Neville Longbottom climbed the stairs of the Three Broomsticks after Madam Rosemerta told him she was here already. The proprietor's eyes had followed the professor to the staircase with a disapproving look but they always paid full price and left a tip for the cleaning witch so Rosemerta kept her mouth closed about their trysts. They'd been meeting like this for twelve years now, but this year was different.

Neville stopped himself from knocking on the locked door. It was like a disease, these meetings. He could go months without thinking about her but on January 1st his feet brought him down from Hogwart's, along the familiar alleys until he entered the bar looking for her. Sometimes they sat downstairs talking, drinking, flirting, most years the first one to arrive got a room and left a message for the other. They knew why they met, it wasn't for drinks and flirting, it was for devastating sex to ring in the New Year and then 12 months of peace before it happened again.

But this year he had discovered a secret. A secret named Alice Parkinson, a lonely, sweet first-year Slytherin who looked nothing like her mother Pansy. Alice's open round face shone under a curtain of blunt-cut dark hair. She was all elbows and knees, garnering the nickname 'Stork' from her classmates, a nickname that Neville heard on the first day of classes just a few months ago.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The first day of school was always hectic, older students purposely sending the confused newbies in the wrong direction. Lesser forms of bullies sent books and rolls of parchment flying. True bullies hexed first years, thinking they could get away with it in the hustle and bustle of the crowds. Professors dotted the halls trying to keep the students from any serious mischief.

It was a lesser bully that targeted Alice Parkinson that September. Professor Longbottom, a long sufferer of bullies and nicknames, didn't see what Corrin Snod did exactly, more he saw the explosion of paper and book covers as Alice was surrounded by students chanting 'Stork! Stork! Stork!'

"Okay! Okay! On your way! Get to your class, if you don't have a class go find something to learn quick." Neville bust up the crowd giving Snod the evil eye and making a mental note to talk to Professor Hemmings, head of Gryffindor, about the little git. The fleeing students left a girl scrambling to gather the chaotic mess back into her rucksack. Behind the black hair, her face burned red as Neville knelt to help her while muttering, "Because first days just aren't hard enough..." Repairing the rent cover of the Charms textbook, he stuffed the book and a handful of quills in her rucksack. "Well, nothing was destroyed, small miracle. What's your first class, I'll point you the right direction, Miss..."

The girl pulled out her time-table. "First class is Transfiguration, sir. And it's Parkinson, Professor." Her voice was thick but Neville pretended not to notice as she wiped her face dry.

"Well that is convenient, Professor Drinkwater's classroom is directly on my path." It was nowhere near his path, he had been on the way to his greenhouses. But his fourth years knew not to hurt the plants, not if they didn't want a full class of mixing dragon dung manure. "She's never mad about students being late on the first day, but she may make you help her if she needs a volunteer. Come on." The hall was nearly deserted so no one saw the Professor give her his handkerchief as Alice began sobbing again at having someone being nice to her.

"I'm sorry Professor." Alice sniffled.

"Sorry for what, Miss Parkinson?" Neville slowed his pace as the girl dawdled.

"I'm just being stupid, I've been crying all morning. Mum said it might be hard, what people say, but I haven't even got to a class yet. This place is horrible." Big brown eyes flashed up at Neville, tears welling at the corners as Alice realized she had just told a Professor that Hogwart's was horrible.

There was something familiar in the Alice's big saucer-face but Neville didn't see it yet, he only stooped down to look Alice in the eye, "I know it seems horrible right now. Lots of people, new surroundings, being lost, different food from home. Everyone reacts in their own way, some people get scared, some lash out, most people go with the flow. You'll get in the stream soon enough."

"Even guppies can swim." Alice's face split open in a giant smile as she made a joke, temporarily easing the tension of being new.

Neville saw it then. The happy face of his own mother looked back at him, the only difference was a pug nose that made her distinctly a Parkinson. Trying to hide his surprise, Neville coughed out a question, "Parkinson? As in Pansy Parkinson?"

"Yes, she's my mum. I guess you've heard of her?" Alice tugged at a loose shank of hair, pushing it behind an ear that stuck out a bit too far.

"Yes, I know Pansy. We went to school together." It was the safest thing he could think to say. "Well, if you're her daughter, no doubt you'll be running the school in no time." Neville didn't elaborate, rather he stood up to usher Alice forward. "Feeling better? Yes? Let's get you to class." It was a quick walk to the Transfiguration classroom, Neville opened the door to find a large golden dragon taking up most of the room, the students flattened out along the back wall. "Found your lost volunteer, Zoe! Have a nice day, Miss Parkinson."

Neville left the girl on the threshold of the classroom, speedwalking away to points unknown. When he finally stopped, Neville found himself at the edge of the Black Lake breathing hard. In a fit of fury, Neville screamed out over the still water, "What a bitch!"

Bitch-itch-itch-itch echoed back to his ears.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Four months of watching Alice Parkinson try to find her place in the school without being able to help her had made Neville extremely angry. And yet he had no proof that Alice was his daughter other than the pull of his heart. Pansy had made it very clear that they would not be in each other's life when their meetings had started. Even so, Neville had written numberous letters, scraping all in the fireplace long before he could force himself to post any of them.

It took all the nerve he had to knock on the door to room 314.

"Come in." Pansy's shrill voice contained a playful sing-song tone as she beckoned him inside. She didn't look up from where she lay on the bed doing the crossword out of a muggle newspaper. Neville closed and locked the door, scanning her naked form, familiar after so many years but strangely alien after twelve months. She still wore a pair of black leather boots, sharp heeled and pointy-toed for fashion. Laying on her stomach, she kicked her legs occasionally bumping her boot against her bum. Flipping her long hair she spoke without looking up, "I only have a few more words, I'll be with you in a minute. There's a bottle on the table if you want something."

Alcohol would be a mistake. But he drank anyway. And again. And one more.

Pansy threw the newspaper to the side, stretching as she sat up. She was prettiest when she wore a blank expression so when she wrinkled her nose at him she looked fairly grotesque. There was something off about her features, they added up wrong, letting her beauty shine when she was cussing a person out but clouding that beauty when she smiled. When she teased Neville she looked like a wolf ripping apart a fresh carcass. "You're still dressed?" Pansy strode over to where Neville slouched in an armchair. She took his drink and slammed it back.

She didn't register the anger pouring off Neville, in her own self-centered way she would never notice something like that. Instead she curled up on his lap, pulling at the buttons of his shirt, Pansy growled, "Don't you want to play with me, Longbottom?" She licked the outside curve of his ear then she was at his mouth.

Licking the edges of lips chapped by the cold weather, she moved to devour him, shifting her body against Neville until there was nothing to do but crush her soft skin in his arms.

"That's better. Is that a wand in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" Pansy chuckled but her words made Neville tense up.

He fumbled in his pocket and drew out his wand, aiming it at Pansy his voice shook. "Actually it is a wand and I'm not that happy to see you, Pansy."

"Okay, it was a bad joke." She unfolded herself from his lap and flounced on the bed not caring that Neville just said he wasn't happy. "Talking's never been our strong point, why don't you come join me and I'll turn that frown upside down." Pansy winked at him, her sly grin melting to a sneer when he didn't move. "What?"

"Tell me about Alice."