Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx

By Angelina Johnson

Chapter 19

Somewhere Only We Know

It was days later, and Harry and Ron had both tried to avoid Alex as inconspicuously as possible. Instead, the red-haired boy skulked around the Common Room; a dejected look on his face as he did his homework, went over Quidditch plays, or even just as he did played chess with a friend. His exact words were that his heart was crushed and he was 'scarred for life' as well as claiming that he could never face Alex again. Harry, on the other hand, had a deeper understanding of what might have been going on-or at least he hoped he did. Alex and Malfoy were part of the prophecy, after all-Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin were inhabiting them. The fact that Ron had discovered the two snogging in the library could be some sort of sickening fulfilling of the prophecy that history would repeat itself-history had indeed mentioned that Helga Hufflepuff was one of the only soft spots in Salazar's otherwise hard heart, and it could be that alone and together, even people as strong as Alex and Malfoy had a hard time controlling the urges of the inhabitants of their mind. That was the best explanation that Harry could come up with, at least-he wasn't eager to have to wrap his mind around the fact that his sister of sorts would involve herself with someone that had always been one of the banes of Harry's existence at Hogwarts. Harry had convinced himself that this had to be the reason they had been kissing his enemy, yet he went along with Ron's silly need to avoid her. He had even gone so far as to shrug Alex off in the hallways a couple of times, telling her that he was busy and needed to catch up to Ron. The black haired boy had convinced himself that he was trying to be a supportive best friend, but he knew what he was really doing. He was afraid to confront Alex about what he had seen-he was afraid that she really did have feelings for Malfoy, and that it wasn't just the influence of the founders. After all, he vaguely remembered her saying something about Malfoy not being the person Harry thought he was-what if she seriously believed that? The only thing harder to consider was that she could be right.

Hermione and Ginny had noticed the boys behaving oddly, but had little to say about it. It was clear that neither one wanted to talk about whatever was bothering them, and Hermione was too busy still aiding the teachers to be persistent. She remained exhausted and unfocused, but the little time she did spend with her friends, she was the same Hermione, lecturing them about homework and sharing insight onto the most confusing of situations. Ginny, on the other hand, seemed curious about what was going on, and while she didn't know the extent of what had happened, she could infer from her brothers attitude that it had to do with Alex. Her assumption was confirmed by the fact that Harry seemed to be avoiding her as well, but after her consistent pestering had drawn no response from her brother or her unofficial boyfriend, she had let the subject die.

Now Harry was walking idly through the hallways, headed towards the library to get a bit of homework done. His eyes lingered on a view of an empty hut from one of the windows... Hagrid was again noticeably missing from the scene at Hogwarts castle, and Harry could only wish that wherever he was, his large friend was safe and would return back to where he belonged soon.

The half giant was not the only teacher missing from the castle, although Harry noted this on a bit more pleasant level as he spotted Julie Montgomery emerging from Professor Snape's classroom, a pile of what were presumably potions essays under her arm. She smiled brightly at Harry before heading in the opposite direction that he was going.

Harry proceeded and had nearly reached his destination when he saw that the very person he had been dreading seeing was headed in the exact direction that he was.

"Harry! Hey!" Alex said, her green eyes lighting up as she looked upwards and spotted him. Her head had been down, buried in a book as she had proceeded, and that might have given Harry a chance to bolt in the opposite direction, but it was too late for that now as he forced a smile onto his face, Alex pushing a loose strand of her brown-blond hair out of her freckled face as she focused her full attention on him. She seemed genuinely pleased to see him, causing him to feel a pang of guilt for having ignored her, but if he was lucky there was a chance she was still oblivious.

"Hey Alex," he replied lightly, still using every muscle in his face to keep his lips turned upward in a smile. A mental image popped into his mind, an image of a smirking Draco Malfoy, and he nearly scowled. "So, you heading to the library too?" he said lamely, fighting the urge to come right out and ask her what the hell she had been thinking when Ron had saw her.

Alex rolled her eyes, holding up her History of Magic books. "Why of course, Captain Obvious," she said, laughing, "Although I bet a swim in the lake would be great for my homework," she added as her gaze fell out the window, looking towards the glassy surface of the water outside where, to his own dismay, Harry could make out the distinct figure of a blond Slytherin. Finally, Harry could not contain his curiosity any longer, seeing a dreamy look on Alex's face and feeling slightly nauseated.

"What's going on with you two, anyways?" he asked her crossly, folding his arms over his chest and locking his own piercing green eyes on her far duller ones. Alex's head snapped to attention quickly, and her eyes attempted to look bewildered, but he could see the panic on her face... Clearly he had hit a nerve.

"What's going on with me and... who? I don't understand what you're talking about," Alex stuttered, seeming a bit uncomfortable as she spoke. Her normally even voice wavered doubtfully as she inadvertently avoided Harry's gaze.

"Funny, Alex... I really think you do know exactly what I'm talking about," Harry informed her, and she bit her lip as she followed Harry's eyes towards where Malfoy was. "Ron saw you two together, by the way," he added, and that really made her eyes show her horror at being discovered.

"Maybe he doesn't understand what he saw," she pointed out quickly.

"Or maybe there's nothing to understand about kissing," Harry added crossly, his arms still folded and his gaze still penetrating her. She was biting her lip so hard now that Harry was surprised that she wasn't bleeding, and he continued to look at her expectantly. "So why don't you tell me what's really going on?" Alex looked at him through her mournful eyes.

"Look, Harry... I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Or Ron-but it only would have hurt him. And I know how you feel about Draco... I didn't think you'd understand," she said awkwardly, unable to own up to his stare as she glanced down at her feet, one of which was swirling around on the hall floor, a nervous twitch or sorts.

"You're right; you know how I feel about him! Alex, he's NOT a nice guy! He never has been a nice guy, and he never will be a nice guy! You've seen the family he comes from and the kind of people he associates himself with... You've seen the way he treats me, and my friends-your friends! They're your friends too, you know-you seem awfully quick to forget that," Harry said agitatedly. Alex's upset, regretful look vanished as Harry spoke, and her eyes now seemed to be filled with a rage of sorts.

"Stop! Stop, just don't say anymore! This is exactly why I never told you before! I know who my friends are, Harry... but he's my friend now, too," Alex said slowly.

"Friend? Sounds like he's a little more than that," Harry spoke bitterly, his contempt for Malfoy showing more clearly than ever.

"Oh, honestly, STOP IT," Alex said, making a face at Harry. "You sure are a rotten excuse for a brother, Harry-I know you don't like him , and you may not understand it, but he's nice to me-he's one of the few people that has been, besides you and Ron and Hermione and Ginny. I just-you guys have all always been so close, I sometimes feel like I'm intruding... But Draco doesn't make me feel like that, doesn't make me feel like that at all. It's just-look, it's hard to explain, but he makes me feel really wanted-like he really likes me," Alex said, sighing as Harry continued to give her a harsh look.

"Make you feel wanted? Like you? Alex, he's not the only one that liked you. Maybe you're a little slow here, but Ron was crazy about you, and he's certainly not an ass like Malfoy-why couldn't you have liked him, for Christ's sake?" Harry demanded, his voice raising. She was acting so frustrating, saying that Malfoy was the only one that seemed to like her, well that was a load of tosh and she knew it.

"Ron this, Ron that-you guys don't even realize that you've been forcing him on me all this time, do you? Newsflash-Ron is a good friend. That's all! He's so... he's so boring!" Alex said flatly, glaring dangerously at Harry.

"Boring? You know, most girls would take boring over rich jerk anyways-at least Ron has a heart," Harry shot back at her. "He's my best friend-he deserves someone better than you at this rate anyways," the sixth year said crossly.

"He's not a jerk! And you don't even realize how ridiculous you're sounding... Everyone has a heart, maybe you're just too stubborn to see it!" Alex shot back angrily. "Everyone's got feelings too-even if they aren't always nice ones. You make him sound like he's some emotionless monster, and that's the last thing that I would ever call Draco Malfoy," she said firmly.

"You know what, I'm hearing you wrong-that's it, right?" Harry said, covering his ears and making a noise so that he couldn't hear anything that Alex had to say. Alex, in turn, smacked him upside the head, and hard.

"Oww, geez, Alex," Harry said, rubbing his neck where she had slapped him and staring at her, "Would you stop being so stupid?" She glared at him furiously.

"Stupid? You have no right to call me stupid, Harry Potter. You're acting like a little five year old, just covering your ears when you aren't willing to face the truth. I'm your sister, Harry-nothing's changing that now, you're stuck with me. So grow up and deal with it," Alex said.

"This isn't really you talking, is it? This is like some weird Helga version of you, talking about some psychotic version of Salazar Slytherin trapped within my biggest enemy, right?" Harry asked her quickly, jumping to some sort of conclusion. He and Alex had always gotten along royally until now, and here they were, nearly screaming at each other in the hallways. It seemed so messed up, and trust Malfoy to be at the root of something that was so infuriating.

"You are such a stupid, stubborn prat!" Alex exclaimed furiously. "Why won't you just accept that I really like him, Harry? I like him, he likes me, the end. Our whole lives don't revolve around these stupid prophecies... it's not like I'm under Helga Hufflepuff's control all the time. Occasionally, once in a while-that's how often I even notice that she's still there, still in my mind. The rest of the time it's all me, Harry-and this is all me. This is what I feel. And Draco's not Salazar Slytherin all the time either-you said it yourself, Godric told you that the three of us were far better at fighting the founders inside of us than Ginny and Hermione are. So that's how he feels, and I'm sorry if you're having a hard time accepting that." Harry only rolled his eyes at her, disgusted. Neither one stopped to realize just how lucky they were that most everyone was in classes and that their arguments hadn't drawn unwanted attention to themselves-the prophecy wasn't something that should be widespread.

"How he feels, huh? Well, you've made it clear that you know how he and I feel about each other... So, think about it. You're my sister, Alex-it's all a big façade, if you ask me. At this point, either way he wins. If he convinces you that he cares about you, he wins your heart, and he knows that'll drive me crazy. And if he hurts you, well then, that hurts me. I bet that's it, Alex-he's using you to get to me," Harry said, and it was almost making more sense to him now. At that very moment, though, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and whirled around quickly. BAM! A fist was in his face, and Harry was down on the ground. Through a swelling eye, Harry glanced up to see the angry face of Draco Malfoy. Infuriated, the grounded Harry kicked blindly, tripping Malfoy and knocking him to the ground as well. Alex was standing above them, looking infuriated.

"Harry Potter, you are an arrogant, self-centered, stupid, stubborn..." she was shouting, and Harry blocked it out, not wanting to hear any of it. Usually he was so selfless-why was he being so stupid when it came to Alex and Malfoy? He was shaken from his thoughts, though, as he noticed that Alex was now silent and a new figure had reached the three of them.

"Honestly, such a scene... I'm ashamed of all three of you," Professor McGonagall said, her lips in a thin line as her stern eyes looked down at Harry and Malfoy, still on the ground. Alex offered Harry a hand, but he refused it, scrambling to his feet as Alex helped Malfoy up. He scowled as his eyes met the Professor.

"I should think a detention is in order... honestly, shouting in the hallway, fighting, such nonsense, and it will not be tolerated in this castle. I'd have expected better of you-such trivial things," she said, still making a face in their direction.

"I shall send you all owls, informing you of when your sentence shall be," she said firmly, turning on her heel. "And if you can't manage to get along, I suggest you separate yourselves," she added before flouncing away, staring.

"This is unbelievable," Harry grumbled, averting his eyes from her retreating figure only to have his eyes fall on Draco Malfoy, smiling at Alex. Smiling? And it even looked sincere. But Harry refused to accept this, merely scowling at them furthermore.

"No, you're unbelievable, Potter," Malfoy said quietly. His voice sounded the least taunting that it had ever been when addressing Harry, and it was bewildering. Alex was standing close to Malfoy as he spoke, and she seemed to agree with his words. "You know, I'm not clueless... I know what's going on with all this prophecy stuff. I don't want to see history repeat itself... I may be proud to be in Slytherin's house, but I don't want to be him." Harry merely spat.

"And what reason have you ever given me to believe that?" he asked, rolling his eyes at the boy.

"None," Malfoy said with a cool shrug. "But things are different. You may not believe me, and I'll even agree that you have no reason to-yet. But Alex trusts me-and you should trust her," he said simply. It was all still so puzzling-Malfoy really did seem to be sticking up for Alex, and with no ounce of his usual sarcasm.

"Of course I trust Alex-although I'm thinking her judgment has been severely impaired," Harry said, although he was starting to realize, with horror, that his and Malfoy's roles seemed to be reversed. Malfoy, after all, was the one that was defending Alex, when here he had been, moments before, being cross and angry at her without even really hearing her out or seeing things firsthand.

"So you trust her... You'll learn to trust me. Believe it or not, I don't want to see this war happening."

A/N: So I guess I'll leave it here... Malfoy wants Harry to trust him? You'll just have to wait and see what happens next... Upcoming: A detention in the forest and another D.A. meeting