His threats of "When my father hears of this...", "My Father is on the Board of Governors, you will see..." and the accusations which went with them "This is all Longbottom's fault...", "Bloodtraitors, all of them..." didn't boost his reputation anymore and apart from Crabble and Goyle, every Slytherin was trying to ignore Malfoy this morning, except Pansy Parkinson and done or two Slytherins completely servile to the Malfoy family.
"POTTER!"
The shout was so loud all conversations between the students stopped immediately to see who had the bad manners to intervene like that at breakfast. They didn't have to wait long.
Alex Sykes and his two friends entered the hall, under the laughs and the applauds of the students. The three of them had apparently not been at the infirmary between the moment of their defeat and now. Indeed, the three fourth-years Ravenclaws had the appearance she had left them with after throwing at them her torrent of hexes. Before dozens of students, in full light, they looked absolutely hideous.
"GIVE ME BACK MY WAND POTTER!" Screamed Sykes, who sounded even more insane than yesterday, if that was possible.
She could not refrain herself to sigh.
"Why should I?" She politely asked. "You tried to murder me the day before Sykes. Why would I give you your wand when we both know the moment you have it back you will try to murder me again?"
The silent in the Great Hall was absolute, with only a few murmurs coming from some students.
"Why you little..." Snarled Sykes."I will ... I will..." The words were evidently failing him.
"Miss Potter, I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding between you and Mr Sykes," interrupted the soft, reasonable and venerable voice of Headmaster Dumbledore. The man, draped in flamboyant violet and gold shining robes, was showing to the world the very image of a noble Gandalf-like wizard, with the silver hair, beard and the pointed hat.
"If you give back their wand to Mister Sykes and his friends, I'm sure all will be forgiven."
For the first time, Alexandra watched the man in open disbelief. Surely the Headmaster of such a prestigious school like Hogwarts could not be that delusional, right? But as she watched the man smiled genially, she realised he really meant it. That left only two options. Either the man was really senile or he simply didn't care about the truth. In every case, he had no place being a Headmaster in a school of children.
She stood from her chair, and walked in direction of the Head Table. The Headmaster smile even got larger, until she reached Professor Flitwick.
"Miss Potter? What are you doing?" the voice of Albus Dumbledore asked her.
She withdrew the three wands she had taken from her opponents and gave them to her Head of House. The silence was total in the hall. No conversation, no whisper was coming from the students or the professors.
"Sykes tried to murder me with a Bombarda Maxima Professor," she told Flitwick, ignoring the Headmaster. She saw the tiny teacher paled at that. Several gasps were heard among the boys and girls assembled. "The others all used a lot of Bombardas and other potential lethal spells." The Potter Heiress continued.
"They were all prepared to murder me. Sykes shouted it loud and clear. You can check the wand with Priori Incantato, if you want."
Her Head of House simply nodded and by the murderous glare he sent to Sykes and his accomplices, he had a good idea what they had tried, and failed to attempt, contrary to Dumbledore.
Turning around, Alexandra marched outside the Hall in the same silence of death. Silence that was broken by Sykes, who shouted "This is not over Potter!"
Alexandra looked at him, and a quick glance at his eyes and his face saw only anger, hate and pure loathing. Whatever grief he had with Alexandra and House Potter before she arrived to school, his quest of vengeance was now over the limits of sanity. Sykes would not cease his efforts to kill her until she was dead and buried. He could not be reasoned. She left for the library, hoping against all hope Professor Flitwick would manage to convince the Headmaster to expulse the three teenagers from Hogwarts or at least Alex Sykes. If not, she had the sad certainty at least one Ravenclaw was going to perish before the end of the year. And if someone had to die, Alexandra intended firmly not to be the one to leave this world.
8 October 1991, Hogwarts, Scotland
It was well beyond curfew when the two figures shrouded in dark robes met in a long abandoned section of the fourth floor.
"Well?"
"I have managed to gain a troll for the diversion." Said a cold, sinister voice which had nothing pleasant. "Have you managed to disable the wards of the corridor?"
"This ward-breaker stone will do the job." Replied the second figure, handing an unremarkable box to his interlocutor.
"Excellent. Now we have only to decide the moment to strike."
"What about Halloween? All the students are gathered in the same place, it will be easy to make the Muggle-lover and his followers panic."
"Agreed. Halloween it is."
Strangely, Alexandra had not been surprised when Alex Sykes escaped once more the expulsion he so richly deserved. Five months ago she would have been, but the knowledge Professor Dumbledore had never expulsed someone from Hogwarts had reduced this hope to a utopia status. Oh, the fourth-year Ravenclaw and his two accomplices had been summoned to the Headmaster office and earned six months of detention, with the removal of every existing privilege until the end of their scholarship at Hogwarts, but truthfully, Alexandra did not believe it would be much a deterrent for a teenager ready to kill a girl three younger than him in cold blood. They had already lost a lot of privileges on the first day, and it had not stopped them to try again. Threats of being expulsed aside, there was a good chance they would make a third attempt. Still, a month has passed, and she had not been the recipient of another attack. Maybe the Ravenclaw students had learned some wisdom. There were far unlikely things having happened during the history of humanity after all.
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