November 13, 2014
The next morning, Alexa rose before everyone. The dorm was quiet, almost tranquil. It meant she could shower in peace without answering any prying questions about the scars that covered her entire body.
Daphne had asked, once. The wound was still not fully healed and Alexa had to admit it did look horrifying. She hadn't really had a response. Alexa couldn't exactly tell Daphne she'd been stabbed fighting Kronos's army, could she?
She stood under the burning water until she couldn't stand it anymore. Getting out, she wrapped herself in a towel and went to the sinks, brushing her teeth and braiding her hair. It was truly a miracle that nobody had found out-or suspected-anything was off about her. She'd never seen any mortal with eyes like hers, too golden, too yellow to even pass as brown.
Her hands were laced with tiny white lines, little scars from where a sword had nicked her during practice. Then, of course, there was the matter of her tattoos-two black lines like a barcode, the helm of her father, and SPQR. Senatus Populusque Romanus.
The puckered mark of sharp teeth traced around her shoulder. The scar from where she had been stabbed in the leg during war games. The scar from where she had been stabbed in front of her left shoulder during war games. The scar just above her hip where she had been stabbed during the battle.
Maybe this was why Blaise referred to her as a human pincushion.
And of course, there were dozens of others she couldn't even remember-falls and accidents that came with training. Acta non verba carved into the back of her left hand, courtesy of Umbridge. She'd never actually bothered to count. They all went away as she dressed.
"Could you be any louder?" Pansy snapped from her bed, scowling out of a crack in the curtain.
"Yes," Alexa said, not bothering to turn around. She decided she would wear the silver bracelet Theo had gotten her a few years back. It was in the style of art deco, vintage from the 1930s. Blaise had gotten her the earrings that matched it. The earrings had a white stone hanging down from them, wrapped in silver with a little angular design in the middle. The bracelet was much the same, albeit with a bigger stone and more intricate wasn't quite sure how they had managed to navigate a muggle antique shop, but the fact that they had done that for her was enough to make her tear up. They looked like something she used to remember. Every time she put them on she wondered if her mother had worn something like it.
And besides, it was her birthday. She could dress up a little. She was officially of age in the wizarding world.
There was nobody in the common room when she got downstairs, and only a few people milling the halls as she made her way to the fifth floor. The army was already up and running for the day, with food being brought in from Aberforth, lessons being prepared for, and duties for the day being assigned.
"G'morning Lex," Ginny called as she entered. Alexa waved back, noting Ginny was in a t-shirt and leggings, long fiery hair pulled back into a ponytail. She must be running some of the physical training today. The quidditch kids had been extraordinarily good at setting that up.
Alexa ignored the scattered dirty looks as she looked for Neville, especially from Zachariah Smith who seemed to particularly dislike her for some reason. She wasn't sure if it was because she was a demigod or because she was a Slytherin.
She found Neville leaning over a table, Seamus and Susan Bones on either side of him.
"How's it going?" Alexa asked as approached, peering over Neville's shoulder to see what he was working on.
"Good-just working on documenting some things. You'd said we should keep tally, but Seamus had some other ideas." Neville looked to Seamus who continued eagerly.
"I figured, whenever muggles have important forms it asks for an emergency contact, date of birth, that kind of thing-it might be useful to keep track of everyone."
"That's a good idea," Alexa agreed.
Seamus grinned, "Thanks! Speaking of which, here," he handed her a piece of parchment cut to look like a piece of normal printer paper, handwritten lines indicating where to put information.
"Do you think there's anything else we should add?" Susan asked.
Alexa scanned the document, "Looks good to me, kind of like a form from a doctor." Seamus handed her a pen-a real pen not a daft quill-and she filled it out quickly. "Here," she handed it back to Seamus, who glanced at it, passed it to Neville, and then looked over at it again.
"It's your birthday?" Seamus asked.
"You were born in 1930?" Neville asked. Alexa realized that had never come up before.
"Yes?" Alexa said slowly, looking between the two of them. Susan was staring at her like she had grown another head.
"How...how old are you?" Neville looked bewildered.
"Technically I'm…" she paused, doing the math, "eighty three. Realistically I'm seventeen..ish."
"That answers none of my questions," Susan said.
"Happy birthday though," Seamus added.
"Thanks," she chuckled, "Uh-but yeah. I was born in '31, but when my mom was killed in '39 Pluto put me in the Lotus Hotel and Casino-the land of the lotus eaters, if you know the mythology. You don't feel time passing and you don't age at all. I was in there until 2003. Then I was set out into the wilderness to find Lupa-y'know, the wolf that nursed Romulus and Remus-after being there for a few months I went to Camp Jupiter."
"Wait," Neville held up his hands, "You were nine years old and you got sent to a wolf?"
"A talking, several thousand year old wolf, yes."
"That clears everything up, thank you, yes," Neville looked exasperated.
"Well," Susan rubbed her hands together, "Happy birthday Alexa, I need to go get ready for my class."
"Thanks Susan," Alexa called as the other girl walked away.
"Captain America." Seamus looked at her, looking delighted with himself.
"What?" Neville asked.
"Oh my gods," Alexa whispered, the realization crashing over her.
"You were born in the 30s, frozen in time for seventy years, and now came back to fight evil," Seamus was grinning, and Alexa couldn't help but laugh.
"I never thought of that," she snorted, she explained to Neville, "He's a comic book character."
"How did you not put this together?" Seamus asked, still laughing.
"I'm stuck with purebloods all day, do you think these people know anything?" she chuckled.
"Hey," Neville interjected, narrowing his eyes at her playfully, "Watch it."
"Sorry, I have a quick question," Seamus said, "Do demigods live like muggles then?"
"Yeah, I mean all of us are half muggle-I mean I think, I don't actually know if my mom was a witch-but usually we live like normal people until something tries to kill us, then we go to Lupa. There's the city of New Rome, but those are mostly older demigods and their kids." she shrugged, "It's just a normal city that happens to be guarded by a talking statue."
"Wicked," Seamus nodded.
Neville was still looking bewildered as he tried to process what she had said. He shook his head and looked back down at the form.
"Is there anybody other than Nott you could put as your emergency contact? We're trying to get people outside the castle," he said.
She pursed her lips, "Reyna Ramirez-Arellano. She's my praetor. She'd probably like to know if I died."
"Best way to contact her?" he asked.
"I would send an owl from Berkeley," she replied, considering.
"The college?" Seamus asked, eyebrows raising.
"Yeah, we're nearby. A lot of us who want to go to college go there because it's safer," she nodded.
"Alright, thanks Lex. I'm going to go pass these out-I'll see you later, right?"
"For sure," she said, and he walked away. Seamus was staring at her, and she sighed.
"It's not a secret that I was born back then," she said, before she could speak.
"Excellent, happy birthday Cap, I'll see you at breakfast!"
...
It was many hours later, long after dinner, that Alexa was sitting in the common room with Blaise and Theo. They'd managed to get a small cake and candles for her. They sat, drank the firewhiskey Blaise had stolen from home, and for just a moment it felt like the world wasn't ending.
