Disclaimer—I own absolutely no rights to HP and am purely writing this for entertainment purposes only.

When It's Dark Out

Chapter One—Just a Boy

"Alice, tell your brother to stop being so strange!"

"It's Xeno, he can't help but be weird." Alice answered disinterestedly, not once glancing up from the book she was reading, her head resting back on the tree she was sitting in.

Hugo angrily skipped a stone across the lake, frowning at the water's dark surface that reflected the moon and stars from the sky above. "But—but...he..."

"Hugo you shouldn't leave your mouth hanging like that, you might catch flies that way." James answered casually from where he was playing catch with an old snitch. It's wings beating slightly unevenly from all the times they had been crumpled in a fist.

"Besides Hugie—"

"Don't call me that!"

"—you're seven, he's just six...be the mature one." She replied, a bit condescendingly, her small, angular features blank.

"Can't I just hang out with you?" He asked desperately.

Alice sent James an exasperated glance, her silver eyes narrowing. He shrugged, running a hand through his messy black hair.

"Hugo, it's ten. You need to be in bed anyways," James said.

"You're still up!" He retorted, scrunching his freckled nose.

"Well you see..." Alice began, twirling a strand of blonde hair around her finger like she often did when she was nervous.

"We're doing—look...you just can't hang out with us tonight, okay?" She finally said bluntly, abandoning the elaborate lie she had been planning.

Hugo's entire face burned a bright Weasley red, the same shade of his curly hair.

"You two just think that you're so cool because you're the oldest! Well guess what—you're only fourteen Alice! And James you're just fifteen and you're not that old—and...I'll tell Mum on you!"

James sent Alice a panicked look, his almond shaped green eyes widening. "Now Hugo, you don't really want to tell Aunt Hermione anything, right? I mean, that's what little kids do and I though you were a big boy now?"

"I am a big boy!" Hugo squawked indignantly.

"Then you won't say anything to Aunt Hermione." James stated simply.

Hugo looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, his dark blue eyes reluctant. "Then I won't say anything to Mum." He repeated resignedly.

"Good." Alice sighed, relieved. She knew that Hermione Weasley was the last person they wanted to be interrogated by.

"Right well...see you later Hugo..." James shrugged, pocketing the old snitch and jumping down from the tree.

Hugo sighed forlornly before leaving to go find Xeno again. Muttering to himself about 'teenagers' the whole while.

"Are you sure we should be doing this James?" Alice asked has they walked along the gravel path, through the rows of little cottages.

James turned, looking at her surprisedly. "Oh, don't tell me you're scared now?" He asked tauntingly.

"I'm not scared!" She shouted back, covering her mouth when she realized how loud it was.

"Wake up the whole village why don't you?" James asked, shaking his head has he looked around at the cottages to see if anyone was coming out.

"I'm not scared." She repeated quietly, rolling her eyes.

"I just..." She trailed off, looking around suspiciously has if someone would jump out and take them back to their mothers at any moment.

"Oh relax, nothing happened last time we snuck past the wards, or the time before that, or before that." James assured her, looking around himself has they snuck into the woods, through the winding path past the gardens and deep into the edge of the village.

"I know but..."

"Look Longbottom, we can't stay holed up here forever. I refuse to live my entire life in this bloody village. I want to see what's out there."

Alice sighed, glancing around again. "Fine." She said shortly, meeting James eyes and giving him a resigned nod.

"Besides...Kennedy was supposed to come over tonight to discuss 'weapons status' with Mum." James added disdainfully.

"James..." Alice bit her lip, shaking her head at her best friend. "I mean, Aunt Ginny is only thirty two and...it's been fifteen years...don't you want to see her happy?"

"He's a prick!" James argued has they snuck past the fence and into the outer ring of the village.

"You've said that about every single man that's tried to date you're mother, which is pretty much every man that was ever single in the past fifteen years."

"Not to say you weren't right about some of them." Alice added hastily, seeing James glare.

"But James...I mean you're mother is really beautiful and...she's been alone for so long—why do hate every man that tries to see her?" Alice asked, swatting a branch away has they walked further into the forest.

"I don't hate Kennedy for trying to see her!" James defended.

"Really?" Alice asked dryly. "Because you liked him until he started making eyes at Aunt Ginny and then all the sudden you started calling him a bastard...just like you did with Thomas, Corner, Creevey, the other Creevey, Smith, Wood, Sloper, Finch-Fletchley, MacMillan, White, Ramsey—"

"Okay, okay!" James interrupted, looking thoroughly annoyed.

"And y'know, a big part of the reason I didn't like any of them was that they kept bothering Mum after she made it clear she didn't like them! I mean...it was ridiculous." James defended."

They walked in silence a moment before Alice started timidly, scrunching her small nose. "It's just...James sometimes I think you're Mum always rejects them...well—I think it's because of you."

"What?" James spluttered, halting in his tracks. Alice turned to face him, "Well, it's just that you always make it clear you hate all of them...ever since you were four...and–I think it's part of the reason you're Mum never dates."

"That's ridiculous. And you sound like Aunt Hermione!" He said, angrily striding past her.

"So Aunt Hermiones said it too then?" Alice asked, jogging to catch up.

"No, I'm just saying...Hermione never said that because it's absurd." James scoffed, angrily swiping at a branch blocking their path.

"Sometimes I think it's like you're still waiting for your Dad and—"

"Alice my Dad died before I was even born. I'm not waiting for him, I'm not stupid." He said angrily.

"James—"

"Drop it Alice," he warned, his voice short.

She sighed, "Alright."

He nodded and they just walked for a while, ducking under the trees and the undergrowth has it grew thicker the nearer they came to the border.

"You ready?" He asked when they reached the edge. Alice bit her lip but she nodded, pulling out her wand and looking at the shield.

They began a series of complex wand movements until a small ripple appeared in the shield, only staying long enough for them to slip through.

"Lucky we're keyed in otherwise we'd never be able to get back in," Alice said has they stepped outside the boundary.

"Yeah...lucky." James muttered bitterly. Alice looked at him worriedly in the darkness but he didn't notice.

"What'd you want to do tonight?" Alice asked.

"Just...get away," James shrugged, twirling his wand around has he looked over the valley.

"We could apparate to London," He suggested a moment later.

"It's just a bunch of wreckage in the muggle parts now anyways," Alice dismissed.

James turned to her, an eyebrow raised in a dare.

Alice's face quickly morphed to disbelief. "James! No! No. Just—no way."

"Oh come on Alice, we can use a few charms...distort our features a little, no one will ever know."

"Why do want to go there anyways? It's just a bunch of death eaters!"

"Look," James began, "I'm going, you can come or not, but I'm going."

"I'll—I'll go get Aunt Ginny."

James glared, "You wouldn't be able to get her before I could apparate there anyways," he said calculatingly.

Alice narrowed her eyes, "Why are you so determined to do the opposite of what everyone says is smart?"

"Why are you so determined to follow the rules?" James asked, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, I don't know...maybe so we don't get murdered?"

"Stop being so dramatic Alice—"

"Dramatic? Dramatic!"

"Are you coming or not?" James asked, giving her a piercing stare.

Alice huffed, her cheeks pink with indignation has she pulled out her wand and began the charm work.

She changed his black hair to blonde, and his green yes to blue. She shortened his long nose and made his jaw line less stubborn so it didn't look so much like his mother's. She made her own eyes brown and her hair black, shortening it so that it only reached her shoulders.

"Okay," she said softly when she finished. "We're as ready has I can get us."

James nodded, reaching out a hand that she took, clasping it tightly has they disappeared with a crack.

OoOoOo

Wizarding London had grown, while the muggle world had faced the apocalypse given to them by Voldemort in Britain and Europe, the wizarding world had expanded. But it wasn't the same warm Diagon Alley that had existed with Florean's ice cream parlor and Madame Malkins robes, but a much darker, and supposedly purer version if you asked the ruling families.

They walked down the main strip, near where the old entrance to Diagon Alley, now rubble from battles years ago, had been.

People passed them by quickly, hoods over their heads covering most of their faces.

The searchers, walked on the edges of the crowd, a dark mark proudly displayed on their chests has they looked disdainfully in the people going from store to store, looking for someone to take.

Alice tensed when she saw them and James did too, they had always heard stories about them. But they had never been to any part of the wizarding world besides their little hidden village and they were staring around wide eyed at it has they walked through hand in hand.

"Just relax," James whispered to her, has they passed one.

"Right," Alice said breathily, exhaling something she had been holding in. "They have no reason to bother us."

"Exactly," James replied, a lot more confident then he felt.

They walked further down, both of their hoods drawn over their faces and the hand not holding the other's wrapped around their wands.

They passed a strange club with a loud, somewhat intoxicating music pouring out of it.

They couldn't see much of what was inside of it from the street but it seemed to be lit with a dim, green light. The sign at the front read 'The Snake Pit' in a thick cursive script.

"Let's go in there," James suggested impulsively, pulling Alice along before she could protest.

The door way was propped open and they passed with little interference, people were dancing in the center on the floor and laughing in the booths that lined the walls and around the bar.

The witches were dressed in the tight corsets and longer skirts that had become the fashion in the post war world and the wizards in their dark suits beneath their robes.

Alice drew her cloak around herself tighter, looking around worriedly has if the entire bar would turn on them in a single moment.

James tugged her forward again, walking across the crowded dance floor and over to the corner of the bar that sat mostly empty.

"What are we doing James?" She whispered worriedly.

He kept walking sliding into the open seat with her beside him. His fake blue eyes wide has he looked around.

"James—" Alice began, but stopped abruptly when a man slid into the chair besides them.

He was average height, with a very square jaw and short, dark blonde hair. He glanced over at them before turning back to the bar.

Alice was about to start muttering to James again when he spoke to them without facing them, still looking at the drinks offered.

"Aren't you two a little young to be in here?" He asked gruffly, sounding if anything annoyed.

James bristled, he hated it when adults treated him like a child. Never mind the fact that he was one, he didn't want anyone pointing that out.

"Aren't you a little ugly to be in here?" He asked back snidely even though he couldn't see the man's face.

Alice saw through the dim lighting a small smile crack the man's chiseled features.

"Oh, a smart one I see," the man replied lightly.

"ANDREW!" A boisterous voice interrupted their quiet corner, making Alice jump in surprise.

The man beside them turned, definitely looking annoyed, to the boy that had yelled at him over the music. The boy who looked quite drunk and was staggering around with a ridiculous grin on his baby face that didn't match his hulking body.

"Andrew...Andrew..." He giggled, as if it was the funniest thing in the world.

"Yes Crabbe?" The man sitting beside them, Andrew asked, disdain dripping from his voice has he sipped his mug of whatever the bartender had poured him.

"I passed!" He said excitedly, has if that explained everything.

"Where's your brother?" Andrew asked impatiently.

"Vincent—that pussy—who the bloody hell knows...I passed!" He said again, waving excitedly to the emblem of the dark mark on his chest. It was then that James and Alice noticed it, both tensing when they realized they were in the presence of a very drunk searcher.

It was apparently the first time Andrew had noticed it also, has he straightened in his chair, his face becoming, if possible, grimmer.

"Oh, I see." Was all he said.

"Yeah, initiation was tonight! I passed!" He repeated drunkenly.

"Yes, I gathered that," Andrew replied dryly. "Now, if you'll excuse me I was just having a pint and I would like to be left alone tonight."

Crabbe shook his head, his dark beady eyes unfocused. "I passed...if I want I can check anyone now!"

"You were already doing that but yes, I suppose you do actually have a license for harassment now," Andrew commented sardonically.

James sniggered at his statement, drawing attention to them from Crabbe who seemed to be noticing them for the first time.

"And just what are you laughing at?" He asked, his voice taking on an edge has he turned to face them fully.

"Nothing sir," Alice squeaked out, her voice high with fright.

"No—No...I heard him laughing, what was you laughing about?" He yelled, drawing a few glances from others at the bar.

Andrew stood from his chair putting a hand on Crabb's shoulder, "Victor, you're causing a scene. Don't be an idiot it's just a couple of minors sneaking into their first bar, let them be." He said dismissively.

James glared at Andrew for his description but was smart enough not to comment.

"They were laughing at me! I'm—I'm initiated, laughing at me is like laughing at the dark lord now!" Crabbe carried on stupidly.

"A lot of people must laugh at him then," James muttered, unable to help himself.

"James—" Alice hissed, but the damage was already done.

"He mocked the dark lord," Crabbe said, stepping past Andrew and towards them has Alice shrank away.

James stared up at him, unimpressed. "So what? What are you going to do? Fine me?"

"You dare boy!" Crabbe hissed, pulling out his wand and pointing it at them.

James stiffened, moving in front of Alice and keeping a grip on his own wand inside his robes.

"Now Crabbe, it's just some punk kids. Go back to your celebrating," Andrew said tensely, standing beside him with a worried look on his face.

"No—these little blighters need to learn their place. What's your names?" He asked gruffly.

"None of your business," James stated coldly.

"Why you—"

"Arthur Parker and Luna Longears," Alice squeaked.

James turned to look at her incredulously. Surely there were better aliases? But then the thought occurred to him that if they were indeed taken then that would help the Order find them if their obvious middle names and similar last names were on the record. Alice of course, he thought, was always a step ahead of him.

"Crabbe, just let it go...he's just a boy," Andrew repeated, the annoyance obvious.

Crabbe turned, shaking his head. "Fine then, just get them out of here."

Has he walked away Andrew shook his head and muttered darkly, "What am I? The baby sitter?"

He turned back to them, a scowl on his face. "You heard the man. It'd be best if you just listened, tonight isn't a good night for you to be out here," he said, looking over to where the searchers, newly initiated, were ordering another round of drinks.

"I'll do—" James began angrily but Alice cut him off.

"Yes sir, we'll just be going then sir."

Andrew smiled slightly, "I like her. You would do well to listen to her more boy."

James glared but Alice was already tugging him away before he could say anything. He hated it when people called him 'boy'.

They were only three steps away from the bar however when the bar man called them back.

"Wait! You didn't give your blood check!" He yelled.

James turned around, "Blood check?" He asked the old man behind the bar, who's chestnut hair was gelled back so flat that it look as if it had been painted on.

"Yes sonny, blood check. Where have you been?" He asked condescendingly.

"Oh, of course, the blood check," Alice said faintly, as if they had a clue what the man was referring to.

"Can't serve no mudbloods here, have to check," he said impatiently, ushering them back over to where they had been.

Andrew was still sitting there drinking his pint and he shook his head when he saw them again.

"So this just tests whether or not we're...muggleborn?" Alice asked.

"Got something to hide?" The man asked snidely.

"No! No of course not," she added. It was true after all that neither of them were muggle born.

"Alright then, hand it over," he said gesturing to James hand has he slid a piece of parchment under it.

James frowned but complied, gritting his teeth has the man drew his wand across so that a few drops of blood dripped from his palm onto the parchment which turned a shade of green, not dark enough to be a Slytherin green but close.

"Halfblood," the man grunted disdainfully.

"Has if it matters," James muttered to himself and Alice has he waved his own wand over the wound, healing it. Andrew however seemed to hear his little comment and had an amused smile at the show of rebellion however ill advised he saw it has.

"So all this does is test our blood status?" Alice asked, tentatively sticking out her own hand.

"Yes," the bar tender snapped impatiently.

"And whether you're related to any of the traitors..." The man added casually.

Alice yanked her hand back at the same times James began, "What do you mean—"

But whatever he had to ask was interrupted has the enchanted parchment still soaked with his blood turned a dark red and a shrieking alarm went off stopping the entire bar in it's tracks.

Please Review.

This does have a very AU background but many of those details will be filled next chapter and in later ones has well. Their situations will be completely explained in time.