Four months later, Snape asked a very difficult question.  No one seemed to know the answer, except Alexi, who had already absorbed her textbooks and had subscribed to several journals and newsletters.  Snape decided to finally call on her, expecting to embarrass her.  She surprised him by giving the correct reply, and then turned the tables by asking of him if he knew of the updated way to make a certain potion.  This new method took less time and one less ingredient; she had learned of this through one of her newsletters.  Snape, outraged that a Muggle would know something in his field he did not and make that public, angrily told her that if she ever spoke up again, she would be out of his classes for good.  He stormed back to his desk and began stabbing down comments on a parchment.  Alexi, hurt and angry, wished for his ink to fall over and ruin his work.  To her surprise, the inkbottle suddenly rotated and then fell over, the ink pouring sideways and down, completely soaking the parchment.  Shocked, she quickly returned to cutting her roots as Snape, in a fury, cleaned the mess up with his wand.  She glanced up long enough to see him staring at her, a mixed look of surprise, rage, and thoughtfulness.

          Hermione approached her that evening as Alexi was studying in the library.  She had enjoyed the way Alexi had embarrassed Snape and encouraged her to join her study group of third-year Gryffindors.  Alexi accepted, glad for the company.

          The weeks passed by, and Snape had resorted to completely ignoring her, acting as if she was not even there.  She had become silent as well, no longer trying to answer questions.  She showed up, wrote her notes, made the potion for the day, cleaned up, and then left.  Some of the other students, especially Ron Weasley, insisted she go to Dumbledore, but she refused.  She preferred to deal with this on her own.

          However, her friendship with Hermione, Ron, and Harry was about to backfire.  She discussed her family and her journey to Hogwarts with the group, and they were enthralled by her stories.  Unfortunately, Scabbers was present at many of those meetings, and when Pettigrew escaped Hogwarts, he took that knowledge with him.