A Christmas surprise

Neville had been hearing noises and walking upstairs. He was trying to read his newspaper and couldn’t focus with the small creeks every other minute. He sat down the paper in frustration. Hannah across from him only chuckled. “Why are you laughing?” he asked. “You’re turning into an old man. Imagine what you would be like listening us at their age,” said Hannah. “Hey, unlike you I was the socially awkward kid of our year. I wasn’t that loud,” he chuckled. “Just go check on her; I’m sure she’s just dancing around her room or something,” laughed Hannah.

He started to go up the stairs noticing there was a male voice. Why was there a male voice? Alice wouldn’t let a boy in her room without asking would she? “Hey, Alice, it’s dad,” he announced half way up the stairs. He wanted to give her a few moments to react. He wasn’t that father that went charging into rooms. Ernie had tried that with Amelia and all that got him was a headache from seeing his daughter making out with a guy he hated.

"Alright, I'll only take one" Alice said nodding her head and still examining the bottle. This seemed like a good enough solution as any. Besides, she was desperate enough to try pretty much anything at this point. She knew she couldn't allow herself to be this exhausted during the day. It would poorly affect her school work and obligations. She wished the nightmares would just go away. But since they didn't, perhaps what Andrei gave her might help.

Alice giggled at his comment. She was glad he was taking about this in a playful way. Being serious about it would just make things awkward. And the last thing she wanted to talk about with a boy in her room was how she wakes up in the middle of the night, completely terrified and screams into her pillow. In a strange way however she felt like she could tell Andrei the truth, just be herself around him. "I don't know how you can help Andrei. I really wish it would go away" she said softly leaning her head on his chest.

The sound of a creaking staircase and her father's voice made her flinch. She had completely forgot than her parents were downstairs. Alice stood up on her feet and panicked. She couldn't hide him anywhere, the bed was too low, the closet too full and the window too high. She would just have to face her father on this. "Care to jump out of the window?" asked Alice with a nervous chuckle only half joking.

By the sound of the voice coming from the hallway and Alice's panic expression on her face, Andrei could only guess that it was her father coming up to check on her. He couldn't help but laugh out loud at her suggestion, but then quickly covering his lips with his hands afterwards when he realized that he should stay silent. "Don't be ridiculous Alice! It's just your father, not the boogie monster", he said with a chuckle. He got up on his feet and straightened out his shirt. If nothing he could at least make himself more presentable.

"Besides, I work for him remember? Not like I'm not use to seeing your dad around", Andrei said trying to calm her down. He didn't understand the reason to panic. He was just a guy sitting in a girl's room. Both of them were decently dressed and proper even. Merlin knew his own mother caught him in much worse situations than this. Neville might not have liked him, but as he didn't know what was truly going on between them, he posed no real threat. In his mind, all Neville knew was that Andrei was a Slytherin troublemaker which naturally made him worried about his daughter. If he played his cards right, things could very well stay like that forever. Which in the end suited him brilliantly. "Relax, parents love me", he added to Alice with a grin. This was true, but only pureblooded ex-Slytherin parents. He forgot to mention that part.

Neville knocked on Alice’s door gently before opening it. His eyes flashed to Andrei then to Alice. What in Merlin’s name was going on here? More concerning how did Andrei get into the house? It was time to fix the charms and try a few new things to keep people out. He was not pleased at all to have his daughter’s door closed while she was in the room with a boy, a Slytherin boy at that. He had heard enough nightmarish situations from Ernie about Amelia with Chad; he was fine with it until he heard what happened there. He knew he didn’t have to lecture Amelia, she had learned the hard way.

“Well isn’t this lovely,” said Neville trying to keep himself calm. He looked at the bottle in Alice’s hand, maybe it’s just homework. Yeah right, who was he fooling certainly not himself. He turned to see Hannah standing in the door, which would have made him jump in his younger years. She was as silent as mouse and as agile as a cat. It was scary at times how good she was at it.

“What are YOU doing in my house?” asked Hannah glaring at Andrei. She did not like that boy at all from the beginning. There was something off about him. Something that just wasn’t right. It wasn’t just that he was Slytherin but she couldn’t quite place what it was that bothered her about him.

“Hannah, breath,” said Neville seeing that Hannah was about to blow. She was flaming mad. Something she had never really showed to the kids only to him a few times. He doesn’t want her to get angry first off because she is standing near a lamp and she prone to throwing things when she is angry and secondly he won’t get any sleep tonight because she will be complaining to him all night long and if he doesn’t listen to her complain he’ll make her even more mad.

The moment he saw Neville's cold glare, he took a few steps back. Perhaps this would be a bigger problem than he anticipated it would be. "Good day, Mr. Longbottom", Andrei said as politely as he could although he was fighting the urge to be sarcastic. He had to remind himself that he was on their territory now. That and the fact that her father now looked like the man who wouldn't mind breaking a few of his limbs into half.

Just when he thought that things couldn't get any worse, Alice's mother came upstairs. "Family gathering happen often in your house?", asked Andrei to Alice with a chuckle and in a low voice. But he soon realized that Mrs. Longbottom wasn't one to be messed around either. That was clear just by looking at her right now. "Well - I just wanted to stop by and give Alice my Christmas present.", he said glancing at the half open book on her bed and the many bottles and powders one her desk. He realized a bit too late though, that might not have been the best place to put those things just out in the open.

"I apologize for barging in unannounced like this, it's terrible manners. But I did wanted to surprised her. Alice did invite me, so I didn't think there would be any problems", said Andrei trying to explain himself. He glanced at Alice and tried to read her thoughts, not really knowing what to do without her suggestion. "Perhaps I should leave", he said out loud.

Alice's gaze immediately went to her father and she bit her lip nervously. It was obvious he didn't like what he saw. She tried to find the most reasonable explanation to give to him, but before she could say anything Andrei was already talking. "Shut up! This is not funny!" Alice said with a low voice and a chuckle, and she pushed her elbow into his hip and nudged him. "Andrei was just....stopping by to wish me a happy Christmas" she said rather in a clumsy manner.

Just as she was trying her best to calm her dad down and control this situation so it hopefully wouldn't blow up in her face, her mom came in. By the look on her face, Alice could tell right away that she was furious. Much more so than her dad. Her expressions made her nervous and she subconsciously gripped the side of Andrei's hand tightly. "Hi mom" she said forcing a soft smile on her lips.

"I did invite him, that's true. I hope it's not a problem. I wouldn't think it would be..." she said with a guilty expression on her face. "No, you don't have to leave. Right, dad?" she asked quickly turning to her father. He seemed to be the more reasonable one in this case.

“You may as well stay now. You’re here now what’s the point of you leaving now that we know you are here,” said Neville. Hannah glared at the back of Neville’s head. “If you don’t like it then go to Susan’s. I’m sure she wants to listen to you rant until you cool off. You aren’t thinking straight right now,” he said. He had hit a point of frustration with Hannah. Hannah huffed and apparated to the Bones’ residency.

Neville had processed everything by now; it wasn’t that big of a deal when he knows that the boy can’t do anything that he couldn’t handle. “You don’t even think about hurting her because you haven’t seen what I’ve done,” he said. It had been many years since the Second War but she doesn’t doubt he could still kill someone. He wouldn’t be in the Order if he didn’t think he couldn’t kill someone. As much as he hated the idea of doing that again he would.

Andrei rolled his eyes at that threat. Not that he didn't think Neville couldn't hurt him, but he mostly knew that he wouldn't. He turned his head to Alice to see her reaction to all of this. He wondered whose side she would pick, his or her dad's. After spending so much effort and time on this plan, he sincerely hoped it would be him. Because only then he would know she was ready to continue further. Well, now was the perfect time to test this.

"I am not the one hurting your daughter, Sir. I am helping her! I'm looking out for her because I care. Ask her why she is sick all the time. Why she is tired all day or why she's too afraid to sleep alone anymore. Or even why she screams into her pillow each night! So no, I am not hurting her. But I'm sure as hell the only one who cares here!", he said with a frustrated tone.

He might have overdone it with that speech, but it was the only sure way to test things. Even if he had to suffer a beating from her father, he thought it was worth it. This was just one more step to ensure Alice was leaning to the right side. He had done his part - check mate. Now all he could do was wait and see what happens. Hopefully the risk would pay off.

( Haha you are so asking for it Andrei! )

Alice's eyes widen as she heard her dads words. She was aware that he didn't care for Andrei that much, but she never imagined he could be so rude and even threaten him. "Dad! How can you say that! Please, don't be ridiculous" she said shaking her head. Looking at Andrei's frustrated expression, she knew right away this would be a problem. Perhaps she should have let him leave in the first place a long time ago. Her father and him had no benefits of staying in a small room like this together for long.

What really shocked her though was how Andrei replied. It was obvious he had lost his temper by this point and Alice wasn't happy about that at all. But when he started speaking about the fact that she was sick, well that blew the roof of her head. She bit her lip nervously and glanced at her dad. Merlin only knew what he would think now. Not to mention that she would have to explain everything to him. "Don't listen to him....he's just mad" she said very quickly trying to fix the situation although she knew it was past the point of fixing.

She was waiting for Andrei to stock talking and to stop making the situation even worse but he wouldn't. She once again felt that anger boil inside of her extremely quickly and she couldn't control it. This time, it was directed at Andrei. She raised her wand and pointed it at his throat. "I think you stop now" she said seriously.

Neville’s temper shattered when that boy had the guts to say he didn’t care about his daughter. No one ever says that Hannah and he don’t care about their kids. He cares about them more then they may ever now. He wanted to throw something at this boy at this moment. He was ready to blast him out of the house if he didn’t leave right now.

“Alice, please put your wand down. If anyone is going to use their wand it would be me,” he said coldly. He was trying to keep even deep breaths but he knew he was going to blow. He could not believe this boy had said that. “Well I had no idea Alice was having nightmares and if I had known I would have done something about it,” he said.

“YOU GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU HERE AGAIN!” he boomed pulling his wand out of his pocket. He would use force if it came to it. No one would question it being that if Andrei refused to leave and he used force it was fair game for Neville to use magic.