Alice and Frank

A/N: HELLO MY LOVELY READERS! As always, I do not own the characters, the quote, or the song. The characters belong to Goddess JK Rowling. The quote was found on Google. The song is Just A Kiss by Lady Antebellum. ENJOY!

True love begins when nothing is looked for in return

The Longbottom and Stevens families had been friends for generations. Naturally when both families had children in 1960 the two children were bound to be good friends. But no one could have possibly predicted how close of a bond the two would form as they grew up.

Alice Stevens had grown up with Frank Longbottom. They were best friends and had been for as long as Alice could remember. Frank's parents saw Alice as their daughter like Alice's parents saw Frank as a son. The two shared everything, their secrets, their childhood moments and their first kiss.

It was the week before the two went to Hogwarts for the first time. The families were having their weekly dinner at the Stevens manor. Alice and Frank had gone up to Alice's room after dinner like they always did. Alice started to say something when Frank leaned forward and kissed her softly. Alice kissed him back and pulled away after a minute.

"Sorry, Ali. I've wanted to do that for years now. I…" Frank stuttered, blushing.

"It's ok. It was nice, Frank." Alice whispered going to sit on her bed.

"Yeah, it was." Frank whispered looking at Alice.

When the two arrived at school, Alice was petrified that they would be placed in different houses. Frank went before her and was placed into Gryffindor immediately. Alice was one of the last students to be sorted and was nervous the entire time until her name was called. But she needn't have worried. The minute the hat touched her blonde hair it yelled.

"GRYFFINDOR"

Alice breathed a sigh of relief and slipped into the spot beside Frank with a red head girl beside her.

"Hi, I'm Alice." Alice held her hand out to the girl.

"Lily." The girl whispered shyly.

"First year too?" Frank asked kindly looking around Alice.

"Yes. I'm a muggle born." Lily said.

"I'm Frank. You and Ali here will be in the same dorm. She'll look after you." Frank smiled kindly at Lily who smiled back.

As it turned out Lily and Alice had beds next to each other and Lily seemed very grateful. She told Alice that her best and only friend was placed in Slytherin. Alice assured Lily that she and Frank would be her friends. Lily shyly thanked her and the two went to bed.

Over the years, Alice, Lily and Frank became inseparable. Lily introduced Severus to Alice and Frank the first day of class but Severus seemed strangely wary to be friends with anyone but Lily and his housemates. But Lily liked Alice and Frank. Over the summers Lily would meet up with Alice and Frank in Diagon Ally and they would all do their school shopping together. After the school shopping Lily would go back to London while Alice and Frank went back to their homes. Alice and Frank were closer than ever, but Alice was happy to finally have a girlfriend to talk to.

Frank was the odd one out in his dormitory. The other four boys had formed a group the minute they entered the school. But Frank wasn't resentful, he had Alice and Lily. In their fifth year, Lily seemed much more tense the usual. She confided in Alice and Frank that her friendship with Severus was falling apart. When Alice questioned Lily more, Lily said she suspected that he was a Death Eater or that he was planning to become one shortly after graduation.

Lily was right on both counts. After Lily ended her friendship with Severus, she was bedridden for the remainder of the school year. Alice and one of the other girls, Mary McDonald acted as Lily's nursemaids and her shoulders to cry on.

Frank noticed that his feelings towards Alice were changing during the summer before their sixth year. She was maturing visually as much as he was. At the weekly get-togethers he starred at Alice more than doing anything else. Lily, who was staying with Alice for the summer, pulled Frank aside one day.

"Why do you keep staring at Ali? It's getting kind of creepy." Lily said looking up at him.

"When did she grow up? She's a woman now…" Frank muttered looking out of the window at Alice, who was chatting to his mother.

"Frank, she's maturing. It happens to everyone. I've matured this summer too. She's always been curvier then me, so it's more noticeable with her." Lily said patiently, taking Frank's hand.

"But…. She did this overnight!" Frank sputtered. Lily smiled.

"You like her, don't you? As in you want to date her…" Lily said with humor.

"Yeah, I think I do…" Frank sighed looking down at Lily.

"Tell her. I won't." Lily kissed Frank's cheek and left him there to think about what she had said.

Alice, in the meantime, had always liked Frank. Since her first kiss with him. She couldn't bear the thought of him rejecting her however, so she said nothing to him and painfully remained his best friend. She did tell Lily though, who told her that she had known it for months and that Alice should tell Frank.

Sixth year passed with lots of tension between Alice and Frank because both wanted to tell the other how they felt, but both feared rejection and that they would lose their sixteen year friendship. Lily snickered inwardly at her two friends who were both completely blind to how the other felt towards them. Lily had been told by both families that they were waiting with baited breath to plan the wedding and assured Lily that she would be the Maid of Honor

Summer after sixth year, tragedy struck. Lily's parents were killed in a drunk driving accident leaving Lily homeless and heartbroken at the loss of her parents and the fact that her older sister hated her. Alice once again acted as Lily's shoulder to cry on. The silver lining to the dark summer was Lily's appointment to Head Girl.

Seventh year arrived with lots of fear of the approaching war. Alice, Frank, and Lily were all prepared to start Auror training after their approaching exams. It was November when the tension between Alice and Frank finally broke.

The pair had been in the library, studying while Lily worked on head business with James Potter. As Alice and Frank were walking back to the common room, Frank yanked Alice into a hidden niche needing to talk to her.

"Frank…?" Alice said looking up at him.

Frank kissed Alice hard, pulling her to him. He growled as Alice kissed him back, just as hard. Alice broke away to breathe.

"Sorry…" Frank started, but Alice yanked him back to her and kissed him again passionately. Frank hissed and wrapped his arms around Alice, pulling her against him as he kissed her back.

"Why the hell haven't we been doing this for the last two years?" Alice whimpered as Frank pulled her even closer to him as he kissed and nibbled down her neck.

"No fucking clue. You talk too much." Frank snarled going back to kissing Alice's lips. The two continued kissing fiercely until they heard a cough and laughing. They broke apart to see James smiling at them as Lily laughed hysterically, doubled over with the laughter.

"You two do know that there are broom closets for this activity, right?" James smirked as Lily continued to laugh.

"That's too cliché. I want to be original." Frank said flippantly holding Alice close to him.

"Get back to your tower, smartarse." James said still smirking.

"Yes, sir." Frank saluted James and pulled Alice away.

Once they were inside the common room, he smiled down at Alice.

"I love you." Frank said, kissing her hand.

"Good. Because I've loved you since our very first kiss six years ago. I've been waiting for you." Alice smiled up at him.

"We are still going to be friends, right? I mean, we're dating now but I don't want to lose our great friendship." Frank said softly.

"Yes." Alice said simply.

Frank leaned down and kissed Alice once more.

"Goodnight." Alice breathed pulling away.

"Sweet dreams, love." Frank smiled and the two parted to their staircases.

Just a shot in the dark that you just might
be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
so baby I'm alright, with just a kiss goodnight