Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Not in the slightest.

Author´s note: Well, here it is at last. The long-awaited (at least for my part) sequel to You Make Me Beautiful´. Hope you like it, cause I sure do.

Since I haven't reached 100 reviews on YMMB yet, I dedicate this chapter to my cat, Brandy, because she´s pretty.

"I don´t think this is working."

She lay awake in the middle of the night, staring into the darkness and trying to chase away the words. It didn´t work, it never did. They were etched too deep into her mind to allow her to get rid of them that easily. But still she tried, tossing and turning and begging whoever could hear her to please let her go to sleep.

At last she gave in and got up from her bed. Perhaps a walk would help her, it had worked before. Putting on a pair of shoes and a robe, she quietly left the room, careful not to wake up the other girls sleeping there. She didn´t want to talk to them, not right now. Besides, she had no right to take away their sleep just because she couldn´t sleep herself.

"There´s nothing wrong with you. I just… I think we´ve grown apart."

For a while she just walked aimlessly around the castle, trying without any results to shut out his voice. But soon she found that her feet were steering her towards the Prefects´ Bathroom.

"I shouldn´t go there," she muttered darkly to herself. Still, she already knew that she wouldn´t turn back. She never did, she wasn´t strong enough. Inevitably she would end up there, in the place which held so many memories, good and bad.

Once inside, she discarded her clothes and started filling the pool, getting a moment´s amusement out of the many taps. She never got tired of watching the different types of foam fill the pool. However, when it was filled and she slipped into it, enjoying the warmth, her face again took on a solemn expression as the memories filled her mind.

He had come here with her to bath a couple of times, though he wasn´t really allowed as he wasn´t a Prefect. But somehow being with him made her overlook the rules and just do what she wanted. They´d had so much fun here, splashing each other with water, nearly drowning each other, and then…

She let out a groan and went underwater, holding her breath for as long as she could. There, under the water, she thought for a fleeting moment that she saw his face in a bubble. But of course it was just a hallucination, caused by tiredness and lack of oxygen.

As usual she stayed under a couple of seconds longer than her lungs really could take, coming as close to drowning as was humanly possible without actually drowning. Then, as her lungs started to burn, she burst through the surface and breathed in deeply, enjoying the air. But not even the wonderful feeling of being able to breathe again could keep her from remembering the last time she had been here with him.

xxxxx

She stared at the letter, once again trying to comprehend the words she read. The tears which had came when she´d first read it were drying on her cheeks, the immediate sorrow being replaced with something deeper and stronger which made her feel empty and hollow inside.

"Leesh?" George said behind her.

"Yes?" She turned to look at him, expecting him to ask her what was wrong. But he didn´t. It was as if he didn´t notice the fresh tear trails down her cheeks.

"I need to talk to you alone. Can we go somewhere we won´t be interrupted? And where no one can hear what we´re saying."

She nodded. "Sure. I have something I need to tell you too, actually." She waited for a moment, but he still didn´t ask her what was wrong. "Is the Prefects´ Bathroom okay?"

They walked alongside to the bathroom, each too wrapped up in their own thoughts to say anything. Alicia kept glancing over at George, trying to figure out what was on his mind. His face gave her no clue; it was closed and unreadable.

Outside the entrance to the bathroom she quickly muttered the password and entered, George following close behind. Their hands brushed against each other for a moment, and he flinched and pulled it away. Alicia gave him a confused look, but his face still gave away nothing of what he felt.

She sat down at the edge of the pool. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

For the first time George´s face betrayed a little of his feelings, and to Alicia it seemed as though he looked almost… afraid. She couldn´t see why it would be so. After all, you´re not supposed to be afraid of talking to your own girlfriend.

"Um… Okay, you see, the thing is…" he broke off, took a deep breath, and started over again. "I guess you´ve noticed that I´ve been a little distant for some time now?"

She shrugged. "I suppose so." In fact, she had noticed, but she hadn´t really thought much about it. He was always planning some pranking scheme with his brother and not paying much attention to other things.

"Good. Well, the thing is, Fred and I have this plan. We have decided that we are going to… to leave school."

"What!" Suddenly she was on her feet. "You´re leaving? But you can´t leave! It´s your last year at school, you have to finish it!"

George shook his head. "No, we don´t. We´re going to start our shop, we´ve already got a nice place in Diagon Alley, but we have to take it soon. This is our big chance. We have to seize it! So…we´re leaving tomorrow."

Alicia stared at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Tomorrow?"

"Yeah. And there´s something more I need to tell you, too." He paused for a moment. "You and me, our relationship… I don´t think this is working."

"Not working?" she repeated slowly. "What do you mean not workingI think our relationship is working just fine!" Her eyes shot fire as she looked at him, daring him to contradict her.

He dared to. "Well, I don´t agree with you there," he said irritably. Seeing her face, he added quickly: "There´s nothing wrong with you. I just… I think we´ve grown apart."

"Oh, you do, do you?" she shouted. "Then perhaps you should have told me about that a little earlier! We could have talked about it, worked on it, fixed things! But now, when you finally tell me, you are leaving!" She paused, but only for a moment. "What is your problem?"

"Leesh…" George tried.

"Don´t Leesh´ me! I don´t understand how you can do this. I love you, George!" Having said that, she turned and fled from the room, crying as she ran.

xxxxx

She had never got to tell him her news. It was probably for the best, she had told herself, if he had known he would just have felt sorry for her. And if there was one thing she didn´t want from him it was pity.

But with or without George, Alicia still had to face the harsh reality: that her brother Eric was dead, killed in something as stupid as a bar brawl by a man he had never met before in his life. She couldn´t believe that it was true. Yet it had happened, and nothing could be done about it. Eric was gone forever.

He had been seven years older than her, so they had never played much together or been particularly close. But he was her brother, he had always looked after her, no matter what. When he had first heard that she had a boyfriend, he had come to Hogsmeade the next weekend they went there to check that he´s good enough for my sister´. Alicia had curtly informed him that she was perfectly able to take care of herself, thank you, but he had come anyway. George had won his approval, though, when he had promised never to break her heart. A promise he now had broken.

And she couldn´t even get Eric to beat him up, because she no longer had Eric.

xxxxx

The day after the break-up Alicia stood among the other students and saw the Weasley twins leave school, making themselves legendary. She didn´t cry. Angelina did, though, as soon as they got back to the dormitory. Alicia and Katie comforted her as best they could, reminding her that Fred had promised to wait for her when she left school. When Katie asked Alicia if she and George had made any arrangements, Alicia merely turned her back and pretended not to have heard her. She didn´t want to tell them, not yet. At the moment she wasn´t even able to cope with it herself.

She had told them eventually, of course. They were her best friends, and she couldn´t keep anything hidden from them for long. Besides, she needed their support to get through the rest of the year, to keep going without George.

The year was almost over now, and she had made it through it. She had done her duties as Head Girl as she should, been a brilliant Chaser for the Quidditch team, and in short been a perfect student. Her NEWTs were finished, and she had a feeling she had passed them without any problems. School was almost over for her, now she had to enter real life. She wasn´t sure how to handle that. It had always seemed so far off in the distance. And now… now it was almost there.

This is probably the last time I´m here, she suddenly realized with a mixture of pain and relief as she found a towel and started drying herself. Perhaps when she left Hogwarts and all the things here that reminded her of George, she would be able to forget him and move on.

Then again, perhaps not.

Angelina was waiting for her when she exited the bathroom. She didn´t say anything, only put her arm around her friend and led her gently back to their room.