Alexandra Potter

Chapter Twelve: Revenge is Not a Dish

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Alex and Draco were back together by the time February arrived. After the events of the boathouse they had avoided each other for days, until Lily had intervened.

"Don't you think you're... overreacting?" she had said to Alex as they sat together in the stone garden. That high up, the cold January wind was blowing their hair wildly, but it was a good place for privacy in the winter.

"Maybe," said Alex, looking down at her hands. "But what if he really thinks that about me? That I'm just half a witch?"

"Then he's stupid," said Lily bluntly. "You've got more magic in you than he does in his little finger." Alex smiled, choosing not to correct the mistake. "A smile!" said Lily, throwing up her arms. "I was beginning to worry you'd become Niobe!"

Alex brushed off the obscure reference. "So... I guess I should apologise, then?" she'd said, and she had done so the next day. It was awkward and uncomfortable, but she'd found Draco and said sorry.

A couple of weeks later they were back to normal, as if it had never happened.

"Draco, will you pass the jam?" said Alex, spreading butter over her toast. Draco passed the strawberry jam and Alex gave him a smile - he remembered her favourite. "Thanks," she said, removing the canvass cover. "Anything in the news?"

"More on this new law they're trying to pass," said Draco, flicking through the Hogsmeade Herald. The post had just arrived in a flurry of owls, bringing with it the papers. Alex didn't need a subscription - she just read over Draco's shoulder.MINISTER SUPPORTS BRA, the headline said, and Alex snorted.

"They could've thought of a less silly name," she said, spreading a thin layer of jam over melted butter. "Isn't it meant to be serious?"

"To be fair, they are missing two letters from the start. It's the non-human being registration act. But BRA is a bit more catchy than -" Draco paused a moment, frowning, "Nuh-bra?" he said. "Silent h?"

"Nuh-huh-bra," tried Alex, cocking her head."NH-bra?" She giggled at the looks they were receiving.

"You see the problem," said Draco, turning to his own toast.

"What're you talking about?" said Nott, taking a seat. As usual, he sat as far away from Alex as was possible. He was already dressed for class, his robes perfectly arranged. Draco used to do that too, before she'd got him to relax.Thank goodness.It was the height of winter now, so the boys were expected to wear their vaguely naval high-collared robes, while the girls had left dresses behind for long sleeved outers. Wearing them at breakfast just felt wrong to Alex.

"The legislative agenda," said Draco. He always did that - the moment he was around his Slytherin friends he became more formal, more like the Draco she'd met on the train.

"Fascinating," Nott replied, pouring some cereal.

"So do you guys have a Potions test today too?" said Alex, looking to Draco though she addressed both of them. He was looking down the table at something - at Daphne. She was absorbed in a letter, her breakfast forgotten. Alex thought she looked rather pale. "Draco?"

"Hmm?" he said, turning to her. He hadn't been listening.

"Never mind," said Alex, "I should go get ready for class," she said, finishing her toast. She kissed Draco on the cheek and was almost at the door when Draco caught up with her.

"I'll walk with you," he said.That doesn't make any sense, thought Alex.

"Slytherin's in the opposite direction," she said, the question in her voice.

"I'll double back," said Draco, quite firmly, and Alex shrugged. If he was late for class it wasn't her problem.

"All right," she said, her hand finding his by instinct. She led him towards Hufflepuff - through the grand stair, down the library cloisters, across the small courtyard leading to the kitchens. As they passed the library Draco looked over his shoulder, then around them.

"I have a favour to ask," he said, quietly, and Alex realised he'd waited 'til they were alone.

"That depends," she said, smiling. Was he going to kiss her there? "What is it?"

"Can I borrow your invisibility cloak?" he said, and Alex stopped short.

"Sorry?" she said, though she'd heard perfectly well.

"I know how important it is to you," - Alex doubted that very much - "but this is important."

"What do you need it for?" she asked. She'd only ever used it for sneaking into the library - she couldn't imagine what Draco wanted it for. "Not breaking into the girls dorms, I hope!"

"Well..." said Draco.

"You don't!" said Alex, shocked. "Draco!"

"Shhh!" he said, pressing his finger to her lips. Impulsively, Alex licked it. "Urgh!" he said, wiping it on his sleeve. "I'm serious," he said. "I need to see what Daphne was reading."

A dozen replies competed for attention. Hadn't they agreed to leave Daphne alone? Had she done something to him? What was special about the letter?

"Why?" she said. Draco shifted, and looked around again. He looked torn.

"I'd prefer not to say," he said, and Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Let me get this straight," she said. "You want to use my cloak, but can't tell me why?"

Draco winced, then nodded.

It was ridiculous - to ask so much, and to give so little. It wasn't reasonable. Didn't he trust her?But that's not the question, is it?she thought.Do I trust him?She looked into his nervous grey eyes and found only honesty there.

"All right," she said, half not believing her own words. "You can borrow it."

Draco let out a breath. "Thank you," he said, hugging her and kissing her forehead. She smiled into his shoulder. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

They continued to Hufflepuff - if Alex was lending him her cloak, the location of her House was a small matter - and he waited outside as she went to fetch it. When she returned, silvery cloth in hand, she had only one thing to say.

"Don'tlose it."

"Finite Incantatum," said Alex. As expected, nothing happened.

Alex glared at the metal weight on the desk before her. It was a dull and dirty black, with 8oz marked on the top. Yet when she placed it on the scales, the needle pointed defiantly at four ounces. Alex sighed.

"Tricky, isn't it?" said Professor Winters' voice from behind her, and Alex looked up to find Winters watching her.How long has she been there?"What've you tried so far?"

Today's Charms class was an introduction to Undoing. Alex had quickly got the hang of the Undoing Charm - she'd been reading about it for long enough - and so Professor Winters had given her a more advanced task. While her peers were all shouting "Finite!" at levitating candles, Alex had been given a magically lightened weight to despell.

"I started with counteraction," she said, "using the Deadweight Charm. But it didn't work."

"Oh?" said Winters, coming round to crouch next to Alex's desk. She tapped the weight with her wand, before nodding. "Why not?"

"I'm not sure," said Alex, "it might be because your Featherlight Charm is better cast than my Deadweight Charm."

"That's certainly possible," said Winters with a smile, "you said might. Why else?"

"I looked them up in Spellman's Almanac," she said, pointing to a fat book sitting on her desk, pulled from one of the classroom bookshelves. "The Featherlight Charm is more powerful than the Deadweight."

"Which means?" prompted Winters.

"That my Deadweight Charm would have to be a lot better than your Featherlight to counter it."

"Do you know how much better?" said Winters.

Alex blinked - she hadn't thought to calculate it. "Hang on," she said, scribbling on a piece of parchment. Thirty seconds later she had it. "If the Featherlight Charm was cast with fifty Rells - it's natural satisfaction point - the Deadweight would have to be cast with eighty."

Winters tapped the weight with her wand again.

"I cast this one with ninety Rells," said Winters. "It's impossible for the Deadweight to overcome it."

"So counteraction is a dead end," said Alex - she'd reached the same conclusion.

"Not necessarily. Merely counteraction with the Deadweight Charm," said Winters. "Radley's Mass Manipulation Charm could do it - but that's NEWT-level magic. Did you try overwhelming it?"

"Just before you came over," said Alex.

"Try again," Winters said, so Alex raised her wand.

"Finite Incantatum!" she said, tapping the weight before reeling her wand away. The needle on the scales didn't move.

"Well cast," said Winters, "you could tighten the transition between two and five, but it's very good."

Alex blushed slightly with the praise, before frowning. "Didn't actually do anything, though," she said, pointing to the scales.

"Maybe, maybe not," said Winters, and she moved her wand in a complicated motion over the weight. "Hm. You've weakened the featherlight Charm. A few more of those and you'd have it."

"So the solution is overwhelming?" said Alex, surprised. She thought there would be more to it.

"Onesolution is overwhelming," said Winters, "though an inelegant one. Even in a few years, when you'll be good enough to undo this with a single spell, it's the brute force approach, and won't work for everything. Sometimes you need to be more delicate."

"Unravelling, you mean," said Alex.

Winters gave her a smile. "Exactly. What do you know about the structure of the Featherlight Charm?"

"It's got two parts," she said, closing her eyes to remember, "the main effector, tied to a reference object - by default, a feather."

"Go on," said Winters, and now Alex had said it out loud, it was obvious.

"But... you can change the reference object," she said, sitting straighter, raising her wand. "I mean, obviously you haven't used a feather with this. So all I have to do is trick the Charm into taking a new reference object - the real weight - and the Charm will unravel!"

"Your homework," said Winters, staying Alex's hand as she went to try. "Right!" called Winters suddenly, standing up and clapping once for the class' attention. "You each have an object. Your homework is to despell it before next class."

The bell rang, and the class packed up quickly - the day was over, and they had two hours of freedom until dinner.

"Walk with me, Alex?" said Daphne, ambushing her as she walked through the door. She'd changed her hair, Alex noticed, growing it out long and straight.

"Sure," Alex said, her mind rushing to Draco's mysterious mission. Daphne held out her arm; Alex took it.

"You know, we haven't spoken since Christmas," said Daphne, strolling slowly down the corridor. They attracted a few curious looks - it wasn't every day you saw Alexandra Potter and Daphne Greengrass arm in arm - and Alex enjoyed them.Let them look and wonder, she thought.

"Well, I've been very busy," said Alex. In truth, she didn't really know where she stood with Daphne. It was easier to just ignore it.

"Busy ignoring Granger," said Daphne, turning them down a quieter corridor. Alex had no idea where they were going. "Have you seen the way she practically runs away from you? It's pathetic."

"Mmm," Alex agreed, not wanting to commit to anything more than vague sounds. While it was good, of course, that Hermione was back at school, Alex wanted nothing to do with her.Best for everyone if we stay away from each other, she thought.

"And, of course, you've been busy hatching schemes," said Daphne, her voice casual. Alex almost froze on the spot, but recovered in time.She knows nothing.She's just fishing.

"Schemes?" she said, "I don't quite know what you-"

"I have your invisibility cloak," Daphne said, her voice suddenly cold, and this time Alex did freeze, their arms falling apart. She noticed, belatedly, that they were completely alone, standing in a long, dark corridor filled with dust.

"What?" she said, dread flooding through her veins.My dad's cloak!

"I don't know what you were after," said Daphne, leaning in close, "but Draco's noisier than a Hippogriff on celo. And now I have your cloak."

I don't believe it!Alex thought, her thoughts racing,he lost it!A hundred different lies popped into Alex's head. "Draco took my cloak?" she said, trying to sound shocked. "I can't believe he would-"

"Cut the crap, Potter," said Daphne, smirking. She had the advantage and she knew it. She had the cloak. "You wanted to do something to me, and you sent Draco to do it. I know the cloak's yours - Draco told me everything.Beggedme to give it back."

Alex paused. It couldn't hurt to ask. "Well?" she said, "will you? Give it back?"

Daphne snorted, and started walking again. Alex hurried after her, deeper into the unknown corridor, further from the populated areas of the castle.Where are we?There were no portraits here, but suits of armor stood in silent vigil in alcoves along both walls.

"I could tell a teacher," Alex said, but she knew it was an empty threat the moment it was out of her mouth. Invisibility Cloaks were banned at Hogwarts.

"Here's what you're going to do," said Daphne. "You're going to write to Mr Malfoy, asking him to invite me to next year's ball. On top of that, you're going to give me one thousand galleons - I know you have it. If you do that, maybe I'll consider giving youmycloak."

Alex exhaled heavily, trying to hold her temper. She wasn't going to rise to Daphne's bait. The deal was unacceptable - it was almost half her money. She went a different route.

"Why're you doing this?" she said, "I thought we were over all this stuff."

"Ofcourseyou did," said Daphne, tossing her hair with a laugh in her voice. "You're a jumped up mudblood. You think because I was nice at Christmas we're suddenly friends? It wasChristmas, you stupid slut, and all the teachers were breathing down our necks. I'm not an idiot - unlike you."

Alex clenched her teeth.All right, if that's the way she wants to play...Alex grabbed Daphne's arm, pulling them to a stop.

"What're you-"

"Your turn to listen," said Alex, digging her nails into Daphne's skin. "Here's whatyou'regoing to do. You're going to give me my cloak back, right now, and you're not going to tell anyone about it. And if you don't," - Alex's mind flashed back to her plan, so eagerly discarded at Christmas - "I'll destroy you. There won't be any place you can hide from me."

For a moment, Alex thought Daphne would give in. The blonde girl met her gaze, clearly surprised, only for a moment. She snatched her arm out of Alex's grip with a sniff.

"Let's make than two thousand galleons, shall we?" she said.

"I'm warning you, Daphne," said Alex, willing Daphne to believe her. "If you don't give it back, I'm not going to go easy on you."

"Bring it on!" Daphne said, and she turned away. Alex let her go.

The plan was on.