This is my first fanfiction, so please go easy on me! :) I re-uploaded this chapter after (finally) having gotten it beta-ed, by my best friend EllieLovesDogs. Also, I changed the name of this chapter from 'Introduction to her Life' to what it's called now, mainly because I thought it was boring. :D Otherwise, no changes in the actual plotline were made. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing to do with Harry Potter, or anything else that may pop up along the way for that matter! I really wish I did, but sadly I don't. :( *sniffsniff*

Chapter 1

Pink Paint

When I decided not to tell Harry of my Hogwarts letter, I had no idea what I was getting myself into…

Alice isn't what ordinary people like muggles would describe as normal. That's because she was far from it.

Alice Dorchester came from a pureblood wizarding family. Now, you have to understand that, though her family was very well respected they weren't like most other purebloods, such as a certain Malfoy family. Her father, Alexander Dorchester, worked for the Ministry of Magic as the head of the Auror department. His great-grandfather had been a Vampire, but most of the traits such as actual vampirism weren't found in the family anymore. Alice's mother, Ariel Dorchester, was of French upbringing. She worked as the Headmistress of Beauxbatons, the most famous of Wizarding Schools in France. Mrs. Dorchester's grandmother had been a Veela, so naturally she was extraordinarily beautiful.

Alice herself was brought up in a little village in the Yorkshire countryside. As a young, eleven year old girl she was relatively tall for her age, but not too tall as to be bullied by other children. Not that she knew that many anyways. She was considered an absolute beauty of a child: Most of her features came from the Veela traits on her mothers side of the family. Alice was, as I already said, tall. Her skin was a pale creamy colour, not deathly pale like a dead body or even as whitish as the Malfoys, her cheeks also had a natural flush to them-pale pink like the petals of a rose. Her eyes were a light mixture of turquoise and indigo, framed by long, thick, black lashes. Quite striking really. Her whole face was in perfect proportion. Her hair was as black as the feathers of a raven. Thick and glossy it fell in large curls halfway down her back, framing her face perfectly and contrasting with her complexion amazingly well. Her dark hair colour was the only indication of the Vampire in the family.

Everything about her was elongated and graceful, down to the tips of her fingers.

She was rather 'developed' for her age, which caused older boys to goggle and girls to turn green with envy. Alice was of the opinion that it was rather inconvenient to look like you're 13 when in fact you're only 11.

She was home schooled by her teacher Mrs. Stevens in subjects such as History of Magic, the theories of Charms and Transfiguration, Potions and Arithmancy. Her older brother James had graduated two years previously from Hogwarts. He wanted to be a professional Quidditch player, and to get some experience he taught Alice how to fly. Most other young witches and wizards that she knew, apart from Draco Malfoy, who she wasn't all that fond of, didn't get home schooled in the subjects that they taught at Hogwarts, but instead got to roam around having adventures of their own. But her father insisted that she get a head start and made use of her 265 IQ mind.

When she wasn't "getting a head start" she would ride around the countryside on her stallion, or just read one of the books in the library but her favourite occupation was hanging out with her best friend.

Alice would never admit this to anyone, but she was lonely. She was acquainted with a few of the muggle children in the village and had a few wizarding friends too, but, of all of them she only had one true friend, and his name was Harry Potter. He had moved to the Yorkshire countryside when they were both seven years old. Alice of course knew exactly who he was: The Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived. She didn't ever mention it to him though, as her father asked her not to. Alice also withheld the fact that she was a witch. Apparently Harry wasn't supposed to know about the wizarding world, something about "preserving his innocence" her father had told her. At the time Alice didn't have a clue about what he meant with that, but as she grew older she started to understand. Harry was still 'the talk of the town' as you may call it. The 'Daily Prophet' speculated constantly about his whereabouts, young witches wondered what he looked like, and her father being the head of the Auror department talked about Death Eaters always seeking revenge for what had happened to their Leader in that fatal night on All Hallows Eve. Alice couldn't stand the idea of her Harry exposed to all that media and the confusion of pure adoration and hatred. "I reckon Daddy is right, it would scare Harry." Alice thought

They had done things together that maybe they shouldn't have, like painting Harry's Uncles face pink or tying Dudley to his bed while he was sleeping. Harry was always the one to come up with the pranks, I guess you could say he had a certain disregard for the rules. Alice was always the one who spied on people as she could move gracefully though the shadows like a panther, or the one who always managed to talk them out of trouble again…They were the best of friends - inseparable. The incident with Uncle Vernon's face was one to be remembered...

~Flashback~

"I'm bored Harry! Can't you come up with something?" Alice whined as she flopped backwards onto his bed.

They had spent the day annoying Dudley and playing Scrabble, but there was only so much entertainment you could get out of that. It was now 4:30 in the afternoon and they had absolutely and positively nothing to do.

'Well...let me think." Harry went into silent contemplation. Alice had started drawing random patterns onto Harry's worn out blue and white striped bedclothes. "I really hope for his sake that he comes up with something fun to do soon. I'm sick of just sitting around, waiting!"

"Okay, I've got it! This may sound really silly and childish to you but I reckon you're getting desperate!" At this last comment Harry looked up, from the small space of ground in front of his 'bedroom' door where he sat with his knees right up against is scrawny chest, and grinned broadly at Alice.

"Just spit it out Potter! I'm not waiting for the grass to grow here!" Alice said, quite irritated. She hated being messed with and most certainly the suspension. It was sure to make her pissy on the long run.

"Can't stand the suspension, what, Dorchester?" Harry asked with a small smirk.

"Harry, I'm warning you..."

"Fine. Here's the plan. You've got paints at your house right? Well, bring some...pink, and we'll wait for Uncle Vernon to take his 5 o'clock nap. Then we sneak downstairs and paint his big, fat face. You in?"

Alice was dumbstruck. This was much riskier than she had thought. Harry's Uncle could wake up at any minute and catch them right in the act. There was no way she would be able to talk them out of that mess. Alice grinned evily. "You're a genius Harry, brilliant even!"

"Yeah, well I try." Harry said, pretending to be very flattered indeed.

"I'll go get my paints right now. Won't be five minutes. You keep an eye on your Uncle." She instructed before pushing herself off his tiny bed and stepped over Harry to get out from the cupboard under the stairs, which Harry called his 'bedroom'.

Not five minutes later she returned with her bright pink paint and two medium sized brushes. "Is the target in dreamland?" She inquired.

"Sleeping like a baby." Harry replied with a sly smile on his face.

"And soon he'll look just like one too, or more precisely like a piglet." Alice laughed quietly, so as not to be heard by potential eves-droppers. "With his big, old round face he'll fit the profile perfectly!"

"Oh, you're ever so sly Miss Dorchester." Harry complimented her appreciatively.

Harry got up from his rather squashed position between his door and bed, to peek out and see if the coast was clear.

"I think you should go first. I'm more likely to stumble and wake him up." Harry reasoned with her.

"If you insist." Alice said as she stepped out from under the stairs.

"C'mon Harry! Keep up!" Alice was already standing in the living room with the paint in her right hand and the brushes in her left. Harry was still hovering in his 'bedroom'.

Thirty seconds later he was by her side after being on the receiving end of one of her death glares. If looks could kill, hers could destroy - and that in a matter of seconds.

"I...I'm not so sure about this anymore, Alice. This could get us into some serious trouble." Harry hesitated with his paintbrush hovering only inches over his Uncles big potato nose.

"Not if we don't get caught. Now stop being such a sissy, it was you idea after all so don't complain!" Alice hadn't been happy about this either, but she wasn't backing out now, she couldn't be weak.

Harry took a deep breath and gently placed his brush on his Uncles face. Vernon just twitched but continued to sleep, lucky them.

After 20 minutes of soft, silent application of paint to face, they were finished. Alice praised Harry's brush from his fingers gently and grabbed the paint. "We'd better go now, don't want to be caught here do we?" This was a rhetorical question, so Harry didn't bother answering but instead followed her out on tip-toes, trying desperately to repress an onslaught of laughter.

They were hardly back in his 'bedroom' and had stored the evidence away carefully, when they heard Aunt Petunia coming home from a tea party, walking into the sitting room and...screaming like a banshee!

"Ohh, Vernie! What ever happened to you?" Here they could hear Uncle Vernon's muffled grunts at being woken so abruptly. "Look at yourself Cuddlebum!"

Alice and Harry were dying of silent laughter. "Vernie! CUDDLEBUM?" Alice gasped, holding her sides as stitches seared up them. Yet to Harry's utter amazement, she still somehow managed to have a look of disgust on her beautiful face. "What kind of silly nicknames are those anyway?" She asked.

"I have absolutely no idea."

They could hear a lot of swearing, grunting and stomping coming from the living room, no doubt from Uncle Vernon.

"Uhoh, he must have seen himself in the mirror over the fireplace." Harry explained.

"We're safe. He can't prove it was us." Alice replied confidently with a small, what was supposed to be a reassuring, nod of her head. Harry wasn't so sure.

"The boy! It was the boy! Where is he, wait 'till I get my hands on him! He'll regret even being born!" Vernon ranted. "BOY! Come here this INSTANT!" Uncle Vernon bellowed. Harry glanced over at Alice who just nodded at him once again before opening the door herself and marching out into the hall. Harry followed her, hoping that she would be able to talk them out of trouble again, but he seriously doubted it.

"Good day Mr. Dursley. Is there anything the matter?" Alice asked sweetly without any trace of laughter left in her expression. All that Uncle Vernon could see was a kind and yet concerned expression and big round blue eyes staring up at him.

"Isn't it obvious as to what the problem is here? My...Face...Is...Pink!" He stated. "And I want you boy," now addressing Harry, "to apologize profoundly and then get out of my sight. Don't you dare show up in my presence for at least a week. Do you understand me boy?

"But Mr. Dursley," Alice interrupted, "Harry didn't do that of what you are accusing him of doing. You see, he was with me the whole afternoon at my house. We played 'hide and seek' on the grounds, it was terribly fun!"

Vernon looked at her as if he had been hit on the head with an anvil. He didn't dare disagree with this well spoken, lovely young lady.

"Well then, would you care to explain to me exactly who supposedly did this if it wasn't you." Here he looked at Harry once more.

"We did see Dudley coming here just before we arrived, but then he left again soon after." This, was true, she wouldn't have used unreliable information that had a chance of backfiring on them. They had heard Dudley come home, run up to his room for approximately 15 minutes and then storm back out again. Just the timeline they needed.

"Are you suggesting that Dudders did this?" Aunt Petunia asked in a weak voice. She looked like she was about to pass out as she leaned against the armchair for support, while her right hand covered her heart.

"Why don't you just ask him yourself?" Alice replied innocently. Just then Dudley, Harry's horrid cousin, could be heard slamming the front door before he stomped in and stopped dead in his tracks, staring wide eyed at his father.

"What's going on?" He asked slowly.

"That's just what we'd like to know. Were you here from approximately 5:15-5:30?" Asked Petunia, still clasping her chest.

"Errrrmm...Yea I guess I was" answered Dudley, shrugging his massive shoulders.

"Right that settles it. House arrest young man."

"What'd I do?" Dudley was more than confused by the whole situation, but didn't dare question his mother. "I bet Potter and his little girlfriend had something to do with this. I'll get them later" he thought to himself.

Harry was positively amazed! They'd managed to pull it off without getting into trouble, and Alice had landed Dudley house arrest, which was considered as an added bonus. How she did it he'd never quite understand...

~End Flashback~

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