Alexandra Potter
Chapter Fourteen: Back and Back Again
Scene 5/6
Time seemed to accelerate as the end of the year approached. Easter came and went in a blur of homework and revision, the OWL and NEWT students demanding silence at all hours. For her part, Alex was content to study: with Lily and Susan both away, there wasn't much else to do but practice her magic and enjoy the steadily improving weather. But soon enough the students returned and the exams were upon them.
Though she would never say it aloud, Alex found the exams quite enjoyable. She had studied hard and this was her chance to show it. Of course, the end-of-year tests were rather informal compared to the externally-assessed OWLs and NEWTs, but for Alex, doing well was a matter of pride. Anything less than one hundred percent would have her kicking herself with disappointment.
She needn't have worried. The theory tests came first and she found them all pathetically easy -- she probably could have passed them with anAcceptableback in September. She hadn't realised just how far she'd gone beyond the curriculum in her reading.
It wasn't that she had readahead, like Hermione did. Rather, she had readdeep, seeking to understand magic beyond the superficial. So while she knew next to nothing about animate transfiguration, she could cast the mutation spell better than most fifth-years. The locomotion charm was a complete mystery to her, but she could levitate a car with ease. And though she couldn't brew a draught of peace, she could whip together a passable hair-growth potion with half the ingredients missing.
Again and again she had to ask for more parchment. They were given one page in Charms to outline the geometry of the sealing charm. She used three. The Transfiguration paper only left them a half-page to define the concept of "form". Alex wrote two pages and could have written four.
After theory came practice. In Defence Against the Dark Arts they had to perform spells to repel snakes, spiders and wolves before demonstrating three methods of defence against Muggles. In Transfiguration they were presented with wood and glass blocks of increasing size, each of which they had to transfigure into as detailed a shape as possible. And in Potions, Professor Snape made them brew a draught of drowsiness and an energy elixir simultaneously.
The last exam of the year was their Charms practical. When it was her turn, Alex entered the classroom to find it transformed: the desks and chairs were gone and the stone floor had been replaced with turf. Professor Winters sat at a desk in the corner with a parchment and quill, her blonde hair tied up in a bun.
"Come in, Alex," said Winters, gesturing for her to come closer. Alex did so, noticing a single wooden post sticking out of the ground in the centre of the room. "Well, welcome to your Charms exam," Winters continued with a smile, "you have just one task. Buried beneath that post there is a chest. I would like you to retrieve it, open it, and follow the instructions you find within. I encourage you to use as much magic as possible. Any questions?"
"No, ma'am," said Alex. She took her wand out from within her robe.
"Then you may begin."
Alex thrust her wand at the ground under the post. "Defodio!" she said, and there was a sound like a shovel entering soil. Feeling a slight resistance, she flipped her wand to the other side of her body, a large clump of dirt rising out of the ground and sailing through the air to land where her wand now pointed.
There was no sign of the chest underneath -- clearly the floor had been enchanted to be quite deep. So Alex repeated the spell again and again, digging out a pit in the floor, the pile of dirt on the other side of the classroom growing and growing. Eventually:
"Defodio!" Alex repeated, but this time the spell made aplopsound, like a stone hitting water. Frowning, she approached the hole and peered down. It was about four feet deep, and at the bottom there was a dark pool of water. "Lumos."
The wand light revealed the chest, submerged about two feet beneath the water. She needed to remove the water to be able to reach it. Alex twirled her wand as if she were using it to stir a potion and said, "Anhydra!"
A sound like drawing breath accompanied each rotation of the wand, and each time the water level decreased. It didn't take long to dry up the entire pool, and when all the water was gone Alex swished and flicked her wand, clearly pronouncing the words: "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Slowly but surely the chest rose through the air, following Alex's wand. But just when it was about to emerge from the hole, it stopped, bobbing in place like it was straining against something. Alex dropped to her knees to look underneath, and there it was: a rope was attached to the base of the chest, preventing it from advancing further.
"Diffindo," Alex said, slashing her wand, and the rope cut cleanly in two. She recast the levitation charm and settled the chest down on the ground not far from the hole. It was quite big, about two feet long, and there was a large padlock holding it shut. Easy.
"Alohomora!" The padlock clicked open and Alex tugged it off before lifting the lid of chest. It was filled with kindling, atop of which lay a single piece of parchment.Light me, it said.
"Incendio!" A pinprick of orange light flew from Alex's wand, igniting the kindling into a fierce but controlled fire.
"Bravo!" cried Professor Winters, clapping her hands several times, and Alex grinned. That had been fun. "Ninety-five seconds," whistled Winters, scribbling away on her parchment, "that's one for the record books! Anyway, that's the entire test so you're free to go."
The rest of the class was waiting outside in the corridor, most of the Hufflepuffs sitting on the floor, huddled around their textbooks for some last-minute revision. Lily was sitting with Hannah and Megan, the three of them whispering frantically as they argued over the correct incantation to conjure confetti. The Slytherins were further down the hall, slouched against the walls. Her eyes met Draco's and she looked away quickly.
"Alex!" cried Lily, looking up in surprise. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," said Alex with a shrug. "I've finished."
Lily gaped; Pansy shot her a dirty look, her snub-nose rising into the air haughtily.
"What?" said Lily, "but you only just went in! Even Susan took four minutes!"
"It's just the spells we did in class," Alex said. "So long as you can do them, you're fine."
"Easy for you to say," grumbled Lily, "I still can't get my cutting charm to do anything more than paper.Pleasesay we don't have to use it."
Alex sent her what she hoped was a sympathetic look. "Sorry," she said.
"Great," said Lily, looking to the ceiling as if for divine intervention. "Just great." Divine intervention didn't come, but Professor Winters did.
"Lily Moon!" she called from within the classroom.
"Oh, shit," muttered Lily, gathering her stuff, "shitshitshitshit."
Alex offered her a tight hug. "Good luck," she said, "I'll meet you back in the common room, okay?"
"Thanks," said Lily, her face grim, and then she was inside.
Alex picked up her discarded bag, slung it over her shoulder and made to leave, only to trip as she passed the Slytherins. She flew face-first onto the floor, only just breaking the fall with her hands.
"Oops," said Pansy, her voice all too innocent, and the Slytherins sniggered. Alex's face burned and she picked herself up, brushing the dirt off her robes.
"Very mature," she said, sending Pansy a withering look.
"Is someone speaking?" said Pansy, casting her face around as if looking for an invisible speaker, her loose brown hair whipping with each turn. The Slytherins laughed again.
"Just a half-blood," said Draco, his lip curling as he looked at Alex, "but don't worry, we can wash after the test."
Pansy tittered and touched Draco on the arm.
"Well, make sure to do your hair, too," snarled Alex, "it looks like you've got a load of gunk in it."
This time it was the Hufflepuffs who laughed, the row having caught their attention. A faint pink tinge rose to Draco's cheeks and he opened his mouth to speak, but Alex interrupted.
"Lovely speaking to you, Draco," she said, promptly spinning around and striding off towards the Hufflepuff common room.
So, Draco was with Pansy now, was he? They deserved each other, as far as Alex was concerned. Draco was a coward and braggart, Pansy a sycophant. No doubt they would be very happy together, spending all their evenings lurking in their dark and dank common room, laughing about how pure their blood was.
She was done with him.
Alex swept into Hufflepuff and hurried up the stairs without stopped to socialise. The door to her dorm closed with a slam behind her. A quick survey of the room revealed that she was alone.Good.
"Incendio!" she cried, pointing her wand at the fireplace, and the kindling burst to life with a roar. Another charm opened her trunk violently, the lid thumping hard against the bedstead. She then proceeded to systematically and ritualistically destroy all evidence of her relationship with Draco.
She went for the photos first, tearing them up before casting the pieces into the fire. All the letters he'd sent her followed, including her invite to the Abingdon Club, though she kept the key that represented her membership. She would keep that just to spite him. Similarly, she kept the elegant charm bracelet Narcissa had given her for Christmas. There was no point throwing away such a beautiful -- and not to mention expensive -- piece of jewellery.
It was when she reached the diary Lucius had sent her that she paused. It was just a blank book, really. Nothing particularly special. There wasn't really any reason to keep it, and burning it would probably be fun. But it suddenly seemed rather pointless, burning something that she might as well use.
Snorting, she flipped it to the front page, pulled out a quill and wrote.
June 10th, 1992
Draco Malfoy is a ponce.
Alex smiled to herself. It felt rather satisfying to use Lucius' gift to mock his son. Perhaps keeping a diary might not be such a bad idea -- she could use it to keep track of her thoughts about magic.
Thoughts of keeping a diary fled, however, when Alex saw her words sink into the page, disappearing without a trace. And then, slowly, as if written by an invisible hand, new words appeared, the script slanted and spider-like, so unlike Alex's rounded letters.
If he is anything like his grandfather, this does not surprise me.
Alex froze, her heart thudding in her chest. What magic was this? She had never heard of anything like it.
My name is Tom Riddle, by the way. Who are you?
Alex's eyes widened and she slammed the book shut, her mind racing. How was there a person living inside a diary?