Okay, so I know it's been weeks since I updated last and I feel a bit bad about it. It's just been much going on right now and I haven't had time to finish this chapter off. But I did find my inspiration and time tonight and hope you'll like it.

Thanks to all of you who still reads this story and all new that's just started reading. Cheers :)

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Chapter 33

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As Alice walked through the doorway and in to the great hall she could feel every burning look in her. That something had changed the last few week was no secret. Even the air told so, it felt thick and tensed. Something was about to happen and everyone knew. Or maybe it was just the fact that for the first time in all year she'd entered with him beside. Draco held his proud posture high and his eyes examined every single person in the room. They moved coherent, him always half a step behind her left shoulder.

"Everyone's looking", Alice whispered as they made their way down the Slytherin table. She glanced over her shoulder in a moment of insecurity and he just smiled, but only enough for her to see.

"Who can blame them?" he said and his eyes flickered down to her for a second. "You look absolutely stunning." Alice looked down on her body. She had put on one of her old, white, crochet dresses. They didn't say more, just stopped by the two empty seats across the table from Blaise and Daphne.

"That is quite fantastic, don't you think Blaise?" Blaise smiled, a big smile, one that he hadn't smiled for some time now.

"I almost wish I had a camera to make the moment last forever", he said and took a big bite of his toast.

"What moment?" Alice looked at both of them with raised eyebrows. The exchanged looks before they smiled again.

"The both of you, almost looking happy", said Daphne and smiled even bigger. Both Alice and Draco put on a frown before they focused on their dinner. Alice looked up for a moment and moved her gaze to Blaise. They hadn't really spoken about anything since that night, since he's asked her to go get Draco. None of them had really. They'd said things but not really talked. Blaise gave her a very understanding look, with a bit of a smile on his lips before he returned his focus at Daphne. Alice couldn't quite place it, but something had changed with them recently. She then looked to her left, at Draco. He on the other hand was too busy avoiding and hiding behind a chicken from Pansy Parkinson to really see what was happening. For some strange reason Pansy had the idea that they were still together, although they probably hadn't spoken in a month. She always made strange attempts to regain his attention whilst Alice was present. They never succeeded and mostly ended up in a fiasco for Pansy's part which in some way made the gap between Alice and the other Slytherin students even bigger. For some reason Alice had noticed fear growing in their minds as she entered the room. The funnier part of the story was that Draco and Alice never entered a room together, nor did they sit with one another. Except for today. Truth to be told, Draco had been so busy doing his thing; they didn't see each other more than in the great hall and very rarely in the common room at night.

Alice watched in the corner of her eye how Pansy got up and made her way towards them. Pansy had a cunning smile on her lips as she pressed herself down in between the two of them.

"Not making a scene today, are we, Pansy?" Alice said without paying any further attention to her. Pansy turned to Draco instead and started caressing his hair. Draco stiffened and looked up from the plate; apparently he had not taken notice of his girlfriend's new whereabouts.

"I'm not making one unless you are", she said and nuzzled her nose in Draco's cheek.

"I'm always up for a fight with you, perhaps a rematch? A change for you to redeem yourself", Alice smirked and glanced over at Pansy.

"There is one thing you should have really clear for yourself, Gaunt. I don't need to redeem myself. Even though what might happened back then I still have a much higher status then you ever will", she sputtered before returning to a frozen Draco.

"Actually, Pansy, I'd like you to leave", he finally said and looked her directly in the eyes.

"What?" She said and let go of him.

"I'd like you to leave. I find no interest in you being here right now."

"You don't tell her to go away", said Pansy and nodded in Alice's direction.

"She isn't bothering me!" Draco let his rage out for a second, attracting everyone's gaze at them. Pansy got up and ran off, without saying a word. Daphne looked over at Draco, who did his best to ignore the situation that had occurred, and then at Alice, who was following Pansy's departure closely. Draco leaned in to Alice and whispered something in her ear, making her smile brightly before getting up and leaving the table.

"What was that about?" Daphne asked curiously. Alice looked up, her cheeks were a bit pinkish and she had a smile on her lips.

"Nothing", she mumbled and looked down in her plate again. Daphne had never seen her like this before. Alice, who always seemed so grown up and mature was actually acting like a normal teenager for once. Once again today, she wished she had a camera to make this moment last forever. Daphne looked over at Blaise; he had an amused smile on his lips that went even bigger as he looked back at her. And all of the sudden Daphne felt a hand on hers underneath the table. She had to look down to be sure. Blaise had reached out and grabbed her hand and now he was gently stroking it without looking at her.

"Um", Daphne tried to say something. She needed to confront him, immediately. "We have class, see you later Alice", she said and pulled her hand out of Blaise's grip.

"Bye", Alice said and Daphne walked quickly away from the table. As she thought, Blaise wasn't far behind her. They walked quickly through the corridors, up a few floors before Daphne decided she had courage enough to confront him. She pulled him in to one of the classrooms, an empty one fortunately.

"What, by Merlin's beard, do you think you're doing?" He looked at her with a smile and took the missing steps between them.

"I was just holding your hand", he said and took a piece of her hair between his fingers. "It's not like I was doing something like... this..." He put his hands around her face and pressed his lips against hers. A tingle she didn't want to have occurred in her stomach and it felt a bit too good.

"No", she said and pushed him away. "You can't do that! We're friends and you're my best friends' ex-boyfriend and..."

"Ex-boyfriend", he inflicted and looked her in the eyes.

"But she's my best friend", Daphne tried and pushed him away once again.

"Look, Daphne, I takes a good lot of me to admit this. Alice was my first love, she's special and she always will be. But let's face it, we're never getting back together even if she'd like and when I got over the fact that she'd never love me as I loved her, well, you were there", he said and his haze flickered from hers for a second. "Why can't we have what they do?" He referred to Alice and Draco, of course. Daphne had seen the looks of lately, they'd changed. Something had happened between them, something that made them closer even though they were further apart.

"We're not like them, Blaise", said Daphne and lifted his chin up so that their eyes met again. "I am your friend, but nothing more", and with that she left him standing. She couldn't do it, not like this. All she wanted to do now was finding Alice; she needed to tell her best friend what just happened. Even though it might hurt the relation between them and Blaise. Daphne hurried down the castle and made way towards the common room. Blaise wasn't following her, which was good. She had noticed the change and she admitted to herself that she might have invited him to act that way too. Alice was sitting in the far corner of the common room, with nothing but a candle and a book. Then she was suddenly looking up with the glimpse of a smile on her lips that widened in to a full blown smile. Daphne followed her gaze over the room, and it didn't surprise her at all. Draco had turned his gaze at her from the armchair he was sitting in, with a hand over his mouth, not revealing the smile to his friends. They acted like teenagers in love, opposed to their usual, grown-up and focused selves. Daphne had to know the juicy news; it'd been long since the two friends shared secrets.

"What's up?" Daphne sat down next to Alice and leaned in over the table. Alice broke free from her longing look and turned to Daphne.

"What?" Alice said and the smile disappeared.

"What were you looking at?" Alice looked down on her book and the up at Daphne again.

"Nothing special", she said and shrugged her shoulders. Daphne raised an eyebrow.

"So you're telling me that Mr tall and blond over there is nothing?" Alice blushed, her cheek actually turned pink. Daphne smiled, she liked seeing her friend like this. Even though Daphne knew there was more to Alice then the controlling, dominant side she so often showed.

"I wasn't looking at him", Alice tried.

"He makes you happy, why wouldn't you look?"

"It just, with him I can be the real me. The me I used to be before all of this happened", said Alice and glanced over at him again. He hadn't stopped looking at her at all and a smile placed itself on his lips again.

"I wish there was a way I could be with him."

"Why can't you? What's holding you back?" Alice turned to Daphne.

"What's holding you back?" Alice asked; her blue eyes stared intensely at Daphne which made her recoil a bit. What did Alice know now? Daphne often wondered how Alice could know it all. She'd seen Alice around others and wasn't surprised that they told her things; but this was something between Daphne herself and Blaise.

"You're right, by the way", Alice suddenly said, breaking Daphne from her thoughts. "What is holding me back?" Daphne waited for her to speak again, Alice got up, without saying anything and left the table and the room. Daphne followed her as she left. There was something about her that made you look.

"She's up to something..." Daphne turned back quickly. Draco's unexpected voice had frightened her.

"Alice is always up to something. It's a part of who she is", said Daphne with a smile. She and Draco had never really been good friends. They'd been around each other a lot, mostly because of Pansy. A vague expression was all she'd ever got from him, before Alice that is.

"Daphne?" Daphne looked up, for some reason Draco Malfoy was standing in front of her. He didn't look like his usual self; he looked as he was hiding.

"Pansy is in the library", said Daphne and turned back to her studies.

"I'm not looking for her", he said and sat down next to her. "I need to ask you about Alice." Daphne sat quiet and waited for him to speak. "You're friends, right?"

"We've only known each other for a few weeks, but yes, I suppose..." He leaned in, without meeting her gaze.

"I know I've messed up. But is it lost? Have I lost my chances?"

"They're slipping", said Daphne truthfully. "Show her what you feel, maybe that would fix it. I would hurry though; she's going on a date with Blaise Zabini on Saturday."

"With Blaise? I should have known..." said Draco with a sigh.

"Don't think yourself down, everyone makes mistakes."

"I don't want to make mistakes, not with her."

"What happened between you two?" Daphne asked. They'd both been stuck in their thoughts for a moment.

"Hm?" He said and looked up at her.

"Alice doesn't say much, especially about her feelings", Daphne explained. Draco focused on the flame of the candle and started playing with it.

"I kissed her", he said.

"You what?" Daphne hadn't meant to react so strongly at her words. At the same time as it didn't surprise her, it was probably the last thing she'd expected to hear from him.

"Twice", Draco continued as if Daphne hadn't reacted at all. Daphne didn't know what to say. It was amazing; he'd gone from a little boy to a full-grown man in her eyes. Just because he took courage like she'd never seen him do before.

"You look mad..."

"Oh sorry", Daphne hurried to say. "No, I think it's amazing. Did she – did she kiss you back?"

"You really think I'd kiss her twice if she didn't?" Daphne knew he was right; the question was stupid really, of course she'd kiss back. "Does she ever say anything about me?"

"Not in words, no", said Daphne, "her eyes does. The way she looks at you never changed." Draco didn't say anything; he was still focused on the candle between them. "She did tell me about the dream though, that's how I knew where she was that morning she was with you."

"I thought I was dreaming until I woke up", he said and a silly smile placed itself on his lips.

"That's when she changed back, she took out her old dresses and let go of all her diabolical plans." He smiled again, and even blushed a bit. Daphne had never thought about how shy he really was before. "I'm happy for you. Don't let go once you have it."

"I'm going to marry her, you know..."

"I know", said Daphne with a smile before she got up and left him by himself. Even though Alice had left in a rush, Daphne wanted to see her; it'd been to long since they had a bit of fun. Daphne didn't have to walk long before she could make out her friend in the mass of people streaming in to the Great Hall. But before Daphne caught up with Alice someone else did; Hermione Granger – the mudblood from Gryffindor. Granger took a grip around Alice's arm and pulled her away. It certainly didn't look good so Daphne decided to follow. The two girls walked in to a nearby toilet. Daphne took out her wand before she entered after them.

"What did you tell him?" Granger's voice was raised.

"What's going on in here?" Daphne had her wand pointed at Granger. They both looked at Daphne in surprise before Granger turned back to Alice.

"Why couldn't you ask her?" Alice didn't say anything, she stood absolutely still with no expression what so ever on her face.

"He knows why, you don't have to", Alice finally said, her voice was almost too calm.

"Who is she talking about?" Daphne lowered her wand and turned to Alice.

"You haven't even told her?" Granger raged out.

"None of your business", said Alice. By now Daphne could tell the real emotion behind Alice's stone face; anger.

"Told me what?" Daphne started to freak out; this was obviously something serious.

"She's made a deal with Neville Longbottom", Hermione said and crossed her arms over her chest. "She's going to die."

"What?" said Daphne and starred intensely at Granger. "What?" She said again towards Alice this time.

"Not die really", said Alice and shrugged her shoulder as it was nothing. "He's going to kill me." Daphne felt the emotions start rumbling insider her, it wasn't a joke. Alice was too serious for it to be a joke.

"Have you told...?" Daphne looked over at Granger quickly before she turned back to Alice. "Have you told Draco?"