Disclaimer: I disclaim everything.



Chapter 8



Alicia was lying on Bill's bed reading her new Standard Book of Spells. She was going back to Hogwarts the next day and she was rather pleased about it, too. Second year was promising to be more enjoyable than the last; this was mainly thanks to George's dramatic change in attitude.

Every time Fred tried to prank Alicia, George would stop him or at least worn her in advance. Fred was more than fed up with his brother's antics. So while George was in the shower that night Fred decided to pay Alicia a visit.

"Spinnet!" he yelled from the doorway.

Alicia lowered her book slowly and upon seeing it was Fred continued her reading and ignored him.

"I'm talking to you, don't ignore me."

Alicia continued to disregard him. She was reading about the Lumos spell when the book was ripped from her hands.

"Frederick James! Give me my book! I'll call Charlie and Bill!" she threatened.

"Wouldn't you rather call George? He's your knight in shining armour after all," Fred said bitterly.

"You think I want him protecting me all the time? Frankly, it bloody scares me!"

"You did something to him! I know you did!" Fred pointed frantically at her.

"I didn't do anything and you know it!"

"You slipped him a potion or something! You were jealous!"

"Jealous of what? Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb? I think not!" Alicia jumped to her feet.

"Tweedle what? I don't know what you're going on about but stop it before I have to do something you'll regret," Fred said as he visibly clenched and unclenched his fists.

"You threatening me, Weasley? I'd think about it first, you know I can take you."

"Even when George isn't here to stop me?"

"Especially when George isn't around."

"I think you slipped him a love potion because you're desperate for a boyfriend!"

"I did not! Furthermore, I am not desperate for a boyfriend! I think you'd like to give Angelina a love potion though."

Fred snapped and ran at Alicia who squealed loudly. She rolled off the bed and tried to get away. He was too quick for her and they fell to the ground heavily.

"Take that back!" he demanded.

"Never!"

It wasn't exactly what you'd call a fight. They were merely rolling around on the ground. Alicia used to wrestle with the boys but now Fred was bigger than she was so Alicia was left to lash out and scratch like a girl.

"You corrupted my brother!" Fred bellowed as he tried to pin Alicia.

She squirmed around furiously. "Your brother has always been corrupt!"

Fred grabbed her hands to stop her scratching him and he drove his knee into the inside of her thigh, causing her to shriek in pain.

"What's all the yelling about?" someone unseen demanded from the doorway.

"MY LEG!" Alicia screamed.

"Fred! Get off her!" Percy ordered.

"Stay out of it!"

"Bill! Charlie! HELP!" Alicia cried. When in doubt, call in the big brothers.

The sound of approaching footsteps was heard throughout the house as the whole family came running to Bill's room to find out what was going on.

"Percy? What's going - HEY! Fred!" Charlie pushed past Percy and pulled Fred off the withering girl.

Alicia scrambled to her feet. Her thigh was aching but she was really pissed off now. She limped murderously towards Fred who was being restrained by Charlie.

"Whoa!" Bill caught her around the waist.

"Let me go! I'll kill the fu-" Bill slapped his hand over Alicia's mouth as Molly and Arthur appeared at the door.

"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" Molly screeched as she looked from one struggling kid to the other.

"They were fighting," Percy reported.

"He's crazy!"

"You're the crazy one!"

"That's enough from both of you! Downstairs now!" Molly commanded.

"My leg," Alicia whimpered. She looked up at Bill imploringly.

"I've got you covered." Bill put an arm around her shoulders and helped her limp from the room.

They marched downstairs and Bill helped Alicia to the sofa where she sat between Jasmine and Ginny. George emerged from the kitchen rubbing his hair with a yellow towel.

"I've been looking for you, Fred," he said, failing to notice the death stares being exchanged between Alicia and his twin.

"Well I was a little busy," Fred murmured.

Molly joined them, looking very stern and rather displeased. "I want to know what that was all about."

With the whole family watching on, Fred and Alicia both started yelling in response.

"Stop it! Alicia, you go first."

Fred mumbled something that sounded like 'Stupid brat'. Alicia cleared her throat awkwardly. "Well, I was lying down quietly and reading when Fred came into Bill's room and started to pick a fight with me. He pushed me to the ground and kneed me in the thigh. I'm going to get a horrible bruise in the morning. I honestly don't know what his problem is."

"Is that how it happened?"

Fred shurgged insolently. "That's how I remember it."

Everyone glared at Fred in surprise and disgust.

"Hey! I'm the innocent one in this whole thing!" he insisted.

"Attacking a girl." Molly shook her head sadly. "I thought I raised you better."

Arthur pulled out his wand and knelt in front of Alicia. "Let's see if we can fix your leg up so it won't bruise."

"Hello? I'm bleeding over here!" Fred gestured to his forearm that was covered in cat-like scratches.

"What the hell were you thinking?" George shook his head at his twin.

"Don't you start, too."

xxxxx

The next morning, Alicia was woken early by Jasmine jumping on her bed.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts," she chanted happily.

"Go away."

"It's time to get up! Everyone else is downstairs eating breakfast."

"Ok, just stop jumping, you're giving me a headache."

Alicia crawled out of bed and changed into a pair of jeans and her favourite blue top. She slumped downstairs and joined everyone in the kitchen. They all said good morning to her except Fred.

She rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn. "Morning." She took a seat between Percy and Ginny and ate her breakfast in silence. Fred gave her the odd glare but nothing was said.

"I wonder how many Howlers I'll have to send this year," Molly said, with a sidelong a glance at the twins.

"You know, Fred and George would do well to take a leaf from Alicia's book. Not a single detention and she finished first in her year," Percy said rather proudly.

"Did you really come first?" Bill asked.

Alicia nodded and blushed slightly. "Er, yeah."

"That's very well done," Molly told with a friendly smile and a nod.

"No, it's not, she's just a teacher's pet," Fred said bitterly.

"I am not!"

"All the teachers go on about how well behaved you are."

"Well, next to you anyone looks well behaved," Alicia reasoned.

"She's got a point there, little brother," Charlie said with a chuckle.

"I'm going to pack!" Fred announced angrily and stomped up to his room.

"Never mind him."

Finally, at Platform nine and three quarters Alicia was able to escape from Fred and stand with some of her Hufflepuff friends. She talked to Meenal, Meredith and Madeline in Herbology sometimes and they were always nice to her.

"How were your holidays, Alicia?"

"My holidays started out great but slowly turned into a nightmare. By the way, you girls can call me Leesh if you like. It's not my ideal nickname but it's better than what my dad calls me."

"What does he call you?" Meredith asked curiously as the platform began to fill up.

"He calls me precious for some unknown reason."

"How cute! I think I'll call you that as well," Meenal said.

"Oh, please don't," Alicia groaned.

They stood around and discussed their holidays and were slowly joined by the Ravenclaw girls Charlotte, Crystal-Jade and Cordelia. Alicia hadn't had much interaction with these girls but they seemed nice to her anyway.

"Did you go to Australia during the holidays, Cordy?" Madeline asked.

"Yeah, unfortunately it was winter there so I couldn't go to the beach and check out the guys."

"Plenty of guys here to look at." Crystal-Jade grinned and looked around the busy platform.

"Yeah, like who, CJ?"

"Like them." She nodded towards a group of boys standing nearby.

Alicia snorted when she realised she meant Fred, George, Lee and one of their Ravenclaw friends, Adam Hughes.

"I wouldn't bother with them if I were you. Well, not the twins and Lee anyway."

"Come on, Leesh, they're cute and they have the whole bad-boy thing happening," Meredith said with a sly grin.

"Well, you're quite welcome to them," a familiar voice interjected.

Alicia turned around to see a beaming Angelina and Katie. They both hugged her and began asking her about how horrible her week with the twins was.

"My week was dreadful!" Alicia admitted.

The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw girls were surveying Angelina and Katie cautiously. The girls didn't really tend to mingle with the other houses much.

"Hi, I don't think we've ever spoken before. I'm Cordelia," she said in her thick Australian accent.

"Hi, I'm Angelina."

"Oh, we know who you are, dear. You've really caught the attention of the Ravenclaw boys," Charlotte said, winking suggestively.

"Yeah, not to mention the Hufflepuff boys," Madeline added.

Angelina looked at the ground awkwardly at this news. She hadn't really meant to attract so much attention.

"My name's Katie."

"I'm Crystal-Jade but please call me CJ, it's much easier."

"I'm Charlotte," the other girl said in her Scottish accent.

"It's great to talk to you all but we better get on the train if we hope to get a compartment without the twins," Alicia said.

Meenal waved as they walked away. "We'll see you in Herbology!"

"I have to say goodbye to the Weasleys. You can come meet Bill and Charlie."

"Are they anything like Fred and George?" Angelina asked apprehensively.

"No. I wouldn't like them so much if they were."

"Oh, there you are, Alicia, ready to go?" Molly asked as the girls approached.

"Yes. This is our other friend in Gryffindor, Katie."

"Nice to meet you, dear. Bill and Charlie are just over there. Have a good year, girls!"

Alicia hugged Molly, Ginny, Jasmine and Ron then went over to Bill and Charlie who were evidently trying to chat up the same pretty lady.

"I work with dragons," Charlie said impressively.

"Well, isn't that a pity, I'm allergic to dragons," the woman said shortly and walked off haughtily.

"Allergic to dragons?" Bill laughed as his brother's ear turned red. "That's the best rejection I've ever heard."

"Well you didn't have much luck either. Oh, hi, Alicia."

"Hi, guys. These are my friends Katie and Angelina."

"Nice to meet you. We've heard a lot about you from Fred, Angelina. According to him you're out to ruin his life," Charlie said with a wry smile

Angelina shrugged and tried to look nonchalant. "I try my best,"

"Nice to meet a girl who can finally put Fred in his place. No offence, Leesh."

"None taken. We better get on the train now."

"Would you like some help putting your things on the train?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, please," all three of them answered curtly.

Bill and Charlie were carrying Angelina and Katie's luggage and Alicia was left lugging her own. She was experiencing a little déjà vu as she tried to pull her trunk onto the train.

"Need a little help?"

Alicia looked up, this time it wasn't Oliver coming to her rescue. It was George.

"Oh, sure," she said, a little taken aback. Hesitantly, she straightened up and stepped back.

Her trunk was lighter this time because she was able to leave some of her school supplies at Hogwarts and George was able to lift it by himself. Alicia followed him into the train and they passed Bill and Charlie coming out of one the compartments.

Bill and Charlie shared a small smile at the sight of their uncharacteristically chivalrous little brother. They briefly stopped to hug Alicia good-bye then left the train. Alicia continued on behind George and he went into the compartment that his brothers had come out of.

"Get out of here!" Angelina shrieked immediately at the sight of the redhead. She obviously thought he was Fred. Well, she hadn't had to tell them apart for two months after all.

"It's ok, Ang, it's George. He was just carrying my trunk for me," Alicia explained quickly before Angelina could get violent.

"Well, there you go," George said as he placed her trunk next to the other two.

Alicia nodded as Angelina and Katie looked on curiously. George was feeling a little uncomfortable and he was about to leave when Alicia called him back.

He stopped and turned back momentarily. "Yeah?"

"Thanks," Alicia said, adding a timid smile.

George smiled back roguishly "Anytime." He ducked out of the compartment and was gone.

"Ok, what the hell was that all about?" Angelina demanded.

"You two aren't…you know…are you?" Katie asked carefully.

"No! George and I are not 'you know'! Jeez! What is with people these days? First I get accused of slipping him a love potion now we're supposed to be a couple?" Alicia ranted as the Hogwarts Express moved out of King's Cross station.

"You slipped him a love potion?" Angelina screeched.

"NO! Why the hell would I want to do that? Fred's just being a tosser!"

"Wait? What's Fred got to do with this? I'm confused," Katie moaned.

"Allow me to explain." Alicia took a deep breath and locked the compartment door to avoid interruptions. She told the whole story from the beginning and included her fight with Fred which she graphically described blow-by-blow. She finally finished and Angelina was positively livid and Katie was shocked.

"Just wait till I see him," Angelina growled through gritted teeth.

"Forget about it. It doesn't matter anymore. No permanent damage done," Alicia said cheerfully.

"Looks like you've got yourself a guardian angel though." Katie smirked at the idea of a Weasley twin being any sort of angel.

"I still can't shake the feeling that the whole thing is just to make me let my guard down so they can prank me. George is being rather pleasant though," Alicia finished thoughtfully. "Maybe having George Weasley as an ally wouldn't be such a bad thing after all."

Alicia didn't realise it at the time, but George would indeed become very useful in second year

A/N: Ok, I'm stretching it out a bit so the Quidditch trials will be next chapter. George finally manages to gain Alicia's trust and Fred gets even more annoyed about it. The fight at the beginning wasn't actually meant to be that serious. When I first wrote it I just made it a verbal argument but it didn't seem right.

Just before I end this I have another recommendation! You all should read 'All For You' by piccolopiggy. It's a twins romance with a real plot! You-know-who is actually part of the story line and there's animagi stuff and it really is a great story. George also has a very interesting dream in chapter four that deserves a recommendation all of its own.