Fire and Ice

[Sky]

   There were way too many people in The Hog's Head tonight. Apparently, there had been an arrest almost twenty minutes ago and people were still caught up in the commotion. The authorities had finally left so people were getting back to their drinking ways.

 "Drinks on the house!" Someone called amidst the crowd. There was an uproar of cheering as several men rushed to the bar. When Seth went to open the door, the smell of sweat and alcohol was strong. Maybe there was some kind of celebration tonight.

 "It's crowded, but its the only place open for a drink this time of night." He called over his shoulder to Alice.
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  Axel wasn't here to get drunk, unlike the others. He was here just to chill and get out. To have a little fun and some time to himself. He sipped on a cool butterbeer and wiped his lips on the back of his hand. He was in the back, away from the commotion and the stampede that had just happened when someone offered free drinks. He had a white fedora hat over his shorter crimson red hair, blocking his eyes from anyone else, and a tighter black t-shirt and jeans.

[potter_fan122]

Alice smiled up at Seth and squeezed his cool fingers. She leaned onto her toes to look over his shoulder. Her blue eyes scanned the room and she saw a group of men rush towards the bar like children.

"Oh well. There`ll  be a spot or two in the back. And if there isn`t then we can just get a drink and come outside. It`s a beautifull night." She turned her head to look at the sky. In was pitch black except for the moon and the stars, which seemed to have a crystal quality tonight. It was comfortably warm out and there was a soft breeze.

Alice was wearing tight white skinny jeans and black ballet flats. She had a black and white pinstriped jacket over a red tank top. Her thick black hair was pulled up into a messy bun, and her bangs that had fallen out framed her face nicely. Alice had gotten into a dress-up phase. She let Seth think it was just because she was human now and wanted to try different things, but she was actually sort of insecure. She wasn`t perfect anymore, so why would he still want her? Turns out she didn`t have anything to worry about. Her husband wasn`t going anywhere.

"Come on, mon amour." She said, pulling Seth inside and weaving her way towards the back where she could see an empty booth. She slid into one side, her figners still locked around his.

[purpleraincloud]

Avalee wandered into The Hogs Head in a mediocre mood. Her roommate had screamed at her for thirty minutes about Avalee accidentally packed one of her roommates jars of potion. It was crazy, but she was trying to forget it. She was going to meet Axel. That always made her happy.

The bar was busy and loud. Crowded and claustrophobic. She was wearing a short black skirt, and a tight red blouse. On her feet were red pumps. She was dressed up, and nicely. Her mother would have made her change her skirt and wear 'more sensible' shoes. Her hair was down in large golden curls. But, her makeup was smeared, and her face flushed. She spotted Axel soon. He was seated, almost hiding, sipping a butterbeer. She decided to sneak up on him.

Avalee came up behind him and whispered in his ear "Did I ever tell you how much I love your new hair?" Then kissed his cheek.

[Sky]

Seth chuckled as he was tugged along by Alice. People must have figured that she "wore the pants in this relationship." He sat down beside her and put his arm around her.
 
   "It's way crowded." He said, looking around. "We probably won't get to get a drink for another ten minutes." I pointed at the ever growing line up front.
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Axel pushed his hat up just a little so he could see Avalee, and grinned.  "Hello." He said. "Why, thank you. Did I ever tell you how much I love these beautiful curls of yours?" He played with a curl, twirling it around his finger. Once he let it go, he reached beside him and picked up a newspaper. "Look at this." He said.

  On the front was a picture of Sky Mason, running down an ally with a large caption that read:

      WANTED FOR ASSOCIATION WITH THE DARK LORD/DEATH EATER'S. DEAD OR ALIVE.

[purpleraincloud]

"Didn't she go to Hogwarts recently?" Avalee asked. Both the name and face were familiar. She studied the face. Sky was young and looked scared in the picture. She tilted her head to the side, thinking.

"Do you know her?" She asked.

[potter_fan122]

Alice smiled and nodded. Seth always went along with whatever she wanted, and he was always kind about it, too.

"Yeah, but at least we got a seat to ourselves." She leaned forward and started playing with his fingers. "We need to talk to your parents again, you know." She said softly, running a finger softly over his wrist.

There was a paper folded on the side of the booth with only half of it facing up. There was a black-and white picture of what must have been an alley and Alice could see the words "dead or alive." Curious, she picked it up.

"Hm. Do you know this girl? She just graduated from Hogwarts last year, right?"

[Sky]

Seth nodded, squinting at the photo.
   
   "She taught our classes a lot. She was really cool. She couldn't have been a Death Eater." Seth said. "She was always helping kids and tried to make the lessons fun." 

  He tried to avoid the topic of his parents. He wasn't in the mood to discuss them now.
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"She was a student teacher." Axel said. "But quit out of nowhere and left. She was a weird girl." He started to scan the article. He read something about her taking some object from the Ministry and how a mark had been found. "I hope they find her and make her suffer." Axel said. "Anyone who followed him should be put to death."

[purpleraincloud]

"She must have been very young when she recieved the mark. Sounds like she has been on the run for a while. How does a girl that young get involved in something so dark? So corrupt?" She pondered this as she glanced across the full bar. She saw farmiliar faces and stranger's faces. Happy and sad faces, and angry faces.

Soon she saw two faces, a couple perhaps, that looked farmiliar.
"Axel, do you know them?" She asked inquiring about the cozy couple in the corner.

[potter_fan122]

Alice out the paper down and slowly reached across the table to get Seth`s other hand. Her eyes were cold and serious, all of her laughter from a second ago. Her dark bangs fell into her face, but she made no move to fix it.

"I hope she`s okay. She looks so young and innocent. There was no way that she could be a Death Eater. She`s too soft." Alice looked down at their linked hands and squeezed his fingers. She noticed that he didn`t say anything back to her parent suggestion. He probably didn`t want to talk about that right now, and that was fine, but his parents did need to know that they were married.

[Sky]

Seth looked into Alice's eyes and shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. She'll be okay." He squeezed her hand in return. "Look, I'm just not ready to talk to them right now. They were extremely rude and obnoxious to you. I don't like that." Seth didn't understand how his parents could dislike Alice. He saw so many wonderful things in her.
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  Axel looked over at the couple and his mouth nearly dropped. He bit his lip and found his fists clinched underneath the table. What were they doing here? He stared for a short moment, watching Alice speak to Seth and hold his hands. Something was different about her. Nothing bad, but something was certainly different. It annoyed Axel how Alice could be so attached to someone who had left her for those long months. Seth didn't see what she had become. He didn't see her ask for death. But Axel did. He saw a whole other side to her.

[purpleraincloud]

"Axel?" Avalee asked worried. He was tense, and seemed angry. She walked around from behind him and sat next to him. She slid her hand down to inertine her fingers with his. His and was hot and tense. Her eyebrows pushed together. What was wrong? Had she done something? Was it the couple that seemed oddly farmiliar to her?

She looked up at him. 

[potter_fan122]

((Sky, I didn`t realize how incredibly New Moon that was until just now...))

Alice rubbed the back of Seth`s hand and looked down at the table. They still hadn`t been approached by a bartender, but there were quite a few people up at the bar.

"Look, they were probably just... catious of me because I was a vampire. I`m sure they`ll warm up to me now. I mean, I can`t hurt you like I used to be able to. They were worried about you and they had the right to be. They`re your parents." She paused a moment, looking up into his dark eyes. After a long second she smiled a little.

"I`m going up to the bar. This will be the first butterbeer I`ve had in a very long time where I can enjoy it." She patted his hand and slid out of the booth.

[Sky]

Axel slid out of his seat and looked to Avalee.

"I'll be right back." He kissed the top of her head and walked over to Seth's table, sitting across from him.
 
"What are you doing here?" Seth asked.

"So she decided to take you back, even after you left her."

Seth's eyes narrowed and his lips pressed together.

  "That's none of your business."

Axel leaned forward just a little.

"Did you know she wanted to die? That she wanted me to kill her? While you were back at home enjoying the good life?"

Seth was grasping the edge of the table. Alice wanted to die? He felt his heart sink.

"My Mum was sick!"

"Oh shut up. We both know your Dad could have taken care of her. Face it. You needed time to think about how things would be without her there, always around you. You wanted to make sure she was the one you wanted. But you don't even deserve her."

Seth rose out of his seat and had stood up, his hand suddenly around Axel's neck. Axel smirked as he was pressed against the seat.

"What? Finally realizing its true?" He punched Seth in the jaw, released from his grip and stood up. Seth retaliated with a punch of his own but Axel leaned to the side.

"What do you want?" Seth asked. "Why are you doing this?"

Axel threw the hat that was on his head to the ground.

"You wouldn't understand with that thick head of yours."

And the fight had started. Nobody knew who struck first after that last word, but punches were flying. And it was too risky to be stopped. Physically, someone would get injured. Magically, it could really hurt someone.

[potter_fan122]

Alice had just recieved her order of two butterbeers and a firewhiskey when she heard Seth`s voice raise. She shivered a little; it was odd not being able to hear him breath from across the room, but she would have to get to human hearing. This was what she wanted, after all. Slowly, it seemed, she turned and her eyes locked on the booth where she had been sitting. There was a flash of red then she saw Axel punching Seth.

"Hey!" She yelled. Later she wouldn`t remember what happened to the drinks, but they were out of her hands now. She rushed back to the booth, but by the time she reached it Seth and Axel were really fighting.

"Axel, what the hell do you think you`re doing?" Alice shouted. She approached the pair and hovered to the side of them. "You wonder why you`re not mon amour." She spit, knowing that that would stop him from punching Seth for the moment. No idea how she would keep them from fighting after that, but even a pause would give Seth and advantage. God how she wished she were invincible now. How did humans ever manage?

[purpleraincloud]

Had he really expected to sit there as he got into a fight. That's not who she was, or would ever be. She jumped out of the booth as soon as Axel started talking to another guy. She had that fight-or-flight instinct in the pit of her stomach, rising up with the anxiety she knew well. Avalee opened her mouth to shout after him, but Seth's hand was already around Axel's throat, and punches were flying. She stopped dead in her tracks. Violence. The pub drew a little quieter, or it may have just been her. Scared of what was going to happen. She knew the boys could kill each other. She took a step back, shocked into science. She felt a surge of anger as a stranger lashed out and hurt the man she loved. Sh

"Stop it!" She yelled at them, knowing full well it wouldn't help.