FicWad

The next morning, Alex was reluctant to get out of her nice warm bed.
“Alex! Don’t make me get Sirius!”
Alex screamed and jumped out of bed, rushing to get ready. After all, Sirius had to a tendency to not be very kind when he was attempting to wake his fellow Gryffindors and Alex was in no mood to handle an over-excited mutt.
All of the 5th year Gryffindors met in the common room and walked down to the great hall for breakfast together. When they were all seated with food, Alex groaned.
“I just realized how tough this year is going to be!”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’ll have O.W.L.S, Quidditch, I’ll be Quidditch captain, regular homework, my training in the lake, and…” Alex quickly bit her tongue as she was about to mention her research, but James noticed.
“And what?”
“And babysitting you lot!”
James looked insulted and Alex laughed, ruffling his hair as the students new schedules were passed out.
“Okay, so this term I’ve got Charms, then Transfiguration, Free Period, DADA, Lunch, Potions, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures. How ‘bout you lot?”
“Same, so I guess we’ll get to stick together.” Alex smiled, laughing at James’s slightly worried expression.
“Aw, come on, you’ve dealt with me for one year, I think you can last a few more.”
James shrugged and continued to eat his breakfast, forcing Alex to realize that it wasn’t her that had him worried.
“James, what’s wrong? What’s eating at you?”
James looked up in surprise, but shook his head. “It’s nothing, don’t worry sis.”
“James Potter, you either tell me what your problem is this instant or I will pick it out of your brain.”
James shook his head yet again and Alex sighed before closing her eyes and forcing her thoughts into James’ mind, searching quickly for the answer she wanted. When she found it she retracted her thoughts and opened her eyes.
“James,” Alex began, placing her cold hand over his warm one, “Mum and Da will be fine, and you don’t need to worry about them. Besides, with us at Hogwarts they won’t have to worry about trying to protect us, and they’ll be safer. It will all be fine, I promise.”
“How did you know?”
“I told you I would pick it out of your head. I looked through your thoughts.”
James gaped in disbelief. “But, how? I’ve never met anyone who could do that besides McGonagall and Dumbledore.”
Alex shrugged. “I don’t know, it just sort of happens. I don’t always mean to. Sorry.”
“It’s fine, you did warn me. Besides, I expect oddities from you by now.”
“True, I am quite odd, I suppose.”
“You’ve got that right.” James muttered, prompting a smack from Alex.
Alex saw Dumbledore leaving the table and stood up abruptly. “I’ll meet up with y’all later, I have to take care of a couple of things.”
“Oh. Well, okay, if you want help we could help you...”
“No! I’ll be fine. I’ll find you when I’m done.”
Alex skipped off and headed straight to Dumbledore’s office, entering his office after knocking quietly. “I want to join the Order of the Phoenix.”
Dumbledore looked up in surprise, but Alex spoke before he could. “Wait, let me explain. I know you think I’m too young to join, but I’m already going to end up fighting whether you like it or not, and the sooner I start learning the better.”
“That may be true, however...”
“I’m not done! I’ll train however much you want, and I’ll follow all my orders. I have to fight. I need to do more to protect them than sit around in an old classroom and hope. I have to do something so that I don’t lose it!”
Dumbledore froze and considered the girl in front of him more fully. She looked desperate, frantic, and he couldn’t say no to her.
“Fine. I’ll let you in. I’m not saying you’ll get sent on missions until you’re a bit older but you can come to the meetings and train.”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!” Alex squealed, running to hug Dumbledore warmly.
“Yes, yes. Now, we’ll start your training sometime next week, so for now enjoy your day.” Dumbledore smiled as he patted her hair.
Alex pulled away and smiled brightly before bolting out the door, leaving a bemused Dumbledore behind her.
Alex pulled the map out of her pocket as she ran from Dumbledore’s office, spotting her friends down by their willow. She pocketed the map once more and sprinted down to the lake as quickly as she could.
“I’m done! What have you lot been up to?”
“We were just trying to figure that out.” James smiled, scooting over so that Alex could sit directly between him and Remus.
“Any suggestions Blondie?” Sirius asked with a smirk.
“I’m good with just about anything mutt.”
“Well, why don’t we just stay here and relax, we won’t get a lot of chances for that once classes start.” Remus suggested, and James nodded.
“Sounds good to me, unless anyone objects?”
Everyone shook their head so Alex shifted to make herself more comfortable, leaning against Remus and putting her legs in James’s lap. Sirius stretched out in the sun and James pulled out his snitch, tossing it in the air and catching it whenever it started to go too far.
“James, why do you always have that snitch with you?”
The boys all shared a look before James responded. “Well, it’s kind of a long story.”
“Go ahead, we’ve got time.”
James sighed. “Well, basically, it all started as a prank, Sirius and I wanted to release all the Quidditch balls throughout the school, so we had stolen the keys to the equipment shed from the captain, and went down to the pitch at midnight to steal the trunk.”
“Of course you did. Was Bell mad?”
“Furious. Anyway, we didn’t realize that snitches have this weird thing about them.”
“Flesh memories, right? That’s why we wear gloves during matches.”
“Right. You’re a seeker. Forgot about that. Anyway, I didn’t know that, and wound up grabbing the snitch with my bare hands. It followed me around all day and I had no idea why.”
Remus chuckled. “They didn’t know what they’d done wrong until I finally told him what had happened.”
“So does it follow you around now?”
James nodded. “So I keep it closed in my pocket until I need something to do with my hands, and then I pull it out. It helps me think and it distracts me from problems.”
Alex smiled thoughtfully and played with her necklace. “That’s like this I guess. Whenever I can’t concentrate, I play with and then I have better focus. I never take it off.”
James reached out and grabbed the charm out of her hand so he could look at it more clearly. It was a small howling wolf on a delicate silver chain, and it made James smile.
“It suits you perfectly. It seems like it was made just for you.”
Alex smiled again and stretched luxuriously in the sun. “You know, this is the most relaxing day we’ve had in ages. We never stop causing trouble.”