Disclaimer: I do not make money off this fic. The only thing I get from it is the reviews you all leave me. So don't just put me on your alerts or add me as a favorite. Drop me a review and let me know your opinion of this fic. It will make my day and get me to write faster! JKR owns Harry Potter but I guess you can credit my mind with the creation of Lexi, I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing sometimes...
Chapter 17: A Team is Like a Family
It was an average morning at the Gryffindor table, if there ever really was such a thing. It was the first week of February so no one seemed too concerned about exams or class projects on this given day. In fact most of the students were wrapped up in the latest gossip of who liked who and which students turned the walls of Professor Snape's classroom bright pink; popular opinion was the culprits were the Weasley twins. All and all it was an average morning in Hermione Granger's mind.
Like clockwork, the messenger owls arrived to deliver the morning post. Hedwig landed in front of Harry with an unopened letter addressed to Lexi attached to her leg. Sadly this seen had become a regular occurrence since the spring term began. Harry would write a letter to Lexi and a few days later Hedwig would come back holding the letter he sent.
"Perhaps she will answer the next one," Hermione said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone. Merlin knew she loved Harry and hated to see him so upset over this estrangement from Lexi but for the life of her, Hermione did not know what to do. It seemed as though her ever clever brain was finally letting her down in a situation that was over her head.
"Why should I bother again?" Harry grumpily snapped at Hermione. "It seems like everything I try is getting me nowhere. When I was with her, she ignored my presence. Now that I am at Hogwarts, she ignores my letters. What more can I do?"
Hermione sighed. She really had hoped Lexi would get over her anger and start talking to Harry sooner rather than later.
"Have you tired talking to Sirius about it?" Hermione asked in a near whisper. Knowing it wouldn't be wise to have anyone over hear that particular name.
"No," Harry admitted, "not since I came back to Hogwarts."
"Well, write to him," Hermione said in a no nonsense tone of voice. "The sooner you do and know Lexi is alright the better you'll feel."
"You're right," Harry replied as a look of determination crossed his face. "I'm going to go write Padfoot a letter right now." With those final words Harry left the Gryffindor table and headed straight out of the Great Hall.
"Is everything alright with Harry?" a meek voice startled Hermione. As she turned around, she realized it belonged to Neville Longbottom.
"I think everything is going to work out just fine," Hermione simply stated with a glowing smile on her face.
If Lexi wouldn't answer Harry's letters, perhaps she would be willing to answer one written by Hermione. With a game plan firmly in mind the bushy haired witch pushed herself off the Gryffindor bench and walked out of the Great Hall, mentally composing her own letter to write.
~*~
Oliver Wood used his position as Keeper to survey his team's progress since the beginning of term. Frankly, he was surprised at the changes in his team since before the holidays. While not many people would have noticed any differences, a good captain, such as Oliver, was more than aware of the altered environment around his team.
Last term the Gryffindor Quidditch team was on fire. Harry seemed to be unbeatable when catching the Snitch. If Oliver didn't know any better he would have sworn that Harry had a sixth sense to pin point the location of the Snitch at any given time. Fred and George had been particularly vicious when aiming Bludgers at Harry during practice which honed the Seeker's reflexes. Not to mention the girls were a well oiled Chaser squad.
However, since they came back from the Christmas holidays everything seemed a bit off. Harry seemed to be a bit distracted at all times. Appearances by the Snitch he would have easily sense last term seemed to elude him now. The Weasley twins were almost using kid gloves where Harry was concerned and barely seemed to send the Bludger towards their Seeker. And the girls just weren't in sync with one another. No matter how hard the ladies tried they just couldn't seem to get their timing to be up to par.
After the girls dropped the Quaffle for the sixth time in the last hour and a half Oliver had seen enough. He blew his whistle to have the team land. On an impulse he waved Potter's friend Hermione Granger down to the field from where she was talking to Madam Hooch. Once everyone was gathered together, all eyes were focused solely on Oliver.
"Alright team," Oliver began as he looked upon the team before him, "Can any of you tell me why I called you all down?"
His only responses were a few half-hearted shrugs and the occasional shake of the head.
"I want to know what happened to my team," Oliver simply stated as he crossed his arms over his chest. "We only have less than three weeks till our game against Hufflepuff and you all look like a bunch of flying buffoons." He may have been exaggerating a bit but it was bound to get his point across.
"What do you mean-"
"Ollie, Old pal-"
"Old Chap!" The Weasley twins voiced for the rest of the team. It suddenly occurred to Oliver that he needed a way to be able to differentiate one twin from another. Life was simply too confusing not to be able to tell those two apart.
"What I am talking about," Oliver began purposely ignoring the twins' nickname for him, "is that you two have pulled the kid gloves out."
"No, we haven't!" Fred, Oliver guessed, denied.
"Really," Oliver challenged, "then why where you trying to practically kill our seeker last term with the viciousness of your attacks, where as this term you are barely hitting the ball into his path?"
Both twins immediately turned bright red and quickly turned their gazes away from Oliver as they found other things interesting. Obviously what Oliver had understood as necessary preparatory work for a rookie seeker was done with some darker motive behind it.
"For the love of Merlin!" Oliver yelled making little Katie Bell jump. "We are a team. Can anyone tell me what that means?"
Nobody said a word. All of the Gryffindor Quidditch players were looking awkwardly at the sky or ground. The only person's gaze who held his own was Hermione Granger.
"A team is like a family," Oliver finally said breaking the uneasy silence that fell over the group. "We share our blood, sweat and tears with one another. Every person needs to do their part, their best, in order for us to win. One way you can look at it is that we are only as good as our weakest player. We need to help one another to grow in order to be the best team that we can be and we can't be intentionally detrimental to one another."
"Any problems between team members need to be dealt with off the pitch," Oliver continued while making eye contact with one twin than the other. "I'm not saying that we all need to be hugs and kisses with one another. No one is expecting us all to sit at meals together and share with one another our darkest secrets. But we've got to watch out for one another."
"I saw this from you all last term," Oliver plowed on since he had everyone's undivided attention. "Remember when Angelina distracted Snape from giving Fred and George a detention for during our first match? Or when Harry and Hermione backed Alicia up so that she wasn't 'accidently' injured by the Slytherins?"
"Yeah!" Alicia yelled breaking into Oliver's pep talk. But he was all for having other members of the team weigh in their opinions. "I shudder to think what could have happened to me if Harry and Hermione didn't come down that corridor when they did. They were absolutely fearless when addressing those greasy gits. We need to come together because we are each other's biggest supporters."
"Angelina," Alicia continued addressing her fellow chaser, "I'm sorry I got so mad at you. I know it wasn't your fault that the guy who I liked asked you out instead. Can we put it behind us and continue to move forward as if our fight never happened?"
"Of course!" the usually stoic Angelina said wrapping her arms around Alicia in a large hug. "I've missed having you around these past few weeks."
"Alright," Oliver said clapping his hands together and bringing everyone's attention back on him. "I'm glad we're beginning to see where there was some tension in the past few weeks. But I just want to say one more thing to all of you. If any one of you are having any kind of problems such as having trouble with class work, friends, family, or any other personal matter, I am here for you."
"If you need someone to talk to my door is always open to each and every one of you as your captain and friend," Oliver persisted making sure he locked eyes with Harry, whom Oliver suspected was troubled by something. "Alright, now why don't you all hit the showers for today. We'll practice again on Wednesday night."
With some muttered words of thanks the Gryffindor Quidditch team began to go their separate ways to pick up their training materials and to do exactly what their captain had suggested.
"Hermione, can I speak to you for a second?" Oliver asked before the bushy-haired witch walked away. A plan forming in his mind on how the first year could be of some assistance to the team.
"Umm, sure Oliver," Hermione said in a slightly nervous voice.
"I just wanted you to know I consider you a member of this team," Oliver began placing a hand on Hermione's shoulder trying to calm the nervous girl down. "You are here at every practice rain or shine just like the rest of the team. Also, I hear we would have no Seeker if it wasn't for you."
"I'm not sure what you mean," Hermione said as Oliver let out a chuckle.
"Madam Hooch told me you were the one who brought Harry's situation to her attention," Oliver explained. "Not to mention you probably saved Harry's life during the first match with your excellent levitating charm."
"That wasn't just me," Hermione said as she turned bright red. "Neville saved Harry's life too."
"As that may be," Oliver continued when Hermione clamped down again, "I have a bit of a favor to ask you."
"Umm, sure," Hermione replied still blushing.
"I was wondering if you would be prepared to use your spell work to catch anyone in case they fall off their broom again," Oliver asked before fully explaining. "I am planning on upping the intensity of the practices and it would be good to have someone on the side lines ready to act in case of an emergency."
"It would be my pleasure," Hermione replied with a half-smile on her face. "I wonder if there is a spell to create something like a safety net to catch someone if they fall from large heights. Or perhaps something that could soften the ground so they basically bounce if they hit the ground. Oh, I'm going to have to make a trip to the library tonight to research possible safety spells after my flying lesson with Harry," the bushy-haired witch mumbled as she began to walk away and join Harry farther down the pitch.
Oliver was a bit shocked with intensity Hermione embraced the role he wanted her to take with the team. He figured if she was going to watch the practices, she might as well have something productive to do at them. But from what he just heard she was going to go up and beyond his expectations for her. Not that he was complaining or anything.
Now all Oliver had to do was corner the Weasley twins and get them to spill their guts. He had no idea what the twins had against Harry but purposely being mean to the boy was no way for an experienced team member to act toward a rookie.
~*~
Working on homework was quickly becoming Harry's number one means to distract him from thinking about his situation with Lexi. Harry desperately hoped his message would be received well by Sirius but Harry just wasn't sure anymore. Now that Harry was a Hogwarts would Sirius begin to take Lexi's side in the argument?
Harry's internal struggle was cut short by the sound of someone clearing their voice. Slowly turning around Harry saw Percy Weasley standing behind him. His cheeks were bright red with either anger or embarrassment, Harry couldn't tell which.
"Mr. Potter," Percy began in a very formal tone of voice, "Our Head of House, the Deputy Headmistress Professor McGonagall needs to see her in her offices immediately."
A bit taken a back Harry quickly scanned his actions for the past few days to try and figure why he was being called to his head of house's office. As far as Harry was aware all of his assignments had been handed in on time and he had done nothing that would warrant any sort of punishment.
"What is this in regards to?" Harry asked the prefect wanting more information before he entered the situation.
"That will be explained when you get there," Percy huffed and to Harry's surprise he seemed to turn an even brighter shade of red. Deciding that going along with the prefect was his only option, Harry reluctantly followed Percy Weasley.
"Is there something wrong, Harry?" Audrey's voice stopped both Harry and Percy in their tracks.
"Professor McGonagall wants-" Harry began only to be cut off by the pompous Weasley.
"This matter is none of your concern, Audrey," Percy said in a very dismissive tone of voice as he turned his back on.
"Well it looks like a student that is in my care is scared out of his wits," Audrey continued completely ignoring Percy and his bad attitude. She turned her attention on Harry as she asked, "Harry, are you okay?"
"I-"
"Audrey!" Percy snapped as he spun around. At this point all the Gryffindors in the common room had their eyes solely focused on this exchange. "You are interfering with Professor McGonagall's orders. Leave us alone or suffer the consequences!"
Harry sent Audrey a pleading look. He did not want to be forced to go alone to McGonagall's office. He knew he didn't do anything wrong, so why was he being treated like a criminal.
"Harry, would you like me to accompany you?" Audrey asked as she placed herself between Harry and Percy.
"Yes," Harry quickly replied before Percy could prevent him from saying anything else.
"You are going to be in so much trouble," Percy began to rant as they left the common room. "Professor McGonagall will take your prefect badge for this!"
All throughout the short trip to Professor McGonagall's office, Percy did not stop ranting and raving about how much trouble Audrey was going to be in. Harry was worried about the first person he turned to for help in the wizarding. He didn't want Audrey to get in trouble on his account. But just before they arrived, Audrey placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and gave him a wink. With that Harry believed everything was going to work out.
"Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall's brisk tone broke through Harry's thoughts. "What is the meaning of this? I asked just to see Mr. Potter."
"I am so sorry, Professor," Percy said in his best kiss up tone of voice. "I tried to tell Miss Turner not to accompany us but she would listen and she created a scene in the common room and left it in chaos. If that isn't insubornation, I don't know what is."
"That's not true!" Harry yelled before he could stop himself. "What happened in the common room was not Audrey's fault and there was no chaos."
"Is that so, Mr. Potter?" McGonagall said with a raised eyebrow. "Miss Turner, perhaps you should explain your own actions."
"Certainly, Professor McGonagall," Audrey said with an air of respect and authority. Harry had never seen anyone act as calm and collected when faced with potentially being in trouble. "I noticed Mr. Weasley scaring a first year out of their mind when he was attempting to escort them to your office. I stepped in to offer Mr. Potter some comfort. I doubt you wanted him to be in a state of fear when he was delivered to your office. Mr. Weasley took offense to my attempt to reassure Mr. Potter and then proceeded to tell me that I was out-of-line and besmeared my reputation when I came along with Mr. Potter's expressed permission."
Harry couldn't help but nod his head in agreement to everything that Audrey had said. He wanted Professor McGonagall to know that Audrey was merely doing what she thought was right.
"I see," Professor McGonagall said not allowing her face or voice give away her thoughts. "Do you think you made the right decision, Miss Turner?"
"Yes, Professor," Audrey immediately replied.
"Why?" Professor McGonagall inquired.
"Because someone had to do it," Audrey said. "It could have been any first year being sent to you. Even if they were in trouble there is no reason to needlessly scare them out of their mind."
"Thank you for your honesty, Miss Turner," Professor McGonagall said. "Turner, Weasley you are both dismissed. Although, Mr. Weasley, I would like to see you in my office tomorrow morning before breakfast. I can understand why you are particularly emotional this evening but it should interfere with your duties as a prefect."
"Yes, Professor," Audrey and Percy said in near unison. Both shot the other a glare before they walked off together towards the common room.
"Now, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall continued, "would you please follow me into my office there is a matter of importance we need to discuss."
"Certainly, Professor," Harry replied in his most dignified voice.
After taking a seat in the chair opposite Professor McGonagall's desk and waving off her offer of a biscuit, it seemed that they were ready to get down to business.
"There seems to have been a situation that occurred over the Christmas holiday that involved you," Professor McGonagall began and all that Harry could think about was the wand Lexi 'liberated' during their trip to Diagon Alley. "A student that was staying at the school for the entirety of the holiday found something that belonged to you."
"They then," Professor McGonagall's face tensed up as she seemed to search for the right word, "kept your property with the intention to return it before the end of holiday. Unfortunately, they neglected to do so."
"What did they take?" Harry asked since he was unaware of anything of his that was missing.
"A gift that was left for you in your dormitory," Professor McGonagall replied. "I do not support giving you such a possession to have while you are at Hogwarts. However, it is yours by right and by law."
"What is it?" Harry asked.
Instead of answering Professor McGonagall simply slid a package across her desk to Harry. Harry gingerly took the package that was wrapped in brown paper and tied with a simple ribbon. Attached to the package there was a note. Harry made to open the package but Professor McGonagall stopped him.
"Please wait to open that until you are in private," Professor McGonagall said while shaking her head. "If I don't see it, then I can't confiscate it."
"Umm, alright, Professor," Harry timidly replied before saying good bye to his head of house and walking back to his common room.
After walking down the corridor a short way, Harry stopped in alcove and opened the note that was attached to the package. He figured it wouldn't hurt to read the note before finding Hermione to open the gift with. The note merely read:
Your father left this in my possession before he died. Use it well.
~*~
For the sixth time, an owl refused to take the letter Hermione wrote for Lexi and Hermione was at her wit's end. She had tried on two separate occasions to send her letter to Lexi but it seemed that none of the owls wanted to take the letter. Sure she could attach the letter to the owls but they never left their perch. At first Hermione thought that she was doing something wrong. But owl after owl they would not respond. It wasn't like she could have been selecting defective owls or something like that.
Could these owls sense that Lexi didn't want to receive a letter from her, so they wouldn't even attempt to carry it? Well, if that was true then why did Hedwig take all those letters from Harry to Lexi?
As Hermione checked her watch she realized it was less than forty-five minutes to curfew. At that moment, she wished she had asked Harry if she could borrow his invisibility cloak. Boy had she been surprised when her friend showed up in the library with a package McGonagall had given to him containing an invisibility cloak. The fact that the cloak had been his father's made it insistently Harry's most prized possession, even more important to him than his Nimbus 2000.
"Are you having trouble, Hermione?" a quiet voice asked startling Hermione from her thoughts. Turning around Hermione saw Susan Bones from Hufflepuff was behind her.
"Sorry about that," Susan said in response to Hermione's hand clutched to her chest. "You must not have heard me enter the owlery."
"No, I didn't," Hermione agreed. "Sorry I've been a bit focused on a bit of a situation I find myself in."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Susan asked in true Hufflepuff fashion. Even though they barely knew each other from classes, Susan was willing to lend her a helping hand.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure what is wrong," Hermione began hoping the girl knew more about owl mail than she did. "Every time I try to send my letter to a friend the owl never leaves its perch."
"Is this person a muggle?" Susan innocently asked.
"No, why?" Hermione's curiosity was getting the better of her.
"Oh, well most muggles can't receive owl mail," Susan simply said. "Your parents and siblings could because the Ministry places a ward on them so the owls would be able to find them. Otherwise, since they have no magic their location cannot be found by the owl."
"Wow, you know a lot about this," Hermione said with respect evident in her tone.
"It's nothing," Susan said as her face broke out in a blush. "My Auntie works for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I would go to work with her occasionally when I was younger. I remember that was one of the more recent laws the Wizengamot passed as a part of the Muggleborns' Equal Rights bill."
"Really?" Hermione asked, "That is simply fascinating. What other laws were recently passed for equal rights for muggleborns?"
"There were quite a few," Susan said dismissively. "I know you like to learn a lot but perhaps we should work on your current problem," Susan said pointing to Hermione's letter. "We could get together at a later date to discuss the other laws."
"That would be excellent," Hermione said perturbed that it seemed like Susan knew a bit about her while she knew nothing about Susan.
"Have you sent a letter to this person before?" Susan asked turning their conversation back to the matter at hand.
"I haven't but a friend has," Hermione replied.
"Did Harry use a particular owl?" Susan inquired.
"Yes, but how did you know it was Harry?"
"Sorry, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions," Susan said breaking out into a blush.
"No, it's alright," Hermione said letting the red-head's comment go.
"Well, if that's the case than I believe there is a ward on this particular person regulating the mail they get," Susan said. "Or the ward could be placed on the location instead of the person," Susan mumbled. "Either way you probably need to use Harry's owl to send that letter."
"Thanks, Susan," Hermione said as she collected her belongings in her school bag to get ready to leave. She waited patiently for Susan to send her letter before both girls left the owlery together.
"Susan, can I ask you something?" Hermione asked gathering all her courage to do so.
"Sure, Hermione," the Hufflepuff said with a bit of a grin.
"What do the Hufflepuffs think of Harry?" Hermione knew immediately that her question had come out of left field for the other girl.
"Umm, why do you ask?" the other girl stammered.
"I've noticed a lot of untrue rumors and accusations spread about Harry and me," Hermione said in a quiet voice. "I would like to learn what stories are being told and try to clear them up. Harry and I are just a couple of regular first years, but everyone seems to think there is something more to us."
"But you killed a mountain troll!" Susan gushed. "No other first year could have done that, and Harry, he… he… he was the one who killed You-Know-Who. Everyone knows he's a hero. You must be one too since you are his best friend."
Hermione blushed at the other girl's praise but she knew she had to do her part to set the record straight. Curfew be damned.
"We should probably have that chat," Hermione said stopping in front of an empty classroom and motioning for Susan to join her. "I will answer all of the questions that I can."
"Does Harry really have a pet Hungarian Horntail dragon?" Susan asked with wide eyes.
"Harry doesn't have a pet dragon," Hermione said in her no nonsense tone of voice. Honestly where did these rumors come from? Then again, Harry did recently acquire his father's invisibility cloak. "As for the troll, I don't think it died. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and were lucky enough to survive…"
~*~
"Why is Weasley shooting you evil glares?" Hermione inquired.
To most it would appear that the bushy-haired witch had her full attention focused on the Daily Prophet in front of her. But Harry was more than aware of the fact that his friend was scoping out all the action going on around the Great Hall in between articles.
"No bloody clue," Harry said. Hedwig still hadn't come back with a reply from Sirius and Harry was getting a little snappish as a result.
"Language, Harry," Hermione scolded from behind the paper. "I thought he was being less hostile towards you near the end of the term?"
"I thought so too," Harry replied while taking a swift glance in Ron's direction. "He actually hasn't been bad the last few weeks either."
"What changed?" Hermione asked.
"Honestly, Hermione if I knew I would have done something to avoid it," Harry snapped. "It's not like I like people treating me like I'm some disgusting thing they need to avoid."
"Sorry," Hermione said while folding the paper back up and putting it on the table. "I know that, I was just wondering if I missed something. It's not like I know what goes on in the boy's dormitory or anything."
Before Harry could reply the swarm of post owls came rushing through the Great Hall. Now nearly a week after Harry originally sent Hedwig the owl returned with a letter addressed to Harry. As Harry untied the letter that was addressed to him from Hedwig's ankle, Hermione took the time to feed Hedwig some pieces of bacon from her plate.
"Is it from Padfoot?" Hermione asked.
They had decided to call Sirius, Padfoot while they were anywhere public. It hadn't dawned on either of them before Harry sent his letter to Sirius that someone may want to overhear their conversations. However, since Neville seemed to have caught some of it that discussion they realized that they needed to be more careful in the future.
"Yes," Harry said with relief. "It's from Padfoot." Immediately Hermione scooted closer on the bench to read the letter over Harry's shoulder.
Dear Harry,
I'm sorry that I need to keep this short but quite frankly I didn't have much paper to write with. Let me clear something up immediately. I am your godfather. I love you no matter what. I will not be taking sides during this argument that you are having with your sister. However, I will make it known that I do not like how long it has been dragged out for. You two need to sit down and talk to each other face to face and get over whatever differences have recently come up between the two of you.
Just remember that she is your sister, the only sister you have. Even though differences may come up between you, you need to rise above them. Trust me when I say you need to cherish every moment with one another, and not let the petty things come between you. You would regret it if something tragic was to occur and you never had a chance to come to terms with your differences with sibling. I know this from personal experience.
Don't worry about Lexi too much while you are at school. I am keeping a close eye on her. I would never let anything happen to my godchildren if I have to power to stop it. Please write again soon and make sure you tell me more about your classes and your friends. Have any girls caught your fancy yet?
With love,
Padfoot
"Do you think I should send him the cloak?" Harry asked in a low voice.
While they had never directly said it, Harry believed they both shared the same feeling about that. The invisibility cloak would be more practical for Lexi and Sirius to have compared to Harry and Hermione. No matter how much Hermione wanted to use it to raid the restricted section of the library.
"Yes, I think you should," Hermione readily agreed. "But before you do, can I use Hedwig to send a letter of my own?"
"Of course," Harry replied a bit startled. Hermione had never asked to borrow Hedwig before. But then again Hedwig had been pretty active acting as a carrier between Harry and Lexi in the past.
As soon as Harry gave his consent, Hermione pulled out a letter and attached it to the owl's leg. "Thank you, Hedwig," Hermione said while petting the owl's head. When her hand left the owl's head, Hedwig immediately took off to deliver her next letter.
"Wow, she didn't even stick around for a few minutes," Harry said a bit wistfully. "She used to do that all the time when I was writing Lexi."
"I think Hedwig is a very smart owl," Hermione replied her eyes still staring out the opening Hedwig departed from. Harry noticed a ghost of a smile on her face. "I'm quite sure she knew how important my letter was."
~*~
Life was so boring.
Sirius wouldn't teach her anything new until she could master her latest transfiguration. No matter how hard Lexi tried she couldn't get her nose to turn into a pig's snout. To tell the truth she was completely sick of playing around with her metamorphmagus abilities. She really wanted to just be able to change her entire appearance at will but Sirius wouldn't let her try changing her whole face until she was able to change each individual facial feature to his pleasure.
When would she ever need to make her nose look like a pig's snout?
Anyways she was done with her homework and she had read all of her library books. It really sucked that her class was only able to go to the school library once a week and that was her only opportunity to take out books. She still had two more days until she could take out three new books for this week.
Who would have thought that not having to do constant chores would have given her so much free time? Not that she was complaining or anything like that. She'd much rather have too much free time than none at all. It wasn't like the Dursleys were even talking to her at this point anyways.
Lexi Potter was laying on her bed staring out her bedroom window. As soon as Harry left for Hogwarts she immediately changed her residence back to their small bedroom. While it seemed like a good idea to hurt Harry by ignoring him before he went to Hogwarts and refusing to let him say goodbye. Lexi never contemplated how much it would hurt her as well. At first she ignored the feeling. If she didn't feel it, it didn't exist. But the more time that passed the more it hurt and she realized that she made a horrible mistake by not saying goodbye.
But now it was too late. She wasn't going to be seeing her brother until June. She couldn't tell him how sorry she was. Well, she could write him a letter saying she was sorry but what if he was mad at her?
She decided against opening any letters from Harry since she was afraid of what they might say. What if Harry hated her for hurting his feelings? What if Harry was never going to come back to Privet Drive? What if he was going to live with Hermione from now on? What if she was replaced by Hermione Granger in Harry's life?
Lexi just couldn't face the truth if that was what one of those letters said. If she never got the letter than those things could never happen, right? So every time Hedwig would come with a letter for her, she would send the owl away.
Tears were threatening to spill from Lexi's eyes but she fought to hold them in. She wouldn't cry over this. Harry would come home in June and everything would be alright. She would apologize for being a jerk and he would apologize for not consulting her about whether or not they could trust Sirius' secret to Hermione. Everything would be alright.
Squawk!
Lexi jumped up when Hedwig made her presence in the room known. She didn't even see the bird enter the room. Wait a minute, how did Hedwig enter the room? Her window was shut just a moment before. But when Lexi turned to check the window it was open, not closed like she originally thought. Perhaps her mind was playing tricks on her.
Approaching Hedwig as if she had something deadly attached to her talons, Lexi glanced at the envelope. Surprisingly, the letter was not written in the messy scrawl she generally associated with Harry. Instead it was written in a delicate feminine script. Who, besides Harry, would use Hedwig to send her a letter? Oh, no! What if something had happened to Harry?
Without hesitating Lexi ripped open the envelope to have a lengthy letter slip out.
Dear Lexi,
I know we have never corresponded in the past, but I feel now is as good a time as any to begin. My name is Hermione Granger and you may remember me from our shared Christmas dinner this past December. I had hoped we would become good friends after we met but I fear that we have not had the proper opportunity to really have a chance to get to know one another better. Hopefully by becoming pen pals we may be able to get to know one another better.
I do not mean to be rude, offensive or intrusive for that matter but I am very concerned about how you are holding up. Is everything alright at Privet Drive? Are the Dursleys treating you well? Is there anything you need that I can get for you?
Please know that I am just as concerned about you as Harry is. I know you probably don't want to hear about Harry but I know he is missing you sorely. I wish the two of you could find an opportunity to get together and talk through your differences. Please don't hate me for saying that but I hate seeing Harry so sad because he misses you. You know he loves you so much…
~*~
AN:There is chapter 17 for you. Like I said in the disclaimer, drop me a review. Tell me what you like or dislike about the fic, or perherps tell me your favorite line or part. A big thank you to the best betas a girl can have to zephy and swanpride. Their words and advice are always important to me and the direction that this fic goes, so thank you again. The fight will be wrapped up soon, I promise.
Next Chapter: Miss Potter Goes to Hogwarts