The Age of the Serpent

Disclaimer: No money is being made with this story and no infringement intended.

The Fallen Auror

Alice had never liked to visit her parents-in-law. There was something stifling about this large house full of portraits and medals earned by people long dead. Frederic and Augusta Longbottom had both joined their glorious ancestors in death by now but the house was still the same.

Almost.

The garden had changed. Under the hands of Neville and his wife Hannah vegetables and healing herbs were growing next to the flowers and fruit trees that had been there all along. When she felt well enough, Alice helped tending to them.

Today, even getting up from her armchair seemed to be too much for her. She stretched out her hand and took out the photograph. Frank was on there, his warm brown eyes sparkling. If only she knew what had happened to him. They said he had left, left without her, but she couldn't believe it. Alice assumed that her husband was in fact dead. Like so many others in this picture.

Lily and James Potter were waving at her, smiling. Sirius Black stood next to James; she could almost hear his bark-like laughter. There were Marlene McKinnon and Alastor Moody both had been her mentors, both were dead as well. So were her friends Dorcas Meadow and Fabian Prewett, Fabian's brother Gideon, Caradoc Dearborn and Benjy Fenwick.

No one on this picture had survived, at least no one where Alice knew it for sure.

No one besides herself.

If you could call it a life.

Tears were streaming down her face and she quickly wiped them away with the sleeve of her robe. She didn't want them to spoil the picture, it was the only one she had.

Alice had been angry at Frank for forgetting it at his parents', now she was glad he had done so. At least a picture so she could remember them more easily. These times felt so distant. Alice was scared she might lose the memories again.

"Only the best die young," Sirius had said. He was right. If only she could have gone with them.

Alice put the picture aside so she could cry without fear. She had been left behind, why she couldn't fathom.

Ending it herself had occurred to her many times, but she just couldn't. What good would it do? The others had been killed for the cause, not fled their lives because they had become too painful for them to bear. That was a cowardly thing to do. Not the way a Gryffindor would go.

If she stayed alive, the time might come when she could make a difference. It seemed impossible now, but maybe it would change again. A tiny bit of hope but it was all she had.

Alice felt as if she were in prison. Imprisoned in this house where she had never been really welcome.

In theory, she was free to leave whenever she wanted, but she just couldn't do it. Wherever she went, there would be Death Eaters and she didn't want to face them in this state.

Alice hardly ever left the house on her own and Neville and Hannah where both working.

The voices of children were audible from downstairs. They had twins, Francis and Deborah, seven years old now. The House-elf was looking after them.

Alice looked at the picture again. None of them had ever known that all their sacrifices had been in vain. None of them had been forced to find out that both Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter had been killed, leaving Lord Voldemort's path free.

Alice was the only one who had to live with this truth.

There was another, maybe even more painful truth. Her own son Neville had given up his fight for her sake.

After Harry's death, the Lestranges had been put in charge of Hogwarts. Rodolphus had taken care of Neville and offered to make his greatest dreams come true if he stopped leading his fellow students to fight. Neville could become a Healer and his parents would be healthy again.

The latter had been a bold claim but somehow, Alice didn't know how, it had worked. At least for her. In Frank's case something seemed to have gone wrong. Neville didn't know more himself though, or if he did, he wasn't telling her.

Even now, more than eight years later, Alice was anything but healthy. Without the potion, she probably wouldn't get along at all. The potion was becoming less and less effective though. Neville said, she needed to try without, but she simply couldn't.

She made it through the days somehow, reading or looking at old photographs on bad days tending to the garden and teaching the children on good ones.

Every night however, the nightmares would come to haunt her. Pain she couldn't endure for seconds but had to for hours. She was lying on the floor in her own vomit and urine, having completely lost any control over her body. During day time, she only saw these things from a distance, at least most of the time. Sometimes, they forced themselves into her consciousness. She never knew when that would happen. At night, she was helplessly exposed to them.

And the worst thing was: it could happen again, anytime. The opponents of Voldemort had no rights in this new world. They could drag her out of the house and do it all over again whenever they felt like it. No one would stop them.

Whenever she heard an unusual noise, whenever the doorbell rang, she expected them to come for her.

Alice had no one to talk to about any of these things. Not a single soul. Neville and Hannah didn't want to hear it. They wanted to believe that everything was good so badly.

Alice's friends where all gone and so where her own parents. Her brother had married a witch from Germany and left Great Britain years ago.

She was all alone.

Alice needed to drink another cup of potion. Drown the pain, it was the only thing she could do.

She forced herself to go up and walked towards the cabinet where she was keeping it. The cabinet was locked with a spell to keep the children from taking the potion. It could be harmful if drunk by people who didn't need it. Alice's hands clenched around the bottle. It was feeling light, too light. Looking at the bottle she saw it was empty. Neville hadn't bought more potion.

Alice sighed deeply. She remembered his words now. "You're using too much of it. It's dangerous. There's nothing wrong with you anymore that can be cured with potions. I'm not going to make any more. If you want more, get it yourself."

He knew that she didn't want to leave the house on her own. Probably, he assumed that he'd be able to keep her away from the potion that way.

But she needed it. What did it matter if it was harmful? She didn't mind shortening her life if it became less painful that way. Alice had no choice.

She needed to go.

Alice used a cleaning charm on herself, opened her cupboard and took out a set of grass-green robes lined with dark red. She had loved these colors in the past. Now, the robes were far too wide for her thin body, she had to secure them tightly so they'd look decent. She had never been out to buy something that fit her now, maybe she should. Money wasn't an issue for the Longbottoms. They had always been well-off and Neville was earning well with his healing work. Hannah wasn't doing too badly with her job at the Department for Magical Games and Sports at the Ministry either.

At the Death Eater-ruled Ministry.

The cloak in a slightly darker shade of green had turned too wide as well. Still, it was covering her well and the hood would make her harder to recognize. Alice didn't want to meet anyone. She had to add one last thing though. People who had opposed Voldemort during the war had to wear a Phoenix feather badge. Only if they proved their loyalty to the new regime, such as Neville and Hannah, they'd be allowed to stop doing so.

Alice had earned no such right and she didn't want to. If she had still been able to feel pride, she would have felt it for wearing this link to her former comrades.

Before she left, Alice quickly looked into the mirror. Her face had become thin, leaving her blue eyes looking too large for her face. The once auburn hair had turned as white as snow. Alice wasn't quite sure why the Cruciatus curse had had this side-effect in her case. Neville said it had to do with her struggles against the curse's effect. They had demanded so much of her that there was no strength left in her body to give color to her hair.

Alice didn't know if that was true. She did know that it had been useless. Without healing magic and the right potions, she didn't have a chance.

She went downstairs. "Francis, Debbie, I have to get something in town. I'll be back soon. Sandy's going to look after you."

"Okay Gran," Francis said. "Listen, can we go to the village? We want to go to the Muggle playground."

Alice shook her head. "You know you can't. You aren't supposed to play with Muggle children. You don't want to get into trouble, do you?"

"But why? You all keep telling us that Muggles aren't that different from us. They're also people, just without magic."

"Yes. That's true. The government still doesn't want you to play with them though. They're scared that the Muggles will realize you have magic."

Alice hated herself for justifying these Ministry policies to her grandchildren who knew better but she had no choice. She didn't want them to get into trouble.

"We can go into the garden, can't we?" Francis asked.

"Yes, you can."

"Sandy's going to look after you while Mistress is away," the House elf promised. Alice had never liked to ask for the service of another magical being but during those last years Sandy had been a great help. She just couldn't manage on her own.

"Thank you Sandy," she said before leaving the house.

To her surprise the sun was shining warmly. It was a pleasant contrast to her mind that painted everything grey. The smell of grass and flowers was lying in the air, bees were humming. For a quick moment, Alice felt something like happiness to be alive, to be able to see, hear feel and touch again.

The feeling was gone as quickly as it had come when she opened the door. From the outside, the Longbottom's house looked like a small hut overgrown with ramble. The Longbottoms actually did grow blackberries but the bushes were much better groomed in reality. A Muggle path led towards their village. Sometimes, Neville walked over there with her and the children. Alice was envying the Muggles. They still lived freely, knowing nothing about Voldemort and his regime. As long as they didn't have magical children or came across magic in another way, they were left alone.

Whenever Neville found the time, he took them for those walks. Or they were visiting one of the new magical playgrounds where Francis and Deborah could play with other magical children. Alice didn't like accompanying them there because they might meet Death Eaters. She preferred the walks on Muggle land.

Alice had never accompanied her family to Diagon Alley before. She didn't want to see all those people. Now, she didn't have a choice.

Alice apparated towards Diagon Alley. To her own surprise, her magic still seemed to work almost as well as it used to. She preferred apparating to the use of Floo Powder; it made her dizzy and sick. As an Auror, Apparition had become part of her nature and she was still able to perform it well enough.

A few unpleasant moments later she stood in front of the Leakey Cauldron. As an Apparator, she arrived on the magical side of course; everything else had been illegal in the past as well.

Diagon Alley had changed but not as much as she had thought. The small alley was still full of people, young and old, doing their shopping or eating and drinking outside in the sun.

The most obvious difference was the number of banners and posters. Voldemort's motto "Magic is Might" was visible on some of those banners but there were others as well, Alice didn't bother to read them all.

The nearest poster advertised some Quidditch event with competitions for teams of different skill levels, another advised people to give their children Dragon Pox immunization.

Alice remembered how this disease had swept Hogwarts during her sixth year. The strain had been quite resistant against the normal treatment and lots of people had gotten ill, Alice herself included. The Lestrange brothers had been among the few who had received the immunization potion as children and therefore weren't threatened by the disease. That was probably why Rodolphus Lestrange was advocating this measure now. Many wizarding parents believed that going through this disease was part of growing up. Alice couldn't truthfully claim that she had experienced any particular benefit from the experience. Frank had almost died from the disease.

She skimmed over the writing at the bottom of the poster: Department of Magical Healthcare. There had been no such Ministry department in the past, but Voldemort obviously wanted to keep everything together.

Alice just couldn't stop thinking about Dragon Pox.

Thinking about Dragon Pox forced her to think about Rodolphus Lestrange as well. She didn't want to but the times when she had been able to control her memories were long gone.

He'd been one of those children others avoided by instinct. He never seemed clever or talented or brave but like someone who couldn't be quite trusted. No one outside of his little gang of Slytherins had liked him.

Until Dragon Pox had come over Hogwarts. Day in, day out he had helped Madam Pomfrey care for the sick and earned his house a considerable amount of points for the first time in his life. Madam Pomfrey claimed that she couldn't have done it without him.

Alice had begun to believe that she had been wrong about him; many others had done the same. He had started to work at -Hospital after Hogwarts and she had trusted him. Until that night that changed everything, she had never stopped believing in him.

Someone's elbow hit Alice's arm. She flinched and took a quick step backwards. "Sorry," the elderly woman muttered quickly before walking on.

Alice's mind had returned to the present. She wasn't going to read any more posters. Alice didn't want their writing influence what she was thinking and remembering. She felt as if everyone were staring at her. Did they see what had happened to her? Was it visible? She hoped not.

A man and a woman wearing black and green uniform walked by. The silver badge consisting of a snake underneath a shield showed that they were "Security Officers" from Bellatrix Lestrange's Department of Magical Security.

The man's eyes lingered on Alice's Phoenix badge for a moment. She felt her body tense. You are allowed to be here, she told herself. In a world ruled by Voldemort she couldn't be sure about anything.

The man seemed to decide that she wasn't a threat and walked on with his comrade. Alice took a deep breath and continued her walk towards Gringotts. The Wizarding Bank still looked the way it used to.

The only difference were two more Security Officers, fine-looking young people all of them but Alice didn't lend herself to illusions about the things they were capable of. They didn't seem to notice her however and she went to the Goblins at the reception.

"I want to take money from the vault of Frank and Alice Longbottom," she told the Goblin handing over her key. Some of the money they had earned as Aurors was left and Alice wanted to use it first. She didn't want to live off her son and mother-in-law.

The Goblin checked the key carefully and called someone to take Alice to her vault afterwards. The journey in the cart was even worse than using Floo Powder but there was no alternative. When she reached her vault, Alice found it cared for properly. The Goblins might not always be nice but they did their duty well. She filled a bag with Galleons and quickly returned to the surface.

After Gringotts, Alice made her way towards the Apothecary. The one where she had bought her potions ingredients for Hogwarts was still around. Some things did not change even when everything else did.

The owner was arguing with a witch. "No, I can't do this. It's against the rules. Besides, your son's supposed to learn something. He isn't supposed to use potions to improve his results."

"But Felix Felicis doesn't give him extra skills. Only a bit of luck. He really needs this. He's so nervous during exams."

"I can't do this, I'm sorry. I'm going to lose my license. And your son will be expelled if this is found out by the way. Not worth it, is it? Tell your son to study for his NEWTs that might help."

"This is your last word?"

"It is my last word. If there's nothing else, you may want to leave. There are other customers waiting."

The witch turned away, muttering angrily to herself.

The next customer was a sneezing wizard who needed Pepperup Potion against his cold. This was a matter of a few minutes and then it was Alice's turn.

"Good afternoon," she said.

"Good afternoon, Madam. How can I help you?"

Alice took a deep breath. She needed to say what she wanted to buy or she had no chance of getting it. "I need a potion against the effects of the Cruciatus curse."

The owner of the apothecary was looking at her as if she were mad. Maybe not such an unreasonable assumption given what she had been asking for.

"I'm sorry; I do not have anything like that. We're selling potions against common health problems but this definitely isn't one of those."

Alice sighed. She hadn't really thought this through. "Do you know of a colleague where I could get something like that?"

The shop-owner shook his head. "I'm sorry Madam, I don't.

"Well, no problem," Alice said not quite truthfully. "I'll look somewhere else."

She left the apothecary, looking around for other places that might sell potions. In the process, she didn't take proper care of where she was going and promptly walked into some wizard.

"Sorry, Sir, I didn't mean to, I should have been more careful, "she said.

The wizard looked at her curiously and walked away, saying something like: "No problem."

This wasn't going well at all.

"Can I help you, Madam?" a male voice suddenly asked.

Startled, Alice turned around and looked into the face of the Death Eater, sorry "Security Officer" she had seen upon her arrival in Diagon Alley. Her heart was beating violently and she was pressing her hands together so hard that she could feel her fingernails boring into her flesh.

"I don't know," she muttered.

"What are you looking for?" the young man asked. He had short dark hair and quite pale skin. "Maybe I can tell you where to go. I've been walking around here quite a few times." He laughed.

After considering quickly, Alice decided to accept the offer. No matter how bad she felt about it, it was actually good if the Death Eaters believed that she wasn't well at all. The more ill, the less of a threat.

"I'm looking for a place where I can buy a potion against the effects of the Cruciatus curse."

She took a deep breath. Her voice wasn't sounding nearly as calm as she had hoped it would.

The man raised his eyebrows.

"You won't find something like that here in Diagon Alley. I'm sorry. Only few people can brew such potions. You need to go to Saint Mungo Hospital. It's not far from here."

Alice shook her head. "I don't think I have to go there."

The man gave her a doubtful look. "You really should. Cruciatus curse use has to be reported to the Ministry as well."

Alice shook her head. "There's no need for that. The Ministry should be quite aware of my situation."

"Oh, I see," the Security Officer said. A few moments of awkward silence followed.

"You could still go to Saint Mungo's," he finally said. "If you don't want to do that, you could get Goldberry Leaf at the Apothecary and make a potion from it yourself. There should be recipes in most books on first-aid."

"Thank you," Alice said. She should have thought of that herself. There was plenty of Goldberry Leaf in the Longbottom's garden and she should be able to brew a potion. She had never been a genius in this subject but good enough to be accepted for Auror training. The possibility of being able to help herself made her feel a bit better.

"You're welcome," the young man said. "I hope you'll be better soon."

Alice was asking herself what had made him choose a job in Bellatrix Lestrange's department. Probably, he like Rodolphus Lestrange was one of those people who behaved very differently in different situations.

Still, his advice had been good. Flourish and Blotts was nearby, another shop that had made it through the two wizarding wars. Alice walked into the bookshop. There weren't many customers, it was mid-term in Hogwarts and there was no holiday approaching either.

Alice looked around. Some of the books being sold here wouldn't have been there during her Hogwarts age. Most prominent among them a few biographies of the Dark Lord, one of them written by Rita Skeeter. Under different circumstances, this might have been quite amusing but Alice didn't touch any of them. The History of the Wizarding war by Alecto Carrow couldn't catch her fancy either. Given the things Neville had told her about this woman, Alice was surprised that she was capable of writing a book at all.

Books on the Dark Arts were openly available now as well. Alice spotted a few copies of "The Art of Pain" by Rinaldo Lestrange, an ancestor of the Lestrange brothers who had lived during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. This book had been strictly banned in the past; Rodolphus Lestrange had almost gotten himself expelled for bringing a copy to Hogwarts during his fourth year.

Alice couldn't really imagine what there was to say about the Cruciatus curse that could fill a book that size but she wasn't really keen on finding out either.

Not far from the Dark Arts books Alice found what she was looking for. Various books on first-aid. She took one out of the shelf, it was called "First-Aid against Dark Magic Injuries" and contained the information Alice was after. The Goldberry-Leaf Potion really didn't sound too complicated. She should be able to brew it.

The book was approved by the Department of Magical Healthcare, a bit of information that didn't really serve to reassure Alice.

She decided that she could use the opportunity and get herself something to read for entertainment. She didn't really like most of the novels in Augusta Longbottom's house.

Many of the ones available here seemed to have plots focusing on the witch-hunts. Alice picked one of them up.

"Half-dead, sixteen year old Agnes is freed from the dungeons of the Inquisition by the Knights of Walburgis. The young Healer Marius can free her from the wounds on her body but is helpless against the damage done to her soul. When Agnes returns to Hogwarts, she speaks of her ordeal to other witches and wizards. Rather than support and compassion, Agnes is facing slander and ridicule from the Muggle lovers at Hogwarts. They either accuse her of lying or claim that the Muggles couldn't have harmed her, had she been a proper witch. In a fit of despair, Agnes tries to end her life by jumping from the Astronomy Tower. Her magical powers however safe her from death and the young witch realizes that she doesn't want to give up.

When she meets Marius again, he introduces her to Dark Lady Medea. Medea offers to teach Agnes the full potential of her powers but this would force her to break the laws put in place to defend Muggles and their offspring in Hogwarts…"

Shaking her head, Alice put the book back. She had no doubts about the decision Agnes was going to make.

There had been a very similar case in Alice's own family. Emma Fawley had not allowed her suffering at the hands of the Witch Hunters to destroy her desire to support Muggleborns within wizarding society. The pure-blood supremacists had never understood her wish for peace and reconciliation. Emma, the Unteachable, she had been called.

During her years as an Auror, some people in the department had changed this into "Alice the Unteachable" because she kept speaking up for people who were suspected because of their family background. In Sirius Black's case she had been right as she had learned from Neville, in Rodolphus Lestrange's she had been wrong.

Alice looked at one of the other books. It was called "The Fall of Avalon."

"Morgana desperately defended the magical island of Avalon against the Muggle-friend Merlin and his treacherous supporters. When her only daughter Seren leaves the Island for the love of a man, the protection through the Great Witches' line dies with Morgana.

After the last defenders have been killed or fled, Avalon's enemies change the island into a hellish place of pain and despair. The prison island Azkaban.

Shocked by the consequences of her actions, Seren attempts to rally the last supporters of their cause forming a secret Order under constant persecution."

Alice had to shake her head again. The kind of stories these Death Eater authors were coming up with…

The bell rang and a dark-haired boy walked into the room. He seemed to be about eight years old and had something hauntingly familiar about him. Alice wasn't surprised in the least when he walked directly towards the Dark Arts books and took "The Art of Pain" from the shelve, starting to read where he stood.

She turned back to the other books. There must be something she could read. A book called "The Memory Potion" caught her attention.

"As a young child, Aswyn's brother witnesses a horrible crime and has a Memory charm performed on him by an Auror. His desire to safe the child from traumatic memories has consequences; Aswyn's brother is suffering from memory problems that make him one of the worst students at Hogwarts.
Aswyn develops an extraordinary talent for potion-making and dedicates her life to finding a way to remove overly strong memory charms less dangerous than the Cruciatus curse. Little does she know how much many people have to lose if her safe way to regain memories becomes publicly known.

Soon Aswyn finds herself hunted by Aurors and Dark Wizards alike, unable to tell friend from foe."

This actually did sound interesting, Alice thought. And it didn't seem to be filled with too much Death Eater propaganda or so she hoped.

After thinking about it for a while, Alice decided to take the books about Morgana and Agnes as well. She surely wouldn't fall for them and it was always good to know how the enemy was trying to manipulate people.

She was picking up the book about Agnes when she almost dropped all of them.

"Here you are Roderic."

She knew this voice well, too well. It belonged to Rodolphus Lestrange.

Alice was back on the floor of the living-room of the little house she had shared with Frank and Neville, and he was standing above her, speaking that curse. Bellatrix tended to shout it angrily, in Rodolphus' case only hearing him say it would be enough to know what the curse was about. Be in pain, feel worthless, be miserable for ever more. All along, he was looking at her, eye contact, devoid of any hint of pity.

Alice was staring at the picture of Agnes on the book, forcing herself back to the present. Slowly, she was looking around for an escape route. There was none. She couldn't leave through the door without passing them and Apparition was impossible inside of a shop. Theft-prevention.

The only thing she could do was hope that they'd leave soon.

"Put that away. We've got several copies of it at home," Rodolphus was telling his son.

"Yes, but Mum doesn't let me read them. She says I'm too young," the boy responded.

A reasonable opinion Alice wouldn't have expected from Bellatrix Lestrange. She could hear Roderic put the book back.

"You know you're not supposed to sneak away like that," Rodolphus said.

"Yes. But it was so boring at Quality Quidditch Supplies. Really, how can Mum and Roxy spend so much time choosing a racing broom? They're all the same, aren't they? A wooden stick with a tail made of twigs."

In a different situation, Alice might have laughed at this remark. She had never really understood Frank's Quidditch enthusiasm back at school either. Bellatrix had been the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. Maybe she hoped that her daughter would follow into her footsteps.

"I knew that they have this book here and I just wanted to take a look. Wasn't worth it though. It's quite boring. Not even any pictures."

"That's because you are too young to understand this book. Your mother's quite right."

"She didn't say so because of that. She just doesn't like that I want to know about those things. I asked her to tell me about the Cruciatus curse but she didn't want to do it. And she's been treating me really oddly since then."

He paused and then said so quietly that Alice hardly understood it: "Dad, I think Mum doesn't love me as much as she loves Roxy."

What an odd child, Alice thought. So quick to jump from wanting to see pictures of the Cruciatus curse to wondering if his mother loved him. She had trouble believing that either Bellatrix or Rodolphus was capable of something like love and she didn't really want to overhear this. At least on the outside, Rodolphus seemed to have assumed the role of the caring father now. Alice could imagine very well that he had actually read various books about being a good father, so he'd be able to pretend what was coming naturally to other people.

Why couldn't they simply leave and meet the rest of their family? Alice would surely not go near Quality Quidditch Supplies anytime soon.

"That's not true," Rodolphus tried to reassure his son. "It's just a bit easier for her with Roxana because they have more in common. And your questions can be difficult sometimes."

"If I want to know something, I can't stop before I do," Roderic said.

"I know. That's why I'm going to try and answer your questions about the Cruciatus curse in a way you can understand. Before you start doing even more stupid things to find out. "

"Really Dad? Now?"

"Not here. When we're back home. I'm sure Bella and Roxy will be busy with their new broom for a while."

Roderic laughed.

"Now that we're here you can have a book if you see something you like," Rodolphus said. They walked towards the books for children which were a bit closer to Alice's hiding place. She opened the book on first-aid and attempted to read the introduction but it was simply impossible. She couldn't take in a single word, always fearing that she might overhear a threat if she didn't keep listening to father and son Lestrange.

"Look Dad, the Toadstool Tales. Are there really people who buy this?"

"Some may do so for a laugh," Rodolphus said. "And maybe there are parents who believe that their children can't cope with anything else."

Roderic laughed. "I'm wondering if this Bloxam woman really was so shocked by the story about the Warlock with the Hairy Heart. I only think it's stupid. You can't take out your heart and keep it in a case. It's just not real."

"These are fairytales Roderic. They're not supposed to be real."

"I still think this is stupid. I'd like to hear Beatrix Bloxam's opinion about Mum's version of Babbitty Rabbitty though," he said clearly amused.

Roderic started to look at books while Alice was wondering if she had a chance to slip past them without being noticed. An Invisibility Cloak would really come in handy now.

Before she could finish the thought, Roderic was walking around the shelves. To Alice's relief Rodolphus remained where he was. There was no reason why the boy should have any interest in her.

"Mhm, these books are mainly for adult witches I think," he said to himself. Then, his eyes fell on Alice.

"Well, hello. You are Neville's Mum, aren't you?"

Alice took a deep breath. This was exactly what she had wanted to avoid. She hardly noticed that he seemed to be on first-name terms with her son.

"How do you know who I am?" The question was out before she could stop herself.

Roderic smiled slightly. "You really look a lot like Neville and I've seen a picture of you."

Not for the first time, Alice was asking himself what Neville thought he was doing. Showing pictures of her to the Lestranges, really.

"I'm Roderic by the way. Roderic Lestrange." Even if she hadn't been watching him for a while by now, she'd have guessed that right away. Roderic resembled his father very much; the only thing he seemed to have inherited from his mother was the black hair.

"Well, nice to meet you Roderic," Alice said not entirely truthfully.

"Nice to meet you too. I've been wondering why you never came to visit us with Neville."

He was looking at her intently, looking even more like his father. Alice wanted nothing more than to get away from him but she had nowhere to go and he was only a child.

"I know now," Roderic said. "You're not really well, are you? You're looking so sad. What's happened to you?"

Alice swallowed. She hadn't thought that her bad condition was so obvious even this child could see it. She didn't know what to tell him. Her head was completely empty. Alice couldn't think of a good story but didn't have the strength to stop him asking these questions. She didn't want him to get his father involved. Alice was quite aware of the fact that he could understand what she was saying just as she had understood his own conversation with Roderic before.

Maybe the truth was best after all. She took a deep breath and said: "The curse that you want to learn about so badly."

Roderic was looking confused for a moment, and then he said: "You mean the Cruciatus curse."

Fine, spell it out. "Yes."

His eyes widened in shock. "I didn't know this could be that bad," he said, making Alice ask herself about the impression other people were getting of her again.

She took a few steps towards him and said softly: "The Cruciatus curse isn't the cool and fascinating piece of magic you seem to think it is. It doesn't require much skill or talent from anyone evil enough either. There are so many great and interesting things about magic to learn. Don't waste your time on that."

"I won't do that anymore," Roderic promised. "I'll have Dad explain it to me and then I'm trying not to think about it anymore. Okay? By the way, Neville has given me a really interesting plant for my birthday. It's called a Mim, Mimb, oh I can never remember that name."

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia?" Alice asked. She knew that Neville was quite fond of this species. But Neville giving birthday presents to the Lestrange children? How could they have become so close?

"Yes, that's it," Roderic said flicking his fingers. "Neville told me that they have many interesting properties. Maybe I should try to find out what they are."

"That's a good idea. But be careful to keep the plant alive."

Roderic smiled. "Neville told me that too. It likes living with me though. It's grown quite a lot already. Maybe I should get a book about magical plants."

"That's a good idea," Alice told him. "Definitely better than the Toadstool Tales."

Roderic laughed.

"Bye then. Maybe you could visit us with Neville some time. I'd like to show you the Mimbulus Mimbletonia." This time, he said the name correctly.

Alice thanked him. She didn't intend to tell him that she'd never set a foot into Lestrange manor if she wasn't being dragged there by force.

Roderic returned to his father. "Can I have a book about plants?"

"Yes, of course."

They walked over to the part of the book store that sold books about magical plants and other beings. Roderic quickly found what he was looking for, afterwards they paid and left.

Alice took a deep breath. Everything had gone well. Rodolphus hadn't noticed her or ignored her, she didn't care either way. As long as she didn't have to talk to him.

She was wondering if there was a chance to safe Roderic from the path of darkness though. Neville was obviously attempting to do so in a way, when he was giving him a plant to take care of but she didn't know if this would do any good when his parents taught him differently.

He certainly did have this affinity for Dark magic all the Lestranges had. It run in their blood and their pureblood mania made any chances about that impossible.

She paid for her own books and considered taking a trip to Madam Malkins so she could get new robes. After catching a glimpse of both Lestranges and their children in front of the Quidditch shop she decided against it though. She had gone out once and could do so again and they probably wouldn't be always around.

Now she'd go home and start her brewing project.

Alice walked towards the Leakey Cauldron and disapparated. A few moments later, she stood in front of the overgrown hut hiding the Longbottom's home.