Draco Malfoy wasn't exactly excited to go get Alexandra. As his father stood beside him he could practically feel the disgruntlement of the older man. He gulped. What had he been thinking? As if it wasn't enough to invite a halfblood now they also had to come and pick her up as she had no connection to the floo system.

Draco knew he had cocked up at least according to his dad. He, the pureblood heir Malfoy, should not converse with peasants like Alex. The thought made him grimace. What would his father think if he knew that not only was Alexandra his friend but his better? It wasn't a lie: She did better at every subject in school, had more power in the house than any other first year and somehow she always won when they had a disagreement. No, he would never tell his father all of this. No way.

"Are you ready, Draco?"

He looked up at his dad, then grabbed the older man's hand. Just a moment later the world was spinning as he sideapparated to the doorstep of Wellington Court, 116 Knightsbridge Swix.

Draco quickly checked the area. While it wouldn't be befitting for a Malfoy to have an interest in the muggle world he wanted to know how Alexandra lived outside of Hogwarts. The neighbourhood seemed high class. Not as high class as the Malfoy manner, though. He smirked. Besides him, his father had a look of distaste on his face.

"Draco," Lucius scrunched his nose, "where is she?"

Draco swallowed thickly, okay so… He looked at the door and noticed a series of buttons with appertaining names. He pushed the one reading C. Miller.

Shortly after a female voice was heard.

"Mr Malfoy, I assume?"

"Yes," his father's voice sounded aristocratic albeit a bit snobbish, "Mrs Miller, I presume?"

Draco stopped himself mid-sigh. This wasn't exactly going well…

"Yes," the voice applied, "come on in, Mr Malfoy."

The door buzzed and they entered a hallway. The floor was made of some kind of dark stone and a beautiful wooden staircase took up most of the space. Draco couldn't help but be surprised, this place was more luxurious than he had expected. Either way, they went up the stairs and only stopped when they reached a door with silver slanted letters. "C. Miller" it read. Draco opened the door and entered what seemed to be yet another hallway: dark grey walls, wooden floor and unmoving paintings. What a weird world the muggles lived in.

A tall blonde woman appeared at the end of the hallway.

"Well, come on in Mr Malfoy, Draco." She waved them towards her. Draco saw his father's scowl deepen. Apparently, it wasn't common to call children by their last name in the muggle world?

Once they were seated inside the apartment the woman called for Alexandra to come out. She then preceded to tell them that her name was Caroline and had the courage to ask them to call her by her name.

Draco was speechless: Nobody ever asked his father such a thing. Who exactly did this woman think she was?

"Mother," a familiar voice caught his attention, "why don't you give our guests a rest, I'm sure they would like to get this over with." Once more Draco was speechless, then he let out an incredulous laughter. This, oh this was different. Alex had a way of disarming people with brutal honesty. His lessened to a fond chuckle. He had missed that.

"Hello to you to Draco," He could practically hear her smirk before he even turned to look at her. She was stunning. As she stood there in her, obviously muggle dress, she looked, well, regal, aristocratic even. She moved over to give him an acknowledging pat on the shoulder and his father a handshake.

"Mr Malfoy," she smiled coldly, "I've heard so much about you from your son."

His father's eyes turned cold, "is that so?"

"Yes, only positive, though. It is nice to finally meet someone Draco look at with such high regard."

"And, if you will excuse my curiosity, why exactly is that?" His father's face was still cold and closed off.

Alexandra smiled disarmingly and flicked her hand, "well, why would I tell you? I do not see how it would benefit me to do such a thing."

"I see."

.

.

They sideapparated to the Malfoy estate where Alex followed Draco to his room. The manner was indeed grandiose and ostentatious and Alex admired its beauty: light wood panels complemented forest green silk drapes and grey wallpaper. Draco's room was no exception, it was simply marvellous. She sat on his bed while he shifted from semi-formal clothes to formal clothes. The boys had really gotten better at accepting her "please don't mind the nudity"-wish, she pondered.

"What do you think?" A fully changed Draco Malfoy looked at her with a raised eyebrow as if trying to figure out what she actually thought about. She just smirked.

"Honest opinion?" she moved to stand in front of him. He nodded.

"It looks like a bathrobe…" she allowed herself to genuinely laugh at his disbelieving look, "well, at least you look handsome in your bathrobe."

His reaction was instant as a small smirk flitted across his lips.

"Of course I do, I am Draco Malfoy after all."

Alex really didn't like that last name. It was a problem. One little word: 'Malfoy', irritated her beyond belief. It was the same with 'Nott', 'Rosier' and 'Zabini'. Those words indicated that one belonged to a group and as long as the boys were loyal to their families she could never have them. It bugged her.

"No, Draco," she plastered on a mild expression even though she was fuming on the inside, "It is because you are you."

He seemed confused which displeased her. Maybe she needed to go around this in another way. She reached out and straightened his robe. It really was a fancy bathrobe, probably cost a fortune.

"Does it only look nice on you because you are a Malfoy?" She made her displeasure clear.

"No, but. I mean," Draco scrunched his brows, "partly I think? My looks can, after all, be credited to the Malfoy genetics."

"I do not care if your hair is obnoxiously blond or murky brown, I think you would look good either way because you are confident, Draco. It is not the skin that makes a person but the way the person acts."

She removed her hand from his robe and fell down on the bed once more.

After a while, Draco came to join her.

"I don't understand," he looked at her in real confusion, "everyone else enunciate my name as if it is something sacred, but you enunciate it as if it is a bad word."

She hummed a silly tune, "that is because it is a bad word."

"But it isn't," Draco's ears turned red, his family name was something to be proud of.

"It is so." Her glare indicated that this was the end of their conversation.

.

.

Blaise Zabini arrived… fashionably late, as his mother called it, so he wasn't surprised when Theo was already there waiting for him in the entré together with Daphne and Astoria Greengrass. He sent the girls a pleasant smile. They looked pretty, as was to be expected from them. Then he turned to Theodore.

"Is she here already?" while Blaise would never admit to it he had been looking forward to seeing his friend again. Theo just nodded.

"Shouldn't we try to find them then? I assume she is together with Draco."

He felt Daphne's eyes bore into him. It must be shocking to know that they called each other by their first names. It was improper, not very formal, yet Blaise preferred it to be this way. He liked the way his name sounded compared to 'Zabini': As if it held more meaning than the family name.

Theo nodded once more and Blaise bid the girls goodbye before turning to the ballroom.

Inside the large hall, soft classical music played and people were dancing, laughing, conversing. It wasn't hard to find Draco, nor Alexandra, as the pair was swirling around the floor in what seemed to be an impressive show of dancing skills. Blaise himself wasn't half-bad at dancing. Since it would be embarrassing if the Zabini heir fell over his own feet at social gatherings his mother had taught him. He was nowhere near as good as Draco, though, Mrs. Malfoy was a fanatic when it came to dancing. Blaise shivered at the thought of Draco's descriptive letters about the amount of hours he had to train ballroom dancing a week.

As they moved closer to the pair Blaise could hear Alex's chuckles.

"What is she wearing?" Theo spoke up for the first time that night.

Blaise scrunched his nose, "I don't know. Some kind of muggle gown I suppose. It does fit her nicely."

For some reason, Blaise couldn't imagine seeing Alexandra Miller in wizarding clothes even if she wouldn't look too shabby in an official robe. It probably had something to do with her obvious disdain when it came to their style.

The song ended and Draco escorted Alexandra towards them. Her face was blank, her eyes cold. It kind of ruined her look but she was still emitting an air of arrogance and superiority.

"Theo, Blaise. It is nice to see you again. Now Theo would you mind taking the next dance with me?"

Theo just took her hand and directed her towards the dance floor.

"She's been at it from the moment the ball started," Draco snorted before sliding down into a chair, "dancing, I mean. At least I do not need to do it anymore, Theo saved me I guess."

While Draco sounded grateful Blaise saw a sad spark in his eyes. For a moment he pondered whether or not to dig into it but then his Slytherin instincts won. He would, of course, exploit Draco's moment of weakness, why wouldn't he?

"You do not seem happy about being replaced," he immediately regretted his words, they were too forward not subtle enough. Draco just stared at him in indifference.

"Since when did we start digging up each others dirt, Theo? I do not think that is what friends do," then the blonde grimaced, "but if you want to know, she is a great dancer so I wouldn't mind going for another round. She, however, will not ask me to dance again: I suspect I've gotten my fair share of attention for tonight."

Blaise didn't exactly understand what Draco was trying to say, but he didn't want to look ignorant so he just nodded slowly pretending to understand. Great, now he would spend the next few days trying to figure out what the Malfoy heir had tried to tell him.

.

.

Theo didn't even realise how long he had been dancing with Alexandra before they actually stopped and she turned to replace him with Zabini. They hadn't even spoken a word while dancing. No, she had been silent, and he wasn't one to break a comfortable silence. Draco was, however, and as soon as Alex left him he was practically bombarded by the blonde. Theo smiled fondly, out of all of them Draco was by far the most childish. The blonde was still mature for his age, but he was spoilt and once you got to know him as more than just 'Malfoy' he was not as composed and icy as he seemed.

Later Blaise joined them but Alex didn't, instead, she could be found whisking around the floor with Alastair. Impressively enough she managed to look presentable even when she was paired with Rosier's much larger frame.

.

.

Alastair Rosier was having a pleasant conversation with Leonor when he felt someone observing him. He chose to ignore it, if someone wanted to talk to him they could come to him. Then an arm snaked around his midriff making him stop mid sentence. It was her. Alexandra. Her hand was cold enough for him to feel it through the fabric of his silky robes and her eyes empty.

"If you'll excuse us, Leonor, Alastair here promised to save me a dance."

He watched helplessly as his brown haired friend gave a vague smile and left them. Alex still gave him the creeps sometimes, and tonight she definitely did.

Still, he followed her to the dance floor and spun her around in circles for the better half of an hour. In the end, he even found himself relaxing, he didn't mind her cold hands anymore nor her empty stare. And as soon as he actually allowed himself to enjoy the situation she broke his calm by leaning in. He could feel her breath against his neck.

"Bring me Leonor and Elodie," he nodded weakly, he could do that, "do not let me down, Alastair."

Then she left him.

.

.

Alexandra wanted to laugh. This ball was great. The adults were too busy talking politics to mind their children. Why would they need to watch them? Even if the kids were heirs they were children and therefore not important. This lack of attention made it possible for Alexandra to spend time with her 'friends' without anyone raising an eyebrow. She had, of course, gotten a few curious glances, her dress was bound to get attention, but no one seemed to mind her all that much.

Now she was sitting beside Blaise who's complaining about his mother's new suitor. The poor guy apparently had no idea how to play a decent game of wizarding chess, and that was, at least according to Blaise, atrocious. Impatiently she clicked her nails against her thigh, why was it taking him so long? Just then she saw Alastair moving towards them.

"We are moving," she interrupted Blaise, who seemed a bit perplexed by her suddenly speaking up. She sauntered through the room before exiting the ballroom and continuing on to Draco's room. Not once did she look back. They would follow her, she knew it. As it turned out she was right, once she sat down turning around to look at them, they were all there.

"Welcome," a cheshire grin spread across her face, "Leonor, Elodie."

.

.

Elodie knew it was inevitable. Ever since the day she was approached by Rookwood she had known he would one day introduce her to Alexandra Potter. Now as she stood before Potter she felt both excitement and fear. She, for one, wanted to be part of Potter's group, she wanted the power that came with it, but the way Potter smiled. It was unhinged, sinister even. It scared the shit out of her.

"Welcome," Potter's smiled only seemed to spread even wider, "Leonor, Elodie."

Elodie found herself appreciating the husky quality Potter's voice held. It was unique. Potter was unique.

For the longest time, it was silent. Alexandra's intense stare bore into her and Rookwood.

"So," Potter began, "tell me about yourself."

That caught Elodie of guards. She hadn't expected something like that. Was Alexandra always that straight forward? She glanced at Alastair. The older boy made her feel somewhat safe which was stupid as she knew he would not choose her above Alexandra. His eyes meet hers and he sent her a wolfish grin. It was indeed stupid to depend on him too much.

"What do you want to know?" It was Rookwood who asked the question.

This made the boys smirk. Why did they smirk like that? Her attention was brought back to Alex when the young girl began talking once more.

"I want to know everything. Your favourite foods, if you have pets, what you fear the most, what you will die for, who you will live for." Elodie shivered

"Then again that might be a bit much. Why don't you tell me why you are here?"

Leonor blinked and scrunched her forehead, "I do not know."

"I see," Potter tilted her head, "do you wish to leave then?"

"No."

"Good."

Contrary to Rookwood Elodie actually knew why she was there.

"Power, I want power."

Suddenly Potter's cold hand was on her shoulder making her yelp.

"Great answer, Elodie."

And while it felt like Alexandra was sincere there was mocking undertone in Potter's voice that made her shift uncomfortably in her seat.