#amelice

                Alice was amazing. And Amelia knew then that cupids had to exist.

                Love bites.

                Alice Bulstrode hated them, love bites. She hated those little marks that Frank left just under her collar when they were teens. All those years, and that was how Frank showed his affection for her. Alice, at fifteen, felt like a tramp.

                If she managed to break up with Frank, who knew what would happen? It wasn't exactly as though she could escape him. He was a Gryffindor just like her, and he was friends with the Marauders. And who did Lily hang out with? Well, not necessarily the Marauders, but Alice and the other Gryffindor girls knew Lily thought they were actually okay blokes. And Mary, Marlene, and Dorcas—they kind of liked the Marauders, too.

                So Alice took to hanging out with the Hufflepuffs—mainly Amelia Bones—more. She was better suited to Hufflepuff anyway.

                She'd never seen love bites on any of their necks.

                Still, love bites.

                It was nasty and cruel when Frank saw Alice down by the Black Lake with Amelia. He got the wrong idea, he blew up, he displayed the very temper characteristic of so many Gryffindors. Alice hated that he did that in front of her friend. She felt humiliated enough to cry—so she did.

                She cried on Amelia's shoulder, and Amelia comforted her. Patting her back, telling her it'd be all right, and not stating that Frank had been half-right at least about how she and Alice looked together…it was all Amelia could do for her, because Amelia was the levelheaded one. She could keep her cool. She didn't have to have things go her way.

                And all the while, all those years, all that time…Amelia remained bitten by love. She wouldn't let it go. Nor would she let Alice go, even when Alice went back to the very man who had been so quick to drop her.

                Amelia never loved anyone else after Alice, and she still visited her for as long as she could in St. Mungo's.

                Yeah. Love bites.

D: I will definitely write them a happy ending someday. They have a lot of potential, especially with Amelia being in another House. Sheesh, she really was a loyal badger, wasn't she? I just loved the different meanings for "love bites." ;) Also, I've seen Alice with the surname "Bulstrode" elsewhere since it's a pureblood name (Millicent, anyone?), but I don't know if that's it, but whatev. It's fanfiction.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave an anon/unsigned review via the FFN link or comment via the AO3 link at the top of the post, especially if you enjoyed this!

~mew