CHAPTER 11 The conclusion in which nothing is concluded

Unable to sleep the black haired girl tossed and turned. The young man who had appeared had caught her off guard for some reason. Emotions were completely unhelpful, they distract you and one becomes illogical and irrational. Trying furiously to shake him out of her head she reached for her journal hoping if she wrote it down, maybe it would make more sense.

Turning to the page where she had left off, she grabbed her quill and some ink. But then she paused. What exactly was she going to say? Nothing had happened, she didn't know his name and she felt sure he hadn't noticed her.

With a sigh she returned her possessions to the floor, knowing she would probably loose them again. She had a horrible habit of misplacing things, it wasn't that she was forgetful, she had a very sharp mind it was simply the fact that her mind was working so fast some days that memory wasn't that important for the little things.

Tossing and turning she tried to get comfortable, her sleep patterns were so bizarre. Sometimes she could sleep for weeks and still be tired, but others she could only sleep an hour or two and would be fine for days at a time.

Not being able to sleep made her irritable, it just felt like such a waste of time, but being tired was awful in itself. She racked her brains for the cause of her angst, perhaps she was going mad.

Uncomfortable and extremely annoyed she closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind of the things that were keeping her awake.

Instead she took in her surroundings, the smooth polished wood of her bed and the blue velvet drapes that surrounded her. The fabric seemed to fold in on itself and shone like the night sky.

Wrinkling her brow in concentration she tried to remember what the young man had looked like, but now that she thought about him the features of his face became increasingly hazy.

Tossing the blankets aside the walked towards the stone window. The moon shone bright and illuminated the grounds. It gave Hogwarts a mysterious air as the silvery light hovered in the mist.

Sighing she leant against the stone window hugging her legs to her chest. The grey stone was cool against her skin and filled her body with creeping cold. A snore from a fellow student abruptly shook her out of her thoughts. Shaking her head at her own folly she crept back to bed, feeling the mulled warmth of the covers once more.

Bleary eyed Alice stumbled out of bed, she knew she was running late. Her body protested the sudden movements and all she really wanted was to be back in bed. Racing down to the Great Hall she shoved some toast in her mouth, there was no way she could survive without breakfast.

Grabbing her bag she sprinted to her first class, but regretted coming at all after five minutes. History of Magic was without a doubt the most boring subject in the world. The Proffesor was a ghost and seemed oblivious to the fact that people were absent mindedly staring out of the window or drooling on their parchment.

This class was with the Hufflepuffs who never seemed very interested. Alice tried in vain to concentrate but the reality was that watching the grass grow outside was more entertaining. She knew she should have given the subject up last year, but she didn't want to do divination.

She began to scribble aimlessly on a piece of paper before she had an idea. Raising her hand she asked the Professor if she could go to the bathroom. Any excuse to get out of the classroom, there was still 45 minutes left of class and she wasn't in the mood.

Strolling along the passage ways she saw Mrs Norris, a wave of panic overtook her, she couldn't be caught, and detention was a waste of time.

She ran along the passage ways and straight into someone. Without glancing to see who it was she whispered quickly, 'Mrs Norris' and jerked her thumb behind her to indicate where Mrs Norris was.

The young man pulled her into a broom closet quickly before she had time to see who it was. She found herself looking into familiar blue eyes, it was the young man from the previous night.

She raised one eyebrow in question, but he merely smiled at her and put a finger to his lips indicating that they should be quiet. She could feel his eyes checking her out. She tried to look cool, but she began to feel uncomfortable.

The young man pressed his ear to the door, opened it and began to stride away from her.

"Wait" she called running after him "aren't you going to tell me what your name is?"

Without stopping he yelled back at her:

"Where's the fun in that?"

Alice felt slightly annoyed that he had not given her his name, but at the same time she was determined to crack the mystery. That was the second time they had 'run into each other'.

Suddenly she realised that she had been 'in the bathroom' for half an hour now and not wanting the entire class to think she had bowel problems she hastily returned to class.

On her way to lunch she met Sirius Black who winked at her heartily and began to speak. However before he could get a word out Alice had reached into her pocket pulled out her wand and silently jinxed him so he could not speak.

His eyes widened in surprise but he quickly took up the challenge, she saw his lips distinctly mouth 'your going to pay for that'. They threw jinxes at each other all the way to lunch. He smiled and laughed until he saw some girls giggling and pointing at him. He scowled and rolled his eyes.

"Always the same" he said "they don't even know me".

Alice was surprised by this comment.

"They don't want to know you, they just like the way you look. They think it will boost their popularity if they go out with you" Alice retorted but at the same time she felt a teaspoon of pity mixed in with the pudding of indifference.

As she entered the hall her eyes surveyed the tables looking everywhere for the young man, but of course he was nowhere to be seen. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, where was he?

But before she could contemplate the mysterious young man Lily and James had entered the hall holding hands causing many people to whisper furiously to their neighbours. It suddenly sounded as though there was a wind whistling through the halls because of all the whispers.

Lily however did not look intimidated what-so-ever. She simply winked at James and kissed him on the mouth before sitting down and helping herself to lunch.

Instead of sitting down Alice grabbed a sandwich and headed out towards the lake, hoping that the rays of sun would warm her up a bit as she had left her scarf in the dormitory, forgetting it in the early morning rush.

Before she could reach the grounds a hand darted out from a large statue of a knight pulling her towards the base of the statue.

The blue eyes were twinkling as she found herself very close to him. He had a crooked smile but it made him look more handsome. Alice felt her breath become shorter as he leaned in towards her. Forgetting all else she closed her eyes, but then a thought crossed her mind.

Placing a hand on his chest she said:

"Wait a minute, I don't even know your name"

"Does it really matter?" he said smiling widely again and leaned in gently, brushing his lips against hers, she closed her eyes and waited expectantly for him to kiss to her again but it never came. She opened her eyes and he was gone.

"What the hell?" she asked herself and looked up and down the corridor utterly bewildered. 'This is ridiculous' she thought. Shaking her head slightly she continued towards the grounds, completely puzzled.

A/N: Sorry this chapter is relatively short!

LBuccalo: I thought Lily and James had to be caught at some stage; no one can have sex in a boarding school without being caught! I don't know how to thank you for your amazing comments and reviews; they always make me smile! Sirius is a guy after all, they tend to be less embarrassed about these things (and more likely to brag!) 

ShIvErIng sMiLe: I'm glad you liked that chapter, I thought everyone would hate it! I was a bit worried about putting it up…but so far so good! Mmmm, good point about whether Lily is an auror or a healer, I couldn't find it in the books it was just a bot of a guess, but maybe she was neither! We'll probably never know (sniffs) thank you thank you thank you for your review

Dreamlikechesse: You never fail to give me a review and for that YOU ARE MY GOD! Hahaha I refuse to reveal who the mystery boy is…but the plain fact is most of you have outsmarted me!

Puffeh: Thank you for your gorgeous review, it made me laugh 