Silence had fallen on Hogwarts castle as that dreaded time of the year had finally arrived. Despite the glorious sunshine and the clear blue sky the majority of students were cooped up in stuffy classrooms or in the library -Everyone was knee deep in revision.

Alice was sitting in the Gryffindor common room. With each stroke of her quill Alice had to fend off sleep and with hindsight she realized that staying up all night revising wasn't a good idea. Alice was a woman on a mission and that mission was to get an outstanding grade in all of her N.E.W.T's…and ultimately become an Auror. Time passed so agonizingly slowly as Alice poured over her textbooks, trying to soak up every important fact. Lily had holed herself away in a room somewhere in the castle as had Frank and the others. After all there are three things we do alone. We are born, we die and if you are a seventh year student about to leave the comfort of school you sit the end of year exams.

The sky steadily grew dark.

Alice soon felt her head loll every now and then as the urge to close her eyes and resign herself to sleep became all too strong. The table in front of the witch was covered with wrinkled- up, balls of parchment, ink bottles open textbooks and empty tea cups.

Finally the Gryffindor gave in and reclined on the sofa. "I'll just rest my eyes for 5 minutes.". ….

()()()()()()()

The next morning

The early birds chirped and sang as they flew through the morning air. There was a gentle breeze which rushed through the Hogwarts grounds. Frank leisurely strolled down to the common room which lay empty as most of the Gryffindors still lay fast asleep in their beds. The fire had died down but the early morning sunshine bathed the room in light.

Upon venturing inside Frank realized that he in fact was not alone. There was a solitary, still figure that lay on a sofa situated in front of the fireplace . With in a few steps Frank recognized the figure as his girlfriend. Frank sighed heavily as he approached Alice. She was covered in a blanket of parchment, she had a quill resting in her open hand and was using a hard textbook as a pillow.

Frank shook his head. "Your crazy," he muttered to Alice as he silently moved around the sofa to watch her. She was sound asleep. Her side fridge was resting in the wrong direction and the ribbon that Alice wore to hold up her hair had loosened considerably. She had her eyes closed and her thick eyelash cast shadows on the apples of her cheeks.

Frank watched as Alice restlessly moved about in her sleep. It became clear to him that his girlfriend couldn't find peace even in slumber.

()()()()()()()

The growing noise of loud chatter caused Alice to stir and her eyes slowly flickered open. She had no idea what time it was. Everything was blurry and it took a few seconds for Alice to regain focus. It was like déjà vu all over again as Alice stared up at the large chandelier. Groaning she held her head as she sat up. However her eyes soon flew open.

"MY BOOKS!" Alice cried suddenly which caused a few Gryffindors to give her funny looks. The witch didn't care though as she stumbled to her feet. Everything was gone! Her parchment, the tea cups, her books…everything she only thing that lay on the table now was a note. It read: If you want your books back meet me beside the black lake.

Alice felt her erratic heart, beat wildly in her chest. Was someone trying to make her have a panic attack?

The first culprit that sprang to Alice's mind was that bastard Snape. He would just love to get one over on me.

Alice quickly combed her fingers through her hair which didn't really help though as her hair was still in complete disarray and it looked more like the straw hair of a scarecrow. Alice rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and straightened her skirt as she left the common room. All the while Alice descended down the stairs she felt her fingers flex around her wand which she was gripping tightly in her hand. Severus was dead! She was so sick and tired of that filthy aspiring death eater.

Alice's anger continued to intensify as she stormed out of the castle. Yet confusion soon clouded her features as she approached the still, clear water of the black lake.

Where Alice had expected to find a gloating Slytherin she found…Frank.

"What are you doing here?" she asked her boyfriend.

The concerned expression on Frank's face caused the witches lips to part as she gaped at him. However her eyes suddenly caught sight of her books on the grass. They were only a few feet behind Frank.

It slowly dawned on Alice that maybe it was her boyfriend that was responsible for this little stunt. His apologetic smile and the guilty glint to his eyes confirmed this.

Alice made a bolt for her study material but anticipating this move Frank swiftly caught her.

"Frank let me go!" Alice demanded whilst she struggled against his hold. "I'm wasting time. I have to revise."

Alice knew full well that Frank was too strong for her but she still continued to fight him. "Frank," she whined as her books suddenly disappeared without warning .

Frank had to drag the thrashing Alice back towards a small tree which was nearby. He sat down at the base of it and forced her to do the same.

"Either you sit here or I'll keep your books away from you for the whole day," Frank threatened. He had adopted a strong timber to his voice which left no room for compromise. Alice quickly relented her efforts to escape and reluctantly she leaned against Frank's chest, just trying to ease her tense posture.

An exasperated sigh escaped her lips but Frank remained stead fast in his goal to make his girlfriend relax, at least for a couple of hours. "This is tough love Alice."

Alice grumbled something that he couldn't make out.

"Please Alice just take a break…" Frank urged as he stroked her hair. "Your working yourself into the ground."

This seemed to cause a few frustrated tears to leak from her eyes and Alice buried her face into Frank's chest as he hugged her. "Sorry I'm just stressed," she mumbled against his shirt.

Alice revelled in the smell of Frank's cologne and the welcoming heat of his body. She had craved this closeness for a while now because all she had been doing lately was pushing her boyfriend away. Alice had no idea why during exams she always isolated herself and preferred to deal with her problems unaided.

Frank tightened his arms around Alice's waist. "It's okay to be. I know how important these exams are to you."

Alice eagerly reached for Frank's lips and he did not deny her. He kissed her for all that he was worth and soon enough the couple had to pull away. They just gazed at each other intently for a while as they tried to regain their breath.

Alice smiled as she laid her head to rest on Frank's shoulder. "So…what's been bothering you then?" she half whispered half sniffed.

Frank raised his eyebrows.

"Don't deny it," Alice warned, pointing a finger up at him as he opened his mouth to protest. "You may be better at hiding what stresses you out but you can't hide it from me."

Frank rubbed his temples, showing Alice his frustration and the witch just smiled softly, silently willing him to speak.

He half smiled. "It's… Exams as well."

Before Alice could say another word Frank's lips clamped down on her own and the witch felt fit to burst . Yet Alice could feel the desperation in Frank's kiss as if he was trying to seek some sort of comfort. Unwillingly Frank soon pulled away and began rubbing his nose against Alice's. The witch giggled.

"You know me too well," Frank stated with a grin, resting his head against the tree trunk.

Alice smiled. "Of course! You've lost your appetite and when you didn't touch the steak and Yorkshire pudding yesterday, that's when I knew something was wrong."

Frank genially looked surprised which only made her laugh.

"What kind of girlfriend would I be If I didn't even know your favourite food?" Alice asked. All Frank could do was smile as he shook his head, utterly astonished.

Yet the second Alice turned her attention to the lake, Frank's face fell.

()()()()()

That night

When students were supposed to be tucked up in bed there were still two that walked the halls of Hogwarts- One searching for the other.

Frank heaved a heavy sigh as he began to make the momentous journey back to the Gryffindor common room from the first floor. He found himself smiling despite his gloomy mood at the memory of spending such a wonderful day with his girlfriend. Just holding Alice under the heavenly shade of a tree as they watched the calm waters of the black lake…and sharing long kisses so often that it could not be deemed proper for a school environment.

Frank soon frowned though. Something was vexing him…a lie he had told.

The Gryffindor was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't even realize that someone was following him.

"Frank for god sake!" a voice nearly yelled.

Frank spun around instantly, his face showing clear alarm. His eyebrows knitted together soon after he saw a certain Ravenclaw jogging up to him through the deserted corridor. "William…" the Gryffindor's frown lines deepened. "Can I… help you?"

William no longer wore that care free expression that Frank had become so accustomed to seeing.

The Ravenclaw stopped short of Frank. "Yes you can actually," William stated as he too frowned. "I'm going to cut to the chase…I want you to tell me the truth about what you know," he demanded.

Frank was about to speak but William pointed a finger accusingly at him. "I saw you on Christmas day after you overheard a private conversation between your dad and Alice's."

Frank froze as he cast his mind back to that day…to what he had heard…there wasn't a moment since then that he hadn't regretted eavesdropping. Frank remained silent which only served to further exasperate the Ravenclaw. William hated being kept in the dark and he knew that it stemmed from his father's death. William's felt his fists unclench though as he surveyed Frank. He really didn't look like his usual self, there were very faint but still visible dark circles under his weary eyes and his shoulder seemed to be permanently fixed into a slumping position. Frank even seemed to look a little thinner under his fitted robes.

The Ravenclaw placed his hand on Frank's shoulder. "Look I'm not Jane and I'm most certainly not Alice. I can take it…" William then faltered, "I already have a feeling that this has something to do with my dad and what he was investigating before his murder."

Frank slowly nodded whilst he roughly combed his fingers through his hair. He wasn't able to look William in the eye. "It…just so happens that… your dad discovered the beginnings of the rise of a band of death eaters…there is an army now…numbers maybe reaching into the hundreds…growing by the day." Frank was encouraged by the lack of fear that William showed therefore he continued on. "The leader is a former student of Hogwarts and he is recruiting current students as we speak."

Frank had to take a seat on the bench that was nearby. He sighed again as he rested his against the stone wall. Without a word William joined him, leaning back on the old wooden bench. There was nothing but silence. William stared straight through the open window on the opposing wall as did Frank.

The Ravenclaw began to toy with his hands as his mind toyed with the new found information. "Do you think…" William paused and he wondered about the implications of his words. "Do you have a feeling that Severus has joined them?"

Frank just shook his head. "I don't know," he breathed. "Maybe has…maybe he hasn't."

The pair didn't look at each other, instead they stared into the night.

William drew in a shaky deep breath. "Is there a war coming?"

Frank felt his face crumple. "Well the Ministry reckon we've got a couple of years…" The wizard found it hard not to just fall into despair right there. "But yeah it will come."

William exhaled loudly, not realizing that he had been holding his breath. "Wow…." He was about to add something more but Alice suddenly appeared from around the corner. Both boys jumped to their feet.

Alice's eyes were ablaze and her fierce gaze was directed straight at Frank. "I can't believe you lied to me!" she cried.

Oh dear the happy bubble had to burst some time