Author's Note: Hey, you. Yeah, I'm talking to you! Come here…closer…closer…okay good. Now listen closely…I ONLY OWN ALEX AND ANYTHING YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE!

Chapter 7 What Happens When You Have a Knack for Something

"Got somethin' fer yeh to see," Hagrid said as the four Gryffindors came closer to Hagrid.

Alex smiled and quickly followed her large friend around back and stopped at a pile of crates. Curiously, she peered over the side and looked in. She frowned and looked at Hagrid.

"What are they?" she asked.

"Blast-Ended Skrewts," Hagrid said proudly, "Just got 'em last week, not sure wha' they do, though. That's what we'll be doing in our lessons, yeh'll have to figure out wha' they eat, sorta like a puzzle."

Alex forced a smile and turned back to the Skrewts. They looked like giant larva with their off white, soft skin. Alex couldn't tell where the front or back were because she couldn't see any eyes. All in all, they looked like large, ugly worms.

"Hey Hagrid," Ron asked, looking at them too, "Why are they called 'Blast-Ended' Skrewts?"

As if they heard Ron's question, one of the creatures let out a bang and the crate exploded. Flames began to leap up and Hagrid dumped a bucket of water on them. The larva-like thing was at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"They use their ends," Hagrid said as he brought back the skrewt, "To propel themselves in times o' danger."

They spent the rest of the time inside, and away from the skrewts. Hagrid made tea for them and some of his homemade rock cakes. As the others were trying to bite into the cakes with their teeth still intact, Alex decided to ask Hagrid something that had been bothering her since the night before.

"Hagrid, how come you knew all about Vol-I mean, You-Know-Who, attacking me and my mum? Why doesn't everyone know like with Harry?"

"Well, I know 'cause Dumbledore asked me ter get yeh to yer grandparents. But we, that is, McGonagall and I, weren't to tell a soul about what happened that night. Harry's story had already gotten out 'cause people knew that his parents were livin' there, but no one knew about yeh and yer mum. Dumbledore wanted ter keep it that way, and he wanted that fer Harry too but it was too late for him."

Alex nodded and looked at Harry. Harry, who hated all the attention he got, who only wanted to have a normal, quiet school life, was forced to suffer accusations about him being in league with Voldemort when that monster was the one who killed his parents. While Alex was able to live a semi-normal life at Hogwarts, Harry had to carry the burden of everyone watching him, trying to figure him out.

Finally, it was getting late and the four needed time to eat and Alex still had her meeting with Snape to look forward too. As they were leaving, Hagrid remembered something.

"By the way, any of you four willin' ter help me out with somethin' on Saturday mornin'?" Hagrid asked pleadingly.

"Sure Hagrid!" they said as enthusiastically as they could. If it involved the Blast-Ended Skrewts though, they weren't too keen to help out.

Before Alex knew it, she had finished her dessert and it was time for her to go down to the dungeons alone. She took her time, stopping to talk to Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, but finally she couldn't put it off any longer. She reached the Head of Slytherin House's office, squared her shoulders while taking a deep breath, and entered.

Malfoy and Snape were talking when she entered and stopped immediately. Thoughts raced through Alex's mind. What was Malfoy doing here? Had he blamed something on Alex that she didn't do? Was that why he was being nice to her, to butter her up for this? Well, she would still have a few choice words with him after this, nothing could stop that.

"I'm glad you finally joined us Miss Ratcliff," Snape sneered, "Have a seat." Alex sat down in the chair in front of his desk next to Malfoy, keeping her head held high and composing herself. "You are a remarkable Potions student."

"Thank you sir," Alex said icily. Where was this going?

"I've noticed that the potions we are brewing in class seem much too simple for someone of your standards," Snape continued, an evil smile playing his lips, "So I have decided to give you and Mr. Malfoy more complex potions so that you are not entirely bored during my class.

"Unfortunately, I cannot give you them during the regular period because that would be unfair to the other students,"

Since when did you care about fairness? Alex thought savagely, but kept this to herself.

"So you and Mr. Malfoy will be spending you Friday evenings working together on the potions I assign you," said Snape. Alex now realized why he had been smiling, he knew this would be painful for her. Having to work with a partner was bad enough, but Malfoy? That wasn't just pure torture, it was cruel and unusual punishment!

"You're joking," said Alex, once she found her voice, which was somewhere within her stomach, "I can't work with him!"

"And why not?" Snape asked, clearly enjoying watching Alex's struggle.

"Do you really want me to say why?" Alex muttered under her breath, but said aloud, "Because we hate each other! We'll be at each others' throats the entire time! Leave us for a few seconds and one, if not both, of us'll be dead!"

"I have Mr. Malfoy's word that no harm will come to you and he will listen to whatever advice you give him," Snape said, "And I need you to do the same." Alex was silent, staring at him furiously so he added, "This is your chance to brew more interesting things besides wart removers. I see the fire in your eyes when I mention we'll be doing something complex, and the disappointment when it turns out to be quite simple for you. I can assure you, the potions during your hours here will be extremely challenging. It will take several weeks, maybe even months, until it will be completed. Maybe I was wrong, maybe you're just not up to the challenge."

"I'll do it," said Alex quickly. No one ever even insinuated she was scared of a challenge.

Snape nodded, "And you need to assure Mr. Malfoy that no harm will come to him, and that you will listen to whatever advice he may offer."

"I promise-"

"Tell him, not me."

"Fine!" Alex snarled and turned to Malfoy, "I promise I won't jinx you and or punch you in the face when you annoy the crap out of me. I'll also listen to the advice you give me, but that does not mean I'll take it."

Malfoy turned to Snape and shrugged, as if to say "Good enough for me".

"Thank you Mr. Malfoy, go back to your common room." Malfoy left and Alex was left alone with Snape. They weren't done yet.

"I believe you remember the little chat we had last year about learning more advanced spells, am I right?" Alex gave a curt nod. "This year, Professor Dumbledore has insisted that you learn them, whether you want to or not. You will come to my office every Thursday evening at eight for your lesson and they will start this week."
"And do you have permission from my guardian?" Alex asked quietly.

"Your uncle has already said-"

"My uncle lets me live with him," Alex interrupted, "But he's not my only guardian, not anymore. Have you talked to my father about this?"

It took a few seconds for Snape to realize what Alex meant. His eyes grew angry but all he said was, "It had been discussed and he, though forcedly, has agreed to let me teach you, under the condition that Dumbledore checks on you once a month to make sure everything is going smoothly."

"If my dad says it's all right, then I'll do it," Alex said, making a mental note to thank her father for having Dumbledore check in.

She was dismissed and Alex ran up to the common room. She saw her friends sitting by the fire doing homework, looking relieved when they saw her.

"About time," Ron said, "What's up? What did he say?"

"Nothing," said Alex as she pulled a quill and ink bottle towards her and began outlining for one of her essays, "I need to meet with him every Thursday at eight and every Friday after dinner."

"Why?" her friends shouted together, causing the common room to stare, but either her friends didn't notice or didn't care.

"Alex, you're the best potions brewer in the whole grade, maybe even the whole school!" said Ron angrily, "Why is he having you meet with him?"

"He's having me do extra work," Alex said calmly, watching her friends astonished faces. They thought that he was having her meet with him because she was doing badly in his classes.

"Extra work!" Harry exclaimed, with a snort, "Please, that's just his excuse. He's only doing this so he can either cause you suffering or because you're the only thing that's pretty in that gloomy dungeon of his."

"Well thank you, Harry," said Alex with an embarrassed smile, "But you guys don't get it, I'm working on advanced potions with Snape. Actually, I'll be working with Malfoy and I don't even think Snape'll be there."

Their mouths hit the floor. Ron started cursing furiously, saying that it was an outrage. Harry was pacing back and forth, his expression a mix of anger and thoughtfulness, as he tried to find ways for Alex to get out of the situation. Hermione was silent, her expression confused.

"Do you want to do this, Alex?" she asked her friend.

"Well," Alex started, but paused and waited for Ron to stop his ranting, "I actually want to. Listen to me, Ron! I love potions, no matter who's teaching it. This is my chance to really learn about something I love. Yes, Malfoy's going to be really annoying and yes, I do hate working with him, but if I had a choice between working with him and not working at all, I'd work with him. Who knows, maybe I'll get some dirt on him to make him stop being such a prat to us."

They spent the rest of the evening working on their essays. Alex and Hermione read over the boys' and they only had to make a few minor corrections. Finally, they were so tired and they went straight to bed.

…...

The week flew by for Alex and before she knew it, she was in the Potion Master's office practicing spells. Her face was set and her wand out, pointing it at a torn book. She was supposed to be turning it invisible without speaking, but all she could do was make it more opaque. It also didn't help that Snape was making snide comments as she worked.

"And Dumbledore thought you were amazing," he said maliciously as Alex failed to do more than allow someone to barely see through it.

"And yet, if I'm so bad, why don't you just tell me to leave?" countered Alex angrily.

"If it were up to me," Snape said coldly, "You'd be gone when you messed up the first time. I'm only doing this because Dumbledore thinks you're special."

Needless to say, Alex's first lesson did not go as well as she had hoped. She didn't leave Snape's office until ten at night and her problems were only just beginning.

The next day was the fourth year Gryffindors' first Defense Against the Dark Arts class with their new professor. Alex had heard from the other Houses that Moody was good, scared the daylights out of you, but was very good at it.

So at the last period of the day, Alex, Hermione, Ron, and Harry followed their fellow Housemates into the classroom. Alex sighed, remembering when Professor Lupin lived there and it was filled with all kinds of interesting creatures. Now, there were strange jars with ugly insects and other little creatures inside of them.

The four took their seats, the girls in the front row and the boys behind them, and began pulling out their books.

"You won't be needing those today."

Alex practically jumped out of her chair and spun around to see Mad-Eye Moody staring at her with his good eye, his other spinning around the room. She didn't know which to look at, but chose the normal one. She put her books away and sat back in her chair, waiting for the class to begin.

"I'm Professor Moody," he said curtly, "If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm your new teacher this year and only year. I'm only doing Dumbledore a favor by being here."

The class was silent, listening with rapt attention. Moody seemed to expect this and continued by going over to a black board and writing, "Unforgivable Curses" on the board in white chalk.

"I will need someone to name me one of the Unforgivable Curses, but first tell me what they are. No sense naming them if you don't know what they are."

Alex looked around and saw, for the first time, Hermione's hand was down. She seemed to be looking at the board as though if she stared hard enough, the words would disappear. Alex raised her hand slightly and both of Moody's eyes looked at her.

"You know what they are, Miss…?"

"Ratcliff," Alex said, "They're curses that are so horrible that people say they're unforgivable, meaning that you can never undo the damage inflicted. If you're caught performing an Unforgivable Curse, you get sent to Azkaban."

"Right you are," Moody said with a nod, "Now, someone give me one."

Surprisingly, Ron raised his hand and said, "The Imperius Curse."

"You're Arthur Weasley's son, aren't you?" Moody asked and Ron nodded, "Yes, your father had a tough time with that curse in the Ministry. During You-Know-Who's reign, people were put under that curse so they could be forced into leading his followers to top-secret places and such. After his downfall, all kinds of people said they only acted under the Imperius Curse, but how are you to tell the difference between those who were forced and those who acted of their own free will?"

Moody walked to a shelf and pulled down a jar with three spiders in it. Alex cocked her head to one side and watched as the professor pulled one out and set it on the table.

"Imperio!" he said and the spider froze. It then raised itself onto four of its legs and began to do a jig of some sort.

Alex watched horrified as some people around her laughed. All she could think was that the spider was being controlled by Moody, what would he make it do next? Throw itself over the castle wall? Drown itself?

"Funny, isn't it?" Moody said with a strange smile as though he enjoyed it, "This spider is one of the deadliest in the world and I'm the one who is controlling it. What, not so funny anymore?" he said as the class fell silent.

Moody raised his wand and the spider came gliding over to Alex's table. Hermione ducked under the table but Alex sat perfectly still, forcing herself to take deep breaths. She couldn't talk to spiders; they were arachnids and not technically considered animals. She had no way of control over this poisonous spider and that frightened her most of all.

The spider glided back to Moody's hand and he put it back into an empty jar. The class let out a sigh of relief and Moody looked up.

"Another one? Tell me your name before you say it,"

Neville raised his hand and said, "I'm Neville Longbottom. Well, there's the…the Cruciatus Curse."

"Right you are," Moody said. He pulled out another spider and said, "Crucio!"

Alex heard a high-pitched squeal and saw the spider writhing in pain. She felt the color drain from her face, no one was laughing now. Suddenly, Hermione's voice, though somewhat higher, broke the stunned silence.

"Stop it! Can't you see it's bothering him?"

Alex looked and saw Neville, who was shaking and as white as a sheet. Moody saw this too and stopped, putting the spider away. He turned to Hermione, who was shaking also.

"Can you name the last one, Miss…?"

"Granger," whispered Hermione and she shook her head. For the first time in her life, Hermione was refusing to answer a teacher's question in class.

Moody nodded and pulled out the last spider. He placed it on the desk and Alex watched in numb shock as it tried to scramble away but not before Moody said, "Avada Kedavra!" There was a rushing noise and a flash of green and the spider moved no more.

"The killing curse," said Moody, turning his eyes back to his class, "No way to save them afterwards, and no way to stop it. Only two people have ever survived the killing curse and they're both here in this room."

Alex went wide-eyed and looked at Moody. So he did know about her and her mother! But he had just told the entire class that there was someone else. Dumbledore wanted it to be a secret!

"Professor," said Seamus Finnegan nervously, "You mean one survived, you mean just Harry."

"No, I mean two," Moody said, looking at Alex. He frowned at Alex's expression of terror, "Don't you all know that two families were killed that night You-Know-Who lost his powers? I thought everyone knew the story that the Ratcliffs were staying with the Potters that night."

All eyes were fastened on Alex. She felt her face get hot and resisted the urge to run out of the room…and the urge to vomit. The bell rang and she sped off, not even grabbing her books. She ran all the way to the common room and up to her dormitory. Once in there, she pulled her bed curtains shut and sat on her bed. By now, people would be talking and word would spread like wildfire. Alex Ratcliff, one of Harry's closest friends, was there the night his parents died. Questions would begin to form. Did she remember anything? Why had she, only a baby, survived with Harry? Did she have a scar somewhere too?

Alex heard the door open and footsteps came over to her bed.

"Alex?" It was Hermione.

She opened her curtains and Hermione sat on her bed. Even though they didn't talk, Alex felt slightly better.

"Go to Dumbledore," Hermione said with a touch of venom in her words, "He should have known better than to go against Dumbledore's wishes. There's a very good reason why he didn't want your story involved in all this."

"And what is that?" Alex asked. Hermione opened her mouth, but closed it and Alex sighed, "There's nothing Dumbledore can do, unless he wants to wipe the entire school's memory. It's better this way, now I don't have to hide anymore. I don't have to pretend I'm fine when my scar is burning like a branding iron. Come on, let's head down to dinner, I'm famished."

"You sure you want to go down there?" Hermione asked nervously.

"I'll have to face them eventually," said Alex as they went, "Might as well be all at once."

Harry and Ron were in the Great Hall when the girls entered. The hall fell silent as they walked to their table, everyone staring at them. Alex stopped and looked around at everyone, a small smile on her face.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," she called out good naturedly.

Everyone turned back to their food, still sneaking glances once in a while. Alex tried to pretend she didn't notice the sneers from the other houses or the whispers and pointing fingers. She was actually quite glad to go down to the dungeons.

"At least I'll only have one person staring at me the entire time," she told the others as she left.

Author's Note: Uh oh, the secret is out! What did you think of this chapter? Like, dislike, don't really care? All thoughts are appreciated, as always. ;)

For some reason, FanFiction isn't letting me respond to your reviews. Hopefully that means their fixing it...anyway, I thought until this is fixed that I would respond to you at the end of the chapter:

To cocogirl198:Thank you so much for your review! I'm glad you're enjoying all the plot twists. As for who Alex ends up with, you'll just have to wait and see...hehe! ;)

To Fruityloops87: That's great that you're enjoying the story so far. I hope you continue to. Thanks for your review!

To Are you calling me crazy?: Hopefully this chapter was all you hoped for and more! And don't worry, I'm super busy too with graduation and all the stuff that comes with it. I hate that I can't update as regularly as before. :( As for uploading your story, I had trouble with that yesterday but it magically worked for me today. Idk what's going on; I can't even PM people and it's bothering me. Anyway, I hope your Document Manager is working or will work soon and sorry I can't help you as much this time around. Thanks for your review! :)

Thank you to all who reviewed and have been reviewing. Of course, thank you to those who have me on alert and in their favorites. You all are amazing! :D