The Alexandra Files

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´ (A/N: Yay for onomatopoeias!), 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.

~-~-~

"Oh man. Now

that´s gonna do quite a number to some brain cells," Alex thought to herself, standing up and brushing herself off. She glanced around, realizing that she was in a heavily packed train station.

"That bloody git is going to pay!" Alex heard a rather nasty-looking girl her age say to her friends in a heavy British accent.

"No way!" Alex thought to herself, unbelieving. "It...it can´t be!"

"Er...excuse me," she heard someone say as they tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around, and was presently looking into the greenest eyes she had ever seen.

"Did...did you just...you know..." he said in a hushed voice, looking around, "...Apparate here? Because, well, you may want to try being more discrete; you could have been seen by a Muggle!"

"Me? Apparate? No. No no no. I don´t...well, I can´t apparate." Alex looked around uneasily, and saw a girl with brown bushy hair walking away from the boy she was talking to, presumably Harry Potter, towards a boy with bright red hair and freckles, and planted a big kiss on his cheek. He looked at her in disbelief, his face turning as red as his hair. Then, almost looking more surprised at his own actions, he pulled her towards him for a real kiss.

"Way to go Ron..." Alex muttered under her breath.

"How do you know his name?" Harry asked as he turned around to a sight that his own eyes wouldn´t believe. "Oh. My. God. Wow. Took them long enough," he said, as he turned around back towards Alex.

"Okay...right then. I have to go...my uncle is waiting. In the future, pick a less obvious spot to apparate to. I can´t believe you weren´t spotted by any Muggles," he said, chastisingly. (A/N: That´s not a real word, but it WORKS! ^-^ )

"Wait! You...you can´t go. See, I am a muggle. And I like I already said before, I didn´t apparate. In fact, I don´t know exactly how I got here, but you have to help me. My name is Alexandra Robertson, and I´m from Boston, Massachusetts. I don´t exactly know how to get back home either..." she trailed off when she noticed Harry gaping at her.

"You´re a m...muggle?" He shook his head disbelievingly. "Okay, well, hi. I´m...I´m Harry Potter."

"Yeah, I...I kinda know that...but you have to help me!" She said, her panicked voice obviously not hiding her emotions.

"How?!? How do you know me, how do you know Ron, and how do you expect me to help you? And how exactly did you get here? Is this one of those rare, `all-knowing-Muggles-falling-from-the-sky´ cases?" he asked sarcastically.

"If your mom was alive I´d crack a `your mom´ joke...but I won´t go there,"

Alex thought to herself angrily.

"Harry!" a large man yelled from behind the barrier. Alex figured he was Harry´s uncle, Vernon Dursley.

"Look...I´m sorry, but I really have to go, nice meeting you," Harry said, squinting his eyes. When he noticed the hurt and hopeless look on her face, Harry sighed, shook his head for the eightieth time that day, and fumbled with the clasp on his trunk.

"Sometime this century boy!" Vernon yelled, getting rather red in the face. Harry flung his invisibility cloak at Alex.

"Here. Put this on, and follow me. Careful not to trod on anyone´s foot okay?" Alex nodded and put on the cloak, making sure she was totally covered.

"Amazing!" she exclaimed as Harry turned towards Vernon. When they reached the barrier, Vernon grabbed Harry´s trunk and looked the boy in the face.

"Who were you talking to Harry?"

"Oh, um, a friend from Hogwarts..." Harry trailed off, quickly realizing his mistake.

"Haven´t you been told not to speak of your...abnormality? Especially in public!" Vernon hissed as he led the way to the door. Harry rolled his eyes and motioned for Alex to follow him towards the door as he made sure Hedwig was okay in her cage.

As the three of them walked outside, Alex had a terrible time not trying to bump into anyone. She also noticed that it was extremely noisy, as the loud speakers overhead were announcing trains leaving. When they exited the train station, they were blasted by the sun, forcing Harry and Vernon to squint their eyes automatically. Alex´s eyes were mostly protected from the sun from the cloak, and surprisingly, it wasn´t really warm out, just sunny.

"I could get used to this!" Alex thought to herself as they made their way to Vernon´s car. She was used to hot, humid summers in Boston.

The small group of three finally reached the Dursleys' Volvo, and Vernon threw Harry´s school trunk in the trunk of the car. All three of the passengers sat in silence during the ride; Vernon watching the road, Harry keeping an eye on Hedwig while watching the houses and buildings whiz by, and Alex observing Harry. She was amazed at how he looked exactly as described in the books. This was certainly no Daniel Radcliffe. She wondered if he knew that in addition to being a hero in the wizarding community, he was also a celebrity in the rest of the world, although no one thought he actually existed. The whole situation was so strange it hurt her head to think about it. Instead, she decided to torment Harry.

He was currently looking outside, his head pressed against the window. Careful not to touch him, she sneaked her arm around him and pushed the automatic window button. The sudden movement of the seemingly solid surface startled him to the point where he gasped and actually jumped out of his seat. Alex suppressed a fit of laughter, until Vernon noticed the window was down a second later.

"What are you doing boy? Don´t you know the air conditioning is on?" he barked at Harry, while putting up the window from his seat and putting on the child safety lock. "These things are supposed to be used for children. Not...boys your age..." Vernon added, looking as if he wasn´t sure of how old Harry actually was. Harry snorted and glared at the invisible Alex, who smiled her sweetest smile, only to realize that he couldn´t see it anyway.

Suddenly, Alex felt one of the cloak´s invisible fibers tickling her nose, which resulted in several unsuppressed sneezes. Receiving a glare from Harry, he quickly tried to cover up the sneezes by rubbing his nose and muttering something about his `damn allergies.´

After the sneezing episode, they rode in silence most of the way home, save an occasional grunt from Vernon every time Hedwig shifted position in her cage. Before Alex knew it, the car was pulling into a quiet road that she saw was Private Drive.

"Wow," she thought to herself, "I can´t believe this is actually happening!"

Alex followed Harry out of his car, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Vernon led the way to the door, carrying Harry´s trunk while yelling at him to keep his `blasted bird´ quiet. Before they went inside, Vernon pulled Harry aside, and while doing so, almost trodded on Alex´s toe.

"Now Harry, I don´t want any...er...funny stuff. Your Aunt Petunia has been feeling under the weather lately, so I advise you to keep a low profile. Also, we-as in your Aunt Petunia, Dudley, and I-will be taking a two-week trip to Fiji in three days. You will be staying at Mrs. Figgs. Well, that just about covers it...now go to your room!" Vernon grumbled as he turned and walked inside, dropping Harry´s trunk at the foot of the stairs then disappearing through the foyer.

Harry held the door open for Alex and lead the way to the stairs.

"Here, I´ll take your bird, for you," Harry heard Alex whisper.

"I´m just find thank you, and it´s an owl. Her name is Hedwig," Harry muttered under his breath. As he bent down to pick up his trunk, he bumped into Alex, who staggered backwards, bumping into the coffee table that held Petunia´s most prized possession, a porcelain vase. `Noooooooooooo!´ he mentally screamed as he saw the vase toppling off the table in slow motion, but all that came out was a hoarse whisper. Just as the words left his lips, the vase stopped in mid air. He sighed heavily as he leaned against the wall and slid down to a sitting position.

"Nice catch," he muttered under his breath, his eyes not leaving the vase. For some strange reason, it was quite enticing, and he couldn´t bring himself to grab the vase from its floating state and place it back on the table.

"What are you talking about? I´m over here", Alex whispered from the other side of the stairs where she fell. "Didn´t you stop it magically or something?"

"Um...do you see a wand in my hand? No. But...if you didn´t catch it, than what happened?"

"Beats me, but it´s still floating in midair..." Alex trailed off, noticing that Harry seemed to be staring at the vase fixedly.

"I...I can´t look away!" Harry said in a hushed but panicked voice. Alex grabbed onto the vase with one hand, then pushed Harry, distracting him and making him stumble over. Alex felt the weight of the vase immediately when he lost eye contact with it. She carefully put it back on the coffee table, making sure she didn´t drop it.

"Ok, that was weird. Has anything like that ever happened to you before Harry?"

"Well, no," Harry said while rubbing his eyes. "Thank God it didn´t fall though, Aunt Petunia would have..."

"Mum!" Harry was interrupted by a loud shriek from a short and rather large boy with blonde hair, whom Alex presumed to be Dudley. "Mom, Harry´s talking to himself!" Alex froze, thinking how lucky she was to be totally covered by the cloak at that moment. Dudley smirked and scuttled away as a skinny, pointed nose, and incredibly prim-looking woman stormed in. Alex had to dive out of her way in order not to be stepped on.

Harry´s Aunt Petunia grabbed him by the ear and dragged him upstairs. She seemed to be pretty strong for such a frail looking woman. She then shoved him into his room and slammed his door shut, locking it with a key hidden on top of the door frame.

"What about my trunk and Hedwig?" Harry protested.

"Oh shush boy! You´ll be lucky if you get dinner!" With that, Petunia Dursley stormed back downstairs into the kitchen, almost bumping into Alex for the second time that day. Alex quietly made her way upstairs, being careful not to step on the third stair which she noticed creaked when Petunia stepped on it.

After making it up the steps, she reached for the key, grateful for once of her height. She unlocked the door, giggling at the startled and surprised look on Harry´s face. She then, was the one to be surprised at his sudden outburst.

"Look, I don´t know who you are, or what you want from me, but some non-muggle person obviously knows who you are, and that you´re here. I can´t believe I actually bought your `I´m not a muggle´ shit for a second, but I did. Look," Harry said, holding up and waving a letter in front of her face. "I found this on my windowsill. I think I deserve an explanation," he said, obviously pretty ticked off.

"Hmm...Harry Potter, `The Boy Who Lived´ gets pissy," Alex thought to herself.

"I have no idea what that is. Are you sure it´s addressed to me?" Alex asked, her bewilderment obviously not faked.

"It´s a letter for you, delivered by the Owl Post," Harry said as though it were obvious, while Alex´s eyes widened with surprise.

"Ow...Owl P...Post?" Alex stuttered.

"Ye-s. O-wol. Po-s-t," Harry annunciated. "So how about that little explanation of yours?" he said nastily.

"Okay. Like I said before, I was transported here. I really don´t know how, but it was kinda like a...a verbal Portkey I guess. See, I found a riddle in this...er...book I´m reading, and when I said the answer to it, I ended up in the train station." Alex still wasn´t sure whether or not to mention that the book she was reading was about Harry himself.

"Yeah, okay. For all I know, you could be a Death Eater trying to take me hostage in my own house so I can sell my soul to Voldemort! For a muggle, you seem to know an awful lot about magic." Alex sighed heavily and groaned with obvious annoyance.

"Okay Harry. Despite what you may think, the world doesn´t revolve around you. I live in Boston, as in the U.S.A.! I have absolutely no way of getting home that I know of, and my mother has no idea about this! As for how I know about magic, I´m not quite sure if I can tell you...but you´ll just have to trust me. I´m not trying to hurt you! All I wanted was a little help, but I guess that was too much to ask. You can just take back your invisibility cloak and I´ll be taking my letter." With that, she snatched the letter out of his hands and stormed out of his room.

"Wait! Are you insane?!?" Harry said, trying to be as quiet as possible while screaming after her. He ran out of his room, grabbing Alex by the arm. "You can´t go down there! My aunt and uncle will kill both of us! How about you just open your letter so we can see what this whole thing is about?"

"We? I don´t think so," Alex said as she stalked back into his room, plopping down on his bed to read the letter. It read:

Dear Alexandra Robertson,

The Ministry of Magic has made notice of your arrival. Please report to Arabella Figg´s home as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Cornelius Fudge

Cornelius Fudge,

Head of the Ministry of Magic

"Uhhh...Harry?" Alex asked, not even trying to cover up her nervousness.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking up in anticipation.

"Where does Mrs. Figg live?"

* * *

"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.

~-~-~

Draco, seeing that his father was staring only at Narcissa, tried to inconspicuously slip the book and his parcel underneath his covers. He didn´t want to think of what would happen if Lucius discovered they had taken one of his books, from his locked bookcase in his locked study.

"What did you just shove under your covers Draco?" Lucius snapped at his son.

"Umm...well I don´t really know," said Draco as he brought his parcel into view. "It is wrapped you know." It wasn´t a complete lie; judging by the shape of it, Draco figured his parcel was some sort of top-of-the-line broomstick, but he wasn´t exactly sure what kind it was.

"Lucius," Narcissa cut in, "you instructed me to order this for Draco several nights ago. You do remember don´t you?" Since Lucius got drunk practically every night, she tried to trick him into thinking he had told her to order it under the influence of alcohol. That way, he wouldn´t remember what he did or didn´t say. Lucius studied Narcissa, but then remembered the broomstick magazine he got a week ago. Even if he didn´t tell Narcissa to order it, he would have sooner or later anyway.

"Oh yes. Well, why don´t you open it Draco? Maybe then you will reconsider some of your...opinions?" Lucius said nastily. Draco looked from his father to his mother.

"Go ahead dear - open it," Narcissa said quietly. Draco untied the string easily with his nimble fingers, resulting from many years of playing Quidditch. As he tore off the brown paper, he recognized the broom immediately.

"Wowie, a `Thunder Shock 2002´! The best model on the market, built with a sensory system to contour with its rider´s angles! Oh and look what it says here! It also has a safety feature that prevents anyone else for taking or riding it other than its respective owner! Thanks dad!" Draco said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. He then looked at his mom and managed a sincere smile. He knew his mom meant well, but he couldn´t believe his father thought he could win him over by purchasing an expensive broom. But then again, he´d been trying it for years.

"Well I guess we´ll talk more later Draco," Lucius said viciously. "As for you Narcissa, you can come with me." Narcissa stood up and followed Lucius out of the room looking petrified of what he would do to her. Draco knew as well as she that if she didn´t obey, she would be forced under the Imperious Curse.

"Shit!" Draco muttered under his breath. He quickly hid the book under a couple of loose floorboards under his bed, and quietly made his way to the bedroom. He knew Lucius would take Narcissa there, for that was where he punished her. He heard the door slam from the bathroom he was hiding in two doors down, then hurried over to the door, pressing his ear against it to hear what was going on.

"Narcissa, I told you that you had one more chance!" he raged. "That was the last straw! Draco will become a Death Eater, and there is nothing you can do to stop him! I have spent many years trying to harden him and break him of his childish habits! I have relentlessly tried to teach him not to love! That is his only weakness! I´m not going to let you ruin this for him."

"For him?" Narcissa shrieked. "You mean for you! If he doesn´t become a Death Eater, it´s your loss! Voldemort will punish you, as well as Draco! He´s just a boy Lucius!"

"Fine Narcissa, then you leave me no other choice." Draco knew what his father was going to do, and threw open the door and ran inside.

"No you won´t father! I won´t let you!" Draco said as he ran in front of Narcissa to block her from the Avada Kedavra curse.

"See where love has gotten you boy?!? Look at your pathetic self! Standing and trying to protect your mother against the inevitable? I thought you knew better! I thought I taught you not to love, for it can and will be used against you! I guess you should have listened. It´s too late. Move. Now."

"No. You have to kill me first." Draco knew that his father couldn´t kill him, he was too valuable as an offering for Voldemort. God, what a wretched git. He only lived to please Voldemort. And what did he get in return? Nothing, except being treated like shit from the master he would die trying to please.

"Boy, if you don´t move, I´ll kill you also."

"Wow..." Draco thought, "he actually looks serious..."

"Fine," Lucius said simply. As he raised his wand to utter the two deadly words, Narcissa ran out from behind Draco and in front of Lucius. It all seemed to be happening in slow motion. He heard his mother scream just before the blinding flash of green light, then seeing her lifeless body lying on the floor. He thought he was having a terrible nightmare, but that was before he remembered he was in the Malfoy household. He would later remember only his father´s next words, then just holding and rocking his mother´s body after his father stalked out of the room, presumably to get drunk.

"I figured that would happen. Your mother was stupid. Look at her now. Dead." Lucius didn´t sound the slightest bit sympathetic or regretful, in fact, he sounded rather pleased with himself for correctly assessing his wife´s moves. Then he was gone.

Draco moved over to his mother´s dead body and just stared at it in anguish for several minutes. Then what happened next was certainly most unexpected. He felt hot tears streaming down his cheeks as he bent down and stroked her face affectionately. She was so beautiful. She deserved so much better than his rotten, son-of-a-bitch father. As he cradled her in his arms, he fought back hysterics. A couple of tears were certainly enough to last him another seven years or so. After all, he was indeed a Malfoy. Malfoys never cried. He had certainly been taught that by his father.

"I...I love you. I love you mom." It was the first time he had ever said those words, and he figured it would be the last. Not sure what to do next, he picked his mother up and laid her on his parent´s bed. He then looked at her one last time, and exited the room. Not even letting his brain function, he stumbled numbly into his own room, and grabbed his Thunder Shock 2002. He then grabbed his light traveling cloak and his wallet, checking to make sure it was filled with plenty of money, but of course it was. Making sure he had his wand, he then made his way to the north tower, his favorite place in the mansion.

When he opened the door to the tower, he was blinded by the penetrating rays of the sun. Who would have thought it was bright outside, after being cooped up in that mansion all day. It was about 4:00 in the afternoon, leaving him plenty of time to find somewhere peaceful to stay. He then took off on his broom, soaring above the mansion. The only time he felt safe was when he was flying on his broom way above everything and everyone else. He had no idea where he was going, but made sure he was high enough so he wouldn´t be spotted in case he happened to ride into Muggle-land.

After riding for a couple of hours, he suddenly realized how hungry he was, and decided to find a place to eat. As he emerged from the height of the clouds, he saw a large hamburger on a tall pole.

"Hmm, that looks funny. I guess I really am in Muggle-land," he said to himself. As he dropped lower, he saw the words `Burger King´ written underneath it. He also noted some people emerging with food, and a toddler screaming because she had dropped something while trying to eat it. He hoped he wouldn´t be seen, so he flew down as quickly as possible in an alley nearby as to not be caught.

He hopped off his broom, and hid it behind a nasty-smelling skip. (A/N: Apparently, `skip´ is the English version of the word dumpster. *shrugs shoulders*) He then took off his cloak and hid it with his broom, so he was wearing only a gray tee shirt and black corduroy trousers. He was glad he hadn´t worn any of his more wizard-looking clothes. Without the chilly breeze from flying, he started to feel rather warm in his clothes meant for a cooler day. He was used to being cold in the Malfoy Mansion, so this was needless to say, a bit annoying.

"Oh well", he thought to himself. "Time for some food." Then he remembered that he would actually have to buy the food. Now that was going to present a problem.