The Snake and the Stag.
Chapter Three
I do not own Harry Potter
The news of the new student spread quickly around the school. Alex continued to follow Harry and the other two around. They gladly accepted her into the group and they grew to know Alex.
Alex had grownup in America and had moved to England when she was nine with foster parents. She'd been planning on going to a muggle school until she'd received the letter saying she'd been accepted at Hogwarts. She'd been dumped into an orphanage where she met Lupin in their second year. He'd seen to it she stayed at the orphanage while she was under Dumbledore's personal training. Now she joined the school, as she had wanted to do for a long time.
Her owl, Thor, was the only one like him in Diagon Ally. She had taken to him right away and bought him.
"So," Harry said, "You've been in Dumbledore's office for the entire time you've been here?"
"Yeah. Can't say I liked it to much." Ron mumbled something through his mouthful of food. Alex smiled slightly at this. Hermionie looked up accusingly.
"Ron. Can't you eat properly?" She asked over the book she was reading. Ron swallowed and said;
"What's that?" He asked, pointing at Alex's neck. Harry looked to see a poisonous green snake wrapped around her neck with its head resting on her jugular.
"Oh, Android, or Droid for short. I found him." She lovingly stroked the snake's head.
"That explains it. That's why I saw it in the tower our first night back." Harry said.
"Yeah. I was getting a feel of the tower. Come on. We'll be late." Alex took up her bag and started out of the hall. Harry and Ron groaned audibly. They hated potions. They picked up their bags and followed Hermione and Alex out of the great hall and down to the dungeons. They stood outside the doors until Snape opened them to let the class into the chilly room. After they had all sat down quietly Snape shut the door and moved to the front of the class.
"To day we will be starting a potion that will take all week to make. It is quite easy to follow yet the ingredients are hard to come by. It is a healing potion yet many of the ingredients are pure poison. They are in the cupboard and the instructions are on the board." He flicked his wand twice and the cupboard door opened and writing appeared on the blackboard. Alex pointed her wand at the board and then at a piece of parchment. Then did it again a few times and handed the papers to Harry, Ron, and Hermionie.
"I find it easier." She said.
It was true. Harry missed none of the instructions though he had to rush to pack with the rest of the class as it took to the moment the bell rang until the potion would bee allowed to simmer until the next lesson. The group made their way down to Hagrid's hut for their care of magical creatures class.
"K, then. Everyone 'ere? Good." Hagrid called over the noise. The class went quiet and waited for the new surprise Hagrid had for them. "As ya' all well know, at least I 'ope ya' do, tha' you know o' is back an' at large." A few heads nodded Harry didn't notice Alex's eyes go hard and fill with the look of loathing. "Well, I thought tha' ya' all would ra'ther study then see things righ' now. I wan' to arm ya' all 'gainst th' creatures you know o'll use before ya' see 'em. So open your books ta' page four 'undred and read tha' chapter. It'll name 'em all and tell ya' how ter' beat ' em. If ya' wan' a go, try some o' the way's right over their on them dummies. Righ' then? Any questions, jus' ask me."
There was a rustling of paper as the class happily turned to the page and began to read. Harry was astonished at all the creatures Voldemort was supposedly going to use.
Dementors were an obvious one. Harry had heard the Dark Lord say they would rejoin the dark side himself in his fourth year.
Harry sighed. It seemed so long ago but it had only been two years. Two years since Cedric's death, and only one since Sirius's. A memory flashed before Harry's eyes, one of Sirius flying through the veil.
Harry shook his head to rid himself of that memory. He still dreamed about it sometimes. He would wake up to find himself crying and missing his Godfather all the more.
Harry jumped a half an hour later as Alex tapped his shoulder.
"Hey, time for lunch. C'mon." Harry packed up and followed the others to the castle to eat. They were silent for a while, going over their previous lesson.
"You guys never told me about you." Alex said suddenly. They looked up. "About your families I mean."
"Oh, well, my parents are Muggles. Their dentists!" Hermionie said.
"My Dad works at the ministry. My mum stays at home." Ron said through a mouthful of food. Harry looked out a window.
"As you probably know, my parents were killed. I live with my aunt and uncle." Harry sighed. Alex smiled.
"Heck. Gotta' be better than an orphanage."
"Well, not really." Harry said. Alex went back to absent mindedly stroking Droid's head. She stared into space as the others finished eating. They moved on for History of magic and then DADA.
In History of Magic, not much happened except that Alex played with Droid, catching some kids attention. Of course, Professor Binns never noticed.
In DADA, Professor Redi went over the year's lessons. He was the new teacher so everyone was quieter than usual.
"I am professor Redi, pronounced red-eye, not 'ready', and I'm pleased to meet you all. I will be teaching you all spells that you can use to your defense if you ever need to." At this he looked at Harry who slumped in his seat. "I understand that Mr. Potter here opened a Defense Against the Dark Arts club last year. That will be our time to practice more thoroughly. That is, if you don't mind. You ARE the founder."
"Not really…" Harry muttered. "Hermonie thought of it."
"Well that may be so, yet you agreed to teach and be a leader." Harry was painfully aware of everyone's eyes on him. Especially Alex's who was sitting right next to him. He turned a slight red.
"Yeah, I could use the help." He mumbled sheepishly. He saw Alex smile out of the corner of his eye and he dove under his desk to get into his pack, very aware of the weird feeling in his gut. The rest of the class period they read spell after spell and voted on witch to practice the next class.
The class left the room babbling about the new professor. He had a quiet way about him and a sad look in his eyes. A lot of the girls were talking about how handsome he was.
"Please…He's not THAT good looking!" Hermionie huffed. "At least I don't go making google eyes at every cute teacher I see!" Harry and Ron had to muffle their laughter and only barely managed to do so. Alex gave them both an odd looked and Harry mouthed "later", nodding at Hermionie's back. Alex nodded and kept walking.
Herbology was the same as always as they all re-potted plants and got dirty. Alex really seemed to enjoy her-self and even laughed a few times. Especially when Harry told her in undertones about Lockhart as Ron and Hermionie went on with their daily arguments.
And Again as Harry crawled into bed that night, he was yet again denied sleep as the nagging feeling came out. The last thing he remembered was wondering about Alex and his scar prickling at the thought of her.
Hey…I'm sorry to all my readers, but I'm not going to be able to update for a few months unless my parents get the Internet. Once school starts I'll update like crazy! I PROMISE I'll work on this story over the summer and update a chapter a day next year! Thanks for reading!