Thank you all for reviewing and for continuing to read! :)

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happygirl122: Quite fantastic, I agree. He's a bit different when Alice is around, as you might have noticed. Explanations will come in the future as well, how they relate to each other and how their relationship proceeds. Thank you for reading and reviewing! :)

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Chapter 12

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"Take a seat", professor McGonagall said. She was a tall, very proper woman, with her black hair combed back in a bun and a pair of glasses on the tip of her nose. Alice looked around the big room. Four rows of desks, three in each road. High windows and an endless amount of bookshelves. Most seats were already taken. She looked to her right, a huge boy with severe acne, or in the front row beside a pretty, red haired girl. Alice walked with fast steps to the front row and sat down. Professor McGonagall started talking about their work for this term and about the important exam; OWL (Ordinary Wizarding – something, something, Alice didn't pay much attention) in the end of the year. Alice couldn't help but notice that the girl to her left kept glancing over at her, with a confused expression.

"Now", professor McGonagall said. "I want each of you to take a small pumpkin", she pointed at one of the bookshelves where a large amount of pumpkins could be found, "and turn it in to stone. Just like we did in the end of last year." The whole class stood up and took a pumpkin each. Alice hurried to do the same, and sat down by her desk once again.

"Excuse me." The red haired girl turned to her. "What were we supposed to do?"

"Turn the pumpkin in to stone", the girl said. "You're new, aren't you?"

"Well, yes, how did you know?"

"Slytherin's usually don't speak with Gryffindor's if not to taunt them", she said with low voice. But then she smiled. "Like this", she said, pointed her wand at the pumpkin and said; "Duro!" The pumpkin turned to solid stone.

"Can't I just do like this?" Alice picked up the pumpkin in her hand, focused and the pumpkin turned to stone.

"How did you do that?"

"Well I don't get how you did it with your wand." They laughed, but straightened up as soon as professor McGonagall was close by.

"Weasley, Gaunt, very good", professor McGonagall said. "Five points to each of you", she said before leaving to help another student whom managed to turn his pumpkin in to a toad with huge fangs. Alice picked up her wand and pointed it at the stone. It broke in to smaller stones and with another point of her wand it became a small man, dancing.

"What's your name?"

"Alice Gaunt", Alice said, her stone puppet was still dancing on her desk.

"Ginny Weasley", the red haired girl said and reached out her hand. Alice took it with a smile. "Why don't you sit with the other Slytherin students?" Both of them casted a glance over their shoulders, back at the Slytherin students.

"They're horrible", Alice said. They were all rather foul-looking, and none of them seemed interested in learning anything. One of the students had managed to set fire on professor McGonagall's hat, which gave that student detention but the rest of them to leave early. Ginny walked side by side with Alice, most of the other students watched them with wide eyes, some even ran to the side to make way for the two.

"Hi Ginny", said a boy with black hair and glowing green eyes. He somehow seemed familiar to Alice.

"Hi Harry", Ginny said with a smile, but she didn't stop walking.

"Who was that?" Alice asked, casting a glance over her shoulder on the boy.

"Harry Potter", Ginny said, they walked out on the middle courtyard and stopped by a low willow.

"I recognize him from somewhere", Alice said, glancing over her shoulder once more as if he was following them.

"Yeah, he's bloody famous", Ginny said.

"He is? Why?"

"He's the one who made you-know-who disappear the first time", she said and sat down on a stone bench.

"You-know-who?"

"You know", Ginny said with low voice, "Lord Voldemort." Lord Voldemort?

"Who, the Dark Lord?" Ginny reacted when she referred to him as just that. "Why would he want to kill the Dark Lord?" Alice knew better then to tell the truth in this case, and if anyone found out. She'd deny it to her death.

"He's a mass murderer, Alice", Ginny said. "He's killed loads of people out of nowhere." Out of nowhere? Alice couldn't place it, not at all.

"I need to be alone for a moment", Alice said and quickly left Ginny sitting on the bench. Of course, she was one of them. That only made sense. That she was one of those who'd misunderstood everything. He didn't want everyone dead; he just needed to clean so it could be better. Take away the oppressors so that they could live in a utopia. Everyone known that you have to remove the bad things to come to the good. Remove, dispose, get rid of. That's how it is. They took and destroyed for the rest of them. And if you do so, you need to be stopped. Right?

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"How was class?" Alice looked up from the grass she'd been pulling up.

"Fine I guess", Alice said. "I meet a girl in transfiguration, Ginny Weasley..." Draco shuddered at the name.

"You shouldn't socialize with her, their family is trash. Blood traitors the bunch of them and they've got more children than money", he said, leaning back on his hands. They sat by the lake. It was warm; some were even taking a bath in the Black Lake. Alice and Draco sat by a tree a bit away from the rest of the teenagers. In a place where they couldn't be seen, or heard for that matter.

"She seemed nice", Alice said, shrugging her shoulders. "But she said something that made me think." Draco leaned forward, towards Alice with an expression on his face that told Alice to go on.

"Who's Harry Potter?" Draco wrinkled his nose and snorted.

"A big joke, that's what he is. The chosen one some say. He just a pathetic fraud, if you ask me."

"Is it true he's the one that made dad go away?"

"He's mean too, always picking up for a fight if you take one step in the wrong place", Draco continued, ignoring Alice's question. "Tried to be nice to him you know, but he chose those blood traitor Weasley's and the mudblood Hermione Granger."

"You've got a lot of history with them, haven't you?" Alice looked back at Draco; his eyes were fixed at something on the other side of the lake, at least it looked so. "How did potions go?"

"Professor Slughorn", he said, disgusted. What a joke."

"Why do you do that?" Alice asked, she completely turned her body towards Draco. "Talk down on people?" Draco looked shocked, as if he'd been caught off guard. He didn't say anything either.

"Rumours spread that you're very talented", he finally said. "I know you are, but I wasn't sure they'd notice so fast."

"Just because I don't know many spells doesn't mean I can't use magic", she said with a smile.

"I'm not sure I understand..."

"I can make anything I want; I don't need the words for it." She glanced over at a tree beside them, the leaves started shifting and before they knew it had turned pink.

"That's amazing. You're amazing", he said and smiled at her for what felt like the first time in weeks.

"Alice?" Alice looked up and watched Daphne and Pansy walk towards her. "We've been looking all over for you."

"Have you seen Draco?" Pansy said, outright as always. Alice looked to where Draco had been, he was gone again.

"Um, no", Alice said, surprised over his absence.

"It feels like he's avoiding me", Pansy said before stamping away from the place.

"Don't mind her", Daphne said and sat down beside Alice. "She's just jealous."

"Why?"

"She says Draco's always watching you, not paying any attention on her."

"We've only been here a day", Alice said, filled with scepticism.

"Pansy is very... special."

"Rude", Alice said at the same time. Daphne smiled.

"Yeah, that too." Alice got the feeling that something was watching her and looked around the ground. She couldn't really find anyone that was paying attention at them. She turned to the forest instead, there, by the brink, stood a majestic yet terrifying black horse. The bony figure almost made it look dead, along with the black wings made it look like a nightmare creature. Another, a bit smaller one appeared and they both stood and watched.

"They live here in the forest", Daphne said. They stood up and started walking down the lawn. "They're called thestrals." Alice looked around; it didn't seem as if anyone else paid any attention to them. The Thestral stood as a statue, not enough out of the threes to be hit by the sunlight.

"Hiya", Alice said, and reached out a hand towards the animal. It took a step forward, but didn't go out in the sunlight. Daphne walked in to the shade and the horse-looking animal turned and greeted her with a low, screeching sound.

"They're not very fond of sunlight", Daphne said, while patting it on its head. "How have you seen die?"

"What?" Alice walked over to Daphne and gently toughed the thestrals forehead.

"They can only be seen by those who've seen death", Daphne explained. "My baby sister died when I was eight. She got sick."

"I'm sorry to hear that", Alice said, feeling compassion for her new friend.

"It's alright. She's gone to a better place. Besides, I've got my parents and my other baby sister." Daphne smiled at Alice, to make sure everything really was alright.

"My mum died not a week ago", Alice said. She did still feel sorry and above all guilty. But she would understand, she had to.

"Oh, are you okay?" Alice shrugged her shoulders and focused on the Thestral. Like this, after a while, it was rather beautiful.

"I know we don't exactly know each other very well... But if you need to talk. I'm not going anywhere." Daphne put a hand on Alice's shoulder. They smiled at each other.

"So tell me, is it true? Are you really a Finnish princess?" Alice started laughing, as well did Daphne.

"No, I'm not Finnish and I am certainly not a princess. I haven't got a crown now, do I?" They left the Thestral and headed up for the castle.

"Seriously though, there's a rumour that you are."

"Well, maybe we should get me a crown then!"

"Of course, my Lady!" Daphne stopped as if she just remembered something important. "I almost forgot", she said and picked out a piece of parchment. "Professor Snape asked me to give you this." Alice took the piece of paper and opened it.

Dear Alice, I hope you enjoyed your first day of school and I would be honored if you would join me this Thursday for a meeting. Professor Albus P. W. B. Dumbledore P.S. I heard your favorite's chocolate fudge cake.

Honoured, ad if her company meant anything. But still, how could she deny an invitation like this?