July 7th 1993

It was a bright day indeed when Arthur Weasley won the Daily Prophet's lottery.

700 entire galleons. Yippee.

The entire family was ecstatic! And the money was, of course, spent in quick succession on a visit to Egypt, to visit their eldest son Bill.

Obviously, Alexandra didn't wish to shorten their trip by asking them to pay for her, but she knew their parental instincts would hardly let her pay for herself. Even if she did have more than enough galleons to pay for the family's return at least seven times a year.

For seventy years.

Well, she was taught to pick her battles.

July 17th 1993

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were far too excited to be reunited with their son.

Though, Alexandra supposed, it must have been hard letting him leave the burrow. Especially for Mrs. Weasley.

Bill had gotten slightly taller, and his hair hung longer, barely off his shoulder. Sometime between curse-breaking courses he'd managed to pierce his ear. What next, a rebellious tattoo?

Maybe not a tattoo in the Wizarding world.

Nonetheless, he still had that friendly smile that had won the affection of all the Professors at Hogwarts. Except for Professor Snape. But he was a grump anyways. What was with her contradictory mood today?

"Mum! Dad!" Bill waved them over the crowd at the embassy. "You've brought everyone!"

The Weasleys were all holding hands, to make sure no one got lost. It was probably for Fred and George, rather than Ginny. Alexandra was sandwiched between Percy and George.

"Keep up Ally," joked Fred, "At this rate, we're never going to see the pyramids!"

"I'm running, Would you have me fly?"

Ginny snorted, from Percy's other hand. It was nice to see her looking more relaxed. She deserved it after that horrible first year.

July 25th 1993

I'm so glad I wasn't expelled," she said, lying on one of the sandy cots, they were due to head back to England tomorrow, Alex would not be missing the sand. "But- but I wonder, sometimes I still hear his voice in my head. I know, I know that he's gone. But-"

"It feels like he's still here?"

Ginny took a gulp. "Yeah."

Alex sighed, opening her thin blanket, offering Ginny a spot beside her. The younger girl clambered in eagerly, head tucked in Alex's shoulder. Alex put her chin on top of her head.

They stayed there for Merlin knows how long.

"You know you can tell me anything yeah?" murmured Alex, gently rubbing Ginny's back.

"Except about Harry."

Alex rolled her eyes and smacked her arm slightly. "You may, but keep it short and snappy. Very snappy."

Ginny's eyes widened comically, and she was about to launch off when-

"Not now, err, maybe another day?"

She tensed immediately, and Alex realised the contradictory nature of her sentences. What a cry-baby.

"You don't mean it. Tom- You-Know-no-Tom used to let me talk." Ginny said tightly as she moved away from Alex.

"If it makes you feel better-" called Alex, scrambling for something to bridge the silence, "-Some nights I feel like I'm drenched in blood. I-I wake up in the middle of the night and I rarely fall back asleep."

Well, unless she had the potion. Which reminds her, she's nearly out. That's gonna be a problem.

She didn't know why she'd said it.

But the guilty feeling in her chest lessened when she saw Ginny give a subtle nod.

"G' night Alex."

"Good night Gin."

July 28th 1993

Alex was once again woken up by the miracles of having a pet snake that enjoyed smacking her in the face with its tail.

Oh joy.

Just another morning at the burrow.

"...WAKE UP!.."

"...Too early...Rex...no...NO!" Alex jumped out of her twin sized bed the moment the evil snake poised himself to pee all over her cot.

Yes, snakes do pee.

Alex found that out one unfortunate trip to the catacombs, last week. When a snake needs to go, he needs to go. She scrambled to find her wand as the snake did a little happy dance.

Ginny must've headed down for breakfast.

That girl and her appetite. She could put Ron to shame.

Alex looked into her little bag, one that contained all of her stuff. You know, the important things like Sleakazy's hair potion, Dreamless sleep, clothes, her Witch weekly subscription, an old bottle of Pumpkin juice kept under a stasis charm, a half-eaten apple (Ron!)...

Hermione's muggle book: 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'

She wasn't particularly hungry. Surely it wouldn't hurt?

At worst it'd be a laugh.

Alex climbed back into bed, swatting Rex away, grabbing that bottle of Pumpkin juice. She sat up straight opening the worn book. For all her quirks, Hermione had the good sense to not annotate the book, or merlin forbid dog-ear the pages. Despite that, the pages were slightly yellowed and the spine was broken.

She scoffed, turning the opening page delicately.

If anyone saw her reading, they didn't mention it.

By the time the Weasleys arrived to drag her for a Quidditch match, the sun was high in the sky and Alex was well into the book.

Scout was rather impressionable if not terribly immature and brash. Jem wanted to fill shoes that were far too big. And Atticus, Atticus seemed to impart random bouts of 'wisdom', sporadically; a 'radical' gentleman.

It seemed Muggles struggled with tolerance. Really, what was all the fuss about? A muggle is a muggle. Right?

And the vocabulary was ever so strange. In what world does 'licked' mean 'defeated'?

However as she turned the page, a quote caught her eye.

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

Alex furrowed her eyebrows and shut the book with a snap when she heard footsteps.

"Alex! There you are!" Ron sighed, "We need you for a game, so far it's an uneven number-"

The words had barely left his mouth before she had a broom in her hand.

July 31st 1993

Alexandra rolled up her letter to Harry. It was hard to believe she was already thirteen. A teenager in the muggle sense. Only four more years till she could be branded as a wizarding adult. Only four more years till she finished Hogwarts.

Okay maybe she was getting ahead of herself.

She took a look back at the rolled up letter, scratched ink staining the page, hopefully it would get to Harry before the end of the day. You never know with Errol.

"Dear Harry,

Happy thirteenth birthday to us! Ron's letter must've told you all about Egypt (if not read his letter first)! I wish you could've come, it was a very interesting experience. Mutated mummies! Like the dead? I don't know if that was real or Fred and George. The tombs were covered in beautiful Egyptian runes.

Of course, it would only be interesting if you took a useful elective like Ancient runes. Don't you dare tell Hermione that I think Ancient runes is useful. As far as she's concerned it's outdated but looks good on your O.W.L.S, got it?

Now I've sent you a gift (I'm not telling you what yet!). Don't worry I don't expect you to be able to owl one back. Depending on whether or not you've opened mine or Ron's first, you will know about the Sneakoscope incident at dinner. Truly strange! It kept lighting up, maybe it was just Fred and George (they snuck beetles into the soup, bleh, I stuck to the falafel. You think you can convince Dobby to learn the recipe?)

I hope this reaches you in time,

P.S- Ron told me to ask you how your summer was. I think it's rather useless as I know it would've been abysmal. But how was your Summer? RON! HE WON'T BE ABLE TO SEND A LETTER BACK!

P.P.S- It's chaotic here. Help.

Love, Alexandra."

She let out a satisfied nod, tying the letter and a box to Errol's back. The Weasleys really needed a new owl.

The box contained a little box of chocolate frogs, some Basbousa (an Egyptian sweet that was placed under a stasis charm) and some pyramid paperweights that she bought from Wizarding Egypt; they were warded against 'evil' and bound to protect the user. Most importantly, the most delicate gift was a glass sand bottle that depicted a quidditch match with the sand enchanted to have the players moving constantly. If anything, it would brighten up his dull bedside décor.

(pretend the sand bottle has quidditch with moving players)

She checked the large grandfather clock, it was only ten in the morning. Harry's letter would surely reach in time.

"Alexandra!" called Mrs. Weasley from downstairs, flour staining the front of her apron, "If you're done with your letters, would you like to help me with the frosting? I'll pretend I don't see you licking the spoons!"

What sane child would say no to cake?

Alexandra's day couldn't have been going better.

A full English for breakfast. Chocolate frogs and Bertie bott's beans for Lunch with Cornish pasties. Cake for dinner!

What more could a kid ask for? Oh right, presents!

"Alexandra! Time to open your presents!" called Mrs. Weasley, cleaning up the dishes, Percy at her side.

Surprisingly, there had been no post from the Malfoys. No matter, they probably didn't want to owl anything to the Burrow (did they even know where the burrow was?), she'd probably get her present once she returned to Hogwarts.

Nevermind the Malfoys, for now she had six gifts from the Weasleys.

Bill had given her her present the day they'd left Egypt. It was kept in a box, and Alex had tried secretly poked a hole in the packaging, in order to see what he'd gotten her. Unfortunately, it seemed that Bill had anticipated her sneakiness and the box stung her hand the moment she bent to peer inside, immediately repairing itself.

He'd sent an owl the next day, warning her not to try opening the present until the 31st of July. Or else the spells would cause more damage than a 'light sting to the hand'. She didn't want to find out whether that was true or not.

However now, at 7p.m in the evening she had gained the right to tear open the plain brown paper, that consistently obstructed the shape of her present. Alex tentatively tore the tiniest bit away, testing to see if it would sting her once more. It didn't. So she happily tore away the rest of the packaging with the sort of unadultered glee only an impatient child on their birthday could have.

The large box was mainly empty, a misdirect, except for some ice mice and a golden telescope. The new Celestial 213. Thank goodness someone remembered, she'd been dropping hints left right and center!

"Dear Little Witch,

Happy 13th birthday! I hope the wards on the gift didn't trouble you too much. Well, you wouldn't have any problem with them unless you tried to open it prematurely... "

She scoffed, shaking her head, how'd he know?

"As I'm sure you'd know, the new Celestial 213 isn't out just yet, but I suppose there's got to be some advantage to constantly travelling.

I'm not going to bore you with details of the advantages the telescope comes with, you'd know them already (or Percy would in any case), but I'd like some credit in case you end up discovering a new star. Perhaps some new naming ideas? Willius 325 in galaxy Weasleyitica sounds good, right?"

Please, if anything the galaxy would be called Alexandria.

"Jokes aside, I'm sure you'll be the star of your Astronomy class. Star? Astronomy? (Okay, I'll stop now)

As for the ice mice, I'd heard they'd been discontinued by Honeydukes a couple years back, so I'll let you imagine my surprise when I found an entire stash with a hag hiding in one of the tombs. I'll spare you the details, however, there wasn't much left protecting the bag of candy. A nasty curse gone wrong.

A lucky coincidence, coz now we get to revive an old birthday tradition! (I believe they're snake proof too... for your serpentine friend)

Have a lovely thirteenth little witch,

Billdozer."

She popped open the plastic covering the cooling candy and popped one in her mouth. The mouse moved a bit in her mouth before settling, sending a shiver down her spine.

Suddenly, Rex popped his head out from under the couch and tilted his head in a demanding way, eagerly slithering over the Alex's lap.

"You want one?"

Rex bowed his head in what might've been a nod and Alex popped another pack open, dangling the sugary rodent in the air by its tail.

Rex snapped his jaws eagerly, rising up and snatching the mouse from her hand.

"Don't teaseeeeeee meeee."

Next came Charlie's gift. Now Charlie, Charlie was the brother who loved food almost as much as he loved dragons. The original Ron, if she said so herself. So, it wasn't a surprise when he sent her some cookies (obviously under a stasis charm, it'd taken weeks to arrive by owl). Probably some type of Romanian delicacy that looked strange, but she knew would taste good.

And they did taste good. Alex hardly waited to taste them and thought she detected cheese? Jam?

She opened the note that also came with it,

"Happy Birthday Alexandra!

I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it back home for your Birthday, I hope you don't mind me trying to make up for my absence with cookies. These ones are called Papanasi, they're a Romanian delicacy and really very delicious.

The dragons are doing fine. Again, give the rest my love and apologies for not coming to Egypt. We had a huge amount of Dragons come in from another sanctuary after poachers raided the area. Unbelievably enough, the sanctuary was very near a muggle village and it was a nightmare with the Romanian ministry. Tell mum no one got severely injured, merely some burns here and there and the forest's fine, you know about her green thumb. More worried about trees than the poor dragons.

Lots of love,

Your favourite Weasley,

P.S - I'm still trying to get them to change the name of the Dragon department from Winged beasts to Winged Creatures. Bloody stubborn panel. Any ideas?

Charlie Weasley.

Sent from the Wizarding Animals Nature Reserve, Romania."

She set the note down, placing it back inside the box and took the pastries out, offering everyone a piece.

Since she'd managed to open her presents eldest child down, she felt obliged to open Percy's next.

"A book?" she turned her head once she saw Percy nod, his Head boy badge pinned neatly on top of his bed shirt. She tore away the thin paper packaging and saw a title she thought she recognised.

"A signed copy of 'Powerful witches through the ages?', Percy you didn't!"

The back of his neck turned red and he started cracking his knuckles. "Well- Yes- Of course- I mean Penelope's aunt wrote it so- and I saw it at Flourish and Blott's"

"Oooooooh, Penelope is it?" chorused Fred and George. Mrs. Weasley slapped the backs of their heads.

"Boys! Don't tease!" she looked expectantly at Percy, "Dearie, it's alright to have a girlfriend you know, perfectly natural-"

"MUM!" he coughed, "Err, it's Alexandra's birthday, can we not?"

Alex let out a small smile as she gently touch the cover of the book. Hardback edition, and the sides were gilded. To be honest, this wasn't the best present she'd yet received but she appreciated the sentiment.

"Thank you Percy," she let out a polite smile and placed the book next to the Celestial 213.

"You hate it." he deadpanned, "I knew it was a stupid gift-"

"No! No! It's lovely Percy..."she tried reassuring, but the pause told him enough.

He scoffed and stalked off upstairs.

"I really do like it!" she called after him, waving the book in the air.

Mrs. Weasley sighed, wiping her hands on her apron. "Don't worry about him dear, he's simply in one of those moods. Get on with the presents, I'll go talk to him." She sqaured her shoulders.

"PERCY!"

The twins nudged her shoulder. "Our turn!"

She reluctantly took the small brown package from their hands. They were sporting matching, mischievous grins, and Alex didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.

"Sugar quills?"

"Better. Check the bottom of the package." said Fred excitedly.

Alex slowly moved her hand around, trying to maintain her composure, it better not be a worm again.

"It's just a note!" cried George, "Do you not trust us?"

She gave them a pointed look as she pulled out a piece of crinkled parchment.

"A menu?"

"Not just any menu!" laughed George, bouncing on his heels, "This is a special menu!"

"What do you mean, 'write anything down'?" she was entirely confused, weren't menus specially dedicated to food? Why were there shapes written down?

"Should we tell her Gred?"

"I think we should Forge," the twins took a deep breath in.

"This is-"

"-A little something we've been working on-"

"-We got the inspiration when we went to Hogsmeade for Christmas-"

"-So we decided we'd put on a show!"

A show? The last time the Weasley's had gone to Hogsmeade was the Winter of Fred and George's first year, they'd sent her a picture of-

"Fireworks?" she whispered, in awe.

"Bingo!" they chorused, "Now, all you have to do is write down a scenario on the parchment and-"

"-ideally-"

"It'll recreate the scenario!"

"What's this I hear about fireworks?" cut in Mrs. Weasley, hands on her hips.

The boys jumped, "We didn't do underage magic mum! We got Bill to help us!"

"So you dragged your brother into making dangerous muggle-"

"Let it be Molly," chuckled Arthur, "The boys ran it through me, they even showed me a demonstration last week-"

"This is... AMAZING!" shrieked Alex, giving them a wide hug. "So I can choose anything? Like anything?"

They nodded. "So far there've been no limits."

"Fireworks after gifts!"

Speaking of gifts, Ron and Ginny had bought her a gift together. It made sense, since neither of them had enough pocket money individually to buy her something useful. Maybe they made something, but that was unlikely considering they were giving her a gift from the both of them.

The gift was also rather small and rectangularly shaped.

"Another book?"

"Of sorts," laughed Ginny, "Just open it!"

And so she did. Now, she understood why Ginny said 'of sorts'. It was a Quidditch magazine.

"Quidditch network, August 1993 edition. Thanks guys,"

She moved to keep it beside the rest of the gifts when Ginny grabbed her hand.

"Open it! For goodness sake, do you really think we're going to leave you with a two knut magazine?"

Chastised, she opened the magazine that had inscribed inside,

'Thank you for purchasing an annual subscription to Quidditch network!

To show our gratitude, while your subscription is valid, you and up to ten other guests have two quidditch matches free!'

"Oh my- Merlin, Oh Ron, are you thinking what I'm thinking? GINNY! RON! Oh my-"

"Tickets for the Chudley canons VS. The Holyhead harpies, so we can see the clearly superior team win?" Ron laughed, with his third Papanasi cookie staining his teeth, "Or could you possible mean the Quidditch World cup next year while it's still valid-"

He was cut off from Alex smacking the half-eaten cookie out of his hand and pulling him into a hug. "This is an awesome gift!"

"Where's my hug?" pouted Ginny, "I was the one who came up with it!"

Alex giggled and hugged Ginny warmly.

"That's not all," cut in Ron, "I wrote to Oliver Wood, yeah? And would you believe, the team has an opening position for a backup seeker since Harry's always injured-"

"RON YOU DIDN'T!"

"-He said he'd be excited to see you at tryouts. Of course, nothing's guaranteed but-"

He was cut off, again, by a very high pitched squeal.

Rex coiled himself up inside Charlie's (now empty) gift box, shielding his head and 'delicate' snake ears.

"BEST GIFT EVER!"

She let out an excited shriek, jumping up and down slightly, before taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Alex had a wide grin on her face as she turned towards Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"Ah right," started Mr. Weasley, "I'll go get it, Molly dear, wait here I'll be right back." He jumped off the couch and headed back towards the kitchen.

"Right, while Arthur's getting your present, I just wanted to let you know it's not huge or fancy or really grand, but I hope you'll like it. I really hope it means as much to you as it does, Alexandra dear you're like a daughter to us. The daughter we've never really had, dresses and polite teas-"

"OI!" squawked Ginny indignantly.

"-But you've always really been a part of our family. Ever since Bill saw you at Hogwarts and the twins kidnapped you home for Easter, their first year."

Mrs. Weasley walked back in, standing beside his wife. He was holding something in his fist.

"Even if you're not ours by blood, we'd like you to have a well- we'd like you to have an official place in this family."

He opened his palm, revealing a small spoon, with her face on it. Mrs. Weasley put a hand on Mr. Weasley's shoulder, misunderstanding her silence.

"We understand if it's too soon, we just-"

Alex slowly reached for the spoon, delicately inspecting it.

"How do I get it on the clock?"

"Look Rex, it's a dragon!" whispered Alex laying on the grass.

"COMING UP: A RED STAR!" shouted Fred, from where he was lighting the fireworks. "ALEX DID YOU WRITE A 'MAZE GARDEN' OR 'BLASÉ ARSON'?"

"What do you think?" yelled Percy, who'd reluctantly come out of his room.

As the sparks dissolved, everything seemed a little brighter. With Rex laying on her chest and Ginny holding her hand, it was easy to forget how foul Voldermort's last encounter made her feel.

On the best of days his voice was only a nightly demon.

Little wench.

1st August 1993

Alex woke up late in the afternoon, justly tired out from all the partying the day before. As she headed to the kitchen to pick up something to eat, she noticed a bunch of letters addressed to her on the table.

"Oh!" started Mrs. Weasley, "Some owls came today, delivering your Hogwarts lists and what-not. I think you've got some extra letters as well, maybe late birthday notes!"

She gave Alex a hug and pushed a plate of toast and eggs towards her as Alex sat down to read her letters.

"Dear Ms. Evans,

Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock. Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign. A list of books for next year is enclosed.

Yours sincerely,

Professor M. McGonagall Deputy Headmistress"

It seemed Alexandra was in no dearth of letters today, because the Hogwarts owl was carrying two more letters.

"Alexandra,

Minerva has given me your Hogsmeade form. I have signed it. Take it as your birthday present. I see you made good use of my previous Christmas gifts and as such I trust you not to do anything foolish on the trips. Leave the idiotism to the Weasley twins.

I will see you at Hogwarts,

Severus Snape."

She could practically hear the insult roll off his tongue.

A third letter? Signed from Professor Dumbledore? What on earth could he want?

"Someone once told me 'Do not take life too seriously, after all, no one comes out alive.'

I found it a rather interesting way of thinking, nonetheless, I am writing to you today about something you mentioned earlier in the year.

After rescuing Miss Weasley you mentioned that your brother had stabbed the basilisk with a set of knives you received for Christmas, if I am recalling this correctly. I find it rather curious, considering the only known ways of killing a basilisk are a rooster's crow and, well, the sword of Gryffindor, which has been missing for centuries.

Would you mind terribly sending one of those knives over for further examination? As you have a complete set I don't believe missing one should make a great deal of difference. I leave it up to your discretion.

I apologise for interrupting your birthday festivities and wish you a very lovely summer,

Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."

He certainly wasn't wrong. Despite desperately wanting to erase her memories of the basilisk, she too had wondered how Harry, who was extremely deficient in his knowledge of sword fighting, had managed to stab the basilisk with only a little dagger.

She frowned and sat down to pen a letter to Tonks, where had she gotten that set from?