Fatum

*I feel as if I need to explain something I forgot to explain in previous chapters regarding Alice’s appearance. As you know she has been referred to as “anorexic looking” by some of her more dim witted peers, and I need to explain further. In no way am I try to be offensive or ignorant about this highly serious disease, I am merely showing that many people are ignorant today regarding these situations. Alice is in no way deathly ill looking. She is petite, but healthy looking other than dark circles under her eyes which, despite how much she dislikes them, will most likely never go away. Alice is in fine shape. If you want to see what she looks like (or close enough to it) just search up Carey mulligan with brown hair. Almost like a mousy pixie. *

It was finally time to go to lunch with Sirius. I was actually going on a date with Sirius Black.

I mean… I guess Lily was going to be there (much to her disliking), and James (who loved the plan), but it was still a date in my mind.

I had spent the past twenty-four hours planning out every little detail about this lunch.

I did have classes that day, and not much time to get changed for lunch, so I would have to keep a spare set of clothes in my bag and change in the girl’s lavatory before we all headed out. I mean, I couldn’t wear my robes, now could I?

I knew I was being ridiculous, I was just another boy-crazy girl. It was rather pathetic, but what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t help the fact that I found Sirius so incredibly irresistible. And he wanted to have lunch, so I was planning on making the most of this opportunity. It was going to be a lovely day!

~~~
So… I had been wrong. The day didn’t turn out quite as lovely as I had expected. Though it had been eventful…just not full with the events I had hoped for it to be.

After classes, Lily and I got changed out of our robes and into some weather appropriate, fall attire (cute, but appropriate). I had gone with a sweater about the same color as a pumpkin, with a white button down underneath, a black skirt that reached to my mid thighs, and black tights.

I find explaining the outfit helps you picture what happened better, but maybe that’s just me.
Sirius and James had agreed to meet us at the front entrance, nearest to the Great Hall, so as soon as we were ready we went off to meet them.

“Ah, there you two are, I was starting to believe you might have stood us up.” Sirius joked. He and James were leaning against the doorways casually. Those two had a way of always making it look like they belonged wherever they were. Like they were the most important people in the world.
“We considered it. Who would want to spend their precious free time with the likes of you?” I teased, surprised at how easy it was becoming to talk to Sirius.

Lily gave a small laugh at that. I noticed she had yet to look at James, while he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. “Shall we go?” James asked, extending his arm out to Lily. She surprisingly linked arms with him, sending me a warning look as if not to ask any questions right then.

“Yes, let’s.” Sirius agreed, pushing open the doors and walking out ahead of us.

I had to admit, I was slightly off put that Sirius had not offered his arm to me, but I told myself that technically we were not on a date, and therefore he had no reason to act so.

But still, a girl could dream.

It didn’t take long for James and Lily to get slightly ahead of us, and Sirius hung back purposefully it seemed. I couldn’t help but wonder if something was going on with those two that Lily wasn’t telling me about.

“What’s happening there?” I asked Sirius in a hushed tone, gesturing to the two.

Sirius only shrugged, “Beats me, I was under the impression Lily still wasn’t very fond of our dear Mr. Potter.” He slung his arm around my shoulder, much to my surprise, and continued to walk on.
“So Alice, any chance you’ll tell me more about our little trip to the hospital wing yesterday?” He urged, poking my side with his free hand.

I let out a small giggle but shook my head, “Nope, not a chance Black. Just let it go.”

Sirius groaned and threw his head back slightly, tousling his gorgeous raven black hair in the process. “Ah, so you’re a stubborn one Fortescue.”

“You know, you can call me Alice. Fortescue seems too much of a mouthful, besides, don’t you think last names are a bit first year?” I asked him in a teasing manner.

“Isn’t that a bit hypocritical? All you call me is Black, which I find quite offensive Ms. Alice, seeing as I’m as far from a Black as one could possibly get. Well…besides you.”

At this I tilted my head towards Sirius, raising my eyebrow to question him, “Besides me? How exactly do you suppose that?”

“Believe me.” Sirius said, his voice gaining an edge to it, “You’re nothing like them.”

And with that slightly off-putting moment, our conversation ended until we reached the Three Broomsticks.

“Well, here we are.” James stated, throwing his arm up to display the restaurant.

“We’re not third years.” Lily threw back, narrowing her eyes at James. There was something different about it though, her glare didn’t seem to hold any hostility towards Potter, which was something entirely new to me. “We have been here before you know.”

James gave a small shrug, as if it didn’t really matter either way. “Let’s just get a table. I’m starving.”
We all went to sit down, Lily and I on one side, and Sirius and James on the other.

After only about a minute of sitting in uncomfortable silence, the waitress walked by to take our order. “What would you darlings like today?” She was a tall, busty girl. Probably around her early twenties or so, her long brown hair hung down right below her shoulder blades and she was grinning at Sirius and James like a hyena spotting prey.

Lily shot a look at me as if to ask, “Is this girl serious?”

The waitress must have been new, as I had never seen her before, and most of the older year students knew majority of the Hogsmeade workers.

James looked up at the waitress and gave her a kind smile, “Just a butterbeer for now, thank you.”
Even though James tended to be a mischief-making class B asshole (yes, class B. Since he could be quite the charmer if he needed to, and was almost always kind to me), he was never rude to anyone who he didn’t deem fit to deserve it.

The waitress then turned her gaze directly to Sirius, clearly deciding James was not worth her time.
“What would you recommend, gorgeous?” Sirius asked the waitress, sending a quick wink her way.
I felt my stomach twist slightly.

No, hold it together Alice, you knew this wasn’t really a date. You and Sirius weren’t even close to being together. Ignore him.

“I’ll surprise you.” The flirt of a waitress purred back at Sirius, before taking a step back as if to leave.

“Um, excuse me?” Lily spoke up finally, waving her hand to get her attention.
The waitress had clearly forgotten Lily and I were there as she started slightly and looked in the direction of the two of us.

“Can I help you miss?” She asked, putting on one of the fakest smiles I had yet to encounter.

I decided to speak up as well, leaning forward so I wasn’t hidden behind Lily, “Yes, I do believe you have yet to take our orders, and is that not your job?” I asked, throwing in a small smile to antagonize her.

“Oh, yes, what do you want?”

“I’ll have a butterbeer please.” I said with a smile, and Lily ordered the same thing. We never did tend to eat much at lunch, wanting to save our hunger for supper.

As the waitress walked away James let out a small laugh, “Who knew Alice had attitude?” He sent a smile my eyes, his eyes full of surprise.

“Oh please, Alice is such a little spitfire when she needs to be. She just keeps it all locked up inside majority of the time.” Lily answered him, nudging me playfully.

Giggling slightly, I looked over at Sirius to see what his response to this was, but he had yet to take his eyes off the waitress who just happened to be leaning over slightly too far in my opinion.

“Good to know you’re not the only one in that little group of yours with such a big personality.” James commented, smiling at Lily.

I rolled my eyes at their little flirting moment, “Are you serious? I need to keep my ‘spitfire’ side under wraps. Our little group, as you call it, has far too much personality between Lily and the twins.”

“Nothing wrong with having a big personality, I find it so much more interesting.” Sirius chimed in, finally joining the conversation. “That’s why Alice and I are the best of friends now, I finally realized how interesting she is.” He smiled a wide, toothy smile at me.

I could feel myself blushing lightly, “Yeah, we’re the best of friends.”

Lily squeezed my leg gently under the table, trying to comfort me, to no avail.

She really was the greatest friend.
~~~~
After we had all finished our butterbeers, which took longer than it should have with James and Sirius non-stop chatter, and Lily and James constant little spats, we stood up to head back to school.

Sirius held up a finger, “Pardon me for just a moment, I have some business to deal with.” He gestured towards the waitress, who we had discovered was named Mellony.

James let out a soft chuckle, shrugging his shoulders, “Good luck.”

As soon as Sirius had turned his back I rolled my eyes, not wanting to stay and watched him flirt with a gorgeous girl I turned to Lily and James who were standing oddly close to each other.

“I’m going to head out, I promised Lottie I would buy her some sugar quills while we were here.” I made up the best excuse possible, and it was quite good considering I had promised Lottie exactly that.

Lily sent an apologetic look my way but said nothing. James waved goodbye as I hurried out the door.
Once out I took a second to slow my breathing. I hadn’t realized how worked up I was getting over Sirius and his dumb flirting. “It’s okay Alice. It’s all right. Don’t get upset over something so silly.” I muttered to myself, hugging my arms around me, feeling the warmth from the sweater.

“You know…talking to yourself is the first sign that you’re crazy.” A voice spoke up from behind me.
I let out a yelp and whipped around.

Oh but of course, it was Frank. He was standing in the alley beside the Three Broomsticks, leaning against one of the walls, a smoke in hand.

“Seriously, you’re here?!” I whisper yelled, running a hand through my hair as I tried to get my heart rate back to normal.

“You scared me to death!” I yelled slightly louder now. “Are you following me or something? Because if you are I’d appreciate if you didn’t. Do you know how unnerving it is to see you everywhere I go?”
The entire time I was yelling at him, Frank simply stood there, throwing his cigarette to the ground and putting his hands in the pockets of his jacket. A smirk had appeared on his face as he looked me over.

“What are you smiling at?” I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at him.

“Well you, but I thought that would have been obvious. You interest me Alice, is that such a crime? I only wish to get to know you better.” He shrugged as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“And you think following me is that best way to get to know me? I know your reputation around here Longbottom. Don’t think that you can stand there with that little smirk, claiming you want to get to know me, and somehow get into my knickers.” My face burned red as I spoke the last couple words.

Frank’s smile only grew the more I spoke. “Oh little Alice, if I had wanted to get into your knickers, believe me I would already have been in them.” He winked before pushing off the wall and walking towards me. “I thought you were supposed to be the quiet one of your little foursome.”

Frank towered over me, and when he was close enough I had to crane my neck up to look into his eyes. “Maybe that’s what I want everyone to think, ever consider that? And don’t call me little. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to grab a few things and get back to class.”

As I turned on my heels and started to walk towards the candy shop, I could feel Frank as he continued on beside me, “Believe me Alice, my intentions are in no way sexual. You just interest me, that’s all.”

I let out an exasperated sigh, “Everyone’s interesting Longbottom, so why you insist on following me, I really have no clue.” My teeth grinded together in frustration.

He found me interesting? What the actual bloody hell was that supposed to mean? Maybe he was truly mental.

He followed me all the way to the candy shop but waited outside as I bought the sugar quills for Lottie. As I exited the shop however, he was right back beside me, walking along and lighting a new cigarette.

My eyes rolled back into my head for a moment, “Smoking is a nasty habit.” I pointed out, noticing he was taking much smaller steps to keep himself beside me.

“Haven’t you already told me that?” He inquired, tilting his head to look down at me.

“Well clearly you didn’t get the message, now did you?” I retorted, letting out a small huff as I turned to take a different route back to the school. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to run into Lily, James and Sirius and have them question exactly why I was with Frank Longbottom. Also, I had no desire to see Sirius right now.

“Clearly not.” He muttered, looking up to see where I was going.

“You know we’re headed towards the Forbidden Forest, don’t you?” He pointed a finger at the nearing trees.

I nodded, “Yes.” A strand of my hair fell into my eyes and I reached up to push it back, “I like walking by the trees. The air seems cleaner there. Though having you nearby sort of spoils it don’t you think?”

Frank let out a small puff of smoke, sending it in my general direction. He obviously had a thing for getting on my nerves. I tried to hold in a large cough, but it only made it worse and I went into a small coughing fit, having to kneel over for a moment or two before I could regain my composure.

“Not very good lungs there.”

“You’re one to talk.” I hissed at Frank, trying to walk ahead of him, but with the length of his legs compared to mine it was impossible.

“Shouldn’t a girl like you be afraid of the forest? You do know it’s dangerous, don’t you?” He questioned, looking into the trees.

“Believe me, there are much worse things to be afraid of. Why waste my time being scared off by something that isn’t worth it?” I shrugged. I had spent so much of my life being afraid of my sickness, that most other things didn’t scare me much. Of course, I still did have my fair share of irrational fears, but they mainly consisted of things such as boys or getting in trouble with teachers.

Frank flicked his cigarette on the ground and mashed it under his foot. “I like the way you think little Alice.” He smiled down at me.

He had a surprisingly nice smile. It wasn’t like his usual cocky smile he gave everyone. That smile was so rare that it actually caught me off guard for a moment.

I stood there looking at him before shaking my head and turning away. “Don’t call me little.” I murmured.

“If you’re not afraid, then go in the forest.” Frank challenged, ignoring my comment.

I started and looked from Frank to the forest and back again. “Go in the forest? In broad daylight? When any of the teachers could be watching?” I said disbelievingly.

Frank nodded, “Yes. Otherwise you’ll forever be known as Alice Fortescue, friend of Lily Potter and the twins. The one who never did anything.”

“What’s so wrong with that? You don’t have to be remembered you know. Not everyone is memorable. Some people just wither away and the world will never even know they were there in the first place.” I ranted a bit, digging my nails into my opposite arm.

I was too busy looking into the forest that I didn’t notice Frank looking down on me, a hint of sadness in his eyes. “Don’t get so philosophical on me, I just want to see if you have the courage to go a little ways into the forest.” He said quietly, nudging me gently toward the trees.

I let out a loud, dramatic groan, but pulled myself together, tucking my hair behind my ears and straightening my back. I wouldn’t let him win this, even if it wasn’t really a competition. “Fine. Let’s go.” I grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the forest behind me.

I could hear him chuckling behind me, clearly amused by my sudden determination. “I knew you had it in you.”

His tone sounded different than usual, it made me feel uneasy. “I swear, if you try anything you’ll be in trouble Longbottom.” I called back to him. This only earned me another chuckle from Frank though.
As soon as we were completely concealed by the trees I let go of his wrist and began to walk ahead, pushing low hanging branches and cobwebs out of my way. “Happy now? I did it, didn’t I?” I turned around to face Frank, but he was no longer there.

“Frank?” I called out, feeling a chill run down my spine. “Come on Frank, this isn’t funny. Where are you?” My voice was starting to sound shaky, and my right knee started to shake, for some reason it did that when I was frightened.

“Fine!” I yelled out, “If you won’t come out, I’m leaving!” I turned quickly and started to head out… but wait. That wasn’t the way we had entered the forest. I couldn’t find the exit.

I immediately began to panic, I was going to be stuck inside this forest forever until maybe Hagrid came out here and found me dead or living amongst the wild creatures. Yep. That was it, I was destined to become a forest nymph. They would find me naked, with leaves wrapped around myself, howling at the moon. It was the only reasonable thing.

Oh Merlin, I was terrible under pressure. Usually I had Lily with me to calm me down, but I was completely alone. I began to stumble through the bush, my pace quickening as I started hearing noises.

I picked up to a run, hurrying towards any light I could see, when I tripped over a stump. I threw my hands out in front of me, closing my eyes to prepare for impact but, it never came.

I opened my eyes and it took a moment to register the arms wrapped around my waist. “Bloody hell Alice, I was only going to scare you a bit, I didn’t expect you to go full on mental.” A voice spoke into my ear.

I whipped around and saw Frank, my head almost smashing into his as I hadn’t realized just how close he was. “Are you fucking with me? I couldn’t find my way out! You disappeared! Is that supposed to be funny?” I screeched, backing away from him quickly.

“It was supposed to be funny yes. You said you weren’t scared of the forest.” Frank pointed out, sitting down on a stump of an old tree that must have been knocked over by unknown forces.

“I’m not scared of the forest! I am scared of getting lost in the forest however, those are two completely different things.” I reached down and picked up the bag of sugar quills I had dropped in my little almost-fall.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you to get so scared.” Frank muttered, hanging his head as if he were a puppy being scolded for jumping on the furniture.

I couldn’t help it, he looked so innocent and far from the Frank everything thought he was that I had to forgive him. “It’s all right, let’s just go, okay?”

He stood up and we began walking in silence, Frank leading me out of the Forbidden Forest.

“Thank you, by the way. For catching me. And I never did properly thank you the other day for helping me into the Hospital Wing. It was very kind of you.” I said awkwardly, playing with the sleeves of my jumper.

Frank looked up, as if shocked by my thanks, “Oh well…you’re welcome. I never asked if you were all right afterwards.” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and I could see him give me a once over, as if checking that I was in fact all in one piece.

“I’m fine.” I said stubbornly, grinding my teeth together. I had grown so accustomed to people asking if I was all right that it hit a nerve in me now. I didn’t want people thinking I was a fragile little doll, and it annoyed me even more when it was Frank asking for some reason.

Why did I care what he thought of me? It was just Frank. I had never even spoken to him before this year.

We walked back in silence, only speaking once we reached the entrance to say goodbye as we went our separate ways to class.
~~~~
So you see, the day’s events were just a tad bit more unusual than normal. And that’s saying something, since there was never a usual day when you went to Hogwarts.

The rest of the day’s classes went by quick, with Lily questioning me constantly on where I had gone and why Livia had seen me with Frank. I told her that we had just seen each other on the way back from Hogsmeade and decided to walk together, being the civil wizards we were.

I didn’t see Sirius the rest of the day, but when I returned to the common room after classes, talking to Lottie about how unhealthy the amount of sugar quills she eats is, I noticed Lily and James sitting on the sofa studying. I smiled slightly at that, maybe they would end up as something after all. In the other corner of the room, I saw Frank sitting and talking with Livia. He was laughing as she tossed her hair the way she always did when she was flirting with a guy.

I frowned slightly, not knowing why it bothered me. Maybe because I knew they would never work together.

Then again, Frank and Livia were both complete players, so why wouldn’t they get together?

As I walked by, heading to the dormitory, Lottie stopped and poked her twin’s cheek. “You’re such a flirt.” She teased, not caring that Frank heard her. Livia swatted at Lottie’s arm, sending Frank a dazzling smile, “I don’t think Frank minds, do you?” She asked, batting her eyelashes.

Frank shook his head, “Not at all.” He smirked back at Livia. It was that same cocky smirk.

My stomach jumped a bit. Maybe I was getting ill again?

As Livia turned her head to whisper something to Lottie Frank looked up at me. He caught my eye and I looked directly at him, holding his gaze for just a moment before turning quickly and heading to my dorm, swinging the door shut behind me and collapsing on my bed.

Lottie walked in after me, “Hey Al, are you feeling okay? You’re looking a bit paler than normal.” Her voice was full of concern, coming to sit beside me on my bed.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. I just feel a bit funny. That’s all.” I wasn’t lying. I didn’t like this feeling at all.