Author's Note: All I own is Alex and the stuff you don't recognize. Also, to rockerchick143, I believe I told you that Alex's "I'll-take-you-on-if-you-piss-me-off-no-matter-how-big-you-are attitude" would come back again. Well, this was what I was talking about. Enjoy! :D
Chapter 15 The Appeal Gone Wrong
Ron was true to his word. Both he and Harry, when he wasn't training for the Quidditch final, spent much of their time in the library working on the appeal. Hermione had to spend her full energy on the mountain range of homework she got every night and Alex spent most of her time in the library or in Professor Nellie's room trying to get the lessons straight before the final exam.
As the month dragged on, Alex felt herself slipping father and farther behind in Arithmancy. Without Hermione to help her with homework each night, Alex would spend hours into the night doing to work by herself. It also wasn't helping that Malfoy seemed to sense her struggle and would proudly show off his tests while Alex shoved them into her bag as quickly as possible, not wanting him to see that she barely scraped an "Acceptable", the last passing grade.
When March changed to April, the air began to get warmer. However, the atmosphere in the school was anything but. The entire school began preparing for the showdown of the year: Slytherin versus Gryffindor. But there was another tension among four students, and it had nothing to do with Quidditch. The appeal was the last week in April and Ron could be found pouring over books in the library, a sight that his brothers and sister had to see for themselves.
"I can't believe it," whispered Fred, who was standing over Ron's right shoulder, his twin on the other side.
"I know," said George, stunned by what he was seeing, "He actually can read, and not just Quidditch magazines. Hermione must be rubbing off on you."
"Piss off!" snarled Ron and Ginny chuckled, getting up from her seat across from her brother.
"Looks like Alex is rubbing off on you as well," the redhead girl said with a smirk, winking at her friend who grinned back with a shrug.
The day of the final came and Alex woke up early. She dressed in a red and gold striped rugby shirt along with a pair of jeans she had sewn red and gold ribbon on the night before. She then grabbed anything she had with her house colors and went down to the common room. Harry and the rest of the team were sitting around while Oliver paced up and down the room. Fred and George were putting face paint on an innocent first year, using words that a small Gryffindor should not read aloud.
"Guys, McGonagall won't be happy about this," said Alex warningly, but was trying not to laugh.
"What does it say?" the little boy asked and looked in a mirror that Fred pulled out, "Snape's mother…and a broomstick?"
"Forget you ever saw that," said Alex and removed the paint with a wave of her wand, "Boys, give me the paint and everyone line up."
She began painting war stripes under the team's eyes, one side red and the other side gold. She then transfigured a broken quill into a paintbrush and painted a lion on the boy's cheek. She pointed her wand at it, muttered a spell, and the lion started pacing around, growling.
Soon there was a line for Alex to paint peoples' faces and each idea was more dramatic than the last until one second year wanted her to paint a lion ripping a snake on his chest. She had to tell him no because she had to go eat. Hermione was waiting beside the portrait hole with Ron and Harry and they all left together. After they ate, Harry went off with the team and Ron, Hermione, and Alex went to get good seats. As he was leaving, Alex saw that Harry was extremely pale.
"Harry, you'll be fine," Alex said, thumping him on the back, "Why do you look so nervous? You have the best broom in the world against Malfoy's Nimbus 2001!"
"I didn't sleep well last night," said Harry quietly, "I saw…I saw the Grim."
"Oh come on, Harry," said Alex while rolling her eyes, "You don't honestly believe in that crap that Trelawney was saying, do you? The Grim isn't real!"
I've seen it before, Alex. And whenever I do, something bad always happens to me."
Before Alex could say anything, Harry was whisked away by Wood and she ran after Ron and Hermione toward the seats. Ron was showing Neville the picture of two lion cubs playing tug-of-war with a snake on his arm when the teams came out.
"AND THERE OFF! BELL PASSES TO JOHNSON, JOHNSON BACK TO BELL, SHE'S GOING TO THE GOAL! SHE SHOOTS…AND IT'S BLOCKED BY THAT IDIOT THEY CALL A KEEPER!"
There were cheers on the Slytherin side while Alex and every other Gryffindor booed loudly. Even the other Houses were booing because no one wanted to see Slytherin win the Quidditch Cup. Alex looked around and saw Harry and Malfoy circling the stadium, each watching the other in case they made a dive for it.
"SO MONTAGUE HAS THE QUAFFLE, HE'S GOING TO THE GOAL. COME ON OLIVER…AND HE BLOCKS IT! THAT WAS AN AMAZING SAVE BY THE GRYFFINDOR KEEPER! WAY TO GO OL-"
WHAM! Alex saw a Bludger hit Wood just as he was throwing the ball to Angelina. Wood fell to the ground but managed to sit up, looking winded. Madame Hooch awarded a penalty to Gryffindor and they scored. It was 10-0 Gryffindor.
"SO AFTER THAT OBVIOUS SABATOGUE,"
"Jordan!" McGonagall said warningly.
"SORRY PROFESSOR. SPINNET HAS THE BALL, AFTER THAT GREAT PENALTY SHOT BY JOHNSON. SPINNET GOES TO THE GOAL, SHE GOES FOR IT…AND SHE SCORES! 20-0 GRYFFINDOR!"
The game continued and when the Gryffindors called a time-out, the score was tied 20-20. Once the game continued, it was a bloodbath. Slytherin Beaters were attacking Gryffindor chasers who were nowhere near the Quaffle. Madame Hooch was so focused on the Chasers that she didn't even notice that Malfoy had elbowed Harry in the ribs many times when they passed each other. However, the Slytherins were not the only ones to blame. Fred and George were just as bad as the other Beaters, sending Bludgers at the other Beaters as well as Malfoy once in a while. Every few seconds, there was a whistle blowing for a penalty.
Even though all of this, Gryffindor managed to pull away to an 80-50 lead, and out of nowhere, Harry dove. Alex looked around and saw the Snitch. Malfoy was right on Harry's tail, but the Firebolt was showing its speed now. Harry reached as far as he could go and grasped the little golden ball.
The entire stadium burst into noise. The Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and the Gryffindors were cheering so loudly that they drowned out the booing of the Slytherins. Alex ran to the barrier and hopped over it, running at Harry with a smile. They had won, the Quidditch Cup was theirs after so many years. Alex joined the team in putting Harry on their shoulders and starting a chant of, "We've won the Cup! We've won the Cup!"
"You did it Harry!" Alex shouted up at him, "You won the Cup for Gryffindor! You've made your parents proud, I know it!"
The Gryffindors cheered all the way to the common room where they celebrated with a party until McGonagall came in and told everyone to go to bed.
…...
Now that the Quidditch season was over, everyone began studying hard for the end-of-the-year exams. Alex found herself spending many extra hours in Professor Nellie's classroom as he went over with her how to do number charts. The whole month of April was one large study session, even during Easter break Alex and the others were working in the library.
It was the day before Easter and Harry, Hermione, Alex, and Ron took a break from their studying to visit Hagrid. They found him very upset because he had to sell the other hippogriffs he had bought.
"Firs' Buckbeak and now this!" he said and had to excuse himself to blow his nose, sounding like a foghorn.
Alex said a private farewell to Firefeathers and watched as they were taken away by very large men, Hagrid's shoulders shaking. Needless to say, Alex was very emotional after that experience and was still so as they walked up to the castle. She saw Malfoy and his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, sniggering as they walked past.
"Look at that blubbering moron," Malfoy said as they came close, "He's supposed to be our teacher for Merlin's sake!"
Something in the girls snapped. Hermione took two large steps toward Malfoy and slapped him across the face. Malfoy stumbled backward, shock evident on his sickly face.
"Oh Hermione, you can do so much better than that," sneered Alex, "Watch and learn."
Alex then grabbed Malfoy's arms and kneed him hard in a place where boys do not like to get hit. Malfoy doubled over and Crabbe and Goyle watched, not sure what to do as both girls pointed their wands at the Slytherins.
"Don't you ever, ever, call Hagrid a moron!" shouted Hermione, her wand arm shaking.
"You think you're so cool when you say those things," said Alex, her voice wavering but her arm still, "But you look and sound so childish and stupid! Now, get out of here before Hermione and I turn you into something only your mother will love, which isn't saying much since she manages to love you all as you are."
"You'll pay for this!" Malfoy gasped, his voice a few octaves higher than before.
"Save it for someone who cares," snapped Hermione.
"For the love of Merlin, shut your God awful, lopsided mouth for one in your life!" Alex added furiously.
The three Slytherins left and Alex put her wand away. As she did so, her eyes caught the edge of the forest where she saw Crookshanks and something else much larger. Alex strained her eyes to see but it blended right in with the dark trees.
"Come on Alex," Harry said and Alex looked at him. Both he and Ron were wearing looks of shock and awe, "At least he can sing soprano now."
Alex laughed and went back to the castle, but was soon sitting at a desk with books piled all around her. It wasn't as bad as Hermione. Even though she had dropped Divination (she up and left the day before Easter break started), she was still taking the most classes out of the third years.
Whenever asked how she was getting to all her classes, Hermione would either ignore the question or snap at the person to leave her alone. This was usually Ron or Harry who asked, even though they had stopped long ago because they knew they wouldn't get an answer.
However, when the Gryffindors got their exam schedule, Ron happened to look over at Hermione's and the famous question was asked.
"Hermione, how are you going to get to all your exams? Your Ancient Runes and Transfiguration are both at nine o' clock!"
"Honestly Ron," said Hermione impatiently, "I have everything sorted out. Don't you believe that I know what I'm doing?"
Ron opened his mouth to speak but Alex shot him a warning look and Harry kicked him in the shins.
…...
The exam week came and went as quick and stressful as in their first year (seeing as their second year exams were cancelled due to a number of attacks). Alex knew she did very well in her all her exams, except for the ones she had not taken yet and History of Magic. No matter how hard Alex studied for that class, she could not remember all those names and dates.
The last day of exams was also the day of the appeal hearing. It was also the day of Alex's Arithmancy exam and Defense Against the Dark Arts practical exam. When Professor Nellie called for quills down, Alex gave a sigh of relief. She thought she did fairly well, not as well as her Care of Magical Creatures exam, but better than History of Magic. As she waited for Hermione to pack up so they could walk to their final exam, Malfoy walked by with a look on his face that was a cross between smugness and fear.
"Hey Malfoy," Alex asked and he turned to her, "How's your voice?"
"All better," he said and it was. It had returned to its normal tone with maybe even a touch of deepness in it, "What exam do you have next?"
"The Defense Against the Dark Arts practical," said Alex suspiciously.
"Well, good luck then. It's not really that hard if you paid attention in class, which you probably did. See you around."
Alex stared after him, her mouth open. Did Draco Malfoy, the worst Slytherin in the history of Hogwarts, just wish her good luck on an exam?
"Ready?" Hermione asked and saw the surprised look on her friend's face, "What is it? Your jaw is touching to floor."
"I think Malfoy was just nice to me," said Alex as they walked outdoors to their exam, "He wished me good luck and said I'll do well if I paid attention in class, which I probably do. Is the world coming to an end? Is the sky about to fall?" Alex looked up at the clear blue sky as though a chunk of it were to fall down to earth.
"He's trying to psych you out," said Hermione rationally, "He wants you to dwell on him being nice to you so you'll fail the exam. Don't think about it."
Alex nodded and they arrived at the appointed spot. It resembled an obstacle course, with each obstacle being a different creature they had learned about that year. Alex went through the course with ease and came out of the boggart obstacle with a huge grin on her face. She saw Harry and Lupin waiting for her.
"Excellent Alex," Professor Lupin said, looking extremely pale and haggard, but giving her a small smile, "You received full marks."
Ron managed to get lost in the bog and was almost drowned by a grindilow and Hermione came out of the boggart closet crying because the boggart McGonagall told her she had failed every exam. It took her a few minutes to calm down and then the four went to the castle to drop their stuff off. When they entered the Great Hall, they saw three men standing there, talking. One was a bent old man with a cane, who had a noticeable tremor throughout his body. The second was a man in his mid-forties wearing long black robes and had a gruesome smile on his colorless face. The last man was Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself. He looked up as the four entered and smiled at Harry in a fatherly way that made Alex angry inside.
"Ah Harry, my boy, I see you've just come from your exams. Was that your last one?"
"Yes sir," said Harry, obviously not liking being called, "my boy".
"Yes, a wonderful day today. What a shame it has to be ruined," the minister said and stood up straighter, "You may or may not know this, Harry, but we are on a very important errand today."
"It's the appeal for Hagrid's hippogriff, Buckbeak," said Alex with a touch of chill in her tome.
"So you do know," said Fudge, looking at Alex with curiosity, "Yes, it is a shame but we must uphold the law and dangerous animals must be dealt with."
At this statement, the younger stranger pulled back his robe to revel a large, sharp axe. His smile grew as Alex looked wide-eyed at the axe to the minister.
"But sir," said Alex almost pleadingly, "I thought today was the appeal. Why is the executioner here? Hagrid still has a chance to convince you that you're making a terrible mistake."
"I don't believe we've met," Fudge said.
"I'm Alex Ratcliff, my uncle works for you."
"Well Alex, today is the appeal but it won't take very long."
"But," Ron said, "What if-?"
"It was nice to meet you all," said Hermione and she dragged the other three away from the men.
"What are you doing?" said Alex as they reached the common room, "Did you hear them? They've already decided to kill Buckbeak and they haven't heard the appeal yet! We have to do something!"
"You can't start telling off the Minister of Magic, Alex," said Hermione, "Not only is he the head of the entire magical world, he's your uncle's boss. And Ron, he's your dad's boss too. You both can't just start going on about how biased they are."
"We need to see Hagrid," said Ron determinedly, "He needs us! You saw how he was when we left."
"But Harry and Alex can't leave the castle without a teacher," said Hermione.
"Hermione, you forget we have the power of invisibility," Alex said, holing out her necklace, "But I don't think we should keep enlarging the chain. It might be bad for the necklace."
"My cloak's still by the statue," said Harry, "I haven't had the chance to get it."
Hermione got up and left. The boys turned to Alex who shrugged. She was just as confused as they were. A few minutes later, Hermione came back holding Harry's Invisibility Cloak with a smile.
"All right, who are you and what have you done with our Hermione?" asked Ron impressed, "You slap Malfoy, help break the rules for Alex and Harry, and sneak out to get Harry's cloak!"
"Thanks Ron," said Hermione with a smile, "Now let's go before it gets too dark."
"There she is," Alex said while throwing an arm around her friend's shoulders, "We thought we lost you there for a moment. Only our Hermione would make sure to tell us we needed to be back in the castle before dark."
The boys got under the cloak and the girls turned the knobs to the right. Quietly and quickly, the four left the common room and went out onto the grounds. They reached Hagrid's hut and Alex knocked. Hagrid opened the door and looked around, not seeing anyone. He was about to close the door when he stopped.
"Harry? Ron? Hermione? Alex? Is tha' you four?"
"It is," whispered Hermione, "We've come to keep you company."
"We want to be there when…when it happens, Hagrid," said Alex shakily, "You deserve to have friends by your side."
"No, yeh can't stay. Yeh can come in now, but I won't let yeh watch. It'll be worse if yeh do." He opened the door wider and they entered. Alex became visible again and went over to Buckbeak, who was sitting in a corner of the room. He could tell something was wrong.
"I sense tension," said Buckbeak to Alex, talking to her before she even bowed, "Is there something wrong with Hagrid?"
"No Buckbeak," Alex said, holding back tears and biting her lip, "Everything'll be fine, I promise you that. Just enjoy yourself, all right? Be good for Hagrid and remember that he loves you more than you could ever know, as do we all."
She hugged the hippogriff and led him outside to tie him to a post, tears streaming down her face and she wiped them away before Hagrid could see. When she returned to the table, she found Ron holding a small animal in his hands.
"Scabbers! He's alive!" Ron was saying happily.
"Yeh need ta watch over yer pets better," said Hagrid seriously, "Found him while I was cleanin' out the cupboards yesterday."
Ron pocketed the rat and there was a knock on the door. Hagrid turned green and the four Gryffindors immediately became invisible.
"Hagrid," whispered Alex as they went out the back door, "Everything will be fine."
Her giant friend nodded and opened the front door just as the others were leaving through the back. Alex gave one last look at Buckbeak and ran up the hill to the castle. She wanted to get as far away as possible before anything happened. A couple of times, Ron stopped to keep Scabbers in his pocket, causing Harry and the others to wait.
"Ron," said Harry, pale under the cloak, "Get a move on."
"I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it," Hermione whispered over and over again, shaking.
"He…won't…stay," said Ron as he fought, "Come on buddy."
Far off, Alex heard the THUMP of an axe and Hagrid's cries. They had done it, they actually executed Buckbeak. Suddenly, her legs became weak and she fell to her knees, her breath coming in short gasps.
"How could they?" Hermione sobbed into her hands, "He did nothing wrong!"
Alex kneeled there crying silent tears. She cried for Buckbeak and Hagrid, of course, but also for all the innocent who had been wrongly punished for a crime they didn't commit. Alex wasn't naïve; she knew there were people who were thrown in jail when they were innocent. But it was something entirely different to be a friend of such a person, or in her case, such an animal.
"OUCH!" Ron gasped, holding his finger as Scabbers fell to the ground and ran away, "He bit me! Scabbers, come back here!"
"Ron!" said Hermione as they tore after him, Ron coming out from the cloak as he tore after his rat, "What if someone sees you? Ron, get back under the cloak!"
Ron dove down and Alex stopped, panting. Ron held a wriggling Scabbers in his hands and Alex could finally understand what the rat was saying. It was the same words again and again, "He's going to kill me! He's going to kill me!"
"Who's going to kill you?" Alex asked.
"Him! He's been looking for me and now he has me!"
"Ron's not going to kill you," said Alex, appalled, "He missed you terribly!"
Before Scabbers could reply, Alex heard the soft thumping of padded feet and spun around to see a black blur bounding at Harry and Ron. The blur jumped on Harry's chest and rolled over. That was when Alex recognized the thing.
"Orion? Orion!" Alex shouted happily, running toward her dog.
The dog completely ignored her and went at Ron, sinking his teeth into Ron's leg and dragging him like a doll. Ron flailed him arms and tried to grab onto something. The dog went to a tree, Alex, Harry, and Hermione following. Alex was screaming at Orion to stop and let go. She was in front and was the first to get hit by the branch.
The force of the hit sent Alex high up into the air and she landed with her right leg underneath her body. The result was a loud CRACK and extreme pain in her leg. Slowly, Alex pulled her leg out from underneath of her and looked down in horror. Her shin looked like someone had bent it to the left and some areas looked caved in. It was broken in at least two places. She heard her friends getting hit as well and looked to see that they were near the Whomping Willow.
Alex watched as Ron's leg gave the sound of a whip cracking as he disappeared below the tree. Then, an orange streak dodged the flailing tree limbs and suddenly, the tree froze. Alex looked closely and saw Crookshanks with his paws up against a bulge in the tree. Harry and Hermione ran toward Alex and helped her up.
"We need to take her to the Hospital Wing," said Hermione with a fair share of scratches on her face and arms.
"But what about Ron?" Harry asked, "That thing dragged him down, we need to go after him. He's injured too! You heard that sound, that was his leg! You take Alex and I'll go after Ron."
"I'm all right," said Alex shakily. She pulled out her wand and transfigured two sticks into crutches, "That's my dog in there, I need to get him out."
Seeing that she was determined, the others didn't argue. They walked to the still frozen tree and went down a dark tunnel. The three lighted their wand tips and began their journey into the unknown.
Author's Note: Ah cliffhangers, how I love you! I know you all don't, but you have to have a little suspense every once in a while. Please let me know what you thought of this chapter. Anyone get enjoyment out of Alex attacking Malfoy? I couldn't let Hermione have all the fun this time around. ;) Thank you to all who reviewed last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did writing it. :D