Delicate | James Potter

2.04

~

There were numerous more Muggle attacks reported as the weeks flew by, and by the time September turned to October it became almost daily. The war had been going on for many years now, dark forces rising throughout Britain, but it had never before been this bad - it had hit a new high. Alice hoped this was a peak, that nothing more could go wrong. She couldn't imagine it being any worse than this, she didn't want it to be.

At least through it all James had them busy with quidditch. It provided something to do other than worrying, and never failed to be fun even with James bossing them all around. When Saturday arrived and it was time again for practice, there was a slight chill to the air. The scorching summer had quickly vanished leaving them all once more in the typical British cold.

Alice was in her common room pulling on extra pairs of fluffy socks to avoid her feet freezing over. It usually began to happen this time of year, and whilst she loved the snow, cold without snow was always a bit of a nuisance. 

"What time is it?" Lily asked quietly, sitting up in her bed and rubbing her eyes. 

"Eight. Go back to sleep for a bit." Alice whispered in reply. Lily just nodded groggily and fell back onto her pillow. It didn't take long for her breathing to go shallow once more.

They'd had a late night, the Gryffindor girls, simply because they'd decided to have their own small party. It was only the five of them, but Mary brought the record player up from the common room and Alice took some food from the kitchens and in the end they had a great time going through Mary's vinyl collection. They had to cast a silencing charm at around ten because one of the fifth year girls came knocking at the door telling them to be quiet, though they should have done it earlier really. Alice felt a little bad for the other students who must have had to listen to their loud, awful singing. But it was fun, so it didn't matter.

Alice realised she was getting to know them a lot better than she ever had before, picking up and understanding little things she'd never really noticed previously. For example, how Marlene loved eyeliner, but refused to wear it on Mondays (though she still didn't know why), and how Mary found people falling over absolutely hilarious and would stick a foot out at every possible opportunity. Marlene had become a beacon for dares, jumping at every chance she got to do something exciting and potentially dangerous. Mary had begun to refer to her as Marlene 'try me' McKinnon, a nickname quickly catching on with other students and one Marlene herself was wearing like a crown.

Alice glanced down at her bed as she hurried past, and decided that even in sleep Marlene looked dangerous. She was glad they were friends, she'd hate to have her as an enemy.

"Have fun." A slurred line of speech came from the direction of Lily's bed.

Alice paused, unsure of what to say. She thought Lily had fallen back asleep. "Uh - you too!"