Chapter 3: Love To A Lion

"Als, we ready?" James asked, his wand in hand ready to dispatch a series of curses the second Taylor walked in. It was first hour three days after Alice broke it off.

"Absolutely." The plan was Alice, James, Marlene, Remus, Peter, Sirius, and Mary were all going to throw different curses at Taylor. Frank had reluctantly agreed to bring Taylor in, and Lily and Anna decided it was too dangerous the second James Potter got involved.

"Good." Alice grinned.

"Great." Mary said.

"Awesome." Sirius told his friend. They all grabbed the wands and waited for their victim. They heard Frank down the hall.

"And Taylor, I promise you Al is totally over being mad and… Oh, I gotta go. I promised Pomfrey I'd help sort medicine bottles."

"You know you're not exciting Franklin." Taylor's calm voice rode down. Alice gritted her teeth. No one was allowed to insult Frank.

When Taylor came in, with a new flame in her fire, Alice hit Taylor with as many spells she possibly could.

"Stop!" he pleaded, but no one would listen. "Alison, stop!" he demanded.

"Excuse you, my name isn't Alison. My name is Alice." She hissed.

"Excuse all of you. Go to Dumbledore. Ten points each from Gryffindor." Said McGongall.

"But McGongall, you don't understand!" Remus tried to explain.

"You were attacking a student it's all I need to know."

"But professor-" Peter complained.

"Professor!" Sirius whined.

"But nothing. All of you, in my office now. You too Rosier."

In McGongall's office, Alice, Taylor, Remus, Sirius, James, Mary, Marlene and Peter all sat in different chairs, thoroughly angry. It was very lopsided, as only James and Alice dared venture to Taylor and they only did it to stare the boy down.

"I'm surprised at you Remus. You too Peter and Marlene. Everyone else, it's good seeing you back in my office. Again." McGongall stated. "One and I mean one person state what happened." She demanded.

So of course two people started talking.

"Well, Alice and Taylor went on a date…"

"Me and Taylor were dating, and he said…"

"Harsh things to her and it…"

"I don't understand if he'll be allowed to get away with saying that I mean…"

"Potter, Prewett. One person does not mean two people who share a mind." McGonagall hushed. "Prewett, it seems this goes back to you. Go on."

"Alright well any way, Taylor was rude, so we were just giving him a taste of his own medicine." Alice explained.

"Well, how about next time the seven of you want to start something, you don't come to do it in my class?" McGonagall asked. "Detention for all of you."

"Not me, right professor?" asked Taylor.

"No Taylor, it seems you've harmed Miss Prewett. Detention for you too. Now go to Pomfrey to get cleaned up." She said. "Prewett, Potter, Lupin stay a moment. The rest are dismissed." They looked at each other, waiting for everyone to go.

"Alice… You really don't need to do this every time someone 'hurts' you."

"What? I'm allowed to fight and stand up for myself?" Alice shot back.

"Alice, sometimes you don't need to fight." McGonagall told her.

"And most of the time I do. Are we done here?" Alice asked.

"Potter, Lupin you two seem to have a real problem with Mr. Rosier, correct?"

"He hurt Als."

"He's awful as a person." Remus told his teacher.

"Alright. Well you two stay out of Miss Prewett's business, and stop worrying about her. She can take care of herself. Alright, you two may go."

"Professor, there are three of us." James told her.

"But I'm still speaking to Miss Prewett."

"Why me?" Alice whined.

"See you Als!" James said running off.

"It'll be fine Alice." Remus said patting her head.

"Alright Miss Prewett, you and another one of your friends will be showing a new student around for detention. I'm not sure which yet."

"If you want people she'll like, go with Remus." Alice said.

"I'm more in the 'Preparing for the worst' stage with her. She's timid. Her name is Callidora Malkin."

"Callidora? What name is that?" Alice asked rolling her eyes. "Look is that all?"

"Yes Miss Prewett. You may go."

"Good. Bye." Alice said walking off."

"Miss Prewett, you need to work on your social skills."

"My social skills are fine Professor."

"If that's what you think Miss Prewett." McGonagall had clearly given up fighting Alice.

Alice left in a huffed fashion, and went to her next class.

"Lily, I need to go talk to Kirsa, can you come with me?" Anna asked over lunch.

"Why Anna?" Lily sighed.

"It's a serious problem. Please?" Anna begged. Lily sighed again, but reluctantly agreed.

"Thanks Lily. Kirsa's in here." Anna said pointing out her sister's class.

"Kirsa." Anna asked timidly.

"Yes?" A larger blonde girl called out.

"Kirsa, I have a problem." Anna said. "Lily, you can go now." She dismissed. Lily stayed though, curious about Anna's problem.

"What is it baby?" Kirsa asked.

"Well um… I… Um… Lily go now. You don't care." She said. Lily, surprised at her friend's sudden boldness looked at her feet.

"I care."

"No you don't. I tried to tell you three times in the past two weeks, and you won't talk to me. 'Go tell Kirsa'. So go away. Kirsa can handle it." Anna said.

"Hey now baby, don't be disrespectful." Kirsa soothed.

"But Kir, she won't listen! Every time I try and talk to Lily, she doesn't listen!" Anna exclaimed.

Lily, who knew how painstakingly true this was, looked at her feet, and decided to walk out.

"Kirsa, I don't want to go to school here anymore."

"Why not?" she asked her sister.

"Everyone is like Lily. No one cares what I say. It's not important." Anna sighed.

"Well, maybe somewhere else no one would care. At least here, I care. And someone else might too. Go look for someone who cares."

"I guess. Thanks Kir." Anna sighed, walking out. She went back to her table and ate quietly, pondering on how the hat so anything remotely Gryffindor in her. She was a Hufflepuff in her own eyes and was certain the hat made some kind of mistake.

"Hey Annabelle, is someone sitting by you?" Peter Pettigrew asked.

"No… Why?" Anna asked, taken by surprise he called her Annabelle. Most people just called her Anna.

"Well you look sad. I figure if you sit by someone as fantastic as me, you'll feel better, don't you agree?" Peter asked jokingly. "I'm sorry, I got that from James. But really, you look like you need a friend." Peter said sitting by her.

"Well… Thanks." She said smiling.

"No problem. Anything been going on with you?" he asked.

"No… Just… You know… Sad."

"Well why? I don't want you to be sad."

"It's just… I don't think it matters, you know?"

"It matters to me Annabelle." Peter told her.

Annabelle smiled. "Um… Thanks."

"Say, why don't you meet me down at the Quidditch Pitch before the first game? We can sit together." Peter offered.

Annabelle smiled. "Thanks… Er sure!" Annabelle walked out of the Great Hall and to her room, humming for the first time. Not because Peter asked her on a date, but because Peter, noticed her. She mattered to someone, and that mattered to her.

Meanwhile, Peter ran to his guys, grinning.

"What's up with you Petey?" James asked.

"Nothing." He said, but the skip in his step was noticed.

"Something happened, and you're not allowed to leave the three of us until you say what."

"So you two still trying out for Quidditch?" he asked Sirius and James.

"Yeah… Why?" James asked.

"I have a date to your first game." He said nonchalantly.

"No way! Who?" The trio inquired to their friend.

"Anna."

"She said words to you? Actual words? I thought she only talked to her roommates." Sirius said.

Peter explained the whole story, added emphasis on her reaction to him.

"So what you're saying is… You became a girl to get a girl?" James asked making Sirius chuckle.

"Shut up James, at least I can get the girl I'm after." Peter said. James glared, but it was very clear Peter had one, so he didn't make any move to attack.

Alice stalked around the grounds grumbling, waiting for Remus, the other one who'd been assigned this mission. To meet Callidora.

"Al." Remus called out to his friend. "Over here." Alice walked over to him. "I hate people. Why did she assign me to this? I hate people." Alice muttered to Remus, but he patted her back.

"You might like Callidora. For all you know she'll give you your first muggle book."

"Too late, Mary gave me 'Alice in Wonderland' and Marlene gave me a book about cats." She said. She immediately decided she hated this Callidora.

"Well, be nice to her Als."

"You don't tell me what to do Rem." She said, but she would mind her manners. Because she was certain Remus would kill her if she didn't.

"Callidora Malkin." A fairly pretty girl said walking up to them. She didn't do anything, except say she was Callidora Malkin. Alice noted she smelled of cigarette smoke and something she couldn't put a name on.

"I'm Alice and this is Remus and we will be your tour guides today. How does it feel to transfer to Hogwarts?"

Callidora said nothing, but shrugged her shoulders. "Alright." Said Alice, keeping it moving she grabbed Remus and they walked to the first place Alice thought of. "This is the Great Hall. We eat here. What house're you in?" Alice asked. Callidora pulled out her tie, yellow and black. "Alright Huffs eat over there." She said pointing to the Hufflepuff table. She didn't know how this kid was a Hufflepuff, she smelled like smoke and didn't talk. Alice continued to walk and went to the kitchens. She pointed out the Hufflepuff common room, then Remus told Callidora she'd have to ask someone else where it was because Alice was a Gryffindor and not supposed to know where other common rooms were, even though she did. She walked around and showed Calli every place she liked and Remus would allow.

"Okay, go find someone to take you to your common room." Alice said.

"Als, make the girl feel welcome." Remus hissed.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." She said, but Callidora hadn't said anything. She walked off, looking back, as if she was memorizing their faces, remembering them for another day.

"Freak." Alice muttered when she was totally gone.

"Who're you calling a freak?" Narcissa, the fourth year Black asked, standing by her was Calisto Black and Alec Mulciber.

"Well… You for starters." She said.

"Don't make fun of Narcissa pipsqueak." Alec warned. Alice glared at him, remembering her hair being jerked.

"Well, don't give me a reason to make fun of her." She warned. Alec began nearing Alice, but Remus, stood between the two.

"Don't mess with Alice." He warned.

"And what're you gonna do if I mess with her?" he asked, amused by the nerdy Gryffindor's sudden bravery.

"Well I…" Remus stopped for a moment. He couldn't expose his secret here and now. Not like this.

He didn't have to though, because Alec punched at his jaw. Alice, kicked Alec who fell, and grabbed Remus and the two ran and didn't stop till the Gryffindors got to their common room.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Fine Als. Why do they keep bugging us?" he pondered.

"Well, we're easy targets because we're smaller, and the two of us aren't really husky, you know? And because I broke up with Taylor and he's a controlling fuck." Remus gasped a little at the swear word. Girls didn't swear.

"And probably because of the hallway." He said.

"Probably." Alice said. She inspected Remus for damaged. "Does this hurt?" she asked, touching the part of his face Alec had punched him. He whimpered a little. "It'll bruise no date. If it wasn't on your face, no one would be able to tell because of all the bruises and scars you have already." She said.

"Why'd you run?" he asked. "You're Alice. You never run."

"I run sometimes." She said quickly. She didn't want to get into why she had run, because she wanted to pretend she didn't put out to be as brave as she thought she was.

"Not that I can think of."

"I do."

"Well why?" he asked.

She sighed. "Because it hurt like fuck to get my hair pulled." She told him. Remus chuckled. "What?"

"Just big bad Alice is afraid of some hair pulling."

"I outta pick you up by your hair."

"Please don't." he said. "Well if it's not that bad, I'd like to refrain from going to the nurse." Once a month was bad enough for him.

"Sure." Alice said.

"Thanks. Let's go find Potter and the Idiots."

"That sounds like a boy band."

Alice and Remus walked over to the boys' dorm, and Remus gave Alice a piggy back riding, figuring out long ago that this was a way to avoid a slide down.

"What happened to you Rem?" Sirius asked.

"Did Alice punch you?" Peter asked.

"Why would you assume it was me?" Alice demanded.

"Sorry Miss Alice ma'am." Peter said, emphasizing his faux fear.

"Well if it wasn't 'Miss Alice ma'am' then who?" James asked.

"Alec and Narcissa and Calisto."

"To be fair, Alec was the only fighter." Alice added. "Remus got hit and being outnumbered and overpowered, I grabbed him and ran." Alice explained, hiding her real reason. Remus quirked his eyebrow, but didn't expose her secret.

"Good thinking. Because if your face looked like Remus' you'd stop passing school."

"It's not bad." Remus said, thoroughly convinced it wasn't.

"Well… Okay Rem."

"So Als did you hear?" Sirius asked, changing the subject. "Someone has himself a girlfriend."

"You?"

"No. Petey. He's going at it with Annabelle."

"Really?" Alice turned to Peter, walked over to him and leaned down (he was sitting, luckily), warning "If you make her cry, you'll cry." She said, then skipped back where she was, make everyone laugh. "Where's Frank?" she asked.

"Why?"

"I need to bother him." She said.

"He's in the bathroom, showering." James said.

"Oh, tell him I'll be looking for him later." She said. "James, help me out." She said. She hoped on his back, and they walked out together. James said goodbye when she got off the stairs, and Alice went to go sneak some food before curfew.

Alice had been out by herself many times before, but not since the break up.

"Hey there." A tall Slytherin said, pinning her to a wall.

"Put me down or I'll hex you." Alice warned.

"Hey, hey Alice there, I'm not here to hurt you." Alec Mulciber promised. "There's no one around, and I just had to tell you how cute you are." He said.

"Well… I'll be off then." She said moving out of his grasp.

"So heard you and baby Rosier broke up." The third year said.

"Your point?"

"You're cute. I'm hot. Let's have sex."

Alice never considered this an option. She was fucking twelve. That didn't stop her from doing a lot of things… And sex… With her enemy?

But why call him an enemy? He was just a guy who hated her and her friends… And wanted…

"One deal. You can't mess with Remus or Frank or James okay?" she said.

"Alright. Off limits. I'm straight anyway."

"No, I mean hurt them."

"As long as I don't, we fuck?" he asked. She nodded. "Good. Alright, start stripping." He said.

Alice was confused. "In the hall?" she asked.

"We can do it in the class." He said.

"Um… Okay." She heard when people had sex, it was sensual. It was like every part of you was loved. He dragged her into the classroom, and sat her on the desk. He quickly took of her clothes.

As she said before, Alice always heard sex was sensual and beautiful. But the truth was, sex hurt. Or it did this time. She was crying through most of it, though she did as she was told. It wasn't rape, but she wasn't enjoying this at all. Not even because who she was with. He came up to her and asked her for it. She him promise, then said yes.

The truth was she would have even if he said no to her promise.

When they finished for the first of many night sneaking around, he and she agreed to hate eachother by day and make love by night. Like super heroes, but with sex.

Alice pulled out her wand and Alec taught her a spell a girl he had been with showed him to fix themselves up. And Alice used it and looked fine, but smelled of sex.

"And just so we're clear, we're not dating. You can fuck who you want." Alec said.

"I was hoping weren't dating." Alice told him, in a tinier voice. "Why me?" she asked.

"Why you what? Why'd I come up to you? Because you're a virgin. And you just broke up with a boy. And you're easy. Now run along pipsqueak." So she did.

"Al, there you are. I was looking for you." Frank said. She couldn't help but be over come by immense guilt. Because Frank would hate her if he found out. She didn't want Frank or James or Remus or Mary or anyone to hate her.

"Alice is right here!" he called out to someone and Mary and Marlene grinned and hugged her. "Alice, we've been looking all over for you." Marlene said.

"Als, there you are!" Lily said, running in. She was followed by Anna, who huffed quietly.

"Alice, did you hear about Peter and Anna. They're so cute together!" Mary told her.

"I heard." She said.

"I want them to stay together. Inbreed dating for our group kid get awkward if anyone breaks it off and I just like them together so much." Mary said. "Of course I also think Lily should just say yes to Potter, because he's so embarrassed with his crush and…" Mary kept rambling about her couplings and what not. Alice ignored her, feeling guilty. But she wanted to do it again, because in those brief minutes she and the undesirable Alec stayed together after sex, they were nice. Not because it was Alec, but because he pretended to care about her. Just long enough that they wouldn't get caught. And it was nice.

"Alice, you sweating, are you okay?" Frank asked.

"Al, do you need water?" Mary asked, finally shutting up about how much she'd put on James and Lily getting together.

"I'm fine." She said.

"Kay… Well…" Behind him something crashed, and four boys laughed.

"Nice one Peter."

"Great job." Alice heard the familiar sound of four boys pranking.

"Got the chocolate frogs?" James asked. "Filch had a whole supply of them.

"Damn, gave me a heart attack!" Marlene said.

"You guys are like… Like Marauders or something." Lily said.

"Mar-whaters?" Mary asked.

"Marauders. They take people's stuff." Remus told Mary.

"If we're Marauders you guys are… FEMALE MARAUDERS!" Peter exclaimed. "And Frank."

"I think I'd like to be kept out of that." Annabelle said quietly.

"Me too if it's FEMALE MARAUDERS… And Frank." Frank told Peter.

"Okay. Marauders, Female Marauders, Frank and Annabelle." Sirius said.

"You guys are ridiculous." Lily said, Remus echoing her sentiments.

Sirius, Mary, James and Alice all looked at eachother. "We know."

"Right!" Peter said.

"General acceptance." Marlene told everyone.