The Alexandra Files

Wow

, thought Alexandra as she closed her just-finished Harry Potter book. Even after having read each of the books multiple times, she always thought they were just as great as the first time. Her favorite book happened to be the one she had just finished, ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’. She was eagerly counting down the days until the fifth book would come out. Seeing the time of 2:36 a.m. illuminating the digital clock next to her, she decided it was finally time for bed. Fatigued due to the time, she stumbled upstairs, but just as she reached the top, she stepped on something cool and slimy. "ICK!!!!" she yelped in surprise, while dropping her book, and tripping down a couple stairs. Recovering from her fall with an oncoming headache, she examined what she had stepped on. Seeing that it was her brother’s silly putty, she grumbled and reached for her book. The book, which had taken the full blow, had fallen down the stairs, landing on her granite floor. As she sprung down to get it, she realized the binding had been broken, and the back cover was hanging by several threads.

"Oh crap!" she said, almost in tears. Her recently deceased grandmother had gotten her the set of books for her birthday a year and a half ago. Besides the sentimental value, the book certainly wasn’t cheap. Extremely upset, she picked up the damaged book, but as she did so, a little piece of paper fell from where the binding had been. On it, there were instructions and a riddle. "This is really weird," she said with a groan, never being good at riddles. She read it out loud to herself, hoping it would help to understand it:

"First think of a word for mother,

What she was called when you were younger.

Next, tell me what’s always the first to graduation,

The closing of closing and the generation of generation.

Finally, tell me the sound often heard,

When something disgusts the speaker of the word.

Now string these words together, and this word describes

What will take you to this particular time."

After staring at the riddle for five minutes, Alex decided that the only way she was going to solve it was by a nice long sleep. Just before falling asleep, all Alex could think of were the characters in Harry Potter. She dreamed of attending the Yule Ball in shimmering pink robes, accompanied with none other than Draco Malfoy.

* * *

Waking up to the smell of blueberry pancakes around ten, Alex was in high spirits, totally forgetting about the events of the previous nights. After pulling on some shorts and her favorite pink polo, she bounded downstairs, welcoming the clear, summer morning.

"Good morning sweetheart!" chimed her mother. "The usual?"

"Yep! Two blueberry pancakes with whipped cream!" Alex replied, as her brother, Noah, stuck a blueberry in each nostril, trying to imitate a monkey.

"Noah, when you have blueberries stuck up your nose for the rest of your life, don’t come crying to me," she said to her twin brother.

"Alex, just because you are two minutes older than me, doesn’t mean you can tell me what to do!"

Alex smirked at her brother. Although he was only two minutes younger than she, he acted like an eight-year-old instead of the fourteen-year-old he was.

"Dear, what were you doing up so late last night?" asked her mother, as she served the pancakes.

"Oh, I was just finishing my Harry Potter book!" finally remembering the occurrences of last night.

"Ohhhh, so you are reading Harry Pooper and the Goblet of Farts for like, the millionth time?" chortled her brother.

"Noah..." said their mother in a somewhat exasperated tone. Rolling her eyes, Alex couldn’t help thinking again how immature her brother was.

"Gee Noah, maybe you shouldn’t be making fun of the books, on account of the fact that you YOURSELF have read them all at least once," she said airily.

Satisfied with the defeated look on his face, Alex quickly finished her breakfast and ran upstairs in hopes of figuring out the riddle.

"Okay," she thought to herself. "Another word for mother; what I called her when I was young…mom, mama, or ma. Okay…what’s always the first to graduation, the closing of closing and the generation of generation? Wait! This is like the riddle Harry had to solve in the Triwizard Tournament! Okay, the first to graduation….that’s like the last thing to mend which was d…..so it’s g! Yes! That’s fits for the other clues. Alright….so far I have mom/mama/ma-g-____. Alright, the sound often heard when something disgusts the speaker of the word…that would be ‘ew’ or ‘ick’, or ‘gross’ I suppose. Okay, so that’s mom/mama/ma-g-ew/ick/gross??? Okay, momg___ doesn’t make sense…Mamagew? I don’t think so…Mamagick? Wait!!! Ma-g-ick!!!! Magic! That has to be the answer! Right, so now what do I do?"

The instructions after the riddle said the following:

After solving this riddle, open to any page in this book. Next, recite the answer to the riddle, and you will be transported to the magical world of this page. But be careful, time will take it’s toll.

"This is absurd!" Alex said out loud. "This must be Noah’s idea of a practical joke! Does he think I’m that foolish?"

She stomped across the hall to Noah’s room, were he was blasting his music so loud that his door shook.

"NOAH!!!" she yelled. Somehow, despite the blasting music, he heard her. The music suddenly stopped, and he swung open his door, which revealed him smiling sweetly, looking innocent as ever.

"You called sister?" he asked in an irritating and far-too-polite tone.

Alex held up the paper with the riddle and instructions. "What is the meaning of this? Is this some kind of joke?" she asked, annoyed.

Noah snatched the paper from her hands, read it, then looked up bewildered.

"What is this?" he asked. The sweet, innocent look was replaced by simple wonderment.

Alex studied him hard. She could always tell when he was telling the truth, seldom as it may have been, from his unfaltering gaze. Seeing that he wasn’t lying, she explained what had happened, and where she had found it.

"Alex, I only believe you because you know I don’t give two shits about Harry Potter, and you wouldn’t try to get me worked up about this if you were lying. I think that this piece of paper is really weird and stupid, but the only way you are going to find out is if you try it."

"Noah, you can’t be suggesting…" she said incredulously.

"Fine Alex, I don’t really care either way. But if, by the crazy chance that this actually does work, don’t bother coming back, and I’ll take your room." His innocent smile was back as he batted his eyelashes. Scowling, Alex turned on her heel and walked back into the room.

"I love you sis!" Noah called sarcastically as she slammed her door shut.

"Well," she thought to herself, "Maybe Noah has a point. This probably won’t work, but why not give it a try."

"Noah, Alex, I’m leaving for work," called her mother, interrupting her thoughts. "I’ll see you two around seven, and remember, your father isn’t coming back from his business trip until Friday. Oh and Alex, don’t forget to practice!"

"By mom, love you," called Alex, followed by a loud burp from her brother.

"I love you too. Both of you," her mom added sternly, as Noah started blasting his music again.

Alex sighed as she walked back to her room. Ever since she had started playing the saxophone in fourth grade, her mom bugged her to practice everyday. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy music, in fact, she was fairly good at it, but she just hated that her mom felt the need to bug her about practicing everyday. Noah, on the other hand, was a hard-core jock. He was good at all sports, you name it. Basketball, baseball, soccer, track, swimming, and tennis…just to name a few. Not only was he good at sports, he was popular, and was into girls. Alex, was, well, a band geek, who had sworn off guys forever. (A/N: If you were expecting a Mary Sue, ha! ^-^ MWA-HAHAHAHA!)

"Well, I guess this is it," thought Alex as she glanced in her mirror to fix herself. She saw a girl looking back at her with blue eyes, streaky blonde hair, a roundish nose, and freckles splashed across her face. As a kid once told her, it kind of looked like she was standing in front of a screen door, and someone on the other side threw mud at her face.

It wasn’t that she was ugly, in fact, some thought she was quite cute, but she was taller than the rest of the girls her age, which made her feel awkward. Also, she looked several years younger than she really was, whether it was her undeveloped figure, or her "younger-than-normal-kids-her-age" (as she liked to call it) face. Her braces didn’t help much either. She sighed, then scribbled a quick note to Noah, saying that if it actually worked, she would find a way back, and for him not to lay any of his fingers on her room.

"Now, if I were to go to any part of this book, where would I go?" she said out loud, holding up the fourth book. "To the last page, where I could see what happens next in the book," she said, as if answering her own question. She guessed she would be taken to the beginning of the page if it actually worked, which would give her time to assess to the situation.

She opened up the book to the last page and said ‘magic’, the answer to the riddle, loudly and clearly. At first nothing happened, and she thought that it was just a hoax. Suddenly, there was a loud whoosh, and she felt herself spinning and spinning. Just when she thought she was going to faint, she felt herself slam down on a hard cement floor.

* * *

After nodding good-bye to a grunting Crabbe and Goyle, Draco made his way through the train station, looking for his father. As he saw him standing in a corner, a wave of fear swept over him. He had been dreading coming home ever since Christmas, but the revival of Voldemort made matters much worse.

"Hello son," said Lucius Malfoy with a smile, which was scarier than when he was frowning. Rarely did he ever smile, so this was rather startling. Remembering Lucius’ motto that "good boys should be seen and not heard", Draco merely nodded and forced a weak smile.

Lucius whistled, and one of the Malfoy’s servants, a heavyset man, came to get Draco’s trunk and owl. After he had Apparated, presumably back to the mansion, Lucius turned and led the way to what Draco knew would be Knockturn Alley.

"As you know, Draco, there has been a rather pleasant turn of events," said Lucius with his creepy smile. "Lord Voldemort is counting down the days until you, my son, will join his forces as a faithful servant. Just like those before you," he added.

Draco gave a mental shudder, but forced a smile and a nod.

"Son, I can tell you aren’t as happy as I thought you should be. That will be fixed once we get back home." His smile was replaced by a mirthless glare, but then he stopped walking abruptly at a drinking fountain. Bending down as if drinking from the fountain, Lucius pulled out the knob and said the word dominatus. Where the drinking fountain was, there was now an old wooden door. With a glance around the empty corner of the train station, Lucius opened the door and walked in, Draco following suit.

Walking through a clammy, dimly lit tunnel, all Draco could think about were his father’s previous words. ‘Son, I can tell you aren’t as happy as I thought you might. That will be fixed once we get back home’. He could only imagine what would happen if he didn’t obey his father. His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a sudden ray of sunlight, revealing that they were now at their destination.

Draco followed his father into a large shop called Borgin and Burkes, which was where his father bought most of the items in his Dark Arts collection. As his father walked over to talk to the store manager, Draco perused the shop, noticing a slimy container of what looked like chapstick. As he bent down to have a closer look, one of the store’s employees came up to him. He was an man of around fifty, with a pudgy nose between two sunken-in eyes.

"That sir, is Lip-Locker Lip Balm," he said, with a nasal voice. "When put on, it seals the mouth of the wearer shut for 5 days. Those," he said, pointing to a box of band-aids, "are Flesh-Eating Adhesive Bandages, otherwise known as Band-Aids which eat skin."

"Thanks," Draco said sarcastically. "I don’t think I could have figured it out myself."

Draco couldn’t help wondering who had manufactured all of the dark-arts paraphernalia, when he noticed something in the corner of the store. He walked over and noticed that it was a glass eyeball enclosed in a glass case, that was reflecting light around that small area of the shop.

"Ahhhh. That, my young friend is the all-seeing eye. Not only can it see anything and everything, but if you look directly into it, you will be blinded. Might not want to look closely."

The store employee’s nasal voice was almost as bad as his bad breath, Draco thought.

"If this eye makes people blind, why would people want to use it, and how would the go about doing so?" asked Draco.

Lowering his voice, the employee replied, "It is rumored to see into the future, and also gives immortality when used properly. No one knows how to actually use it though, and many doubt it’s true powers."

Draco glanced at the all-seeing eye one more time, then walked up to his father. All he heard was the manager replying to his father, "No, news. No news at all. Ever since the meeting at the er…rebirth, no one has seen or heard anything."

"Well, Mr. Borgin, I’ll keep in touch," said Lucius as he turned briskly, motioning Draco to follow, and headed for the door.

When they reached the manor, Lucius told Angus, the burly servant, to have a Red Currant Rum ready for him in ten minutes. He then motioned Draco to follow him into a small, windowless room in the west corner of the mansion. The room was completely green, including verdant-colored floor tile and painted emerald walls. The only furnishings in the room were a velvet green armchair and a heavy oak closet door. Lucius moved to the armchair, but before he sat down, he whipped around to face Draco.

"Draco, I have been waiting for the return of our Lord for 14 years. Not only for me to rejoin him, but for me to bring you to him as a faithful servant," Lucius said, almost too-calmly. "I am sure that you are as delighted as I am, are you not?" he asked, staring at Draco with eyes that now looked like slits.

Draco continued to stare at him with his own icy gray eyes, unanswering.

Lucius’ hand stuck out at full force and hit Draco across the face, so hard that he staggered backwards. "Answer me boy!" Lucius raged.

Collecting himself, Draco glared at his father, still unanswering. Lucius struck out again, this time throwing him into the wall. Draco slumped down, his whole right side throbbing. Lucius grabbed him and punched him hard in the face. Draco could taste the blood in his mouth. With that, Lucius yanked open the closet door and threw Draco in, then slammed it shut and locked the door. As he heard his father storming out of the green room, Draco collapsed and rested his head on his arms. His whole body was in so much pain he couldn’t think straight, but he would not and could not cry, or for that matter, lie.

He must have passed out, because he woke up to the sound of someone fumbling with the lock. As the door opened, he saw his mother standing in the doorway with their servant.

"Angus, bring him to his room", Narcissa said worriedly. As Angus came towards Draco, he cleared his throat.

"Mum, I can do it myself," he croaked. With that, he stood up slowly, testing his legs. The whole right side of his body, which was the side that came in direct contact with the wall, was throbbing with pain. He made his way to the door.

"See mum, just a little limp," he said shakily.

"Draco…" trailed of Narcissa in a pained voice.

"Mum!" he whirled around to face her. "It’s really okay…" as he swayed powerlessly.

"Angus!" Narcissa shrieked, as he rushed forward to catch the falling boy. "Please bring him to his room."

When Draco woke up, he was lying in his bed with his mother nursing his wounds.

"Do not look at me like that Draco," she said, seeing the look in his eyes. "You are not okay"

Draco groaned and turned away.

"If you don’t believe me, look in this mirror," said his mother, while reaching for a small ivory mirror engraved with flowers. Draco saw that his head was wrapped in gauze, his cheek and eye were badly bruised where his father had hit him, and his right arm was in a sling.

"Wonderful. Just wonderful. Why don’t you magically cure me mum? I think it would be a hell of a lot easier for both of us."

Narcissa looked into his eyes, than looked away, pretending to focus on his Wizard’s Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar. When she realized what she was doing, she looked back at Draco.

"Draco, trust me, I would if I could but…"

"What? You don’t mean…" Draco said suspiciously. Narcissa sighed.

"When your father finally realized that I was fighting that Imperious Curse he’s been using on me all of these years, he took my wand away and put a spell on me so I wouldn’t be able to perform any magic at all."

"I can’t believe it! That bastard! Where is he now?" Draco fumed.

"Well, he took off after…" Narcissa trailed off, as Angus walked into the room.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" he said, looking at Narcissa. "Either of you?" he added, seeing that Draco was conscious. At first, Narcissa hesitated.

"Yes…yes Angus. Please go into the purple room (the only room she liked in the mansion, which Lucius had built for her specially) and retrieve Draco’s package. Then, please go into Lucius’ study and get his book of Dark Arts Curses. I believe it’s Volume 3…yes. Here are the keys, the triangular one will get you into the room, and smaller one will get you into his bookcase. Oh, and don’t worry, he won’t find out about this," she added as an afterthought.

"Yes miss," said Angus in his gruff voice, looking sympathetically at Draco.

"Mum, where did you get those keys?" Draco asked incredulously, "And what about this package for me?" he added deviously.

"Well, when your father was…er…intoxicated one night, I saw his keys lying on his desk. Being as this was before he took away my wand and put the curse on me, I was able to magically duplicate them. As for you package, I ordered something for you through the Owl Post." They sat in silence for a few minutes, then Angus came up with a large, leather-bound book and a long, thin package.

"Thank you Angus, that will be all," Narcissa said as he turned and left the room. "Draco, before you open that, please look for the Magic-Restraint curse in this book, and the counter-curse should be right after it. I need you to perform this on me, I don’t know how I’ll be able to survive without magic. It will be easy enough to pretend I’m magic-less when your father is around." Draco mentally shuddered at the words ‘your father’, then quickly composed himself and looked for the counter-curse.

"Mum, I don’t think it will be easy at all to perform this spell. Not only does it look extremely difficult, but I don’t even know what half of the ingredients are! Jellywobbles, Monglysnaps, Cacophomen, Maurymacks, Gripple Fur, Billywig Stings (actually, that kind of sounds familiar), Chimaera Eggs (aren’t they Class A Non-Tradeable Goods?), Erumpent Tail, and Powdered Graphorn Horn (that’s interesting…say that 5 times quickly.) Oh, and the reprocusions. Mum, if I mess up, (that’s an extremely big if) you won’t be able to perform magic again.

"Yes, Draco, that is true. But, it’s not like you father will be reversing the curse anytime soon, so it won’t hurt to try. As for the ingredients, I can assure you that your father has everything we need, including the Chimaera Eggs, which are Class A Non-Tradeable Goods."

"Well, that’s surprising," Draco retorted sarcastically. "And, mum, are you feeling alright? You’ve been acting…different lately," Draco said, taking note of her unusually optimistic attitude.

"Frankly Draco, I’m tired of your father controlling me like a puppet. I refuse to put up with it anymore."

"Oh is that so?" said an unmistakably cold voice coming from the door. Draco and Narcissa spun around to see Lucius leaning against the doorframe, glaring relentlessly at Narcissa.

For the next chapter:

-Find out what happens with Alex—Does she meet up with any characters in the last part of the book? Does she fall madly in love with Dudly and realize she wants his sexy elephant-like body? *Leaves momentary pause for readers to shudder…*

-Find out what happens with Draco—That gosh darn dad of his, always appearing at the wrong times! So, what does he do? What’s in this package? WHY AM I WRITING FROM HIS P.O.V. ANYWAY? Heeheehee. ^-^

Also: dominatus, the password to Knockturn Alley, means ‘rule, mastery, tyranny, domination.’

Yes, and the All Seeing Eye is from Lord of the Rings. (Legolas ROCKS.)

Stay tuned for the next chapter, and/or read on and find out! ~Laura