A/N: Thank you as always to my reviewers; Bad Mum, Kerichi, MBP, Hondagirl, Evenstar606, x.o.gossipgirl.x.o, mustardgirl1128 satelliteblues21 & Phoenix Feather Quills!

I know the last chapter may have been surprising and didn't quite seem to fit into the plot. But I see it as just one of Alicia's happy memories, one of the things she likes to think back to again and again. There will be more of that kind of flashbacks in this story every now and then, I guess. Besides, I thought the Yule Ball chapter had to be done at some point! :)

Kerichi and Bad Mum – thank you so much your wonderful and helpful beta-work!

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Chapter 15 January 20th, 2000

It was the morning after they had spoken to Hermione when George surprised Alicia at breakfast, saying, "I'm going to the Aurors' office today."

Alicia nearly choked on her cappuccino when she heard that, but as soon as she could breathe again, she smiled. "I think you're doing the right thing."

George smirked, taking her hand into his. "Let's just hope so."

Alicia decided to accompany George to his interview with the Head of the Aurors, Conrad Mollowiddle, an impressive man in his fifties, about George's height, but a good forty pounds heavier. He was bearded and spoke in a deep, powerful voice while his piercing blue eyes were fixed on George. "Sounds like you've been buying from a dealer we've been looking for for a long time. For how long has this been going on?"

George cleared his throat, looking very uncomfortable. "Roughly one and a half years," he answered hesitantly.

"And when did it stop?"

George shrugged. "'round the end of December."

The older wizard glared at him from under his thick, bushy eyebrows, making Alicia feel scared and she couldn't help thinking about Harry. If this man was his boss, he probably wasn't having an easy time as a trainee Auror.

Auror Mollowiddle cleared his throat loudly and continued to question, "And you're ready to repeat what you've told me in front of the Wizengamot?"

"Yes," said George in a surprisingly firm voice and nodded. Alicia squeezed his hand, feeling a little more comfortable when she felt him repeating the gesture. "It'll be fine," he whispered into her ear. His voice sounded confident but Alicia knew that he was just as nervous as she was.

Auror Mollowiddle gave a deep sigh and gathered together his notes. "Okay then, Mr. Weasley, you will be informed on further developments. I rely on you to help this case as much as you can. In return I will put in a good word for you."

"What sort of punishment do I have to expect?" asked George carefully, as he got up to leave.

"I don't know. I'd have to ask the Department for Magical Law but given that you came to us on your own account and that you're ready to give testimony I think they will be able to offer you a good deal. So you shouldn't worry too much. Does that help?"

"A lot," said George, and Alicia could hear the relief in his voice. "Thank you, sir."

"You should, in any case, retain a solicitor," said Mollowiddle before Alicia and George left. "Ask at the Department for Magical Law. I'm sure they will know somebody."

"Thanks," repeated George and when they were out the door he turned to Alicia with a grin on his face. "Well?"

"If you want to hear that I'm proud of you, here you go; I'm very proud. But we shouldn't underestimate the situation. You should go and see Hermione right now. She can probably suggest a solicitor."

"What about you? Aren't you going to come with me?"

"No," said Alicia grimly, "you have to go alone. There's somebody else I need to have a word with."

She kissed George goodbye and headed straight for St. Mungo's Hospital. Her friend was in between patients, so she ushered Alicia into her office with an apologetic, "I've got rounds scheduled in five minutes, we'll have to make this quick."

"Why didn't you tell me about George's addiction?" Alicia asked bluntly.

Katie's face lost all colour. "I couldn't tell you, I wasn't even sure myself."

"You were sure after the night before the reunion."

"Alicia –"

"I should've known."

"Why? What could you have done?"

"I could've helped him stop taking it."

Katie sighed, rolling her eyes. "You would've gone running back to him the moment you knew, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, because I should've been there for him –"

"See? That's why I didn't tell you."

Alicia stared at her friend, speechless for a moment. "You wanted to keep us apart?"

"I had to save you from yourself," Katie tried to explain.

"So you were thinking just about me or what? What about him, huh? He was the one needing help."

Katie sighed. "Alicia, look. You know that George is my friend, too, and I have offered him help more than once. But, yes, I also had to think about you. You have this tendency to stop thinking straight when it comes to George. It wouldn't have been good for you to get back together. Especially since you couldn't have done anything for him."

"Well, maybe I could."

"What could you have done?"

"Well, I could have talked some sense into him."

"Do you really think he would have listened?"

Alicia crossed her arms in front of her chest, nodding. "Maybe."

Katie looked at her angrily, but a few seconds later her expression softened. "Alicia," she said in a gentle tone, "please. You wouldn't have been able to make him see sense. He had to realise for himself that there was a problem."

Alicia was about to protest but she knew it was no use. And deep down she even realised that Katie was right, although it would take her some time to admit that. She sighed. "Does George know you were there that night? I mean the night Charlie called you."

"No, he was pretty much out of it while I was there. He was conscious for minutes in between, but I'm sure he doesn't remember anything that happened that night. I have to say I was very surprised to see him at the Reunion that evening. He still seemed rather sick when I left him and Charlie in the morning." Here, Katie paused, taking a deep breath. "Did you know that Charlie blames you for what happened to George?"

"He did, yeah. He told me. But we talked about that. He understood that it wasn't my fault."

"Good," said Katie, genuinely relieved. "He was absolutely convinced before, that it was your fault. That's why I left so early. Charlie and I had a huge argument. He was blaming you when all you ever did was trying to help George."

"Well, I did break up with him."

"That was the best decision you could've have made at the time."

"But –"

"Alicia. You couldn't have helped him. Trust me. He had to understand for himself. You were running yourself ragged, trying to help him. You had to think of yourself. Leaving him was the right thing to do."

Alicia gave her friend a doubtful look.

"Believe me," Katie went on. "The thing about addiction is that it makes people selfish and I've watched you suffer from George's behaviour long enough and that is why I didn't want you to go back. Besides, he never asked you to come back to him, did he?"

"No, not until the reunion."

"Which was still too early."

"Probably."

On Katie's face there was a hint of a smile now. "You know, Lee and I didn't agree on that. Lee thought you should give George another chance all the time."

"Does Lee know?"

"About the Lethe?"

Alicia nodded.

"No, he doesn't. He knows that something was going on with George alright but he never found out what. I think we should give George the chance to tell him for himself."

"You think, he'll do that?"

Katie shrugged. "He's your boyfriend, you know him better than I do."

Alicia nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right. And I think he'll tell Lee. Once he's ready."

"How are things with you, now you're back together?"

Alicia beamed and sighed at the same time. "Well, it's still a little difficult. George may be facing legal consequences for his consuming of Lethe. You know, it's considered Dark magic, and George should have reported the witch who tried to sell him the stuff. But instead he kept on buying it from her for a year and a half."

"What kind of consequences do you expect?"

Alicia shrugged. "So far it seems that he will just have to give testimony in court, so they can put her away into Azkaban. I really hope that's about it, but I can't help it – I've been having a funny feeling in my stomach all day. As if there's something bad going to happen."

Katie smiled compassionately and put her arm around her friend. "Don't worry too much. I am sure everything will be okay."

Alicia leaned her head on Katie's shoulder let out a deep breath. "I'm so glad I have you. You and Ange and Mum and Dad and everybody who's been there for me over the past one and a half years."

Katie chuckled. "Yeah, well, somebody had to look after you. But now, I guess, we can all sit back and let George take up that duty again."

"Let's hope so."

It was later that evening when Alicia and George were having dinner there was a voice coming from the fireplace. It was Harry Potter's. "Alicia? Are you there?"

Surprised, Alicia got up from her seat and went into her living-room. When she saw Harry's head down in the flames she quickly said, "Yes, come on in, Harry."

Soon, Harry walked out of the flames in whole. He was still wearing his Auror robes and looked dishevelled and exhausted. His hair was untidier than ever and his glasses were askew. Alicia invited him to join them for dinner.

"Thanks," said Harry, gratefully. "I haven't eaten all day. Is George here, too? I've just been at his flat in Diagon Alley but nobody was there."

"Er, I sort of live here now," said George who had appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. "Is something wrong?"

Harry nodded, looking rather uncomfortable. "I'm afraid so."

"Now, Harry, why don't you just sit and tell us the whole story during dinner. Anything to drink?" said Alicia, pulling Harry gently into the kitchen and making him sit down at the small table. Since there were only two chairs, Alicia transfigured the armchair in the living-room and let George carry it into the kitchen.

"Well, I could to with a glass of Firewhisky but in my job you never know when you'll have to be fit for work, so I'd better stick with tea."

Alicia made them all some tea and then she sat, waiting for Harry to speak.

"There is a problem," he started to explain, taking off his glasses to pinch his nose with his thumb and his forefinger. "After your visit to Auror Mollowiddle's office this morning he sent two Aurors to arrest your dealer immediately. Trouble is they couldn't find her. She disappeared – without a trace."

"But how – how could she know?"

Harry shrugged. "We thought about that. Maybe, when you stopped buying the potion from her she realised that you must have kicked the addiction and she expected you to go to the Authorities sooner or later. She must have known a lot more about you than you think. Or she put you under a spell that told her when you were about to betray her. Or maybe she had somebody watch you for her."

There was a long silence. The thought that this dirty old witch had had George followed was frightening.

"But I've never even told her my name," George protested half-heartedly.

"Oh please, did you really think she didn't know who you are?"

George looked rather subdued as he considered the question. "Well, I guess, she did," he admitted and suddenly Alicia remembered what he had told her.

"Of course she knew," she said. "She asked if you were George Weasley, and you thought that she had probably seen your picture in the Prophet after the war."

George nodded slowly then turned to Harry. "So, what d'you reckon's gonna happen, if you can't find her at all?"

Harry didn't answer right away. He put his cup of tea aside and Alicia realised that he hadn't touched his food, yet.

"Well," said Harry, "the investigation will be continued. I'm afraid you will be questioned a few more times, so maybe we can get some information on where she could have gone to –"

"She could've gone anywhere," interrupted George, "I haven't got any bloody clue, where she disappeared to."

"Me and another trainee have been working on this all day. Turns out – according to your description – that we already have got a file on the old bat. Though she does have more names than the last four generations of your family. And that means something …" He gave George a sly grin.

"Oi! What's that s'posed to mean?" But George was grinning, too.

Harry smiled but not for long. "Aurors have tried to catch that dealer for a long time. If we don't find her, I'm afraid you will be held responsible."

"Responsible? For what?"

"For endangering young witches and wizards by not helping us catch a drug dealer. She could already be selling that stuff to others somewhere else."

"Are you blaming me?" George asked angrily. Alicia was almost afraid that there would be a fight, for Harry wasn't known for his calm temper, either, but Harry kept cool.

"Calm down, George," he said. "You know I don't blame you – after all that's happened. What with Fred … – you know. But I'm afraid other people might blame you, you see. That's why I'm here. I wanted to tell you that you should try and think about every meeting you've had with her. Maybe she said something that could help us find her."

George, who had sat down again, still looked angry, but he was creasing his forehead as if he was thinking hard. "I don't think I can help you."

Harry sighed. "Think some more. I know the Department of Magical can offer you a deal for giving testimony. But with no dealer to testify against there will be no deal."

"What if I take back my statement?"

"Not believable," Harry interrupted him, rolling his eyes. "And don't forget that it's not uncommon to use Veritaserum in questionings."

Impatiently George shook his head. "I don't remember anything about her, really. Just what she looked like – and I told your boss that already," he said hotly to Harry.

Alicia put her hand on his arm gently. "Please," she said. "Try."

George sighed. "Okay, I'll try."

There was another long silence which George ended by asking, "What if we don't find her?"

"Like I said, you will be held responsible, then."

"And that means?"

"That means that you might get convicted for not working with the Aurors."

George stared at Harry, his eyes wide. "What? But I'm trying to help you, aren't I?"

"Trying sometimes isn't enough."

"Does this mean that I will have to go to Azkaban?"

Harry didn't answer right away. He sighed, pushed up his glasses up on his nose and finally replied, "I'm not familiar with punishments. My job is just to catch the bad guys. Hermione should know better. But all things considered I'd say, no. That would be very unlikely. But the whole affair will probably be on the news. Everybody will know."

George paled. "On the news? In the Prophet you mean? That could ruin my business."

"But he would be on the news anyway, wouldn't he?" Alicia objected.

"But not as the bad guy," said George and Harry nodded. "Merlin's balls – no mother will let their child buy anything from me ever again."

"Now, let's not worry about that now," said Harry. "The investigation will be continued and there's still a chance we find her before your trial."

"Hopefully."

Harry who still hadn't eaten more than a few bites got up. "Look, I'm sorry about all this. I wish I could help you more. Can I use some of your Floo powder? I have to get going, Ginny's complaining about my work hours already."

"Sure," said Alicia.

Before he threw the powder into the flames Harry gave both, Alicia and George, one last serious look. "I'll keep you updated," he promised. "Take care of yourself, you two." Then he walked into the green flames and was gone.

Alicia grabbed George's hand and pulled him back into the kitchen. "C'mon love, let's finish dinner."

But George didn't react. He was staring into space, seemingly lost in thoughts.

"George?"

"Didn't Harry say something about that witch having me followed?"

"Yeah …" said Alicia hesitantly. "Yeah, I think he did. George? What's on your mind?"

But George simply shook his head, his mouth pressed into a thin line. Then he turned on his heals to go and get his wand that lay on the kitchen counter and before Alicia could ask any more questions, he Disapparated.

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