Alexandra had been really busy for the rest of October: making sure she was in the top five best of her year academically, doing all her homework in time and exploring the castle were time-expensive hobbies. All the while the black-haired Ravenclaw tried to find a tactic to beat Flitwick in duel, without success. The rest of her spare time was spent petting Atalanta in the owlery, because for some reason her owl seemed disgruntled she had so few letters to carry and the only bribery accepted were owl treats and caresses. Thankfully, the month of October had seen a calmer atmosphere than September: apart from the now traditional spats between Malfoy and Longbottom, there had been no major incident of note. The fifth-year and seventh-year students were busy studying for their exams of the end of the year, crumbling under piles of book and looking like nocturnal animals. The Quidditch teams were training three times per week no matter if it rained or it snowed, and were as a result too exhausted the day after to do anything else of note. Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses had managed to cease to be in the negative points for the House Cup, although their chances to win it were definitely slim with Ravenclaws having a three hundred points' advantage. In the courses, the first-years had mastered the basics of each subject and were now advancing towards more advanced magic. In Transfiguration, they were changing metallic fork and knives into wood utensils. Charms taught them basic cleaning spells and methods to prepare properly ink and quills. The Potions were progressively harder and took longer to brew.
Today marked the moment she had been at Hogwarts for two months. While the magical castle felt more like home than the fourth of Privet Drive ever did, it was far to say she was in ecstasy concerning her school, or that she would pass her holidays here if she had another choice. Alas, the sole and only alternative was the Dursley family, of course. For the best or the worst, Alexandra's fate was linked to Hogwarts for the foreseeable future.
The present day was Halloween morning, and a delicious smell of pumpkin and other delicious meals floated in the corridors when they marched in the corridors for breakfast in the morning. At first, she had been surprised to see wizards celebrated a non-magical feast. Listening a red-haired Prefect pompously qualifying it as a Muggle-attraction had made her more curious and she had introduced enquiries on the subject in her last duelling lesson between two rounds where Flitwick sent her at every corner of the room with a disconcerting facility.
"The wizards celebrate Samhain and other important moments of the years like the equinoxes, Miss Potter. When they are following the Old traditions. Those witches and wizards practising call them the Old Ways." Flitwick's smile had turned to a more sombre expression."Alas, Headmaster Dumbledore had refused to celebrate these traditions since he was elevated to the position of Headmaster. The Headmaster has been very firm on his positions, and so there is a Halloween feast instead."
Seeing the disgusting looks the Slytherins threw all day at the orange decorations, she had not a hard time to wonder why. Halloween was a non-magical event which had been created in America as far as she knew: for purebloods to assist to this explosion of pumpkin, black and orange, it had to be a humiliation of the highest order. Promising to look in the books of the library for more information about the traditions, she walked to Charms class, where Professor Flitwick informed the Ravenclaws and the Gryffindors they were finally ready to try the art of levitation.
In his usual demonstration coming for each practical lesson, Flitwick levitated Nigel's toad, several books, ink pots and quills together, which made all the class even more motivated to attempt the spell.
The Charms Master put the class into pairs. As there were eleven Gryffindors and eleven Ravenclaws, a Raven had to be paired with a Lion. It was Alexandra as usual who drew the short straw, being paired with Nigel Wolpert, who was shaking from head to toe. She wondered briefly if it was because his toad had just been levitated or because of her own presence next to him. The second assassination attempt on her had seen a resurgence of the rumours describing her as a Dark Lady, but the timidity of the auburn-haired Gryffindor had reached the status of legend so Alexandra couldn't dismiss any option.
On the other side of the room Neville Longbottom was paired like in all classes with Leo Black. Seamus Finnegan was paired with Dean Thomas. Ron Weasley was paired with Hermione Granger. Parvati Patil with Lisa Turpin. And so on.
"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practising!" Chirmed Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his impressive pile of books. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too – never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."
Alexandra laughed at this anecdote like a good part of the class. Having a buffalo suddenly appear from nowhere had to be a surprise of the highest order. Well, for a few seconds. The weight of an adult buffalo was such Alexandra was sure the unfortunate wizard had been crushed in relatively short order. She was not sure becoming famous for this mishap was something to look for, but Baruffio's disaster at least proved the lethality of magic when you ignored or didn't know the rules.
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