(A/N) Do I even need to say that all of this belongs to J.K Rowling? Oh well.
Thanks so much to harrypotterforever24 for the lovely review, it really meant a lot, and to RaucousLaughter for being super nice about all my stupid questions. I really look forward to any sort of feedback from anybody, so please let me know what you all think.
2.
The storm raged unforgiving over the Hogwarts grounds throughout the night and into the next morning, a Saturday. Alice Fawley woke up to the sound of raindrops as thick as bullets splashing against the small arched window besides her four-poster bed. It was nearly 8 o'clock and the skies outside remained as dark as they had been last night when she had gone to bed. The sound of the showering rain hammering against the crystal windowpanes was joined by Mary Macdonald's soft snores and the slumberous purring of Lily Evans's cat, Heathcliff. The familiar sweet scent of Marlene Macmillan's vase of flowers, sent weekly to her by her father, giddily floated around the bookshelf-lined walls.
Alice sat up on her mattress, parting the crimson velvet around her to look about the circular room. Some stray school robes and muggle shoes were scattered around the dark hardwood floor, especially around Faye Dearborn's trunk which lay open and half-empty, most of its contents piled on Faye's night table, stacked away on the shelves that lined her maroon canopy or crawling out from beneath her bed. On the centre of the room piles of Cauldron Cakes wrappers and empty Chocolate Frog boxes had been left abandoned by Susan Crenshaw and her friends the night before when Mary had hastily ushered them out of the dormitory.
Four of the five other beds were occupied, Alice's dormmates fast asleep and their drapes shut tight. Dorcas Meadowes, her best friend, was unsurprisingly out already, though Alice doubted she had braved the furious weather to get to the Quidditch field where she daily ran for an hour at 5o'clock in the morning.
She sighed deeply. She was going to see Frank today.
Hogwarts was a solitary place on dark, rainy Saturday mornings and Alice encountered very few people as she went down from Gryffindor Tower to the Great Hall for breakfast. Benjy Fenwick, a seventh-year, was coming out of a study room on the ground floor as she passed by and a small group of fifth-year Ravenclaws in muggle clothing sat in deep conversation on the steps of the Grand Staircase, one of them in floods of tears as the rest of them all said how they had always known the crying girl's ex boyfriend was a useless tosser.
There were no more than a dozen people on each of the four tables when Alice walked into the Great Hall, although it was now almost half an hour before 9 o'clock. The staff table at the farther end of the room was only occupied by Professor McGonagall, who sat reading the Daily Prophet, and Professor Vector. The enchanted ceiling above the house tables displayed it was still pitch dark outside, and that the rain continued to pour uninterruptedly. The rain-splattered high windows on both sides of the Hall showed that the grounds were submerged in the same apparent night as the unyielding, torrential clouds above them.
'Alice!' Dorcas called from the middle of the Gryffindor table, waving her dark-skinned hand above her head. She was wearing a black, Hogwarts-crest-emblazoned jumper and her black curly hair stood around her face inharmoniously, yet the effect was not shabby but curiously pleasant. Alice always said that Dorcas was easily one of the prettiest girls in their year, with unbelievably golden eyes and what Witch Weekly would call "a bone structure to die for".
Alice took a seat in front of Dorcas, who was sitting between Gwenog Jones, one of the other Gryffindor sixth-years, and Josephine Welsh, a fourth-year. Both girls, like Dorcas, played for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
'Hello.' said Alice smiling. She found those two girls particularly nice. Dorcas said Alice found everyone particularly nice. 'What is it with you Quidditch people and rising early?'
'When you have James Potter for a captain and you train thrice a week at the break of dawn, you end up finding it hard to sleep in.' said Gwenog over a plate of kippers. Josephine Welsh snorted in agreement. 'James himself never sleeps past half past seven. It is weird he's not here yet, actually.'
Alice reached for a tray of toast and pushed some sausages onto her shimmering plate. Remus wasn't there either, the poor thing, he had gone off to visit his mother again. Alice always had breakfast with Remus Lupin and today she felt sorry he wasn't there to behold her excitement for Frank's visit. Besides Dorcas and the rest of the girls, Remus was one of her closest friends.
She would not worry about James not being up yet, though. He would eventually come and find her, as he'd said he would. Because Frank was coming today and James had promised.
Alice and Frank had begun dating when she was in her fourth year and he in his sixth. He was gentle and brave and kind, so utterly and unbelievably kind, and going back to Hogwarts knowing he would not be there had been one of the hardest things Alice had ever done.
'I'm sorry about last night, you know.' Gwenog went on. She had glossy brown hair plaited to one side and a strong, tall frame. Dorcas had told Alice a million times that that girl was going to play for England one day; she was so spectacular at Quidditch. 'The girls taking over your room, I mean.'
'Oh, it was nothing' said Alice just as Dorcas ululated 'Merlin, are they insufferable!'
Gwenog Jones laughed. 'My friend Alix and I were glad they were out for a bit, though. Without Melberta's chin-wagging, we could actually hold a conversation.'
'That's not nice, Jones, now. I don't like my chasers being bitches.' said a low, hoarse voice. James Potter was standing behind Alice now, his long shadow spilling over the breakfast table, and he sat rather heavily besides her. There were dark violet circles underneath his eyes and one of his cheeks was oddly pinkish, like a week-old bruise that had not finished clearing. His eyes were glazy and his hair was still dripping wet from a shower.
Relief rolled over Alice like a tidal wave and she was surprised to realise she had actually been worried. But no longer, no – she was going to see Frank.
Frank – her Frank – Frank who had been away Merlin knew where on intensive Auror training for over a month now. Frank who had been one of the only five selected for Auror training over the last decade and who had barely contacted her since the last time they had seen each other. Brave, bold, brilliant Frank. Frank who had every right on Earth to be cross with her.
'Meadows, Welsh.' James nodded and both girls nodded back. Quidditch people were odd, Alice thought. 'Hullo, Alice.'
'Merlin, Potter' said Dorcas as she poured heavy black tea into a cup she placed in front of James. Alice noticed Gwenog slip a dash of milk into it just as Josephine Welsh passed him an overflowing bowl of porridge over which Dorcas sprinkled brown sugar. Alice wondered if all Quidditch teams fixed their captain's breakfast, and the idea of the macho Gryffindor Beaters buttering James a muffin made her smile. 'You look like absolute rubbish.'
'Thanks, puppet. Aren't you a delight.' grunted James. He took the plate of banana slices Josephine Welsh handed him and mixed it into his porridge.
'Well, you do. Are you hangover?' Gwenog asked, and James shook his head.
'No – I just didn't sleep much.' James croaked. 'Marauding.'
The three girls nodded and Alice thought they must've had heard such explanation so many times it now seemed only natural. None of them questioned him further, and Alice saw it was not because they respected his privacy but because they had lost curiosity over time about the Marauders many, many escapades.
They ate in silence for a while as the wind rustled outside and thunder shook the castle's windows. Josephine Welsh left first, taking a rather huge pile of croissants wrapped in a napkin with her, and Gwenog Jones got up not ten minutes after that.
'Finally!' cried Dorcas as Gwenog sailed out the double doors of the Great Hall. 'I've been wanting to talk about Frankie ever since I saw you, Al. He's coming in today, isn't he?'
'Yes,' Alice whispered, sitting up straight. 'He's been given the weekend off training.'
James lifted his head from the table against which he was resting his forehead and looked up at her, his round-framed glasses lopsided.
'When is he getting here?' he asked hoarsely.
'I'm to meet him at the Broomsticks at noon.' Alice said, her grey eyes twinkling. 'And oh, James, I can't tell you how thankful I am.'
'No worries.' answered James. 'I'll get you to Longbottom.'
An hour or so later, Hogwarts began to wake and crowds of students swarmed into the Great Hall bringing lively noise and chit chatter with them. The clouds of the enchanted ceiling were now a lighter shade of violet, although the storm went on as fiercely as it had all night and the occasional thunder still made Professor McGonagall shiver in her high-backed chair. James had gone back up to bed after promising Alice to meet her in the third floor corridor at a quarter to twelve, and his seat had been quickly filled by some raunchily loud fourth-year who Dorcas threatened to Cruciate if he didn't shut it. After the boy made a very graphical description of how he felt watching Josephine Welsh ride a broomstick, Dorcas stood up, hexed his hair off and dragged Alice out of the Hall before the boy had a chance to yell "barking bitch!"
Both girls climbed up the Grand Staircase, Dorcas swearing she had seen McGonagall's thin lips curl into a proud inkling of a smile when she saw her jinx that "horny, ugly little git". More people were coming down to breakfast now and they were two of the few going up against the currents. Getting up to the seventh floor took a lot of pushing from Dorcas and many profuse apologies from Alice. Dorcas shouted the password at the Fat Lady over a group of hurrying first-years who were climbing out through the hole to the common room. Once inside Gryffindor Tower, they went up the spiral staircase to their dormitory.
'Good morning, lovely ladies!' Dorcas bellowed as she pushed the door open with a bang. The noise of wood hitting stone cracked through the room like a shot.
The shower was on inside the bathroom and the floor had been cleared of rubbish. The books that had been strewn across the room that morning were now neatly placed back on the many bookshelves of the room, the clothes on the floor folded on top of their owners' trunk, and even Faye's perennial mess had been straightened up. From inside the loo, Marlene was singing the school song with bold ardour. Both Alice and Dorcas were certain she had been the one cleaning up – Marlene Macmillan was the unofficial mother hen of their dormitory.
'I. Hate. You. Dorcas.' slurred Mary Macdonald from behind her bed drapes.
'I will murder you, Meadowes.' called Faye, stepping out of the bed and picking up a silk dressing gown from her bedside cabinet, squinting her yellowy green eyes at Dorcas' figure. She had surrendered unquestioningly, though bitterly, to Dorcas's unkind awakening.
'Quit faffing, dear, bitchy Faye.' sung Dorcas, striding across the dormitory to open Mary's draperies. Mary groaned. 'Has Marlene been tidying up? This place looks less like a mess than it normally does.'
'Yes.' answered Faye drowsily. She looked, in all honesty, like she hadn't slept a wink. Her eyes were blood shot and the skin under her eyes bluish. She sat on her bed, propped her elbow up on her knee and yawned quietly. 'Doesn't Lily get to have you wake her? It would be unfair to her if she didn't have the pleasure.'
'Good gracious, I am awake, Faye. I'm just trying to ignore the lot of you so I can go back to sleep.' said Lily without opening her eyes. 'I'm so terribly tired.'
Mary Macdonald stretched her arms and got up, walking onto the centre of the room. Marlene was howling the Irish national anthem now. 'What day's it?' she asked, her dark hair tussled in what must've been a bun the night before.
'Saturday!' shrieked Dorcas gleefully. Faye rolled her eyes.
'Wait,' asked Lilly, propping herself up on her bed. 'Isn't Frank coming in today, Al?'
'Yes.' beamed Alice, 'I'm having lunch with him and I can't believe I'm seeing him and Merlin you all know how much I've missed him.'
'We do.' Faye said impassively.
'But...' asked Lily dubiously. 'how is he coming into the castle?'
Alice's smile faltered down a bit. Lily frowned.
'Oh no, Alice Fawley!' she scowled. 'You aren't going through with that, are you? It's mental! And look outside for a second – it's raining cats and dogs!'
'James's passage is underground, Lily. I won't get wet.' Alice whispered, a wisp of pink creeping onto her cheeks.
'Fine – let Potter lead you to your doom. Just don't say I didn't tell you so.' Lily sneered, but her harsh gaze softened at Alice's look of forlornness.
'Lils, dear, what did we say about being bitter?' said Mary, an approving Faye nodding over her shoulder. 'You sexually repressed, you.'
'I am not bitter, Mary Macdonald. But I'm sorry, Alice, I understand you wanting to see Frank at all cost. I would too if I had an Auror-trainee boyfriend.' said Lily, reaching her hand out to Alice who took it with a thankful smile.
'Lily,' Alice whispered so softly none of the other girls could listen. 'has Snape talked to you since classes began?'
'No, he hasn't.' Lily's face was now dark. 'And I wouldn't want him to.'
'Now, now, ladies.' said Dorcas, her palms itching with whimsical excitement as she lifted her arms around her face. 'We must get down to business- what on earth is Miss Alice Fawley wearing on her date? I say Dearborn's very pure-blood, Augusta-Longbottom-friendly silvery robes, but that's just me.'
Potter led her through the passageway that was born from the statue of the one-eyed witch on the third floor corridor down a damp opening in the rock which Alice thought must be underneath the Black Lake. The rocky walls were dripping with icy drops of cloudy water and covered in orange moss that James stressed she ought not to touch. They walked for a good twenty minutes in which they barely talked (Alice's stomach was turning and her hands shook in excitement and her mouth was so dry she was sure she wouldn't be able to speak even if she wanted to) before they came to a worn, wooden trapdoor at the end of a steep staircase carved right into the stone. James told her how to get out unnoticed, how to sneak back into the castle, wished her luck and disappeared back into the shadowy tunnel.
She had been so, so stupid. How could she have blamed him? He truly ought to be awfully cross with her, but knowing Frank, he probably wasn't. But it was all going to be okay really soon because she was going to see him, and Alice had learnt over the last two years that very few things were ever not okay when she saw Frank.
She was out the front door of Honeydukes Sweetshop in a minute, the chilly, wet wind tangling the pale blue dress she had borrowed from Marlene. It was still pouring down, even more heavily if possible, but she did not care for a second. She crossed Hogsmeades's main road in a furious sprint and ran down the road that led to the station, her cloak floating behind her, her black leather shoes holding her back momentarily as they got stuck in muddy pools of dirty rainwater. The bone-chilling rain was blinding in her eyes and her pulled-up hood was probably messing the plaited headband Lily had spent so much time on but all she could see was the blurry image of the Three Broomsticks not twenty yards ahead of her, blurry-edged and misty behind the dense curtain of down pouring water.
And then she saw him. Tall, broad shouldered, his dampened black-blue Auror cloak clinging to his strong frame. Frank. Standing in the middle of the road in the storm like nothing was happening and his blonde hair wasn't dark with water – Frank.
She threw herself at him with such force she almost tackled him down onto the muddy lake that was the road, but he soon found his balance and snaked his arms around her waist, lifting her off her feet.
'Hello, Al.' he whispered into her hair, kissing it, and the tightly compressed, mind-numbing uneasiness that had been nesting in her chest since the last time she had seen him broke like a dam into a flood of tears – God, she had been so awful to him. He tightened his grip on her. 'No, Al, don't cry. Oh, love – what's wrong?'
'I've missed you so much.' she wailed. 'Merlin, I've missed you. I'm sorry.'
Frank chuckled softly and pulled her face gently so he could kiss her forehead and then peck her lips briefly. Rain was running down his face in terrible streams and he was holding her as closely as it was possible. Alice's body shook in sobs, and he stroked her wet hair.
'I've missed you too, Alice.'
'Merlin, I was so worried – I was so, so worried – and you were away for the longest of times.' she sobbed. 'And I am so absolutely proud of you but I can't help it when I read the papers and I think about all those awful, awful things and how you're right there in the middle of it.'
'Don't.' he said softly, placing her back on the ground. A thick drop of icy water ran down his long, straight nose.
'I love you.' she said as she reached down to get hold of his large, wet hand. He traced small circles on her palm with his thumb. 'And – about what you said – I think that's what I want as well. Not for a bloody moment, remember?'
'I love you too, Al.' Frank was beaming.
June 20th, 1976
'Please don't say that.' Frank said, the hurt in his voice so obvious Alice had to bite her tongue to keep herself from crying. The moonlight coming into her room casted deep, unsettling shadows over his aquiline face that did nothing but accentuate his baffled grimace.
'I don't mean it that way Frank, you know I don't.' she tried to explain, but Frank had taken a step back and his eyes weren't holding her gaze as vivaciously as they had a few mere seconds ago.
'Then whatever do you mean, Al, you don't think you can take it anymore? You're done? What's that supposed to mean then?' Frank said but his voice was not accusatory, just as brokenly bewildered as his escaping glance.
'I mean that it hurts, Frank.' she answered, taking a step towards where he stood enveloped in the flying white curtains of her room's French windows, that led right into the big square patio. The whole house was built around it, a U-shaped one-floored villa of terracotta walls. 'It hurts so, so much.'
'So what, Alice? Because I'm not at Hogwarts anymore, because I'm not going to see you anymore, then it's just off? Bloody hell, I'm going away for training, Al, I'm not on holiday.' he said angrily, losing his pleasant, gentle demeanour for the first time that night and probably for the first time since Alice had known him. 'Don't you think it hurts for me too? Don't you think it's bloody difficult?'
'Of course I do! And it's bloody well not off with us Francis, I would never say something like that! It has absolutely nothing to do with not seeing you – that I can handle.' she hissed, waving her arms around her head. Frank stepped back again apprehensively. She wished so badly to yell at the top of her lungs but her mother was asleep, and it was actually better if she did not know he was there. 'But you are out there doing what's got to be done – what I wish I could be doing – and I'm the ickle schoolgirl idly waiting for her boyfriend to come back!'
Frank was silent for a moment so Alice went on, this time more calmly. Her long, pale fingers were playing nervously with something in her right hand, a small plastic wrapper that kept making a soft cracking noise as she folded it and unfolded it. 'I have been worried off my rocker since you got in. You know how proud of you I am – you know being an Auror is exactly what I want to do – and You-Know-Who has got to be stopped and I love you to the end of the world for wanting to do your part in that' she took a deep breath and shot him a pleading look. 'but I just love you, Frank. I truly, truly love you – and if something were to happen to you – if you weren't there anymore – I, I...'
He crossed the distance between them in one long stride and put his heavy arms around her and she buried her round face into his broad, familiar chest. He stroked her hair in silence and his voice was hoarse when he spoke next.
'I love you.' he said quietly. 'And I can't say it's going to be easy and we're going to be all right and all those things I wish I could say, because it's going to be sodding bloody difficult, love. And I'm sorry for putting you through this, Ali, but I am going to do everything I possibly can to make this world safe for you. Because I can't imagine ever living without you, Alice – ever. I want you every bloody day.'
He paused briefly so he could place two fingers beneath her chin, forcing her to look at him with a gentle tug. Her pale grey eyes met his dark green ones. 'I don't ever want to be without you, do you understand that? Do you understand what I'm saying, Alice? Do you get what I'm implying? Not ever.'
'Oh.' Alice breathed.
'Yeah – Oh.' Frank laughed softly. 'And I know it's not the time for that right now, but I want you to know what my intentions are. And I'll go see you the moment I get sent back – I reckon it should be before October.' Alice flinched at this. 'I've written to James Potter, love – that's what I've been trying to tell you. He'll get you to me when I can make it into Hogsmeade because I'm not bloody waiting for your Hogsmeade weekends to see you.'
'That's nice.' Alice said. Her voice trembled subtly.
'Now love, don't go monosyllable on me. I won't bring that up again until you're nicely out of Hogwarts, I swear. But do know I'm serious: I am not going to live without you, Alice Fawley – not ever, not for one bloody minute.' he said and stopped for a reaction that did not come. 'Promise you'll come see me when I get back—the moment I get back?'
Alice nodded. 'Good. I have to leave now, love. I doubt your mum would like me much if she found me sneaking into her daughter's room at 2 o'clock in the morning only to upset her.' Frank leaned down and kissed her forehead. 'I love you, Alice. I'll see you in two months.'
'Bye.' she whispered, but Frank was already out the window-doors. Something broke ever so slightly inside her as she heard him Disapparate quietly off the courtyard. She still held the chewing gum wrapper inside her hand.
(A/N) OK, I hope you liked it! I'm just so interested in Frank and Alice as a couple. I think theirs is one of the most drawingly tragic stories in the seried. Please review!
