As the days flew by, Draco, Alastair, Theo and Blaise found themselves drifting further and further away from their housemates. This was obviously because of their connection with Alexandra but it was far too late now to stop socialising with her if they did they wouldn't really have any power in the house anymore. This was due to a power shift that had happened when Alex defeated the seventh year.
In the Slytherin house there was only three things that truly mattered: Power, be it magically, physically, mentally or even financially, age and blood. Your worth was determined by those factors and you were then placed in the hierarchy. When Alexandra had 'defeated' Alastair she had automatically moved to the top of that system, but had shown a blunt disregard for two of the dominant factors: Age and blood, and instead chosen to look at power and potential, by doing this she had made a new system. To not disturb the power balance the new system had been woven into the one already existent and, as such the people Alexandra found worthy would be given a place, within reason, in the hierarchy by her choice. This had, for an example, given Draco, Blaise and Theo way more influence on house politics than the other first years. All because she had deemed them better than their peers. If they were to pull away from Alex they would go back to being normal first years, and that was hard to comprehend. Power was addictive.
Alastair was the only one that could afford to break with the raven haired girl and he was both too scared of the girl and too respectful to do so.
So they were just left to watch helplessly as their former comrades floated away from them. By the time the Christmas holiday was coming around they felt more lonely than ever. Ironically enough, their solution came from the root of the problem, Alex.
They were sitting in the common room around the fireplace where green flames eagerly ate away on, the now blackened, wood. Theodore couldn't help but notice the polite distance everyone else kept to them. He suddenly felt very isolated. The three other boys seemed to be affected by it too. Alex, though, didn't seem to mind at all. She just sat in her chair fiercely concentrating on her book. Then she lifted her head as if feeling the boys gloomy eyes staring at her.
"Okay, so I'm getting tired of seeing you walk around like victims." Her forehead furrowed and she pouted a bit.
"What do you want us to do about it then? We have no one to talk too," Blaise's voice was flat as if he had resigned himself to being a loner these next few years.
"Oh I don't know," Alex tapped her cheek lightly with the tips of her finger.
She tilted her head and then pretended to look surprised, "I got it! Maybe you should stop calling each other by your last names and actually talk to each other. That way you can still be social!"
That might work, Theo thought, there was only a slight problem, what about…
"What about me then, do you think I want to converse with a bunch of firsties?"
The sneer interrupted Theo's thought process, but yeah, what about Alastair? He could hardly be expected to hang around them.
Once more Alexandra pouted.
"Hmm, you might be right about that, what about…"
.
.
Alex's eyes scanned across the room before they met a pair of grey ones. Those eyes were filled with curiosity and belonged to a short girl with brown hair and freckles. Alexandra quickly identified the girl as fifth year Leonor Rookwood. She would do…
And what about Edolie Carrow? The blonde sixth-year girl was already an outcast since her father was unknown to the public and her mother was in Azkaban. For all, they knew, she could be a halfblood.
"…what about Leonor Rookwood and Edolie Carrow. I don't think they have many friends and as far as I remember they are fairly good on the academical front. Leonor really excels at arithmancy and Edolie is good at care for magical creatures. I think they would be more than willing to be your company in exchange for some influence on the house politics."
Alastair looked at the two girls with an icy expression. His calculating eyes then lit up with glee. He nodded.
"That could work, excuse me while I go make someone acquaintances."
And then they were four…
Alexandra looked expectantly at the three boys and they shifted uncomfortably.
"Well then, why don't I start," she laid the book down on a little black side table, "today I talked with Fred and George about visiting them over the holidays, but I'm not sure it's gonna work out yet, I have a lot of photoshoots planned since I've been gone from the muggle world for so long. What are your plans for the holidays, Theo?"
Theo looked so out of place that she almost broke her calm facade, but this was important. If they didn't know each other, how was she supposed to do anything?
"Well, I and my dad are going to Bulgaria for a while to look into investing in some local dragon sanctuaries. Ehm, what about you, Mal- Draco?"
Alexandra nodded approvingly and turned to look at Draco.
"Well, I was going to ask Alex if she wanted to come visit the manor, but if you, Alex, want to spend Yule with some blood traitors then be my guest. Just don't expect me to understand your reasoning, they haven't even learned what Yule is, they think it's named 'christmas'… Well, except for that, my family is going to host The Annual Malfoy Yule Ball again this year. Your invitations will arrive by owl, so leave the 26th of December open. What about you, Blaise?"
Alex had expected Draco to be angry at her for wanting to visit the twins. He was, by far, the most prejudiced of her friends, even more so than Blaise, and Merlin, Blaise was bad too.
"Well, mother and I are going to France to meet her new suitor," Blaise smirked amusedly.
Alexandra was interested now, "what do you mean, suitor?"
Before Blaise could get to answer Theo had already opened his mouth.
"Don't you know? Blaise's mother is well known for making her husbands disappear. She never gets caught, though."
"Thank you, Theo, for the valuable insight on my mother's life. Anyway, that is kind of the plan for this Yule."
Alexandra smiled, she would like to meet Mrs Zabini sometime in the future.
"You'll have to introduce me some time," Blaise shivered, "but now we have more important things to do, on to next topic then: My favourite colour is red, dark red, what is yours, Theo?
And so they continued on for a couple of rounds before bidding each other goodnight and promoting to meet up the next day for a new round of 'getting to know one another'.
Before going to bed Alexandra sorted through her new-found knowledge about her friends. As it turned out Theo absolutely adored all things blue, Draco had a love for home baked goods and Blaise's favourite animal was a spider, a black widow to be exact.
.
.
While the four first years had gotten to know each other Alastair had been talking to Carrow and Rookwood. While it had been entirely too easy to get into a conversation with Carrow, since she sat alone in the corner of the room, it had been an uphill battle getting Leonor Rookwood to join them. He had started with introducing himself to Carrow, or Elodie as she wished to be called, with a terrible joke about snargaloff plants and had immediately felt stupid. She, however, had been kind enough to laugh and from there the conversation had held a nice flow. Alastair had felt a connection with the girl, she was witty and smart and he could see himself becoming fast friends with her. They had tried to get Rookwood to join them numerous times but didn't really succeed until he remembered what Alex had said about her: 'Leonor really excels at arithmancy'. Since he, himself, took the subject he had tried to get her involved through complaining about homework, and it had worked. Soon, both he and Elodie found themselves listening to her endless rambles about reducing an especially complex spell to an even number.
Albeit the conversation with Rookwood had been a little stiff, Alastair knew that both of them would come back to talk more soon enough. They really didn't have a choice: The other Slytherins were already beginning to view them as part of Alexandra's clique. It might seem a bit cynical to rip them away from their peers but he really didn't care all that much. Why should he? Alexandra hadn't cared when she did that to him.
.
.
As promised Blaise, Theodore and Alexandra met up with Draco the next evening. They once more sat in front of the fireplace and the rest of their housemates still chose to stay away. Draco had thought about what Alex had said about getting to know one another and he had reached a conclusion that he would rather not have reached: If they were to become friends it was important to really get to know each other, not just 'what is your favourite animal'.
"Alex, Blaise, Theo… I thought we might mix it up a bit tonight."
Looking at the other's curious expressions he gulped, this was not fun at all.
"Well, I thought that if we have to become friends, like really become friends, not just acquaintances we have to know something, something more, about each other: It's not enough to know the other's favourite colour."
Alexandra was the first to respond and he was relieved that he did so with a fond twinkle in her eyes.
"What do you suggest, Draco?"
"A game. I have here a pouch," he held up a violet velvet pouch, "in here we put questions that we want the other people to answer, personal questions. Everybody will take turns pulling out a question. Nobody will know who put a question in there…"
Draco could almost see the wheels turning inside their heads.
"I'm in," Theodore seemed a bit nervous but also excited.
This was a feeling Draco understood as the game was a double edged sword: On one side you got a lot of potential blackmail on your fellow players, on the other, they got a lot on you too. He for one couldn't wait to uncover who Alexandra Miller really was but didn't want her to know squat about himself.
"Me too." This time it was Blaise.
And then it was up to Alex to decide whether she wanted to join…
"I'm in, under one condition: We swear an oath on our magic that what we say in this circle stay in this circle."
Draco exhaled slowly, that was actually a good idea, that way he could be sure nobody ratted him out.
"Fine with me," he looked her in the eyes and was met with a blank stare.
The two others just nodded reluctantly.
Alexandra started the oath.
"I, Alexandra Miller, swear on my magic that I won't reveal anything I'm told tonight in this sacred circle…"
"I, Draco Malfoy, swear on my magic that I won't reveal anything I'm told tonight in this sacred circle…"
I, Theodore Nott, swear on my magic that I won't reveal anything I'm told tonight in this sacred circle…"
I, Blaise Zabini, swear on my magic that I won't reveal anything I'm told tonight in this sacred circle and I hereby seal this agreement."
Draco felt his magic twisting before it went still again, and suddenly the situation seemed very real too real. What exactly had he done?
"Let us begin…"
.
.
At the very same moment, two boys sat up in the astronomy tower discussing their choices.
"…do you really think it was wise?"
"Wise, no. Necessary, yes."
"I suppose so, how else are we supposed to get her alone for long enough to ask her about the ~ accident~."
A cold wind blew through the tower and made their hair swirl a bit.
"I just hope she says yes, or else we will have to revise our plans."