Arc 1 - Hogwarts

Alice sprinted down the corridors at top speed.

Huffing and panting, she rounded a corner and darted across the castle as quickly as her feet would carry her, her strawberry-blonde hairs flying back as she raced to reach the dueling club, running late yet again.

At last, she busted into the long expansive room, though nobody noticed her arrival; the dueling club members were preoccupied by the duel unfolding in the center clearing, where Alice's best friend was whipping spells at the challenger across from him. And—to Alice's anxiety—his opponent appeared to be the worst person possible.

Alice's best friend Zander—a sleek and quick-witted Slytherin—was dueling with a Gryffindor named John Beckly. The large and burly Beckly was a notorious bully, one who never hesitated to express his disdain for Zander throughout all their years in Hogwarts.

Beckly shot his arm to the side, narrowly deflecting Zander's disarming spell and shooting a blasting spell at him in response. Zander spun on his heel and did a quick 180, the explosion of light jutting past his head.

"Remora!"

Zander flicked his elegant black wand—a thin burst of light whipping across the scene and jolting across the floor, reaching Beckly's ankles and yanking him off his feet. The moment Beckly hit the ground—Zander shot off another disarming spell, this time with total success.

The match came to an end, chatter and applause echoing from the crowds of students on either side. Zander sighed and lowered his wand, his expression distant and somewhat deadpan, his pensive blue eyes sparing Beckly a dismissive glance before he wheeled around and strolled away from the dueling circle. Professor Trocar Crowley—the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and the head of the dueling club—stood on the sidelines in his long black cloak, arms folded as he supervised the club's duels, speaking to the students and instructing them to choose the next pair to duel. As he did, Zander spotted Alice standing nearby, her eyes shining an equal crystalline blue and her face brightened by her usual childlike smile.

"That was brilliant," Alice beamed. "Remora?"

Zander nodded. "It's an overlooked spell people don't bother with."

"What's it for?"

"You saw what it was for."

"What... tripping people?"

"Yes."

Alice shot him a look. "That's it?"

Zander's expression flattened. "It's enough. You just have to use it at precisely the right time."

"You're such a Slytherin."

Zander sighed, fixing his short blonde hairs back into their usual slicked-back style. He and Alice turned, spotting Beckly clear across the crowd, who was now huddled closely with his Gryffindor friends and yammering irritably, Beckly repeatedly shooting glares and gestures toward Zander's general direction.

"That's not good," Alice mumbled.

Zander returned Beckly's glare in silence. He and Alice were something of a social pariah in school—a couple of outcasts with no real friends, save for one another—and Beckly never failed to take advantage of that fact, always targeting Zander in some way and always seeking revenge for any time Zander had 'wronged' him somehow. This would undoubtedly become yet another instance of the same situation. It wouldn't be long before Beckly orchestrated some sort of plot to get even with him.

"Oy. Did you make the Quidditch team?" Alice asked him.

Zander stared at her for a moment, sighing once more and sliding his sleek black wand back into the little sheathe on his side.

"No," he muttered. "I decided not to..."

"What?" Alice groaned, grasping his robes and loosely shaking him around. "Ahhh... come ooon! I wanted us both to play this year!"

"I don't think it's a good idea," Zander told her. "It would take away from my time here, and you and I would end up playing against each other."

"So?"

"If you and I ended up playing against each other, we wouldn't do as well."

"Oy—you wouldn't hold back if you played against me!"

"No. But you would."

Alice opened her mouth to argue, suddenly falling silent as she paused to ponder on this. Then, she released a deep cloud of breath and nodded sideways.

"Aye, okay, fair point..."

"Quidditch is your thing," Zander remarked, glimpsing over and watching as another pair of students began to duel. "This is mine."

Alice smiled and nodded in silent agreement. Zander was an incredibly skilled duelist, someone whose precision and finesse ought to be admired—but Alice's tactics were respectfully almost opposite, wild and bombastic much like the act of flying itself was. Their skills seemed to balance them out in ways that Alice always secretly adored.

"Oy," Alice uttered, patting him on the arm. "Y'wanna duck out early?"

Zander turned and met her eyes, reading over her expression and her sly little half-smile. He knew for certain what this expression meant; for a long while now, the two of them had a secret habit they'd never told anyone about. Rather than using their own respective common rooms, they would head off to the room of requirement and do their homework together in a room that had designed itself to fit their needs, a place where they could talk and study without interruption. It was the only place in the castle where they could focus without anyone else around, and it was the only place they could hang out together without being observed by other students, some of whom would spread rumors about the two of them. Besides, Alice always needed help with her homework, and she wouldn't get Zander's regular supply of assistance if she did her work in the Hufflepuff common room. They needed a place of peace, a place they were both allowed to visit—thus, the routine of visiting the room of requirement was born.

Zander made a subtle nod and grabbed his bag, and the two of them stealthily slipped out of the room. They strode down the corridors and marched around the corner, wandering until the old elegant door began to morph into existence along the farthest wall. They shared a glance before quickening their stride, pulling the doors open and vanishing into the room of requirement seconds before the door faded away.

The room presented itself to the two of them the same way it always had, the way that never failed to plant a smile onto Alice's face; before them was a common room unseen and unused by anyone else in Hogwarts, a room lit with the ominous glow of Slytherin's dungeon as well as the uplifting gold of the Hufflepuff room, light yellow couch beneath the rounded Hufflepuff windows allowing sunlight into the room from God knows where, Slytherin decor on the opposite side, the room complete with a fireplace facing the green and gold furniture, two desks near the walls, one of them with a bright lantern floating above it, the other with a portrait of Alice's home on the Aran Islands of Ireland posted perfectly on the wall. And in the center, on the largest wall and above the sitting area, was an emblem that appeared to be a combination of the Slytherin and Hufflepuff icons, the beaver and serpent coiling around one another just beneath an emerald and gold banner reading: SLYTHERPUFF.

"I bloody love this room," Alice grinned. "It's like it reads our minds."

Zander didn't reply, setting his bag down on his desk and pulling out his parchment. Just before he intended to begin on his essay of muggle studies, he paused and blinked, turning and narrowing his eyes at Alice.

Alice had retreated into the inviting fluff of the golden couch, leaping onto it backwards and hanging off of it upside-down. She smiled and stretched, feeling suddenly at peace, glad to be back in the Slytherpuff room and away from the pressures of classes and the eyes of the other students, free to relax at last.

Zander glimpsed between his parchment and the girl sprawled over the couch, sighing and shaking his head. "Uh-uh... no."

"No what?" Alice mumbled without opening her eyes.

"No—I'm not gonna start working again just so you can interrupt me," Zander replied caustically. "You always do that. You always 'take a break' for twenty minutes and then start pestering me about your homework while I'm in the middle of doing mine. Let's just do yours first. Come on."

"Uuuuuugh," Alice pouted, slapping her hands onto her face and groaning into her palms. "I don't wanna..."

"Too bad. Get up."

"You can't make me..."

"I bet I can."

"You can't tell me what to do. You're not my real dad..."

"Alice."

"Uuuughk. Fiiine..."

Alice reluctantly arose from the couch and unpacked her assignments. The two of them spent the next hour working on Alice's essay on the ethics of using a love potion, a topic Slughorn seemed delighted to assign to his students. She remembered him saying something along the lines of 'Ought to be enlightening from a female's perspective, eh...?'

Once the essay was done, Zander began on his own homework, Alice remaining quiet and comfortable on the couch for a while. Eventually, she flipped over and propped her chin on the arm of the couch, squinting at Zander and eyeing him thoughtfully as he jotted away with his quill.

Zander was a driven and passionate sort, someone who was always utilizing every ounce of his effort in order to better himself however possible. Alice, on the other hand, was as aloof and carefree as ever. She always quite liked Zander's aptitude for power and success, but ever since the beginning of the year—when Headmaster Arius made his announcement in front of the school—she'd been wondering about something she hadn't bothered to bring up until now.

"Oy," Alice called out.

Zander peeked over at her.

Alice sighed.

"You remember what Arius said after we got off the train?" she asked.

Zander's eyes narrowed. "Vaguely. Why?"

Alice bit her lip. "I was just curious."

"About?"

"About... if... you're gonna go for it."

"Go for what?"

Alice let out another sigh.

"They're expanding the Triwizard Tournament," she reminded him. "Remember? Arius told us they're completely revamping the Triwizard Tournament starting next year... and it's gonna involve Mahoutokoro and Ilvermorny instead of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. We're gonna be in America for this tournament next year. And we're both gonna be seventeen next year, too... so, I was just curious if you..."

"If I'm gonna try to enter the tournament?" Zander asked, returning to his homework. "Alice, that's next year. I'm not planning that far ahead."

"We both plan to be aurors, and that's planning ahead."

"Yes, but that's a career. Not a game."

"Aye, speaking of that... I was thinkin' I might shoot for Ireland's Quidditch team instead of being an auror. I'd be a better pro-chaser than I would be anything else."

Zander's quill suddenly halted atop his desk. He stared straight forward for a second, then turned and gazed into Alice, his mouth hanging slightly agape.

Alice read his expression, instantly beaming. "Awww, lookit your face! Hah! I was just kidding."

Zander scoffed, his visage deadening.

"N'aaaw, you want me to be an auror with you!" Alice teased, grinning and giggling.

"Do what you want," Zander replied tonelessly, turning away and grumbling into his parchment.

"Naaah, I saw your face—you got real sad when you thought I was gonna do something else."

"I did not."

"Don't act like you don't care!"

"I don't care."

"Liiiiar!"

Alice snickered and fell silent, flipping onto her back and resting snugly on the couch. She smiled peacefully at the brightened ceiling, feeling more at ease than ever, just as she always did in the Slytherpuff room, a room with no lingering eyes and no bullies or judgment, containing only her best friend and the quiet scraping of his quill. She could never describe their relationship if she tried, and she gave up trying long ago.

All that mattered was this—this peaceful little kinship they shared, two peas in a green-gold pod.