knew Lucius was planning something because when he passed Alexandra he smirked. James looked at Sirius and mouthed, "Watch over Alex." Sirius nodded.
Lucius came back and picked up all the glass. Then he started mopping up the potion. After that Lucius went to put the mop away. As he was walking back to his shelf he pulled out his and said a spell at the clean caldrons to make them dirty. Sirius saw what he did and pointed his wand at the shelf and made the whole thing fall.
Slughorn stood up from his desk. "Mr. Malfoy, didn't I tell you to be more careful?"
"I didn't do it. It must have been Black or Potter."
Sirius quickly put his wand away and looked at Slughorn. "Malfoy just doesn't want to admit that he is a klutz."
"Why you…" Lucius started.
"That's enough. Mr. Malfoy, clean up this mess and be more watchful of where you are going."
Lucius glared at Sirius and then started cleaning up the mess. Alexandra looked at the caldrons she had washed and felt like crying. She had worked hard on cleaning the caldrons and she was sure if she did them again then her hands would fall off since they felt like they were now.
James looked over at Alexandra and saw the caldrons she washed were dirty again. He also saw how red her hands were and didn't want her to clean those again. He made sure Slughorn wasn't looking and then he pulled out his wand and said a spell that cleaned the caldrons. Alexandra looked at James and mouthed, "Thanks." James smiled.
After another half an hour they were free to go. Once they were out of the classroom Lucius pulled out his wand and pointed it at James and Sirius. James pulled Alexandra behind him.
"You think your funny, do you?" Lucius sneered.
"That was funny." James said.
"Yeah, you got double the work." Sirius agreed.
"Next time you won't get off so easy."
"Well, you did start it. We were just finishing it."
Lucius glared at them and then headed for the Slytherin room. James, Sirius and Alexandra headed up to Gryffindor Tower.
"Thanks guys." Alexandra said. "Things probably would have been much worse without you."
"It's no trouble. Besides that was fun." Sirius said.
"How are your hands?" James asked.
Alexandra looked at her hands and saw they were still red. "I'll be fine after awhile. I swear Slughorn doesn't clean his own stuff. Those caldrons were so dirty."
They finally got to Gryffindor Tower and saw that Remus and Lily were sitting by the fire.
"There you two are." Lily said when she saw James and Sirius. "Where have you been?"
"In detention with me." Alexandra answered.
"We didn't want to leave Alex alone with Lucius." Sirius said.
Alexandra sat next to Remus and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "How was it tonight?" Remus asked.
"The best." James said. "We gave Malfoy more work to do."
James and Sirius explained what happened. When they were done Remus looked at Alexandra.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Malfoy probably didn't think I would do anything."
"He is such a coward." Sirius said. "Hiding behind Alex. That was funny when you kicked him."
"How are your hands?" Remus asked as he gently grabbed Alexandra's hands.
"Better now."
"That's good." Remus then kissed Alexandra on her hand and Alexandra thought she was going to melt. His lips on her hand felt so good and gave her butterflies in her stomach. Lily saw that look on Alexandra's face and smiled.
"Well, I think we should go to bed." James said. "Busy day tomorrow."
"What are you doing tomorrow?" Alexandra asked.
"Just homework and stuff." James kissed Lily on the cheek and then he and Sirius headed up to their dormitory.
"Yeah, they are up to something."
"When are they not?" Lily asked.
"Well, I suppose I m off to bed as well." Remus said. "Good-night Alex."
"Night, Remus. Sweet dreams."
Remus stood up and went up to his dorm. Alexandra and Lily went up to theirs too. Alexandra laid in her bed, thinking of Remus and the first kiss that he gave her.