CHAPTER NINE: MAGIC CHRISTMAS
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ALEX SHOVED THE LAST of her stuff into her bag, zipping the suitcase shut. She sighed; she was still dreading going home. She didn't know what Lucius would think about her being a Hufflepuff, no she knew exactly what he would think. He would not be happy. She could feel Tianna's eyes on her.

"What's on your mind, Allie? Aren't you excited to go home?" She asked.

She shrugged, she wasn't, but she couldn't outright say that. "I like it here, I'll just miss it."

She nodded "Makes sense, but at least you'll get to see your family." She forced a smile on her face and nodded. Tianna then reached under her bed and pulled out a wrapped gift. Alex had almost forgotten they had each other gifts.

"Oh wait one second," Alex said as she opened a small drawer by her bed. "I didn't wrap yours, I hope you don't mind." She held the gift behind her back with a small smile on her face.

"It's okay." She said as she handed her the wrapped gift and she took it. Alex revealed the book behind her back. Hogwarts: A History.

"I remember Hermione talking about it and you saying you want it so," she said quietly. She had asked Cedric to buy it in Hogsmeade and she reimbursed him.

"Thank you, Allie. I love it." She said as she sat down on her bed, signaling for her to open her gift. Alex did that, she began to open her gift. It was a Hufflepuff Quidditch shirt.

"Where did you get this?" Alex asked, holding the shirt up.

She smiled "I asked Gabriel for help since he played. After a bit of convincing he agreed to get ahold of one for you." She explained. "I thought you could wear it to games to you know... support the team."

Another smile formed on the redhead's face. "Thank you so much." She said, folding the shirt and placing it on her bed.

She nodded. "Of course." She said, as she opened the book and began to read.

Alex kept her eyes on her for a few seconds, before glancing back at her suitcase and moving it to the ground in front of her bed.

-

Alex walked into the Great Hall, her suitcase in hand and she spotted Ron and Harry playing chest at the Gryffindor table. The hall was decorated with Christmas decorations, but other than a few students, was mostly empty. She approached the two boys, watching the game for a few seconds before glancing at Ron.

"I thought you were going home?" She asked, realizing he didn't have a suitcase with him.

"My parents are going to see my brother, Charlie." He explained, glancing down at the chess board as he made another move. She never understood wizard's chess, Draco beat her nearly every time. "He lives in Romania so Fred, George, Percy, and I are just staying here."

She nodded slowly as she sat down beside him to watch the game. "Who's winning?" She asked.

"Ron," Harry mumbled, his arms crossed as he stared at the board.

"Nobody is 'winning' until the king is dead." He pointed out but Harry just shook his head in defeat.

She watched the game for a few more moments before glancing up at Ron. "Think you could teach me to play?" She asked.

He looked confused. "You don't know how to play?"

She shook her head. "Not really, I know the basics just I can never win." She said, leaning her elbows on the table with a short sigh.

He nodded slowly "Yeah, I can teach you sometime." He told her. "I learned from watching my older brothers play. Percy is absolutely rubbish at him but Bill taught me a lot about it."

"I wish I had siblings," Alex mumbled, mostly to herself but it was loud enough for the other two to hear.

"Me too," Harry added. "I just live with my cousin Dudley. I don't like him very much."

She nodded, words about Draco almost escaped her mouth but she caught herself. "It's just me." She said. "It gets pretty boring."

"Well, having six siblings isn't always that great," Ron admitted. "They always pick on me. My sister is Mum's favorite."

She frowned for a moment. Lucius and Narcissa always favored Draco over her, of course they did, he was their blood child.

-

Alex arrived home at the Malfoy Manor. They had traveled by Floo with the assistance of Narcissa, who had picked them up from Kings Cross Station. She glanced around, it felt like it had been forever since she had been home even though it had only been a few months.

She glanced at Draco for a moment who smiled at her. It confused her, now he was suddenly acting normal? She walked upstairs with him.

He looked over at her. "Maybe we can play outside later?" He suggested. "There is a ton of snow outside."

She hesitated but nodded slowly. "Sure." She said before walking into her room and putting her suitcase on her bed. It didn't make sense to her. Did he want everything to stay the same? It didn't seem like it since at school he pretended she didn't even exist.

She started to unpack and after a while a knock was heard on her door and it opened. She looked up, it was Lucius. "Alexis." He said, the same blank expression on his face.

She gulped. "Yes?" She asked, a slight tone of nervousness in her voice.

"I am very disappointed in the outcome of the sorting." He said, the edginess in his voice. "Hufflepuff?"

She nodded slowly. "I'm sorry."

"I could have lived with Ravenclaw, but Hufflepuff?" He asked again. "They are nothing like Slytherin's."

She didn't meet his eyes. "I'm sorry." She repeated.

"You will look at me when I speak to you." He raised his voice and she quickly looked up at him, blinking slowly. "It's a disgrace. Your father will be disappointed upon his return."

She didn't say anything, Lucius just turned and left, shutting her bedroom door behind him. She sighed shakily once the door was shut as she tried to shake his words off. She tried to make them mean nothing to her. He was right, from what she heard about her father, he would be disappointed, but was that even a bad thing? She didn't want to live up to the expectations placed for her. She couldn't hurt anyone on purpose, she just couldn't.

A few hours later dinner was ready. Narcissa had prepared something larger than normal for the upcoming holiday.

Alex had set the table, upon Lucius's request. The small family sat at their usual spots at the table as Dobby, the house elf, appeared to exist them in whatever they needed.

Alex ate in silence as she listened to the conversation around her. "So Draco, how is school?" Lucius asked, eyeing Alex across the table for a moment.

"Great. Potions is my favorite." He said.

Narcissa looked up at Alex. "And you, Alex? What's your favorite class?"

She glanced up, not expecting to be brought into the conversation. "Um, either transfiguration or charms." She answered.

She smiled at her. "That's great. Charms was always my favorite when I was in school."

Alex smiled slightly as she continued to eat her dinner. "How's Slytherin treating you, Draco?"

It was as if Lucius was trying to make her feel bad. Oddly, she didn't feel bad. Deep down she was glad she wasn't a Slytherin, glad there was at least one thing separating her from the rest of her family.

"Awesome." He said excitedly. "I love the common room. I think we're in the lead for having the most house points too and Gryffindor is in last. They're always getting in trouble with Snape."

Lucius nodded and Alex listened. She knew that he was referring to Harry mostly. The only reason he ever got in trouble was because Snape obviously had some sort of grudge against him.

She was silent most of the dinner, Lucius and Draco talked a lot. She didn't have anything to say, to any of them. Once they were all done eating Alex cleaned up the table and put the dishes in the sink.

-

She woke up the next morning, looking outside, it was snowing. She suddenly remembered Draco's offer, to go outside like they always did previous years. She got up and walked to his room, knocking before pushing the door open. He was sitting on his bed.

He looked stunned to see her standing there. "Alex?" He questioned.

She smiled at him. "Do you wanna go outside?" She asked.

He bit his lip. "I'm okay." He said. That shocked her, he was the one who suggested it in the first place.

"What?"

"I don't want to Alex."

It clicked. He was back to how he was acting at school. She already knew it was because of Lucius being upset with her and Draco had to follow him. She shook her head. "This isn't fair to me, Draco."

"What?" He asked, sitting up a bit more.

She sighed and took a deep breath in. "Do you wanna be around me or not? Because at school you act like I don't exist and yesterday you were all normal around me and now you're being weird again." She told him. "It isn't fair to me at all. I didn't do anything to you." He opened his mouth to speak, it seemed like he wanted to say something, but he didn't. She took his silence as an answer and shut his door, walking back to her room.

She had never stood up to Draco before but she had never been in a situation before where she felt like she needed to. He was always on her side, until now.

She plopped down onto her bed and let her head sink into the pillow. Her eyes became glossy with tears, she didn't dare to make a sound though. She didn't want to give Draco or even Lucius the satisfaction of making her cry.

She wanted everything to go back to normal. How it had been before they went to Hogwarts, before the sorting ceremony. When Draco was her best friend, and frankly her only friend. When he actually cared. She wanted it back.

authors note

i hope you enjoyed, it was kinda sad but whatever. we love the sadness.