Hi All! So this is a story that has been in my head for quite sometime. It is slightly AU and follows two characters we barely hear much about. However I love the idea of this pairing and hope that you all enjoy the development of their relationship. It's sure to be an interesting ride.

Please send me some reviews at the end as they are motivational and also let me know if I should continue or not. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this wonderful universe of Potter. All rights belong to JKR and her brilliance.

Prologue

"But Muummmm!" I whined, tailing behind the heavyset brunette woman as she placed the fine china out in the dining hall, "he hates me and teases me and he smells like the inside of a leather shoe!"

At this my Mother choked back a very loud laugh and paused in her tracks while she held a set of goblets in her hand, " A leather shoe? Really Alicia, I'd expect a little bit more maturity on your part. You are eleven years old not five." I snorted while she placed the goblets down on the table.

" But I don't want to play with him! " I figured my whining had to eventually strike up enough of a stink for my mum just had to see the light, "I promise I'll be good for a month and I wont touch yours or daddy's wand or play in the ballroom or even try to see how many hairclips I can fit in the toilet!" It was becoming a desperate plea.

"You will take young Warrington out to the stables and entertain him while we have a little adult business time." Her eyebrows went up as if I should challenge her.

Rats! There was definitely no winning this battle.

"Fine." I curled my lip, stomped my foot ever so slightly, and marched out of the room with my hands firmly on my hips. I could hear my mother giggling behind me.

It wasn't that I couldn't be a gracious host. Really I could be. I had played tea party plenty of times with my elder sister Emilia. I knew how to be polite and how to properly address guests when they arrived. I'd been taught all this since I had learned how to walk and talk. As a Spinnet it was essential that I learned these things. No, it wasn't that we were filthy rich like some of the other Pureblood families; actually we had been struggling with our finances for a really long time. I never really understood the chatter between my parents, but I knew it was something along the lines of failing investments and the fact that my Father was losing his job. Yet we all quickly learned keeping up the façade of having money was equally as important as having it. The last three years had been the hardest with my parents having to sell family heirlooms, designer robes and even my toys.

I really hated selling my toys.

But my Father was clinging onto his investments and we needed incoming business, or so I overheard my mother say once or twice in passing.

Whatever that meant.

All I knew was that every two weeks some stupid family came by and I had to entertain their stupid kids while the adults talked business. Lucky me.

And luckily enough for me my favorite family was on their way to my house with their annoying pompous prat of a son. I didn't realize I'd been stomping all the way to the main hall until I accidentally stepped on the cats tail.

"Oh sorry Jasper!" I spun in a circle and watched the orange ball of fur take off down the hall.

"Alicia," I turned to see my sister coming down the main staircase, "Mum asked me earlier to get you ready for tonight. Here," she held out a silk lilac dress, " this is the nicest one you still have and I don't believe the Warrington's have seen you in it."

I batted the dress away from my chin as she tried to hold it up against me, "Aw, come on. " I looked down at the yellow cotton sundress I had on, "Why can't I just wear this?" I held out my arms and looked down at my outfit.

"Because," she yanked me by the hand and began pulling me up the stairs, "Daddy is trying to make money not lose it." She snorted at her own joke. I really hated her sometimes. "Besides you look an absolute mess. Your hair needs to be done and I need to make sure you don't get into my makeup again like last time."

Hmm, fair enough. Last time we had guests over I had tried to be a little too mature for the liking. I came down the stairs looking like a rainbow threw up on me. Explaining that one to the Montague's had proven to be quite interesting. It was a good thing my Father was an expert liar.

I let my sister drag me into her bedroom where she proceeded to strip me down, yank at my hair and rub perfume along my wrists and neck. I know this is normal girl routine stuff, but I really truly hate it. It's not like I wanted to impress the Warrington family so why did I have to get all dolled up for them. It seemed rather pointless.

"Your hair is a nest. What have you been doing all day?" Emilia tugged a comb through my hair and I yelped.

"Went out chasing dragonflies." I yelped again as she tugged loose a knot. "Do you have to be so rough?"

She snorted, "Well maybe if you didn't act like a hippogriff frolicking in the forest I wouldn't have to scrape you clean every time."

It went back and forth like that for another twenty minutes, Emilia telling me to grow up while she powdered my face with makeup while I told her to go kiss a toilet seat. Honestly we probably could have spent the remainder of the evening going back and forth with each other but my mum had suddenly rushed in the room ushering us down the stairs to greet our guests.

The Warrington family came from old blood, old money. So when Alastair Warrington stepped into our main hall with his wife Cassandra I could immediately see both my parents shrink in size. Yeah, our family had been well off for a while now, but it did not go as far back as the Warrington family.

"Cassandra, Alastair…" I watched my mum hurry across the floor and humbly greet the pair as they walked in.

My father followed and kissed Lady Warrington on the cheek before taking Alastair's hand and shaking it firmly. I on the other hand tried to look in between the adults for the disaster that was about to follow.

The sudden shock on my backside had me shriek out in pain causing all four adults, and my sister, to look over. My mother shot me a look that told me to behave while the Warrington's merely followed my father as he began ushering them into the dining hall where they would be conducting their business.

"Don't be such a baby, Alicia." Emilia shot me one of her own looks before following the adults seeing as she had just turned 17 last month. Damn her being of age.

"Hey Spin-wad…" and there he was, Cassius Warrington, standing behind me with that devilish evil grin plastered to his stupid face. How he got behind me without me noticing I'll never know. "You seem shocked to see me here." He laughed his usual weasel like laugh.

I stormed across the hall and stood in front of him, looking down slightly into his pointed features. He may have been a self-absorbed incorrigible prat, but I had the high ground… I was taller.

"How did you do that you slug?" I rubbed at the spot he hit.

With a smirk he pulled a toy wand out of his back pocket and twirled it in his fingers, "Figured out how to do some simple stuff with it ever since I got my letter two weeks ago. Wanted to have a head start before we start school next week."

I snarled, "Well since that will probably be the only spell you are likely to learn I suppose the Ministry wont bust you for underage magic use."

"Touchy touchy…come now, it's only a toy wand, and something I picked up while out shopping." He pointed it at me again and I braced myself. He merely laughed. "You are such a priss, Spinnet. "

"And you are an arrogant toad."

I turned on my mini heels and began walking away. Actually I picked up a nice little jog and headed out the back door towards the stables. Oh yeah, score a point for me. Run away and let him think he got the best of you. I really needed to start working on standing up for myself better.

As I reached my pony Bionka, a beautiful white purebred pony that I loved dearly, I heard his hurried footsteps behind me and braced myself for another shock. It never came thankfully.

"You think you are so superior with your prissy little clothes and your smart comebacks…well here's a newsflash Spinnet…they only let real Purebloods into Slytherin."

Ok, that caught me off guard. I nearly collided with a stack of hay as I came to a halt and spun to look at him. "And WHAT is that supposed to mean, pig?" I leaned forward to get in his face.

I hated how he leaned back against the stable wall and looked at me; the way he brought that pompous smirk to his face and folded his arms, "I'm saying that you and your family can play Pureblood royalty all you want, but we all know the truth… we all know that you don't deserve the honor of being in Slytherin."

I felt the tears well up in my eyes, "My entire family was in Slytherin…my sister is in Slytherin right now." I defended, although defending myself against Warrington usually ended with me crying anyway.

He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, "Your sister is a joke in that house. I hear the stories from the other families…how she tries so hard to fit in… to make herself a name… it's pathetic."

I felt the rage burning up inside me, tears stinging the corners of my eyes while he talked about my family. "Shut it Warrington…" I turned back to Bionka and began brushing her mane; I tried to do whatever I could to take my mind off the hurtful things he was saying. This had gone far beyond the teasing he usually gave me.

This just seemed downright mean.

What a jerk.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw him hold up his hands and heard him laugh. Merlin, I hated that laugh. "Well well well now… " He laughed again, "maybe you do have a little fire in you after all. Maybe you wont be such a pathetic Slytherin. Maybe you could actually prove something of yourself and the rest of your filthy lot."

I could have been a lady about it. I could have done a lot of things. But there he was insulting my family like he was some gift to the wizard race.

Without thinking of the consequences, or what it would mean for the rest of the years we were in school together, I lunged forward and ripped the stupid makeshift toy wand from his hands. Spinning the wand in my hand I pointed it at him, a bit awkwardly too because my parents had always been extremely certain to keep me away from such items. If I was ever caught holding their wands before I obtained my owned I probably would have been punished for the rest of my adolescent life. But I held my ground and kept it aimed at him, stepping forward again, which made Cassius stumble back.

Suddenly the pretentious smirk on his face fell, " What are you going to do Spinnet? Take a shot at me? You scar up this face and my parents will withdraw any business that your family is looking to do." He stepped back again.

I smirked and shrugged, "Well it's a good thing I'm not aiming for your face then." I flicked the wand in the direction of the bucket behind him just as he made a move to step back again.

His legs hit the bucket before he could regain his composure, and with a satisfied smile I watched as Cassius Warrington tumbled over the bucket, lost his footing, and landed cheek first into a fresh pile of horse dung.

Score a real point for me this time.

"You – you – you –" he was pushing himself up from his feet, wiping at the dung that clung to his cheek and clothes.

I knew my cue. Tossing the fake wand in his direction I sprinted back towards the house as fast as I could. I didn't stop when I heard him yelling behind me, nor did I slow down when I reached the house and barged in on the adults in the dining hall. If my Father thought he was a good liar well then he was about to meet his match.

"I'm so sorry, it's Cassius…." His parents immediately stood from the table, followed by my parents and sister.

"What about him?" His father asked while his mother called out "Cassius!" from where she stood.

I was breathing heavy, but I knew he'd be behind me any second now, "In the stable…fooling around with his toy wand and something knocked into him…he fell…he –" but my words were cut off by the gasps as Cassius barged into the room still covered from head to toe.

I bit down on my tongue to control myself from laughing.

"My word! Cassius!" His mother was removing her wand and muttering cleansing spells to rid him of the disaster.

He was furious. I could tell that just by looking at him, but it was fortified when he opened his mouth and began shouting and pointing in my direction. "She used my wand did this! She attacked me!"

And now for the encore performance….

I felt the tears well up in my eyes, " I didn't do it on purpose. He had – he had a wand I wanted to see what it would feel like and I moved it and it hit a bucket and it was an accident…" I covered my face with my hands and continued the award winning performance; surely they had to buy it.

"You have a toy wand with you?" Alastair Warrington's voice cut through Cassius' yelling.

Bingo. I win.

I lifted my eyes from behind my hands and glanced at Cassius; his face had paled considerably. "Well…I picked one up when I went out with mother, it's not a real wand…it's merely a toy…and I didn't- "

"So you disobeyed my rules as to when you would receive a wand and bought a cheap knockoff without my permission?" The tone in the older mans voice made even me cringe.

"Come now Alastair…let's settle this at home in private." I saw Cassius' mum flicker her gaze towards my parents in apology. "We will just have to reschedule the rest of this meeting after the children go back to school next week."

My mother took me by the shoulder as we followed the Warrington's out into the main hall, all the while I couldn't keep my gaze from Cassius nor could he keep the blazing fury in his eyes a secret. Something about it gave me a chill and I cuddled in close to my mother.

"That sounds like a splendid idea, Cassandra. We can speak about a time and place when we drop these two," she gestured between Cassius and me, " at the platform."

"Can't believe we're sending Cassius off to Hogwarts already, seems like only yesterday his brother Tobias graduated."

My father took my sister by the crook of her arm and grinned, "Yes I know, can't believe this will be Emilia's last year. At least we have Alicia starting up…keeping the Slytherin house alive with Spinnet representation." He chortled.

"Right right…we'll be sure that Cassius here keeps an eye on her. Keep her out of harms way and all. It will be good that they'll be together in the same house… good to have your alliances near by."

I almost threw up at the thought of having to spend the next seven years with Cassius lurking around every corner of my dormitory. Oh yeah, that's how I wanted to remember my school days.

Cassandra guided Cassius out the door, his eyes still piercing through me, "Well then we will see you in a week. Sorry for the early departure."

There were a few more exchanged kisses, a shake of some hands, and a laugh or two between both elder men. All the while as I stood beside my mother and watched Cassius I could have sworn he mouthed 'dead' before the door shut behind him.

Yeah, I was going to have to do something about this whole housing arrangement if I valued my life.

I know this prologue didn't feature much Hogwarty-ness, BUT in the next chapter we will jump forward a few years.

As we all know Alicia ends up in Gryffindor which will definitely bring on a lot of tension at home and amongst the other Pureblood families.

Sorry if this chapter seemed slow but it was necessary to develop their relationship and what will come of it. PLEASE PLEASE review and let me know what you think. The next chapter will be much longer I promise; after all this was just a prologue. PLEASE continue on.