Author's Note: Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews. Warm and fuzzy :) I'm afraid to say that I might be a little busy in June with summer classes but I will try to update as frequently as I can. Thank you so much for everyone who has stuck with the story for so long. Please, if there's anything you see that I can improve upon, don't hesitate to let me know in a Review or a PM. I really appreciate your feedback! :)

Chapter 12: Getting Back Up

Alice woke up to find herself in a room full of beds. Oh, no, what happened? she thought. Then she realized: she had fallen off her broom.

Alice sat up, trying to gauge where she had hurt herself. Oh, yes, she had managed to bruise her back pretty well, and one of her legs felt very stiff, as if it were bound in tight threads.

"Oh, you're awake, poor dear," said a voice, and Alice looked up to see the school nurse bending over her. "Yes, it's healing quite nicely."

Alice rubbed her eyes. "What happened?" she asked. "Valeria Avery knocked me off my broom, didn't she?"

"Now, now," said Madam Pomfrey consolingly. "I'm sure that it was all an accident. What they think, turning loose all these eleven-year-old children with broomsticks..."

Alice, however, was not so calm. This was not an accident. That girl, for whatever reason, hated Alice. And Alice had made a fool of herself in front of all the Gryffindors and Slytherins in her year. Obviously Jeff wanted nothing to do with her; he was nowhere to be found!

Before Alice knew it, she had burst into tears.

"There, there," said the matron. "I've fixed your broken leg and all you have are a few bruises. You'll be just fine."

"No," moaned Alice. "I've made a fool of myself in front of everybody! And I've flown before..."

She felt ashamed to be lying here, sobbing her heart out in front of this woman she barely knew, but Madam Pomfrey was very empathetic. She sat down on the bed beside Alice and put her hand on her shoulder. "Now, darling, you are by no means the first student I have had in here that has fallen off a broom. Countless students, even those who have flown before, have ended up in here because of some kind of mishap."

Alice rubbed away her tears. She didn't want to be in this room, on a bed. She swallowed, hard, and said in a slightly more normal voice, "Can I leave now?"

The matron surveyed her carefully. "Well, your leg has mended up to allow you leave, but if you would prefer to stay here longer, I could certainly understand."

But Alice was already on her feet. "Then I will be going," she said shortly. Without waiting for another word, and ignoring Madam Pomfrey's protests, Alice walked out of the hospital wing without a backward glance.

She headed strait to Gryffindor tower. To her dismay, Jeff was nowhere to be found. Alice climbed up the stairs to her dormitory for some quiet time, but upon her entrance she saw that Emily and Teresa were sitting inside, talking about something that Alice did not bother to listen to. She quickly grabbed her copy of Peter Pan and exited the dormitory just as she heard Teresa say, "Oh, look, Alice is back from the hospital wing."

Alice went back into the common room and sunk down into a secluded armchair near the corner of the room. She opened the book but was unable to lose herself into it. Instead, the events of the day continued to plague her, and soon Alice found herself fighting back tears rather than reading.

"Hey, Alice, what are you up to?"

Alice whirled around to see Dorcas Meadowes walking toward her. She tried to arrange her face into what she hoped was a stoic expression, but she could tell that she was unsuccessful when Dorcas said, "What's the matter, Alice?"

Alice didn't know quite what to say. After a moment's pause, Dorcas said, "I heard you had an accident on your broom during flying lessons today."

Alice's breaths started to come out faster and she replied, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not? I can tell it's troubling you."

"It wasn't an accident," mumbled Alice, when she could tell that Dorcas was not going to relent until she got some kind of an answer.

Dorcas drew the nearest armchair close to Alice's and sat down. "Tell me what happened."

Alice took in a deep breath. "This first year girl, Valeria Avery...she hates me. She was making fun of me, and then she ran into me on my broom. There wasn't anything I could do." She was crying now. "And now everyone thinks I'm too stupid to work a broomstick, even though I'm from a magical family! And Jeff...he's probably ashamed of me. He's probably laughing at me right now. He didn't come visit me in the hospital wing and now I can't find him anywhere..."

"Woah, now calm down there," said Dorcas kindly. "Surely you can't believe all that!"

Alice wordlessly nodded. Dorcas shook her head. "No," she said firmly. "All of that is a load of rubbish, and you know it. First of all, no one hates you. Some people are just careless in the way they talk to people, that's all. And surely, even if she did purposely run into your broom, I am sure that Avery girl did not intend for you to fall. Secondly, no one thinks you're too stupid to fly a broomstick. Accidents happen, and that's all there is to it, and it has nothing to do with how smart you are. I seriously doubt that your friend Jeff thinks of you any less right now than he did this morning. He's a boy. He's probably off somewhere playing with his little friends, and he will return soon laden with apologies. It is rare for energetic young boys of his age to have the patience to sit in a quiet hospital wing for long periods of time, waiting for their friends to awaken..." her voice trailed off.

"Except, perhaps, for Frank Longbottom," she mused, almost to herself. "Anyways, stop your crying. There's no use for it."

Alice wiped her eyes. She could see Dorcas watching her closely, and somehow this made her feel better in a way, that someone cared for her at least.

"Would you like to play Goblin Wars? I'll try to see if I can get a group together."

A few minutes later, Alice was sitting on the floor in the Gryffindor common room with a group of sixth year girls, playing the popular magical board game. Alice nearly always beat Peggy, but she had a much harder time playing these older girls. A girl named Julia had just declared her victory when Alice saw Jeff enter the common room from the corner of her eye.

"Oh, there you are!" he said immediately. "I looked in the hospital wing, but Madam Pomfrey said you had left."

Alice shrugged. "And where have you been?" she asked a bit rudely.

Jeff immediately took the defensive. "Look, you were out cold and I wasn't sure how long it would be until you woke up. I was planning on checking on you, I promise."

"I said, where were you," pressed Alice.

"Er-just playing in the lake with Sturgis and Luke. Like I said, I didn't forget you; I was planning on checking on you-"

"Relax, you've made your point," cut in Dorcas, though not unkindly. She smiled at him. "Now, we were going to start another game. Would you like to join us?"

Suddenly, the events of the day were long forgotten. Jeff looked at the girls, cried, "Sure!" and plunked himself down on the floor with the rest of them.