Trouble never sleeps

"Definitely not!", she said instantly shaking her head in a determined manner. Alice might like to be independent and have her own way, but pissing off her dad wouldn't be worth it at all. She had learned that a while ago the hard way. "I would never do that, trust me. My dad is scary enough even when he's not angry. I'm not that insane you know, I still want to live a couple more years", she said with a chuckle and yet she was being completely serious. She wasn't one of those people who could ignore what their parents say or do. Even the slightest disappointment in her fathers eyes would hurt her far more than she could admit. That's the reason she wanted to keep it all a secret. But then that plan didn't go that well.

"You won't believe this but Andrei is working at the Leaky Cauldron. He applied for the bartender position without realizing who owns the place now and my dad hired him without knowing who he was. Now I think he's keeping him on just to check up on him every day, which is just plain creepy. Poor guy dreads going to work now, but I doubt my dad would let him quit. Having him under his nose makes my dad a bit calmer about things.", she said rolling her eyes. The notion that she, or anyone of her age for that matter, needed constant supervision was just ridiculous. But for her parents, it was obviously a fact of life. "You know I'm not the rebellious type, Albus. I don't need to prove myself to anyone."

Alice raised her eyebrow at him as he told her she should check out what she was taking. Why would he be so worried about her health all of a sudden? "Do I really look that bad?" she asked masking her seriousness with a playful tone."Do you think I would be taking pixie dust instead? Don't worry, Andrei checked it for me. The drugs are the right ones. He gave them to me in the first place after I refused to see the Hogwarts nurse" And then he gave her the speech. The oh so common 'if you need anything just talk to me' speech she was used to getting these days, but certainly not from Albus. She started at him strangely, not being able to hide her surprise and confusion. Why all of a sudden was he acting like this? "Has anyone...told you something about me? Is that what this is about?"

"Hey!" she said playful nudging him because of his comment. "I'll have you know that I've gotten quite good lately." said Alice sticking her tongue out at him. It didn't surprise her that Albus didn't talk to Lily in quite a while. He was never that close to his family in the first place, which was something she disapproved of. "You should owl her Albus. I think she's been going through some rough things lately she said trying not to be too pushy but it was still obvious what was Alice trying to do. Family was so important and she couldn't just let Albus push his away like this. "Or perhaps go home for a change? I'm sure your mom would love to see you."

A faint smile flitted across Albus's lips. Rebellion seemed to be in vogue nowadays. First him, then Alice. But it was good to know that Alice was not motivated by an internal wish to spite her father. Unlike him. Alice also seemed to be worse at hiding her 'unsavory activities' compared to him, Albus had been rebelling since ages, doing things which best remained undone, yet no one noticed. Albus's smile turned slightly bitter-sweet. Maybe her way was better. At least that way, she wasn't hiding from the world. Unlike Albus again, who felt like a stranger among family.

"He still works at the Cauldron, inspite of knowing that your dad's in charge? The guy's got guts, at least. I would have fled a long time ago." Despite of his light-hearted words, the caustic edge to Albus's smile sharpened. She was lucky, really, if she felt that she didn't have to prove herself to anyone. That lone feeling motivated Albus to get through the day sometimes, sometimes when the world grew too still, life grew too weary, and he felt too alone. No, enough of that, Albus shook himself internally again. He refused to let the world's expectations burden him down. Not yet.

So, he put his mind on Alice's words again, and almost automatically, his eyes flicked to the pendant around her neck. She was quite naturally surprised by his over-concern, Albus wasn't the type for over-sentimentality. His first instinct was to brush off her questions, and lay the blame of his concern on her ill-health. But....."Alice, no one said anything......" His emerald orbs fixated themselves on the face of the girl opposite him, expression unreadable. "But......do you have any clue about the magical properties of the pendant you're wearing round your neck? Did...did someone give it to you?"

Lily was going through rough things? Lily? Albus knew it was an absolutely wrong reaction for an elder brother, but he resisted the urge to snort. Lily was Ginevra Weasley-Potter's child not only by blood, but also by nature. Nothing ever fazed her. She remained as she was, snide, hot-tempered and strongwilled. "Oh, I'm sure its fine." And at the suggestion to go visit his mother, Albus's face darkened, but only by a shade. "I'll go sometime." The answer was short, purposefully vague. Of course, his mother would love to see him. If she remembered that he existed.

"I don't know what am I surprised at more. The fact that you're underestimating a Dolohov or actually considering my dad to be capable of violence." she teased him with a soft chuckle that rolled down her lips. "Oh dad is harmless most of the time. He just likes to seem tough and all". That was something Alice had spent weeks trying to convince herself into, and she was wonderfully close to actually believing it. Because if things got out of hand, and she had a feeling they might, she couldn't count on Andrei keeping his cool and reacting appropriately. Hell with her mood swings lately, she couldn't count on herself reacting appropriately either. So the only person there was left was her dad. If he could somehow fight and resist the urge to slap Andrei across the face, and let's face it he would want to, then there was still hope for things to turn out alright. So yes, if you asked Alice, her dad was completely harmless.

Letting out a sight of relief after Albus had confirmed that no one has been gossiping about her to him, Alice had for the first time realized how frightened she was that would happen to her. Despite wanting to be independent and free spirited, Alice, just like any teenage girl, cared about what people thought of her. The last thing she wanted was to be the talk of the whole school. And her story and family dramas certainly had the potential to be brought to central stage at any time. That was something she wouldn't handle well at all. She shook off that dreadful thought and reverted her attention back to Albus.

"What??" she asked in a state of shock. For some reason, him noticing her necklace disturbed her greatly. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves down, she tried to answer as normally as she could. "Well... yes in fact someone did give it to me. Andrei did. I have a bracelet that matches it as well." she stated, putting out her hand out on the table so he could see the same black snake circling her wrist. "But I'm not sure what you mean..." she said quickly with a slightly frightened gaze at Albus. Without even realizing it, she wrapped her fist around the snake pendant as if she was protecting it from harm. It was her favorite piece of jewelry since a while ago and she would wear it wherever she went. It's place was on her wrist and around her neck, she just knew it. Putting it anywhere else just felt so wrong and unnatural.

A frightening though came upon her mind and she couldn't stop it spreading fear into her body like a plague. What if he wanted to take it away from her? She flinched at the slightest movement Albus made towards her. Biting her lip strongly, she felt another wave of headaches overwhelm her. Great...just perfect timing. "I don't see why it's any of your business though" she snapped at him quickly in a defensive manner. Closing her eyes, she took another breath and fought against the pain. She realized what she had said but just a moment too late. "Sorry about that. I get a bit cranky when I haven't eaten in a while" she spoken under her breath, ashamed of herself more than anything else. It was just so hard to control herself lately.

Finally, a different topic! Alice held onto the change as it was her own little lifeboat and she was drowning fast. The random waves of headaches seemed to pause for a while and her speech had finally returned to normal. "I'm sure you will" she said with an examining gaze at Albus. He was never a family man obviously, but this was the furthest he had distanced himself from his family and everyone else since Alice had known him. And that was not a good sign. Would lecturing him about it help? Probably not and honestly she didn't have the right to. But still, she had to say something. "You should stop by our house as well. I'm sure my dad would love to see you too. Don't be a stranger. You know....the thing you said. About being here...for anything. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I hope that you know that I'm here for you as well" said Alice with a smile that brought back some of the warmth to her face it used to have.

"Oh of course. And chopping off a great, dirty old snake's head is a perfectly non-violent and harmless thing to do." Albus couldn't resist some of the joking sarcasm that passed into the sentence. "Personally, I feel an ex-war hero is far more dangerous than a school student, so permit me to be a little concerned for the fate of this Andrei, even if he is a Dolohov."

Then, the topic changed entirely. Before his very eyes, Alice seemed to transform from her happy, jovial self to a terrified fourteen-year old. She drew back from Albus, shrinking into herself, her hand curling protectively, almost shrew-like over her bracelet. Albus couldn't help his eyes widening in surprise. What the hell? Even if it had been gifted by her sweetheart, it was still just a bracelet. Sure, females did tend to get a bit overprotective about their jewellery......but Alice's reaction was definitely over-excessive. Merlin, she looked, and snapped, like a five-year old kid who's candy basket was about to be snatched away from her hands. And not an entirely......sane five-year old either. "Whoa there." Albus held his hands up in the air, showing clearly that he had no intention of ripping the bracelet away from her. He spoke slowly, and very, very carefully, as if Alice was standing on the window-sill and he was persuading her to come back in. "I know its not my business. I'm not going to take it from you. Relax."

Finally, she seemed to calm down. But by the glazing of her eyes, and biting of her lip, Albus got the impression that she was in severe pain. Crap. When he went home later in the night, he would probably have forgotten all about Alice and her snake-accessories. But not now. Alice's reaction was unnatural, there was no doubt about it. The cranky-when-hungry excuse was unbelievable pathetic, even for a person who didn't lie often. The easy loss of temper, the fear, the tension, the ill-health......Albus resolved to look into snake-related artifacts, or Dolohov family heirlooms, in the Black library the moment he stepped back into Grimmauld Place. But right now, pressing Alice on the topic would be the worst move that could be made. He had no wish of pressurizing her further when she was clearly in such an unstable state. But a small comment had to be made, albeit in an almost inaudible tone, "You're behaving strangely. The cause may be magical."

But Alice looked too worried, so when she so clearly attempted to change the subject, Albus went along with her without protest. "I'll drop in whenever I can." Frankly, he wasn't all that enthusiastic at the prospect of meeting her father. Neville Longbottom was probably at the top of the list of people who revered Albus's father the most, and such people generally tended to view Albus himself with disappointment. But a faint smile emerged on Albus's face at Alice's ill-delivered, but well-meant reassuring comment. He doubted any magical artifact on earth could change the naturally generous, caring character of Alice Longbottom.

Alice giggled and rolled her eyes at Albus' words. In her mind, people took things that happened in the past too much into consideration. That was in a different time, a war time. And her father was a different man, much younger and free than he is right now. It's seemed to her that he was too tied down to repeat things like that now. Or, again, so she hoped. "That was a long time ago Albus. And it's different. He was fighting against a dark snake then. I would hardly classify Andrei as that. Although some people surely would"

"I'm sorry" said Alice again when he put his hands up in the air. Obviously he noticed her strange behavior which wasn't really surprising. But all she wanted was to keep her jewelry. Was that really such a crime? And then it came as expected. The slow, I hope you don't go crazy on me talk. Many people did it to her when she would lose her temper and get her mood swings. It seemed Albus was no exception. "Please don't talk to me like I'm six years old, I hate it" she said in a very soft, husky tone with her eyes aimed at the floor. Another wave of headaches rushed towards her just as she finished that sentence. It just never ended. All she would get was short breaks to catch her breath and the moment she gained hope it was over, another one came crashing down on her. That was just her luck lately.

This was not the first time she was told her behavior was more than unusual. But honestly, Alice didn't understand why would people say that. Perhaps she has changed and perhaps she has been a little tense lately. But it wasn't all for the worst. She was in love. For the first time, she was in love with a boy, in that hopelessly romantic way you only see in bad movies. But to her it was real. What she didn't understand was the reason everyone refused to be happy for her, or to at least act like it. "Magical? Perhaps... Alice said with a smile on her lips and a distant sparkle in her eyes. But then it didn't really matter what others had to say. She was in love and she wasn't going to give that up just yet. "Oh come on Albus. You are on of the rare people I can talk to without having to go through an investigation first. So don't be like this, please. Don't worry and go crazy over nothing. I'm fine and it's a cold, alright?" she said trying to reassure him. "I forgot to ask you what you were doing in this pub? I might be the younger one here but it's still a dodgy place for a Potter to be hanging around. What are you doing slurping around places like these?" she asked him with a teasing smile.

She nodded her head to him when he said he would visit, but she knew it was a lie. He could barely make an appearance for birthdays and christmas, and that only if he was dragged to it if Alice remembered correctly. So she wasn't expecting him around any time soon. She picked up her coffee mug to take a sip but somehow it slipped out of her hands, spilling the liquid all over the coffee table, including spats on herself and on Albus' robe. "Oh my gosh I am so sorry! I don't know how...:Let me get that. Sicuss!" she said, clearing up the mess she made with her spell. It was actually quite a special one, made by Alice and Andrei during their dueling sessions. More than often in their practices, they ended up making a larger mess than the ordinary cleaning spells could handle. So they made up their own. Well Andrei did mostly, Alice just helped out. He, being the experienced pureblood with the extensive training in magic, knew how the process was done and it was a simple enough spell for them to try on their own. But with his help, Alice was aiming to get on the same level. With all the hours of practicing she has done lately, she was thriving.