A/N: Written for the Houses Competition. Thanks to 2D for the beta.
House: Ravenclaw
Position: Stand-in for Year 5
Category: Additional
Prompt: Fountains in the Moonlight
Words: 702
Frank's words echo around her mind as Alice lies in bed.
"I love you, I love you, I love you."
She hadn't been able to say them back, not right away, as they sat by the lake hand in hand. Frank hadn't minded though, just smiled and kissed her softly on the cheek. He is everything that she ever wanted, and Alice knows that she is very very lucky.
Lily and Marlene tell her so, every day. They just wish they could find someone as perfect for them as Frank is for Alice. Yes, Alice knows that what they have is the stuff of dreams. She's living in a fairytale, the princess sitting with her prince in their golden tower.
But every fairy tale has a wicked witch.
Alice just wishes that hers wasn't so pretty.
Frank's words are still spinning around her mind when Alice gets out of bed, the stone floor cold beneath her bare feet. The dormitory is loud with the sounds of sleeping girls, silk sheets rustling and a chorus of steady breaths. Alice shivers slightly. Lily forgot to close her window last night. Moonlight slants into the room, and all of the scarlet and gold appears faded.
It is like this every night, but Alice still loves it. The world feels still and empty, it feels like it belongs to only her.
Well, them. It belongs to them.
Alice slips out of the dorm, down the stairs, out of the Common Room. Countless, painted eyes follow her as she walks through the Hogwarts corridors, but Alice doesn't mind. After all, tonight will be the last time they see her like this. She's promised herself, and this is one promise that Alice is determined not to break.
Finally, she's outside, pulling her jumper more tightly around her body to protect herself from the chill of the night. The sky is cloudless above her, empty except the full moon, pure and white against the pitch black of the sky.
The moonlight illuminates their fountain, tucked behind a grove of trees, and the girl standing beside it. It casts shadows across her face, softening the harsh lines of her high cheekbones and strong jaw. Her hair is still wild and untameable, black curls cascading down her back, and her eyes are as dark and intense as ever. Alice thinks she looks beautiful.
"Took you long enough," she greets Alice as she comes to sit on the fountain ledge. Alice knows that what she really means is that she missed her.
In response, Alice presses their lips together, slow and soft, like she's trying to make the moment last forever. When she finally pulls back, Bellatrix is looking at her with question in her eyes. Alice never kisses her first. Never.
"Why did that feel like a goodbye?" She asks, and Alice winces at the vulnerability in her voice. Bella is rough edges, sharp insults and a silver tongue. It is a mask Alice has never seen slip before and it unsettles her. The bony fingers clasped too tight around her wrist, the nails digging into her skin, are far more familiar. Alice focuses on the feeling, lets it ground her.
"Because it was," Alice replies. Bella's a big girl, she can handle the truth. Her wrist is hurting, and Alice knows she'll have a bruise in the shape of Bella's hand. "Frank told me he loved me today. It's not fair to him."
Bellatrix steps back, her lips curling into a cruel smirk, and, suddenly, her walls are back up. "Because you're all about fair? You knew he loved you all along. I wonder what he'd think if he knew who you really were?"
"Bella, I didn't mean to-"
Bella laughs manically, and the sound chills Alice to the bone. "Of course not. Because you're so innocent." Then she's running back towards Hogwarts, and Alice knows that she probably won't come back.
Now, all Alice can hear is Bellatrix, over and over again.
'You're so innocent.'
Alice thinks of poor, unknowing Frank, dreaming of their future together.
She thinks of Bella, crushed in the name of fairness.
And Alice realises for the first time that she's not innocent, not at all.