To say that Alexandra's summer was a dull one would be an understandable. Before, she could occasionally go down to the village with Edna accompanying her, but this year she wasn't really allowed to leave the house and go further than the yard.

     Although Alexandra was glad that their backyard was big enough to lay under the trees' shadows and read a book while enjoying the cool summer breeze. She would just lay on her stomach with her new book open before her, often humming a song under her breath.

     The only thing Alexandra liked about her grandfather's house was his enormous library, which was filled with shelf after shelf full of different books that she had yet to read. There were enough books to even satisfy her wildest dreams. That was her wonderland.

     Although now that she had no studying to do over summer, Alexandra often found her mind wandering off to all the questions that had been bothering her for months now; why were her parents killed? Why did her grandfather hide their murder from her? What did the Dark Lord want with her and how was it related to her parents, like Regulus had told her?

      Over those few weeks that had passed in summer, Alexandra barely saw her grandfather. He was usually never home, leaving Edna in charge, not even bothering to tell them where he was going. And when he was at home, he would shut himself up in his office, only coming out and joining Alexandra in the dining room for meal times.

      Whenever he wasn't home, Alexandra had this urge to just run down to the village for a change, but she couldn't allow herself to do so. Because Mr. Starling had given Edna straight orders to keep Alexandra inside, and if she secretly went out, her grandfather would blame Edna.

      It was just like any other day as Alexandra was in the yard that morning, reading her book's last few chapters while leaning against the tree trunk. But then her attention was caught when she saw an owl flying toward her from the distance in the sky above.

     At first her stomach lurched excitedly, thinking that Mike had sent her yet another letter, which always cheered her up to read his silly jokes. But then her heart sank when the owl dropped the letter onto her lap and she realized it was her O.W.Ls results. She had completely forgotten about them.

      So after a moment of hesitation due to the surprise, Alexandra quickly opened the envelope up and took out the piece of paper inside it, reading through with her heart throbbing in her chest.

Ordinary Wizarding Level Results

Alexandra Sonia Starling has achieved:

Astronomy A
Care of Magical Creatures O
Charms E
Defense Against the Dark Arts A
Divination A
Herbology E
History of Magic A
Potions P
Transfiguration E

     As she had already predicted, Alexandra had failed Potions, seeing as she had gotten 'poor'. But to look at the bright side, she no longer had to take Potions classes with Professor Slughorn, which was a big relief. Not that he would even notice her absence, because he never even knew her properly and called her by a wrong name each time.

      But Alexandra beamed at the 'Outstanding' she had gotten in Care of Magical Creatures, as she knew she would. The rest wasn't too bad either seeing as she hadn't failed them, which meant that it was good enough for her.

     Alexandra had taken her middle name 'Sonia' after her grandmother, though she had died long before Alexandra was even born. She never really heard her grandfather talk about her, and all she knew of her was that they shared the same name. Alexandra liked the name 'Sonia' because it meant 'wisdom' and made her feel connected to her House even more.

      So closing her book, Alexandra got to her feet and ran back inside with her letter in her hand to show her results to Edna. Alexandra knew that even if she had failed every single one of her exams, Edna would still congratulate her and tell her well done for at least trying.

     "Edna?" Alexandra called out as she went back inside the enormous house, but as always its large halls were quiet and she heard to reply.

     She called the half-elf once more, but got no response. This usually meant that Edna had either gone down to the village to buy something or was resting upstairs in her little bedroom, which was actually a storage room in which there was only a bed where she slept.

     So Alexandra made her way upstairs to check if Edna was in her room, but as she was making her way down the corridor on the second floor, she passed her grandfather's office and realized that it was surprisingly half-open, unlike all the times when it was kept locked. He had forgotten to lock it up today.

      Alexandra shook her head and started to walk past it, but then she came to a stop and hesitated. With her heart pounding, she threw a small glance behind her shoulder at the office, her curiosity surging.

      She had never went inside her grandfather's office in all the fifteen years that she had lived there. But this was more than a mere curiosity of knowing what the office looked like. This was about the answers she was longing for. Answers that might've been locked up in there, waiting for her to be sought and found.

      So with one last deep breath, Alexandra turned on her heels and stepped toward the room, unaware of what dark secrets were awaiting her inside there, longing to be revealed.