Chapter Twenty-One,

Year Four

"No Alice, you can't go."

"But dad!" Alice yelled at her father – her real/ Adoptive one, "All of my friends are going and the Weasleys said I could stay there for the rest of the holidays even!"

Alice was undoubtedly annoyed with her father. All she wanted was to go, and he was being unrightfully stubborn. Alice swore that sometimes her father was more stubborn then she was – and considering who she was, this was saying something.

"No! I refuse! I'm not letting my daughter go to... whatever it is, with those... Unnatural magical freaks!" Her dad yelled back his face gaining a more pinkish colour. It was very disturbing actually, it reminded Alice of a fish.

"I'm one of those freaks!" Alice shot back bitterly.

After Alice had gotten back from Hogwarts things had been a little tense between her and her parents. Alice had known that her parents hated magic but she hadn't fully realised their extent of the hatred. She didn't know what had set them off; she had never really been treated badly by her parents but at the mention of the Quidditch world cup...

The Weasleys had invited Alice to go to the world cup with them, Harry and Hermione had been invited to go as well. So far, her dad hadn't been very co-operative and her mother avoided her at all costs since the conversation they had on her first night home.

When she had gotten home, Alice had wanted to know more about her biological parents after finding out so much at school. This appeared to be the wrong idea. They had flown into shock when Alice asked about her parents and they insisted that Alice was theirs. Alice had to only raise an eyebrow at that – she looked nothing like either of them. She wasn't an idiot even if it was popular belief.

When Alice mentioned that at school she had been told of her dad being Sirius Black and that her mother's name was Allison, they had lost it. Alice in all honesty had absolutely no idea what was going on – at all.

Her dad had been shouting and screaming and her mother just cried. Alice wouldn't have mentioned it if she knew that she was going to get a response like that. Alice didn't get much from her parents except the third degree. She didn't understand how mentioning her being adopted would make them act like this – like she was some sort of abdomen.

Like an alien. But that wouldn't be a good enough comparison, because aliens were cool. Alice was sure her parents would love an alien more then they liked her at the moment. She exaggerated of course, but still...

"No! You're not, Alice," Her dad growled his voice rising yet again. They had been getting into arguments almost daily about this topic. Alice wasn't actually sure how this would end. She wasn't used to not getting anything she wanted the second that she asked for it. She was a bit spoiled yes... But now she wasn't used to not getting what she wanted...

"Yes, yes I am! I am a witch, dad! I'm always going to be one! It's in my DNA!" Alice yelled back her voice gaining a few octaves.

"Alicia! I can prevent you from going to... that school! There is a freight of respectable high schools for young ladies around this area!"

Alice's eyes widened at that, he couldn't stop her from going to Hogwarts could he? Then Alice snorted at the idea of her ever being a lady. Alice was sure there were decent high schools around. But none that would take her, she was not 'a respectable young lady', she was far off it.

"You can't do that! I won't allow it!" Alice cried pointing at her father dramatically. Nick, her father, did not look at all pleased or even slightly amused.

"I'm your father! Yes I can!" He yelled back, Alice could see the fury in his face. She couldn't believe that the argument went from the cup to her not being able to finish at Hogwarts. Alice wondered what her parents had against the magical world that would make her normally calm dad act like that. Alice was berley managing to hold onto her anger... She said stupid things when she got angry.

"No you're not."

"I'm not? Not what?" He asked the fury on his face intensifying.

"My father!"

This seemed to make him get angrier. He was her father and it was a low blow but Alice was upset, she had never thought about what she said when she was upset.

"Yes, I'm more of your father than that convict!"

"No you're not! Fathers actually care about their daughters!" Alice yelled back, only meaning half of what she said. Father's did care for their daughters but that didn't mean ... Black... was her father. No way in hell.

"Alicia! Don't you dare-" He began before getting cut off by Alice.

"My name's not Alicia! It's Alice, God, that convict at least would be supportive!" There was one thing that everyone around Alice knew that pissed her off more than anything. That would be not calling her Alice.

"Get out," Her father said his voice getting dangerously low.

"What?" Alice asked her voice turning to an incredulous tone. What was the man going on about? He wasn't seriously...

"Get out! Get out of my house, go to the convict! I'm sure he can support you! OUT! GET OUT!"

~21~

Alice sat on the curb of the park exactly five blocks down from her house her trunk tucked away safely beside her.

Her owl – Blueberry, sitting on top of the trunk, he was being strangely quiet. She briefly wondered if she had dragged her owl away from his girlfriend or something and he was upset with her. Alice looked at her owl for a second and her owl stared back and gave her a hoot. Alice shrugged her shoulders – she'd make it up to him latter.

Alice sighed and turned back to the problem she had at hand. She didn't know what to do; she didn't know where she could go. Her father had just kicked her out, he kicked her out. She had never expected him in a million years to kick her out.

And now she was stranded there in the middle of the day, sitting on the curb with a trunk full of magical things and an owl that was being strangely quiet – and that she was sure that she had pissed off somehow because her owl never shut up.

She had no-where to go, well – she did have somewhere to go but she had no idea where Ron lived. He had invited her over but hadn't actually told her where he lived. Bloody idiot that Ron was, she could always send Blueberry but a response could take days to get a response back from – Alice did not have the patience required to wait.

Hermione was at Ron's already as well, and Harry was meant to go there tonight sometime. And... Wait! That was it, she could go to Harry and then she could get a ride with him to the Weasleys and stay there for the rest of the summer! She was a genius!

Alice bit her lip; the Dursleys lived about a ten minute drive away, so it would take her about half an hour to forty minutes to walk there. She didn't have much of another choice either, so she decided that that was the option she was going with. Alice sighed, why did it have to happen to her?

~21~

About forty minutes later, Alice wasn't too sure as she didn't own a watch and it seemed she would be hard pressed to even afford her new school books so she couldn't buy one either. But she should be fine by the end of the year – her parents would apologise, they always did.

When she had arrived at the Dursleys; she looked at the tidy yard of number four Private drive in silent contemplation. What if Harry had already left? Then what would she do? All her money was in Gallons and she didn't have too many of them either, she had a muggle bank account, that had quite a bit of money in it. She would have to get money out and get it transferred into Gallons to afford school – just for the year though... Her parents would get over whatever it was that had them so hard-pressed. She was sure about that.

Alice had never thought that her parents would go this far, far enough to actually kick her out. She loved her parents and she was sure that they loved her; they all just needed time to cool off. When that happened, everything would be fine. Then she could go on happily pretending that she had never found out that her parents weren't actually her parents. Yes, she had grand plans.

Alice blinked before she made her way up the pathway, her trunk trailing behind her. Hell, she was glad that her trunk had wheels... Blueberry being the good owl he was, was sitting in his cage on top of her trunk, silently. For this Alice was glad she didn't want him getting taken off her by the muggle police because he was making a racket – even if it was only because he was annoyed...

Alice could see the headlines now, 'fourteen year old homeless girl get's crazy owl taken off her and puts up a fight!' She did like her owl, and she hadn't managed to forget to feed him... mainly because Blueberry hunted for allot of his food himself. It wasn't her fault really... She just... forgot...

Alice stopped by the door and knocked, the knocking sounded way louder than it should in Alice's opinion. It was such a boring door too – the entire house was boring. Alice wished that she could do some 'renovations' to the house... That would be lots of fun... Hehehe.

The door almost imminently swung open, like someone had been standing behind it – it was the Whale, or Harry's uncle. Who looked a hell of a lot like a whale in Alice's humble opinion. She should get him a whale costume – the look on his face would be so worth it.

"Er- Alice?" He asked dumbly. His name could be Dumby the Whale.

"Yes. Mr. Dursley, I was wondering if I could see Harry Potter?"

The man's face scrunched up as if she had said something foul. Then again Harry was a very evil creature, hell bent on giving everyone fluffy bunnies... Oh the horror! "Uh, Yes... For a moment."

Alice smiled up at him, as he turned around and gestured for her to come into his house, Alice dragged her trunk and owl behind her. He led her to where Alice knew the lounge room was. Alice wondered if he even looked at her luggage...

"Is it them, Vernon? Honestly, bit early? Not that I'm complaining, the boy -" Alice heard the grating sound of Petunia's high pitched voice.

"No dear, it's Alice."

"Alice?" The women said as she came into view, "Oh dear! Are your parents with you?"

Alice shook her head slightly. "No, I came to talk to Harry."

Petunia froze, "Harry? Why would you want to talk to Harry? Dudley go get Harry would you?" She added on the end, and Alice watched as the fat boy got up from his position on the couch to presumably go get Harry.

Where ever the evil bunny giving Potter had gone off to.

Alice bit her lip, was it so bad that she wanted to talk to Harry? "We're good friends," Alice tried to explain; this caused both of the Dursleys to freeze.

"Friends, you say?" The whale said, nervously, "How'd you meet the boy anyway?"

Alice raised her eyebrow; she could see why Harry didn't like talking to them. But Alice was surprised that her... Parents hadn't mentioned that she went to school with their nephew.

"We go to the same school – Hogwarts."

Alice couldn't have anticipated their reaction; the most noticeable expression on their faces was horror. Alice blinked; it must be something to do with adults and magic. Really.

"Alice!? What are you doing here?"

Alice looked up to see Harry standing in the door way, his green eyes wide. He didn't have a bunny in sight – she would have to talk to him about that...

Alice blinked he really had grown over the holidays. He had gotten slightly taller, he was now the same height as Alice was, but he looked skinnier. His hair had grown to almost his shoulders but his hair was as messy as ever and his eyes still the prettiest green.

Alice ginned. "Came to talk to you of course, why else?"

Harry blinked and looked at her. "Why?"

Alice pouted, "Can't I come and see my best friend anymore? No? Fine, are you going to the Weasleys then?"

"Uh, yea... They're coming at five, in a few hours..."

Alice tried not to let her relief show on her face, "Cool! I'm hitching a ride with you... You know for the cup! Quidditch, brooms and stuff with shiny balls and... Chasers..."

"Sure," He said easily, "Um, do you want to wait... Uh... outside?" He finished as he eyed his relatives that looked like they wanted to explode.

"Sure," Alice said. "Um, thank you, Mr and Mrs Dursley."

Alice then followed Harry outside to their back yard, dragging her trunk with her. Harry shot her a confused look; they soon seated themselves on a clean bench. Which was odd considering it was outside.

Alice placed her trunk on the grass beside her and opened Blueberry's cage, "Fly like a bird! You've been a good boy! I want you back in a few hours... Got it? And I'm sorry about your girlfriend, okay?"

Harry shook his head at her and looked at her in the corner of his eye, a small smile playing on his face.

"So, what's with the relatives looking like they want to kill me, when I mention going to Hogwarts?" Alice asked Harry.

Harry smiled slightly sheepishly, "Hate magic my relatives do, nasty people to anyone who's got it."

Alice grimaced, another lot of magic haters huh? "I know what you mean," She muttered softly.

"No you don't," Harry grumbled.

"Yes, I do," Alice shot back; Harry raised an eyebrow in response and shrugged his shoulders before changing the subject.

"So, why are you here and not the Weasleys already?" Harry asked her.

"Ah, Ron forgot to mention where he lived..."

Harry raised his eyebrow again, "And your parents let you come here to check?"

"Do you have hordes of bunnies to give to naive children?" Alice said randomly trying to change the subject.

Harry frowned. "No, but why would I give bunnies to naive children?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders glad to have changed the subject. "It's part of your evil plot to take over the world... Didn't you know?"

Harry shook his head. "I'd more likely use dragons... They're cooler but Alice, stop changing the subject."

Alice pouted at her friend but he was unrelenting. "Not exactly..."

At this Harry frowned even deeper. "What do you mean not exactly?"

"Harry it's really boring... and... fine...They kind of... well, kicked me out?"

"What!?"

"Well, there's no need to yell Mr Potter."

~21~

"They're late!" The Whale snarled at Harry the second that they came back into the house, Blueberry was in his cage again, on top of the trunk behind Alice.

"Er- Maybe, uh, the traffic's bad or something..." Harry trailed off, as he went to sit in the lounge. Alice followed him like a lost puppy, sitting down next to him and pulled her trunk along for the ride.

"The Weasleys' own a car?" Alice muttered to Harry under her breath. "I thought it was running wild in the forbidden forest at Hogwarts?"

Harry just shrugged his shoulders. "Er- maybe they borrowed one? Hopefully..."

They waited for another half-hour; the atmosphere in the lounge room was very tense.

"No consideration at all," The Whale began to mutter to his wife. She could be a horse – she had the right facial structure... She could get a costume too. How Alice would love to see their faces if she did end up buying those outfits... What could she get the kid? Maybe a pig...

"We might have had an engagement," Petunia added on, continuing the pointless argument. "Maybe they think they'll get invited to dinner if their late."

"Well, they most certainly won't be! They'll take... Those two and go, there will be no hanging around. That's if they're coming at all, either that or they drive some tin-pot car that's broken down – AAAAAAARRRRRGH!"

Alice jumped at the sound of Harry's uncle screaming as did Harry. The two searched the room for the Whale's source of panic. Alice wished to congratulate it.

When Alice saw it she began to laugh, the Weasleys were in the fireplace, the Dursleys boarded up electric fire-place. Alice heard voice's coming from inside the fire place. Oh Merlin, how Alice loved the Weasleys...

"Ouch! Fred, no – go back, go back, there's been some kind of mistake – tell George not to – OUCH! George, no, there's no room, go back quickly and tell Ron-"

"Maybe Harry can hear us, Dad – maybe he'll be able to let us out!"

"Harry? Harry, can you hear us?"

Alice tried not to laugh; she felt that it would be a bad moment to laugh considering the Dursley's hate with the whole magic thing – it was kind of like her parents. That made her not want to laugh but then she saw peole stuck in a fireplace again... It was a bad cycle.

"Mr Weasley? Can you hear me?" Harry all but yelled at the fireplace, this made Alice want to laugh even harder.

"Shh!"

"Mr Weasley, its Harry... The fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to get though there."

"Damn," Alice heard a male voice say, "What on earth do they want to block the fireplace for?"

"They've got an electric fire," Harry tried to explain as he stifled his laughter – Harry knew that they shouldn't laugh too it seemed.

"Really?" The voice that Alice guessed belonged to Mr Weasley said with excitement. "Ecklectic, you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that... Let's think... OUCH! RON!"

"What are we doing here has something gone wrong?"

"Oh, no, Ron, no, this is exactly where we wanted to end up."

"Yeah, we're having the time of our lives here."

"Boys, boys... I'm trying to think of what to do... Yes... Only way... Stand back, Harry."

Harry imminently stood back, trying to get the furthest away from the fireplace as possible, and Alice moved towards him to hide behind him. Harry was now tall enough to hide her slightly. He wasn't taller than her but he wasn't shorter than her anymore.

He had evidently grown in the height department; Alice knew she would get taller... She would, her body was just focusing on growing in... Other areas.

Alice had never felt self conscious in her entire life, but then again that was before she started to develop curves out of nowhere on the holidays. Alice was still not self conscious, but she just hoped that everyone else had started to go though these... Changes.

BANG!

The fireplace exploded in a flash of sparks, dust and debris. It was a beautiful moment for Alice, because ever since she had first come here, she had wanted to do the same thing. After all, who wouldn't want to explode the fire place?

Who wouldn't want to explode as much as they possibly could? Exploding things was fun.

Alice noticed Ron, Fred and George tumble out of the fireplace, following a man that Alice believed to be the infamous Mr Weasley, which everyone else seemed to have met, except for her of course.

"That's better," The man said with an easy smile his gaze falling on the Whale and Petunia. "Ah – you must be Harry's aunt and uncle!"

He offered his hand to shake the Dursleys' but the two had just backed up their eyes wide – frightened. Alice's lips twitched – be afraid be very afraid!

"Er – yes – sorry about that," Mr Weasley said as he dropped his hand awkwardly to the side. "It's entirely my fault, I'm dreadfully sorry about that."

The silence was very awkward and Alice was still hiding behind Harry, Why? She would never know. But it seemed fun to her at the time.

"Hullo Harry! Got you're trunk ready?"

"It's upstairs," Harry said calmly, even though he sounded like he was resisting the urge to laugh. Alice would have laughed outright if she was Harry, but she wasn't and Harry didn't outright laugh. It was something that Alice vowed to change.

"We'll get it!" Fred said as he and George raced out of the room.

"Well," The eldest red-head began. "Very – erm – very nice place you got here."

Alice knew she shouldn't laugh at that – she knew it but it didn't stop her anyway. She burst out laughing and was finding it hard to catch her breath. It was then that the two Weasleys' realised that she was there.

"Alice?" Ron asked confusion laced in his voice.

Alice didn't respond for a second as she was trying to catch her breath, she stepped out from behind Harry. "Ron! My brother! It's me; take me with you away from this awful place!"

Ron snorted his eyes going wide as he looked at her. Alice did feel a slight bit self conscious then. Bloody red head.

"Yea, she came here earlier," Harry cut in. "Someone forgot to tell her where they lived."

Alice glanced at Harry, he sounded a bit... Annoyed? But eh! She was probably just imagining it, she did that at times.

Ron went red slightly. "Oops, ahaha, Sorry?"

Mr Weasley decided then was the right time to introduce himself, "Hello, I'm Ron's father, It's nice to meet you, Alice. He talks about you all the time."

Alice snorted and grinned at the thoughts of what he could have told his father. "Nice to meet you Mr Weasley!"

It was at that moment that Fred and George re-entered the room, their eyes fell on Alice and their evil grins intensified.

"Miss Cooper!"

"You've come for us!"

"We knew you would!"

"Master!" The two chanted together. The twins had never failed to crack Alice up, ever. She had her minions back.

~21~

"Shut up, Pig!" Ron snapped at a small looking owl as they entered his bedroom with Ginny, Harry and Hermione.

"You're in here Harry, but so are Fred and George because Bill and Charlie get their room, Percy gets his own and Alice you're with Hermione in Ginny's room," Ron explained as he flipped onto his orange bed sheets.

Alice wrinkled her nose; the Cannons were a terrible Quidditch team – they were simply awful. They had nothing on the Holiwod Harpies, or England. Alice would love to play for the Harpies, but England had the cutest players – give her a break she was still a girl.

"Er – Ron you called the owl Pig..." Harry said trailing off slightly. Alice didn't blame him, Pig was an unusual name for an owl but she still liked it – a lot. It was a cool and different name.

"Because he's stupid," Ginny cut in glaring at her older brother, "It's proper name is Pigwidgeon."

"Yeah, because that's not stupid at all..." Ron and Alice said in union, causing Ron to grin at Alice and Alice to wink at him in return.

"Ginny named him," he went on to explain. "She reckons it's sweet, and I tried to change it, but it's too late, he won't answer to anything else. So now it's Pig."

"I like the name Pig, think about it, no other owl will have that name!" Alice said with a smile on her face, gaining snorts from almost everyone in the room.

"You're poor owl is going to be so confused..." Hermione told Ron, "He's going to think he's a pig!"

"I don't think that's the issue here Hermione..." Harry deadpanned.

"Then what is the issue?" Hermione retorted.

Harry sighed. "Never mind."

Hermione had always been extremely keen on animal rights, creature rights. It was an unnerving thing for Alice; she just worried sometimes about what she would do next. She really did – maybe she would go on a house-elf rights rant... Alice shuddered, no, that would be bad. She shouldn't think of such horrors, least they become true.

"So Alice, why were you at Harry's?" Ron asked almost lazily.

Alice's eyes went wide and her gaze almost imminently sought Ginny. She would tell her friends but the girl? Alice shook her head, she was being silly. Ginny would find out soon anyway...

"It's a very long story... So in short, my parents kicked me out."

The three teenagers in the room who hadn't already known this, eyes widened dramatically.

"Huh? Wha... Why?" Ron demanded.

"Ronald! Be polite, what happened Alice?" Hermione went from scolding to nice. It was the mood swing that scared Alice slightly. This was it, Alice was now scared of her best female friend...

"My parents, you know- don't practically like the idea of magic..."

Hermione looked horrified, but Ron and Ginny seemed to nod their head in understanding.

"You mean they – they, kicked you out because you're a witch?" Hermione asked her voice going from soft and understanding to plain out horrified.

"It happens all the time, Hermione," Ginny mumbled to the room, but she to a sick look on her face. "Muggles' have been kicking out muggle-born students for centuries. Some people just can't handle that their children are magical – it's disgusting."

Hermione looked affronted, "What happens to the students that get kicked out before their of age?"

It was Ron who answered her this time, "Well, no one's really sure; there's no real place for them to go. But they usually go to their mates place for the holidays and stay at school..."

Hermione looked annoyed that there wasn't some form of support in place for the muggle-borns. Even if there was though, Alice wasn't a muggle-born. Sure, she had lived with muggle's her entire life, and she didn't accept the fact that he was her father. But the fact still remained that she – Alice Cooper, was the daughter of a pure-blood – Alice Copper was a half-blood.

"- and even if there was, Alice wouldn't count for it remember? Her dad's a pure-"

"Ronald!" Hermione stopped him with a meaningful look at his little sister, and Ron seemed to realise what he was going to say and in front of whom he was going to say it. Ginny for her part was curiously looking between the four teenagers.

The silence was awkward, until Harry interpreted it. "Um, I don't hear voices from downstairs – you reckon we should go... and uh, help Mrs Weasley?"

Harry got up and the rest of them quickly followed the black-haired boy's lead and made their way down to the kitchen and a still angry Mrs Weasley. She was angrily cooking dinner, muttering dark thoughts about her sons – Fred and George.

Alice would have done what they did. Hell she would have helped them ten times over if they had asked her too. But at that moment she was glad that she didn't, Mrs Weasley was a very scary woman and Alice would be an idiot to try to piss her off.

Contrary to popular belief, Alice was not an idiot. She was just stubborn – very stubborn.