Disclaimer: still don't own anything you recognise from the books…

Hey!…. once again many thanks go out to all my lovely reviewers…. And yes I do agree things are getting a bit complicated, but I guess that's just me, I like things complicated because it means there can be different outcomes…anyway, I've decided to move the story forward to a couple of days later, which means Charlie and Kimmie have gone back to New York….but anyway on with the story…

Alex shifted slightly in her bed, as not to wake the sleeping form beside her. She couldn't sleep, even with Riley with her she still felt like something was wrong. Carefully she pushed the covers off of her and climbed out of the bed, pulling them back again over Riley.

She walked past her open bedroom door, spotting her father asleep on the couch, and into the small bathroom that joined her room to her parents. Looking into the mirror on the wall, Alex smiled to herself slightly as she heard her mother wake Blaise and told him to get into their bed.

"No," she heard Blaise whisper.

"Blaise, they're not going to do anything, especially with us next door. Alex just needs him for support," she heard her mother whisper back.

"Blaise please," Hermione's voice said quietly and Alex heard her father mumble something, before hearing them climb into their own bed.

Exiting the bathroom, Alex watch Riley's sleeping form for a moment. His ash red hair was sticking up everywhere, but he looked peaceful. She was glad he was there, it made her feel safe, but she knew that it was interrupting his life. Even though he wouldn't admit it she knew he was constantly worrying about, she saw the way he glanced at her during classes, never letting her out of his sight, guarding her from everyone else. Sure it had only been five days but it was affecting Alex because she knew that it was bringing him down aswell.

Sitting in a seat opposite the bed, she wrapped his Hogwarts robe that was lying on the floor around her. Breathing in his scent, she shifted so that her legs were curled beneath her, and a folded piece of parchment fell out.

Picking it up, Alex thought that it was just spare notes he had taken in class, until her own name caught h eye. Carefully she unfolded the parchment, finding that there were two separate pieces of paper. One was an application formed for World Quidditch Association, it was neatly filled out in Riley's handwriting and a short note had been attached to the bottom part of it.

Dear Mr. Potter,

Upon receiving your application form, we are proud to say that it has been approved. Due to certain students leaving the school, we currently have a small number of positions available in our fifth year class, and after watching some of your previous games we wanted to give you the chance of starting at the WQA before the next school year. While we are aware that your Hogwarts school year does not finish for awhile, we, at WQA thought that this might help you to settle in before you begin your final schooling here.

Eagerly awaiting your reply,

Dave Worhtington

Head of WQA

Her hands trembling slightly, she knew where the WQA was and it was in the furthest possible place from here, New Zealand, slowly she put the first piece of parchment down and began to read the second. It was addressed to her and written in Riley's messier scrawl.

Dear Alex,

Well, I didn't think it would be this hard, but I guess it would be harder if I was actually telling you this to your face. Anyway, I wanted you to know first, I'm leaving. I got accepted into the World Quidditch Association in New Zealand. They want me to start as soon as possible, it goes for three years. It's a great opportunity for me actually. But I want us to keep in touch, to stay friends.

That was were it stopped. She wasn't sure if that was he wanted to say or if he didn't know how to say everything else. Standing, she dropped the piece of parchment, letting it fall to the floor, she shrugged his warm cloak off and quietly left the room.

Feeling five again, she carefully opened the now closed door of her mother's room and climbed beneath blankets with her and Blaise. Deep down she knew that it was the best thing for Riley, but it didn't stop it from hurting.

Hermione woke the next morning, squashed in the middle of the bed. It was a Saturday morning, and she wasn't supposed to feel squashed, quite confused, she watched Blaise snore slightly, before moving to face the intruder in her bed. A small smile formed on her face when she found that it was Alex. She always looked peaceful when she slept and Hermione remembered the countless times when she had woke finding Alex in her bed in the mornings.

Gently she tucked a stray curl behind her daughter's ear, as Blaise shifted.

"'Mione, move over," he whispered drowsily. She turned to face him again, wrapping her arm around his waist.

"I thought you like being close to me Blaise," she whispered into his ear.

"too early," he mumbled back, opening his eyes to look at her.

"I told you not stay up watching her room all night," Hermione told him, a smile playing on her lips. Suddenly Blaise sat upright.

"You let me come back to bed," he almost screeched at her.

"Blaise relax," Hermione, said quickly, not wanting him to wake Alex, "she's not in there anyway,"

Blaise, now fully awake, looked at Hermione properly, finding that Alex was indeed sleeping next to her, and the reason why he had no room. slowly, he laid back down on the bed, and Hermione turned to face him again. Her elbow was on his pillow, so her face was above his.

'I told you," she said gently, twirling on his curls around her finger.

"Told me what?" Blaise asked, opening his eyes.

"How easy the worrying comes," she replied softly. She laid back down, her head resting on Blaise's pillow.

"It's just that-" Blaise began.

"I know," Hermione interrupted, "but she's not stupid either,"

Blaise nodded before shifting so that he was facing her.

"She's so much like you," he told her.

"She's like you too Blaise," Hermione whispered back, "and it's just not the hair either, everyday for the last fifteen years I was reminded of you. Her smile is the same and that twinkling you have in your eye, she got that too,"

"Did I tell you that I'm glad you came back?" Blaise said softly.

Knock, knock.

"Um, Hermione," Ginny poked her head through the opening between the door and the wall, "oh, wit, don't worry," she mumbled closing the door behind her.

"Riley, she's in there," Ginny's muffled voice came through to the bed room.

Hermione looked at Blaise, her eye brows raised.

"Time to get up, I think," and she scrambled out of the bed.

"Should we wake Alex up?" Blaise asked as he slowly followed. Pulling her robe over her pyjamas Hermione glanced at her sleeping daughter and shook her head, before exiting into the small sitting room were the Potter family were talking in hushed angry voices.

Riley sat on the couch of the small sitting room. He had woken up, to find that Alex was not asleep, and after checking the bathroom and the sitting room, he found his cloak and the pieces of parchment on the floor. Knowing that if she had run away this time it would be his fault, so he went and woke his father up.

Both Ginny and Harry immediately stumbled out of bed as soon as Riley mentioned Alex, but as Harry disappeared out of the portrait hall, Ginny went to wake Hermione and Blaise, finding the sleeping teenage girl.

Now they wanted to know what he had done to make her leave, since for the last week almost she had clung to him at night. Riley looked up at his parents, who were still in the pyjamas and sitting across from him. he looked down to his hands at the piece of parchment he was grasping. It was time for him to tell them.

"I-" he began.

"Morning," Blaise said loudly as Hermione dragged him into the sitting room. All three potters ignored them.

"Riley," Ginny said sternly, her eyes blazing.

He didn't say anything and looked down at the acceptance letter the WQA had sent him.

"I applied last year," he mumbled and passed the letter across to his parents. He swallowed and stuffed the second one, the letter addressed to Alex into his pocket. Then he waited as his parents read the first letter.

"Riley," Ginny spoke again, although her voice was softer, 'why didn't you tell us?"

"Because if you knew you wouldn't have let me," he said turning a slight shade of pink.

"Riley this is," Ginny said softly before her husband interrupted her.

"A wonderful opportunity," Harry said enthusiastically. Ginny smiled at her husband, then at Riley.

"Especially if it is something you want to do," she said. Riley found himself nodding.

Blaise picked up the letter once Harry put it down and skimmed over it quickly.

"Well congratulations," he said as he handed it to Hermione, "when are you leaving? It says as soon as possible,"

That was when Riley returned to reality.

"I, um, decided not to go," he said loudly as the adults began to talk to each other. They all stopped talking and looked straight at him.

"What?" Ginny asked, hoping she had heard incorrectly, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and he was just going to throw it away.

"I said, I'm not going," Riley said a little more confidently.

"Well I hope it's not because of me," Alex's soft voice came from Blaise and Hermione's door way and everyone turned to look at her, "because I've decided, I'm not staying here, I want to go back to Fascino Quas."

"Your not going," Hermione, screeched. Alex sat between her two parents and across from the headmaster. It was after lunch and Hermione had yelled and cried but finally agreed to go with Alex to see Dumbledore. Blaise had been strangely quiet.

"And tell me, Hermione, why Alex should not go?" Dumbledore asked her, his eyes twinkling.

"Because," Hermione paused, unable to think of anything reasonable, "because her family is here, she's safe here,"

"Actually," Blaise spoke for what seemed like the first time since Alex's announcement, "she might be safer in America, at least until this whole thing goes away,"

Hermione glared at Blaise.

"Blaise has a point," Dumbledore said as Hermione glared him, "she'd be away from the whole situation,"

"No," Hermione's voice came out in barely a whisper and she shook her head.

"Mum, I'll still see you, with the trips and holidays," Alex told her soothingly and squeezed her hand, "please let me go,"

Finally Hermione gave in and nodded.

"Well then," Dumbledore said, "I guess it would be best if you went back their immediately, I'll organise a portkey for you and inform Professor Dokoft of the situation,"

Alex sat on her bed. Most of her things were already packed in the trunk the house elves had bought down from her dorm, but there were still her school books that she had used over the lat couple of days to pack.

She got up and moved over to her desk, picking up the stack of books, as she did, a stack of papers and another book fell to the floor. sighing she placed the books in her hands into the open trunk and began to pick up the papers off the floor.

The journal riley had given her lay open on top of the paper, a photo sticking out from the edge of it. She picked it up and looked at the photo. It was taken the first day back from the Christmas break, Alex put the journal down and stuffed the photo into her jeans pocket, and made her way into the sitting room, where she found Ginny reading a book.

"Um, Professor Potter?" Alex asked, Ginny looked up from her book and smiled at her.

"Alex, you can call me Ginny," she told the girl.

"Oh, um, Ginny, I was wondering if you could take me to the Gryffindor common room," Alex asked her.

"Sure," she stood up, "let me just tell you're your parents so they don't freak out cos you've disappeared,"

Minutes later, Alex was walking along the corridors, in the direction of the Gryffindor common room with Ginny.

Finally they came to familiar portrait of the fat lady. Then Alex realised she didn't know the password, knowing that it changed each week.

"Um, I don't know the password," She told Ginny awkwardly.

"It's alright, she'll let me in," Ginny replied. And then Alex watched as the teacher had a conversation with the lady in the portrait, it ending with the fat lady letting them in.

"I'll wait out here," Ginny told Alex, who nodded in reply.

Suddenly Alex felt like the awkward new kid again, walking into the common room for the first time, with many of the students staring at her. She found Nicole, Sam and Draco sitting in a corner near a window. None of them glanced up at her as she sat with them.

"Hey," She said softly, it was a bit awkward because she hadn't really spoke to anyone but Riley for the last week.

"Hey," Sam said looking up from the parchment she had in her hand, smiling at Alex, "how are ya?"

"I'm okay," she told them, "I was just um wondering-"

"Riley's not here," Draco cut her off, looking up from his book.

"I'm not looking for Riley," she told him, "I actually wanted to speak to Nikki,"

finally the red head looked up at the brunette.

"I already know," she said coldly, "I saw riley at lunch,"

"Oh," Alex said quietly, she looked down at her hands.

"What's going on?" Draco said suddenly interested.

"Alex is leaving," Nicole told him coldly.

Alex felt Sam and Draco look at her; she kept her eyes on her hands.

"Why?" Draco pushed.

Nicole didn't say anything, so Alex finally looked at her friends.

"Because I have to," She said quietly, tears prickling her eyes, she knew that Nicole would be upset, but she didn't think she would be angry at her.

"Excuse me," Nicole stood up and pushed past Alex's seat, "I need to go to the library,"

"Nicole, don't be mad, please, " Alex called after her.

"What did you expect me to be? Jumping with joy because things are going to be the same as they were before?" Nicole yelled at her. The entire common room went silent as everyone turned to face the two girls.

When Alex didn't say anything, Nicole walked out of the common room and the students turned back to their own conversations.

"Don't worry Alex," sam told her, "she's just scared because she thinks she's going to lose her best friend,"

"she might lose me if I stay," Alex muttered.

"What?" Draco asked her, even though he heard her the first time.

"Nothing," She replied, "well, I guess this is bye, I leave tonight,"

Draco nodded as Sam hugged her tightly.

"I guess next time we'll see you will be at the end of the year," he said as Alex turned to hug him, she nodded.

"Thanks," she told him.

"For what?" He asked.

"for understanding," she replied as he released her.

"I'll write," she told them and they nodded and they walked her to the portrait hole.

"Bye,"

minutes later Ginny had taken her back to her room and she was sitting on her bed staring at the open trunk. Finally as she accioed the last lot of books into her trunk and closed it.

She pulled her trunk into the sitting room and told her parents that she was ready.

A/N: okay so most of that was both boring but unexpected right? Please review and tell me what you thought….hopefully next chapter will have a bit more action and will be posted soon….please review!

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