Alice was in a good mood. She was having a good day, she got two new books from the library, and now she got a letter from home! She excitedly skipped in the corridor, as she decided to open the letter.

Dear Alice,

I hope school is going well. I know you haven't been there for long, but I thought I should send my little angel a letter.

I have some really bad news and I wanted to send it to you directly. Mark is in St. Mungo's, and isn't doing well. We don't know what happened but he's currently unconscious and it's not looking like he's going to make it. We're trying to get you out of school to see him one last time, but it's not looking too possible right now. You'll get to say goodbye soon.

Whatever happens, my little angel, I want you to know that I love you, and that we're going to make it through this together, okay? No matter what happens, we're the Hunter's and we can get through anything. Send him a prayer honey. We'll send for you as soon as possible.

I love you sweetie.
Mum

Alice stopped in the hallway, rereading the letter, as she felt hot tears forming in her eyes, as they started to overflow. She sat down, not worrying about being late to class. Mark wasn't doing well? She wouldn't get to say goodbye? Alice curled up into a ball on the floor, starting to sob. This was Mark. The one person she looked up to. The one person who she squealed when she got a letter. The letter slipped from her grasp, as she continued to sob louder still, wanting nothing more than her mother's hug.

Tucked off in a warm nook by the statue of the humpbacked witch, Ted idly blew through the high, soft notes of the harmonica he'd been given for Christmas. It'd been a joke originally -- of course it had, it came from Uncle George along with a page of sheet music for playing in detention -- but after the last full (and blue!) moon he'd started attempts to get the obnoxious singing of the moon down in music form, so he could play it for other people. He wasn't having much luck so far, but at least it was entertaining.

He was just contemplating checking his watch to be sure there was time before class when the first sobs reached his ear. Ted stopped playing and sat up straight, listening hard. It sounded familiar. Horribly familiar. It brought on memories of wet dungeons that swallowed friends whole and sickening cracks as bones were shattered and mirrors full of terrible fears and...

"Hunter?" In a second, Ted was on his feet and searching. It didn't take long. Alice was right around the corner, curled up in the middle of the hall and sobbing her brains out. Ted hurried over, his heart pounding. She couldn't be hurt again, could she? "Hunter, what's wrong? What's happened, are you all right?"

Alice looked up from her ball, sniffing her nose, her eyes bright red. She sat up, looking over at Ted, as she moved the note towards Ted, keeping her knees tucked into her chest. "This, this letter came in this morning. By, by now, he's, he's d- d-" She couldn't finish the scariest word to her. The word, "Dead". Alice collapsed into tears once again, her shoulders shaking furiously as every tear slid down her face.

She thought back to all of her memories with Mark, every time he helped her with homework, every time he joked or laughed with her. Every time he'd push his on her favorite swing. But those were gone now. Now, all that she had with him were memories. She would never get to say "I love you" one more time. She'd never get to tell him what he meant to her. For as much as she knew, Mark was dead. Dead and gone.

Ted scanned the offending letter quickly, eyebrows knitting together under their matching mop of dusk purple hair. Someone named Mark was in St. Mungo's. Procedures were going south, but Alice couldn't be called to say goodbye...his throat started to close. He could imagine, all too well, being in Alice's shoes. What if it were Ginny in "Mark"'s place? Or Torie? Or Gran. Or Harry...

Harry. If Ted were in Alice's shoes, what would Harry say?

"Hunter. Come on. You don't know that." He set the letter back on the floor and took hold of the girl's shaking shoulders, urging her to sit up and straighten out of her ball. "Hunter, look at me. Hunter. Alice. Come on now, look up." His hands slipped from her shoulders to her face, guiding it up so he could look into her eyes. After a moment's thought he brushed a bit of fallen hair away and tucked it gently behind her ear.

"Now you listen here. This letter does not say that Mark is dead. Until you get one that does, until you know for sure that his heart's stopped beating and he'll never take another breath, until then, Alice, you can not give up on him. Do you hear me? You. Can't. You're the smartest girl in our year and you should know this. There is magic stronger than death. It's right here." He tapped the place right above her heart, then placed the same hand over his own. "Just have a little faith, okay? Believe in him. Everything'll be all right."

Alice listened to Ted's pep talk, trying to hold back the floods and floods of tears. A few tears had slipped out, but for the most part, she was able to hold back. But as he continued to tell her that it wasn't over, she couldn't help but think about Mark's lifeless body, or think of the light leaving his eyes. She couldn't handle it.

... "There is magic stronger than death. It's right here."

He touched her heart, and then his, and she nodded slowly, sniffing her nose. "But, but what if everything isn't alright? What if he doesn't wake up? What if someone decides to just pull the plug on him? What if I don't get to say goodbye? What if they bury him without me? What if," Her mind couldn't handle the hypotheticals. She wrapped her arms around him, and sobbed into his shoulder. "I'm, I'm just so worried."

What if. What if. What if.

Ted's throat closed up. It took a lot of effort to keep his mind from drifting back to the matched gravestones he visited every Remembering Day. He'd been there when they were installed, he supposed, but it wasn't something he could remember. Too young. Even the vague recollection of being rocked by a crying Gran was most likely nothing more than a dream.

He swallowed to clear his throat and gave Hunter's shoulder a squeeze. "They won't -- ahem. They won't do that. Even if he does...which you don't know he will, because he hasn't yet...even if it happens, your family won't do that to you. You know they won't. They wouldn't." He forced a small laugh that came choked and strangled. "And even if they would, they'll never get the chance because he's not gone yet. You can't worry so much about things that haven't happened. You're going to make yourself sick."

She looked up at Ted, with flooded eyes. "You're, you're right. He's probably fine. Probably just fine," She said, trying to reassure herself that maybe things were okay. "He's strong, and tough, and hey, maybe he is okay." She sniffed, and wiped at her tears, smiling weakly. But then the memories started again. She flashed back to all of the times she had been with Mark, that times he had helped her and the times that she had helped him. What if those were over? What if those never could happen again?

Her smile disappeared. "What if he changes because of it? What if he loses a crucial part of his brain? Once someone goes unconscious, many things can become corrupted if not used! What if his fine motor functions are crippled? What if his optic nerves spasm, and disconnect from the retna? Then he'd be blind! What if he develops another illness? So much can go wrong!" She explained, as tears threatened to flow once more. She wasn't going to allow it, however.

Something was on Shade's mind, he was worried about his sister and so he was wandering the halls to try and clear the worry.  As he rounded a corner onto the third floor he heard someone talking.  They sounded young and so Shade, although he knew he was probably intruding, walked closer to the voices and saw that it was a couple first or second years.  He stopped a few feet away and asked, "Everything alright here?"

He thought he detected some subtle tear tracks on the girls face, but he couldn't be sure.  Truthfully he just couldnt' stand to see anyone upset, no matter how old or young they are.  Shade stepped a little closer and although he didn't mean to, he completely ignored the young boy to focus on the girl.  "You okay?" he asked in a quiet voice as he stopped again, not wanting to intrude unless she actually started talking to him.

Dessa came careening down the hall in her typical fashion, a book clutched tightly in her hand. She had rolled out of bed this morning to the realization that said book had been accumulating late fines for at least a month now, and it was getting out of hand. As it was she would have to muster a serious puppy-dog face to get herself out of hot water with her father the next time she was home and he saw the bill.

Right as she was about to slide through the entrance to the library, however, Dessa heard a familiar sniffle. Her head whipped around, her eyes searching, until she caught sight of Alice, curled in a ball with tears in her eyes, being embraced by Teddy who looked only slightly more put together. Standing over them was an older boy whom Dessa vaguely recognized from around the common room. Anger swelled in her. Was this git picking on her friends?

Dessa marched up to the trio and, completely oblivious to the actual situation at hand, prodded the older boy in the side with the corner of her book. "Are you bothering my friends?" she demanded, craning her neck to look up into the boy's face. She turned to look at Alice and Teddy, her features softening. "Are you guys okay? What's going on?"

There were only so many different ways Ted could tell Alice that worrying would only make her more upset. Luckily, he was saved from having to come up with another one by the appearance of an older boy -- he vaguely recognized him from the common room, one of his names was something like Conner -- and, shortly thereafter, Dessa. The curly-haired girl came as such a relief that Teddy almost laughed out loud.

"No, no, Dessa. He's not doing anything. He just got here." He rubbed what he hoped was a soothing circle on Alice's back and beckoned Dessa closer. Better to pass Alice off to a female friend before she came to her senses and realized how tightly she'd been clinging to him, especially after what happened last semester in Transfiguration. His eyes flickered to the older boy, unconsciously switching from brown to hazel in mid-glance, and he dropped his voice a bit more soft.

"She just got word that a relative's in Saint Mungo's. Her family's having trouble getting her out of school to see him, and now she's worrying herself sick. Understandably." He sighed, pushing Alice's glasses back up her nose by the bridge. "But it's all right, yeah? He's not going to die, he's not going to change, he's not going to...any of those other things." Half of which he didn't understand. Detaching the reta-wha? How was this girl not a Ravenclaw? "Until something actually happens, worrying won't do any good. Tell her, Dess."

"She just got word that a relative's in Saint Mungo's. Her family's having trouble getting her out of school to see him, and now she's worrying herself sick."

Dessa's mouth dropped open just a bit and she felt heat flood her face. Alice was nearly hysterical not because of some stupid bully--in fact the boy who she had just jabbed in the side was likely only trying to help--but because of something far more serious. And here she was, stirring up trouble. Embarrassment coursed through Dessa, but she shoved it aside and dropped to her knees beside Alice and Teddy. Teddy seemed grateful to have the role of comforter taken off his hands, and Dessa shot him a tiny smile over the top of Alice's head before wrapping her arms around her shaking friend.

"Of course, Al," she murmured soothingly. "Tell me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we've taken Divination yet, and s0 you've gotta forgive me if I don't put too much stock by your predictions." she paused, surveying the mess that was her friend. She tried to imagine how Alice must be feeling--scared, sad, and now already in mourning for someone she hadn't lose yet. "Alice, you can't know what's going to happen. But St. Mungo's has the best healers you could ask for. If there's anybody who can help, it's them. Please don't worry."

As she was stroking her friend's hair, Dessa's eyes flickered up to the older boy standing over them and color flooded her face. "Hi, I'm Dessa. Er...sorry."

Shade ignored the other girl jabbing him in the side with her book, he'd been that way before... when he was younger... protecting his friends and all.  It didn't bother him, what did bother him was that her first reaction was that he was bullying them.  Shade knew there was no possibly way he could bully someone, he didn't have a mean bone in his body.  He actually didn't hear what was going on with the crying girl, so he just stood there awkwardly, but unwilling to move on because he truly wanted to know if the girl was okay.

"Um... hello Dessa, is your friend okay?"

Alice watched as the people all started to appear, and she felt the tears start to fall again, barely listening to anyone. She saw just the impact that her tears made on people, and she started to think about influences. And Mark. She thought of everyone who was impacted by Mark, and how they'd all be affected when he died. Alice curled back up into a ball, hands over her eyes, sobbing uncontrollably. It was too hard to think of him as dead.

Dessa sat down next to her, stroking her head. Alice looked up, and at Dessa. "It's Mark. Something happened. And, and Mum doesn't think he'll make - make it." She said, before sobbing once again. "Mark is everything! Everything! Without him, I'm, I'm nothing. Nothing at all!" She called out, before placing her face back in her hands.

"I...don't really know," Dessa replied to the older boy, whose name she was uncertain of and didn't feel in a position to ask. She shifted so as to avoid crushing her own legs, wrapping her arms tighter around Alice, whose sobs were shaking her entire body and piercing straight to Dessa's heart. "Shh, it's okay, Alice. Please, he's going to be--"

She was cut off as another round of rapid-fire speech burst from Alice. When she looked up at Dessa, her eyes full of tears and despair and fear, it was like somebody was squeezing her insides. "Mark is everything! Everything! Without him, I'm, I'm nothing. Nothing at all!"

Dessa froze. Did Alice really think that she was nothing? How could she possibly not see how important she was to everyone? How smart she was and how brave, how good of a friend, even though she was scared, how she always tried her hardest? Seizing her friend's arms perhaps a tad harder than she meant to in her fervor, Dessa pulled Alice up so that they were eye to eye. "Alice, don't ever say that," she insisted, her tone struggling for firm, but coming out frantic. "You are not nothing! You are so far from nothing, Alice, I...," Dessa stuttered, so full of words she wanted to say, ways she wished she could make Alice see. "Mark is so important, but you are too, and not because of who he is, because of you! Because of who you are. You're so strong, Alice. No matter what happens, I know you can handle it."

Standing in the background awkwardly, Shade really didn't know what exactly to do.  He didn't know Alice and the other two very well, but seeing the young girl in tears was really tearing at Shade's heartstrings.  He took a deep breath and knelt down beside the trio and said, "Alice," he hoped she didn't mind that he used her name instead of the more formal Ms. Hunter, "I can't promise anything, but is there anything I can do for you?"

He didn't know what else to say, what could he say, 'I hope your brother is okay', 'I am sure that he will be fine.' Those comments were open and couldn't be truth for no one knew what could happen to anybody, and Shade didn't know what had happened to Alice's brother in the first place so he was no help there at all.  All he could do was treat Alice like he did Sky when she was upset about something.  And that - he was very good at - was what he tried to do now.

"Alice, look at me." he tried to use a soothing voice, but the girl was so upset that he wasnt' sure she heard him.  "Please."  He paused for a moment before he realized he had no clue what to add to try and make her feel just a tiny bit better, "Your friends are here to help you, why don't you let them take you somewhere that you can try and calm down a little bit, and then maybe you can find a professor to ask about either inquiring about your brother's status or a way to send you home so that you can be with your family, I'm sure they can work something out for you."

Shade wasn't sure, but he hoped that his suggestions weren't too far off base from what a professor would do.  He wanted to comfort the young girl like he would his sister, but he was positive that Alice would be terrified if he tried to hold her in his arms, especially since they weren't very well acquainted.