alexis-cole-blog

[alexis-cole-blog]

Phantom Limb || Alex + Melanie

The hallways were quiet at this time of night, save for the slow dripping of water from the ceiling. It was strange, the emptiness – Alex could never get over how it made the world seem both smaller and infinitely more vast. Despite the odd contradiction, the silence made the stormy night less terrifying, less…lonely. Like the diary she’d nicked a couple weeks ago.

Alex wasn’t so nosy as to steal it on purpose – truly. Despite the girl's numerous, shall we say, more ambiguous tendencies, even she had her boundaries. Kind of. The prying was funny, at first, but as the pages went on, she’d found herself more and more uncomfortable with the whole ordeal. For one, she’d have been absolutely livid if someone had done that to her. Her feelings were hers – no one else’s to meddle with. It would’ve made her deeply uncomfortable if anyone, let alone a complete stranger, knew the inner workings of her every moment, every pain she’d ever experienced. But she kept reading, despite knowing how grossly she’d invaded someone’s privacy. The worst pit seemed to form in her chest every time she saw the girl in class, or even when she caught glimpses of her around the grounds.

Thunder crashed somewhere off in the distance, sending a chill up Alex’s spine. At least there hadn’t been any lighting. The Slytherin quickened her pace, feet moving almost frantically down the hallway. She only wanted to return her to her safe place, her bed.

And then – damn. A collision. She really should have looked around the corner this time.

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While she’d have thought the boy quirky before, rude was a word she’d now use to conceive him. He was certainly beginning to rub her the wrong way. “Yeah, I get paid,” she remarked, “and friends are overrated. You don’t exactly strike me as Mr.Popular, either, Malfoy.” Alex narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest in what could be seen as a defensive maneuver. She didn’t like friends, didn’t see the need for them, really. There were people she hated and people she enjoyed -- simple as that. Besides, she was more than content with her own company. What really made her happy, though, was the fact that she could cut ties whenever she wanted to, without pain or remorse. None of her was owned by anyone, and hopefully, it never would be.

“I choose the ‘or not’.” Scorpius replied dryly. It wasn’t true, of course. Four more than three years he had spent every night studying and doing homeworks too, working hard to improve. But things had changed, and admitting to that wasn’t easy. “I was not asking about the kids, though. But about you.” He leaned against the wall by the door, his eyes scanning the room for his book and forgotten ink vials. “Paid? Detention? Or just because you’ve got no friends?” He didn’t mean to imply Alexis had no friends, he simply said that this could be a reason, but the words were out and he was too lazy to call them back.

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"It’s medicinal,” Alex retorted, not appreciating the girl’s unsolicited remarks. “Apparently, I’ve been stuck down with a chronic case of unwanted, judgy outsiders -- diagnosed a few seconds ago, if you can hardly believe it.”

“Ah, I see,” Daniella said, suddenly recognizing the flask, “So that’s what we’re calling ‘water’ these days.”

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Everything the boy did seemed to irk Alex further. If she was bristling at the beginning, she now most likely resembled a full on porcupine. How could Kingsley care so little? And why had he even come in the first place? To make her life miserable was the only real answer she had.

The Slytherin took a deep breath, not allowing the boy to irritate her further. It would only make things worse if he knew he could get to her. “What’s on your syllabus for tonight?” She asked, voice steady. “It would make the most sense to start with that, unless you wanted to go over concepts, or review.”

Silver Spoon || Alex + Kingsley

At her scoff, Kennilworthy’s eyebrows arched up in amusement and smirked a bit, “Well we’ve got to start somewhere,” he said not even phased by the jab at him; used to insults. This had been his first true attempt at tutoring. In previous years, he never showed up or just paid the person off to do his homework or give him a cheat sheet to the test. Now, as pointed out by Alexis, this was entirely on him. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of him pouting. Instead, Kingsley leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest, “So. What are you waiting for?”

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“Interesting,” Alex murmured, shaking her head lightly. It was certainly a strange gift -- elaborate, but unconventional. Why anyone would be bent over the authenticity of a muggle replica was beyond her. “First off, what you need for the audio’s going to depend on whether you’re using actually film or not, as opposed to a disk. I don’t really know how you’re going to power it all without magic, but if using film as a medium, you’re probably going to want a system that mounts to the projector. You’re gonna need a few speakers for either.”

“Excellent!” Fred exclaimed enthusiastically. “Because I’m planning on turning one of the not used classroom into a muggle movie theatre. It’s a gift and I want it to be as muggle authentic as possible. So, no magic. Not too much at least.“ He grinned at Alexis. "I have the essential covered and I have no problem with the projector, but I can’t say the same about the audio system. What do I need?”

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“Understandable,” she replied, smiling lightly at him. Her own business was pretty small -- getting overrun with orders would probably be more overwhelming than profitable. Besides, the less students who knew about it, the smaller the chance of her getting caught. All in moderation, you know?

Fred’s question caught her by surprise, but then again, when didn’t the boy? He always seemed to be up to something new. “Fair amount,” Alex said, shrugging lightly. She’d hid out in theatres during her childhood years, befriending the people who’d worked in the booths. Setting up a film, she could do, but working the whole thing was a different question entirely. “Why?”

Fred thought about what Alexis was saying for a few moments before answering. “No, not really. We want to keep the group small. But the truth is I have yet to find someone with the right spirit and mind.” He shrugged, then he added joking “Maybe I’ll stay another year to be sure that my legacy is properly taken care of.” He chuckled shaking his head.

“About projections. What do you know about muggle movie theatres?”

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Shrugging, Alex turned back to the task at hand, tossing a glance at the other girl. Deftly, she slid her flask back into her sleeve, assuming the girl had occupied herself with other activities. Nothing like a little whiskey to make the night go smoother.

Daniella raised a matching eyebrow. “Doesn’t offend me at all,” she replied.

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Brown eyes darting upwards, Alex paused, realizing she’d mistaken the girl for one of her students. They looked nothing alike except for the hair, which, unfortunately, wasn’t an uncommon asset at this school. “Sorry,” the Slytherin muttered, looking away. With eyes locked over at the cauldron, she’d thought the girl had left when she muttered something about how the word “Weasley” didn’t narrow the search -- Hogwarts was overrun with them, anyway. What was one from another?

Beatrix had only been looking for someone, she hadn’t meant to interrupt what was either a tutoring session or a meth making lab. She didn’t mind that the other seemed to have mistaken her for another girl, but she was curious anyway. “Exam? You must have the wrong person, niña — i’m just looking for the Weasley girl.”

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The Slytherin snorted, unsure as to how to react to Scorpius’ words. On one hand, tutoring did sound fairly boring, but the kids she worked with really wanted to do better. If anything, she was doing a good thing. It didn’t matter why she did the job, for the money, really, but she did ultimately help the kids -- it was a win-win scenario.

“Yeah,” Alex replied, looking over at her student. The girl seemed to be doing a fairly good job getting everything done -- while her brew wasn’t perfect, it was more than acceptable. “Believe it or not, some kids want to work hard at trying to improve.”

“Tutoring.” he repeated, humming again. This time giving it less of an ambiguous notion and more of no notion at all. He acknowledged her words, that was all. When she kept explaining, though, he raised his eyebrows and let his eyes roam through the room. “Yes. Sound like synonyms to me.” 

He loved potions, and had never been bad at it, but in the last three years his grades had gone downhill, and he wondered if any of those poor unfortunate souls would one day be better than him. “Voluntarily?” he asked, saving himself the entire sentence.

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A little too thrilled that her pun had been received so successfully, Alex grinned, sprawling out further in her chair. “Had a hunch,” she remarked, amusement still lining her face.

Fred’s reaction didn’t come unanticipated — six students was a lot to work with every week. She didn’t mind the hours, really; free time usually ended up being wasted, anyway. It was in her nature to just go and keep going. “I guess work is fun enough,” she replied, shrugging, “and you know, young guns, mini Cooking Club protégées, and the like.”

Fred let out an amused giggle at Alexis’ pun. “Oh, you sneaky mind reader. How did you know about that one project about projections?” he asked faking a bewildered expression.

“Six? That sounds like a lot of work. Do you have time to have fun?” Fred asked with a joking tone. Then he tilted his head slightly from side to side as he answered Alexis’ question. “It depends on what do you mean with ‘under my wing’. I’m not tutoring anyone in school stuff, if that’s what you mean.”

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Scorpius had always been a little…hard to understand. While she’d had classes with the guy since since her first year, she didn’t feel like she knew him any better now than she did back then. It seemed to be something that happened when two recluses crossed paths -- they acknowledged each other, but never quite met.

“Ah,” Alex replied, turning to peer around the room. It wasn’t crowded — not that she ever thought it would be. Being a tutor certainly helped her find a variety of calm, accessible study spaces. Forehead crinkling at the boy’s comment, Alex shook her head. It was impossible to tell if he was being sarcastic or not. “I’m a potions tutor,” she explained, raising an incredulous brow. “Why? Do I give off the ‘tortures children in her free time’ kind of vibe?”

Scorpius hummed, something that could just as much mean ‘yes’ as it could be a ‘no’. He wasn’t particularly eager to discuss tests. He had already had troubles caring about it before it started, but now that it was over, he was more than glad not having to think about it anymore. “Ink and books. Someone used mine to study but didn’t tell me which classroom.” At the end of floor one, they had said. Yes, great, you could think some people still didn’t realise that rooms changed places here. “And you are … torturing little children?”

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“Pouring a glass of water?” The Slytherin replied, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

“Why? Does that offend you or something?”

“Hey—”

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Her tutoree was right on time, and sunshine-y as ever. She was one of Alex’s favorites, truly, respectful and easy to manage. While most kids had problems with the actual work involved in potion making, Ellee had trouble focusing on it; that was where Alex came in to provide some structure. Even now, she only needed to provide a few words before the girl began to work on her own.

“Hey, Malfoy,” the Slytherin greeted, surprised by the boy’s presence. She saw her housemate pretty often in class, but other than that, never knew quite where he went off to. Not that it mattered, anyway -- she wasn’t so nosy as to meddle in his personal affairs. “Glad to hear it, it was pretty rough from my end of things. What brings you to this part of the castle?”

Scorpius knocked because he had seen enough revolting things happening in seemingly empty classrooms, and today he simply wasn’t in a mood to run into any one fucking on top of the teacher’s desk. Before the door was entirely open, though, he heard a voice, and he paused. It was not too late yet to turn around and just leave. But the words didn’t sound like sounds of sexual activity. 

“I doubt you were talking to me, Cole,” he said  as he entered the room casually - as if he hadn’t just spent ten seconds discussing with himself if he should go in or run away, “but thank you, the exam went well.”

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Alex didn’t know how Fred did it, how he managed to stay so unruffled and all. From what she’d seen, the boy always seemed to be relaxing, or cracking jokes at people he barely knew. It was like nothing seemed to faze him. “Projects?” She repeated, raising an eyebrow, “got any...projections on those?” The opportunity for a pun was too good to resist, and she was always quite keen on Cooking Club ventures. Hopefully, Fred had something good up his sleeve.

“About six, at the moment,” she replied, “not that they all show up, though. What about you? Taken any more under kiddos your wing?”

“A lot of things on my agenda. And sitting around doing nothing, just relaxing, might be one of those things.” Fred chuckled softly as he answered Alexis’ question. “Jokes aside. I’m working on a few projects.” He nodded, not revealing yet what he was planning on doing.

Instead he asked “How many of those do you have?” he meant how many students she was tutoring. 

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She didn’t know where she wanted to go -- the Astronomy tower, maybe. Or not. What used to be her place of refuge had become a den for adolescent smooch-fests, gross and invasive to her privacy. It was only a matter of time before she’d have to find another spot. Right hand on the door frame, Alex whipped around, finding herself overtaken by the blonde. She had to admit, the girl was pretty fast for someone who’d been completely passed out seconds earlier. “Oh? I guess so,” Alex replied, not making a move to return the supplies. The look in the Ravenclaw’s eye seemed familiar, and the brunette’s own eyes narrowed. She really wasn’t feeling the whole pity thing. “Could’ve figured,” Alex stated, lighting a cigarette as she moved down the hall, “but I’m no psychiatrist. That’s all on you to figure out, princess.”

Falon chewed on her cheek, caught between relief at the girl’s departure and regret for the circumstances. She couldn’t seem to get past cutting people off violently and angrily, could she? She continued stuffing papers into her bag, not realising any were missing until blissful emptiness had fallen across the room again. “Dammit.” She muttered, already dropping her bag and rushing towards the door, glad to see the girl still there. “Hey - uh, you’ve still.” She pointed at the papers and swallowed. “Look, I’m sorry - I’m just, high-strung, I guess. Not good at people.”

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It wasn’t like she could’ve said no. “Equal opportunity,” or some shit like that. The clause wasn’t so noble as it was annoying -- basically, it meant that anyone, no matter how insufferable, got at least three tutoring sessions. She could only cut things off after that. If the professor realized she’d skimped, however, she’d be out of work in a heartbeat. So much for job security.

Such was what led to the issue at hand: Kennilsworth. For someone who’d asked her a big (yet somewhat obligatory) favor, Kingsley didn’t seem to care much about class, or her time, for that matter. He was probably used to everything being handed to him, anyway. “Ice water?” Alex scoffed, voice scathing, “might be a stretch with your skill set, don’t you think?”

The words were far harsher than what something she’d say to most students -- as a tutor, she was supposed to be encouraging. Alex just didn’t see a point in trying with someone who'd disrespect her and make absolutely no effort. It was a waste of both of their time. Leaning towards the boy, the Slytherin’s tone took a turn for the serious, brown eyes locking harshly with his. “Look, I don’t know what kind of dragon shit academics you’re used to, but if you think this arrangement is just going to be me doing your homework, you’re sadly mistaken. If you want to do better, that’s up to you -- I’m just here to help make things smoother.”

Silver Spoon || Alex + Kingsley

Studies was not one of Kennilworthy Skeeter-Kingsley’s top priorities. In fact, often times his schooling was never a priority. Although, after the attack during the New Year’s celebration, he knew he couldn’t be useless anymore. Kingsley knew he had to take one step at a time to make himself better. No matter how much he disliked the idea of it.

The first step: tutoring. And potions, of course. The damn class was too complicated for him to wrap his head around. And who better to ask than Alexis Cole. It was a large pill for him to ask her; and now, he wasn’t about to make it easy. He was late, of course, showing up with a careless expression.

“Actually,” Kingsley began, “The session can only begin once I’m here, so technically, I’m right on time,” he gave a small smirk. However, he rolled his eyes at the command, sitting down, “What will we make? Ice water?”

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Alex sensed the fear wafting off the other girl, backing off when she realized she’d been perceived as a threat. For some reason, the girl’s reaction stung, a little. Most of the time, she’d revel in the fear she could induce, now, on the other hand, she was just trying to be nice. Whatever. Maybe it was the green tie that had set the Ravenclaw off, or the piercings that studded her face. It definitely wasn’t the first time she’d given off that impression. “Suit yourself,” Alex replied, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. The snake wasn’t one to go out of her way for people, and this time was no different. She’d made it halfway out the door before she realized the Prefect’s papers were still in hand, but continued, not seeing a reason to make the added effort. Why waste her breath if she didn’t have to?

Falon watched the girl move, caution running through her already tense limbs. She blinked, forcing herself to breathe, before looking back up. “You’ll be out after curfew - so long as I don’t get caught until I’m back in the Ravenclaw patrol areas, I’ll be fine. Hell, I’ll be fine anyways.” She waved the girl off, shaking her head at her persistence. “Privileges of a prefect.” She scraped her chair backwards as she stood, the sound grating against her still reeling mind, and began gathering her parchments into a pile. “Seriously, forget about me.”