And so we meet again...

I'll just give a quick summary. Frank And Ali have been dating for over a year. The pair'discovered' a secret Death Eater meating while tailing Crouch jr, only to find out the whole thing had been planned. They were captured, thenmet by Voldie who tried to kill them, escaping only through a mixture of goodluck and teamwork.

Thankies to And Yes I Do Drink Tea for another review, and to new reviewer VANxTANGO. Your comments are really helpful and very nice.

This chapter was fun to write, as we see Frank trying desperatly to pop the question to an Ali who really doesn't seem to want to listen.

Tee Hee

Read on...

They never told anyone. They thought about it long and hard all through the journey home, but they kept coming back to the same unanswerable question, who'd believe them? Nobody had believed Barty Crouch was evil when Ali had tried to tell them before, and what real proof did they have now? They were still kids in the eyes of most adults anyway, why would you believe a couple of teenagers? Besides, you had to remember who Crouch's father was.

Resigned to these hopeless facts they breathed not a word of where they had really been. They explained away their cuts and bruises by getting lost on a walk through the Hogsmead woods. Nobody questioned them, why would they? Crouch returned to school shortly after they did, and not a word was spoken between them during the last few weeks of term. They didn't follow him around anymore,knowing for well what he was up to, but whenever their eyes met across the Great Hall, or in the corridors, a look was always exchanged. They knew what he was up to, and he was going to kill them for it. Though, you could say what he did end up doing was worse.

Alice and Frank left Hogwarts about a month after their first encounter with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. It was sad, they had spent the last seven years of their life there after all, but their desire to meet the real world over powered it. Through some excellent sets of N.E.W.T results, and a recommendation by the Head Master, they were offered the places on the auror course. Both gladly accepted. The training was hard, and the tests were even worse, but they survived.

Just.

After first leaving the school the pair went their separate ways as far as housing was concerned, both staying with a friend from Hogwarts. But they found this separation much to their distaste and it was only a few months before they moved in together.

So, life chugged a long pretty well for Frank and Alice (soon-to-be) Longbottom. Their work was hard, but rewarding, and they had made plenty of new friends at the Ministry. Because of this, they began to see a lot less of their old friends than they'd have liked. This was something that while disliking, they did not get round to rectifying for quite a while. The next time we look closely at their story, would be almost two years later. On a day that would change their lives in more ways than one.

Lessons had finished for the day. It was a Friday night and most of the second year aurors-to-be were deciding where they should head for a little end of the week celebration. It was a toss up between 'Magic Margo's' a wizard pub in Diagon Alley, and a muggle club just round the corner. Ali was rooting for 'Magic Margo's' because the Friday night entertainment was always good (spell shows and the like) besides, she knew the witch that ran it so free drinks were often on the menu. The vote was tied, leaving Frank with the deciding opinion.

"So Frankie, where'll it be?" asked Ali with a smile.

"Well," began Frank, stalling for time. Normally he liked going out for a drink and a laugh as much as the next person, but he'd been wanting ask Ali something for days, and a crowed pub (muggle or otherwise) would not be the best place to attempt a private conversation. "Actually, I've don't fancy a big night out."

"Aw, come on," pleaded Ali, "It'll be a laugh.

"No, I'd rather just go out for a meal somewhere. You know, just you and me.

The rest of the gang laughed and made kissy-kissy noises.

Ali rolled her eyes at them.

"I used to do that, but I grew out of it about 6 years ago." Ignoring the fresh jeering and turned back to Frank. "If that is your wish, then I'll oblige. You guys will just have to manage without us." She sat beside Frank and waved as the others sloped off in twos and threes, still debating where they were heading. When they had all departed she jumped up and looked around for her jacket.

"So where do you want to go?"

"Your choice," said Frank, waving the question aside, "actually there's something I want to talk to you about."

"What," she asked, tucking a spare lock of hair behind her ear.

"Well, you know we've been dating for a while now, well I think-"

"Actually Frankie can this wait until we get to the restaurant?" butted in Ali, grabbing her bag, "I'm starving, and there's a table at Wyndenkells with our name on it."

"But- sure," Frank lied, "It can wait."

"Mmm, looks nice doesn't it?" sighed Ali as the smell of warm cannelloni in a thick white wine sauce tickled her taste buds.

"Yeah," agreed Frank, tentatively poking his own dish with a fork. So caught up on wondering how to broach his question with Ali he'd paid little attention to what he was ordering. He'd ended up with oysters, which would have been great, if hadn't been allergic to seafood.

"It was funny today during Stealth and Tracking Training wasn't it?" giggled Ali through a mouthful of wine, "When Amy didn't notice Eoghan hiding behind the rubbish bins. She was so oblivious she tripped straight over him, and ended up head first in the vegetable cuttings." She dissolved into fresh waves of giggles. The waiter glared in her direction, Wyndenkells was quite posh at the best of times and the staff didn't really appreciate guest in hysterics. Trying as hard as she could to keep a straight face, Ali concentrated on her plate, snorting loudly with fresh mirth every so often.

"It was quite funny," agreed Frank with a nod, "But Ali, I've been thinking-"

"Oh yeah, you wanted to tell me something," she put in, "fire away."

Frank swallowed, he'd been hoping to just come out and ask her, all this stopping and starting was doing little for his confidence.

"You see, I, well us, we have been seeing each other for years now and the thing is I wanted to ask if-"

Ali let out a little snort of mirth, just managing not to spit her mouthful of dinner onto the tablecloth."Sorry, I was just thinking of her face when she came up all covered in apple peel. Carry on."

"I, I just wanted to ask if-"

"Tracey!" explained Ali loudly. A tall, strongly built black girl had just hurried past their table. Frank recognised her as fourth year student on the course, she'd be qualifying at the end of that year.

"Oh hi you two," replied Tracey, turning back. Her mind was obviously elsewhere.

"What you doing here?" Ali asked.

"Well, I was meant to be meeting Richie (her fiancé) but Michael just sent a message telling me to come back to Ministry Headquarters." Tracey answered, running a hand through her cropped hair.

"Ministry Headquarters? Why'd he do that?" she asked in surprise.

"No idea, something to do with a You-Know-Who attack I guess."

"Really?" Ali's eyes were like saucers. "Can we come with you? I want to find out what's happened."

"Sure," she replied, "But we've got to go outside before we apparate. The owners don't like it if you do it in here in case any muggles have walked in by accident."

Leaving her meal half finished Ali hurried after her. Frank sighed and got up too. He threw down some galleons onto the table and followed. He was pleased to leave his oysters behind, but less so, his unfinished question.

"Ok, we'll be wanting group number one, that's Nikki, Ben and Rosie, down outside the front of the building under strictest stealth. Group two, Rebekah, Claire and Tom, round the back and side exits keeping guard. Everyone else in going to follow me through the front exits in raid style. We don't know exactly what's going on down there, but a tip off like this one is not to be ignored." Michael stopped and surveyed the group huddled in the one of the underground vaults. All were aurors, mostly fully qualified but a few were fourth years. Ali and Frank were the only ones there from third or below. "Now, I want everyone to be careful out there. You-Know-Who and his band of mindless followers have claimed enough lives; we don't want anyone here to become just another statistic. Understand."

There were murmured agreements.

"Good." He rolled up the plan of the building he'd been showing them. "Come on, let's go."

The aurors all rose to there feet. Checking wands and communication equipment they headed for the exit. Ali and Frank got up and prepared to follow.

"Woah, woah, woah, where do you think you two are going?" Michael had stuck out a hand to stop their progress.

"To get ready. You said we needed to have our wands checked before me go," said Ali innocently.

"Ali," he groaned, "You can't come, it's fourth years and fully qualified aurors only for a job like this. In fact you shouldn't even have heard all this."

"Then why'd you let us in?" asked Frank curiously.

"Unfortunate lapse of judgement," replied Michael ruefully. "Seriously you two, I can't possible let you tag along. The Minister would want my neck if he knew I'd let a couple of second years after a swarm of Death eaters."

"But-" began Ali.

"No buts. Look, just forget what you've heard. You can't do anything about it and you'll find out what happened tomorrow. Just go home, or out to enjoy yourselves, you'd be more a hindrance than a help."

"But-"

"Just leave it Ali, I don't want to have your deaths on my conscious, you go can do the big stake out when you've qualified. Ok?"

From the expression on her face and the narrow of her eyes it was quite obvious it wasn't.

"Don't frown, you'll stick that way," he smiled sadly, pulling on his jacket, "Wish us luck."

"Good luck mate," said Frank.

"Luck," repeated Ali with a sigh.

Michael nodded at the pair of them and made to leave. But he paused at the doorway.

"Look, it's not your ability I doubt. In fact, you two are some of the best aurors I've ever seen come through the system." He closed his eyes and massaged his temple. "The thing is, we don't know how bad tonight's going to be. I didn't let on to the others, because, there might just be ten Death Eaters there, only it's just as possible their could be hundreds. You two just don't have the experience to deal with a situation like that, and now is not a good time to start. You do get that don't you?"

They both nodded.

"Alright, see you tomorrow then." That time he really did go. Frank and Alice looked after him for a moment before turning to face one and other.

"They'll be fine," said Frank, trying to sound confident.

"Maybe," said Ali looking again at the door.

"So, where do you want to go now? We could just go back to the flat to eat 'cause there's still something I want to ask you. The thing is I- what are you doing?" For Ali had risen from her seat and was taking her wand from her pocket.

"Getting ready to follow them, what do you think I'm doing?" asked Ali in surprise.

"But Michael said-"

"Michael worries too much," she broke in, "We're not going to get ourselves killed, we're just going help people along a bit. Come on," she pulled Frank to his feet and gave him a quick kiss, "we've done it once, we can do it again."

Frank cupped her chin with his hand and looked into her chocolate brown eyes. Just that brief look convinced him all the more to finish asking his question.

"If you say we can do it Alice McKinnon, then I'm sure we will." He let go of her chin and pulled out his own wand. "Let's go kick some Death Eater arse."

Tut tut, naughty Ali.

More mayhem to follow, i promise.