During the evening to follow—Alice had a surprisingly wonderful time.
Once the drizzling rain stopped, the group headed out of the owlery and strolled casually across the grounds, trading jokes and conversation, laughing with witty banter, and feasting on the tasty alcoholic chocolates while they did.
The longer they wandered the grassy expanses and the cobblestone paths, the more aloof, contented, and comfortable Alice began to feel. Her thoughts and worries seemed to fade steadily farther from her mind with every little chocolate she ate—and she beamed away all the while. She'd always had Zander to pal around with, and she often made friends out of teachers and such—but this was the first time she'd ever lost herself to the glee of a whole group of friends.
Before she knew it—night had fallen, and they all found themselves in an open courtyard beside one of the castle's entryways, chatting, snickering, polishing off the last of the chocolates, and practicing the occasional spell or two.
Lorcan was the most relaxed, sitting slacked back on his palm atop the short stone wall, lazily waving his wand around and shooting off a spark now and then, the box of chocolates sitting on the wall just beside him. James was on his feet, teaching Tobias several ways of doing disarming spells for the dueling club and nearly tripping over his own robe in the process—and Alice was doing much the same, pitching in periodically with a quick lesson in fire or explosive spells.
"Nonononono—stop flourishing your bloody wrist so much!" James ranted, adjusting Tobias's grip for him and repeatedly raising his hands, motioning for him to try again. "We're not conducting fukkin' music out here, now are we? Nooo—just hit me with a blast! Ba-bam!"
"Expelliarmus!" Tobias yelled—sending a burst of light into James's hand and making his wand fly from his grasp instantly.
James's mouth fell agape, blinking thrice and seeming to take a while to process what had happened. He glanced over his shoulder where his wand flew off, then looked back, giving Tobias a long, astonished stare.
"God—bloody—friggin—ruddy—blind me!" James gasped, grinning broadly and slapping Tobias on the back. "You've done it!"
Tobias smiled, totally delighted that he'd succeeded.
"Ooo—look at that. He's done it," a girl's voice chided icily, a voice that didn't belong to Alice. "Wooow—he can speak a single word of English in a spell. And it only took him a few months of being here, too. So impressive."
Everyone turned—seeing a dark-haired Slytherin girl standing close by, a blonde friend following in her wake. The dark Slytherin girl had shoulder-length raven hair, her deep green eyes narrowing coldly at the drunken gang, trading a dry little laugh with her friend.
"What's your problem?!" Alice blurted impulsively, staggering forward and clutching her wand even tighter.
"Oh, nothing," the girl replied in a fake, vacant tone, gently tilting her head with a shrug. "I just think it's amazing that a dueling prodigy could help our little foreign student out for so long with so little progress. That's all."
"Oh, aye? Is that right?" Alice challenged, cocking her head and striding closer. "Tobias knows spells you can't even pronounce, ya' right little gobshite—!"
"Whoooa, Irish—take it easy," James laughed nervously, grabbing her shoulders and slowly easing her back. "She's just mad 'cause she's got the hots for your boyfriend. Innt that right, Mari-Lynn?"
The dark girl—Mary-Lynn—took back, looking briefly shocked before quickly masking over the expression with apathy.
"Yeah—word gets around pretty fast," James chuckled at the look on her face. "Alice and Tobias spend a lot more time with Zander than you do—oooh, and you just hate them for that, don't you? Not that it should matter. You haven't had that little crush for very long, now have you? But Zander fended off Valefor—and now all the sudden, he's sooo interesting—"
"Oh—shut up," Mary-Lynn chided, raising her nose high and striding away. "You don't get to talk to me, mudblood. You'd be nobody if you weren't a Potter."
"Better than you," James snarked after her. "You're nobody and you're not a Potter—so who's really higher on the ladder here? Loser."
Alice, Tobias, and Lorcan all exploded with laughter at hearing this, much to Mary-Lynn's chagrin. She scoffed loudly and stormed into the castle with her friend following closely behind her.
"Don't take offense to her," Lorcan advised, patting Tobias's shoulder. "Her whole family is like a poor little knock-off of how the Malfoys used to be. Kinda pathetic, to be honest…"
"Aye—and we don't need 'em," Alice agreed, grinning and raising her wand. "Misfits make the best friends outta everyone! And if she ever comes back and does that again—then she'll get some of this! Incendio-maxima!"
A wild explosion of fire blasted from the end of her wand—making the others scatter and shriek all around her, ducking away and shielding themselves from the sudden heated light that billowed above all their heads.
The fire raged and steadily grew—and Alice held her arm firmly upright, maintaining it, beaming up at it with a drunken smile, not caring how dangerous it was in the slightest.
"Alice! Stop it!" Lorcan hollered, seeming to find sobriety all the sudden. "You'll lose control!"
"Nooo—keep going!" James laughed madly beside him, clapping vigorously and whistling up at the growing fireball. "Make it bigger! Wohooooo!"
Tobias's eyes widened as the flames shone off his glasses, he and Lorcan gaping up at the fire while James continued to cheer—and Alice, feeling bizarrely and stupidly inspired, decided to do just as he wanted.
"Engorgio—"
"Aquamenti!"
A water spell barreled onto the scene from nowhere—splashing over Alice and her wand in one great wave.
The water soaked her through the robes, her mouth falling open in shock as she took in a sharp gasp—and her wand flickered out like a wet match, the fireball suddenly vanishing as if it was never here.
Everyone panted, catching their breaths and turning their heads.
Zander strode out of the castle, slowly lowering his wand and glaring at them all—his hard, pensive stare landing solely onto Alice.
"Heeey… now we got the whole team here!" James grinned, kissing his hands and raising his arms high, as if toasting Zander's entry to a party where he was expected to arrive. "Snakes, Griffins, Ravens, and… and ahhm… Heffalumps! No… what… what's the Hufflepuff thing?"
Zander glared in silence, his eyes shifting between James and Alice, not looking amused in the slightest. Regardless of this—James seemed totally oblivious that anything was amiss in the atmosphere.
Lorcan and Tobias, however, remained entirely quiet, reading Zander's expression and trading frowns with one another.
"Gryffindors aren't Griffins," Zander growled, stepping forward. "They're lions."
James stared at him open-mouthed, making a drastic-looking expression of deep thought, one that appeared almost comical. Then, he snapped his fingers and nodded, waving a finger loosely at him.
"Right, right, yeah… lions…"
"Zander!" Alice blundered up to him, still smiling as if she'd done nothing wrong. "Oooh—you missed it! This Slytherin girl—I dunno if you know her or not, but she started in on us and—"
"Are you mad?" Zander whisper-yelled, advancing on her and glaring daggers into her. "You know how your godforsaken fire spells get—and you know not to use bloody maxima on them! Not to mention engorgio—!"
He suddenly stopped talking when Alice tripped, still meandering toward him and nearly falling to the ground—his hand shooting out and clamping around her arm viselike.
He held onto her, ogling her as if he'd never seen anything as perplexing as her before.
"What's wrong with you?" Zander uttered in a hushed tone, surveying her closely.
Alice let out a string of breathless laughs, straightening up and shrugging. "Iunno—but oy! You—chocolates! You've gotta try them chocolates! James—James, are there any left?!"
"No—no, no, no," Lorcan stuttered, shaking his head and taking a single side-step, blocking the box of chocolates from view. "There—ah—no, Alice, there aren't any left."
"What chocolates?" Zander tilted his head and shot Lorcan a demanding glare, then gave James the same searing look. "What did you do?"
He then turned back to Alice, still holding her arm and tugging her slightly closer.
"Did they hex you?" Zander whispered.
"Nooo… they fed me," Alice smiled. "It was just some chocolates… with… ahh… liqu—"
"Liquid cherries," Lorcan cut her off. "Yeah, those chocolate-covered-cherries muggles like—we got some in the mail today. Just polished 'em all off."
Zander stared intensely at them—Lorcan looking somewhat nervous, and James standing just beside him, repeatedly glancing at his friend and failing to hide his snickering laughter, acting as if the two had just gotten away with something hilarious.
Zander read James very closely—then let go of Alice, thundering past her and rounding on the Potter and Scamander.
"Do… not," Zander warned in a low, raspy growl, gently jabbing his wand at them. "Lie to me."
Lorcan grimaced—James still glimpsing over at him and releasing the occasional chuckle.
Zander stared at James and felt a stab of anger, his jaw twitching. He raised his wand and opened his mouth—
"Zander—come ooon!" Alice whined, grabbing his shoulders from behind and pulling him back. "It's liquor! It's just liquor chocolates! Sheezus! Calm down!"
"Yes… it is," Tobias confirmed, nodding in agreement. "It's not a hex, it's just… being… drunk. That's all."
Zander stared at him, then the others, then Alice again, releasing a disdainful cloud of breath.
Without another word—he whipped Alice around and shoved her toward the castle, coiling his hand around her robe and escorting her inside almost by force.
The others watched them go with no arguments, James still laughing and Lorcan shooting him a caustic stare.
Zander strode down the open corridor, one hand curled around the fabric of Alice's robe while the other held his wand low by his side, wearing a stern-faced visage his father might've been proud of.
Alice stumbled a couple of times during their long walk through the castle's empty corridors, but she said nothing and continued to let herself be dragged, stealing the occasional glimpse of him and wondering why he seemed so upset.
"Where're we going…?" she eventually asked.
"You're going to bed," Zander told her flatly, still marching on.
"Y'taking me to the Hufflepuff—?"
"No—that's way too far away, and if we get stopped by a teacher or a prefect, then you're in serious trouble," Zander chided. "You know where we're going."
Then, he slowed to a stop, glancing up and down the expansive halls and seeing nobody else nearby. So, he moved over to the clearest portion of the wall, placed his hand to it, and waited—and seconds later, the door began to materialize before him, a long, metal handle appearing just within his grasp.
He then pulled the doors open, and the two of them entered their green-gold getaway, marching into the Slytherpuff room as the doors sealed themselves firmly shut behind them.
Zander moved forward and pulled Alice along with him, guiding her around the gigantic couch and releasing her at the foot of it. Alice plopped down and lay sideways, hugging an emerald pillow and appearing incredibly tired all the sudden.
Sighing, Zander spared her another stare, then turned to walk away.
"Oy," Alice called after him, her voice muffled by the pillow. "Whaddid you do that for?"
Zander faced her again, perking his brow at her.
Alice folded her arms over the pillow, slightly raising her head and fixing her bleary gaze more fixedly onto him.
"You were gonna curse him," she knew. "I saw you. You almost attacked him."
Zander stared at her for a moment.
"Yes," he said blankly. "And?"
"And… that's… a bit of an overreaction, innit?" Alice asked him, making a wincing sort of face and eyeing him strangely. "Just for some chocolates…"
Zander gave her another stare, then glimpsed down, sighing and making a slight shrug. "Well… that's not what I thought it was."
He prepared to walk away again, but she spoke on.
"Whaddid you think it was?"
Zander halted, closing his eyes and swallowing another sigh, turning back to the couch.
"It doesn't matter—just go to sleep," he told her.
Alice read him, her eyes narrowing quizzically—and then, she revealed a whimsical smile.
"Oooh—you really thought they hexed me or something," she understood. "You thought they were bullying me. Hah!"
Zander rolled his eyes and faced away, suddenly avoiding her gaze.
"Go to sleep," he ordered with conclusion, marching toward the wall where the doors would reappear. "I'll be back in the morning. Night."
"Hahahah," Alice breathed happily, sinking back down onto the couch and closing her eyes with contentment. "Aye, I knew you'd never leave me…"
She fell silent, resting snugly on the couch and beginning to drift into a cozy sleep.
Zander approached the wall, just preparing to reach out to where the doors would appear—then hesitated, falling still in his stance, making a face and whirling back around again.
"What?" he barked at the back of the couch.
She didn't reply, didn't push herself upright or appear in his sight again.
So, he glared at the couch and stormed back over to it, marching around it and sitting on the coffee table just across from her.
"Oy," Zander griped, reaching over and giving the cushions a few hard smacks by her side. "What did you say?"
Alice's eyes eased open, resting her head sideways on the couch and staring sleepily over at him. "Nothing…"
"No—tell me," Zander demanded. "What did you just say?"
Alice stared—and Zander returned the look with a hard glare, insistently waiting for an answer.
"Dunno," she moaned into the pillow. "I jus… I just thought you… your dad would… eventually… pull you away… y'know…"
Zander slowly reeled back, sitting firmly upright and eyeing her bizarrely.
"Is that why you ran off?" he asked almost ridiculously. "You honestly think I'd take a single word of his rhetoric seriously? Come off it."
"Well… I wouldn't know, would I?" Alice mumbled. "God knows I listen to my dad… so… maybe you'd listen to yours…"
"Right—well, you weren't there for the part where I told him I'd be spending Christmas at your carnival," Zander stated. "Rather than with him."
Alice didn't speak, didn't show a reaction—though she felt a warm, comforting flutter inside at hearing this.
"Besides… it's different. Your father actually has some moral compass attached to him," Zander explained. "I actually quite like him, strange as he can be…"
"Dad said you could stay the whole week of Christmas this year, if you like," Alice said.
Zander blinked. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," Alice smiled. "He never forgot last year…"
Zander nodded quietly, sparing the memory of it a brief thought.
Last Christmas, Zander and Malachi visited the O'Heiden Carnival, and the two ended up in an argument while they were there. Samuel overheard the whole thing—an argument about 'not spending too much time in the slums of the wizarding world so their reputations wouldn't suffer' and such. Ever since then, Alice's father wanted very much to give Zander some space away from his father whenever the need arose.
"Your dad's a nice man," Zander muttered.
"Aye," Alice agreed, her eyes attempting to drift shut again.
"And don't be stupid anymore," Zander sighed, reaching his feet and giving her hairs a rustle as he sauntered by. "I'm not going anywhere."
"I know," she exhaled.
He marched past the couch and walked off—Alice fading into a contented, comforted, and wonderfully cozy sleep for the rest of the night.
