Disclaimer: IF YOU THINK I OWN HARRY POTTER, YOU'RE NUTS

Disclaimer: IF YOU THINK I OWN HARRY POTTER, YOU'RE NUTS!! I own nothing. JK Rowling is welcome to use any of my ideas if she wants to. Again, I don't own the Beatles, either.

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Alice slung her purse over her right shoulder as she fled to the balcony tripping on her robe-hems and stumbling on her high-heels. "Silver and Blue, Silver and Blue. Come on Ravenclaw, be the truest of true!" she panted.

Her dad hovered on the Firebolt 5000 and scanned his only child with emerald green eyes. They were the only features Alice was jealous of. Hers were a dull gray.

She still remembered the Sorting Hat whispering in her ear. "Hmmm … interesting combination … Slytherin and Gryffindor. I haven't seen one of these since … but whatever shall I put you in? I can't put you in Gryffindor, certainly …"

Please not Slytherin.

"Your father said the exact same thing! Well … I suppose it must be RAVENCLAW!"

Alice shook her head and climbed on the broom.

Harry nodded at her feet. "Are you sure those won't fall off?"

Alice smiled at her father. "Positive. Why do you worry so much?"

"'Cause I'm your father and those shoes cost as much as my wand."

"You mean back in the age of the dinosaurs?"

"Yeah. Back when Dumbledore roamed the earth. Now come on, I told Padfoot we'd be there in thirty minutes …"

Alice patted her dad's solid and tense back in front of her. "I'm on. Let's go."

Harry turned and grinned mischievously at her like she had seen in the few photos that her dad kept around the house. Alice smiled to see her dad so truly happy. "Hang on, beach babe. It's going to be a bumpy ride."

Alice gripped the shining oak handle tighter. She knew better than to kid her dad about flying.

Harry's eyes shone with glee. His foot acted like he was in a car, revving up the gas. Alice caught a snatch of "She's a Little ole Lady from Pasadena," on the air before the broom shot through the wind. Alice let out a little burst of energy in a scream. Her dad glanced over his shoulder and smiled. He laughed as she started singing, "Ticket to Ride."

"Told you the Beatles ruled!"

Alice blushed a deep scarlet.

They flew over raging rivers and quiet farms, busy cities and small towns. Harry even pointed at the Burrow. "Maybe we'll visit Uncle Ron on our way back," he shouted over the high-pitched screech of the wind. They passed over London and Alice's father flew above the clouds. Alice liked this part best. The pressure was terrible for her hearing, but the sights were the most beautiful Alice ever saw. Alice looked quietly around her. Five minutes later, Harry lowered them down out of the puffy shapes. Alice stretched her jaw and her ears popped. She did the same a few times over and it kept happening. She muttered a small line from the Gettysburg Address to test her hearing. She could hear it well enough.

The broom passed over a large castle made of black marble and Alice's heart stretched. It always happened when they flew over this part of England. Alice had made up her mind to move into this place if it was ever put up for sale.

Finally, a brick manor presented itself to them proudly. Harry plummeted to the ground and Alice screeched. She may have lived with him for her whole life, but she would never be able to adjust to his direct nosedives. For the umpteenth time, he swerved away from the ground just as Alice was sure they would die this time.

"Milady," Harry said as he stepped off the broom and offered his hand to his daughter. His eyes twinkled behind his round, black frames.

"I wish you'd stop doing that, Dad. It scares the shit out of me."

"Watch your language, young lady. I don't have a problem with it at home, but you know how Padfoot is …"

"I will."

"Sure. That's what you always say and somehow the end of the day, I'm always getting a lecture about how I should discipline you more sternly."

"Whatever."

Harry turned and walked to the bronze door at the front of the large building. Alice followed quietly behind him. Harry raised the large brass ring that rested in the mouth of a wolf. Her dad always smiled solemnly here, but Alice never understood why.

A butler answered the door and grinned. "Nice to see you again Mr. Potter, Miss Potter." Alice blushed at being addressed so formally. "Mr. Black is in the sitting room. I'll announce you."

"Don't bother, Tucker. We'll get there ourselves." Harry punched the new graduate of Hogwarts on the shoulder. Harry had always favored the young man and had coached him in Dark Arts Defense as well as Quidditch, while Sirius had courteously assisted him with every other subject, and Tucker had become a master at Transfiguration.

Harry walked smartly down the second hallway in the Rotunda, his scarlet robes with gold leaf trimming on the hems billowing out behind him. Alice flashed a smile at his back as he ran his fingers through his hair and caught a few tangles. Alice merely tucked a few stray hairs behind and stretched her sleeves straight. Harry turned at a random into a doorway. "Oh my God!" he screamed. "Alice, run! Don't look back, just run!"

Alice didn't bother to ask. Like her father had told her, she ran. She ran away from the terror behind her until she reached the rotunda. Tucker was dusting a vase with a portrait of a forest with a wolf, a stag, and a dog. "Tucker!" she gasped. "Tucker, you have to help me! We have to leave!"

Tucker stammered. "I-I-I don't understand …"

"I don't either, God damn it! We just need to leave!" A shot from a gun rang out down the hall. "Move, Tucker! What more encouragement do you need? Our broom's outside, now let's go!" She got behind him and began to push his back. Tucker seemed to finally understand the urgency of the situation and began to trot. "It's over there!" she shouted and pointed at the large oak tree the Firebolt was propped up against.

Alice wrapped her hands around the handle and straddled the front. She instinctively knew that she would know more about controlling this special kind of broom. He might be an excellent Chaser, she thought, but I doubt he knows squat about family brooms.

She felt the broom vibrate and she knew Tucker was ready behind. So this was what it felt like, to have someone ready behind her and ready to take over if you fail. Alice had never been in a serious relationship before, and even if this wasn't a serious one, it felt good to have support from someone besides beside her father and a mother she never knew. Her dad had always said … shit, now was not a time be crying. She wiped the tears on her sleeve and jerked up on the handle. It rose sharply and Alice's fears left her and stayed on the ground. Here she was herself, with generations of Potter blood running through her veins, and whatever was going on below her on that tiny world underneath them, it didn't matter. Because she was a Potter. And she would grab the reins of the wild horses that fled before her and would pull the team to a standstill until the world stopped spinning. Because she was a Potter.