"I definitely don't like her." said Alexis to Harry, who nodded, "I bet the others are absolutely smitten, though." she finished glumly.
"Did you see her flirting with Draco?" he asked, disgusted.
"Oh, is somebody jealous now?" she teased.
"Aly…" he said warningly, then attacked her. "First lesson. I am not jealous."
"Oh, yeah!" she answered, "You like Ginny, don't you? Oh, sorry, I forgot!" she clapped her hands over her mouth and let out a girlish gasp.
"Shut up." he said, turning red, "The point is, she's not any potential Order member."
"Yeah. She doesn't even look like she likes using a wand."
"How the others can stand her, much less like her, I don't know."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the incomprehensible chatter that was floating up from downstairs.
"Hey guys!" Hermione squealed.
"Hey Hermione."
"Oh, isn't Sandra just so great?" the words flowed out of Hermione's mouth at an incredible rate. "I mean, she's basically perfect, and pretty, and understanding, and…"
Alexis didn't bother to listen to the rest, not that she could have separated the words enough to be able to understand what Hermione was saying. By the looks of it, neither did Harry.
"Hermione, that's really great," Harry interrupted her in the middle of a very long sentence consisting of about twenty 'and's. "But Aly and I were planning on some flying. Talk later?"
Hermione nodded.
"Okay, see you later!" she ran off excitedly to find Ginny.
"Have you ever seen her like that before?" asked Harry, listening to Hermione's footsteps down the hall.
"Oh yeah," laughed Alexis dryly. "The first day when I met her on the train, and she was ranting on about everything that she'd memorized from her textbooks."
Harry cracked a small smile.
"C'mon," he said. "A bit of flying will help."
Alexis nodded. She grabbed her Firebolt, which was leaning against the wall.
"When was the last time you cleaned this?" asked Harry, running a hand over the shiny handle.
"Yesterday." she answered. "When was the last time you cleaned yours, Mister Soon-to-be Quidditch Captain?"
"This morning."
"Damn."
"Yeah, well, you better go change."
"Uh, yeah."
She went into the bathroom and quickly changed into her Quidditch robes.
"Quidditch robes?" asked Harry with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey, you have your Quidditch robes on too! Besides, I like my Quidditch robes."
He shrugged.
"Whatever. Let's go then."
"Sure." they walked out of the room.
As they passed Hermione, Ginny and Sandra, the latter smirked at Alexis and smiled sickeningly at Harry.
"She makes me want to gag." muttered Alexis.
"Right…"
"Hey Harry, can I tell you something?"
"Course you can."
"Well, last night I couldn't sleep. It was really creepy, like I just had this really bad feeling, and it hurt…it hurt really badly. Then she came this morning and, I know it's stupid and that I shouldn't be freaking out, but I was just wondering whether it…whether it…"
"Whether it had something to do with her?"
"Y-yeah… please tell me that I'm being stupid."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure it'll turn out alright."
"Okay – Oh, hey!" she greeted Draco, who waved back at her.
"You flying too?"
"Yeah."
"Well look at that – we're all in robes."
"I don't like green," said Alexis, "I prefer my house colors."
"Yeah, well what if you were in Slytherin too?"
Alexis grimaced.
"Don't go there. I would have committed suicide or something."
"You'd really take it that far?"
"Well," commented Harry, "If you know her family history, then it's pretty easy to see that she would do anything not to be in Slytherin."
"Yeah I guess." agreed Draco. "So anyway, what about the others? We might have enough for a game."
"The other girls are inside." said Alexis. "And – wait, where's Ron?"
"Oh," said Draco, "I saw him. He's finishing a History of Magic essay. Y'know, one of the ones that were set last term."
"I can't believe we're going to be in seventh year after this term." muttered Harry.
"Yes you can." answered Alexis. "So, can we get going?"
"Of course we can!" said Draco, getting onto his broom and zooming up into the air. "I haven't flown since the beginning of break." he yelled down to them from the sky.
Harry nudged her.
"C'mon, let's go."
In about five seconds they were level with Draco, one on either side of him.
"So, mate." yelled Harry, over the wind in his ears. "What do you think of Sandra?"
"Oh, she's alright. Pretty thing, although I don't want to see anyone like her in the Order anytime soon. That type is useless."
"Me neither."
After that they just dithered around, having races. Alexis wasn't as fast or as good as the boys at that. While she was a Chaser, they were both Seekers for their teams.
Eventually, Draco whined,
"Alex, can we please play with your Snitch?"
She looked at him.
"How did you know that I have a Snitch?"
"I've seen you playing around with it."
"Yeah, whatever." she answered.
When she had first tried out for the Quidditch team, she had gone for Seeker, but ended up as Ravenclaw's top Chaser.
"Here." she said, taking out the Snitch from her robe pocket where her wand was as well. She always kept it with her.
"Where'd you get it, anyway?" asked Harry curiously.
"Now, Mr. Potter, I know what you're thinking." she replied, and his mouth opened. "Quiet. Anyway, I didn't steal it from school, unlike your father did before." the corners of his mouth went up in a slight smile. "It was my birthday present. My last one before my parents died."
"Oh," was his reply, before Draco let the tiny golden ball flit out of sight and they both flew off.
"Alexis!"
"Yeah, mum?"
"Wake up!"
"Well that's just a nice way to get me out of bed on my birthday, isn't it?"
Her mother laughed.
"Of course, dear. Now hurry up. I want you in the backyard in half an hour at the most, alright?"
"Sure, mum."
Fifteen minutes later, the ten-year-old Alexis was out of the house and in the backyard.
"Hi dad." she greeted her father.
"Morning Alexis. Happy Birthday."
Alexis kissed her father's cheek.
"Thanks."
"You're going to love your presents."
"Presents? Dad, you know that I don't need anything."
"Except a new sword?"
"Sword? Dad! I thought, you know, we didn't /i do i that type of stuff anymore."
"Not stuff; medieval Muggle fighting methods!"
"David," scolded her mother, "We're not a medieval family."
"You have a weird obsession, daddy." laughed Alexis.
"I know I do." he answered. "But you can have one anyway."
"She'll cut herself." said her mother worriedly.
"Don't worry, Anne. It's a family heirloom, anyway, so it's not completely new."
"Let me guess; it used to belong to some great-great-great-great-great grandpa of mine or something who was a knight in the Muggle medieval times?"
He laughed.
"Something like that, Aly."
"But anyway," said her mother. "Here's one of your more /i sensible i presents."
She whistled. Alexis watched in fascination as, in a flash, a frisky black winged horse galloped to her mother and sniffed. Her mother laughed and pulled out an apple.
Her father chuckled.
"All yours, Aly. I got you this because your mother wouldn't let me get you a dragon."
"A dragon?" she was gaping at him. "You're kidding."
"Well, she said that it was not to spoil you, but I don't think she wants a fire-breather in her house."
"I hope you're not trying to spoil me." said Alexis honestly.
"Don't worry, Aly. I'm not. And neither is your mother. That's the last thing she would do."
"I know. So what's his name?" she paused. "Wait, it /i is i as he right?"
"Yes, Alexis. He's called Fury."
"Fury." she echoed. "I hope you didn't get me anything else."
For some reason, she never liked getting presents.
"Only one more." laughed her father. "Here you go."
He handed her a tiny, golden ball, which looked like a –
"A Snitch!"
"Hope you like it. You probably do though, seeing as you love Quidditch and all. Seeker, you wanted to be, right?"
"Yes, dad. Or a Chaser."
"Well, you can have it as your inspiration. Or," he added, "As something to occupy you during your first year at Hogwarts."
"Thank you!" she said, and hugged him.
Soon Draco was back, Snitch triumphantly held in his hand.
"Slytherin does have a chance of beating Gryffindor this year!" he yelled excitedly. Alexis rolled her eyes.
"That's only if you beat us, Draco."
"Ravenclaw's easy to beat."
"I'm taking that as an obvious insult."
"That's the one time you get the Snitch fairly, Draco!" yelled Harry, who then grinned. "And you won't be able to do it again, I'm sure."
"I will too."
"Will not."
"Will too."
"Will –"
"Shut up." said Alexis, and checked her watch. "It's around lunch right now. C'mon, before Mrs. Weasley has a fit!"
The boys agreed, and the three flew down to where they could see Ron waiting.
"Hey, Ron." said Alexis. "Finished your essay?"
"Yeah. Finally. Anyway, lunch is up."
They headed inside with him.
