I knew from that point forward, I was on my own. Well not entirely. I still had Hermione, Ron, and Emily willing to help me. I was pretty sure that if I asked Draco would give me any help he could. It seems the older we got the more complicated things got between Draco and I. In front of everyone we had to pretend to hate each other, but for our own safety we had to stay friends. Then of course there were the ever complicated arrangements between Severus and Remus. Add on top of that Harry's new found mistrust towards me, and I was simply exhausted by the end of every day. It seemed the only person who saw what a toll it had been taking on me was Emily. Emily worked hard to make sure I was maintaining a proper diet and healthy sleeping habit.

"Have you given any thought to the first challenge yet?" She asked me one night while forcing ham onto my plate.

"I don't see how I can. The only clue they gave us was that it will be something to test our bravery. Between school, and what's going on with Harry, and the ever increasing possibility of my death…" I heaved a large sigh. "Please stop putting food on my plate Em. Filling the plate isn't going to make me eat any more of it.

"Sorry." She squeaked putting to generous amount of potatoes, that she had intended to give me, into her own heaping plate. "I worry about you. Especially with Remus gone. Have you heard from him yet?"

"It's been weeks since I've written him, and he still hasn't replied." I dropped my voice down to a low whisper that only she would year. "But the last time I talked to Harry he said Sirius was in the area. I've just assumed they've been catching up."

"Maybe something will come tonight?" She said optimistically as a flock of owls floated into the Great Hall to deliver the evening mail. Among them was my barn owl Apollo, soaring high before gracefully landing between Emily and I.

"How do you always do that?" I asked her as Apollo engaged me in a game of tug-of-war for Remus' letter. Emily shrugged, and instead offered a small piece of Hall to my owl. Distracted, he turned in her direction, allowing me to pry the letter from his beak.

Dear Alice,
Sorry if this letter has taken too long to reach you. I have been visiting with an old friend for a while. When I received your last letter I was greatly concerned and so I did contact Severus. There doesn't seem to be anywhere that you can get out of this. As your Head of House he assured me that you will not be in any danger. I'm smart enough to read between the lines Allison. He's worried to the death about you, and frankly so am I. I've contacted Dumbledore he promises to keep me informed about everything that goes on with this Tournament. In the meantime take care of yourself and do everything you can to win. Feel free to write me if you need anything, I know how Severus can be when he gets upset. I'll tell Snuffles you say hello, see you at Christmas.
-Remus

"Well what does Remus say?" Emily said patiently as she stroked Apollo's ruffled feathers. For a brief moment I thought about relaying Remus' message, and carefully removing the parts about Severus. Then I remembered the promise I made to myself about including Emily more. Confident that the letter didn't contain anything too reviling, I gladly passed it over to her. Her bright eyes scanned back and forth on the page analyzing Remus' every word. Occasionally she would mumble small comments to herself.

"The old friend is of course Sirius…Wonder what that means…And that…Who's Snuffles?" She questioned finally looking up at me.

"I don't know for sure, but I assume its Sirius." I answered taking the letter back. "He must be using it as a code name incase our letter gets intercepted. He's always worried about things like that."

"With good reason!" Emily nodded. "If anyone found out that you, Harry or Remus were in contact with Sirius there could be serious trouble."

"Hello girls!" An all too familiar Weasley voice whispered from Emily's left taking both her and Apollo by surprise. Her surprised squeak caused the owl to become irritated. Ruffling his feathers again Apollo took off hopefully for the owlry.

"We like to whisper too!" An identical voice spoke from my right.

"Hello Fred, Hello George." Emily waved to each of them in turn.

"Terribly sorry to interrupt you're important gossip session." George laughed from Emily's side.

"But we've got big news for you Alice!" Fred told me.

"If it's coming from the pair of you, I'm sure it is more gossip than what Em and I were just taking about."

"I told you Fred, she's not interested." George said as he began to walk away from the Slytherin table.

"Such a shame George, she really would have liked our bit of information." Fred answered shaking his head before following his brother.

"Alright!" I called after them. "let's hear it then. What's the big news?" The twins rushed over to us again, Fred clamping his hands over my mouth.

"Don't go shouting it out for the whole hall to hear!" George hissed.

"Return to your dinner!" His brother snarled at some nearby Slytherins. "Nothing to see here!" Fred interjected again, only removing his hands when all watchful eyes, including Severus', had wondered off.

"Well?" I asked impatiently.

"It involves the Triwizard Tournament!" George told me excitedly as he dropped his voice down.

"A clue about the first challenge?" Emily asked. The twins nodded together, an evil grin spread across their identical faces. If Fred and George Weasley were not so lighthearted, that smile would have sent a shiver down my spine.

"We promised Ron we wouldn't tell you." Fred said not removing his smug look.

"So we won't." George added with another laugh.

"Then what was the point of…" but Fred stopped me.

"What we will say is that the information came from Charlie." He answered cryptically. Ron had only mentioned his brother Charlie a few times that I could remember Though he never said what exactly it was that Charlie did, I had come to understand it had something to do with dragons.

"Dragons?" I whispered looking expecting at the twins. Nodding in unison, the smiles faded from their faces.

"But you didn't hear it from us. Our darling little brother would surly be cross if he found out what we told you." George said very seriously.

"Don't worry boys, I won't tell him." I confirmed.

"Knew we could trust you!" Fred chuckled. "Ron wants you to meet him at Hagrid's tonight once all the Professors have cleared out."

"With your invisibilty cloak." George added.

"Thanks guys! Tell Ron I'll see him tonight." They agreed to pass the message along before returning to the Gryffindor table.

"So…dragons." Emily whispered clearly at a loss for words.

"Want to come with me tonight?" I offered knowing she absolutely would want to come along.

"Are you sure it's ok…I mean it sounds like Ron wants to be alone with you.

"Nah I'm sure it will be no big deal. You and Ron get along great, and my invisibility cloak will easily cover all three of us."

"As long as you don't think I'll be in the way."

"Never!" I told her confidently. I took Remus' letter and was about to store it back in the envelope before seeing two smaller slips of paper. The first of which was another small note from Remus.

Have you seen this yet? –R.L.

It didn't take me long to recognize the second sheet, as I unfolded a sizable article from the Daily Prophet. I had nearly forgotten about Rita Skeeter's article in the Daily Prophet. The article would have published weeks ago, and I had never bothered to look for it. Like Severus, Remus read the Prophet religiously. So of course he had seen the article. Quickly reading the article I started back at the page in disbelief. Rather than painting me as a scared little girl, Rita Skeeter had portrayed me as an adrenaline junky, like I got a sick sort of enjoyment out of putting myself and others into danger. In a sickening sort of way it very nearly reminded me of Severus when he's upset. Aside from being full of falsified information, most likely due to the Quick-Quotes-Quill, Rita Skeeter had taken it upon herself to interview several other Hogwarts students about me. The only joy I got out of the article was Rita Skeepter's description of Harry.

I was also given the pleasure of speaking with Alice's twin brother Harry James Potter. The boy's stunning Emerald eyes were heavy with sorrow as he spoke of his sister's daredevilish lifestyle.

"We don't have a choice." He told me sadly. "When Alice sets her mind to something there's nothing anyone can do to stop her."

Emily's face was knitted into concern as I she watched me. "Has Remus sent some bad news?"

"Nothing too terrible. It's the Prophet's article about the Champions. Have you read it?" Emily bit her lip and looked at me sympathetically.

"Yeah. Sorry I should have said something, but I know how stressed you've been. I thought maybe you wouldn't see it."

"Don't worry about it. It's already been weeks. I bet no one even remembers it. What do you say we get out of here so we can meet Ron?'