Chapter Four
-Secrets Revealed-
Alexia jolted awake the next morning. She looked around, but was unable to see anything. She strained to see what was in front of her.
"Surprise!" Sabrina yelled from the common room.
"What?" she ran out the door to the balcony.
"Happy Birthday." All the Slytherins yelled.
Alexia smiled and made her way to the middle of the common room. "Awe how'd you all know."
"I told them." Professor Snape joined them.
She looked at him anxiously. "Did daddy…"
He shook his head. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay." She opened all her gifts and thanked everyone.
"Alex." Roger came up to her. "You want your gift from me?"
"Sure." She looked at his hands.
He smirked, leaned down, and gave her a kiss. "Happy Birthday."
Stunned she turned and bumped into Draco.
"Here." He shoved a poorly wrapped box into her hand.
"Thanks Draco." She smiled and opened it. "It's you." She pulled out a small figure on a broom.
"Yes, it's me playing Quidditch." He said proudly.
"Um, thanks." She put it in the box then she and Sabrina took all the gifts to her room.
"I think Roger likes you." She put the 3rd scarf on her bed.
"Ya think." she sighed and told her about the kiss. "I may like him."
"Awe, go for Draco." She stood.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"What was that all about?" Draco got in Roger's face.
"What was what?" He said calmly.
"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about."
"Oh, my gift?"
"Yes." he scowled.
"I think she liked it. I know I did."
"You're probably just using her." He stepped back.
"Who…Me?" He looked shocked. "A Slytherin, use someone." He shook his head. "Matter of fact, Malfoy, I'm not."
"Whatever." Draco spotted a letter on the mantle. He retrieved it. "Alexia, there's a letter for you down here." he yelled.
She came bounding down the steps and took the letter from his hand. After opening and reading it she let out a yelp. "Daddy's coming." She ran up the stairs to tell Sabrina.
Later that day Alexia waited in the common room for her father to arrive. She watched the door impatiently.
"Alexia." Damian came through the door.
"Daddy!" She squealed and ran to hug him. "Are you okay? I haven't heard from you in like forever."
"I know, of course, I'm okay."
"But you could not be." She hugged him again.
"Ah, Mr. Fowler, it's a pleasure to meet you." Draco came from the chair by the fireplace.
Damian held out his left hand to shake Draco's extended hand, his robes fell back slightly, and he quickly pulled it back. He hoped that Draco didn't have a chance to see it.
"Shall we go then dear?" Damian ushered her out of the door.
When Alexia returned she held a canvas bag in her right hand and a medium sized box in the other. She walked past Draco, who was still sitting on the couch, and went up to her room. A few minutes later she came back to the common room and walked up to Sabrina. "Here."
"What's this?" Sabrina looked at the box Alexia had given her.
"Just open it." Alexia smiled.
Sabrina slowly unwrapped the box and pulled out a gold chain. "Oh, Alexia, it's gorgeous!"
"I thought you might like it. I know you lost yours a couple of weeks ago." She turned from her and saw Roger and Draco sitting by the fireplace. She walked over to them and sat in the middle. She turned to Roger and pulled something out of the bag. "Here, I got this for you." She handed him a box of chocolates.
"Thanks." He smirked.
"How did you get all this stuff. They don't sell this at Hogsmeade." Draco raised his eyebrow.
"You think I spent all this time in Hogsmeade?" She laughed. "Please, dear boy my father apparated me to Knockturn Alley. That's where I was this whole time. Well there and Diagon Alley of coarse."
"You got to leave the grounds?" Draco said, his voice high with curiosity.
"Yes, I did. Dumbledore knows better then to mess with my father."
"Speaking of your father, Alexia." Draco peeked around her to see if Roger was still there. He wasn't. He had left to put the candy away in his room. "Things would have been a lot easier for us both if you had just told me from the start that your father is a Death Eater."
"Draco, you don't see the point. I don't go around bragging that my father is a Death Eater because it could get him killed. I know you may go around bragging about all the connections you have and everything, but I don't."
"Still…" He mumbled.
"Oh, grow up." She sighed and tossed a box into his lap. "See you tomorrow." She got up and walked to her room.
Draco looked at the box for a while and then opened it. He smiled and looked toward the girl's dormitory.
The following day was a Saturday and it was the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. The match that would determine who would win the Quidditch Cup. Slytherin's had come so close for years, only losing by one team. Gryffindor. As the team readied in the dressing room, and the students gathered in the towers, the teachers assembled at the doors of Hogwarts. "We can't let them play today. It's too dangerous." Professor McGonagall pleaded.
"Minerva, there is no real threat." Snape chimed in. "It was only a rumor."
"Still, Severus, I'd like for the students to be safe. It's better safe than…"
"Sorry." Dumbledore finished McGonagall's statement. "You are absolutely right Minerva. I think that the Quidditch game should be canceled for this time. We will reschedule for another day." He turned on his heal and strode swiftly down to the Quidditch Pitch. "Madam Hooch." He said strolling out onto the field.
"Yes Professor?" She pulled the whistle from her mouth.
"Quidditch has been canceled on account of…" He whispered the rest into her ear.
Madam Hooch's eyes widened and she kicked off into the air to make the announcement.
Back in the common room everyone was arguing and laying blame on everyone else. "It's no one's fault." "Yes it is, it's your fault, you did something to Dumbledore." "No I didn't." "Yes you did." The whole room was a buzz.
Alexia sighed and sat on the couch. There was too much chatter anywhere she went. Everyone in her room was talking, the common room was no place to think. She spotted Snape across the room and made her way over to him. "What's going on?"
Snape whispered in her ear and then left the room.
"What did he say?" Draco was standing beside her now.
"Come on, I'll tell you over there." She pointed to a corner of the room where no one was. "Alright…" She stated when they reached the solitude of the corner. "Snape told me that they had gotten word that Voldemort was going to try to attack the castle. Dumbledore wouldn't say who it was that told him, but I suspect one of the Phoenix members told him. How they found out I don't know, but…"
"So that's why the game was cancelled? Because of a rumor?" Draco crossed his arms.
"It wasn't a rumor Malfoy." She sneered and walked through the doors to the hallway.
The next day during Defense Against the Dark Arts, Draco looked over to see how everyone was doing. They were in a race to see who could come up with the best solution to the changelings problem. It wasn't really a Dark Art, but Professor Snape had been distracted for quite some time. "Psst, Goyle." Draco peeked over to his friends piece of parchment.
"What?" Goyle looked over at him.
"What do you have?"
"Nothing, I really don't care about Muggle babies or elves." He scratched his head and looked around the room.
Everyone was in a rush to finish the essay. Everyone except Alexia. She sat two tables over and one table up from Draco and Goyle. She wasn't even holding the quill in her hand. From what Draco could see she hadn't touched it since the beginning of class. She sat arms folded on the table staring at Snape like she was trying to read his mind.
At the end of class everyone put their things away, turned in the essay, and left the room. Alexia hung back and followed Snape to his office. "So, you like my mother huh?"
"What?" Snape spun around, startled at the voice.
"Don't play stupid with me. I know that you have been pining away for her since she got here." Her face was screwed tightly.
"Alexia, listen to me…" Snape bent down to look her in the eyes. "What I feel for your mother is strong, yes, but listen to me, I would never want to do anything that would pry you and your mother apart."
Alexia's facial features softened and she turned away from him. Without saying another word, she left his office, grabbed her things, and marched straight to the dungeon where her mother taught. She burst through the doors and walked into her office. "Mother I need to talk to you now, this can't wait, and I think you need to sit down and listen very carefully to everything that I have to say."
Dezeraine nodded and sat in her chair. "What is it?"
"Alright, I know about the things that have been going on with you and Severus. I know that you all are thinking about getting together. I saw you two on Valentine's Day in the diner, and I can see it on your face now. I'm not stupid you know." She paced around the room. "I love Severus; you know that, but…"
"Alex, dear…"
"I'm talking right now mother." She took a deep breath. "Do you love him? Do you love him like you loved daddy?"
Dezeraine nodded her head.
"Then there is only one thing to do." She pulled out her wand and pointed it at her mother's chest.
"Alexia, what are you doing?"
"Shh, this is the only way." She took a deep breath and opened her mouth.
"Alexia!" Snape burst through the door. "What on earth are you doing?"
"Severus, what are you doing here?" Alexia turned to see him in the doorway.
"When you didn't say anything and left my office I was going to come here and tell your mother that it was over, that we couldn't see each other any more because it was hurting you."
Alexia smiled and realized what it must look like to someone other than her. She mumbled something and a box of hard candy landed on Dezeraine's desk. "You can't have a relationship without a box of candy." She walked over to Snape and grabbed his hand. She pulled him to her mother and smiled at them. "You have my blessing."