Final Disclaimer: I don't own anything that obviously belongs to JK Rowling; Alice and this story belong to me, however.

Since I decided to polish up the first story, I figured the only thing left on the list was to get back to this one. The first had a lot of hits so I'm hoping there's still people out there willing to read this one. Sorry for the seriously long update. Don't forget to R&R, it would be appreciated! Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Chapter 1

Picking Up the Pieces

It's been a year. One whole year of holding her chin up in the face of her extended family. Alice was stronger than most people gave her credit for. She had singlehandedly tied down the most eligible bachelor in Hogwarts for a complete year without having to give up anything important. On that note, she had even managed to shut down one of the most snobbish boys ever to wander across her path. Ever since that crushing Christmas Break last year, James had lost a bit of himself in the quarrel. Alice admitted that she felt responsible for his lack of-well, his lack of 'James'-ness-if that made any sort of sense. He wasn't as peppy or eager as he usually was around his friends. His family was another story. Around them, Alice politely ignored him and he followed her example to a 'T'. No one really noticed, except Lily, who constantly bugged Alice about apologizing. She said that James was hurting bad since then. He only kept up appearances because he knew their parents would sense something was amiss and approach the ordeal in order to fix the problem. Alice snubbed Lily on every occasion that this happened to be the topic of discussion.

James Potter. The sound of his name reverberated in her mind like an obnoxious echo. Why should she apologize? He had humiliated her, made her look like some common girl when they had history, and proceeded to act as though nothing had happened afterwards. The gall of some people! She had spared him his dignity, had she not? It was more merciful than he had done her. She was right in her resolve to kick him out of her life. Besides, what's one girl compared to the entire grounds of Hogwarts wanting to be him or be with him? The way Alice saw it, he was even more popular now with Zachariah out of the game.

At least he still has his smarmy reputation. Alice thought as she slipped into her fourth year robes. She and Lily had gotten into it again for the seventh time since boarding the Hogwarts express. It was really a pain to be around her when she decided to squirm into her self-righteous knickers. Alice reprimanded herself for not joining An in one of the Slytherin compartments, at least there she wouldn't be hassled for her treatment towards James.

"You done in there? Rose and Roxy need to get in, the trolley is coming around for last calls." Lily called out loudly, banging on the compartment door until Alice opened it. An irritated Lily pushed past Alice, followed by a disgruntled Roxanne and Rose. Neither of them really took sides but they hated getting caught up in all of the fighting. Besides, the onetime Rose tried to put her two cents in, Lily about round-housed her in the jaw for taking a side. She even tried playing the 'related by blood' card on her but to no avail. Rose retreated and never came back. She had not spoken to them for a solid five days.

"Sorry for the hold up." Alice said pointedly to Roxy and Rose.

"No big deal, I just want some Bertie's." Rose shrugged and took a handful of her money from the pocket of her satchel. Roxanne held her little coin purse in hand and asked if either Lily or Alice would like to go. Alice was the first to volunteer and Lily grunted, turning towards the window.

"If I have to hear that all year, I'm taking this to the Headmaster." Rose sighed in aggravation as they shuffled down the aisle to the cart. The plump little woman was already busy serving some boys by their compartment, one of them with a bright violet shade of hair.

"Is that Teddy?" Roxanne dismissed Rose's comment, pointing to the boy now offering the little woman a chocolate from an ornately decorated box. She appeared suspicious of its contents despite his many appraisals for the little morsels.

"Aw, come on! They're great, really." Teddy was doing his best to swindle the little woman but she wasn't having any of it.

"Oh really? Why not tell us which one is your favorite, eh Teddy?" Rose smiled at the little woman and ordered a box of Bertie's beans. Obliging kindly, they exchanged money for the beans and Teddy just gave up.

"You always ruin my fun!"

"A laugh at the expense of others' humiliation is something I hardly call fun. You should ask James about that some day." Rose replied stiffly, flicking Teddy's shoulder as she passed.

"Ugh, my family is so dull!" Teddy threw his arms, and the box, into the air. In seconds, everyone within the area was showered with a spray of chocolates.

"No, Teddy, you're just too extreme." Someone laughed.

Alice felt her chest tighten. She knew that laugh, and no matter how many times she tried to forget that voice, she could always peg it anywhere at any time. Just as she suspected, James emerged from the cart to inspect the damage. His eyes, once they found her, glazed over and his expression faded. Blank, like an untouched piece of papyrus.

"None of you know how to feed my aching curiosity for all things prank-wise! This is why I need to be around people more like me." Teddy grumbled as he set to work on cleaning up the little chunks of ruined chocolates.

"Please, there's no one else quite on your level." Roxanne laughed, helping him to fix his mess. He gave her a shove on the shoulder, which knocked her off her balance and then they both laughed. Rose stood idly by, reading the flavors on the back of the box while Alice continued to try and ignore the fact that James was staring at her. Or, was staring at her before he realized again that she hated him.

Hates too strong a word. She thought to herself. In truth, Alice hated no one but the people who really made her life miserable. Like, professors when they decided to pass out homework and assign ten page essays due the very next day of class.

"Hey Roxy, I'm heading back to the compartment." Alice watched her friend squish a chocolate in Teddy's face. So much for cleaning up.

"Okay!" She called back.

"I'll stick around." Rose finally opened her box of beans and rummaged around inside to find the right one she was looking for.

"Alright." Alice had an idea that this was their way of allowing her and Lily the time they needed to make up for the previous argument. Dreading the entire conversation that waited ahead, Alice half sulked and half moped on her way back to the compartment. Thankfully, when she got there, it wasn't as empty as she thought it would be. Inside sat Lily with the a shaggy-haired youth she recognized from last year. He had come around a few times during the summer whenever Alice was present at the Burrow and he had become quite good friends with everyone. Especially Lily.

"Am I interrupting anything?" Alice slid the door open a peep, surprising the both of them and catching the blush on Lily's face. So, she wasn't mad anymore. At least not with Shayne around.

"Nah, absoluteleh' nuthin go'n here." Shayne threw his hands up into the air donning an innocent grin. His Irish charm was one of the reasons Lily had fallen for him, or so Alice suspected. Seeing how Lily changed in front of him, it would be a shame to bring up their argument again and so she decided to save it for later.

"So Shayne, I'm guessing by your presence here that your parents decided to let you back to Hogwarts."

"They did. And yers as well?" He threw his arm around Lily, pulling her into his side and kicking his feet up onto the other seat.

"My dad says they've got a whole unit of Auror's on the grounds patrolling daily." In previous times, this had not been the case for nearly 19 years. However, the entire Wizarding population knew about the Incubus attacks, which had totaled to six killings all year after the first missing Witch was found. Extra precautions were being taken this year since the investigation was still going.

"Dad says they haven't got any leads. The whole department is in an uproar because of it." Lily added.

"I suspect their only option is to continue preparing us while we're here since the grounds is where it's been happening most." Except for the one. There had been an attack during Alice's school shopping in Diagon Alley. Some poor, unknown first year Witch was found face down in an old beat up alleyway. They say she was drained and her heart was missing, just like all of the previous ones before her. Some people dismissed it as a murderer, a psychopath on the loose, but these girls were sucked dry of blood. There were no signs of lacerations or magical properties left behind. Uncle Harry would not mention the worst part in front of Alice, Lily, Rose, or Roxanne, but there was always something else about the deaths that made them sure it was an Incubi.

"That's the only way to go. They have no leads on who it could it possibly be. I suppose this thing leaves behind no traces of actual DNA, or at least, that's what the Muggle world was saying when those two girls showed up in the same condition. I remember dad coming home with every newspaper he could find that had an exhibition written about the investigation." Lily would know all there is to know about the whole thing, despite her dad telling her to keep quiet about everything.

"Sounds a bit more dangerous than they're letting on." Alice commented, distracted by the changing color of her nails. She and Lily had spent last night painting them while the boys sat around nagging them about their girlish obsessions. James was nowhere around last night, Alice noted. He was either locked up in his room or working on his Quidditch skills. He would be Captain this year since Tuckett was through with schooling after last year. Naturally, everyone was proud of him. Even Alice, but just a little bit.

"I think they can 'andle it!" Shayne spurred excitedly. He was certainly chipper this afternoon.

"Yeah." Alice rested her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes. She wanted to be there already, to watch the sorting and eat as much food as she could possibly stuff herself with. Then she would be able to spend some quality time with Zachariah. That, at least, would take her mind off of the replaying image of James stuck in her head. His misery and unhappiness in that single expression hit her like a sack of enchanted bricks. She wasn't made out for the cut-throat type of life that kicking someone important out of your life stood for. If anything that Lily said today was true, then Alice needed to apologize and mend their friendship. If not for herself but at least for him, because in reality, she missed his company more than she ever thought she would have.