Author's Note: Alex is mine, you can't have her! Sorry J.K Rowling, but at least you own the rest of this. Warning: There's some mild swearing at the end of the chapter…

Chapter 13 Teens + Anger = Unknown Facts

Alex woke up with a start and saw the dormitory empty. Still in her pajamas, she went down the stairs to an empty common room. She sat in her favorite chair and stared into the roaring flames, in a trance. Her mother had died because a man she dated was angry for her breaking up with him. Alex didn't care what Fudge thought, Black was a lunatic and out of his mind. If every man in the world did that when their girlfriends broke up with them, there would be no women in the world.

"Alex?" She jumped when she heard her name and saw Hermione and Ron, each carrying a mini-lunch. "You hungry?" Hermione asked. Alex shook her head and watched as the two put down the food and sat in chairs.

"Where is everyone?" Alex asked in the same hollow, lifeless voice from yesterday.

"It's the first day of Christmas vacation, remember?" Ron said and Alex nodded, turning back to the flames. She heard bare feet on the steps and saw Harry come down the stairs, looking as tired as Alex felt. He too sat in a chair and took to staring into the fire.

"Listen you two, we know it's hard what you heard yesterday," Hermione said, "But you need to talk to us about it, let it out. That's what we're here for."

"And promise us you won't go looking for Black," Ron added.

Alex let out a bark of grim laughter and said, "That's what your dad told us."

"Well, Ron's dad's right," Hermione said carefully, "Black would want you to go after him, then he wouldn't have to lift a finger."

"This man killed our parents," said Harry quietly, "And you expect us to stay here and let him find us?"

"Dumbledore is here," Hermione said quickly, "He'll make sure Black doesn't get in again."

"But that's just it," Alex said, shaking her head, "Black's already gotten past the dementors twice now. What's to say he doesn't try again? I'm not agreeing with Harry that we should make it a point to go and look for him, but I think that Harry and I should be ready to fight him if he does."

"Why shouldn't we go and find him?" Harry said, rounding on Alex, "He killed our parents for Merlin's sake! In fact, it's your mother's fault he even did it!"

"Harry-" Hermione said, looking at Alex's surprisingly calm face warily.

"No Hermione, don't defend her, she knows I'm right! It's all because your mother broke up with Black and pushed him over the edge!"

Alex was silent as Harry looked at her angrily and sighed. "Harry, people break up, relationships fall. It's all part of life and growing up. And yet, you don't see every man who gets dumped going around and killing their friends and ex-girlfriends. Black was never in his right mind, he was just a great actor. I know your upset and I am too, but the only person we have to blame for our parents' deaths is Black."

"Then why don't you want to find him and do something?" Harry asked, calming down and running his hands through his already messy hair.

"Because I made a promise to Ron's dad saying I wouldn't to go looking for Black. And you did too Harry," Alex said, "I don't know about you, but when I make a promise, I try my hardest to keep it."

Harry nodded and Alex suggested they attempt to get their work done early so they could relax later. That night, Hermione and Alex talked in their empty dormitory and, after using two boxes of tissues, the two went to bed, Alex feeling like a hundred pound weight had been lifted off her.

…...

It was Christmas morning and Alex woke up at the crack of dawn. She waited two seconds, got out of bed, and pulled out her wand. Quietly as humanly possible, she crept to Hermione's bed and made her voice magically magnified.

"WAKE UP HERMIONE!" she said loudly.

Hermione screamed and almost fell out of bed. She looked at Alex's innocent face and smiled tiredly, "Glad to see you're back to normal."

The girls used their wands to carry their unwrapped gifts to the boys' dormitory where Alex knocked loudly and obnoxiously until a very tired Ron opened the door.

"Morning Ronald," Alex said cheerfully as she and Hermione entered.

"You do know what time it is, right?" Ron growled as the girls set down the presents.

"No, actually we don't," Hermione said, "What time is it?"

"Five in the morning," Harry said under his sheets.

"Oh, well I woke Hermione up as soon as I did. Here, let me show you how." She went over to Harry's bed and again made her voice amplified, "GET UP YOU SLEEPY HEAD!"

Harry jumped higher than Hermione did and managed to get caught in his blankets, causing his top portion of his body to fall while his legs were wrapped up in the sheets. They all had a good laugh and even Harry managed a chuckle.

As they were opening gifts, Alex saw a package wrapped in newspaper. Lying on top of it was a black velvet ring box, attached by a Sticking Charm. Taking it, Alex removed the Sticking Charm with ease and looked at the newspaper-wrapped gift. She saw it was an old paper and had a picture of her aunt and Harry's mother under the headline, "Hogwarts' Two Valedictorians!" The rest of the article went on to mention how both Elizabeth Tortelli and Lily Evans had gotten the same final grades and both received the honor of being valedictorians. There was a quote underlined and Alex saw it was her mother saying, "I knew they would get the award, but I was afraid the school would have to choose one over the other. If they did, I would have had a serious problem with that seeing as one is my sister and the other is one of my best friends. This way, everyone wins and no one gets hurt, both physically and emotionally." Alex smiled and saw there was a note on the paper.

Alex,

These were your mother's. I hope you find them helpful for learning about her. You are so much like her and deserve to truly know what she was like. I also underlined a quote from her in this newspaper article. Enjoy!

There was no name and Alex frowned. If it was from her uncle, he would have signed his name. Thinking he must have forgotten, Alex carefully opened the gift, trying not to rip the article so she should keep it. Inside was a small leather-bound book with "Alana Maria Tortelli" written in fancy gold lettering. Alex opened the book and a piece of paper fell out.

To whoever opened this,

Welcome to the diary of Alana Maria Tortelli! In case you haven't already guessed, I'm Alana! I wrote in this little book so that I could always remember my wonderful experiences at Hogwarts for years to come. If you have never heard of Hogwarts, this is all a dream. You are standing by a roaring river and the sound of running water is making you really have to go to the toilet. There, that should take care of the Muggles who might have found this and thought it would be funny to read a poor girl's diary (I put a Memory Charm on this so that any Muggle who read that would put the book down and forget all about this.) Now I must warn readers that this book may contain pranks, arrogant-sounding boys, and extremely beautiful girls (that is, my totally awesome friends!) So sit back, relax, and enjoy The School Life of Alana Tortelli!

"What's that Alex?" Ron asked, seeing the diary in Alex's hands.

"It's my mother's diary," Alex said in a whisper.

"Who gave it to you?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know, there's no name. It's probably my uncle and he just forgot to sign his name," said Alex, still looking the little book over. She remembered the little box and quickly picked it up, opening it with a gasp.

Inside was a beautiful ring made of yellow gold. The metal shined brightly as Alex ran her fingers over the woven band. In the center of the ring was a gorgeous ruby, like the color of Gryffindor. In the box, Alex saw another note and quickly picked it up to read.

Alex,

This was your mother's ring. Unfortunately not her wedding or engagement ring, but it was very important to her.

Carefully, Alex slipped the ring on her right hand and smiled as it fit, albeit a little loose on her. She showed it to her friends and the boys just nodded distractedly while Hermione looked torn between amazement and worry.

One of the gifts Alex opened was a soft package from Erin. When she ripped off the black dog paper, she laughed. It was a T-shirt with the picture Alex had taken with Orion and herself. She was laughing as the black dog licked her chin. Quickly, she went onto Harry's bed and pulled the curtains around her, changing into her new shirt. She then threw her annual Weasley sweater on, this time it had the three Quidditch goal hoops on the front and was the color of the Gryffindor ruby red. She came out of Harry's bed and gasped.

"Holy Merlin! Harry, is that really, truly, a Firebolt? I think I'm dreaming."

Harry was sitting cross-legged with a long box in his lap, the Firebolt still in it. Alex walked over and rubbed her eyes.

"Can I…Can I touch it?" Alex asked and Harry nodded, still too shocked to speak. Alex felt the smooth handle and saw the serial number and knew she wasn't dreaming.

"Who gave it to you?" Ron asked, just as shocked as Harry and Alex.

"I don't know, there's no card or note," Harry said, looking through the paper in the box.

"That's a good broom, isn't it?" Hermione asked as the boys looked frantically through the box for any kind of note.

"Only the best in the world!" Ron said, stopping his search.

"It must be very expensive," Hermione said, frowning.

"Yeah, it is. Hey Harry, I bet Dumbledore gave it to you!"

"He can't do that, that would be playing favorites," Alex said, "He only gave Harry that gift in his first year because it was his dad's."

"What about Lupin? He likes Harry, maybe he gave it to him."

"Oh yeah," Harry laughed, "If he had enough money to buy the best racing broom in the world, he would buy himself some new robes."

"Well, at least you'll kick some ass next Quidditch match," Alex said with a smile.

"Ye-Hey Harry! Wait until Malfoy sees it! Oh I can't wait, can I ride it? After you of course," said Ron excitedly.

"I don't think anyone should ride it yet!" Hermione said quickly. Alex and the boys looked at Hermione with confusion. "We still have Christmas dinner," she added quickly.

Alex shrugged and continued opening her gifts. Her last gift was a paint set. There was a card and Alex read it to herself.

Dear Alex,

I hope you are well and having a Merry Christmas. I also hope this gift will allow you to show me all the wonderful colors of Hogwarts. I miss you terribly and will see you soon. Merry Christmas!

Your loving uncle,

Uncle Monty

Alex was very confused. If her uncle hadn't given her the diary, then who did? Maybe it was Professor Lupin. But it couldn't be, Professor Lupin's handwriting was neat and small while this person's handwriting was messier as well as larger. Shaking her head, she gathered her gifts and went back to her room with Hermione. As Alex was putting away her art set, Hermione spoke.

"Don't you think it's odd that Harry gets a racing broom, a very expensive broom, for Christmas and the giver doesn't say who they are?"

"I guess," Alex said shrugging, "Why, do you think you know who sent it?"

"I think so," Hermione said quietly, "I think it was sent by Sirius Black."

Alex stopped what she was doing, looked at her best friend, and laughed. "Hermione, Black's a man on the run!" she cried, "How do you expect him to have enough money to buy that broom and even get within ten miles of Diagon Alley to buy it?"

"I don't know, but I just have this feeling that he sent it. I think that Professor McGonagall should look at it."

"You feel strongly about this?" Alex asked and Hermione nodded, "Then I'll back you up. I should warn you, the guys won't like it."

"I'm doing what I think is right for Harry because I don't want him to get hurt by Black."

"I agree with you one hundred percent."

Hermione smiled and pulled on her Weasley sweater, which was a dull gold with a book shelf on the front. They joined the boys downstairs and went to the Great Hall. When they opened the doors, there was one medium-sized table with a bunch of teachers sitting around it.

"Oh, sorry professors," Alex said, "We thought it was time to eat."

"Come in," Dumbledore said with a warm smile, "This is where we will be eating. Since there are only a few of us, I thought we should eat together and share the Christmas spirit."

Alex nodded and caught eyes with Snape. The last thing she wanted right now was to share any spirit with her Potions professor. She and the others sat down and were soon joined by a few other students and another professor.

She was a skinny woman with glasses that made her eyes much larger than normal. Her hair was big and bushier than Hermione's, which was saying something, and she was dressed in dull yellow robes and had a lot of heavy jewelry on.

"Who's that?" Alex whispered to Hermione.

"Professor Trelawney," Hermione replied, "She teaches Divination and is a little…out there."

"In a good way or a bad way?" Alex asked.

"In my opinion, a bad way," said Hermione and Alex chortled into her drink as she passed her friend the gravy ladle.

"Good afternoon Sybil," the Headmaster said, "I'm glad you joined us. Have a seat."

He waved his wand and a chair appeared. As Professor Trelawney was about to sit, she stood up and let out a cry that made Alex jump, almost spilling the gravy on Hermione's lap.

"What is it, Sybil?" McGonagall asked in annoyance, seeing as she spilled her wine all over herself. She managed to clean it with a wave of her wand.

"There are twelve people at this table and, if I were to join, it would be thirteen," she said. When no one reacted like she did, she continued, "If thirteen people dine together, the first to rise is the first to die."

"Oh…my…Merlin," Alex whispered, "This lady needs to go to the funny farm and have her own ward."

Hermione choked on her turkey and Alex had to thump her on the back a couple of times. During this time, Professor Trelawney sat down slowly and began eating. Alex enjoyed the feast as usual and ate until she was sure someone would have to role her out. When the desserts disappeared, crackers appeared. Alex took one and pulled it, resulting in a cloud of smoke and a loud BANG! When the smoke vanished, a figurine of a black dog was in front of her. She smiled and pocketed the dog, happening to see Snape watching her with a frown on his face. Once she felt that she could walk on her own, she stretched. Harry and Ron stood up together and were leaving.

"Which one of you left first?" Professor Trelawney cried out.

Harry and Ron looked at each other and Harry said, "I don't know, I guess the both of us."

"Really Sybil, I don't think it matters which one of them stood up first," McGonagall said, frowning, "They're not going to die unless a crazy axe murderer is outside waiting to kill whoever is the first one out the door."

Alex laughed and even Harry and Ron managed a smile. They looked at Alex and Hermione, but Alex told them to go on ahead. Once they were gone, Hermione asked if she could have a word with Professor McGonagall. The professor nodded and left the Great Hall with Alex and Hermione. Once they were far from the door, Hermione told the Head of House about Harry's Christmas gift and how she thought it might be from Black. When she finished, McGonagall nodded.

"Let me see it," she said and Alex and Hermione led her to the common room.

Alex opened the portrait hole and went to the far side of the room with Hermione, each grabbing a book to hide their faces in as McGonagall asked to see the Firebolt. When she said she had to take it and strip it down, Alex almost cried out. She knew this was an amazing broom. When people stripped down a broom, some of the qualities could be lost. Finally, McGonagall left and the boys turned to the girls behind the books.

"You told her, didn't you?" Ron said angrily, "You just can't stand it when someone has something great!"

"I only did it because I was worried," Hermione said defensively.

"Worried about what?" Ron shouted.

"I thought, and Professor McGonagall and Alex agree, that the broom was sent by Sirius Black."

The boys were silent and Alex too lowered her book. She saw Ron looking red in the face from anger and Harry looking betrayed and shocked.

"We only did it because we don't want you to get hurt," Alex said quietly.

Harry shook his head and left in a huff, closely followed by Ron, who shot them one final withering look.

…...

Harry and Ron refused to talk to the girls, although Alex didn't mind so much seeing as she was angry with the way the boys had reacted about the broom. Even she, who loved Quidditch more than most girls her age, knew that Harry's safety was way more important than a broomstick.

Once school started up again, Alex found herself flooded with work. She had to work extra hard in Arithmancy as the problems got much harder. Sometimes, Hermione and she would be up until midnight, Hermione trying to explain how to figure out the answers to a very confused and exhausted Alex. The Friday night of the first week back, Alex climbed into bed exhausted from studying.

She was in a grassy valley, sitting on a red and white checkered blanket. She heard laughter and turned to see her mother's smiling face.

"Darling, you're getting jelly all over your face," her mother said and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

Just then, a pair of hands lifted Alex off the ground and she screamed with delight, soon erupting into a loud belly laugh. The pair of hands held her parallel to the ground at her waist and a voice was making commentary.

"She goes to the Snitch, dodges Bludgers left and right. She reaches…AND SHE CATCHES IT! Alex has won the Quidditch World Cup for England!" the man's voice said.

Alex saw her mother laughing and applauding for her daughter as the man set her down. She ran after a firefly and managed to catch one. She returned to her mother and saw her sitting next to the man, who had his back to her. Alex reached out to tug on the man's robes and show both of them what she had caught.

SNORT! Alex's eyes snapped open and she saw her hand was outstretched, like it was in her dream. She let it fall and heard Maggie's snores continue, rolling over and falling asleep again.

…...

"Alex!"

Alex opened her eyes once again and found herself on the floor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom for the umpteenth time. She managed to get up and Lupin handed Alex her wand and a piece of chocolate.

"That was better today," Lupin said with a smile and Alex raised her eyebrows at him unbelievingly, "I'm serious, before you could barely hold your own against the boggart dementor. Now, at least you can hold them off for a while and give people time to come and help you."

"But I don't want people to have to come and rescue me," said Alex as she ate, "I'm not some damsel in distress. I want to be able to get rid of them myself."

"Alex, you forget this is very advanced magic. I think that's enough for today."

"Oh Professor Lupin, can't I do it once more? I feel fine, really."

"Very well," said Professor Lupin reluctantly.

Alex racked her brains for an extremely happy memory. She remembered last night's dream, it wasn't a memory but maybe it would work. She let happiness wash over her and remembered the laughter of both her and her mother as she flew through the air.

"Ready?"

Alex nodded and Lupin opened the trunk they were using to keep the boggart in. The dementor appeared and glided slowly toward her, it's scabby hands reaching out.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Alex shouted.

A white figure emerged from the tip of her wand and bounded at the dementor. The dark creature shrunk away as the white patronus leaped onto it, pushing it into the trunk. Lupin closed it and the bright animal walked to her, sat down, and wagged its tail. Alex bent down and watched as the patronus sniffed her outstretched hand. Then, just as suddenly as it came, it vanished and left the area around Alex misty white.

"Was that my patronus?" Alex asked.

"Yes, it was," Lupin said, looking proud but confused as well, "Could you see what it was?"

"It was a dog, a large one. When my friends saw it, they thought it was a wolf. I can see why they would think so," Alex said with a smile.

She helped the professor put the trunk away and then they sat at the table, Lupin pulling out two bottles of Butterbeer.

"You've never had this before, I believe. Your mother and aunt used to love it," he said, handing her a bottle.

Alex acted as though she had never seen the bottle before and took a sip.

"It's delicious!" she said enthusiastically, "What is it?"

"It's called Butterbeer," Lupin explained, "I managed to get a case from the Three Broomsticks. It's great stuff, especially when it's cold outside."

Alex nodded, took a deep breath, and reached into her pocket, laying the photograph on the table.

"You never told me who the final wizard was, sir," Alex said, watching Lupin's reaction. His expression was blank, but Alex could see in his eyes that he knew the man. Alex waited patiently while Professor Lupin stared at the picture. She decided to help him along. "Sir, is that Sirius Black?"

"Why would you say that?" the professor asked quickly, almost snappishly.

"For Christmas, I got my mother's diary," said Alex smoothly. She hadn't had a chance to read it yet but knew there would be something about him in there.

"Yes, it is him," Lupin said, looking as though he had aged ten years, "But this was a long time ago, before we really knew him. You said you got your mother's diary for Christmas?" She nodded and he continued, "Do you have it with you?"

"Yes sir, in my bag." Alex took out the small book and handed it over to the professor. He smiled wistfully as he paged through the ink-filled book. Stopping towards the end, his eyes flew across the page and he looked at Alex for a moment before speaking.

"Would you mind if I borrowed this for a while?" he asked, "To allow a man to relive his glory days if you will?"

"Of course sir!" said Alex with a smile, "Take as long as you need. I just finished my mum's second year and I want to read each year as I go through it myself."

"Thank you, Alex. You better go on then, I'm sure you have a lot of work to do."

Alex thanked her professor for the drink and left. It was a full moon next week and Alex was praying Professor Lupin would be able to teach. She decided to go to Hagrid's hut and tell him about some information she and Hermione had found about hippogriff cases. She knocked on the door and heard sniffling inside.

"Who's there?" Hagrid called.

"It's Alex!"

The door opened and Alex saw Hermione sitting at Hagrid's table with notes in front of her, but noticed her eyes were wet.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Alex asked, joining her friend.

"N-Nothing," she stuttered, wiping her eyes. Alex raised her eyebrows at her and Hermione's lip trembled and she said with a mix of anger and sorrow, "It's just that, I feel horrible about everything! I hated having to take Harry's broom away and I've apologized, but neither of them forgives me! I feel horrible about Crookshanks scaring Scabbers half to death! And, to top it all off, I absolutely despise having to lie to everyone all the time!"

"Hermione, you can't do anything about Crookshanks. He's a cat and cats chase rats, end of story. Secondly, Harry'll come around once he realizes we were only looking out for him. Don't expect much from Ron until everything calms down, you know how he can be. And we're not lying about him," said Alex, stressing the "him" so that Hagrid wouldn't know that they were talking about Professor Lupin and his condition, "We're just not telling everyone about it."

"No, that's…that's not what I was talking about," Hermione said.

She looked from a confused Alex to Hagrid, who was taking a seat on the other side of Hermione. Seeming to make up her mind about something, Hermione pulled a long chain from around her neck and Alex saw a strange looking pendent.

"Do you know how I always seem to beat everyone to class?" Hermione asked and Alex nodded, "Well, this is why. It's a Time Turner, McGonagall gave it to me the beginning of this year. I turn the hourglass and I can go back and take all my lessons. McGonagall told me not to tell a soul, not even my friends, and she had to get all kinds of forms signed saying that I was a good student and would only use it for my lessons. So, you see, I had to lie to you otherwise McGonagall would get in trouble too."

Alex looked at the little hourglass and smiled. She should have known there was something her friend wasn't telling her. Alex told Hermione that it was perfectly fine and that she and Hagrid would not tell anyone. After spending some time going over the cases with Hagrid, both girls left and went back to the common room. As Alex pulled her bag toward her, she heard Ron and Harry talking.

"Lupin looked so pale when I saw him," Harry was telling Ron, "I don't know how he keeps getting sick."

Hermione heard as well and let out a sigh of annoyance. The boys turned to her, Ron glaring.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing," Hermione said with an air of superiority.

"What were you sighing about then?" Ron asked, "We were talking about Lupin and then you let out this annoyed sigh."

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Hermione asked, as though she were talking to a six year old who didn't know what two plus two was.

"What's so obvious?"

"I'm not going to tell you," Hermione snapped and moved to a farther table. Ron turned his angry gaze at Alex, while Harry looked extremely confused.

"Well, it is obvious," said Alex and went over to Hermione. After Ron had stormed off upstairs, Harry joined the girls.

"Can I sit here?" he asked.

"Do you hear something?" Alex said, ignoring Harry's question, "All I see is a boy who hasn't said a word to us because we're worried about him. Oh well, back to the grindstone."

"I get it," said Harry, "You're mad at me."

"No shit Sherlock. What gave you that idea?" Alex snapped, not even looking up.

"I'm sorry about ignoring you two. I was being a jerk and I feel bad about it," said Harry sincerely, "You were right, it's only a broom and McGonagall said I could have it back when she said it was safe."

Hermione accepted the apology and Harry turned to Alex, who was still writing an essay for Binns.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" said Alex, looking up with a smile, "Sit down already, Sherlock."

Harry grinned and watched as the two girls worked. He lifted up Alex's Arithmancy book and flipped through its pages.

"Why do you take this subject?" he asked, "It looks immensely complicated."

"But it's fascinating," Hermione said happily, "There's this one chapter where-"

But just then, there was a loud shout and Alex heard footsteps running down the boys' staircase. Ron was red in the face from anger and sadness.

"I can't find Scabbers upstairs," Ron said, actually more shouted, "But I did find blood on my sheets and these."

Ron held out a few ginger hairs that were seen all over the common room. They were Crookshanks'.

"What are you suggesting, Ron?" Alex asked suspiciously.

"I'm not suggesting, I'm telling you that Hermione's stupid cat ate Scabbers!" yelled Ron, "I told you to keep an eye out for him, but you never listened to me! Now look, my rat's gone!"

"Ron, have you looked everywhere?" asked Alex, seeing Hermione's large eyes fill up.

"Of course I looked everywhere!" snapped Ron, rounding on Alex, "What kind of owner do you think I am?"

"A loud one," muttered Alex under her breath and closed her eyes. She listened for any noise in the common room and the dormitories. All she heard were a few mice, Crookshanks, and owls.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked savagely.

"Looking for your rat," growled Alex, loosing her concentration.

"No you're not, you're just sitting there with your eyes closed."

"You forget that I can hear animals," Alex countered, "And your rat isn't in the Gryffindor area, so he must be hiding somewhere in the castle. Would you care to search every nook and cranny for him or would you like to do it my way?"

"He's not hiding, he's been eaten by that ugly cat. So unless your weird little animal powers can find a rat inside a cat, I guess you're not much help."

The entire common room went silent. Alex stood up and started putting her things away, her hands shaking slightly. Once she was packed up, she looked Ron in the eyes, a horrible flame behind her stormy grey ones. He had crossed an unspoken, but still known, boundary: never call Alex's ability to talk to animals "weird".

"You're lucky, Weasley," she whispered menacingly, her voice far more frightening than any shout, "Because right now, I could put you through a living hell. If you so much as look at me the wrong way, I will hit you with every curse I know. When I'm done with you, your own mother won't want anything to do with you. Instead, I'll only do this."

Making a fist, she punched Ron in the nose with all her strength, sending him stumbling backwards. He tripped over his feet and fell on the floor hard, holding a hand over his nose.

"Bloody hell, you broke my nose!" shouted Ron angrily, his voice thick.

"You're lucky I didn't do any permanent damage, you bastard!" shouted Alex, "Quit being a baby for the love of Merlin! Madame Pomfrey can mend that in the blink of an eye. What you did to me, that can't be fixed."

Without another word, she left the common room through the portrait hole, waited until it was closed, and sprinted off. She didn't care where she was going, just as long as it was far from Ron Weasley as humanly possible.

Alex reached a deserted corridor and stopped, pacing up and down. She just wanted a place where she could let off of steam, maybe even do some homework. Homework would keep her mind off of everything. As she paced, she glanced up and saw a door that she hadn't seen there before. Opening it, she saw an old grand piano, a bookshelf, and a beanbag chair. Going over to the piano, she played a key and was surprised to find it was in perfect tune. She set down her bag, pulled the stool toward her, and began playing.

Alex had taken lessons a very long time ago, before and after she came to England. However, she never enjoyed them because all her teachers ever told her to play were classical pieces that were more than six pages long. Eventually, Uncle Monty stopped the lessons and began giving her more modern music to play. Alex couldn't tell the difference between a minuet and a solfeggio, but she could play a pretty darn good version of "Hey Jude".

As her fingers went over the keys, Alex felt the stress of everything just fall away. She was in a new world in which no one thought her weird or different, she could do whatever she wanted. She played the final cord and let out a sigh, took out her books, and began her work.

Author's Note: Hello readers! How are you all today? Hopefully this finds you all right. I can't believe that after this, there will be only six more chapters! We're starting to near the end now, but don't worry. There's plenty of fun stuff in store for this story. Please let me know what you thought of this. You should know by now that I love when my readers give me their thoughts or advice. :D