Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Author's Note: Written for the Hunger Games Competition over on HPFC. I used the word prompt, the emotion prompt, the dialogue prompt, the character prompt, and the subject prompt.
The house was dark when Alice arrived home.
She almost always arrived home earlier than Frank, even though they often worked the same day shifts. Nearly every day, he got held up by Becky, an extremely talkative intern who had taken a fancy to him. Alice wasn't worried. Not only was Becky a very childish eighteen-year-old, but Alice knew that Frank wasn't even remotely interested. Especially not today, of all days.
She smiled to herself as she stepped inside the house, flicking the lights on. It was their anniversary today, and although Frank had teasingly suggested skipping work that day and just staying in, Alice had rebuffed his suggestion. It would have been fun to relax together all day - preferably with very little clothing involved - but this was a terrible time to take a day off without notice. Voldemort had fallen not even a month prior, and the Auror Office was still dealing with the fallout from that. Not only were they rounding up Death Eaters, but they were also keeping an eye on the celebrations that were still going on among the Wizarding community; some had gotten way out of hand.
Don't take work home, Alice, she chided herself. Don't think about all that now. Frank'll be coming home soon.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she sank down onto the comfortable sofa in the front room. It felt wonderful to get off her feet for a little while, and she stayed there a few minutes before heading up to the bedroom to change. She and Frank were going to go out and have a lovely dinner at some Muggle place that Lily Potter - no, Alice, don't think about her right now either - had recommended to her over a year ago.
Neville was at his grandmother's house. Alice had originally disliked Augusta Longbottom with a fierce passion - Augusta was stuffy and traditional, while Alice had a rebellious, radical streak - but the two women had grown civil toward one another over the past few years, a civility that had increased further when Neville was born. Alice would never consider Augusta a close friend, but they could now have a conversation together without getting heated, and frankly, that was all Alice expected right now.
Alice dug around in her closet for a few minutes before finding a Muggle-style dress. She didn't go into the Muggle world very often. Most of the times that she did, it had been on Auror-related duties. This would be fun - a new experience, which Alice loved. Maybe they could venture into the Muggle world more often, now that they had more time - the Order was gone, which had freed up their schedules a bit.
She heard the creak of the door from downstairs, and smiled when she heard Frank's call of, "You're here, right, Allie?"
"Upstairs," she replied. "Be right there."
She zipped up the back of her dress as much as she could manage - best have Frank get that last bit - and headed back down to the front room. She pulled Frank into an embrace, pulling his head down to hers; he had well over six inches of height on her.
"You're freezing," she said, kissing him.
"It's bloody awful out," Frank said after they had pulled apart. "And Becky cornered me outside the Ministry this time. I thought I was going to freeze to death out there with her blabbering on beside me. You look gorgeous, love, by the way."
"Thank you," Alice said, turning around. "Zip me up?"
He zipped up the dress the rest of the way, and she smoothed her short hair. "Merlin," he said, "you're beautiful. You sure we have to go to the restaurant right now?"
"We've got bloody reservations," said Alice, although she was laughing. "Control yourself."
"That's difficult around you."
She lightly pushed his shoulder. "Go get dressed! We're supposed to be there in ten minutes."
He went upstairs, and Alice headed into the loo to freshen up. By the time she came out, Frank had returned, dressed in some nice-looking Muggle clothes. "Oh, who's the gorgeous one now?" Alice said, nudging him. "I don't think I've seen you so dolled up since our wedding."
"Six years," Frank said. "Can you believe it?"
"And ten years before that when we first really met," Alice reminded him. Although they were in the same year at Hogwarts, the two of them hadn't really interacted until third year, when they both got lost trying to find the Ancient Runes classroom. Neither one had any close friends in the class, and they had spent the rest of the year developing their friendship. Alice still had the Ancient Runes textbook from that year up in their bedroom, on a shelf with other Hogwarts trinkets and memorabilia. It always made her nostalgic to look at it.
"You're making me feel old," Frank said.
"Well..." Alice smirked.
Frank rolled his eyes at her, smiling. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah. I just need to grab my purse." She almost never carried one normally, but she needed someplace to tuck her wand; there really wasn't anyplace comfortable to store it in this dress. Frank had it a little easier - both his coat and his trousers had pockets. She headed into the kitchen, as usually, she kept the purse on the kitchen table; she had just reached for it when the door was blown off its hinges. The force knocked her backward into the opposite wall, dazed, her grip on her wand slack.
Frank came rushing in from the front room, just as four masked figures - freaking Death Eaters, what the hell? - walked through the hole where the back door had once been. Alice struggled to her feet, woozy; she felt the back of her head, and although there was no blood, she could tell a lump was beginning to form. Frank engaged one of the Death Eaters in a duel, and another one joined in.
Normally, Alice would be more than capable of defending herself against two assailants - Merlin knew she had done it enough times, both as an Auror and as an Order member - but she felt dizzy, her reflexes slower than usual; within a minute, her wand had flown out of her hand, and another spell had sent her crumpling to the floor, ropes binding her.
"Alice!" Frank shouted as she struggled against her bonds. All four Death Eaters were surrounding him now, and although he was a very capable Auror himself, defending against four attackers was probably something that only Dumbledore could manage effectively. He fell to their curses as well, and soon he, too, was bound on the floor, reaching out for her.
One of the Death Eaters removed their mask, and Alice closed her eyes. Bellatrix Lestrange - Voldemort's most important follower, if the Order's information was to be believed. Alice had seen Bellatrix before, but never up close and personal - never like this. This was bad as it is, but if the rumors about Bellatrix's sadism were to be believed, it was about to get a whole lot worse.
"Ready?" one of the other Death Eaters, who hadn't removed his mask, said, raising his wand.
"Not here, you idiot," Bellatrix snapped. "Someone's bound to come looking for them if we take too long. I'd rather not be in the most obvious place, thank you very much."
She nodded at the other three Death Eaters, who promptly dragged Alice and Frank to their feet. Alice wished she could elbow one of them, or knee them in the nuts, or something, but the ropes encircled enough of her body to make any sort of fighting absolutely impossible. Judging by Frank's facial expression, he was thinking the exact same thing.
"If you do anything to us," Frank said, "that'll only increase your sentences in Azkaban. If you let us go now, maybe we can work something out - you may not be sentenced to life, depending on your cooperation." Alice could tell he was trying to sound reasonable, and she commended him for it, but she also knew it was never going to work. Not if Bellatrix Lestrange was involved. Not if they were tied up already. Not if Lestrange was talking about 'taking too long'.
"Frank," Alice whispered, "whatever happens, I love you."
The Death Eaters got a tight hold on them, and as the crushing feeling of Side-Along Apparition overtook Alice, she wondered where everything had gone so astray. Of all the days of this to happen, it had to be this night - a night that was supposed to be perfect. And for now, that hurt more than anything they could do.
A couple things that I didn't want to put at the beginning because spoilers:
Yes, Alice and Frank are around thirty. There's nothing in canon that says they were James and Lily's age, and I personally do think they were a bit older.
It is actually semi-canon that Alice and Frank were brought to an unknown location instead of being tortured at their house; the trial scene in GoF mentions the 'capture' and torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom, which implies that they were kidnapped.