So look. I don't know Russian. I'm lame and I only know English and a tiny bit of German, so… what I'm gonna do is italicize the parts of the conversation in Russian.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Cold nights under siege from accusations

Cerebral thunder in one way conversations

May 9th, 1975

The next time Alexia ran into Antonin Dolohov was completely by accident and just as confusing as her last encounter with him.

Alexia had snuck off with Remus to the small area behind Hagrid's hut. The half-giant was currently away for Dumbledore, and she knew he was scouting the giants to try and figure out if Voldemort had contacted them yet. It had been Alexia's suggestion since she remembered the giants fighting for Voldemort in the final battle.

No one was around the hut, and she was using a few trees for target practice. She was aware that there were students in the forest that day doing work for Professor Sprout, but she also knew that she'd hear them before she'd hit them, so she wasn't worried. Her wand sat in Remus's lap along with his book, and she glanced back at him after casting a few wandless spells and throwing one of her daggers.

"Moony?" she called. He glanced up at her tiredly. "Are you planning to ask Mary out again?"

"Am I- what? Alex… what?"

"Well, you went on a date with her last year," she reasoned, walking over to grab the dagger from the tree nearest to her. "I think you guys are a good couple. I know she's quiet, but she's brilliant and really funny."

"Alex, I can't."

"Why not?" she screwed up her face at him.

"Because of my…"

"Furry little problem," Alexia realized with a sigh. "It's not like you're going to be making out with her while you transform, Remus. You can date, you know."

"I don't really want to," he admitted. "I'm just not interested in it like you and Sirius are. Er- with other people, not each other. I know you're not there yet."

"And I might never be," she confirmed. "This stupid bond is making everything more difficult, Moony. It was shitty enough being thrown here and then becoming James's sister… I could never regret that you know, but it's hard. Sirius just makes it so much more difficult."

"And Lucius," Remus nodded. "How's that going?"

"Well," Alexia said, though she threw her dagger particularly hard and a bit farther than she meant to, going farther into the trees than she could easily see. "As I said, it's just difficult."

"So difficult that you're throwing your daggers into a tree even I can't see?"

"It is going well," she promised, glancing back at him. "I love him, Remus. He's so good to me. He helps me try to make sense of… all of this. But he said something to me that makes me wonder if… I'm making a mistake by telling him so much of my life. I trust him to keep it to himself and protect his mind… around normal people. Voldemort? I don't know. He's never entered my mind. Just Bellatrix."

Remus's eyes slid to her now bare arm. The scar had healed completely, and it was only after it was healed that Sirius had let it slip what had happened to her and what word had been carved into her arm. "It's dangerous, Ash. You've known for a while. You knew before you began dating him, didn't you?"

"I knew before I even became friends with him," she confirmed, grunting as she threw another dagger far into the trees, this time trying to see how far she could get it to go. "My guess is that I get next year with him, if that. Then…"

"He has to find a wife," Remus sighed. "You know who?"

Alexia hummed and used a very light cutting hex to slice the top of her hand. With the blood it drew, she tested out a dangerous shield - a dark blood shield, some magic that no sane person would try to cast for the first time without medical professionals around. "The Black family is trying to reach out. Sirius was going to be betrothed to Elora Zabini, Bellatrix is a Lestrange now. Andromeda was apparently supposed to marry into the Rookwood family according to Regulus, who has only avoided a contract by pledging himself to Voldemort, who told Walburga that Reg has no time for something like marriage."

"You're saying… Narcissa?"

Alexia nodded and dropped the shield with a hiss. The blood on her hand sizzled as the magic burned it, and she dropped her hand to her side to wipe off the boiling blood. When she lifted it again, her hand was burned lightly. "Shit. Uh, yeah. It makes sense. They hang out a lot because of me and they're friends. That's about the best you could hope for in an arranged marriage. The Malfoys are powerful, so Arcturus would probably appreciate the match."

"You're hurt," Remus frowned at her as she rinsed off the burn. "What was that?"

"Uh… Blood magic?" she winced at the look he gave her.

"That's illegal!"

"So is half the shit I've been casting," she rolled her eyes. "Relax, Remus. It's practice. You're here in case I cut myself in half or something."

"Alexia!"

"Chill. The shield was the last one I planned to work on today. I just need to grab my daggers. You can head back to the castle if you want. I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

With an irritated frown, Remus tossed her wand to her and made his way up the path to the castle. She watched him leave and made her way into the trees, waving her wand at her hand to put a stasis charm over the small injury until she could get to the castle and have it healed.

When she glanced up at the tree she'd thrown the first dagger into, she froze. It was gone. She was certain it had been that tree because she could still sort of see it from where she'd been standing. She reached down to check and see if her magical sheaths had pulled the dagger back, but the locking spell was still on it, so the daggers weren't there.

Shaking her head, she took the spell off and breathed out a sigh of relief when the daggers returned to the sheath. It was when Alexia turned around that she caught sight of someone behind her. Her wand shot out at them, but they grabbed her arm and twisted it until she was pointing her wand upward. When she reached down to grab her dagger, they grabbed that arm as well and shoved her back into a tree.

It was that moment that she caught sight of him.

"Get the fuck off of me, Dolohov," she spat, tense. He was much too close to her and with her back to the tree, she had nowhere to go.

"Play nice," he instructed, slowly releasing her hands. She pulled them down and rubbed her wrist with a wince. To her dismay, he didn't bother backing away from her. "You were going to attack me, Potter. I had to stop you."

"Maybe you shouldn't fucking creep around in the forest," she suggested sharply, pressing herself back against the tree just to get a little farther away from him.

"You're here, too," he reminded her. "I'd say we're both creeping around in here."

"I was practicing," she told him. "I assume it was you that took my dagger, then."

"It's interesting," he commented. "There is a great deal of magic in the dagger and it's tied to the Potter family."

"Luckily, some of that magic brings them back to me," she muttered, glancing up at him. He was gazing down at her seriously, and she resisted the urge to punch him. "Well, if that's all, I should get back to the castle."

Dolohov put one of his hands on the tree to stop her from moving. "Interesting that the dagger should return to you."

"Why? It's mine."

"Interesting because you're not a Potter."

Alexia tensed, her eyes shooting to meet his. "If I'm not a Potter, how would you explain my twin bond with James? My familial bond with my parents?"

"Adoption," he answered simply. "I knew before, but your little conversation with your friend confirmed it again. You're a Potter via adoption, Alexia."

"Even if I am, I'm still a Potter," she told him firmly. "You said it yourself, the magic in my daggers are tied to the Potter family."

"It took a long time to find you," he admitted quietly. "And a loud argument with the patriarch."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm not sure yet," he whispered. "But I'll figure you out."

"Good luck," she muttered, shoving his arm. "In the meantime, leave me alone."

"Play nice," he reminded her, grabbing her aching wrist again. "There are plenty of people that wouldn't mind seeing you hurt, Alexia."

"And you're one of them," she snapped, tearing her wrist away from him. "What do you want from me? You wanna hurt me? After protecting me from Voldemort?"

Dolohov's lips thinned. "You'll soon learn better than to say his name. I warned you once already."

"And I ignored you. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself. Plus, Voldemort is a ridiculous name, Dolohov. Flight from death. Your Dark Lord is dramatic as fuck."

"You speak French?" he wondered curiously. She shrugged.

"I am French."

"French and what else, I wonder. Do you know? Do you know this family?"

"Russian," she said slowly, unsure why he wanted to know and why she was even answering him. "No, not really. I've only visited a couple of times when I was young and only my father's siblings."

"You admit you're adopted."

"Whatever I say won't change your mind. I don't understand how you figured it out. Who else knows?"

"No one," he answered truthfully. "Yet. Tell me… who were you before you were adopted, Alexia? Was your name Alexia?"

"It doesn't matter who I was. I'm Alexia Potter. Any ties to my past life don't exist, Dolohov, so it's pointless to search for it."

Dolohov was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. "Next time, do not use the same hand you cut to cast the shield. You must levitate the blood in the air and begin it then… this burn will not heal easily, Alexia. Go find Malfoy. He can heal it."

Alexia eyed him with a frown and glanced down at her hurt hand. To her surprise, he released her and walked away, leaving her even more confused and even more concerned.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

June 21st, 1975

Fabian and Gideon Prewett graduated at the top of their class a week before the last day of school. They had one last prank planned for the school, which involved spelling their names onto every magical diploma for fifteen minutes after every student grabbed it. Overall, they were extremely happy with themselves and Alexia, who had been invited along with the other Marauders, was proud of them.

The last week of school was rather boring for everyone else, as per usual. There weren't many classes and exams were over, which meant that everyone was pretty happy with themselves and their time to relax before they went back home until their next year.

Everyone but Alexia, who was pacing between her friends in the Room of Requirement, her fingers threaded into her hair in stress. "I don't know, Cissa! Why am I responsible for an old ass man's ability to control himself around me? It shouldn't be my job! I'd just be standing there, being a normal fucking person! God, how many fucking pervert old men do you wizards have?"

There was a beat of silence between everyone, the only noise being that of her frustrated noises.

"I'd say she needs a break," Regulus suggested, earning himself a glare. "Lexi, you're about to tear your hair out."

"I've changed my mind," she told them seriously. "I'm not doing this. I can't do this."

"You can," Lucius told her, putting his hands on her shoulders to stop her from pacing. She looked up at his eyes with a small frown, her forehead pinched with a migraine. "You know it all, Alexia, you just refuse to practice it."

"It's all ridiculous!"

"Perhaps," he agreed. "But you have to practice it at these gatherings. You have to learn to control yourself."

Alexia's eyes flashed angrily. "I can control myself!"

"No, you cannot."

"Clearly I can, otherwise I'd have hexed Regulus already."

Regulus narrowed his eyes at her. "Testing my patience, Potter."

"Alexia," Lucius said softly. She met his eyes again and saw his deep concern for her in them. "Try. Please. You're in real danger."

"I don't think so," she disagreed, catching onto what he meant. She'd told him about her latest encounter with Dolohov only in the barest sense - she'd told him that they ran into each other in the forest and he'd directed her to Lucius for help healing her burn. Lucius had been bugging her to tell him what else Dolohov had said, but she didn't feel like sharing. She was extremely unsettled that Dolohov had known she was adopted, but more than that, she was unsettled by the fact that he'd been so interested in her extended family. "Okay. Okay, I'll do it."

It was another four days before her friends had gathered a rather ridiculous panel of judges for her to prove herself in front of. It included Lucius, Regulus, Narcissa, Sirius, and James. Her brother hadn't taken it well when she'd told him she'd be attending events with Narcissa that summer, and she had managed to refrain from explaining why. Her parents had trusted her, but both were clearly hesitant. Dorea had told her she'd send backup to each event, which only served to confuse her more.

She passed by the standards of everyone. Even Sirius had taken it seriously when he'd seen how worried Lucius had seemed, so he'd put on his best pureblood face and judged her just as they would.

By the time school let out, she'd agreed to be presented with Narcissa and they would be doing so only a week after school was out. After that, their calendars were full with other events to attend.

They had a full summer ahead of them, one that Alexia was absolutely dreading.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

June 25th, 1975

Alexia groaned in frustration and dropped her hands from the dresses. After hours of picking out multiple different dresses and going shop to shop, she truly couldn't tell the difference anymore. She was exhausted with dress shopping. The only upside to the trip was that Dorea had taken her and Lily - who had come along to save her from dying in a sea of dresses - to France. She'd allowed Alexia to pick the destination, and she was grateful for the fact that some part of the trip didn't make her deeply regret agreeing to Narcissa's plan.

"I can't tell the fucking difference anymore, Lils," she hissed to her friend, who was standing nearby with a book in her hand. "Which of these is cute? Which of these would the sane Alexia pick?"

Lily glanced up and screwed up her face. "Um, neither, Lexi. Why do you need so many dresses again? Can't you just wear one a few times?"

Alexia mock gasped, her hand coming to cover her mouth. "You'd better not let Narcissa hear you say that. In my experience, such suggestions come with deep glares and condescending tones."

Lily giggled and swatted her hand away from her mouth. "Don't be so dramatic. I bet I know why."

"Why, then?"

"Because you purebloods want any reason to waste your money."

Alexia tilted her head. "Y'know, Lils, I think you might've cracked it. In that case… fuck capitalism, I'm not buying another dress!"

"Alexia," Dorea sighed, walking back over from a nearby rack. "Language."

"Sorry, Mum."

"You have two more dresses left and then you're done. Perhaps a change of venue will help. Anywhere else in the world you'd like to shop?"

Alexia shrugged. "I picked France because I've been thinking about it a lot, but I've been thinking about Russia, too."

"Mm, I'm not sure I know the best places in Russia…" Dorea tilted her head in consideration. "I suppose we can just try their Diagon Alley and see what it's like."

"We're leaving?" Alexia perked up, eyes wide. "Can we get food first? If we're going to submit Lily to more torture, we should definitely at least feed her or she won't ever hang out with me again."

"Actually, I'm fine, I've got a book- ow!" Lily exclaimed, staring at the leg Alexia had kicked. "Er, right, I'm very hungry and very miserable, Lady Potter."

Dorea shook her head at the girls and led them from the store. It took a little bit to get an international portkey from the French ministry, but once they got it, they were in Russia's ministry in an instant. "I don't suppose you speak Russian, Alexia?"

"Actually, I do," she laughed. "And French. My muggle parents taught me both from a young age."

"Oh, wonderful! Ask for directions, will you?"

Alexia glanced at the nearby help desk and nodded, making her way over. There was a man scribbling furiously on the parchment in front of him and she waited until he looked at her to smile and speak. "Hello. I was wondering if you could give me either directions to your magical community or perhaps a portkey there."

"How many?" he asked. Alexia glanced over at Lily and Dorea.

"Just three."

The man reached into a drawer in his desk and pulled out a piece of scrap parchment. He silently enchanted it for her and held his hand out. "Four galleons."

Alexia reached into her bag to find the money. "Cheaper in France," she muttered to herself in English and handed over the requested money. He handed her the parchment and she quickly thanked him and walked back to her mother and friend. "Portkeys are expensive here. We should probably just Apparate back once we're finished."

Dorea agreed easily and the three of them used the portkey. They were dropped at what seemed to be the front of the street. There was a row of connected buildings in the middle of two separated streets, creating a sort of double V with two other rows of buildings on either side of the middle row. It was packed full of people doing their shopping, so the trio rushed into the crowd to continue their shopping, a suggestion from Lily when she pointed out that Alexia would likely be even more tired after eating.

The dress shopping was still miserable but a little more interesting for Alexia as she practiced her Russian. It had been over six years since she'd used it and she was pleased to find that she was still fluent. Her shopping was finished in another hour and a half, and she was happier than she had been all day when she realized she had nothing left to do. All jewelry would be picked from either her private collection, Dorea's Black heirlooms, or the Potter collection, which was apparently rather extensive. Her shoes had been bought with the dresses so that they would match, and after that, she was done. Anything else that came up could be bought later on.

They found a small restaurant on the more empty side that was, for the most part, empty. There were a few waiters helping the three filled tables in the place. It smelled heavenly, however, so they sat and waited for their drinks.

"So, dear, will you finally tell us why you want to put yourself through this?" Dorea wondered. "You see that it's miserable. I did it when I was your age as well, Lexi, but I'd never have chosen it."

"It's complicated," she admitted. "Things have gotten complicated and Cissa, Lucius, and Regulus are all under the impression that this will help… uncomplicate things. Sort of. It's complicated."

"But whose idea was it?" Lily asked her. "I can't imagine it was yours."

"Of course not," Alexia laughed, rolling her eyes. "I've been extremely difficult about the entire thing. It was Cissa's idea. She originally just invited me to see her be presented, but then the three of them put together this idiotic idea. You wouldn't believe how often I've nearly hexed Regulus. He is incredibly like Sirius when he wants to be. That is to say, he's very irritating."

"We tried to teach all of this to James, you know," Dorea told the girls. "Do you know why his hair is so unruly?"

"Um, Potter genes?"

Dorea shook her head fondly. "Your brother decided that, to get us off his back, he was going to put a hex on his hair."

Alexia blinked rapidly. "How old was he?"

"Hm… seven, I believe."

"He knew how to permanently hex his hair at seven?" Lily asked in shock. Dorea let out a laugh.

"No, dear. He didn't. His answer to that problem was to, of course, create a hex. Charlus suggested it was just accidental magic, but I don't believe it. James is very powerful and brilliant. We decided that if he felt that strongly about it, he didn't have to go through what we did. We just taught him the important things after that."

"Did you teach Lexi anything when she came to stay with you?" Lily wondered curiously.

"Some of it. She asked us to, actually."

"I was muggleborn," Alexia reminded Lily. "I knew very little about the pureblood world that I was supposed to have grown up in. Any faux pas was ignored swiftly because I'm a Potter and we don't practice much of this."

"So if you were muggleborn, what was your family like?" Lily wondered curiously. "You've never said much about them."

"I've been thinking about them a lot lately," Alexia admitted. "Well, obviously, my parents were muggles. My Mum grew up in France, thus my French family. My Dad was raised around a lot of Russian family in London, and we sometimes visited his family, but I didn't know them too well. My parents were… pretty good parents. They just weren't prepared for magic or what came with it."

"It's hard for uneducated muggles," Dorea said sadly. "They don't always handle it well."

"They tried," Alexia shrugged, glancing up at the man that was handing out their drinks. "Thank you."

"I will be back for your order."

"Things got hard when I was twelve," Alexia told them, waiting until the man had left them to explain. "I was petrified in school, which meant that my parents didn't get any updates until they wrote one of my professors and demanded to know what was going on. Things just got hard after that."

"And… you don't have to answer, Lexi, but your family, did they… die?"

Alexia hesitated. The truth wasn't too dangerous for the simple fact that if anyone went looking for her parents in Australia, they wouldn't be found. "No, not exactly. When things got more dangerous and I knew I was going to be a main target, I also knew that they'd probably try to get to my family to get to me, kill them. So I… I Obliviated them both and sent them to Australia. They won't remember me, but they should be safe there."

"Oh, Lexi," Lily breathed, grabbing her hand. "And the rest of your family? Extended family?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Alexia admitted. "I can't exactly check on them for now, not without help that I can't get to for some years. I plan to take care of it as soon as I can get to them and have the time."

"And I'm sure that you'll have help," Dorea promised. "But for now, let's order and get home. We've had a long day."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

June 28th, 1975

The day started early for no other reason than that Alexia was awake in the early morning from a nightmare and unable to fall back asleep. Despite how anxious she'd been leading up to the day itself, there wasn't much to do until that afternoon when she'd arrive at Black Manor to get ready with her friend.

Alexia got out of bed and crossed the hall to James's room. To her surprise, he was already awake and sat on the bed with a piece of parchment, his wand, and a quill and ink. "Jamie? What are you doing?"

"Merlin," he said, jumping enough that he had to grab the ink pot before it spilled over his blanket. "Don't do that, Ash!"

"What is that?" she asked again, walking over to look down at the parchment. Her eyes widened when she realized what he was doing. "Another map? For home?"

James nodded a little. "For during the ball. I know he didn't hurt you this year, Lex, but it stressed me the fuck out. This'll help to calm me down if I can figure out where you are and who you're with."

Alexia eyed the map critically. "I'll help you, but only if you promise to use it for the ball and when you can't find me and not just to bug or prank me."

James rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, fine. Come on, I dunno how to draw the sunroom."

Alexia joined her twin on his bed and grabbed the parchment from him to help draw. It seemed like he'd been working on it for some time already as it was mostly finished and just needed charms and enchantments. With both of them working on it, it only took two hours to finish drawing out Potter Manor and its grounds. Once that was done, they set to work charming it.

"Hey, do the names again," James requested, looking over her shoulder as she waved her empty hand at the map. "You know, the Marauder names."

"This isn't the Marauder's Map, though," she pointed out. "It's just ours, we're making it."

"So… it's the Potter Map," James shrugged. "Just put our names on there."

Alexia sighed and turned the map over to add the name - The Potter Map - and sign it with their first names. She added their Marauder names underneath and showed it to James. "Good?"

James frowned and moved his wand over to edit their first names. Her name was shortened to Lex and his was changed to Jamie. "There."

"What if other people see it and try to call you Jamie?" Alexia rolled her eyes. He just shrugged at her.

"I'll hex them. I hex anyone that calls me Jamie."

"Not me."

"Nah. You picked it when you first got here. I didn't really feel like I could tell you no, and you let me call you Lex, so it seemed fair."

Alexia nodded quietly and started waving her hand over the map again. Most of the enchantments they'd used for the Marauder's Map weren't necessary. They didn't really need to put a charm on that would insult anyone that tried to use the Map, so she skipped that difficult charm. The most important thing was figuring out how to get it to record everyone in the Manor.

"Miffy!" Alexia called. The elf popped in and she offered her a smile. "I need your help. How do you know where everyone is in the house, even guests?"

"House book," Miffy answered. She raised her hand until it was flat in the air and a large book appeared in the hand. "It records the Masters and Mistresses and tells us where they be."

"It's already like a map!" James exclaimed excitedly. Alexia waved at him to calm down.

"D'you think we could connect this map to the book? Jamie wants a Map to make sure I'm safe at balls."

"You not be in danger from Master Dolohov anymore," Miffy frowned in confusion. Alexia's eyes widened.

"How do you know that?"

"Mistress Dorea told Miffy and Mistress Dorea's guests to watch. Mistress Dorea not be trusting Master Dolohov."

"Of course," Alexia breathed. "Why didn't anyone stop him when he tried to dance with me?"

"Master Dolohov not be a danger to you. He only talk and dance."

"Lex, what's she talking about?" James asked, frowning between the elf and his sister. "What happened at the ball? You said you didn't see him at all."

Alexia looked at him and back at Miffy. "I'd still like to connect the map if that's okay with you." When Miffy agreed, Alexia quickly cast the required spell to connect the two. She would've been pleased to see the map fill out with where they were if James wasn't staring at her intently. "Thanks, Miffy."

Miffy closed the book and popped out, obviously sensing the conversation between the twins that was to come. Alexia didn't blame her for leaving. She didn't really want to be there, either.

"Lex, explain," James ordered, touching her arm. "You lied to me?"

"It's… hard," she winced. "It's the entire reason I'm doing this stupid society shit, Prongs. Miffy is… I don't actually know if she's right. For now, I don't think Dolohov is going to hurt me."

"Why? What happened at the ball?"

"He told me that I'm in danger," she said slowly. She was silently casting still just to focus on something other than James's reactions. "From Voldemort."

"The- that's the guy you and Dad are all worried about and fighting?" James frowned at her. "Does he know you've been going to raids?"

Alexia shook her head. "Voldemort doesn't know that. He just knows that I come from a lighter family, I have friends that include Sirius, who openly defied Voldemort, but… I'm dating Lucius and I'm close to Severus and Regulus and Narcissa. He thinks I have the ability to possibly convince Lucius and Regulus to abandon him, so he… was going to kill me."

James paled dramatically. "Kill you?"

"Quiet down," she hissed, smacking his arm. "Lucius tried to get him to change his mind and when he couldn't… Dolohov stepped in and promised to control me if Lucius couldn't get me to join Voldemort. I told Dolohov I'd kill myself before joining Voldemort and he knows. He knew he couldn't control me."

"Why the fuck would he-,"

"I don't know, Jamie, but there's more, okay?"

"...okay."

She dropped the map in her lap and looked at him seriously. "I ran into him in the forest and… he knows I'm adopted, Jamie. I'm not sure how, but he does. He said no one else knows."

James looked a little sick and she was glad he was sitting down for the simple fact that otherwise, he might've fallen over. "Shit, Lex, that's not good. Does he know… anything you went through?"

"No," she assured him. "He couldn't."

"And… Miffy says he's not dangerous?"

"I disagree," Alexia admitted. "He openly told me at the ball that he might hurt me in the future. He's acting weird, but I think he'd still hurt me. I just have to… I don't know. Not fight with him. I also have to be seen with my Slytherin friends more to convince Voldemort I'm not completely aligned with our family. It's not true, but otherwise, I'm in danger."

"So you're doing this stupid society shit today," James nodded. "That makes sense, I guess. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because if I'd grabbed you at the ball and said 'hey, Dolohov doesn't want to kill me but now I owe him and my life is essentially in his hands' I feel like you probably would've freaked the fuck out, Prongs."

"...fair point. And you didn't tell me after the ball because…?"

Alexia bit her lip. Truthfully, she didn't tell him because the entire situation scared her. She couldn't tell James that Dolohov scared her because of more than just what had happened in the past four years. She was still scared of Dolohov because she knew he hurt her in the future and that he knew who she was. Clearly, he'd never be finished hurting her. It begged the question of why he was bothering to protect her.

"You're scared," James muttered. He didn't wait for her reply and just pulled her into a hug, one which she returned easily. "So he's helped you with Voldemort. He hasn't done anything else. He's still dangerous. We shouldn't approach him any other way, right?"

"I don't know. In the forest, he helped me out with something I'd fucked up and told me who could help heal me. He's just treating me oddly, Jamie. I don't understand the situation clearly and it's scaring me. He isn't hurting me anymore and he isn't acting like he wants to, but he's made it clear that he might and… I don't know what to do."

"Have you told Mum and Dad?"

"No," she admitted quietly, leaning away from him. "At the ball, Regulus found me after Dolohov left and we got Lucius to talk. After that, we went back to the ball and I just wanted to pretend like it hadn't happened. We had a plan of how to handle it, so I didn't tell anyone."

"Maybe you should tell them," James suggested gently. "Or Dumbledore… definitely Dumbledore."

"I hate him."

"Yeah, but he's leading the Order, and they should know that Voldemort might want to kill you," James reasoned, frowning as he finished his sentence. "Please don't die, Lex."

Alexia offered him a small smile. "If I do, Regulus can bring me back. Go ask him not to die."

"I will."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Black Manor was very large and sort of resembled the type of mansions you'd see in movies. The interior was somewhat stuffy and radiated a bit of dark magic. Alexia wouldn't have noticed it had she not spent so long carrying the locket on her neck. Unfortunately, she had, and the feeling made her vaguely uncomfortable.

"I'm glad you agreed to do this with me," Narcissa told her with a smile. They'd been at the party for three hours already and both had been allowed to take a break from mingling. "I had hoped Uncle Arcturus would allow Dromeda to come, but he didn't answer the appeal."

Alexia sighed at the reminder of the patriarch, a man who didn't do much to govern his family. "First, I didn't agree to anything. You and Lucius and Regulus bullied me into it. As for Andromeda… she'll be a Black again one day, Cissa. I promise."

Narcissa raised an eyebrow. "In the future, is she-,"

"Not yet," Alexia narrowed her eyes at Sirius, who was standing across the room with James. "Sirius is bloody stubborn, you know that? He never became Lord Black despite Remus and I nagging him every day. No, when I get back."

"In the future, he's an adult and you are a child and you bothered him to become Lord Black?" Narcissa wondered with a small laugh at the mental image.

"Well, he's impossible! Harry didn't care about much and Molly hated him. Remus and I were the only ones that could nag him. It never went well. He threatened to take away my access to Grimmauld Place's library if I didn't stop, so…"

"He is impossible," Regulus agreed, startling both girls as he came to stand behind them. His lips twitched upward, amused. "This is going well."

"This is miserable," Alexia told him. "And I don't like owing your brother favors, Regulus. He's going to hold this over my head for so long. I don't get why I couldn't have you or James escort me."

"You cannot be related to your escort," Regulus reminded her, rolling his eyes. "And he has to be your age."

"Thank you for allowing me to borrow Lucius," Narcissa spoke up. "I had no interest in asking anyone else in my year."

"Because they're all shitty," Alexia muttered. Seeing the two of them together had been a bit difficult for her, but she'd done her best to brush it off and focus on the miserable conversation she had to make with the stuffy purebloods. "I know those are the rules, Reg, but I hate them. Sirius only agreed to do this on the condition that I help him plan four pranks without taking credit myself."

"Surprisingly, I don't find myself feeling too sympathetic."

Alexia narrowed her eyes at her friend. "With the amount of times I've threatened to hex you, it's amazing that it hasn't happened yet. Someday."

"Miss Potter," a voice called smoothly. Alexia, who had her back to the man and was staring at Regulus, saw him stiffen and a mask fall over his amused grin. Confused, she turned around and felt her breath sucked out of her at the sight before her.

Tom Riddle.

Regulus grabbed her hand within his and tugged her a little closer to him. He didn't greet his Dark Lord, though he did bow his head at him respectfully. Even Narcissa had her head down. Despite the goal of her attendance being to convince Voldemort that she wasn't going to steal his followers, she refused to lower her head.

He was, truthfully, very attractive. She knew he was about fifty already but wizarding genes helped him greatly. He looked to be around thirty at most. His hair was short and a dark brown that his eyes matched perfectly. His face was all sharp angles and cheekbones. Alexia could understand why he was so charming. If she didn't know who she was, she'd have thought he was beautiful. She did, however, know who he was and so all she could remember was the darkness of his horcruxes and how terrible it was to have one with her for so long. She could only remember how dark he was. She remembered his resurrected self marching to meet Hogwarts' fighters with Hagrid carrying Harry's sort-of-maybe-dead body. She remembered the feeling of devastation when she thought they'd lost and he would truly have control of the wizarding world.

"-is Alexia Potter," Narcissa was introducing her. She didn't think she'd have noticed had Regulus not squeezed her hand hard enough to shake her from her terrified thoughts.

"Call me Voldemort," Tom requested, holding his hand out. Alexia forced herself to give him her free hand and suppressed her shiver when he kissed the back of it. "I admit I've been very curious about you, Miss Potter."

"I've heard," she raised an eyebrow at him. Somehow, the polite way in which he was speaking with her made her angry. In her time, he'd killed thousands in the name of power. Here, he was speaking politely with someone that he'd someday consider an enemy. "I heard you weren't too fond of me, actually."

"Ah, yes," Tom nodded thoughtfully. "Lucius did try to convince me of your… worth."

"Why was it, I wonder, that you didn't listen to him?" she asked, ignoring the way Regulus squeezed her in a panic. "Because I'm dating him or because of my family?"

"A bit of both," he admitted.

"Then why would you think Dolohov, who has attacked me numerous times, could control me better than my own boyfriend?"

Tom grinned at her. "Quite forward."

"If my life is on the line, I think it best not to waste time."

"I'm very aware that whatever you have with Lucius is temporary," he explained to her. "Antonin, however, will be with you forever."

Alexia did her best not to let him see her shock. "Why is that?"

"You do not know," Tom realized with a small smirk. "Interesting."

"Did he do something to me?" Alexia asked, suddenly remembering something Lucius had told her and Lily about. She couldn't help but feel a little sick at the idea.

"Perhaps that is a conversation to have with him," Tom suggested. "For now, I must go. I have a busy day, but I was interested in meeting you, Miss Potter."

Alexia was only able to nod once at him as he said his goodbyes and left. Once he was gone, Regulus dropped her hand to glare at her.

"After everything we've done to handle this, you speak to him like that?"

Alexia's eyes scanned the crowd and she ignored his sharp words. She knew that all of pureblood society was at the party that day, so it took her a while to find who she was looking for. When she did, she glanced back at her friends. "Yell at me later. I have something to do."

"Alexia-,"

"If you follow me, Regulus, I'll fucking hex you," she warned. "I've got my daggers."

Regulus balled his hands into fists but said nothing as she sped off. Instead, he turned to complain to Narcissa. While they were muttering about how disrespectful she'd been, Alexia found her way over to the boy in question. He was standing with Avery and Yaxley near the door, talking softly. When she reached him, she grabbed his arm and began dragging him out of the room.

"It's fine," he told his friends when they tried to follow them. He allowed her to take him down the hall to an empty room where she released him and glared angrily. Her hair was beginning to spark and he smirked at the sight. "Do you often manhandle people, Potter?"

"Explain," she demanded. "Right now, Dolohov, or I swear to god I'll fuck you up just as badly as you've fucked me up."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You've picked an odd time to lose your temper."

"I just met fucking Voldemort," she told him, forcing herself to take a deep breath. She was getting much too angry for safety. "And he told me the reason he listened to you instead of Lucius is that Lucius and I cannot marry but you and I will be with each other forever. Explain."

"Interesting," he said, grabbing a strand of her hair. He didn't wince when the sparks came down to meet his hand and it didn't seem like it bothered him at all. That was odd to Alexia because she happened to know that it did hurt others when they touched it, proven years of complaints from her friends both in the past and the future. "I assumed you would stay away from me, Alexia. That was your plan, was it not?"

"Of course," she glared at him when he tugged lightly on her hair. "But plans can be changed when a psychopathic bigot tells me that, for whatever reason, we're going to be together forever, Dolohov. Explain it."

"I will not," he told her, startling her into backing up from him. "And if you ever grab me like that again, I will not be as kind as I have been."

When he turned around to leave the room, she raised her hand quickly and put up a complicated ward to lock the door. "Lucius told me about a curse once. A despicable one that can do something terrible. He said your family knows it."

"You think I have cursed you," Dolohov laughed. "How disappointed you'll be when you realize that this… this is not my doing, Alexia. You cannot blame me." He waved his wand at the wards and she tensed when they were destroyed and the door blew open. Instead of immediately leaving, he stepped closer to her and grabbed her hand. "Never threaten me. If you do, then I will curse you."

Alexia stayed silent in shock, mostly from the fact that just before he let go of her and walked away, she felt a small spark pass between them that she easily recognized as the same one she'd felt and given to Lily that day in the library.

The spark of a familial bond.

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