An: Hello, hello. It's been a while but finally it is here. The 39th chapter :3 I hope you enjoy it.

So read, vote, comment, enjoy the usual thing.

I love you for reading this btw <3

When Fred released her lips it left a tingling feeling behind.

Alice took a deep breath, realising that she had actually held her breath while he kissed her, out of surprise. She didn't feel like suffocating anymore and her anxiety attack had also stopped. She sighed in relief.

"Do you feel better now?" asked Fred almost shyly.

"Yes...yes I do," said Alice, her eyes glued to the ground, then she looked up. "Why did you do that?"

"I overheard some of my dorm mates say it once. They said holding your breath could stop a panic attack," explained Fred. "And when I kissed you, you held your breath."

"I did? I...I mean...Yes, I did," said Alice almost in a whisper.

She tried to look at Fred's face, in his eyes. She tried to understand why he had chosen to kiss her. There were so many other ways to make someone hold their breath, even if it was just for a moment but Fred had chosen to kiss her and that had to mean something.

"Alice," Fred's voice took the girl back to reality. He was looking at her, his eyes full of worry.

"I'm sorry Alice, for being such a git. I must have been the greatest git in the whole history of gits. I didn't want to say any of this, not back in class and not when we were in Hogsmeade. You're not a monster. You're one of the nicest people I know and you're probably one of the most talented too. I always hear Hermione brag about how quick of a learner you are. And you were able to withstand the imperius curse too."

"I'm not that talented," said Alice slowly. "I just found myself with a lot of free time which I used for learning and practising. I'm not that good either. My test is gradually coming nearer and I'm still not able to control myself, Fred. How am I supposed to do anything right, if I can't even do this right?"

"Shh. Don't talk like this," said Fred and wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall down her cheeks again. "You just have to find some kind of anchor that helps you stay focused and control your power. You're not used to them yet and normally witches and wizards learn how to control them at a much younger age, so it's even harder for you now. But don't worry. I'll help you with it."

Alice looked at him. He was being sincere, she could feel it. Fred smiled at her reassuringly which made her heart thump faster inside her chest.

She had missed him. Him and his smile and the way he made everything so much easier when he was there. The way only he could reassure her and the way only he could make her laugh.

"I missed you," said Alice and hugged Fred tightly. He hugged her too, stroking her back soothingly.

"I missed you too," murmured Fred into her hair. Then he moved slightly so he could look at her and kissed her forehead.

"Everything is fine now. I'm so sorry Alice I know I'm too stubborn sometimes. I was afraid that you wouldn't want to talk to me ever again. I was afraid I lost you as a friend."

"You know, I was just as much a mess without you as you were without me," said Alice in a whisper. "I was afraid as well. In fact, I was afraid for the same reasons."

Suddenly, Alice began to laugh. "It's pathetic isn't it? We were afraid the whole time of what the other would act like but instead we should have just talked right away, then this whole mess wouldn't have happened."

"Yeah, you're probably right," said Fred and smiled at her. "But at least it's okay now."

"Yes it is," said Alice and smiled.

Fred kept true to his words. He started helping the girl learning how to control her magic. They started by meeting up in secluded areas and just practising randomly picked spells. The red head instructed her to try and think of something or someone that kept her grounded, that made her feel secure.

At first it was hard for Alice to concentrate as being that near to Fred made her nervous, especially after they had shared that kiss. But after some time it became easier and instead of being nervous she tried to use Fred as her anchor. Every time she had to perform a spell now, she thought of Fred and of every memory she shared with him. And it worked; it worked better than she had hoped.

After gaining confidence again, Alice was finally starting to leave the shell she had created around her again. The first thing she did was talk to Cedric and Amara. The two had been fairly busy the last days which had only added to her dwindling confidence and her feeling of being lonely.

As it turned out, Amara had actually been attending to secret dates with George. The two weren't together as a couple yet, but they still wanted to keep it secret because they didn't know what would become of them in the end.

"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Alice surprised. Of all the things, this was the last thing she had expected.

"I didn't know how you would react, Alice. I was actually pretty afraid that you would hate me. I mean you and George are friends and maybe you thought I was taking your friends away or something like that," said Amara apologetically.

"Oh Am, don't think that. I thought you didn't like me anymore. You should have just told me. I mean I'm really happy for you. I was actually hoping for this to happen when you and George went to Hogsmeade together. I'm rooting for you two," said Alice and hugged her friend.

"Thanks, Alice. And I'm sorry for being away so much," said Amara happily.

Cedric on the other hand was a bit harder to get alone as he was constantly in the company of Cho Chang, not that it bothered Alice much but it seemed as if the Asian girl was kind of jealous of her, as Cedric later explained to her.

"She thinks you fancy me," he said with a grin.

"How can she think that? How would anyone in their right mind fancy you?" said Alice grinning equally.

"Ow, that hurt my feelings a lot," said Cedric and shook his head. "Either way, I tried explaining it to her, that you fancy Fred and not me – "

"Wait. You actually told her that I fancy Fred?" said Alice, her eyes widened in shock.

"Uhm, no. She didn't let me. She said that she could see it in the way you look at me or something like that," said Cedric hurriedly. He could already see the horror in Alice's eyes if someone would actually know of her feelings.

"Oh, okay. Well, I can only tell you that that girl has a huge crush on you and you would be an idiot if you wouldn't take the opportunity and finally ask her out," said Alice sighing in relief.

"Well, I'm planning on something but we have to wait and see if it works. I actually read that with the Triwizard Tournament taking place there will also be a ball on Christmas. I'm planning on asking her out for that. I'm sure the school will tell us about it this week," he explained cheerfully.

"A ball? A real ball? I've never been to a ball," said Alice excitedly. "I have to write my mum. I need a dress. Oh that will be so much fun."

"Now now, Alice," said Cedric laughing. "Let's wait until the school actually reveals the ball to everyone, okay?"

It wasn't long after their conversation that Professor Sprout indeed did tell them about the oncoming Yule Ball that would take place on Christmas Day at eight o'clock in the great hall. After the Herbology teacher had told them that, the whole class erupted in chatter.

"Now, please be quiet," said Professor Sprout in her usual cheery voice. "I know that a lot of you would love to discuss everything concerning the Ball now but I do have to tell you some things before you can do that. First of all: You all have to wear Dress robes and you have to show your best behaviour. We would not want to make the other schools think that Hogwarts is full of misbehaved witches and wizards."

Alice turned to Amara who was sitting next to her.

"I'm so excited, Am. I've never been to a ball before and I always wanted to wear a fancy dress," Alice clapped her hands together in excitement.

"You're so cute sometimes, Alice," said Amara and laughed. "But I'm quite excited myself. We can do our hair and makeup and wear pretty dresses and go to a ball with a date we chose or who asked us out. Normally I'm not much into makeup and all of that but sometimes it is quite fun to go all out with it."

"Will you go with George?" asked Alice, carefully watching how Amara would react to that.

"Well...," started the girl, turning red all of a sudden. "I was thinking of it, actually, but I don't know if he is going to ask me or not."

"You could always ask him instead, you know?" suggested Alice.

"Will you go with Fred?" asked Amara, trying to change the subject.

It was Alice turn to turn red now.

"Maybe. Who knows. It's not like we're together or anything, you know. And it doesn't matter anyways. I'm not even sure that he likes me Amara. He just kissed me because I had a panic attack," said Alice finally.

She had of course told Amara everything that had happened in the forbidden forest, as she had only been present in the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. This also included the kiss she and Fred had shared although she had assured her that it had meant nothing as they hadn't talked about it anymore after that.

"Don't be ridiculous Alice. Of course he likes you. Even a blind person can see that. It's just that you both are idiots and shy too, that's what keeps you from being happy together. He kissed you for a reason. He could have done anything so long as it had made you hold your breath for a second but he chose to kiss you and just like you told me he must have done it on purpose, otherwise it would have been kind of unnecessarily confusing," said the auburn haired girl.

She looked at her best friend and sighed. The Weasley boy was really taking his time with confessing his feelings to Alice. George was getting annoyed by his brother's behaviour too. He was normally a patient person but all of this drama was getting to him that much Amara could see. Both had been rather relieved when Fred and Alice finally started to talk again as it had broke especially Amara's heart to see one of her dearest friends hurt that much. George had tried to talk to his brother but it seemed that Fred now was afraid that he had made everything awkward with him kissing Alice. Although that was not true at all but it wasn't Amara's place to tell him that. She hadn't even told George that Alice liked Fred, the red head had guessed it himself way before her. Now the only thing left was at least helping Fred in asking out Alice for the ball.

"Oh Alice! I already know that you will be just perfect in your exam," said Hermione happily.

The two girls had been practising all day long, as the test was going to be the morning before the Yule Ball. It was only two weeks away now and they needed to repeat everything so that Alice could be sure that she knew it all.

"Thanks Hermione, but it's only because of your teaching. It really helped a lot," said Alice and smiled.

And Fred's presence also helps, thought Alice to herself.

"Oh I'm happy to help. And it's also a good opportunity for me to learn for school too," said the bushy haired girl with a smile.

"Has someone already asked you for the Yule Ball?" asked Alice suddenly. She knew that it was nosy to ask something like that but she did want to know it anyway.

"Actually yes," said Hermione turning red. "I was asked by Victor Krum. Did someone ask you?"

"Not yet. I certainly hope that it will happen though. I mean it's not bad to go alone but I would love to have someone I can dance with," said Alice. "But it's nice that you've been asked and even by someone as famous as Viktor Krum. You can call yourself really lucky Hermione."

"Thank you," said Hermione. "Well, for now I guess we're finished. It's getting rather late so we should hurry back into the common rooms."

"Yes, I think you're right. Thanks again Hermione. I'm really happy that I have you."

Alice was feeling better now. Everything seemed to turn in the right direction. She was getting better at doing her magic and had also started to occasionally flirt with Fred, even though that was rather awkward for the both of them, not mattering who had initiated it. In the end it left them silent or shy but it made her aware that there was something. Something that connected them in a deeper way and she really wanted to pursue it.

That being said, it came as a shock for Alice when Ally told her that Fred had asked Angelina Johnson to go with him to the Yule Ball.