As soon as Blaise had uttered the last words in the oath he felt his magic binding with the contract, now there was no way out.

"Let us begin… We write two questions each," Alex cast a quick charm so people around them couldn't ~accidentally~ overhear their conversation. They each sat down to write their questions. Blaise made sure to write with another font than he usually did: He might not write his name, but that didn't mean the others wouldn't be able to recognise his handwriting. Theodore was the last to finish up and add his questions to the pouch.

"Who is going to start?" He asked.

For a couple of seconds, no one answered before Draco reached for the pouch.

"It was me that suggested it, so I suppose I should start."

The blonde haired boy pulled out a slip of paper, read it over and then read it one more time. His hand began shaking a bit. Blaise looked curiously at the Malfoy heir, he had seen Draco being smug, happy and sad. He had even seen him scared once, but he had never seen him like that and for some reason Blaise enjoyed it. He enjoyed the way the colour disappeared from the others cheeks and the way slumped downing the sofa, he enjoyed that Draco was helpless. It was a sick thought, one that he wouldn't publicly admit.

Then Draco opened his mouth, "'do you think you were raised well?'"

Blaise immediately understood why that was a harsh question for Draco. Lucius Malfoy wasn't exactly known for being a pleasant man.

Draco, however hard the question was, continued.

"I guess so, I mean, I know my father isn't the best father: He is strict and tolerates no mistakes, but he is still my father. My mother likes to spoil me, which helps, and even though I know my dad expects me to become the perfect Malfoy heir I don't feel too bad about it. I just, sometimes, wish that people would see me as more than the Malfoy scion."

Blaise sat silently and absorbed the information Draco had just provided. He had honestly expected Draco to feel differently his family, but it seemed he didn't… Still, Blaise knew exactly how Draco felt, he himself had also felt the pressure that came with being a pureblood heir. He supposed Theodore felt it too.

The next one to pull out a question was himself. He recognised it immediately as it was one of his own.

"Have you ever wanted to kill someone?" He read out loud.

Then he answered, "No, not exactly kill, but I've wished someone dead before."

Nodding towards Alex, to indicate that it was her turn he leant back and relaxed. Three more people before it were him again.

He watched closely as an ivory hand with perfectly manicured nails reached into the pouch to find a question. Blaise wasn't afraid to admit that she was unnaturally pretty, a thing that he certainly appreciated. It just didn't make her personality attractive, she was snarky, sarcastic, demanding and charming: Overall, mostly bad with only a smidgen of good.

Blaise smirked. He liked Alex, she was very Slytherin.

"I have to tell you what my biggest secret is," Alexandra stated after reading her question. She didn't seem like her usual cold arrogant self, instead, her face was distorted with distaste. Blaise felt like cheering this was the question he had hoped she would pull.

"Well, I grew up on the outskirts of muggle London, in a suburban area where the hedges were all white and the flowers the same in every garden. It was horribly dull if you ask me. I lived with my aunt Petunia, uncle Vernon and cousin Dudley. My cousin was what I would call an abomination: Fat, spoiled and, worst of all, stupid. Oh, that great oaf was dumb, almost as idiotic as my uncle: A brute who enjoyed hitting defenceless children."

At this, Blaise had released a breath he hadn't knew he'd held. What kind of a man would lay hand on their own children?

"But he didn't enjoy beating up random kids, no he only enjoyed it when it came to this one particular child. Of course, he would never lay hand on a 'normal' child, so instead he hurt the freak. He hurt it so bad it couldn't walk straight for days, that people would look weirdly at it. But the beatings weren't enough, no, not enough…"

By then Alexandra looked far away, he eyes were blurry as if she was reliving something.

"He didn't, you know, he didn't rape the freak did he?" Draco's soft whisper broke her trance.

Her mouth formed an unhinged smile.

"No, he didn't."

Blaise was grateful for this, he wasn't sure he was ready to hear something like that.

"No, no he didn't, but he locked it up in a closet underneath the staircase. There they could leave it for days with very little water or food. And what a wonderful time the family had together when it wasn't there!"

A small chuckle excited the girl's mouth, "did you know? Did you all know that the freak was me?"

Blaise felt as if his stomach had just decided to turn itself inside out like he was going to be sick. He had, of course, known that she had been talking about herself throughout the story, but it was one thing to know it inside his mind and another to hear it being said aloud. Suddenly he understood why Alex was so fucked up.

After a short moment where they all recovered from her story, the 'game' went on.

"'What is your biggest fear?'" Theo looked both relieved and burdened at the same time. Blaise supposed it was because he didn't have anything that could top Alex's rant about her so-called family but still didn't want to answer the question.

"I suppose it is failure, I fear disappointing those closest to me."

Blaise nodded in understanding, yes that was an understandable fear.

.

.

Alexandra had known that she would get into some very… uncomfortable situations when she chose to play the game. She just hadn't expected that she would be telling the boys about her childhood. For a short moment she had been inside the closet once more and she had felt little and helpless, weak. She had been grateful when the attention had switched to Theo and now Draco.

The latter had picked up one of her questions: Can you tell what real happiness feel like? The blond had sat still for a long time and now seemed disturbed.

"I don't really know…"

Alex understood why he felt disturbed, it wasn't every day you realised you didn't know happiness. She had only just found her definition half a year ago: Eating an ice-cream while walking slowly through the busy streets of inner London. That made her feel truly happy for some reason even she didn't know.

Draco furrowed his brows, "warmth I think. Something warm."

And Alex couldn't help but notice how cold her own hands were. They were always cold. A wry smile spread across her face, how poetic. She knew she wasn't going to bring happiness to any of her friends but she would bring them greatness, and power. Blaise pulled out a question.

"'What is five of the most beautiful things you know about?'"

Uh, another one of hers. How very exciting.

Mentally she answered the question: A pair of Luis Vuitton pumps, a cup of hot cocoa, the first snow falling down to earth before muggles pollute that too, the night sky and graveyards. It was a list that she regularly went through and now Blaise would go through his. The list told her way more about a person than a lot of other things.

"Symmetry," Blaise stated.

Alex nodded her head, that could be interpreted as many things but she chose to believe it was because of vanity rather than anything else. No need to overanalyze.

"Knockturn alley at night."

Uncanny… Could mean he was like her in some ways and saw that the dark sides of life didn't need to be ugly, just like she liked graveyards.

"Birds." That one was easy, it could only mean that he thought freedom was something one should try to obtain.

"Spiders."

Probably linked to his mother. As she had discovered yesterday, when he had said that black widows were his favourite animal, Blaise had a good amount of respect for his mother.

"Tears."

The last one seemed so random, Alex just couldn't make sense of it, and that bothered her. She'd have to think about it later though as she pulled out the last question.

"'How much would you do to get what you want?'"

Alex knew that this question had been intended fo her. It was too specific to be for anyone else, shitty luck she had…

"Most things," she decided to play it off cool, tell a half truth. She would do almost anything which could roughly be translated into 'most things' and didn't sound as batshit crazy as 'everything with few exceptions'.

.

.

Alastair Rosier watched his 'friends' as they sat near the fireplace. It looked like they were playing some kind game, but not a fun one. His thoughts were interrupted by a blonde girl.

"Alastair, are you even listening to what I'm saying? What are you looking at? Ah, Potter and her friends?"

Alastair glanced at Elodie she had a sadistic look in her eyes.

"Are you sad Potty didn't allow for you to play their silly games?"

He wasn't surprised she lashed out at him, they'd gotten along yesterday but she was a Slytherin, just like himself, and when a Slytherin saw a weakness they had to showcase it for the entire world. It was in their nature. She was also partly correct: He did feel excluded, but at the same time he wasn't sure he wanted to be part of the group, not if Alexandra's facial expressions were anything to go by.

"Her last name is Miller, Elodie."

"You are trying to escape my question," Carrow exclaimed in a sing-song voice while rocking back and forth.

Alastair looked around, their conversation had attracted a more attention than he had thought. Well, now that he had the attention, why not make the best of it?

"I'm actually happy not to be in there right now," Elodie seemed confused, "look at Alex, look at her closely."

He directed Elodie Carrow, and everyone else's, eyes to the girl by pointing at her.

"Now tell me, Elodie dear, have you ever seen Alexandra make such a face? Have you ever seen her eyes so filled with hatred, pain… Fear?" "No," she whispered.

"I haven't either, she usually has amazing control over her facial expressions… and I'm pretty sure I don't want to participate in something that can make Alex look like that."

.

.

Alexandra, Theodore, Blaise and Draco didn't talk about the game again, but they certainly thought about it, and soon it was time to go home for Yule. Alexandra was both looking forward to getting home and hating the fact that she had too. It had been far too long since she had last spoken to Caroline and it was difficult to owl the older woman as she lived in the muggle world: It just wasn't regarded as normal to have an owl visit one's penthouse regularly. One the flip side she had to socialise and catch up with her modelling work. The mere thought was already sucking her life force out of her body.

'Wait for me mistress,' Oswald slither across the frozen grounds and then slid up her leg.

'The earth is so cold lately, I don't like it here.' Alex chuckled. It was easy to forget Oswald since he spent most of his time exploring the castle and hunting in the woods, as the weather grew colder he had, however, moved away from the forest and into the castle. Here he had taken a habit of scaring some of the younger Hufflepuff students, by suddenly appearing at random places, to the great amusement of the Weasley twins. Alexandra secretly enjoyed it too, but she wouldn't be caught saying that out loud. A scary Slytherin simply wasn't supposed to find her snake's silly antics humorous.

They boarded the train and found an empty compartment. Alexandra had wished Alastair a good Yule earlier that day, seeing as he would be sitting with Elodia and Leonor. The latter had finally begun talking to him more.

The train ride was at best boring. The most exciting thing that happened was Theo telling them about the time he and his father had visited America on a business trip. Alex was happy that the game had brought them close enough to share at least their fond memories, yet terrified that they knew about her childhood.

She was happy when the train finally came to a standstill. Quickly they got their luggage and moved out on the platform. Here Alexandra set off to find Hermione and Neville to say her goodbyes.

"Alex!"

The outcry belonged to a bushy haired girl, who also waved both her hands high up in the air.

Alexandra smiled and waved back before walking towards her friend.

"Hello Mione," her voice came out smooth albeit a bit amused, it wasn't every day one saw Hermione Granger waved her arms like a toddler.

"Alex," Alexandra took a moment to appreciate the fact that Hermione had finally begun to call her Alex, it had been an uphill battle. The girl had simply been too concerned with the Alexandra's Slytherin friends.

"Yes, that is my name, Mione."

"Yeah, I know," Hermione sent her a playful scowl, "I wanted you to meet my parents. Mum, dad, this is Alexandra Miller, Alex this is my parents, Joanne and Robert Granger."

Alexandra sent them a pleasant smile, they both looked a lot like Hermione, "it's nice to meet you Mrs and Mr Granger, Hermione has told me lots of wonderful things about you."

Alex offered them her hand.

Mr Granger nodded curtly and shook her it, "nice to meet you too Alexandra."

His handshake was firm, but not firm enough to hurt her.

"Yes, it is nice to finally put a face on this person our Hermione has written home about," Mrs Granger also shook her hand, put it was much lighter than her husbands.

Alexandra had to focus on not trembling as Joanne Granger held her hand a little while longer than what seemed appropriate. She still had to fight her reaction to physical contact…

"I am sorry to ask you this, but you seem familiar, have we perhaps met before?"

Ahh, so Joanne Granger was as perceptive as her daughter. Alexandra supposed Joanne had seen her on the billboards or in a fashion magazine once or twice.

"No I don't think so Ma'am, I am terribly sorry."

"Oh no, don't worry Alexandra, it was probably just my eyes playing tricks with me."

Alex nodded slowly, spotted a nervous looking boy and then turned to face Hermione.

"Well, I'll see you later, I think I just spotted Neville over there and I want to say goodbye to him too. Have a nice Yule, Mione."

Alexandra began sashaying towards the boy.

"You too, Alex!" Hermione's voice was almost inaudible because of the noise.

"Neville," Alex plastered on a warm smile as she greeted her shy friend.

"Hey Alexandra," he smiled timidly.

"Oh, call me Alex."

A tall, thin, almost hawk-like woman cleared her throat and placed a hand upon Neville's shoulder. She wore clothes that Alex could best describe as fashionable in the 40-ties and a bright red handbag. Alexandra instinctively disliked her but just kept on smiling brightly.

"And you might be?" The woman's voice was hoarse and her tone dismissing.

Neville sent her an apologetic look. Alex just looked back in understanding, at least she wasn't related to the woman.

"Grandma, meet Alexandra Miller, also known as Alexandra Potter. Alex, meet my grandmother, Augusta Longbottom."

Augusta's intimidating glare seemed to lessen at the mention of her biological parents' last name.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Potter," Augusta shook her hand firmly.

"Believe me, Mrs Longbottom, the pleasure's all mine," she looked at Neville, "I will see you after the holidays, have a nice Yule, Neville."

"You too, Alex." The Longbottom scion waved farewell to her and she went off to find Caroline.

.

The blonde woman wasn't hard to find as she stood out in her designer dress and heels. She was conversing loudly with someone over the phone and Alexandra thought she hadn't changed a day. As soon as Caroline saw her she turned off her mobile phone and smiled like a little child on its birthday.

Alex sighed, she had almost forgotten how nice it felt to know that someone was hers entirely.

"Hello Caroline," she ignored her own gag reflexes and gave the older woman a hug. For a short moment, Caroline just stood there, frozen, her brain was trying to comprehend why Alex hugged her. She'd never done so before. Then Caroline decided she didn't care why and hugged Alex back.

Alexandra looked up at her adoptive mother, "I missed you. Now let's go home, shall we?"