Another chapter for you, my lovely readers

Chapter 21

Everything passed very quickly. Alicia danced a lot with Mitch. At first it was a bit awkward but after a while she got used to it. She started to enjoy herself so much she did not count the glasses that Alan and other people she had met gave her.

She danced and laughed with Alan. For the first time she could really have fun without having to act cool.

At Hogwarts she had a reputation to think of, but here nobody knew her.

Alicia made friends with Jason, the guy who had organised the party, Marc, Paul and many other boys. It was strange but Alicia didn't find any female friends. They didn't seem to like her much.

Alicia drank one more glass. Alan was holding another one for her.

Everything blurred in front of her and she lost completely control herself.

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The next morning, Alicia woke up with a horrible headache. She groaned. What the hell had happened? She couldn't remember anything from the night before. Only that she had laughed a lot.

Alicia went into the bathroom. She felt sick.

As she looked at herself in the mirror, she got a shock. She looked a sight. Her make-up was smeared all over her face, her hair was sticking on every side of her face and she had big circles under her eyes.

Alicia splashed some water on her face to try to clear her mind. She concentrated very hard to remember.

She went back into her bedroom and kicked angrily into the box of puzzle on the floor.

Alicia had a bad feeling about this. She knew she had drunk far too much. Alicia had never gotten drunk but she knew that she had probably lost control of her actions.

And it scared her.

She looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It was ten o'clock in the morning. Why wasn't Mitch knocking on the door, surprising her with new adventures?

Maybe he had slept late as well. Maybe he was tired.

Or maybe she had done something bad the night before.

Alicia had to know. She jumped into the shower, and ten minutes later she was already outside, her wet hair dripping on her shoulders.

She knocked on the door of the Perkins. It wasn't Mitch who answered. It was his mother. She gasped as she saw Alicia's state.

"I'm sorry, she quickly excused herself, but dear you don't look well!"

"Yeah, I know. Is Mitch here?"

Mitch appeared at the doorstep only a few seconds later. His face was dark. He looked tired as well.

"What do you want?" He snapped.

Alicia was taken aback by his cold voice. Again, she wondered what she could have possibly done. She dreaded Mitch's answer but she had to know.

"I can't remember anything that happened last night and I need to know if I did anything wrong." Alicia said.

Mitch smirked but not in nice way. He looked disgusted and somehow disappointed.

"You look a mess, Alicia, go back home." Mitch said.

His cold tone only annoyed Alicia and she did not budge an inch.

"Mitch, what have I done?" Alicia asked in a very high voice. She was panicking.

Mitch sighed. He closed the door behind him.

"Come on, I don't want my mum to hear us. She thinks very highly of you and I don't want that to be changed."

Alicia followed Mitch out on the street. They sat down in exact the same spot where they had first met exactly four years ago.

"I'm really ashamed of you, Mitch began, I never thought you would act like that. You always pretend to be cool but you can't even see the limit. I had told my friends about you and how great you are. Now they all think I only like you because you're easy."

"What have I done?" Alicia asked once again. When was Mitch going to answer? It was cruel to make her wait like that.

And then, Alicia's memory began to work again. She saw herself in the garden. Someone was coming to her. It was Alan. He approached her and …

"Oh my god! Alicia gasped her hand flying to her mouth.

Mitch only nodded.

"Yep."

"Oh my god! I kissed Alan!" Alicia shrieked.

She touched her lips and tried to remember what it had felt like. She had never kissed anyone in her whole life. She had always thought the first time would be special. And now she had ruined everything by getting drunk. Alicia would never have kissed Alan if her brain hadn't been confused by alcohol. It wasn't that she found Alan repulsive. On the contrary he was quite handsome in his own kind of way, but Alicia had always thought her first kiss would be with someone else.

"Yeah and you agreed to go out with him." Mitch said. He was suddenly very interested in his feet.

"Oh, no!" Alicia cried again. She covered her face with her hands. She really had ruined everything.

Alicia thought of Emma's puzzle. One mistake and you destroy the whole puzzle.

But Dumbledore had taught Alicia something as well, hadn't he?

"Look Mitch, Alicia said taking a deep breath, I didn't mean to get so drunk. I guess it was all so much easier with a bit of alcohol. I was lost. Please, Mitch, don't be mad."

"Well …"

"I'm sorry, Mitch." Alicia said. She had said it. It had come naturally to her lips. She had not planned it like the last time.

Mitch's face softened.

"I know I should have kept an eye on you, he said, but I got carried away as well and I left you alone with Jason. He's not the kind of guy you can trust. He always puts something weird in your glass."

"Oh god, you must think I'm very ignorant but my friends are different from your friends and I was nervous around your friends: once I had a glass in my hand it was so easy to get along with a crowd of strangers." Alicia tried to explain herself.

"Yeah, I understand." Mitch said and took Alicia's hand.

They said nothing for a while. And then something occurred to Alicia.

"Mitch, were you angry with me because I got drunk or because I kissed Alan?" She asked.

Mitch let go of her hand and frowned.

"Because you got drunk, he said, why would I care if you kissed a guy?"

"I don't know." Alicia said although her face had turned bright red.

"I told you I brought you there as a friend." Mitch said. He looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I know."

There was silence. After a while they both went home.

Alicia knocked into Beverly on her way to her room.

"How was your super night with Mitch?" Beverly wanted to know.

Alicia pushed her aside grumpily. She really wasn't in a mood. She wanted to lock herself in her room as soon as possible.

Once in her room, Alicia searched into her dustbin and found the brown letter.

Why don't you remind people that Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin used to be friends?

Alicia decided to think of that for a moment. It took her mind of the disaster from the night before.

Soon Alicia found herself a new project. It was going to be hard, but she was going to try to make it work.

Alicia decided she would try to turn the Slytherins and Gryffindor into friends once she got back to school.

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Alicia was sitting outside in the garden all by herself. It was the first time that Mitch didn't spend his Sunday with her. He had accepted Alicia's apology but Alicia felt as if something had changed in their friendship once again.

Beverly came to see Alicia.

"You don't look well." She said simply.

"Yeah, well last night was like …"

"Crap, yeah, it's written all over your face, Beverly interrupted, now tell me what happened."

"I kissed a guy." Alicia sighed.

"Oops, who?" Beverly grinned.

"Alan Smith. He's a wizard as well."

"What? But he's in my year! I went out with him before Liam and I got together!" Beverly cried. She couldn't believe it. She knew Alan well and he wasn't the kind of guy who got interested in Slytherins. But then again, Alicia's beauty could blind him of the fact that she was not an angel.

The two cousins talked about the party. Alicia found herself confiding everything in her cousin.

Beverly lit up a cigarette.

"Oh, no, don't do that!" Alicia said. It reminded her too much of the smell of the party. And she really didn't need to be reminded of it.

"What? Muggles do it all the time." Beverly shrugged. She leaned against the wall of the house and breathed in the smoke.

"Yeah, but it's not good for your lungs." Alicia said making a face.

"I don't care. Madam Pomfrey can cure me any day."

"She's getting old." Alicia said.

"Whatever, Beverly snapped, now there is something I have to ask you. Have you ever wondered if Mitch has done it yet?

Alicia frowned. She did not see what Beverly was talking about.

"Done what?"

"Sex, of course, you idiot." Beverly said blowing smoke in Alicia's face.

Alicia went bright red. This wasn't the kind of thing she talked about, especially not to Beverly. She had often wondered this exact same thing but she had never dared ask Mitch.

"I don't know. We don't talk about this stuff with Mitch." Alicia said truthfully.

Beverly laughed. She looked so confident with herself, so sure of her good looks. Alicia wished she would just leave her alone.

"Oh my sweet little virgin," Beverly said and smirked. It was fun to torture Alicia like this.

Alicia said nothing. What was there to say? Beverly knew that Alicia had no experience in guys, and she was doing this on purpose. For the first time Alicia wondered if Mitch had had a lot of girlfriends during the three years she had missed.

"Why are you asking me that?" Alicia asked.

"Well, I thought you should be prepared. I saw the way Mitch looked at you yesterday." Beverly said.

"We're not going out, Beverly." Alicia said sighing.

Beverly raised her eyebrows. She did not seem to believe her.

"Yeah, right!" she snorted.

Alicia shook her head desperately. It was all so complicated all of a sudden. It had been so simple to be happy before. But once again the clouds took away Alicia's sun of happiness.

"I'm not going out with Mitch. I'm going out with Alan." Alicia corrected her cousin.

"What's your problem? Just break up with Alan." Beverly said as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

"I can't, Alicia cried angrily, Alan is a very close friend of Mitch's!"

Beverly stopped smiling. She turned out her cigarette and looked closely at her cousin.

"Welcome to my world." She whispered.

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Alicia was waiting for the train on the platform nine and three quarters. She watched the crowd around her, all waiting for the train that would lead them back to Hogwarts.

She especially looked at the Slytherins and at the Gryffindors.

It would teach them all so much if she managed to make peace between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Alicia liked the idea of being known in the world as the girl who had buried the hate between the houses.

Suddenly someone wrapped his arms around Alicia from behind. She knew immediately who it was.

"Hello, Alan." Alicia forced a smile as she turned around. Now was the time to break up with him.

But Alan was a Gryffindor. He could be useful.

So when Alan bent down to kiss her, Alicia did not push him away.

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It was nice to be back. Alicia had been so busy with Mitch she had not realised how much she had missed her friends. It was only when she hugged Elisabeth tightly that she felt it in her heart.

It was good to see them again.

Of course they all wanted to know about Morla. Alicia could not tell them the truth. She told Morla had left them for ever, and they should forget her.

Elisabeth was the only who knew that Alicia was lying. Something had happened in McGonagall's office that Alicia was hiding.

Elisabeth nodded to her best friend, as if to signal her that her secret was safe.

Peter Parkinson was stunned when he heard that Alan Smith and Alicia were going out. He had hoped so much that he would be Alicia's boyfriend. Elisabeth felt disappointed for him.

He wasn't the only one surprised.

Everyone in Hogwarts stared at the new couple. They couldn't believe that Alicia chose her boyfriend in the house of the great lion.

Soon new rumours appeared. People said Alicia had saved Alan from the monster.

Alicia was used to the whispers about her, but Alan wasn't. He felt uncomfortable every time he heard his name in a conversation.

Alan went every morning to the Slytherin table and ate with Alicia. It was weird at first but soon he got used to it.

"Hello, my little princess." Alan said grinning as he approached his girlfriend that morning.

Alicia smiled at him and motioned for him to sit down next to her.

As Alan kissed her, Alicia thought of Emma's puzzle. She hoped she was not making another mistake.

A/N: I bet you all hate Alan right now .