Zander stood stock still for several seconds as his father returned his stare.

Alice remained still just beside him, sliding her arms away from his and taking a step back, distancing herself from her friend. Tobias glanced at her, then back at Zander's father, sensing something tense in the air, though he wasn't sure why.

Then, Zander's father—Malachi McAllister—took a stride forward, sauntering closer with his cloak shifting in his wake. His blond hair was slicked back like his son's, but it was longer, just long enough to reach the base of his neck, his visage the same shape, though slightly more aged, bearing the same pensive glare Zander often had.

Malachi slowed to a stop just before the trio, surveying his son rather closely.

Zander stared, sighing and giving him a questioning look. "Why're you here?"

Malachi flashed a hint of a half-smile, adjusting his hat and narrowing his eyes. "That's a fine way to greet your father."

"It's a fair question," Zander replied, his voice lacking any sort of feeling. "You've never visited me at school before."

"Well… you'll find that my routines may change when my son crosses paths with wanted criminals from Azkaban," Malachi said swiftly. "I was in the area when I received the owl, so… here I am. Checking on you."

"Ah-huh," Zander quipped tonelessly. "Well, everything is well and good, as you can see."

"Right." Malachi's gaze shifted over to Alice, his expression cold and painted with disdain. "Well and good by your standards, anyway."

Alice withdrew, taking another step back and looking both angry and hurt.

"My standards," Zander rumbled, cocking his head quizzically at him. "And what does that mean, exactly?"

"Oh… you know full well what it means," Malachi mumbled, his voice darkening into a softer and meaner one. "Paling around with the sort of company you do… it is well beneath you. In fact, you've proven that even more now. You are the one who dealt with Valefor, are you not? What exactly did your little friends do?"

"Guarded me and saved my teacher's life," Zander griped, hand balling into a fist by his side. "And I stalled just long enough for them to do that—so can you stop with your berating? I don't come to school to hear from you. Quite the opposite."

"Yes… you wish to set no boundaries and no expectations for yourself, thus never enduring the fear of failure. I know," Malachi said. "You don't want to climb the latter because you like your company being… less than. It sets the bar pretty low for you, doesn't it? Certainly makes your stakes much lower. But you'll find, son, that this is not the way a real man comes to be."

"Maybe I just have a different idea of how to do that than you," Zander argued.

"Clearly," Malachi replied with a conclusive nod. "Well, seeing as you're unharmed and seemingly still the same way as always… I'll leave you be. Good day, son. I'll see you at Christmas."

He turned on his heel to march off.

"I won't be there," Zander called after him, raising his voice.

Malachi halted, turning and peering back at him over his shoulder. "Where do you plan to be for Christmas, then?"

Zander shot him a stern glare. "Carnival."

Malachi made a slow, mild nod, smirking and shaking his head. He faced away again and walked off, vanishing around a corner moments later.

Zander huffed out an irritated breath, turning to face his friends again—seeing that only one of them was there.

Tobias gave him a troubled look. "Vhy is he so…?"

"Where's Alice?" Zander asked, peeking behind Tobias and seeing only an empty hall.

"She… ran off," Tobias uttered.

Zander groaned out another agitated breath. "Christ. She'll be pouting all day now…"

"You vill talk to her, yes?" Tobias inquired.

Zander blinked. "Why?"

"Because she is sad," Tobias replied simply.

The two stared at one another, Zander looking as if he was attempting to read an invisible code from Tobias's face.

"Do I need to?" Zander asked bluntly.

"Yes," Tobias stated, shooting him a befuddled look as if he'd said something utterly ridiculous. "Zat is what you do when your friend is sad. Come—ve can both look for her."

"No… I've got a pretty good idea of where she went," Zander sighed, marching past him.

"Well—you look there, and I will look elsewhere," Tobias planned. "We'll split up to find her. I have to check ze owlery for my mail, anyvay. See you later."

"Yeah, seeya."

Zander headed off alone, rounding a corner and striding down an open corridor with only his thoughts for company. He walked past a group of Hufflepuffs talking about the upcoming Quidditch game, staring straight ahead and mulling over his thoughts with a troubled expression strewn across his face.

It wasn't as if he'd never talked with Alice about life problems before—in fact, it was a regular occurrence for the two—but he always found himself at a loss for words in those conversations, never quite knowing what he should say or do. It wasn't a situation he greatly looked forward to at all—but, perhaps it was just necessary.

Zander turned down another open hall, glancing around and seeing no students nearby. Then, he took in a breath and approached the widest, clearest portion of the castle's wall, placing his hand to it and waiting, just as he often did.

He waited for nearly a full minute.

But, this time—no door magically appeared, no handle materializing in his grasp.

Zander stared at the wall, his eyes narrowing sharply, glaring questioningly at it as if it had wronged him somehow.

"Come on," he grumped, smacking the wall and sighing. "Stupid bloody room—come on, now. Let me in."

He waited for a moment longer, but still, the Room of Requirement never appeared, never manifested the Slytherpuff room like usual.

"What is your problem, Hogwarts?" Zander snapped at the wall, tossing up his hands and staring angrily up at it, feeling totally frustrated now. "I need the ruddy room, don't I? I need to find Alice! Why won't you appear? Why?!"

He fumed up at the wall as if he expected it to answer him.

Then, he slowly took back, releasing a cloud of breath as the answer clicked in his mind.

"She's not in the room…"


The tall, messy, and isolated tower catered to the many owls that came and went from Hogwarts.

Alice sat on a cold stone bench inside the tower, ignoring the smell of owl droppings all around her. She sat inside at the top of the owlery, safe from the slow drizzle of rain that had started outside, wiping another tear away and scribbling on her sheet of parchment, pinning it crookedly to her lap as she did.

It wasn't long before she finished writing her latest letter to her father, sighing and giving it a once-over after it was done.

The letter read;

Dad,
I miss you, and I miss home right now. I don't know if Arius has contacted you yet or not, but I'm sure you heard something about it from Roman already. Me and Zander ran into that Valefor bloke right outside the Hogwarts grounds.
We're both fine, and we all handled it best we could. It gave me a scary dream last night, but that's about it.
What's really bothering me today is that Zander's dad showed up to check on him here, and he started being mean to me again. He's always trying to do that, always trying to pull Zander away and make him stop being my friend.
I know you always say I should just be me, and damn what anyone says. I know, and I do that.
But him trying to take my best friend away really bothers me a lot. I don't know. It just makes me sad, and I wish I could just talk to you and give you a hug right now.
Anyway, I have to get back to the castle before it starts raining harder. I love you, and I'll see you at Christmas. I'll be bringing Zander again, if he still wants to go… and I might be bringing our new friend, Tobias. I'll let you know.
-Alice

Her eyes darted from word to word, and she made a faint nod, allowing the ink to dry for a few minutes before she folded up the paper and slipped it into an envelope. Once it was sealed shut, she stood and headed to the nearest window, placing the envelope in the beak of a fluffy barn owl and watching as it flew through the sprinkling rain, gliding away from Hogwarts with grace before it faded out of sight.

Alice continued staring out the window sadly, another tear rolling down her cheek.

Quite honestly, she didn't particularly care what anyone thought of her—especially not elitist types who stared down their noses at her—but something about it simply hurt, mostly the idea of possibly losing Zander to the pressures put on by his father.

She didn't think it likely that Zander would give in to such pressure—but, admittedly, Zander was difficult to read at times.

And beyond that—he was a Slytherin.

After all—he'd been placed in that house for a reason, hadn't he?

Perhaps his alliances would always be questionable.

Alice blinked, her expression hardening as more tears filled her eyes, instantly feeling a stab of regret as the thoughts passed through her mind.

Did she really feel as if Zander might abandon her simply because he was a Slytherin?

How could she think such a thing of her very best friend just because of the house he haled?

She sniffed, sealing her eyes shut and shaking her head at the ground, chiding herself in silence.

"CHOCOLATE!"

The booming voice made her practically leap from her skin—inhaling a sharp gasp and whipping around in alarm.

Alice glared at the stony pillar in the center of the filthy room, hearing voices chattering loudly and quickly from the other side of it.

"Ooooy—stop being stingy! You have so much!"

"Piss off, Lorcan! They're mine!"

"Your grandmother sent you a ton, James! Let me have one piece!"

"Wrong again, stupid—my grandmother didn't send these. They wouldn't be filled with liquor if she did! Hah!"

"Who the ruddy hell's sending you liquored-up chocolates in the middle of—?"

"Oy!" James popped out from around the corner, spotting Alice and grinning at her, hurriedly waving her over. "Come'ere! Y'want some chocolates?!"

"Oh—oh that's real nice," Lorcan griped at him. "You're just gonna hand them all out to the first people you see, just to rub it in my—"

"It's Alice," James hissed.

Lorcan blinked and paused, peering around the corner and spotting her. "Oh. Hello."

"Ah… hi," Alice murmured, wiping her eye with her thumb.

James and Lorcan both fell momentarily silent, staring at her and only just realizing that she'd been crying.

Then, James slid his hands into his pockets, whipping his head and slinging his shaggy bangs aside. He strolled forward and gave her a surveying stare.

"What's a'matter?" he said, his voice softening. "Y'want some chocolates? It might help. My Uncle Ron likes to fill 'em up with…"

"James, you moron," Lorcan grumped, marching forward as well. "Not everyone runs straight to booze when they've got a problem, y'know."

"Well, I do."

"Yeah. Case and point. You're a moron."

"Oy!"

"Mor—on!"

Alice choked out a laughing sort of sob, snickering at the two of them.

"Ahhh—see?" James grinned, waving a finger at her and turning to Lorcan. "See, we made her laugh. The liquor's working, and we haven't even had it yet. Now that is real magic."

"Yeah, okay. Move it, you loon." Lorcan pushed slightly past his friend, extending a hand to Alice. "I don't think we've actually been introduced properly, have we?"

"Right, yeah—I'm James Potter, and this here is my homework-doer," James snarked, jabbing a finger at Lorcan.

"My name is Lorcan Scamander," Lorcan corrected, shooting James an unamused stare.

Alice giggled, returning his handshake. "Aye… Alice O'Heiden."

"Oh… we know who you are," Lorcan replied, revealing a charming half-smile. "One of Hogwarts's three new heroes."

"No… not really," Alice mumbled shyly, feeling somewhat flushed. "We just, ah… we got lucky is all…"

"Ohhh—now that's a buncha bull-corn," James laughed. "I think you and that Zander bloke just work in perfect sync."

Alice went quiet, frowning and feeling another wave of tears trying to form. The mention of Zander's name made another surge of regret course through her.

James spotted her change of expression, leaning slightly closer. "Why dontcha tell us what's wrong? What—did your snake friend say something snakey?"

Alice shook her head, inhaling a shaky breath and forcing all the tears down.

After a moment, she cleared her throat and briefly explained the situation to them, everything regarding Zander's father and some of the things that had plagued her thoughts shortly after.

When she was done, James and Lorcan traded thoughtful expressions with each other.

"I wouldn't worry," James said with a shrug. "Zander strikes me as the type who's just gonna do whatever he wants, same as us."

"Yes. And… don't feel bad for thinking that of him," Lorcan added, sounding sincere. "I have questionable thoughts about my company all the time."

James missed his chiding remark.

"It's normal when your friends are from different houses," Lorcan explained to her. "We're in a school that segregates its students based on strong core personality traits, and you'll inevitably find yourself dwelling on them and their differences from time to time. That's just human nature. It doesn't mean anything. Especially if you've been so close for as long as you have."

"Right, like—me and him, for example," James said, swatting loosely between himself and his friend. "We're a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw. He follows rules—I break 'em. He does the homework—I do the bravery stuff. He wants to stay inside after class—I drag him out and force him to have some fun. It's a balance thing. Certain kinds of personalities just work really good together, y'know?"

"It's fairly similar to you and Zander, from the sound of it," Lorcan observed, giving her a nod. "It seems one of you is more structured while the other is more aloof… just like us. And… it does, for whatever reason, just work."

"Yeah—and d'you think Lorcan's father likes me all that much?" James laughed, raising his brows and slapping a hand to his chest. "Spoiler—he doesn't."

"But that doesn't stop us from simply being us. It doesn't stop us from being friends," Lorcan surmised. "Just as it won't you."

Alice nodded along with every word they spoke, allowing it all to sink in and feeling as if it certainly made sense. These two seemed to have a similar chemistry to her and Zander—and they had no big worries or problems amid their friendship whatsoever.

"Slytherins are cunning, and they like power," Lorcan said. "But for all the problems that can cause inside a person—it doesn't automatically make them disloyal to the people they care about."

"Well—not unless they're Voldemort," James shrugged. "But that poor bloke couldn't even feel love, so I reckon he doesn't really count."

"Right, because he had nobody he cared about. But other Slytherins do—because other Slytherins are actual people," Lorcan stated. "And it's not often they turn bad, in any case. Especially not nowadays."

"Aye," Alice mumbled. "I'm in a twist over nothing…"

"Alice!" another voice joined in.

The three of them turned, seeing Tobias striding toward them with a letter from his mother in his hand, pushing his glasses firmly onto his nose.

"Oy," Alice said. "Sorry I ran off, I jus…"

"Heeey—the gentle German," James smirked, propping his arm on Tobias's shoulder. "I am so jealous that you get to be a Hogwarts hero during your first year here. I've been here almost seven years—haven't gotten to be a hero once!"

"I… ah… thank you?" Tobias stammered.

"Gutentag," Lorcan said politely, shaking his hand. "Pleasure to meet you properly."

"Oh—hello," Tobias smiled, returning the handshake with vigor. "So, so very nice to meet a Scamander! Great pleasure!"

"Is it?" Lorcan said.

"Yes—I love magical creatures."

"Ohh, so do I!"

"Yes, I know!"

"Well this is riveting," James snarked with a flattened tone, dragging Alice around the corner. "C'mon—look here. Here's where the party's at."

Alice stopped on the other side of the pillar, staring down at the stone bench and seeing a rather large package sitting open on top of it, its wrappings undone and countless round chocolates sitting snugly inside.

"That's not really safe here, is it?" Alice asked, glancing around at all the owls and their droppings. "I'll get ruined in here."

James peered around, seeming to come to the same realization. "Well'p—then we'll have to take it somewhere an eat it. C'mon."

He slapped the package lid closed and lifted it, turning to leave and finding Lorcan and Tobias in his path.

"Where're you going with that?" Lorcan asked.

James hesitated for a second, glimpsing between Lorcan, Alice, and Tobias—then revealing an ear to ear grin.

"I think we all deserve a nice drunken evening. Don't you?"