Auhor's Notes: I go between liking this chapter and hating it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter two.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related whatnot belongs to JK Rowling.

Part I: Chapter Three

1965

Jacob sat in the empty common room. It was late, but he couldn't sleep. The memory of that day kept invading his mind. Jacob closed his eyes, trying to forget. He couldn't. He couldn't forget. How close had he come to saying avada kedavra? He had been dangerously close; he had been frighteningly close to taking a life. To killing someone. He had been seconds away from becoming a murderer.

He remembered the surge of anger that he had felt when Bartholomew had told his family that he had cursed Katherine. Jacob had never felt anything like it before. In that instant, all he had thought about was his little sister being hurt because of that ridiculously short man. Jacob had wanted him dead. Katherine would be safe that way. Jacob had grabbed his wand and had been seconds away from killing Bartholomew Bagshot.

Jacob hated himself for that. He hated that he had almost become a killer. Prior to this, Jacob had thought that he knew himself pretty well, but he had obviously been mistaken. He had no idea that he would ever be filled with the desire to kill someone. That made him worse than Bartholomew, didn't it?

Yes, it did. It really did. When Jacob thought about it, Bartholomew hadn't been one hundred per cent culpable when it came to his actions. That didn't mean that Jacob could condone what the man had done, but it had eventually become clear to Jacob that Bartholomew had been so influenced by Grindelwald. It was clear that Bartholomew had been so fixated on fulfilling his cousin's last wish that he had not realize that his actions were wrong. He hadn't realized that, yet Jacob had tried to kill him. He had been aware that saying avada kedavra would end Bartholomew's life, but he hadn't cared. He had wanted Bartholomew to die. He wondered how he was supposed to live with himself after that.

Duke Boipelo sat pensively in the library, hidden from sight behind stacks of books and bookshelves. He was glad he was alone; he hated being upset in front of other people. It was a side of himself that he would rather keep private.

He was feeling sad that day. He missed her. He hated that he was so upset about one single person. He wanted to be strong enough on his own; he didn't want to depend on another person for happiness.

He thought about it. He wasn't falling apart over this, he reassured himself. He was still functioning as he always had. He wasn't slacking on any of his prefect duties, and his marks were higher than they had ever been.

But he did miss her; he couldn't deny that. There was something about her that he quite liked. They rarely talked anymore, going about their prefect duties in complete silence.

He would love things to go back to the way before. There was nothing he wouldn't give to be in a relationship with her again. That wasn't what she wanted, though; he respected her far too much to pressure her into something that she didn't want. That left him in the library, alone with his feelings. He was in the library all alone, longing for Alice.

"Jake?" Gideon asked.

"Yes?" Jacob replied.

"I'm worried about you."

"Why?" Jacob asked, playing stupid. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk about what was on his mind. In fact, he wanted very much to get it off of his chest, but he hadn't brought the subject up with anyone yet. It was almost as if he was trying to punish himself by keeping his feelings locked in his mind.

"You act like something's bothering you."

"Nothing's bothering me, Gid," Jacob lied.

"Right," Gideon didn't look convinced, "Well, smile, at least. Everyone's raving about the new issue of The Quill."

Jacob smiled half-heartedly.

Minerva instructed her Gryffindor and Ravenclaw fifth years to get into pairs and practice what they had just learned. Duke scanned the room, looking for someone to work with. Everyone else had seemingly already found a partner. Rose Savant made eye contact with him, and he nodded. He walked over to her desk.

"You can go first if you'd like," Duke offered. Rose was a Ravenclaw prefect, and Duke had always considered her to be a rather nice girl.

Rose successfully preformed the transformation. Seconds later, so did Duke.

Duke had been thinking about the dance that the Slug Club was sponsoring. The date was approaching rather quickly. Duke hadn't asked anyone yet, but he planned to. He needed to forget about Alice. The memory of their relationship had really been eating Duke up inside, and he knew that it would never happen again. Saturday's dance would be a perfect opportunity to make new friendships. Perhaps it would be an ample opportunity to make even more than that. He knew that if he was ever going to forget about Alice, this would be the first step indeed.

"Rose?"

"Yes, Duke?"

"Were you planning to attend the Slug Club dance this Saturday?" As a prefect, she would have been invited.

Rose nodded, "Are you going?"

"Yes," Duke replied, "Do you think that perhaps…would you like to go together?"

Rose looked surprised. Then she looked uncertain. She thought for a moment. She finally said, with an ounce of hesitation in her voice, "Alright."

Duke smiled, "Then it's a date. I'll meet you in front of the Ravenclaw common room at six forty-five sharp."

"Alice?" Molly asked a few days later. It was Saturday, and the two girls were in the dormitory, getting ready for the Slug Club dance, "What do people usually wear to these things?"

"Clothes," Alice responded good-naturedly.

"Alice."

"Sorry, Moll," Alice thought for a second, "The pink top would be nice."

"Thanks," Molly rummaged through her trunk, looking for that particular piece of clothing.

About ten minutes later, the two met Arthur and the rest of their friends and headed towards Slughorn's classroom. They arrived and entered. They were neither late nor the first ones there.

Soon enough, everyone else arrived and the dancing began. Alice stood near the refreshment table, one of the few people not dancing. Molly and Arthur were happily moving together. Greta and Benjy danced; Alice knew that the two weren't a couple, just good friends. Jacob and Gideon were in a corner, talking. It was then that Alice noticed Duke and Rose Savant dancing together.

Alice felt about five emotions all at once. Since when were they a couple? Maybe they weren't a couple. No, Alice thought. The way they danced reminded her of Molly and Arthur rather than Benjy and Greta. She resisted the urge to openly glare at Rose. She and Duke weren't together anymore. They hadn't been together for nearly five months. They hadn't been together for four and a half months, but it seemed like yesterday that Duke had told her that they could take the universe apart and put it together again, since he had kissed her. Had it really been that long?

"Hi," A cheerful Fabian Prewett interrupted her thoughts, joining her by the table.

She smiled, "Hi."

Fabian was Molly's bother, a seventh year who was the oldest of the Prewett siblings. Fabian was well liked by everyone in Molly and Gideon's circle of friends, but didn't spend much time with them. There was no animosity between them at all, however.

"You know," he said, "It's a shame that both a prefect and the quiditch captain of Gryffindor aren't dancing. Shall we?"

Alice smiled. "Sure."

They moved towards the center of the room and began to sway back and forth.

"How have you been?" Alice asked Fabian.

"Oh, fine," Fabian replied, "Just contemplating the fact that I'll be leaving Hogwarts in a few weeks. How're you?"

"Alright."

"Don't watch them," Fabian advised, seeing Alice's eyes dart towards Duke and Rose, "It'll just make it worse."

"I wasn't -" Alice protested.

"Yes you were. Alice, I know how you feel. When Clara and I broke up last year, it felt as if my world was about to end. I really missed her. We were apart for awhile, but eventually things worked out in our favor and now we're back together. In a way it was almost a good thing that we split up for a bit; it showed us that we were perfectly capable of functioning without each other."

Alice nodded.

"I guess what I'm telling you," Fabian continued, "is don't give up hope. There are other fish in the see, but it's possible that you and Duke might get back together. Either way, you're strong enough and will be fine whatever the outcome of the situation. But some things are just apparent to me, like the fact that my brother loves your brother…do you love him, Alice?"

"I do. I think I do."

"Then go to him. You'll never know if you two have a future together if you don't talk to him about it."

Later that night, Duke stepped outside of Professor Slughorn's classroom. Alice noticed this and decided to follow him. She hadn't forgotten what Fabian had told her. She opened the door and stepped outside of the classroom. It was now or never.

"Hi," she said, getting Duke's attention.

"Hello Alice. I just stepped outside to get a bit of fresh air."

"Yeah, it was getting stuffy in there."

Duke nodded, "So is that why you're here, too?"

"Not exactly," Alice took a deep breath, "There's something I have to tell you, and it's probably a terrible time to do so, seeing as you and Rose seem to be, um…"

"Nothing's serious with Rose yet," Duke replied, "We're not really an item."

"Even though I was the one who ended things between us," Alice continued, "My feelings for you never changed. I hated the fact that it seemed necessary to be away from you. But now I see…I think we could make it work. We're both smart; we can make it work. What I'm asking you is, do you want to give things between us another try?"

"I never stopped feeling the way I do about you, either," Duke said, "But Alice…if things didn't work out, I don't know if I want to go through another break up again. It felt as if I had you before, and then I lost you. Losing you hurt so much."

Alice's face fell.

"I'm not saying no yet," Duke added earnestly, "I just have to think about it. I just need to think."

...and there you have it. Anyone who can predict Duke's answer gets a gold star.

Oh! And anyone who noticed that Rose has the same last name as The Professor from The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles gets two gold stars, with sparkles and flashing lights and everything. It's 1:00 AM here, and I'm probably going to reread that sentence tomorrow afternoon and realize how crazy it sounds.