This was written for the Start and Stop Challenge.


For a price, my dear, for a price echoed in her head as she stood face to face with the Lestranges, Frank at her side. Their wands were drawn, as were the battle lines, and though she knew she and Frank were damn good aurors, there were still four Death Eaters against only two of them. She couldn't help but think she and Frank weren't going to make it out alive and knew she only had herself to blame. She did this to Frank; she sentenced them both to death and didn't even know it. He didn't know that she wasn't the Alice that he fell in love with or the Alice he thought he was marrying. He didn't know that she had been cheating on him with Sirius Black, of all people.

If he knew, he would be devastated and the last thing Alice ever wanted was to hurt Frank. Alice loved Frank Longbottom and could honestly seem them having a future, which is why she married him and why she had his baby. She was happy with Frank. But sometimes she was happier with Sirius. She loved Frank Longbottom but she was in love with Sirius Black, and how that happened she still can't fathom. The two men couldn't be more different. She could never see Sirius settling down and she wanted kids, so she chose Frank. But she didn't really choose did she? She was still having her cake and eating it too.

She made a deal with Bellatrix Lestrange to spare her lover Sirius, inadvertently putting her husband and herself in the line of fire. She should've seen this coming and she would have if she hadn't of been so distracted. Trusting Bellatrix Lestrange was beyond mad. As she and Frank stood before four Death Eaters, wandless, and facing certain death, she felt regret tug at her heart. She thought of her little boy, her little Neville, and how he'd grow up without her. It broke her heart and though she knew it was close to futile, she fought with everything in her until she couldn't fight anymore. She knew Frank did too.

Faintly, in the very back of her mind, she heard Bellatrix's voice. It was the last conscious thought she had.

"Spare my filthy blood traitor of a cousin? Oh, I'll spare him but it'll cost you. You understand, of course? Everything in life comes for a price."