Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I'm just a writer using her characters or non profit use :)

A/N: This took way too long. I understand if half of you don't even want to read it now, or lost interest in it. I just hope you can jump back into it!

Recap: Alice has a crush on James who likes Lily who had broken up with her boyfriend Cory. Alice's mom is a bitch and James and Lily became friends.

If you decide this was worth your time, review and maybe I can get chapter 11 up before the week ends!

Chapter Ten

What the fuck, Alice thought as she stepped into her room. She slammed the door closed; they didn't even flinch.

Lily was standing in front of Peter, James, and Sirius, and each wore an expression that was a mixture of curiosity and determination. Alice felt too rotten to even announce her presence to them. But what were they doing in her room? And not waiting in solemn silence for her to return and relay the worst her mother had dished out at her?

"They you put your left foot in again," Lily said slowly, watching as the boys copied her movements with utmost concentration, "and then you shake it all about."

"Wait! You're going too fast!" James cried. "Shake what? Shake what?" He looked to Sirius quickly, and snapped his fingers impatiently. "Show me!"

"James," Lily said calmly. "Shake it" - she wiggled her foot - "all about."

Peter jerked his leg repeatedly; to an outsider, it would have seemed like he was trying to get rid of a bug that was clinging to his leg.

"No, no. Like this," Lily said patiently, and demonstrated once more. Sirius glared at Lily.

"Lily, are you quite sure this is safe?" he asked seriously. "This sounds like a ritual for some really Dark Magic - stop laughing, you lunatic, you can't joke around like that! Stop it!" he yelled at Peter and James, who had been restarting the entire routine.

"It's the Hokey Pokey!" Lily laughed, barely able to get her words out.

Sirius turned bright pink.

"Every muggle knows this dance," Lily said; her laugh had dwindled down to an amused grin. James looked at her with fascination.

"I think I've heard of it before," Alice said quietly, watching their faces carefully.

Their heads snapped around to Alice. Peter stopped moving his leg and they all stared at her for a couple of long minutes, as if they were expecting her to blow up in tears or laugh at their stupidity. James was the first to break the tense silence.

"Are you okay, Al?" he asked softly.

"Didn't you hear me come in?" she asked loudly.

"Sorry, Alice. We thought it was Barney. He came in and slammed the door about a dozen times before when he heard us talking about how unfair your mum was being," Lily said in a low voice.

"If we had known it was you we would've -" James began.

"Pretended you cared?" Alice cut across coldly.

"Of course we care!" James said hotly.

"I suppose you cared so much you started prancing about?" She did not know why she was continuing this lifeless argument.

"Lily thought -"

Oh, so Lily thought. This gave her a mad desire to roll her eyes and stomp her foot childishly.

"Continue then, if you must," she said irritably, going for her bed. "I'm just going to go lie down." She plopped down on her bed and sighed into her pillow. The room was uncomfortably quiet. For the first time, she wished she was alone. She got the feeling that everybody was looking at her…or talking about her. She pressed her face harder into the pillow.

"Well we didn't want her to come up to find us pitying her did we?" Sirius said loudly.

Alice relaxed her hold on the pillow.

"We figured it was best for her to come up and have fun on our last day together, right?" Peter said just as loudly.

Alice wondered why they were raising their voices, and James' next words were her answer.

"I mean, we're all gone tomorrow…" James said in a carrying voice.

Alice flushed into her pillow.

There was a long silence again. Then she heard Sirius say, rather seriously, "Don't get carried away, Prongs."

"Why not?" James replied.

Sirius hesitated. "You're heavy."

Alice's eyes widened. She flipped over just as James' heavy weight sank into the spot she had just vacated.

He beamed at her as she looked at her ceiling. But she just wasn't in the mood.

"Leave me alone," she mumbled.

But she could feel her resolve weakening. As much as she wanted to mope and show her mother how miserable she was making her feel, she felt a stronger pull towards her friends and making this last day with them memorable. But still, she thought sadly. Were they trying to have fun for her benefit or their own? Immediately she closed her eyes and bit her lip, hard. Of course it was for her benefit; James and Lily were the most selfless people in the world, and would do anything to make her happy. They couldn't care less if her idea of entertainment was dressing them as cows and watching them play Quidditch – they would do it if it made her happy. This thought made her giggly softly.

And Peter and Sirius cared too…Sirius…maybe too much about her feelings…

She opened her eyes at once; she felt someone's hand on her own. She held her breath as James began talking, as if speaking would make him realize that it was Alice's hand he was touching and remove it.

"Let's go to that creek behind your house," James said quietly. He looked into her eyes as he said this, and it was only due to his familiar face that she did not flush. His brown eyes were smoldering her, begging her to make the last day count and to be happy.

The others might as well have not been there.

"That - that creek's not ours," Alice said softly, sitting up slowly. James took his hand off of Alice's; she tried her best to not notice its absence or let it show on her face.

"It's not? We went there before," said James.

"That's because the Robinsons allowed us - they're on vacation now, you see."

"Let's sneak in!" Peter said excitedly, and she looked around to see him looking at Sirius, as if expecting approval for his brilliant idea.

"I'll eat James if the Robinsons don't have Stealth and Sensory Charms all around their property," Sirius said in a deadpanned tone.

"Oh," was all Peter said.

"But if you all fancy a swim," Alice said, "I think there's a small lake just before you head into the Quidditch pitch."

"'Small lake?'" Sirius repeated with a snort. "A pond, maybe. A gnome wouldn't drown in there."

"If you'd like to suggest -"

"Let's talk a walk in the forest," James interrupted, eying Alice and Sirius warily.

"Sounds good," Alice said and James beamed at her.

"There's nothing dangerous in there, right?" Peter said nervously.

"Pete, how many times have we gone into the Forbidden Forest?" Sirius snapped.

Peter flushed and said nothing.

"So it's settled then!" James said. "Hopefully we'll stumble across a troll or something."

Alice pondered this thought. Her potentially mangled, bloody, body would make her mother sick with grief and remorse…

"Trolls live in the mountains," Lily reminded him.

"Hold on there!" Sirius said to James, lifting a finger to silence Lily. "You're on Magical Creatures Probation, remember?"

"What?" James retorted. "That was lifted ages ago. Right after you insulted that Hippogriff and you started yours!"

"What the bloody hell is a Magical Creatures Probation?' Lily asked.

"Moony made it up so that we don't die," James said unhelpfully. "And that centaur was such a pansy."

"You asked him if there were any pink centaurs!" Sirius said. "You know we shouldn't mess with the centaurs because of -"

"Sirius," James said sharply.

"Centaurs are very easily offended," Sirius amended smoothly. "They hate wizards."

"Anyway, it wouldn't matter if I insulted them. If we ever came across them again, I would have four…well, you know," James said, eying him pointedly. "And the fact that you called the Hippogriff a nasty sight - it's a miracle we got out of there alive."

"Lucky Wormtail was there," Sirius said, grinning at the memory. "Although I thought that Hippogriffs preferred ferrets."

"I thought Hippogriffs preferred animals to humans in general," Alice said slowly.

James hesitated.

"I threw a stick at it," Peter said quietly. Alice raised her eyebrow skeptically.

"I'm so lost," Lily said.

"Speaking of lost," James said, looking at Alice who was beginning to rummage through her drawers, "don't bring the map, Allie. We won't lose our way."

Alice stopped and looked at James.

"It's a pretty big forest, James." Then, remembering she wouldn't mind it too much if she got lost with him, she said, "No map then."

"Aren't you going to tell your mum?" Lily said, shooting a glance at her.

"No," she said shortly.

As they walked down the hall way and stairs, past the kitchen and sitting room, and outside into the dense darkness, James and Sirius muttered excitedly to each other about different situations in which they would defend themselves from highly dangerous creatures, probation forgotten. Peter nodded eagerly at every suggestion that he would be the sacrificial lamb, even though that was a joke on James' part.

"I'm surprised you guys haven't been here before," Lily commented as they walked across the immense Quidditch pitch.

"Never at night," James said, who was holding his wand between his index and middle fingers, making it look more like an accessory than a weapon.

"It's almost like we're back at Hogwarts!" Sirius said gleefully, tossing his wand in the air and catching it.

"You're going to burn a hole through your palm," Alice warned. Despite her bravado, she was jumping at every hoot of an owl and every chirp of a cricket.

"If only Moony was here," James said wistfully, his smile widening once they reached the forest. Alice never went in too far. Even though unicorns were most likely the most dangerous creature she'd find…she didn't want to think about what kind of creatures were lurking in the dark shadows.

Lily looked up nervously. Alice knew why; the sky was not visible anymore.

"Lily, look!" James said, holding out his ignited wand. He pointed his wand at a spot above his head and the silhouette of a tree was revealed. Its bark was duller and thinner than the rest; its brown leaves drooped like an unsmiling mouth, making it look almost depressed.

"What is it?" she asked, following his lead. "Why does that tree say Lily?" She squinted and looked closer. The word Lily was written in choppy line segments, most likely from the strong end of a stick and the even stronger persistence of its designer.

"You have a tree named after you!" Sirius said enviously, elbowing James aside.

"Wait, Alice. Did you carve my name on it?" Lily asked, smiling at her.

"A lady's great-grandmother owned the house before my parents did," Alice said having seen the tree before several times.

"Interesting," Lily said.

"I still say it's your tree," James said, grinning at her. Lily rolled her eyes and began walking again before James could see her smile, Alice noticed. Not wanting to be left behind with three boys who craved danger, she went ahead with Lily. They walked on in silence, following a winding path through the dense trees.

"There's nothing dangerous here, right?" Lily asked calmly. Before Alice could answer, a loud crack like a twig breaking sounded suddenly and they jumped. Lily jerked her wand sharply to the right her wand to her right, and Alice did the same. "Nothing," she breathed.

"Lily, where's the rest?" Alice asked, looking about her, suddenly noticing the boys' absence.

"They're probably looking for an acromantula or something, they'll catch up."

The trees were becoming less dense as they walked further. Alice heard the faint sound of rushing water and she nearly ran ahead. She stopped dead at a wall of trees. She could not see around them; they were close together and perfectly aligned, almost like a picket fence.

"Let's walk around them?" Lily suggested.

They retreated and walked to the left, their strides becoming longer to avoid small bushes and bunnies.

Again they were met with a thick wall of trees.

"What the fuck?" Alice said loudly, surprising Lily. She was evidently still internally fuming from the episode with her mother.

"Watch your mouth, Prewett," James said as he appeared with Sirius and Peter in tow. "Ah," he said upon looking at the trees, as if he had stumbled upon them before.

"I'm thinking whoever made the trees grow like this didn't want us to get to the water," Sirius said casually.

"You think this is deliberate, then?" Alice said.

"I think Sirius is being paranoid," Lily said briskly. "Stand back. Depri -"

"No!" James shouted suddenly.

Lily looked at him crossly. "What?"

"It's brilliant," James breathed, ignoring Lily. He went up and stroked the trees, but to their surprise, his finger glided over the bark as if it were glossy paper.

"Diffindo!" Lily said, and a loud ripping sound rent the air. They all stared dumbly at the torn paper.

"Well that was rather pointless," Alice said. "Who the hell would place a drawing of trees in the middle of a forest?"

"I think it's a joke, and that this Lily person was brilliant," Peter said, cottoning on to James' thinking.

"It was so realistic…Lily, what'd you tear it up for?" James asked, annoyed. There was a gaping hole in the canvas where Lily's spell had struck it, beyond which they could see nothing but darkness.

"Do you want to keep exploring or not?" Alice asked. Her voice was surprisingly steady, considering that every fiber of her being wanted to be away from what she was sure were orange eyes hidden behind every other tree.

"I don't know about you pansies, but I'm going in," Sirius said with a shark-like grin. He held his wand out like a sword and stepped through. "Wicked!"

Lily followed and Peter as well, climbing over the shredded paper carefully.

James paused, an idea occurring to him. "Flagrate," he pronounced, and a small but very bright red circle appeared on the tree. Alice looked at him and he explained, "So that we can find our way back." His quick thinking and magical skill did not surprise Alice, but she was nevertheless impressed by it. She smiled at the glowing circle and was grateful for how much she could rely on him.

Alice became suddenly aware that she was alone, and that James had gone through.

Alice quickly went through, accidentally ripping the paper more and widening the hole. A rather large river was weaving in and out of the trees, and Lily was alone near the bank, the boys mysteriously missing again.

"Lily?" Alice asked. She was sitting on a large rock, and she looked as if she had gone through many wars. Suddenly, she burst into tears.

"Lily!" Alice said, running over to her. She had not foreseen this – her friend had seemed to collected only minutes before.

"This is all my fault," she sobbed into her hands while Alice hugged her. "If I hadn't been made Head Girl -"

"No, don't -" Alice began helplessly but Lily carried on. Alice stepped away, alarmed.

"A-and Cory broke up with me, and I m-made Head Girl and your mum is in a right state and - and it's all my fault, e-everything!"

"What brought this on?"

"Alice I'm not s-stupid. We're only in the stupid forest b-because your mum got mad!"

With a pang, Alice thought about what James said about Lily being a mess, and looked at her best friend with pity. In sixth year, Lily had hardly ever cried.

"Lily, it's not your fault - hold on, we're awfully close to the water," Alice said nervously, looking around her, her wand aloft.

Alice heard a rustle in the leaves. She turned around and both she and Lily simultaneously let out a bloodcurdling scream. Three heavily disfigured creatures were running straight towards them, faces grotesquely skewed and mouth opened to show the semblances of three swollen black tongues.

Alice turned around and her heart stopped for one second as she saw the water rapidly becoming closer; she fell in with a loud splash. She didn't open her eyes as she thrashed around the cool water. She kicked hard and felt much stronger forces next to her. She kicked hard and felt droplets of water fly into her face from the opposite direction. She opened her eyes and saw red - was it blood? Oh Merlin, she was bleeding and her head had cracked open, she just knew it…but it looked too solid and stringy to be blood - Lily's hair! Panicking again, they both thrashed, and suddenly stopped. The water had gone into Alice's nose and some into her mouth, and then, feeling incredibly stupid, she stood up on her feet and coughed up the water. She dimly noted that the water barely reached her chest. She could barely see through the hair over her eyes that were acting as a thick screen. She peeled the hair away from her face gingerly.

Lily must have realized as well, for she began rising slowly, her hair also plastered to her face, her green shirt clinging to her skin and her cheeks bulging. A long, thick stream of water came out of her mouth.

James, Sirius and Peter were howling, giving each other high fives as their deformed faces slowly transformed back into their smooth skin and thick hair. Alice had an idea.

"Impermeabilus!" she said and pointed at Lily. Instantly, a bubble formed over her sopping head. Lily, in fierce understanding, repeated the Bubble Head Charm over Alice's head, and they both dunked themselves into the shallow water. Alice grinned at Lily from under the water, and they did not rise again for a few moments.

Predictably, soon enough, they saw shadows over the water, and simultaneously, they surfaced and then plunged again, pulling the boys into the water with them.

Lily and Alice stood up again and removed their Bubble Head Charms. They gave each other a high five and laughed. The boys still hadn't realized that the water was about four foot deep at best and were thrashing about as their victims had before them. Alice laughed harder when James stood up, hair completely flat, and spit a mouthful of water into Sirius' scrunched up face.

Alice made her way to the edge of the river and sat down, kicking off her sneakers and socks. Lily did the same and laid them aside before drying them with her wand.

"Didn't I tell you Alice could swim?" James hollered at Sirius accusingly. He wiped his glasses on his shirt before he realized it was wet. He dragged himself to where Lily was sitting.

"Clean my glasses," James said as he shoved the glasses at her. Lily took them with a laugh and tapped them with her wand. James heaved himself onto the moist grass. Sirius was helping a hysterical Peter get back up.

"There was something in there!" Peter cried fearfully.

Sirius took off his shoes and shirt, and dived right back in. Waist deep, he took out his wand and held it to the water. The water turned at the touch, and rose to splash against James, Alice and Lily, soaking them anew.

"You bloody prat!" James said, now taking off his own clothes, finally putting an Impervious Charm on his glasses and jumping into the river after Sirius.

Feeling vengeful and only very slightly amused, Alice lifted her wand and the water rose again and consumed Sirius who had been crying with mirth.

"Good one!" James winked at Alice, and she tried to ignore his toned body as it bobbed in the river.

James sent another wave at him but – "Protego!" Sirius shouted, successfully deflecting it and sending it flying back to James who, with visible effort, directed it with his wand to splash over the girls and Peter.

James guffawed at Lily, who had conjured a flimsy umbrella, and Lily threw it aside, laughing and holding her stomach as the water rained water on them all.

Alice inhaled water again, and after she had cleared her airway, she jumped into the water, onto forces of the Battle of Water.

"Aguamenti!" she shouted at James, who flicked it off towards Sirius with a chuckle.

Sirius waved his wand and the air smelled strongly of wine. James was wild in his laughter and taken over by the smell of wine as Sirius opened his mouth wide to catch the flying droplets with his tongue.

"You idiot!" Alice laughed, the wine now mixed with the water and her happiness. She was nearly floating in her euphoria.

"You stupid drunk!" James roared, nearly drunk in mirth, himself. "GO EVANS!"

Alice looked at Lily; she had cut off her long jeans into shorts and was looking determined as she jumped into the water. With a flick of her wand, a blast of ferocious wind aimed at James made his hair stand completely on end, as if every root on his head had been lifted.

Lily laughed and gave Sirius an air-five. She dived back under the water. Alice saw James go in after her, his eyes twinkling.

Sirius said, "Peek-a-boo I see you!" and Alice was catapulted to the other side of the river by a pair of strong arms. Alice waved her wand in a long, sweeping motion and the water surrounding Sirius began spinning, and Sirius had his hands up happily, his face becoming a blur in the rapidly moving whirlpool.

She saw Lily and James come up, and somehow Lily was on James' shoulders and trying to bend back so she could fall back into the water but James held her legs tight, his eyes crinkled in amusement.

Alice swallowed and said, "Aguamenti!" and then quickly went underwater.

After about an hour of more water fighting and Peter bobbing in the water like a buoy, they laid down on the damp grass, fully clothed and dry beside a fire Lily had conjured.

"That was amazing," Lily breathed.

"I've never had so much fun," Alice agreed, smiling at James who was not looking at her, but at Lily.

"Poor Moony," Sirius said, which was the first thing he said that did not express how sore and drunk he was.

"We'll come back," James promised. He flipped onto his stomach and looked at Alice. "I can't believe we have to leave tomorrow."

Alice smiled forlornly. "Let's not talk about that."

Lily, who had suddenly unleashed herself after her sobbing episode, was pacing the area, unable to stay still. Lily was pacing the area, unable to keep still, drained of all the stress from her sobbing episode and full instead of excitement.

"Let's go in again!" she said for the third time that minute.

"You can go in again," Sirius yawned. "Excuse me," he said quickly, and ran to a couple of bushes and vomited.

There was something too tender in the way that James was looking at Lily. Then he lay back again, and smiled in a way that Alice knew meant he was feeling at peace again.

She leaned back again as well, and finally felt the same peace (at least at the moment), that James felt.

Review please?