24
THE battle would never quite be over. Not for Alice. It surely never could be, as time passed her by, and the memories of the four days fighting for her life and trying to survive Crouch and the Dark Lord's almost-assault on her body might fade from the young Auror's consciousness, in time, but they would never entirely be gone from her.
They might drift back into the murky darkness of her subconsciousness, but those memories would always be there, whether Alice liked it or not, waiting to remind Mrs. Longbottom of the horrific ordeals that she had barely survived.
Remus and Frank sat silently together at her bedside in St. Mungo's, each man holding one of her hands. Their differences had been cast aside as the pair of men were forced to face the awful prospect that once that vampire had taken her, they might never see her again. Frank had sunk further and further into depression, blaming himself for Alice's kidnapping.
But neither her husband nor her best friend had given up hope, even when their hope became desperate and blind.
The young woman that lay asleep in front of them now was barely recognizable as Frank's wife and one of the top Aurors at the Ministry, the story of her fight for survival etched on her face.
Lupin and Mrs. Longbottom had managed to sponge and dab at most of the bruises and cuts that littered poor Alice's face, but they were going to take a while to heal up.
Moody had come in a bit ago to say that Auror Anne Thatcher was just down the hall a few doors down and had Barty Crouch Jr. in a private room of his own and was assigned to care for him by the Minister personally as he healed. Both men were shocked to learn Bartemius Crouch Sr.'s son was still alive.
The pair of wizards thought for certain that the Dark Lord would have killed him and that when Anne had rolled up the man's sleeve of his black leather jacket and a collared shirt to check his pulse, no Dark Mark.
Which immediately set both men feeling guilty. It would seem he had never been a Death Eater right from the start.
Frank would owe Alice an apology when she regained consciousness, hopefully, sooner rather than later, though the Healer assigned to her had warned them both it could be a time before the Sleeping Draught he had given her would run its course and wear off.
Lupin glanced across the hospital bed at his friend.
Frank was crying quietly to himself as he gently stroked his wife's small hand with his thumb, staring at the appendage as though Alice's left hand were the most beautiful thing in all the world that he had ever had the grace to lay eyes on.
There was something Remus wanted to say to Frank. He wasn't sure if it were a good time to say it, but nor did he know if he'd get a better chance.
"Frank?" Remus whispered.
Frank looked up and across at the werewolf, looking dazed and confused.
Lupin hesitated for a moment as he wracked his brain, unsure of exactly what to say.
"Are you going to let Alice see him? Barty, I mean," Lupin clarified, referring to the fact without having to say it that the Death Eater who was a few doors down from Alice's room, was sure to cause Alice curiosity when she woke. She'd want to talk to him if Remus knew anything about his friend.
"He stabbed me, Remus, is that even any kind of a question? Even I can't forgive him for that, and I hope she won't either, I love my wife, Remus, but Alice is too bloody forgiving for her own good, Remus," Frank growled in a curt and clipped tone. "He really thinks he can waltz back into Alice's life and steal my wife from me? No, I'm not going to let her see Crouch alone, Remus. His father and Dumbledore are scheduled to question him, Alice is expected to testify on what happened and provide her account in order to determine the level of appropriate punishment," Frank snarled in a voice that suggested he highly disapproved of this action. "And I can't tell Alice about…this," Frank snapped, gesturing towards his ribcage.
Thankfully, Anne was able to mend him quick enough, and aside from a faint scar, it was like it had never happened.
"You heard what the Healer said. Alice can't be delved in too much anxiety while her body heals. We have to honor that demand. She can't know the full truth, Remus. He's a dangerous man, no matter what Alice thinks," he told her, and Remus frowned sharply as his brows furrowed and came together.
Lupin gave Alice's hand he was holding onto a light squeeze, tearing his gaze away from Frank, not wanting to press the matter further with him.
The brunette witch looked surprisingly peaceful and very small in her curled up fetal position, several heated blankets draped over her small form, and Frank's cloak on top of that, besides, with his jacket he'd brought draped over his chair, just in case.
Lupin, despite the worry that wormed its way into the pit of his stomach, couldn't help but smile a very small grin at the scene right now. Alice was going to be alright, in time, the St. Mungo's Healer had told them.
The bleeding had managed to be stemmed, her and Frank's baby saved, though he advised Frank not to allow Alice to be delved in too much anxiety while she healed, not only from that, the scratches on her chest left behind from the group of vampires that had attacked her as well.
She would be off work for at least a month, and then again when it came time for her to use her maternity leave, Frank knew.
This was perhaps the number one reason, Remus suspected, while Frank wasn't going to let Alice speak to Barty whenever she came back to herself and joined them in the world of the living. But still.
He frowned slightly as he looked towards Alice, knowing that Barty Crouch Jr. was still Alice's friend, whether Frank liked it or not.
"Shouldn't that be for Alice to decide, Frank?" he prodded gently, almost instantly regretting his words the moment the slightly older wizard's head whiplashed sharply up as he glared at him. "She's more than capable, Frank."
"Not now, Remus!" Frank snapped. Alice's husband was more tired than angry.
Not surprisingly, he'd barely slept a wink over the last twenty-four hours, and still felt a lingering trail of guilt over the first night of Alice's ordeal in the Forbidden Forest, when they had gotten separated.
For Merlin's sake, Remus, Frank wanted to say, my wife was out there alone in the woods, scared half to death with Crouch at her side, and I wasn't fast enough to save her life! What do you bloody expect me to think about it?
Lupin sank back into his chair at this point, feeling pretty guilty himself, cursing himself for picking the wrong moment to address it with Frank. His friend had barely been able to function for almost four days, torturing himself for walking away from Alice that first night in the Forest in his anger at her stubborn prideful insistence she go in alone.
If only I'd swallowed my pride and stayed, he'd shouted to Remus, she'd still be here if I'd been looking out for her, Frank had said to Lupin in a moment of wallowing in pity.
At first, Remus had agreed with Frank Longbottom's grief-stricken self-incrimination, bitterly and privately, but as the hours rolled by painfully into days, he'd found himself growing just as worried as Frank was.
Ultimately, it wasn't about blame, but of trying to draw enough strength from one another in order to cope with this. Alice was sure to have questions when she woke, questions that she was going to want answers to. Questions only he could answer.
Time passed by slowly in Alice's private hospital room, not that Remus or Frank minded about that one little bit.
Being able to hold her hands, though they were quite cool, was a blessing, and for most of that time, Alice's husband and her friend sat in a sense of quiet ecstasy.
It was inevitable that some of the pressure that they'd both born the brunt of since this whole ordeal started would escape in an outburst from time to time, resulting in the occasional flare-up of one or the other wizard's temper, but generally, the pair of men were happy and content.
As Frank's mother would say, Remus and Frank, counted their blessings that Alice was alive and was going to be fine and that her and Frank's baby had been able to be saved.
It was Remus who first noticed Alice stirring again, sometime in the early evening of that cool October evening on a Tuesday in mid-October as the beginnings of a rainstorm were starting. Frank had reluctantly taken a break from his wife's bedside and went back to their home to rest and change, with a heartfelt promise to return.
Remus was alone in the room when he saw Alice beginning to wriggle beneath her pile of hospital bedsheets, coughing and spluttering heavily as she was beginning to rouse from her sleep. Alice's sleep had been deep, but not exactly peaceful.
Images had flashed in her mind's eye, more like fragmented thoughts than actual dreams, as though she were viewing them from Professor Dumbledore's Pensieve. Some of them were benign and memorable—she remembered Barty sacrificing himself to the Dark Lord's wrath in order to ensure that she and Frank made it out, and that she had begged her and Frank's coworker, Anne, to save his life, that she could remember in clear, vivid detail.
But most had passed her by entirely too quickly for her to comprehend them, leaving a dark, unsettling presence in her wake.
"Alice? Al, Alice can you hear me?" Remus asked, leaning over his friend and fellow Order member as her eyelids flickered open and shut as she blinked, barely perceptively, trying to make sense of it all.
Alice was finally beginning to wake up now, after almost a solid six-hour sleep, but her already weakened body had been drugged with a Calming and Sleeping Draught to help keep her body calm when she woke up.
She lay there for a while in an unfamiliar bed in a semi-conscious haze, teetering on the brink between the darkness of her dreams and the brilliant almost blinding light world of this world.
It felt like being submerged in the dark, murky water of the Black Lake, just beneath the surface of this hazy reality, she could see and hear Remus, Merlin bless that werewolf, but Lupin's voice sounded distant and distorted.
More like an indistinct ripple that was having trouble penetrating the gauze that stretched over the Auror's perception of the world around the two of them, wherever they happened to be right now. She hoped that Remus could tell her where.
An ugly, dark thought began to swim towards Alice, fully formed and dangerous.
You dreamt it, Al. The Dark Lord was only a product of your imagination, there is no hospital, you're still out lost somewhere in the Forbidden Forest at the mercy of those blood-sucking awful vampires, chimed a familiar voice from somewhere deep in her mind.
Momentarily, it lit up the Auror's mental darkness. Alice was a fanciful witch, a bit of a daydreamer if you were to ask any of her coworkers whom she got on well with, like Anne. She had imagined things before.
Could this hospital room really just be another cruel illusion of her own mind?
Alarmed, Alice quickly began to swim to the surface of this unknown reality, and whatever might be waiting for her there. She could only hope that it was good things…
The first thing that swam into focus as she blinked her lids was Remus's heavily scarred and prematurely lined face, looming over her, his expression relieved but still worried.
She had seen him just a few hours ago, when she and Frank had escaped the Malfoy's home and had met Frank and Remus and Anne at the edge of the woods behind Lucius and Narcissa's property, and her stomach pains had taken over.
After that, everything was a hazy blur.
She was crying now, she could feel the slick, salty liquid drip from the edges of her eyes and roll down her cheeks. In that first moment after waking, Alice felt just as afraid as she had ever been in the Forbidden Forest with Barty, suddenly becoming convinced that this was just one more hallucination.
Perhaps it was her mind's way of letting her say goodbye.
Alice let out a painful, half-choked sob as that unpleasant thought pricked at her consciousness, drowning her, and rendering her feeling dizzy, and unable to breathe.
"Remus…" she said and heard a tiny hoarse rasp that resembled her voice escape from the back of her throat. "Is that really you?"
If it's not, then I'll just give up and die, Alice thought bitterly to herself.
If her own mind could play such a cruel trick on her, then she couldn't carry on.
Lupin smiled and eagerly nodded, relieved and overcome with emotion to see his friend awake and fully cognizant, his hazel eyes gleaming with what would soon be his tears.
"Are you thirsty? Do you want a drink of water, Alice?" he asked her, his newfound shock at seeing his friend alive and well after the harrowing torture she had suffered still not sufficient enough to suggest anything better at any emotionally vulnerable time like this. "Do you need help?"
Alice could only manage a weak nod, grimacing a bit as she heard the familiar sneer of the dark, demonic voices taunting her inside her head.
This doesn't mean anything that Remus is here alongside you. You thought you heard Frank speaking to you in your sleep, and your husband's not here by your side, is he? Don't even get your hopes up.
The young witch was slowly but surely becoming more aware of her surroundings now, as Remus gently reached for a glass of water sitting on a small wooden bedside table that rested next to a makeshift blue vase made from clay, wherein the vase rested a small bouquet of purple wildflowers. She wondered briefly who'd brought them in.
She glanced nervously with skittish, fearful eyes around the hospital room, recognizing it to be a St. Mungo's room.
Alice looked for anything from the forest that her mind might have disguised as part of a white hospital room.
If she was happening to be experiencing a hallucination, then it was the most lucid one Alice had ever experienced.
She started to realize that she felt surprisingly comfortable and warm, just like she would expect to be in a St. Mungo's hospital bed with heated blankets draped over her, and there were no black spots swimming in front of her vision.
A series of memories flitted through her exhausted mind, and Alice began to recall forced to drink that disgusting tea that the Dark Lord had forcefully shoved down her throat, the cramps that the beverage had induced thereafter, and—
Oh, her baby! Alarmed, she felt her eyes grow wide and round with shock and she bolted upright and began to grope at her belly, clutching fistfuls of her hospital gown.
"My—my baby, Remus, d—did I…did I lose…?" she stammered, her eyes wild as she clamored for the truth.
"Easy, Alice," Remus cautiously warned, worry laced throughout his quiet, reserved tone. "Just try to take deep breaths. You're going to be alright, Alice, I promise," he said as he cautiously approached Alice with the water glass. "You and the baby are just fine, Al. Frank went home to rest and change, but he'll be here soon as soon as you say the word so I can send a Patronus to let him know," he said.
She numbly nodded, glancing down at her flat stomach before she forced herself to use what little strength she had managed to regain during her sleep to prop up her several pillows into sort of a mountain behind her so that she could sit upright while she drank and not choke. Lupin gently put the glass of water against Alice's cracked lips.
The water was cool and soothed her flaming throat, it certainly seemed real enough and not really a hallucination. When Alice had her fill with her drink, she motioned for Remus to come closer with a slow wag of a weak finger.
"Remus," she whispered weakly. "Do you think you could do something for me?" she asked, biting on her lip.
He nodded, eager to do whatever he could to help Alice.
"Pinch me, please," she requested, her eyelids fluttering closed. Her chest felt a little bit lighter now than it had when she'd first woken up. The Sleeping and Calming Draughts were starting to wear off.
She was starting to remember that as well, but it was still an effort for her to talk. Lupin hesitated for a second, perhaps thrown a little by his friend's request.
She thought at first that he wasn't going to do it. But then, Alice felt the man's warm fingers on her arm and a short, sharp needle of pain that shot up it as the man managed to squeeze onto a small bit of her skin.
She shuddered for a moment, but the stinging sensation felt good. Mrs. Longbottom was oft fond of telling her and Frank whenever Frank's mother came over, that if you could feel a pinch, then you were awake. Then that meant that she couldn't be imagining this. She must have made it.
Because of Barty…she thought, tears glistening in her eyes. "Barty, Remus, where is he? D—did he make it?" she sobbed, the tears beginning to come again, but this time out of a sense of sweet relief rather than fear of the unknown. "I—I thought I wouldn't see you or anyone else again," she wept, unable to control the flow of her tears.
Lupin hesitated, pursing his lips, looking like he wanted to address her question, but he chose not to.
"It's alright, Alice, you're safe now. We all love you, I hope you know," he said, a little embarrassed as he heard himself say the words. They didn't sound quite right in his breaking voice, but they seemed like the right thing to say to her just then.
Alice managed a weak cough as she sat up a bit straighter, clamping a hand over her mouth, furiously blinking back tears at not knowing what had happened to Barty.
The last she had seen of him, he'd shot her that heart-wrenching look that was so painful, that it was almost enough to make her own heart cry out.
It wasn't much of a cough, but it pulled heavily on her chest and served as a reminder of how sick and weak she still was. She cringed, hoping St. Mungo's didn't plan on keeping her here too terribly long.
She still felt weak and feverish and wasn't sure how long she could stay awake for, and she wanted answers about Barty.
"Where is Barty, Remus? What happened?" she asked, biting down on her lip, knowing he'd answer her.
Lupin hesitated, biting the wall of his cheek as he weighed the pros and cons in his mind of telling his friend the truth. He knew better than anyone that Alice deserved to know the truth: that Barty Crouch Jr. had stabbed her husband.
But he remembered the Healer's warning about Alice becoming too delved in anxiety while she healed.
That the stress was not good for her nor her and Frank's baby, either. It took him a moment before Remus found his voice.
"A few doors down from you, Alice. The Auror you and Frank work alongside, Miss Thatcher?" he asked, and only when Alice gave a feeble nod did the werewolf continue. "She and Frank's mother were able to save his life," Lupin explained, letting himself smile upon seeing Alice let out a relieved smile, reaching up a finger to flick away her tears.
"Oh, thank Merlin," Alice moaned, her eyelids fluttering closed for a moment as a wave of relief washed over her. She opened her eyes after a moment and lifted her gaze to look at Remus. "When will I able to see him?" she asked, but then her tiny smile of relief faltered as she watched Lupin's expression shift only slightly, just enough for it to be noticeable to an intuitive witch like she was. "Rem?"
It did not escape her attention that Lupin was suddenly growing skittish and seemed unable to meet her gaze, looking suddenly tense in his chair and barely moving his lips when he spoke to her.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Alice," he stammered, looking around the room wildly, at anywhere but at her. "Frank, Alice, there's something you should know," he started to say, though the light sound of someone coughing to clear her throat interrupted whatever Remus had been about to say next.
Alice's gaze was pulled from her friend's as both of them looked up to find none other than Auror Anne Thatcher standing in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest, and her expression as grim as a graveyard.
Alastor Moody and Frank stood alongside her young doppelganger as well.
Alice felt herself give a start at the uncanny resemblance. It was so strange, she thought wildly, propping herself up straight in the hospital bed, her cheeks flushing at receiving both her coworkers and her husband in such a state, pulling the blankets up to cover her ugly hospital gown that St. Mungo's made their patients wear until they were discharged from the medical facility.
"Mrs. Longbottom," Auror Thatcher greeted Alice warmly like an old friend, though she made no move to step into the room and stand by Alice's bedside, though Frank did, mumbling a half-hearted, "Excuse me," under his breath as he ducked underneath Anne's right arm to do it. "It's good to see you're awake. Did you sleep well?"
"H—how's your throat, sweetheart?" Frank asked.
"It's alright, Frank, I guess," Alice managed a weak croak.
It wasn't, not really, but in her current agitated state, she didn't want Frank or anyone else saves for the Healer who was qualified to do so, to fuss over her physical well-being.
In truth, Alice was beginning to feel more than a little embarrassed at all of the trouble she had inadvertently caused. Moody, standing in the doorway still, spoke up.
"You gave us all a hell of a fright there, Alice," Alastor barked in his usual gruff and grating voice as the older wizard leant heavily on his walking stick for support to ease the ache in his prosthetic leg. "Thank Merlin you're safe."
His blue magical eye was swiveling in all directions as usual, though his one good eye left remained fixed on her. Alice couldn't be sure, but she swore she thought the edges of the grizzled old Auror's lips twitched upwards. She let out a tiny sigh, suspecting it was the closest thing to a smile, more of a smirk really, that Moody could manage.
Alice nodded her head, letting out a content sigh as Frank made a beeline straight for the chair that was to her bedside's left and immediately reached for her left hand.
She let him take it and did not pull away, though she had the feeling there was something Frank wasn't telling her.
Remus was certainly being unusually secretive and tightlipped about Barty, which could only mean that something had transpired between the two men recently.
Alice wasn't up to straining her voice as her throat still felt parched and dry despite Remus giving her the drink of water.
She studied Frank carefully as her husband settled himself in the chair next to her. He was looking tired, as though he'd not managed to get any decent sleep when he'd gone home to rest like Remus had said that he had, but at least now, he wasn't looking as dismayed as she remembered when the two of them escaped Malfoy Manor.
His smile seemed real now, as opposed to the last couple of days where his smile had seemed painted on. His dark eyes were red-rimmed with dark circles beneath them, indicating a severe lack of sleep on her husband's end. Frank hadn't really slept well for the majority of the year, and he certainly wouldn't the moment their baby was born.
But then again, Alice suspected that none of the Aurors and Order members alike had.
Constantly working to usurp the Dark Lord's plans did not let on for proper midday kips, and as a result, stress-induced insomnia was detrimental to everyone's health, her husband's health included.
"What happened?" Alice whispered in a weak voice.
Frank, however, could only grip onto his wife's hand tightly in a vice.
"God, Alice, I—I thought you were…" he stammered, his voice cracking at the memory of hearing her echoed screams in Malfoy Manor with Voldemort.
Alice numbly reached out, her muscles incredibly weak, and lightly ruffled his dark brown hair until Frank managed to crack a weak but genuine smile for her, and his tears flowed from his eyelids despite his best efforts to tamper them down, which was actually what she'd been trying to prevent.
She knew Frank hated it when people saw him get too emotional.
She felt more than a little guilty for putting her husband in such an emotionally fragile state, but right now, more than anything. She needed answers about him.
"What happened to Barty, Frank? Anne?" Alice pleadingly whispered, flitting her gaze between them both.
When the two Aurors could only look at one another, a look of sympathy flitting through Anne's, and anger in Frank's eyes as her husband narrowed his eyes and shook his head, all of Alice's senses were immediately on alert.
She straightened, gritting her teeth, and letting out a hiss of pain as both of her bandaged hands curled into tight fists, clutching onto fistfuls of her heated hospital bed blankets.
"What. Happened? What did Barty do that was so terrible that you both are keeping it a secret from me?" Alice begged, fresh tears sparkling in her eyes as she fought against the hallowing of her throat as her chest started to tighten.
"Longbottom," barked Mad-Eye Moody from where he lingered at the door, Remus having moved to stand by him. "I don't think you should keep this from your wife, son. She deserves to know what happened. Just tell it to her."
Frank nervously exhaled and closed his eyes. The tears that had been there previously started to spill over and slip wetly down his cheeks.
He hadn't planned on crying in front of Alice, Merlin, but his emotions were getting the better of him and compromising all he knew from training. Her husband clenched his fists, his grip on her left hand tightening as he drew in another deep breath.
The man glanced down at their intertwined hands for a moment, seeming to take comfort in studying the glint of their gold wedding bands.
For a good long moment, the wizard seemed at war with himself; but he finally let out the dense and aggrieved breath Frank had been holding in a heavy sigh and rested his back against the backrest of his chair.
"This…isn't going to be easy for you to hear, Alice. I know that Barty saved our lives, but he stabbed me, love. He hurt me, Crouch would have probably killed me if Anne hadn't Apparated into the Forbidden Forest when she had, and I would more than likely be dead," Frank growled bitterly.
The news of what Barty had done hit Alice like a slap in the face, ringing like the smack of a cracking palm against her cheek. What little color was left in her face drained.
"No," she said flatly, uncurling her fists and numbly shaking her head no.
Barty couldn't have hurt Frank, he just couldn't have. He had saved both of their lives from Lord Voldemort and had sacrificed his own life for them. Alice swallowed thickly down past the lump in her throat.
She could hardly manage to spit out the words that were burning in her sore throat. She wished she had more water. "Is that why you and Remus both can't look me in the eyes, because you didn't think that I can handle the truth?" she asked.
Neither Remus nor Frank could manage to look at her.
"I'm sorry, Alice," Frank mumbled, and he did sound it and look it, but his apology was not good enough for Alice.
"Show me," his wife demanded in a warbling voice as her brows furrowed together in anger. "I need to see proof."
Frank hesitated, turning around in his seat to look at Aurors Moody and Thatcher. Both of them nodded. Frank bit his lip as he inclined his head and turned back around. He shot his wife a pained look, but he did as she asked.
The moment her husband numbly lifted up his sweater to reveal the jagged pink and red scar that snaked along his ribs, the only evidence that Crouch had physically attacked it, was the moment that Alice Longbottom's words left her.
She had no words left. She had nothing at this point. The revelation that her best friend had done this to her husband burned within her, hot, sad, and angry. And this reveal coming to her after the Death Eater had seemingly reformed and had managed to save both of their lives made her feel…made her feel…she wasn't sure what to feel at all. Betrayed? Hurt? Angry? Sad? A combination of all of them? Alice swallowed down hard and blinked back tears.
She wasn't sure that she could feel anything anymore.
Frank's voice, faint, and muffled sounding though it was, managed to pull her out of her temporary dark haze of thoughts as her mind still felt like it was reeling with the news.
"It's going to be alright now, Alice, sweetheart, you'll see…" Frank continued speaking to his wife in a faint tone, but his dark eyes had assumed a glassy, faraway look as he was staring not at Alice, but instead, at her doppelganger.
Almost the only difference between the two was eye color, a slightly different nose, and their heights were different, with Alice being taller by several feet, but other than that, the two could have passed off as twin sisters.
Alice wasn't sure whether or not Frank was really talking to her at the moment or trying to reassure himself.
It took Alice several minutes of battling her tears and the raging war within the confines of her own mind before she could summon up the strength to speak to Anne Thatcher.
"I need to see him," she pleaded, hoping her tone sounded kind but firm. "What's going to happen to him?"
Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach as everyone except for Remus shook their heads no at Alice's request.
"You'll be asked to give testimony, Alice. Based on your word, the Minister of Magic will decide what's to be done. Barty's father and Dumbledore are set to come here tomorrow. If you're agreeable, I'll come to see you at breakfast." Anne offered the Longbottoms a weak smile. "I'll even bring the food," she said softly, only half-joking.
Frank, sensing Alice was having trouble finding her words, quickly offered their thanks and accepted the offer.
Alice barely felt the tempered strength of Frank's left hand grasping her own, his thumb stroking her index finger.
Alice had so much more she wanted to say, so many questions that she wanted to ask, not just to Anne, but to Frank, and to the rest of her friends as well.
But she was tired, and her throat screamed for relief and protested at the idea of talking too much. So, she allowed herself to rest against the pillows, grateful to be alive, that she and her baby were unharmed.
That whatever disgusting abortifacient had been laced in the tea the Dark Lord had attempted to force down her throat was able to be stopped.
Eventually, Frank's mother came in and joined Frank and Alice, and Remus, followed eventually by Sirius, James, Lily, Peter, all of them had brought Alice flowers and sweets. Lily had even brought her a few copies of Witch Weekly and a couple of books to read, Merlin blesses her.
Alice was pleased to see everyone and accept their well-wishes for a speedy recovery, but she was still physically and mentally exhausted.
It was only when Anne finally turned on her heels to go, that Alice remembered to give her thanks.
"Anne," she called out to her almost-twin, causing the dark-haired young Auror to linger in the doorway, her back turned towards Alice. Slowly, Anne turned around.
"Yes?" she asked quietly, already fearing she knew where Alice was going with this. That she'd ask to see him again.
And Anne would have to tell Alice no, that it could easily be seen and construed as a conflict of interest in a Ministry investigation, and a friend or not, she could not impede it.
At best, Alice could provide her testimony of the events that had transpired between the two of them, and hope.
Anne hesitated, her options to reassure her friend and coworker fleeing right in front of her as she took in the sight of Alice Longbottoms' hardened jaw, and her blue eyes had darkened, almost cerulean in color the angrier and more hurt she was becoming by the man's betrayal whom she believed to be a friend.
But then Anne remembered how tenderly the former Death Eater had spoken her name.
Anne quickly understood that no argument of Barty Crouch Jr.'s motives that she could offer up was going to say Alice Longbottom to change her thoughts on her friend's betrayal.
The only path left to the young witch was simple heartfelt honesty, to reveal what she suspected of the man, having seen the glint in his eyes when he'd whispered Alice's name and had mistaken Anne for Alice a bit earlier.
Anne looked across the hospital room at Alice, genuine care and concern for both Mrs. Longbottom and the man whose life she had saved earlier evident on her tired face.
"He cares for you," was all that Auror Thatcher could say.
Almost the moment the words left her colleague's mouth, Alice was instantly taken aback. She pulled a face and squeezed onto Frank's hand a fraction tighter than before.
"Cares for me?" she scoffed, raising her brows in alarm.
In her mind, her mind's eye was plagued with imaginative vivid images of Crouch stabbing her husband in his jealous rage that she had chosen to marry Frank and never him.
Her memories brought to her mind that 'favor owed,' the kiss of gratitude she had given Barty as thanks for saving her life, hoping, and praying to Merlin it would have been enough.
Watching Crouch sacrifice her life to save theirs, as some sort of atonement to make up for stabbing Frank, she now was sure of this in her mind. He'd done it for him.
She forced her own love and admiration for Barty Crouch Jr. to the very depths of her awareness as she sat upright.
"Anne, if he really did care for me, as a friend or more than that, he would not have stabbed my husband, and he wouldn't have made me leave when he tried to…" she said plainly, trailing off as she was referring to Barty giving himself up to the Dark Lord, as a shadow of anger and betrayal darting across her features as she fought the tears that stung at her eyelids at what Crouch had done to them.
Before Anne could open her mouth to protest, shaking her head no, that she was sure there was more to him than whatever had transpired between the two of them these last several days, Alice vehemently made her final declaration.
"Anne," Alive insisted pleadingly, a note of urgency creeping into her voice as she spoke. "I don't have any interest in arguing about what happened," she stated, trying to be calm for Frank's sake. "I'm sure that's not why you came to see me. I was hoping that I could see Barty," she whispered faintly.
Despite her immense betrayal and anger and hurt coursing through her insides, she knew that she still needed to see him, if only to understand why he had done this to them.
She drew out a shuddering breath and continued trudging on, drawing strength from her husband holding her hand.
"I can see now that it's not going to happen as I'd hoped," Alice continued, speaking slowly and clearly, knowing full well that she was lying through her teeth about being willing to comply with Anne's request that she not be permitted to see her friend.
She would just have to come up with some other way to see the man in the morning, probably before Anne arrived over breakfast.
"In that case, I was hoping that you'd give Barty a message."
Alice swallowed as she turned a cool glare towards Anne.
"Anything," Anne quickly acquiesced, hoping that she might somehow be of help in rebuilding whatever bridge of trust that had existed between Alice Longbottom and Crouch's only son.
She wasn't quite sure why she'd felt such a strong pull to help a man that she did not know and had been assigned to look after in the event he was placed under house arrest while the investigation was pending, but she did.
Anne kept her arms shoved in her jacket pocket as she studied Alice Longbottom's face intently for a minute.
Alice took a moment to compose herself and let her anger and hurt cool a little. She wanted to be sure she gave the appropriate emphasis to the words she was about to say.
But then as she sat up even straighter than before and leaned forward off her mountain of pillows slightly, her blue eyes turned steely as she narrowed them to resemble daggers.
"I…I don't forgive him, Anne. Not yet. I still hold out hope that he can change, someday, one day, maybe...if...if you're willing to help him after all of this," she added, her blue eyes glossing over as she would not be quick to forget the fact that the man had been willing to sacrifice his own life to ensure that Frank and Alice made it out alive.
But one good deed was not enough to compensate for the hurt that he had caused, not just her, but to Frank, too.
Beside her, Alice stiffened as she heard Frank groan.
"Alice…" he started to say, though Frank immediately fell silent when his wife raised a hand in order to stop him.
"Please," she pleaded, her voice shaking with emotion. She slowly turned her gaze towards Frank before looking back towards Anne and offering her friend and work colleague a slight nod. "There's always hope. There's always another way, Frank. I—I have to believe Barty can change, sweetheart."
She steadily held her husband's gaze, silently challenging the man to contradict him.
Only when he nodded in surrender, did she tear her gaze away from him and back to their coworker.
"Anne, thank you for saving my friend's life. I owe you a debt that I cannot even begin to repay. But you need to make Barty understand, that if he ever comes near me in a romantic way or my family again out of jealousy then…" Alice's tone left nothing for the young Auror to misinterpret as Alice's hands came to rest on the flat of her stomach. "He will wish that Voldemort would have killed him back there and that he had died back in Lucius Malfoy's dining room, Anne," she swore, her face never changing from its mask of horrible, antagonized hurt and cold anger as she looked away.
Anne could only incline her head by way of response. What more else could she have expected, really? Anne nodded numbly to herself as she looked a little bit sad at Frank and Alice Longbottom.
"I will tell him," she promised, tucking a wisp of her dark pixie behind her ear. Anne turned on her heels to leave them, leaving Frank and Alice alone once more in her hospital room.
Only when Anne was fully gone from their line of sight did Frank lean over and plant a gentle but passionate kiss on Alice's cold lips.
"You're making the right decision, sweetheart," he murmured, scooting closer to his wife on the edge of the bed and letting Alice rest her head against his left shoulder.
Remus returned to their room a few moments later, bearing a vase of fresh wildflowers and clutching something tucked underneath his arm wrapped in a brown paper bag.
The man and werewolf held it with all the awkward care and loving attention of a new young father with his newborn infant.
"I um, picked this up for you both in the St. Mungo's gift shop. It's ah, it's for the baby, Alice," he said, a faint note of pride in his voice, and pulled out a stuffed plush toad. Remus flinched as he caught the bemused look Frank shot Alice as his brows went so far up onto his forehead, they almost disappeared into his hairline. "I—I'm sorry, if you hate it, I can take it back. They were fresh out of teddy bears. It was either a toad, a unicorn, or a cat, and I know Frank over here is allergic to cats," Remus teased, his tone sounding slightly more playful and relieved, now that Alice was awake and not under as much stress.
Remus's cheeks flushed as he noticed Alice's lips were agape with disbelief, staring at the brown toad plush with surprise in her eyes, unable to find her words.
Lupin heaved in frustration and pulled the little stuffed animal back with an irate grumble under his breath.
"You hate it," he said, sounding almost hurt and disappointed and made to turn away as though to stuff it back in the bag.
"No! I—I'll have it, Remus, give it here!" Alice protested, quickly jutting out her arms to take the toad from him. Lupin's eyes widened and he looked away as he let go of the toy as a faint blush crept onto Alice's cheeks. "Thank you, Remus…." She whispered as an affectionate smile snaked its way onto her face. "It's actually pretty cute."
She turned the stuffed animal around to face her, her own reflection staring back at her in its beady black eyes.
Lupin wet his lips and cleared his throat. She caught a glimpse of her friend while she studied the stuffed animal.
Even with his unshaven face and the dark circles underneath Remus John Lupin's eyes, Alice thought the werewolf was a handsome bloke, in his own way, if not a bit rugged.
She hoped one day, he would know the joy and wonders of what it felt like to be loved and cared for, that a witch would learn to look past the man's lycanthropy.
Lupin was a man hardened by the grim shadow of his dark past when his world had turned upside down and been upheaved when Greyback bit him when he was only five, but the man was recovering fully.
The fact that Remus had somehow managed to purchase this from the St. Mungo's gift shop on his limited income spoke volumes to Alice.
Which only meant she would cherish this little stuffed toad for as long as she was alive.
She and Frank would put it in their baby's crib in the nursery they were preparing for him as soon as Alice was discharged in a couple of days.
"What should we name it?" Frank asked, a light smile flitting across his features as Alice affectionately wound her arm around the stuffed toad and held it close to her heart.
"Well…" Alice said weakly in a small voice, glancing down at the toad in her arms and thinking for a second. "What about after that man who works as an Unspeakable? The one you always harp on about because he's a mental bit and you're telling me he always smells like pond water?"
Frank looked shocked, but a little less so than Alice and Remus expected to be as he spluttered over his words.
"Trevor?! You want to name our baby's first stuffed animal after Trevor?" Frank asked softly, sounding amused and staring at Alice, shaking his head, hardly daring to believe the words that were coming from his wife's lips.
Alice nodded, allowing a soft playful smile to grace her features. "Trevor," she repeated as she announced their baby's first stuffed animal's name, letting her head loll against the crook of Frank's arm and then the pillow when that became too uncomfortable.
There were so many things she still wanted to say to Frank, to Remus, to a lot of people, now that they had narrowly avoided a brush with death. But she was exhausted, and her throat protested at talking too much.
So, Alice allowed herself to lay there, glad to be alive and in the company of her husband and one of her friends.
She was sorry she couldn't be of better company as the men sat with her while she clutched Remus's gift close to her heart, but she was still mentally and physically exhausted, knowing that tomorrow morning before breakfast, she'd have to find a way to sneak out of her room to see Barty.
Eventually, the thought weighed on her mind as she pondered how she would go about it, and her eyelids became heavy, and she returned once again to the dark world of sleep.
Though this time, wrapped safely in her husband's arms, content to stay there for the rest of her life, shoving aside all thoughts of tomorrow and the uncertainty their future would bring, content to sleep in Frank's arms as she drifted off into a dreamless and peaceful sleep.
Glad Alice is safe and her baby was able to be saved! Frank would bloody murder Crouch if anything had happened to baby Longbottom! 0_0
Coming up, Alice has that fated conversation with Barty, though how will she react as the war between the 'good side and the 'dark side begins to escalate, which I do plan to cover, as I have a bit of an epic battle scene of sorts planned for this story, so stay tuned!
Rest assured, my lovely readers, it is far from over, and I promise, though there are hurdles yet to come for our beloved characters and a new one as well, this fic of mine does have a HEA :)