Sorry it took so long, I kept getting distracted then kicked off the computer...but here is your Chapter!
Aleksandra was sitting cross-legged on one of the couches in the Slytherin common room staring into space.
"Kolov?" Aleksandra said
"You're not sleeping tonight are you?" Kolov asked grumpily, being very tired himself.
"Probably not…" Aleksandra said to the wall, "I don't have any music so…"
"You have magic…" Kolov reminded her.
"Yeah but…" Aleksandra started to debate, "Fuck it…" She thought of all the books she read and waved her wand, a certain spell in mind. Suddenly, it was like there was a concert in the room. Not that any one but her would understand the song she chose.
It was in Russian. And it was loud.
So loud that some kids came down to complain. Until they noticed the dog, and eagles, glaring at them. At that point only one was brave enough to approach.
"What is that gibberish?" Draco asked
"It's not gibberish, it's Russian, I rather think the song is nice, great lyrics." Aleksandra said
"Well it's well past midnight and we like sleep." Draco looked at the girl.
"I do too…but I have moments when it's still Alaskan time, so it's closer to three in the afternoon to my internal clock." Aleksandra said, "Then there are nights that Insomnia just runs rampant, da?" She flicked her wand.
"Alexie, Rasputin, Kolov, shall we move locations?" Aleksandra said before leaving the common room, the animals in toe.
~0o0~
"I find it very much like you that when you're kicked out of the place you're supposed to be in, you go where the most animals are." Kolov sighed as he dislodged another owl from his head. Aleksandra had been sitting in the corner writing on a piece of parchment.
"Kolov, do you think that it would be better to send Rasputin or Alexie?" Aleksandra asked the dog, ignoring his jab.
"Rasputin would make it back faster." Kolov reasoned. Aleksandra nodded and walked to the window shaped gap in the wall, holding out her arm. Both eagles flew down, so Aleksandra placed Alexie down on the windowsill and attached the letter to the leather cord around Rasputin's leg. She had just sent Rasputin off and was about to go back to her make-shift bed and stare at the birds more when she heard some one else walk into the Owlry.
Aleksnadra peaked to see that it was Harry Potter. She, against her better thoughts, decided to watch the boy. God…I feel like Aunt Belarus…but…. Aleksandra hid and looked at Harry as he called down a white owl.
"I know it says Snuffles on the front, but it's for Siruis." Harry said before letting the owl fly through the window. Alexie decided then would be a good time to go play with the boy. The eagle was swooping around his head when Aleksandra came out and whistled, holding out her arm. The bird flew over and landed on Aleksandra's arm.
"And Papa wonders why I never want just Alexie…you get rid of Rasputin and he acts like a kid." Aleksandra sighed.
"I'm still not convinced those bird's aren't gay…" Kolov said.
"We'll the rest of the god damn world is…" another sigh, "But Papa wouldn't believe that."
"Why are you here?" Harry asked
"Sending an SOS to my Papa." Aleksandra said, "I'm running low on my…Russian Water…and patients with Zhaba."
"I'm going to guess that Russian Water isn't just…water." Harry said.
"I use a strict don't ask don't tell policy with my water." Aleksandra said
"I'm pretty sure that's not what it's meant for…" Kolov sighed
"Doesn't really matter." Aleksandra said
"That's not an owl." Harry said.
"That, is a good observation." Aleksandra said, "This is a Greater Spotted Eagle, native to Russia."
"I didn't know they allowed Eagles here…" Harry said
"Well, Papa only has fishing owls and they couldn't fly the distance from Moscow to here." Aleksandra explained, "Sad thing is, I wanted to send a letter to my maman too, but Alexie would never make it to Ottawa…" for that comment Alexie flew out of the window. Aleksandra watched him go, but a flying skeletal horse drew her eyes.
"Pretty." Aleksandra said, "despite what seeing it means."
"You can see them too?" Harry asked.
"You see them as black, da?" Aleksandra asked.
"Yes, do you see them differently?" Harry asked, worried.
"Black means you've seen death. White means you've caused it." Aleksandra explained, "Very few people would see them as I do. They are red to me." Aleksandra explained, "But…that's expected, or that's what Arthur said. Ever since my involvement in 1917, it can't be anything else."
"What does red mean?" Harry asked.
"Massacres, my friend. I have participated in what was essentially a massacre. It happened in 1917, and…it was not a pretty thing, Harry." Aleksandra said as she looked out the window, "But I was living with Papa then, and Papa with the Bolsheviks was not always fun."
"You're not…normal…" Harry said with a hard look.
"Harry Potter, boy who lived," Aleksandra laughed "You're not normal either they say with that little title of yours, though it's ironic I call you that, since I've had more near death experiences than you. But that's an expected thing for veterans isn't it." Aleksandra said, "I've survived two World Wars, the Cold War, the Gulf…" Aleksandra sighed, "I'm not…considered stable. Too much PTSD they say. But again, an expected thing. Especially with my family history."
With that Aleksandra walked over to her corner and grabbed her things. She walked out of the owlry, Kolov grumbling behind her
The next time Harry saw her was equally as interesting. She had a hand held mirror and was pulling back her eyelids. She seemed to sense him coming and turned to face him and his friends.
"Do you know how hard it is to sleep surrounded by untrustworthy people?" Aleksandra said, "Not that it's likely that I'd sleep here any way…" Aleksandra shrugged and went back to checking how blood shot her eyes were.
"She a nutter." Ron muttered, "Bloody mad."
"And I enjoy my insanity." Aleksandra replied, "But this isn't a part of it."
"Trust me," Virginia said, walking up to the group, "if she's really snapped, then you wouldn't be willing to stand so close." She turned to Aleksandra, "I know how hard it is, but you need to get some sleep."
"You know I can't do that." Aleksandra sighed, "I know at least one of them would be willing to slit my throat and Kolov's if we slept."
"Who?" Virginia asked before adding, "And why are you worried about that?"
"Well, I'm sorry if I don't want to cause and arctic tropical storm." Aleksandra scoffed, "and it's some girl called Parkinson." Aleksandra shrugged.
"Well, I understand that…" Virginia sighed, "You could probably ask Dad if you could stay with him."
"Arthur has to grade papers and all that." Aleksandra sighed too, "I can handle it, I've been hanging around the owlry, but even with all the animals, it's still not as…comforting as the forest would be."
"I don't care if your more wilderness than cities, the forest is forbidden, thus it is called the Forbidden Forest." Virginia said.
"It's not my fault that I can't sleep with out a tree right outside my window" Aleksandra pouted.
"Well, I never had trouble with that." Virginia scoffed
"You were never so far behind industry either." Aleksandra sighed, "We're going to have to get to Zhaba's class."
"Why must you insult the professor?" Virginia sighed as she walked next to Aleksandra
"I'm not sure she is qualified for the job." Aleksandra scoffed, "You can't have a purely visual teaching style. You have to mix it with Audile and Kinesthetic."
"Don't do that…" Virginia sighed
"Do what?" Aleksandra asked
"Do your…my way is right rant." Virginia said exasperatedly, "You got detention for snapping for once, Let it drop."
"I did not snap." Aleksandra defended herself, "If I had snapped, Zhaba would be in two pieces too."
"Then what happened to the desk?" Virginia scoffed.
"Anger management." Aleksandra said simply, "It made me angry and I managed it."
"You snapped the desk in two." Virginia reminded her.
"Da, then there were two desks!" Aleksandra decided to try the innocent act, which usually made Virginia give up.
She did, after they entered the room. There were two seats at the very back that they sat in. Both girls pulled out their books, Aleksandra's having been translated to Russian. She said that it made the boring text easier to read.
"Miss Braginsky-Williams," Umbridge said, having caught sight of the cryllic title, "What book is that?"
"The one you assigned." Aleksandra said, "As much as I hate to have such a horrid text in my Papa's beautiful tongue, I couldn't become interested enough to do the translation from English to Russian in my head."
"And why is that?" Umbridge asked
"Because it just gives obscure quote unquote expert's opinions on spells, not even teaching us a real spell." Aleksandra explained, "It's so bad that my goody-two-shoes cousin has been asking for my spell books, even though they are in Russian too."
"What do you mean 'your spell books'?" Umbridge asked
"I mean the books on real defense, and even offense, that I bought to learn from after glancing through the book you assigned." Aleksandra scoffed at the woman, "You can't punish me for translating the book into a language I can understand better, or for buying books from a perfectly legal store. So, shoo Zhaba, don't bother me."
Virginia couldn't resist the urge to start humming 'shoo fly don't bother me'. As much as she disapproved of the idea of insulting a teacher, she didn't much like Umbridge either.
Umbridge huffed, realizing that, no she couldn't punish the girl for what she did, yet. It was only a matter of time before the minister granted her the power to make new rules. Umbridge glared at the dog sitting next to her number two nuisance.
Suddenly there was music playing through the room.
o-o-o Canada
oh you're no fan of us?
'cause our movie and TV shows are so amateur?
yeah, we laugh it off,
that don't really bother me look,
we ain't serious unless we really gotta be
humorous attitude
like Kids in the Hall
like Jim Carey, Mike Myers,
hell we claiming them all
it's the Great White North
home of the funniest actors
the brunt of the joke
with an abundance of laughter
"Of all songs…" Virginia sighed at Aleksandra, "You. Are. Not. Canadian."
"Yeah…but I have to send Maman some love, da?" Aleksandra laughed, "But if you don't like it…"
The music changed.
Lay your head down child
I won't let the boogeyman come
Countin' bodies like sheep
To the rhythm of the war drums
Pay no mind to the rabble
Pay no mind to the rabble
Head down, go to sleep
To the rhythm of the war drums
"And now your going on about Soviet Russia, yes?" Virginia asked
"If you really want to know, Papa and Alfred acted oddly similar during the Cold War." Aleksandra explained "Except Papa was nicer to me."
"Ten points from both Slytherin and Gryfindor for interrupting my class." Umbridge said with a huff.
Aleksandra just pulled out a different book and glanced through it. She frowned and pointed to some latin words in the text.
"Does that look like Abrakadabra to you, or is it just me?" Aleksandra asked
"How much of your…Russian Water have you had Aleksandra?" Virginia answered with a question.
"I'm Russian, I don't get drunk." Aleksandra retorted, "I'm seriously saying that the killing curse sounds like Abrakadabra to me."
"Really?" Virginia sighed at her cousin, "You just made a joke out of the killing curse."
"Virginia." Aleksandra smirked, "I saw all three baltics die multiple times before you ever knew of me."
"I still don't know how they haven't gone into the coma yet." Virginia asked
"Same reason Poland hasn't." Aleksandra shrugged, "Either way, death isn't a monumental event with my family. Even with the humans who die around us. Just look at what Papa and I did with the Bolsheviks."
"Yet you still named the eagles after Nicholas and his family, and Rasputin." Virginia noted.
"I will admit, I like Alexie and Rasputin. They were an interesting pair." Aleksandra shrugged again.
"Girls, get to work, five points from both Slytherin and Gryfindor." Umbridge said in her sweet tone.
"Da, Zhaba…" Aleksandra sighed
Aleksandra had found Virginia during dinner for one reason and one reason alone.
"Do you know how to request a certain food?" Aleksandra asked her cousin.
"No, what do you want to request?" Virginia asked
"Something simple…Poutine maybe." Aleksandra shrugged.
"Well…I think you should ask Dad." Virginia replied.
"What the bloody hell is Poutine?" Ron asked from beside Virignia.
"Fries covered with gravy and cheese curds." Aleksandra explained, "Comes from Quebec."
"Quebec?" Ron questioned.
"The largest French providence of Canada." Aleksandra explained
Hermione turned to Aleksandra "I thought you were Alaskan, not Canadian?"
"My…mother is Canadian." Aleksandra said, "I had plenty as a kid, that and pancakes. Speaking of which," Aleksandra said in her 'thinking out loud' tone, "This school needs to invest in Canadian Maple."
"Why must everyone invest in Canadian Maple." Virginia asked, "Even Vincent should in your mind."
"Because it's a superior maple product." Aleksandra smirked, "And thus, is a better choice than…what ever they're feeding the poor students at this school."
"Wow…" Virginia sighed, "You've succeeded in your project Canadian- Russian Water, huh?"
"Yep!" Aleksandra chirped bringing out a bottle of brownish gold liquid.
"Only you, Aleksandra, only you…" Virginia sighed
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