Disclaimer: I know I don't own anything, and you should know it too.

Note: Yay, thanks for all the reviews I totally love all you guys. I do hope your all enjoying this story, and again I apologize for all of you who were upset by the two deaths. I promise it will all be nice in the end. Now don't forget to review at the end of this chapter. Thanks and on to chapter 4.

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

Chapter 4 ~ Searching for Solace

Fred bit his lower lip to keep himself from cracking up. If he could, he would have turned back time so the prank didn't explode all over Alicia. It was too late, but the fact that she stood there soaking wet was all to much for him and he let out a bellowing laugh. Alicia crossed her arms and smirked.

"Oh, you think this is funny?" She bit on her lip now to keep from laughing. " You know Fred, two can play at this game. " Pulling her wand from her cloak she aimed it towards the kitchen counter. " Wingardium Leviosa. "

Fred spun on his heel and cringed at the sight. A pitcher of water hovered over his head, and before he could move the liquid spilled from the container. Alicia grinned while the twins watched with wide eyes. Fred remained planted to the spot completely soaking wet.

"You're evil Alicia Spinnet, purely evil. " Taking out his own wand he preformed a quick drying spell on both of them and grinned. " I really am sorry you know, it was supposed to be for Hermione."

Brushing his hands off he led her inside and took her cloak. He nearly choked at the sight. She looked bloody beautiful. The pink shirt she was wearing illuminated her skin and hair and made her body…dear lord, Alicia had a body! He watched as she moved towards the couch and sunk into the seat. William and James rushed over to her and bounced into the couch. Fred swallowed hard. He had known Alicia since third year, and never once had he felt compelled to gawk at her like this. Ok, so there was that one time he had convinced George and Harry to watch the girls shower after Quidditch practice, but this was different. He had always known Alicia was pretty, but she was one of his best friends, and he never felt attracted to her.

"You alright Fred?"

Alicias voice knocked him back into reality and he felt his stomach knot. The guilt quickly swept over him and his mind brought him to Angelina. How could he dare think of another woman especially her very best friend. His heart belonged to Angelina, and he felt utterly terrible for thinking any different.

Wiping his hand over his facer he moved to the sitting room and sprawled out in the arm chair. He avoided looking at her in fear he may slip and feel guilty again.

"So Alicia, how are things?" For a lolng silent moment she just sat there with a blank expression. How stupid could he be? She was going through everything he was. Lowering his eyes he sighed. " I'm sorry Lici, I'm a real git sometimes."

She smiled and shook her head. " Don't be silly, it's not like we can pretend that nothing happened. " Pulling William into her lap she let out a deep breath. "It's hard sometimes…who am I kidding it's hard a lot of the time. There are mornings I wake up and have somehow forced myself to believe that things are fine. It feels so real that I truly do believe it…at least for a little while. I want him to come walking through that door to tell me he loves me, but I know its impossible. " Her voice dropped a moment and she brushed a few tears from her face. " I've been going to therapy and she keeps telling me the best thing would be to move on, how do you get on with your life when an enormous chunk of it has been ripped from you. " Pulling William closer she let a very soft smile form on her lips. " Too bad things don't come that easy." Kissing the top of James' head she quickly glanced at Fred. " That's why I'm so glad to see my boys tonight."

The twins puffed out their tiny little chests and looked proudly towards their Uncle. " See what we can do Uncle Fred. We can make Auntie Alicia smile a lot." James grinned and snuggled a bit closer.

"That's cause you two know hoe to help this old lady have fun." Bending slightly over she grinned and began to tickle them furiously. After a few good howls of laughter Alicia pulled away and propped William up a bit straighter on her lap." I have a splendid idea. " Picking William up in her arms she flashed Fred a very small but sincere smile. "How would you like to set up another prank for your mum and dad? Only this time I'll help so some innocent bystander doesn't get hit." She shot Fred a playful glare.

"Hey I said it was an accident." Fred held up his hands in defense.

"Save it Weasley."

I never really understood how hard it was for them to deal with their loss. Of course I did my best to support them and comfort them, but was that enough for someone who just lost the love of their life? I know that if I was to ever lose George or my boys, life would be completely over. I was glad that they were able to speak about their feelings with each other, but I surely didn't think it was good that they kept their true feelings from everyone else. I knew the twins helped them ease their pain slightly, but was it enough? Was it truly enough? Was anything enough to ease the pain or would their lives just remain grounded? I guess time would tell.

" You wore them out." Fred carried William towards the twins bedroom, while Alicia cradled James.

"Well, I figured I'd make it easy on you by making them sleepy." Alicia giggled and dimmed the candle in the bedroom.

"I could have put them to sleep easily." He frowned, placing William in his bed next to James.

Shaking her head she grabbed Fred by the arm and led him into the hallway. Leaving the door ajar she turned slightly to him and walked back to the sitting room.

"Using a sleeping potion doesn't count Fred. They would have skinned you alive and left you for dead. Trust me, their not the easiest to put to sleep. Oh, remind me to take that charm off the door before George and Hermione get home. I don't want them to walk into that mess." Dropping onto the couch she kicked her feet up and placed t hem on the table.

Fred felt his mouth drop open as he sat down next to her. " I'll have you know that I am a great Uncle/babysitter. I could get those kids to fall asleep just like you did."

"Alright, lets go wake them and find out."

"No!" Fred pulled her back onto the couch. " I mean…why interrupt their slumber?"

Alicia smiled. " yeah… yeah… yeah…I'll play your game Fred Weasley but I know the truth. "

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him breathe out a sigh of relief. She chuckled to herself; feeling quite glad she had decided to drop by the house on such a night.

"Hey Fred?" She dropped her eyes to her lap and twiddled her thumbs for a second.

"Hmm?" His eyes were closed and his head was resting on the back of the couch.

"How are you really? I mean, you don't need to tell me if you don't want to, but I was just curious. How are you really doing?"

Just as she had done earlier, he sat there for a very long quiet moment. Sure he had expressed his feelings before, but by explaining it to Alicia it seemed so much harder. He wasn't sure how to tell her that things were awful. Bearable but awful.

" Look Alicia, its not that I don't want to tell you, cause you would probably understand more then anyone else. It's just become so difficult to say what I want to say without having everyone pretend they know what its like. And I know that they mean well, and I know they care, but they don't really know the way it feels to wake up in the morning and wish for the day to end. It scares me sometimes because there have been days where I wish I didn't wake up. There's been moments I'd certainly like to forget, things I regret, and the most they can do is provide me with a shoulder to cry on. I don't want their sympathy anymore Alicia. Im tired of that. I just want all this blasted pain to end…I just wish I could have told her that I loved her, I wish I could just have that chance…" Fred cut off his last sentence and looked over at Alicia.

A few tears had smudged her makeup, and Fred couldn't help but smile. Despite everything, Alicia had always been a wonderful friend. He shifted his weight and turned to her, his hand reaching up and brushing the wetness from her cheeks. She looked over at him, her heart searching for solace. She could see the beads of sweat trickling from his forehead which caused her to swallow the lump in her throat. It was like everything around them had stopped, and the only concern was to mask the pain that was evident inside of them.

"Fred?" She inched a bit closer to him, needing to feel loved, secure…the need to feel normal again.

Why he was doing this, he wasn't quite sure, but for some reason he wanted to console her. He wanted to console himself. Slowly he inched his face to hers, their lips barely centimeters apart.

"Bloody Hell!" A loud yelp came from the front door and they quickly jumped to their feet.

Alicia felt her face become flushed, and to mask her feelings she slapped Fred hard on the shoulder. " You forgot to remind me!"

Hermione sauntered into the sitting room with clenched fists. "Fred Weasley, you better explain yourself…oh, hello Alicia. " She shook her head and water sprayed in every direction.

Fred shot Alicia a look and completely lost it. They exploded with laughter while Hermione just arched her eyebrow at the two. She watched as they continued to laugh, holding onto each other for support. George rushed inside with a grin on his face and he clasped his hands together.

" Whats going on? Whats the commotion about?" He watched the two laugh for a moment before looking over at Hermione.

She simply smiled and pulled him by the arm. " Don't worry about it George, but for the time being lets just leave the two of them alone. " Guiding him into their own room she glanced over her shoulder once more.

Fred had Alicia wrapped in a tight hug as they both fell with laughter to the floor. A small smile curled on Hermiones lips, and quietly she closed the bedroom door.

Aww how cute. Anyway, what will happen when the Weasleys hold a big dinner at their house? Will Ginny tell Hermione what she saw? What does Fred say when hes confronted by his mother, and finally why is Draco wearing a bib? Find out in the next chapter.

YAY for chapter 4. I want to thank everyone again for reading this. I do hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review or a flame if you feel it necessary. Besides I could always use the flames to burn pictures of my History Professor while I perform some voodoo. The man is evil!!!! Thanks again and the next chapter will be up soon.