If it's at all possible, please review. Though I had writers block for a while, it seems to have disappeared. Yay. Thanks go to you guys that have reviewed, and to the person who flamed me saying that "slash is fine, as long as it's not Xander and Draco?" I just want to say thanks for the laugh. Too funny.
With Draco and Harry now gone, the others disbanded with quiet explanations. "Hey Ginny, Ron? I have to get going - I have some legal studies work to do...do you want to floo home with me?" "Yeah, it's been a busy day, and I think I'll stop in at the ministry to finish up some paperwork -- How about you, Gin?" Ginny looked tentatively around. She really didn't feel like going home right now, but wasn't sure that she would really fit in with these people. Dawn and Buffy exchanged knowing glances. "Hey Ginny, why don't you join us for dinner in the Great Hall tonight, you can fill us in on all the Hogwart alumni gossip." The look of relief on the tall redhead's face was tangible. "Uh guys, I'm not really up to eating...I'm just going to go back to my room and maybe do some..." " - sulking? Yeah, that's fine Alex." Willow answered with a grin. "We'll send up some food with a house elf, okay?" As always, willow was understanding.
After Hermione, Alex, and Ron left, the rest of the group trouped to the great hall to dine with the professors. Dawn and Andrew leading, with Willow, Buffy and Ginny lagging behind. The two redheads were in a heated conversation over the need for wands, versus wandless magic. To be honest, Buffy just wasn't interested. She was a slayer not a witch. Caught up in her own thoughts, she realized she was quite a few steps behind the two witches, and so she took a moment to watch them interact. It was nice to see Willow with someone she shared so much with. They seemed to even share a flare for the exotic in the way they dressed. Willow had paired some jeans and flip flops with an elegant green mandarin collared, asian inspired shirt, and twisted her hair around two ebony sticks to keep it out of her face. Ginny, who was a little taller was wearing slightly flared jeans, sneakers, and a floaty strapless dress that went down to her knees over the jeans. Her short hair was tousled so it had the same look as Harry's. Maybe she should try that messy look. Hmm.
"Buffy? Earth to Buf!"
"Huh? Wha-"
"You were day dreaming or something" Willow interrupted with a poke to the blonde's side. "
"Yeah, you looked like you were off in your own world" Ginny smiled.
"Oh no, I was just thinking. Don't worry, nothing important."
"Worried about Alex?"
"Yeah, that too. Hey Ginny, is Harry always like this? So...drama queen-ish?"
"No" Ginny exclaimed "I don't know what's gotten into him lately! He's been touchy and irritable. Geez, I'm so glad I'm not attracted to him anymore."
"You're not? But the books..."
"Willow, come on. Your best friend is going out with Draco Malfoy. I've read the books, I know that he's like, a death eater in the books, but in reality, he was simply misguided for a while. The books are not infallible, nor are they recent," She added this with a grin. "I got over Harry some point in my fourth year, and then proceeded to crush on almost every seeker that played for Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. It was an on going joke between my brothers and I while I was at Hogwarts."
"That's pretty funny. Then again my history with dating is pretty amusing as well -"
"Wills, we're here. You may not want to launch into that story quite yet, as much as I'm sure it would reassure Ginny"
"Why would it reassure me?"
"Trust me."
"Buf you're a nut." Willow was clueless what Buffy was referring too.
"And I'm a hungry nut. Let's sit down." Buffy gave her self Kudos for the excellect conversation change.
By now they had caught up with Dawn and Andrew, and sat down at the head table. Dinner commenced with a few greetings and raised eye brows. It was odd to see Ginny at Hogwarts with out the Golden Trio.
"So, my dear guests, how was flying for your first time?"
"Alex kicked bu-" Buffy clapped her hand over Dawn's mouth just in time.
"Alex was great. He's even faster than Harry!" Ginny quickly explained.
"And how about the rest of you - did you all enjoy the sensation of flying?" Dumbledore gently inquired. There was a derisive snort from Dawn's direction and a glare from Buffy's.
"Buffy almost killed a broom today" Dawn said as soon as Buffy let go of her
. "I did not. She was going to kill me! She was even acting guilty. I think she was possessed... Can you have a possessed broom? You better check that out. I'm slayer, I can sense these things." Realizing that she was acting sort of dumb, the slayer trailed off.
"Miss Summers, I have no doubt that it was not your fault. Perhaps a different teacher? Maybe Mr. Weasely could help?' A glint sparkled in his eyes. Buffy caught the glint, and blushed. Man, was she that obvious? Time for another conversation change.
"Professor Dumbledore, I think I should let you know that Harry's in a bit of a bad mood."
"Yes, I am aware of that, Miss Summers. In fact, Mr. Potter came to see me a bit before dinner. I promise you, he will be fine eventually."
"Okay." Reassured, Buffy and the slayerettes went on to enjoy another meal courtesy of the house elves.
While the girls were enjoying the company of the staff and each other, Alex was alone. While he was wandering the halls, he bumped into a house elf on his way to the kitchen. Angsty and Hungry, he followed it to the kitchen. He cracked a smile when the house elf tickled an apple on a portrait to open the door. "Too cliche" he muttered to himself. As he walked into the chrome and green marble kitchen he was stunned to see Harry Potter happily munching on some pizza, talking to a house elf.
"Potter? What are you doing here. You have your own apartment, don't you? Oh wait, let me guess...boys-who-lived don't cook for themselves and heaven forbid they do their own dishes."
"Taking sarcasm lessons from Malfoy, LaVelle? Apparently you're not very good at it."
"Look, I've had to deal with a snarky Blonde Vampire for the past three years, I don't need lessons."
"Oh, so you didn't just meet Malfoy?"
"Fuck off, Potter! God, who knew that the saviour of the Wizarding World would be such an idiot."
"And who knew that the elven mage would be such a broody bastard..."
Alex sat down heavily, realizing that the argument would end up going absolutely nowhere. His stomach growled, much to his chagrin, as Potter wolfed down another slice of Pizza.
"Look, I came down here to eat. I didn't feel up to company, so if I can have a couple of pieces to take back to my room, I'll leave you to your own devices."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Oy! You said a couple of slices. You took half the bloody pizza!"
"Well, there was another half, wasn't there. You ate that. I eat this half. It's completely fair."
"It was my pizza! God, you are just like Malfoy!"
"Is that supposed to be an insult? He's my boyfriend, for fuck's sake."
"Yeah, Where is he, anyways? Is he on to his next conquest already? Poor, pretty-boy Alex. Ditched by a death eater."
"Aw, you think I'm pretty. That's sweet. I gotta say though, your comebacks sound a lot like compliments."
"You are so bloody conceited, LaVelle. You do realize that he wouldn't want you if you still only had one eye, right?"
"You asshole!" Alex roared and took a step towards Harry.
"God you wouldn't stand a chance, Harris you've learned what, four spells? Hah."
"You're a bitter, bitter man, aren't you, Potter."
"Last battle you fought, you lost your eye and your fiance...doesn't bode well for us, does it?"
"You fucker!" Alex had come to the end of his rope. "Where's Percy, huh? What about Lavender and Parvati? At least no one I was friends with went over to the other side because of me!" And with that final barb, the proverbial gloves were off. Just as Harry yelled detrimentosus corpus Alex called out contegere and erected a quick shield around his body. Harry then shouted out concido which was a kind of physical blow that landed where ever you pointed the wand, to which Alex responded with a luckily well placed "repercutio" and reflected the physical blow back onto the black-haired boy. As Xander paused to rack his brain for other spells while Harry was doubled over, he realized how little he knew. Harry straightened up, and was about to call out exanimo, a sort of metaphysical punch to the gut, when Alex bellowed out "Expelliarmus!" with all his might. He was tired, and he wanted to end this. Harry's wand flew to Alex's hand, leaving the black haired boy stunned by the obvious display of power. Suddenly they heard slow clapping from the doorway, and they both turned around to see a smirking Snape.
"Potter, LaVelle, Impressive. Two grown males fighting over a pizza and a boyfriend."
"I was just defending myself, Professor Snape. I don't like to fight." Alex looked properly abashed.
"Nonetheless, this isn't the right way for the next muggle studies professor to act" Snape chastised.
"I know. I'm sorry, Sir"
"And you should definitely know better, Mr. Potter. I happened to notice that you were the one throwing the curses while Mr LaVelle here just defended himself. Do you have anything to say for your intolerable behavior?" Harry's eyes narrowed at Snape. It was obvious to him that Snape had found a protege, and he, once again, was going to be made out to be the bad guy. It figured. Just once he wanted Snape to treat him like a human, not like a house elf. Damn. Again he silently wished that the Americans would just go home. Oh yeah, he had to respond to Snape. "No. Sorry. Bad day" he mumbled. "Fine." Snape dismissed Harry with a quick nod. "Mr. LaVelle, would you please follow me." "Uh Sir, can I bring my pizza, I'm really hungry..." Alex gazed wistfully at the pepperoni dominated pizza. With a roll of his eyes Snape conceded defeat to the boys hunger. "Fine."
After one of the house elves scurried up to Alex with his plate of pizza, they progressed to the Dungeons. "Professor Snape, where are we going?" Alex said hesitantly, not wanting to further irk the potions master. "After feeling the shockwave of magic you sent through the castle with your expelliarmus , I decided to further your education sooner rather than later as Dumbledore was wont to do. Potter was right about one thing. You don't know enough to fight in a war, and though Mr Weasley is doing a fairly credible job educating you, we need to exponentially increase the speed of your learning in the next few weeks before school starts." After Alex nodded his understanding and co-operation, Snape continued. "You seem to have a natural aptitude for learning - no, don't scoff at this, you need to have confidence in your abilities or else you'll waste them - and you need to learn the unforgivables. Since I am capable of all three forgivables and have experienced Cruciatus and Imperius and can throw off the latter, I am to teach you these. I'm also to teach you to learn how to conjure a Patronus." Snape turned to look at the young adult next to him to see Alex nod in approval while eating another piece of pizza. He swallowed. "Okay. So I'm learning all of those tonight?" Snape turned to look at the mage incredulously. "Tonight? No, of course not, you're to have them learned by the beginning of the school year." "Oh. Good. Wonder what my Patronus will look like. Maybe it'll look like Buffy, huh?" He was getting excited. "Mr. LaVelle, patience is a virtue. Please remember that." Professor Snape looked back at Alex as he opened the door to a classroom devoid of furniture. He had managed to eat three pieces in the ten minutes it had taken to get to the unused classroom. Snape turned to the Blackboard and started to write out the names of the unforgivables and spell, some information, and wand technique, while Alex demolished another 2 pieces. "Mr. LaVelle, can I tear you away from your pizza so that we can start?" The young mage blushed. "Yeah of course. er...Sorry" he mumbled.
"First we start on the Imperius, because it does the least amount of damage to the physical body. However, if left on long enough, it can detrimental to one's emotional and psychological health, making one's will extremely weak. I assure you I will not let that happen." Here Snape stopped again, to make sure that this young man understood him. Seeing worry cloud his eyes, he knew the severity of the curse had sunk in and he carried on. "I will cast it and you will use all the emotional strength you can collect to dispel it. Ready?" "Well, as ready as I'll ever be." With that, Alex turned a shade paler than he already was. "Imperio!" Snape called out, with his wand directly pointed at the mage's heart. "You will walk like a penguin" Without hesitation, Alex started to waddle around, not knowing exactly why he was acting like a Penguin, but knowing that it felt good to just relax and be penguiny. Slowly his mind clued in to the fact that it felt almost too good to be a penguin...it reminded him of another sensation he had experienced. Still waddling, he forced himself to remember what that was...oh yeah, being in Dracula's thrall had felt like this. Oh. oh. Shit. He had to stop. Had to stop. But it felt so good, just as it had to be Dracula's pawn. But wait, he didn't want to be a pawn in someone else's power. That was so not of the good. So he just had to *stop* acting like a penguin. Okay, first step,loosen the arms from their positions. Okaaay...done. Second step, stop waddling. Third step, cast off the actual curse. There. Alex again. "Well done. It took you about fifteen minutes to cast off. We need you to learn to do it instantaneously. Try again. Imperio! Alex, sing the last song you were listening to." With that command, Alex immediately started belting out a punk tune a la Ramones. "Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours ago, I wanna be sedated...." This time he realized what had come over him right away, although it took him a couple of verses to stop singing, and then a couple of more refrains to stop from muttering the words. However, after about fifteen minutes, he was able to cast off the entire curse. Snape was pleased. With more practice, Mr. LaVelle would be as adept as Mr. Potter at casting off this particular curse.
"Mr. Lavelle, Now that I've been assured that indeed, you have the capability of throwing of that curse, let's move on to the Cruciatus curse." The Potions Master glanced back at the terror stricken face of the mage. This was exactly why he had to put the young man through the curses. If he did not, the mere names of the curses would be frightening enough to immobilize the young mage and render him useless. It was up to him to prevent that. Aurors and the like learned to combat that fear by facing the curse, and so would Alex.
"Crucio! Snape yelled, and Alexander LaVelle went down like a wet load of wash. He had never had someone with this much power and practice aim that particular curse at him, and it was devestating. Knives and swords, pins and needles, razors and blades, all were invading his body. He curled up to somehow protect himself from the non existant weapons and squeezed his eyes shut against the pain. Finite Incantatum! Snape cried out and the pain stopped so suddenly it was almost like some sort of vacuum. Alex shuddered, gritted his teeth and said,"Can we never, ever do that again? Please?" Professor Snape sighed in regret. "Unfortunately we will have to try this again. At least until we are relatively sure that you can cast Estasio as a defensive manoevre." Alex groaned and Snape continued, unaffected. "However, it would not be a wise decision to crucio you again today, nor would be a good idea to attempt a patronus. The dementor's assault on your psychological mind could be devastating while you are in a weakened physical condition." The mage nodded and sighed his relief. Snaped took a hard look at the young man in front of him. "I also wonder, Mr. LaVelle, if perhaps you need to be told that Mr. Potter, though deep down a good man, tends to know just where to twist the proverbial knife. I won't tell you not to fault him for his behaviour, but do bear in mind that he's been held responsible for the safety of the wizarding world since he was eleven years old." With that, Snape turned on his heel and walked out of the room. "Damn cryptic-guy routine. Someone needs to patent it." Alexander sighed and decided to go look for Draco.