I am calling bullshit on this enemies thing and instead choose to be your friend
I donât own the Wardstone Chronicles.Â
Tom/Alice HP au: Tom is the Hufflepuff who is ready to punch your teeth out every time you insult one of his friends. Alice is the slytherin girl everyone fears that no one knows is hiding a lot of pain. They should not be friends. Aliceâs cruel mother Lizzie would not allow it. There are whispers and suspicions and people thinking they can tell them that their friendship wonât end well. They become best friends anyways.
Warnings: slight violence , bit of bullying , unicorn is harmed.
The way they met could have been a prophecy about what their friendship would be like.
When he had calmly said â I am not doing your homework, but I am willing to help if you need itâ the bully had been appropriately bull-like in her response. Slammed a fist into the wall next to his head. And when he had merely smiled patiently and friendly at her, she had drawn her wand, muttered a spell and next thing he knew his books were flying through the air and some of them were exploding ( judging by the way her eyes widened and she stared at the book seconds away from exploding above her head, he guessed that was an accident).
Considering he had only thrown himself against her to protect her from the debris, he really thought using Accio on him was a little .. unfair. Â He was just in the middle of explaining this amidst still-exploding books and flying torn pages when he was suddenly dropped.
Two seconds later, a fist collided with a nose and there was an audible crk! He tried to catch the underfed girl , but she weakly pushed him away. She swayed and glared, one hand pressed to her nose. He thought the glare looked oddly terrified.
Then he turned and he realized why;
Brown hair, brown eyes, dagger-smile, bloody knuckles and very pretty. She stalked over to the bully- who tried to make herself tall but whose trembling legs wouldnât quite let her which was peculiar- and calmly picked up the wand that had fallen.
She twirled it between her fingers. â This yours?â.
â Yeah. So give it back, you- Â â it sounded lacklustre, her voice far more timid than it been when she had spewed insults at him.
â I would have a little more respect, if I were youâ. She yanked her head towards him. â Why you bothering himâ.
â I was politely asking him to help me a little, but the snob didnât want toâ he almost reached for her when he realized her eyes were tearing up.
He also wanted to ask the girl whether she was okay: she looked oddly pale. You couldnât lose that much blood because of a bleeding nose, right? He had never felt dizzy or weak like this girl seemed to after a bleeding nose.
He stepped forward when his mysterious saviour pushed the wand against where a pulse was jumping. â I am going to help you too. Do you like escargots? â.
â Wh-â the girlâs voice wavered and broke at the second letter. â What dumb made-up thing is that?â .
The girl was pulling back with a smirk when he grabbed her wrist. âDonât!â
She arched an eyebrow. â You protecting her?â.
â It is not like she was hurting me. Really, it is all mild inconvenienceâ.
She rolled her eyes, but there was a nicer smile than earlier starting at her lips. â Hufflepuffsâ she scoffed, lowered her wand just the tiniest bit. âHonestlyâ.
âYou know, other people than hufflepuffs can think beating people up is an awful thing to doâ.
â Well, how many would protect their bulliesâ he smiles when she draws the wand away from the still slightly trembling girl, points it at him. â That. Is a Hufflepuff thingâ.
He swirls around at the sound of footsteps, stepping forward as he sees her stumble and glance backwards â most would look at the scar beneath her eyes, but he mostly notes the terror in green eyes. He quickly grabs the wand his helper is still playing with, ignoring her âhe! I fairly stole thatâ doesnât even bother pointing out that you cannot âfairlyâ steal something and runs after the injured girl.
âWait! We have still got your wandâ he yells, waving it.
She doesnât turn around again, and he has to give up after nearly tripping on his robes. He jogs back to face her smirking face, that eyebrow pulled up again. â No such luck, prince Arthur?â.
â Yeah, because you are all noble and nice and insufferableâ she says it with a scowl and eyerolls.
He grins at her. â Thanks. I think I like ânoble and nice and insufferableâ
She gives a small smile back, places the wand in a bag attached to her hip. Then offers him her hand. â Aliceâ.
He grabs her hand. It is rougher than expected. Â âYou really shouldnât have punched her, but thank you Aliceâ he nods at the green-silver bag around her hip. Â âand we really need to return the wandâ.
â If you win a duel, the wand is yoursâ.
He frowns. Â âThat constitutes a fair duel, where you use magic. Not sneaking up on someone and punching themâ.
She shrugs. â Taking from a bad person doesnât countâ
He starts to pick up the books that are not only smoking half- words like pot and snake ta and boi. Alice keeps standing , then slowly sinks on her knees to help him.
â I think she is just struggling with the subject. And even if she was like Vol- hmmmâ he discovers she has cold hands when she pretty much jumps on his back and presses her hands on his mouth. Â
â Donât speak that name, ever. Are you a knucklehead?â.
âHmm mm hm âhe says in reply.
She slowly retracts her hands, studies him. â Donât say it or I will curse your lips shut â she threatens.
He blinks. â Why did you â â.
â You wanna invite him here?â.
â Professor Dumbledore says that fear of a name- â.
She rolls her eyes. â I know what beardie saysâ.
â Besides, is he not like- â.
â Yesâ she suddenly looks uncomfortable. â But stillâ
She gets her own wand out â he tries not to stare ( the man at the store told him every wand chooses the wizard, that your wand tells something about you) â then mutters something. There is some sort of whirlwind around them, her hair slapping against his cheek and his own obscuring his sight. He can hear papers flapping, then thuk! As something falls.
When he opens his eyes, his books are whole again and on a pile. She gestures her wand lazily at thm and they start to float. She is still kneeling, hair all tangled up, and gives him that small smile again. She playfully pushes him. Â âSo where to, Arthur?â.
â I was going to the library. You want to come? â.
â Eh might as wellâ she grins, but there is something in her eyes that makes it hard to believe that grin. â Has been some times since I pissed Prince off. Have to keep her on her toesâ.
â Please do not terrorize mrs Prince. She is really niceâ.
She does this thing a lot, he has notice, where she scowls or rolls her eyes but gives a smile at the same time. Â She does it now. Â âHufflepuffâ.
âIs being nice such a bad thing?â.
She shrugs. They walk in companionable silence for a while. He is glancing at her when he sees it: the red still on her knuckles. She sputters a âwhat the Azkaban are you doing- â.
He quickly wipes the blood of with a handkerchief, then pulls his wand out and lets it hover above the grazes on her knuckles. He looks back up at her. â Healing spells. They were the first ones I learnedâ.
He lets go of her hand â âfinallyâ she scoffs but she does that smiling thing again- then grins at her again. He is determined to get a grin or even a laugh from her. Eventually. He has patience.
â Figures. Well, thank you Arthurâ.
Before he can walk the last few metres to the library, she grabs his shoulder and pulls gently to make him stop and turn. â What is your actual name? â she snorts. Â â donât tell me it is actually Arthurâ.
He offers her his hand. â I have already done that , prince-boyâ . He keeps his hand there, smiles. Â âYou have to shake hands when you offer your nameâ.
â You are just going to stand there until I do it, ainât you? â.
When he remains silent, she shrugs and shakes his hand again. â Tomâ.
â Tomâ she lets go of his hand, opens the door before he can get to it. Rolls her eyes. â I can open my own door, Arthur. No need to be all knight-lyâ.
â I thought you didnât want to call me Arthur anymore?â.
She throws that smile over her shoulder. â Nah, suits youâ. She nudges him. â prince-boyâ.
She does not really study, instead preferring to watch him study and tease him and make random objects in the room fly (until mrs Prince glances their way, which is when you hear a suspicious thk! And she shows a lot of teeth). They talk while he works - although she keeps trying to steal his book and make the questions for him so they can do something âmore funâ- and although she is tight-lipped about her family, but she can be cajoled into talking about a variety of subjects. They talk about Merlin- he was a slytherin you know- and transfiguration and merpeople and acromantulaâs until mrs Prince is marching over , barking at her to leave and asking him to âretireâ.
She walks towards the hufflepuff room, hesitates when he invites her in â I have got chocolate frogs , if you want any- then says âprobably not a good idea. But talk to you later, Tomâ and leaves before he can tell her âit might be one of the best bad ideasâ.
She just marches over him and throws her bag on the table next to him as soon as theyâre asked to pair up. Â â prince-boy. Can those skinny arms of you actually stir or do I have to do that?â she asks. She frowns around the room, where people are already rolling their sleeves up and getting to work. There is a small explosion, probably. He rolls his sleeves up, points at the book. â Page 83â he says and she nods. They work in that same companionable silence from earlier.
Theyâre doing pretty well- or at least not as bad as some of the others â when someone hisses âwhat is he doing with herâ. They both try to ignore it, but then there are more whispers. When he actually hears â death eater material, can slytherins ever be anything else?â he marches over to someone (twice his size, bulging muscles, but he is not as helpless as he looks). Â âwhat did you say about my friend? â he calmly asks. The guy laughs in his face. â Friend? Merlin, did she use the imperius curse on you? â he pushes Tom, someone behind hissing âstop it!â then laughs again. â Or are just a nut?â. The cauldron behind him shoots its content right into his face. Even Tom cannot hold back the tiniest smile as the donkey ears start to grow (behind him, Alice is bend over with laughter)
One month later and he still has to keep Alice from shouting things like âdo not balk about it , you whinyâ.
(the detention was kind of worth it, by the way)
He and Alice have worked on the spell for a while. First, they charmed their butts to the Slytherin bench, but that only worked once. She transfigured his robes into Slytherin ones next, but he was only sitting for five minutes when he was told âreturn to the Hufflepuff table, mister Wardâ. There were some other ploys that got them detention and the like ( including the one where he used an invisibility cloak to hide under the table ) until they finally found something : a charmed mirror. And it took them a while (several trips to the library, many questions to professor Flitwick and the one small fire) until they had it: two charmed mirrors. Activated by their code word â Excalibur- , nearly unbreakable and should work over any distance.
It became some sort of challenge, using the mirrors when they did not have classes together. Who could use it unnoticed for the longest while? They left each other little notes- hey, coming to the dinner room now, meet you there?- and even used it to map the entire castle together â found the kitchen! Come eat- and they always, always kept them with them.
Once, Tom was having breakfast with master Gregory when Alice wrote something really funny so he snorted milk over the table ( John Gregory was not a funny man, so it had been impossible to explain)
The first time they went to Hogsmeade, they bought a lot of sweets and threw snowballs and laughed( well Tom laughed, Alice was rolling-eyes-smiling) with the bar keeper. They filled their pockets and Aliceâs bag that was charmed with things from zonkoâs joke shop.
Alice startled him by sneaking to the Hufflepuff room and laughed when he got a vomit-flavoured bean. They nearly choked on laughter when they tried the.. Â and Alice just started balking like a donkey. They eventually fell asleep â candy wrappers and string and what all not around them- and only woke when the teacher was scolding them.
Alice gave a small grin behind the teacher and mimicked donkey ears. They got double detention for that.
He first met Aliceâs mother when they had gone a little too far. Alice had been hell-bent on seeing the Acromantulaâs she had heard lived in the forest. And of course he had followed her- he wasnât going to let his best friend do this alone- and it had not actually been the first time they had wandered into the forbidden forest. But then they had seen something freakish- he had never seen Alice so pale- a glimpse of sharp teeth and green and silver. There had been a dying unicorn and something throwing them against each other and a laugh. Â
Alice had never been this quiet and â small. She had sat staring at the floor of the office. He had gripped her hand tightly as she had muttered âplease donât get my momâ ( the professor had gotten her anyways) and he had still been clutching on to that hand when the door slid open and the roomâs temperature sunk ten degrees.
And he had known the rumours ( her mother tried to willingly turn herself into a werewolf. Her mother murdered her own kin. Her mother was behind the disappearances of several muggleborns) but that had not prepared him at all.
Aliceâs mother.. she had teeth that were more like fangs, lips that were a little black and the nastiest sneer he had ever seen. And she looked so much like Alice that it was freaky. He felt Alice try to pull back, but he did not let her, actually standing and facing her mother.
She completely ignored him as she tried to bend towards Alice. Â âWhat did you see girl? â her breath was strange.
â Nothingâ Alice muttered.
â Donât lie to me girl!â.
â I ainât have seen nothing!â she insisted.
â I am taking her homeâ.
And then this woman was dragging his best friend away and maybe he should have thought about it but he was running towards her and pulling at an arm two seconds later. Â âlet her go! She isnât going with you, she is staying here- â.
He had never heard Alice afraid like that. As soon as he was slammed into the floor, he heard her scream. â HE WASNâT DOING ANYTHINGâ
â Silence girlâ Lizzie did not scream. Did not raise her voice. It was far more effective than Aliceâs screams.
He was just struggling to his feet when his best friend was pushed out of the room, struggling and cursing. He couldnât hear properly and his head hurt badly, but he still tried to run for her. But the doors slammed shut and when he ran outside,