I want to apologize over and over again for the long wait on this chapter. I left for Ireland almost a month ago, and upon my return I found out my computer had been sent in for an update. I finally received it back this week, and now I'm ready to continue on with this tale. I really appreciate all of you who have stuck with me thus far. Without any further interruptions I bring you the next chapter of Where Have You Been,


Chapter 5

Alicia had continued to casually glance back over her shoulder the entire walk home in hopes of seeing George wandering somewhere behind her. When each glance remained empty a soft confusing bubble seemed to have popped in the pit of her stomach. She knew he wasn't going to be there, and yet Alicia wanted to see him standing there. She wanted to stare into those eyes and continue to feel the strange connection she had with him. It felt as though five years of darkness was begging to be revealed when she was with him, and she wanted to see what it was her head was trying to show her. Yet as she carried James up the long staircase to the front door she felt incredibly guilty. Inside the estate her husband went out of his way to make sure she was happy. Why did she suddenly think that it was ok to have these adulterous thoughts?

"They aren't adulterous." She mumbled softly to herself.

Turning the handle on the large front door, Alicia found herself staring into an empty front entrance hall.

"Hello?" She placed James down on the floor as the small boy continued to suck on the lollipop George had given him.

When there was no answer Alicia glanced questioningly up the stairs. Was Cassius in his office so early? Grabbing James by the hand, Alicia began her trek up the main staircase and turned down the corridor towards her husband's office. For a second she was certain that she heard muffled voices coming from behind the office door but was baffled as to who he'd be working with on a Sunday evening. Then again she had found herself perplexed by many of his random meetings. There were plenty of occasions that she found him cooped up in his study during the holiday's or even on his own birthday. To find it absurd that he'd be working early on a Sunday evening was absurd in itself.

Stepping up to the door, Alicia pressed her ear lightly against it.

"Are we playing secrets?" James asked in a strained hushed tone.

Practically forgetting that he was with her, Alicia looked down at her son's face and sighed. " Oh… no sweetheart. " And with a sigh she tapped her finger against the door.

There was a muffled scramble from behind the door, and she distinctly heard one of the heavy wooden chairs fall over and hit the floor. Frowning the slightest at her growing suspicions, Alicia grabbed the door knob and let herself into the dark room that her husband so often frequented.

Glancing into the room, Alicia let her eyes fall on three individuals who looked like they had been caught red handed. "Why do you three look so incredibly guilty?" She peered between Cassius, Daphne and Marcus Flint letting out a chuckle.

Daphne was half hunched over with her hands resting on the side of the fallen wooden chair. When her best friend merely glanced over at Cassius, Alicia found herself frowning. Were they keeping something from her? Granted she recently wasn't being the most honest individual, but when the odds were three to one she felt incredibly out numbered. Maybe it was just paranoia washing over her guilty conscious, but even when she flickered her gaze towards Cassius he turned and quickly shuffled the papers that had gone awry on his desk.

"Hi Uncle Marcus!" James, who had been utterly quiet, bolted from Alicia's side and stormed towards the tall figure who was pressed against the wall.

Marcus shuffled his feet awkwardly as James rushed towards him, but as the young boy reached his side he bent down and scooped him up into his arms. "Oi, you keep getting bigger mate." He let his free hand ruffle the boy's already messy hair, and chuckled when James stuck the oversized lollipop in between them.

"Look what I got! Look!" He waved it frantically between them, and let the sticky side hit Marcus square on the nose. Finding it to be absolutely hilarious, James burst into a fit of giggles and let his head drop back around his shoulders.

Cassius on the other hand looked at Alicia and sighed. "I thought we agreed no candy." He gestured towards the lollipop and raised his eyebrows.

Removing her jacket and placing it on the coat stand to her right, Alicia moved across the room and helped lift the armchair from the floor that Daphne had yet to move. "And I thought we agreed he would get a reward when he behaved?" She smiled down at Daphne though felt the need to question her friend for the suspicious feelings she was suddenly receiving.

Placing his head into his hands Cassius let out another frustrated breath. "Spoiling him is going to make him soft, Alicia. We need to keep him on his feet and grounded at all times. If you keep doting on him every waking second he is going to expect to be spoon fed for the rest of his life."

"Mommy didn't buy this for me." James spoke up as he wiggled out of Marcus' arms. He was barely touching the floor and already moving in his father's direction.

Her heart stopped. If there was one thing Cassius blew his temper on it was the jealous nerve that snapped every time another wizard even looked in her direction. " James…" She reached out to grab his arm, but the boy was too quick and already at his father's side.

Alicia could have sworn she caught a flicker of worry behind Cassius' eyes as though he was expecting this. Brushing it off as the oddly lit candles in the room she bit down on her lower lip as the words spilled so carelessly from James' mouth.

"We went to the candy store today and Mr. George gave me this." He held up the giant lollipop triumphantly.

Alicia on the other hand felt her eyes wander down to the floor. Merlin she had never noticed the intricate detail of the oriental carpet Cassius had installed when they first moved into the estate. Maybe if she just stared at the floor long enough everyone would forget what words that came out of James' mouth. She felt the eyes on her. Oh Merlin she felt them burning holes into the front of her very exposed guilt ridden face. She could almost here the accusations flying from Cassius, and the worst part of it all was that she did indeed feel like she deserved them. Even when Daphne coughed to break the silent tension she felt like crawling into a hole and concealing herself until the following Christmas. This was not going to be a very good moment.

"James…sweetheart." She swallowed, " why don't you go to your room and get into your night clothes. You can finish your lollipop in your bedroom only if you promise to look through the charms picture book Aunt Daph bought you. Deal?" Normally she would have let her eyebrows arch in a playful way, but the look upon her face was far too serious.

As if sensing the odd tone in the room James slipped away from his father without another word and made his way towards the door. "Ok." He didn't put up any argument, but instead grabbed his mother around the legs and gave her a quick squeeze before slipping out of the room and into the corridor.

She heard his tiny footsteps move across the estate until there was silence and the soft click of the door indicating he had gone to his room as he was told. Alicia wheeled around towards Cassius ready to receive the worst. "Cassius…you mustn't think that I-"

"Think that you what?" He rose from the large desk causing Daphne to scurry back and find refuge behind one of the larger armchairs in the corner of the room.

Her hands flew up defensively, "You always jump to these conclusions that I'm trying to have some sort of silly affair, and I want you to know that I -"

"That you went out with our son and spent the afternoon with a strange man?" His words were tense with anger. "That you let him snake his way into James' life? That you let him buy our son presents?"

"Cassius it was just a lollipop, and there was no snaking involved." She scrunched her face in a confused manner. "We met him at the museum the other afternoon, and we just ran into him again." She glanced towards Marcus for some sort of support, but only caught his eyes for a second as the man turned away and faced the other wall. Both Marcus and Daphne had witnessed these arguments before, and many times they had involved themselves in order to stop things before they got out of control. Though there were the few times where they could sense the degree of Cassius' anger and would often steer clear of swaying any anger in their direction.

"Ah just a lollipop. Just like I can assume that this was just some man that graciously spent money on a child he held no claim on? What did you do Alicia? Did you sweet talk him into spending money on James? Did you bat your eyelashes and play the pathetic stupid cliché witch role?" He took notice that her eyes had filled with tears, and he paused. There was never any indication when the temper would snap, but it had just snapped and thrown itself over the edge. He had gone too far.

"I just-" She started softly, but kept her eyes focused mainly on the floor. Somewhere inside of her she felt the need to lash out and protect herself from these moments, but she always dropped her guard and let him attack her with his anger. After losing her memory there was this indescribable sense of defeat within her, and arguing with Cassius often left her feeling as though whatever the fight was about she was constantly at fault. He knew this too. He knew that she'd never try and defend herself when he got so irate. And yet somewhere in the back of her head she felt the need to yell back at him. She wanted him to know that she had spent the afternoon with George, and she did have a good time. She wanted to anger him further and fling her own accusations.

He was suddenly at her side. "Alicia…I'm sorry. I just can't stand to think of you skulking around with another man. I can't stand to think-" His hand that had been placed upon her shoulder was suddenly flung aside by her own tiny hand. To be honest Cassius had never expected that to happen, and stumbled back on his feet.

"And what of you?" She yelled bitterly, the tears now rolling down her cheeks. "I walk in here expecting to be greeted with some sort of endearing welcome, and not only do I get snubbed by the three of you, but you look at me as though you've been caught like a Hippogriff in wand lights! What were you doing? What were you three talking about that was so damn secretive that you hushed up as soon as I walked in?" She stared accusingly not only at Cassius, but now at Daphne and Marcus.

"Alicia!" Daphne, who had remained utterly quiet throughout the Warrington family ranting, finally stepped from behind the chair and placed her hand on Alicia's shoulder. Never had she seen her friend lose her temper like this. Not since she had seen Alicia in Hogwarts, and well that was…that was something that she had been certain Cassius had wiped from her mind. "Alicia we weren't keeping anything from you!" Her voice was calm, and she guided the shaky brunette towards the soft brown leather chair. "We just didn't want to say anything with James in the room." Daphne glanced back over her shoulder towards Cassius.

He looked just as baffled. Alicia never lost her temper. Well unless he went back to their days as Hogwarts students. He had fixed that though. He had been sure to nix that from her when he brought her home from the hospital. It wouldn't have been healthy for her to carry such a temper while with child, but even after she had James he never removed the bind on her. Cassius hated to toy with her mind, but the truth was that he enjoyed the calm passive Alicia. Granted it was her spunk that initially had drawn him to her during their school days, but having the upper hand in the relationship always made him feel like a better husband. Even worse a stronger wizard.

Cassius sighed and let his own body fall back into one of the chairs. He certainly didn't want to tell Alicia what they had just been discussing. After all it had been one of the small factors that had placed her in her unknowing predicament five years ago. Unfortunately Daphne had already opened her large mouth and blurted out what Cassius had hoped she wouldn't. "She's right, Alicia. We didn't want to scare James with the news Marcus returned with."

Alicia, looking so utterly defeated, sat motionless in the armchair. "What is it?" Her eyes studied Cassius with concern.

"Its the...well you know..." He was never very good at telling the truth. Even when it was directed to Alicia it was hard for him to defy his family so easily. " My father has sent word about his new found involvement with the Zabini's. Marcus caught wind of it while he was away on business." He winced as Alicia gasped.

"But - but you said your family was going to remain neutral from now on." She glanced at Daphne, but turned back to Cassius as her best friend continued to look away.

Alicia knew all about the Zabini family. Upon the death of their son Blaise, whom Cassius claimed to know through family connections, the Zabini's went into hiding after the fall of the Dark Lord. They were one of the few families never caught by Aurors. Cassius had promised he had no clue to there whereabouts. Deatheaters. She despised the things they did with the utmost passion. She wanted each caught and persecuted for the loss of so many innocent people. Even if they weren't involved with any murders.

Two years ago Cassius had explained his families interest in the dark arts. He promised Alicia that it was mere fascination, and to disregard the awkward conversations his family would sometimes exchange. Though it sometimes proved hard to dismiss when his mother spoke outwardly against certain people. There was this unsettling look of hatred sometimes present in the woman's eyes, and Alicia often shuddered when Cassius mentioned his parents would be stopping by. After all she had mistakenly overheard his mother speak with foul tongue against a blood betrayal. She cursed the Spinnet family constantly but would always end the outbursts with an evil laugh and a cheer to their demise. Alicia often felt ill when listening about that family in particular.

" I know." Cassius clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. " and I have been trying to convince them of the consequences. My father seems indifferent by my concerns. Even when I mentioned the harm it could bring to James. "

Marcus, who had remained awfully quiet, finally moved from his spot and turned to face the group of them. " there is little we can do now. Your father has already agreed to back the Zabini's when they come out of hiding. They plan to locate the handful of pureblood survivors and align them with the dark arts. Blood traitors of course will be taken care of..." Marcus shot a brief look at Cassius.

Alicia gave an involuntary cry, and she let her hands drop down into her face. " And what are we to do?"

Cassius knew she was speaking about their position, but the pained features on her face indicated her concern for James' safety. "We will protect him." He stated firmly.

" But its your family who is siding with this. They will want us to join!" She shot up from her seat, and Daphne grabbed her arm to keep her from lashing out again.

"Alicia...we will work this out. There is plenty of time to plan..." Daphne began ushering her towards the door. "Come on...there is nothing more we can do tonight on this matter. Why don't we head downstairs and work on the anniversary party we've been planning?" Daphne's hand was already on the doorknob as Alicia turned back to Cassius.

"Come see me when your finished here." She mumbled softly in his direction. When he nodded in response Alicia let Daphne lead her out of the room without another word.

There was an awkward silence formed between Marcus and Cassius, and neither one made an attempt to speak. With a grunt of frustration Cassius pounded his fist firmly on the desk. "I didn't want her to know!" There was another loud noise as he kicked his chair and swore under his breath.

"It's better if she learns the truth now." Marcus started feebly.

"The truth!" He laughed manically. "If I told her the truth she'd take off without bothering to say goodbye." Running his hand over his face he dropped down into the chair again. "How am I supposed to fix this?" For once his words came out strained. Not only was he strapped with the worry of his parents rejoining the Dark Arts circuit, but there was a red headed wanker roaming about his town. The information he had received back from Arnold Van Houstleich confirmed it. Weasley was nipping close at Cassius' heels.

Everything was suddenly falling apart.

Marcus, usually one to come quick with ideas, stared back without help. "You know you could just tell your parents. Its been five years. They would have to have some sort of emotion for her now. I doubt they'd do anything."

Cassius had thought about it. Once when he was very drunk he had almost let his brother know the truth about Alicia. Luckily enough he had passed out before anything was actually said. If he had really said something to his brother he doubted Alicia would be alive right now. No. He much rather let his family believe Alicia was a pureblood from a smaller community. They loved James and treated his wife with respect. A single mention of her true identity would destroy everything.

" It would have been different a few years ago, Marcus." Casually throwing a glance towards the picture of Alicia on his desk he shrugged. "A few years ago they would have possibly been understanding when there was no pending rise of a new Dark era. Now…they can taste the Dark Arts again, and my father wont be able to let that go. Not when it can be easily placed upon his fingertips." He hated to admit it, but there was more danger pressed down around them now then there was five years ago. He was able to save her once, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to do it again.

"What about the survivors?" Marcus blurted out " they said they were going to do some sort of incantation to locate all the pureblood survivors. If that's the case they will figure out who Alicia really is. We wont be able to hide it any longer. On the plus side Weasley will be singled out as a blood traitor and rightfully put to rest." There was a glimmer of satisfaction in Cassius' eye and Marcus grinned. If there was one thing that he knew would flame the hopes of his best mate it was the thought that Weasley could be dead within the week.

"It'd be one less thing to worry about." Cassius mumbled under his breath, and lifted his hands back to rest upon the top of his head.

If his father found out the truth about Alicia, the truth about everything, Cassius wasn't sure what would happen. There had been years of his father's life plagued by the memory of the Spinnet family, and when they had killed them his family had finally achieved that vengeance they so desperately wanted. Now there was this. He loved Alicia. She was his heart and soul, and if something was to happen to her he'd kill himself. Time seemed to be spinning out of control, and Cassius felt his grip around Alicia slip further from him. He couldn't lose her. "What can you do to slow down the process of that incantation?" Cassius, desperate for anything, began shuffling through parchment on his desk hoping to stumble across something that would help. "If I can just buy a little more time to erase Alicia's past a bit more I think we would be ok. There must be something I can do to confuse the list of names that would appear on the parchment of purebloods. Because if Alicia Spinnet shows up on there…" He choked back a determined hitch in his voice.

"I don't know how much I can actually do, but I'm certain I can convince the Zabini's to wait until after your anniversary gala. I'll tell them that by doing this now it will just interfere with what you two have been planning for so long. They wouldn't dare start something so huge if it was going to interrupt a gala of this caliber." Marcus nodded as if he was agreeing with himself. "Actually if I go grab Daphne now I can send out that owl tonight so it will arrive at the Zabini's by breakfast tomorrow. We can really put a slow down on things the sooner it goes out."

"Do it." Cassius blurted out in a demanding tone. "Do as much as you can, and while you take care of that I'm going to work on some sort of jinx that will keep Alicia's name off that list."

Together, still speaking in low voices, the men left the study and parted ways. Marcus moved down the stairs towards the entrance hall, and asked Cassius to send down Daphne when he saw her. Casting his friend a wave of understanding, Cassius moved directly towards the bedroom and swung the door open with a heavy thud. Both girls jumped slightly in their seats and stared at him with wide eyes. "Marcus is waiting for you in the entrance hall." Crossing the room he moved towards the large closet and stepped inside and out of view.

"Geez, thanks Cassius. I hope that message didn't strain you too much." Rolling her eyes at Alicia, she mouthed a goodbye and that she would be over the following afternoon.

"Bye, Daphne. Thanks a million." Alicia grinned as her friend disappeared behind the large door, and then quickly wheeled around on her husband with a frown. "Why were you so curt with her? She didn't do anything wrong. " She heard him mumble something from behind the door, and she merely quirked a brow in confusion. "What?"

"I don't want to talk about this, Alicia." He emerged from the closet wearing a pair of plaid pajama pants. "I don't wanna talk about anything that's going to get us into an argument."

The large Oh shape her mouth was in must have looked humorous because after a moment even Cassius laughed. "Did you and Marcus get pissed while you were in the study? She knew the two of them enjoyed their liquor, but she wasn't in the mood to deal with drunken behavior at the moment.

"No." He stated blandly.

She let her eyebrow arch further. "And you don't want to argue with me? Are you feeling ok?" She moved across to him and placed her hand on his forehead. A laugh escaped her lips as her fingers brushed his forehead, and suddenly as though something had pulled harshly at her gut, Alicia found herself staring into the eyes of a much younger Cassius.

They were together in some sort of tower, and he was yelling at her with such contempt in his voice. His finger pounded heavily against her chest, and she felt wet tears roll slowly down her cheeks. He has a manic sort of look in his eyes, and Alicia, trying desperately to run from the tower seemed rooted to the spot. The feeling of hatred began to overwhelm her, and as quickly as that thought came to her it vanished from her mind. She stumbled backwards.

"Alicia?" He made a grab for her, and quickly helped her back against the bed. "Are you all right, love?" She looked terribly pale, and Cassius felt a lurch of worry wash over him.

It took a moment for her to understand what had just happened. It was the second time something like this had happened within the last two days. The first time she had dismissed it as some silly daydream, but after feeling it again she was beginning to have second thoughts. Those emotions were far too real to be some horrible daydream. Her eyes somehow found their way to the concerned features on Cassius' face, and there was a deep desire to retract from him and run out of the room. What the hell was going on with her? Was she recalling parts of her memory? Lifting her hand to her own forehead, Alicia took a deep sigh and gave a short nod. "I just got dizzy so quickly, and things began to go blank." She lied. Telling him she had some awful vision like that would only bring across an argument that neither of them wanted to exchange at the present moment. Instead she softly chuckled. "Probably because you said you didn't want any confrontation tonight. I think that's the first time you ever bowed down and out to going at it with me." She smirked. "Losing your touch?"

His heartbeat had barely returned to normal, and already she was teasing him about what had just happened. The witch was crazy. Though he was almost positive he had seen her flinch when he touched her. Perhaps it was all just trickery going on inside his confused mind. "No, I have not lost my touch in battle. I can argue with you all tomorrow morning if you want me to." He shrugged. "I just wanted to apologize tonight for the things that happened earlier. For everything I said…for everything that we told you." Cassius dropped to his knees, and placed his forehead down against her thighs. "I love you. I want you to know I love you, and every thing I do revolves around you and James." He let his face rise to greet hers.

"I know you love me. " She smirked. "Even when you go all brooding on me. I know that whatever we decide to do about this situation will be the safest decision we can make. I trust you completely, love." Leaning over she planted a kiss against the top of his head, and the same funny discomforting feeling came rocketing forward. Pulling away, Alicia motioned for him to get up, and without another word she crawled towards the top of her bed and pulled the soft blankets up around her.

Cassius remained rooted for a moment before finally deciding to join her. "So…" He started uneasily. There was still an unsettling look behind her eyes, and Cassius wondered how much could be damaged just by two brief encounters with Weasley. He'd have to strengthen the charm tomorrow. " What did you talk about with Daphne?" He was surprised she didn't question his curiosity. Normally he'd have given a crap about the gala the girls were planning to throw.

"Nothing much." She rolled over on her side, doing her best to keep a gap between them. She never had to do such things before, but for some reason her subconscious told her to do so. "We decided that the party will definitely be next weekend. Daphne already sent out the invitations and such. It should be a fairly nice affair. Can you believe we've been married for five years now Cassius. Officially five years." They had been rounding up the year over the last few months, but after Saturday they would officially be together for five years. Alicia felt her stomach knot.

"I know." He shifted beneath the blankets to close to the distance between them, but frowned when she scooted a bit closer to the edge of the bed. " We deserve a party like this." His voice had lowered considerably.

Not wanting to look into his face, Alicia clutched her pillow tightly beneath her head and closed her eyes to suppress the tears. Five years. It had been five years and now suddenly thoughts and visions, strangers and emotions had blanketed over her eyes blocking out the perfect rose colored world she had been living in. Something wasn't right, and Alicia couldn't stand the disgusted feeling she was getting as she clutched even tighter to her pillow.

"Cass…I love you." She stated weakly after she felt his body toss onto the other side so their backs were now facing each other. There was a long pause which caused Alicia to swallow the sob that had formed in the back of her throat. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Cassius shifted and spoke.

"Even my crooked nose…"

Silent tears began streaming down her face, and Alicia nodded though she knew he couldn't see her. "Even your crooked nose." And for the first time in five years Alicia cried herself asleep beside the man she was certain she loved, but was certain was keeping something from her.

Well the story continues to thicken. I promise you within the next few chapters the entire truth about what happened to Alicia will be opened up. The gang will meet up with the lying Cassius, and the true horror of this story will begin to unfold. Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter. Lots of love to you all!