A Desire for Sapphires

Alice's Fanfic

Sapphire Desire

By Alice Ravenclaw

Alice Stevens had a dirty little secret.

She sat at her desk in her dormitory, scratching away at a piece of parchment with her soft blue-feathered quill.

As he lowered her down to the ground, he started kissing her neck. She let out a soft moan of pleasure as he started kissing down towards the swell of her chest.

Alice smiled at her work. That last sentence was a good one, she thought. Of course, she was planning on continuing the story with things getting much more graphic.

Alice was a busy girl. She spent much of her time attending to her prefect duties and keeping her grades up. Alice was the brightest student at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, at the top of her class. Being a prefect, Alice had a good stance among the teachers, whom she was counting on to help her get started on her career path. Fascinated by human anatomy, Alice desperately wanted to be a healer, and she had the OWLs to do it. Now all she needed was to score well on the NEWTs.

It seemed like Alice had everything going for her, as long as no one found out about her secret passion for writing graphic romance novels. She continued writing furiously, the thoughts pouring onto the page. Suddenly, she heard a door opening. She quickly covered her parchment with Hogwarts, A History to look like she had been studying.

"Hi Alice," said Jane Dawson, one of her fellow Ravenclaw roommates. Alice didn't have very many friends, and Jane was one of the few people she could talk to.

"Hi," Alice replied.

"What are you doing?" asked Jane, coming over to peer at Alice's desk.

"Oh, just studying a little history of magic for the NEWTs, you know." She blushed a little, hoping Jane wouldn't notice the sheet of parchment partially sticking out from under her book. She didn't tell anyone about her hobby, even Jane.

"Already? Well, I guess the NEWTs are coming up soon, in a few months." Jane said casually as she shuffled some things around in her trunk. "What are you looking at doing?"

"Healing,"

"You need to know History of Magic to do that?"

"I guess," Alice shrugged. She knew perfectly well that Healers didn't need to know History of Magic. "What about you?"

"Probably Muggle Relations. I'll be good at it, since I was raised by Muggles."

Alice nodded. Then she noticed the time. "Shoot, I have Arithmancy in five minutes!" She stood up, put on her robes, and tied back her thick, dark hair in an elegant beret. She sneaked her parchment in her bag as she said goodbye to Jane and left.

She walked hurriedly from Ravenclaw Tower to the main hallways towards her class. As she approached the Arithmancy classroom, she saw a crowd of her fellow 7^th year students enter the classroom. Apparently, Professor Vector had just gotten there as well. Alice wasn't late after all. She hurried towards the door when she saw a figure of a boy standing by it. He was just standing there, staring at her. As she got closer, she noticed his green and silver uniform indicating that he was in Slytherin house. Alice stopped and stared at him, her blue eyes wide, wondering what he was doing.

"Hello," he said.

"Hi," said Alice. He was strikingly handsome, but in a different sort of way. His eyes were dark, almost black. His hair was very dark as well, and was slightly long. He bore a thin mustache, along with a scruffy face, which Alice found to be very old-fashioned looking.

"I need to ask you something," he said.

Alice hesitated. "Not now," she said. "Class is about to start." She turned around and hurried into the classroom. Despite his good looks, he was a Slytherin. Slytherins were always up to no good. She didn't want to get involved with anything sneaky.

Alice entered the classroom and sat down in the back row just as Professor Vector started lecturing. She was pulling her book out of her bag when she saw the boy take the seat next to her. I won't work with him, she thought. Alice's introverted personality hindered her ability to work with people. Her grades brought her to being a prefect, but her inability to work well with others lost her the position of Head Girl. She especially couldn't work well with people she didn't like, and she already didn't like this boy.

Taking out her supplies, Alice started to take furious notes, trying to gear her thoughts away from the distraction sitting next to her.

The boy leaned close to her. "I'm Elliot Turner. I didn't just follow you in here. I'm in your class."

Alice had truly never noticed that he was in her class. She didn't notice many of the people in her class since she always paying the strictest attention. She decided to be nice.

"I'm Alice Stevens," Alice whispered back.

"I know who you are."

Alice gave him a strange look before turning her attention back to Professor Vector.

A few minutes later, Elliot turned to her again. "I need to talk to you after class," he whispered.

"Okay," said Alice. "Now be quiet. I'm trying to pay attention."

Professor Vector noticed their conversation and stopped lecturing. "Is there something you two would like to share with the rest of the class?"

Both Alice and Elliot shook their heads. "Good," said Professor Vector. "But next time you'll share." She turned back to the board and started to lecture again.

Alice was annoyed. She had gotten in trouble because of this Slytherin boy sitting next to her. She stared down at her parchment, hoping they didn't have to do any group work today, because she was never planning on talking to this boy again.

When class was over, Alice headed out of there as quickly as she could to avoid Elliot. She wasn't quick enough; she felt a hand on her shoulder pull her back. She turned around to face Elliot, looking straight up into his eyes. "What do you want?" she said hotly.

"Look," he said. "I promise never to say another word to you in class if you will just listen to me for a minute."

Alice looked at him for a moment, wondering what his intentions were. Then her face softened. "All right," she said.

He took her arm and pulled her to the side of the corridor, away from other students. He started to speak clearly yet quietly.

"I need your help. You're the smartest person in this school, and I think you might be the only one who can help me find it."

"Find what?" Alice said with a confused look on her face.

Elliot smirked. "The Sapphire of Knowledge."

Alice had no idea what he was talking about. "The what?"

"The Sapphire of Knowledge." Elliot repeated. "I'm surprised you haven't heard about it, being in Ravenclaw."

It was one of those rare moments when someone made Alice feel stupid. She didn't like that at all. "I'm leaving," she said, feeling offended. She started to walk away.

"Do you want to know what it is?"

Alice stopped. Curiosity overcame her embarrassment as she turned to face Elliot again. "What is it then?"

"I've come across it once, in a book. The book says some stuff about it, but not as much as I need to know." Elliot paused, clearly enjoying the look of encouragement of Alice's face. "The book said that a legendary Ravenclaw, Christopher Wolf, was very talented at bewitching inanimate objects, stones, for instance. Wolf was very ambitious and wanted to know the answer to any question he asked. He found a hunk of Sapphire and bewitched it so whoever wore it would have any knowledge they wanted to know flow through them."

"Is that all?"

"That's all the book said. I need your help in finding the stone."

Her suspicions were confirmed. Elliot Turner was a Slytherin and Slytherins were always up to no good. "So you want the stone so you can know everything, and sneak around, is that it?"

"No, that's not it!" said Elliot angrily. "If you must know, I want to be an Auror. I didn't score well on my OWLs, but if I score well on my NEWTs..."

"That's cheating!" Alice interrupted. "I will never, ever, help anyone cheat! Find someone else to get your stone!" With that, she turned on her heel and stormed off to the Ravenclaw common room.

The next few days were rather frustrating for Alice. When she was in the library, Elliot would sometimes walk behind her, which was annoying as she was trying to hide the romance stories she was working on when she did this. Whenever she and Elliot passed each other in the hallways, he always gave her a sly smile. Alice had no idea what this meant. Elliot turned out to be in quite a few of her classes as well, and whenever a teacher would ask a question, he would speak up to answer it before she could, winning points for Slytherin and giving her a smug look.

It was a fine afternoon and Alice was in the library doing her Transfiguration homework. She had centered herself in a corner at a table hidden by the bookshelves, hoping Elliot wouldn't find her there.

He did.

"Hello, Alice," he said as he sat down across from her.

"Yes?" said Alice.

"Have you thought about the stone yet?"

"Yes, I have. And I am still not helping you find it."

"Well," he said sneakily. "I have something that might change your mind."

Alice looked at him in bewilderment. What kind of incentive could he possibly have?

He reached into his robes and pulled out a roll of parchment. He unrolled it, and held it up in front of him so Alice couldn't see what was written on it. "Ahem," he began. "Her lips trembled as he kissed her, his tongue slowly massaging hers. Soon, his hands walked up the small of her back, feeling her every curve..."

He stopped. Alice was covering her mouth in horrific surprise. "How...how did you get that?"

"You should be more careful when leaving your bag unattended to get books while you're in the library, Alice." He held up his bag, which reveled several more rolls of parchment inside. "I don't have a whole novel, but the sheets with title pages do have your name on it." He tucked his bag beside him, out of her reach.

Alice was white. "G--Give those back!" she stammered.

"Tisk tisk," Elliot said, waving a mocking finger at her. "Do you really think, Miss Erotic, that I would actually give back this liable asset for nothing? Think about it-- I share your writings with everyone and the whole school will know what Miss Know-It-All is really like."

Alice took in his words. He was right. Her reputation would be ruined if the school found out about her writings. The professors would never write her letters of recommendation if they knew about it, which could very well hinder her chances of becoming a healer. She'd have to endure endless teasing and a loss of respect from her professors.

"So," said Alice, breathing hard and trying to control herself. "You won't give those back until you find the sapphire."

"That's right," Elliot said quietly. He leaned back into his chair, put his feet up on the table with his hands behind his head, and smiled broadly. "Now, let's get to work."

From then on Alice and Elliot worked constantly in their hidden corner in the library for clues to find the Sapphire of Knowledge. Alice was not happy about this. She quit writing her romance stories and resorted to writing murder mysteries where the victim was Elliot. During school, Alice wouldn't even acknowledge his existence. The only time she would talk to him was in the library.

"We have yet to find clues on Christopher Wolf," said Alice as she went through the last book in her stack of potential clues.

"What other books should we look at?" Elliot asked her; he was almost done with his stack as well.

"I don't know, I suppose we should look at books on magical properties of stones. That way we can figure out how Wolf did it, and maybe that will lead to the stone."

Elliot agreed, and they went off to find books on stones. A few minutes later they were sitting at the table again looking through the books in silence.

"Your stories are really good, you know," said Elliot, interrupting the silence.

Alice didn't look up. "You're not supposed to be reading them. No one is supposed to be reading them."

"They're erotic," said Elliot. "But that makes them very entertaining, I must say."

Alice said nothing. Then she spotted something in the book she was going through, Precious Stones and How To Enchant Them.

It was a faded piece of paper. She unfolded it.

I must remember where I hid it. Statue of the witch. North Wing.

"I think we might have found your treasure already," said Alice as she handed to piece of paper to Elliot.

"That easy? I wonder if this was written by Wolf?"

"Probably," said Alice quickly, hoping that Elliot would be convinced and she would get her property back. "Can I have my things back now?"

"No," Elliot smirked. "Not until I have that stone." He picked up his bag. "Come on, let's go find it. Don't worry, you'll get your writings back soon."

Alice still couldn't believe her situation. She was being blackmailed into helping a Slytherin cheat on his NEWTs. She didn't like Elliot. I hate Elliot, she said to herself as she to gathered her things to join him. And I hate the Slytherins. They are all lying, evil, cheating, selfish pricks.

They hurried out from the library and out to the hall. Both Elliot and Alice knew the ugly witch statue in the north wing of Hogwarts. They entered the empty corridor to find a larger than life sized witch imposing on the surrounding classrooms. Elliot put down his bag to examine it. "There's got to be a secret compartment here somewhere."

Alice started to look. She went behind the statue and felt all around the back witch's robes. Then, she saw some faint lines around the witch's feet. She felt around the lines, and then pressed. A compartment opened up. Inside was a folded up piece of letter. Alice unfolded it. It was a map.

It was a strange map; there was something not right about it. It was faded, and Alice couldn't read a single marking. Suddenly, Alice realized what was wrong with the map. She tapped it with her wand. Nothing happened. It's not magic, she thought. It's not magic at all.

Alice emerged from behind the witch to find Elliot still looking furiously around. She held up the map. "I found something."
Elliot rushed over to her, his eyes wide. "It's not the stone."

"No, it's not. I guess Wolf hid it somewhere, and provided this map to find it. See? There's a picture of a sapphire at the top."

"And it's written in code. I guess it's our job to figure it out." Elliot said not taking his eyes from the map.

"We'll have to decode it by hand. It's not magic."

Elliot frowned. "I guess he did that to make it harder to find the stone."

Alice looked down to see Elliot's bag next to him, on the floor. The bag contained her writings. She had an idea. Elliot was still pouring over the map. She had to act fast. In one swift movement, she grabbed Elliot's bag and ran as fast as she could down the corridor.

I must make it to Ravenclaw Tower, say the password, run through door, and slam it shut so he can't follow me in, Alice thought as she sprinted through the halls with Elliot's heavy bag. She ran down the stairs and down the hallways. The bag was getting heavier. She was getting slower. She could hear swift footsteps approaching behind her. Suddenly, she felt a strong hand on her shoulder and could feel herself being tackled down to the floor.

The next thing she knew, Elliot was on top of her, pinning her wrists to the ground. "Thought you could get away?" he said, smiling. He snatched up his bag as he got to his feet. Alice was still on the ground, and he held out a hand to help her up.

Reluctantly, she took it. Elliot pulled her to her feet, and gave her hand a small squeeze before he let go.

"I guess I should leave these in my dormitory," said Elliot, referring to the rolls of parchment in his bag. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Alice was furious. Her heart was still beating very fast. Her face was red and her hair was messed up, down from its normally elegant state. She looked at him for a minute. He gave her a smile. "You infuriate me," she whispered. After giving him one last dirty look, she turned around and left.

The next day Alice was feeling terrible. She hadn't been sleeping very well, she was having a hard time paying attention in class, and she was getting behind on her homework.

She sat down at the Ravenclaw table next to Jane at lunch. "Hi Jane,"

"Hey Alice." Jane replied. "Are you okay? You seem to be stressing out lately."

"Oh, it's just schoolwork and the NEWTs, that all," Alice lied.

"Oh." Jane helped herself to some potatoes. "What about that Slytherin boy that had been following you around?"

"What?" Alice said, alarmed. Then she remembered she had told Jane that Elliot was just following her around when Jane spotted them together once.

"Did you ever find out what he wanted?" Jane said.

Alice looked down at her plate. "No, he was just being stupid, I think."

Jane laughed. "Boys."

"Yeah."

Some other 7^th year Ravenclaws sat down with them and started talking to Jane. Alice turned her head around to look at the Slytherin table. She spotted Elliot alone at the table, distancing himself from some other Slytherins, his back facing Alice. She frowned. She didn't know he didn't have many other friends. Suddenly, he turned his head and looked at her. She quickly turned away.

"I think I've got it," said Alice as she picked up the map and studied it again. She and Elliot were once again in their corner of the library, accompanied by a pile of books. They had been trying for days to figure out how to decode the map.

Taking a break from his work, Elliot turned to her. "Why do you write?" he asked.

Alice didn't look up from her scribbling. "Well, I like to do it...it's fun. I guess it's just more of an outlet than anything else. Wait...I think I've got it."

Elliot leaned over to her. She showed him her code. "See, I've found the primer. It's here. That means that this marker is what is now Hagrid's hut if you follow it right. And here is his name, Christopher Wolf."

"You're too smart for you own good," said Elliot. "Now, we've got to decode this whole thing. I'll decode this half and you'll decode--"

Alice cut him off. "Can't you decode the whole thing?"

Elliot paused for a moment. "It...it will take me forever. And the NEWTs are coming soon. I need you, Alice."

"Can we work less?" Alice found herself pleading. "Or, can I work less? Look, Elliot, I can't keep working like this. I've got prefect duties and I'm falling behind on my homework."

Elliot looked at her for a moment. "Okay," he said. "Just promise me you'll come here tomorrow--after lunch? That will be it."

"Okay." She gathered her things, got up and left, relieved of her duties.

Alice walked into the Ravenclaw common room to find Jane and some other Ravenclaw girls looking at the notice board, chatting and giggling furiously.

"Hey Alice," said a 5^th year girl. "Do you have a date for the ball yet?"

"What?" Alice said. She looked at the notice on the board. There was a Spring Ball, coming up in less than a week. She had been so busy with the Sapphire hunt that she didn't know a ball was taking place.

"I'm going with a Hufflepuff," said Jane excitedly, tossing her blonde hair. "Paul Quihuiz. He asked me today."

Alice smiled, but didn't know what to say. She didn't have a date. "I've got to go get some work done," she said as she headed upstairs. "See you guys later."

With the task of decoding gone, Alice slept much better. For some reason, now that Elliot had the map, she had a strong feeling that he wouldn't show anyone her writings no matter what happened. I've helped him enough, she thought.

The next day was dreary. There was a steady rain that hadn't stopped all morning. Despite the sound of constant rain pounding on the castle, Alice had a much better time concentrating in classes now that she didn't have to help out with the map any more. The last time she had to anything was after lunch.

Elliot was furiously decoding the map when she came in. He saw her and stood up suddenly. "Hi," he said.

"Do you need help?" asked Alice as she set her bags down and draped her school robes over a chair across from Elliot.

"No, the decoding is going quite smoothly, thanks. I'm almost done, actually...but I'm glad you came. I've got to ask you something."

Alice looked at him curiously.

Elliot took at breath. "I was wondering...if you'd like to go to the dance with me."

Alice was absolutely shocked. Elliot Turner was the last person at Hogwarts she expected to ask her to the dance, but he asked first.

"What?"

"Would you go to the ball with me, Alice?"

Alice couldn't believe that he had the audacity to ask her to the ball. He was blackmailing her. She felt anger rising inside her, and started to slowly back away. "No," she said quietly. "You're blackmailing me." With that, she turned and hurriedly walked out of the library. She had to get away. She had to keep her cool.

When she was walking down the corridor. She heard a voice say, "Alice, wait!" and turned to see Elliot running after her. She started to run. As fast as she could, she ran forward, pushed open the doors, and ran outside on the castle grounds.

She could feel the rain pounding on her as she ran towards the back of the grounds, around a corner of the castle. The rain was thick. Maybe I lost him, she thought.

Suddenly, Alice found herself between two adjacent walls of the castle. And, in front of her, was Elliot. She was trapped in a corner.

"Alice, let me explain!" he shouted through the rain. Because they had left their school robes back in the library, they stood shouting at each other in their soaked Hogwarts uniforms.

"You're blackmailing me!" Alice screamed.

"I needed you!"

"Besides, I'm a half blood!" Alice shouted, saying anything to make him think twice about going to the dance with her. "You're a Slytherin, and you wouldn't want to be seen anyone but a pure blood."

His voice was suddenly more passive. "You're a half blood?"

"My mother's a Muggle."

He looked at her for a moment. Then he started towards her. Alice backed away until she hit a wall. She stood there, her palms pressed against the wall as he kept coming towards her. She could feel the rain running down her fingertips, and his soft breath as he got closer. Now Elliot had a hand on either side of her, his palms flat against the wall, as if to trap her.

She was truly trapped. She closed her eyes, preparing for him to slap her because she had a mother who was a Muggle.

But the slap never came. She suddenly felt a pair of soft, wet lips barely touching hers.

She tried desperately to resist the urge to kiss him back. She left her lips soft and inactive, but realized that this kiss was the softest, sweetest kiss that she had ever received. But she mustn't think of that. He was blackmailing her. She hated him.

Elliot pulled away, clearly getting her message. He walked away, leaving her alone in the rain.

The rest of Alice's classes were harder to concentrate in. She couldn't think of anything but that kiss. What is he playing at, she asked herself. First he blackmails me, then he asks me to the dance, and of course I said no, and then he forces a kiss on me! She shook her head. She didn't know what to think.

After Potions was over, Alice walked through the dungeons when she felt someone pull her to the side.

It was Elliot. He had a bag with him with her writings. She was sick of it all, and all she wanted was to be left alone.

"What?" she snapped as she tried to get away.

Elliot gently pulled her closer. "Please, Alice. Hear me out."

"Let go of me."

He did. She stood there, her arms crossed in front of her.

Elliot sighed and began. "I'll tell you what; I need you to help me one last time, and that is to actually go get the stone. It's in the Dark Forest, and I'm going to need someone...who knows about this...to come with me. If you're my date to the Spring Ball, I'll give you all of your writings back. You just have to promise that you will come find the stone with me. Please, Alice."

Alice stared into his big, soft, brown eyes. They were looking at her in a different way than they had ever had before.

"You're sincere?" said Alice skeptically. "You're not being sneaky or anything?"

"I swear on Salazar Slytherin himself."

Once again, they stared at each other for a moment.

"Okay. I'll go with you." Alice said.

Elliot smiled. He transferred all the rolls of parchment out of his bag into hers.

"Is that all of them?" asked Alice.

"I promise." Elliot said softly. "I'll see you Saturday at eight then? Outside the Great Hall?"

"Okay," said Alice, her face impassive. She picked up her things and left.

I'm going to the Ball with a Slytherin, Alice thought to herself. Not only a Slytherin, but the one that was blackmailing me. What's wrong with me? She was sitting in the common room, trying to finish her Arithmancy homework, but not much of it was getting done. She kept thinking about Elliot. She hated him, yet she agreed to go to the Ball with him. She was very confused.

Despite her shy disposition, Alice was very pretty, so she always got asked to a dance whenever there was one. Later the next day, a couple of other boys asked her to the dance, including a cute Gryffindor boy named Charlie Weasley. I could have gone with one of them, thought Alice. But no, I've got another date. With a sneaky Slytherin. What is everyone at the Ball going to think? She was disgusted with herself. But, being a woman of her word, she decided to keep her promise.

In the days upcoming the dance, Alice and Elliot didn't talk to each other except for a few words about the map between classes. Elliot was nearly done decoding it by Friday. On Saturday, the day of the dance, Alice went to Hogsmeade with Jane and some other 7^th year girls before getting ready for the dance later that afternoon.

"Alice, you haven't told us who your date to the dance is yet." Jane said as the 7^th year Ravenclaw girls were getting ready together in their dormitory.

"You'll see," Alice replied. For some reason, she felt herself smile.

The girls kept harassing her, but the only thing they got out of Alice was "You'll see at the dance". Alice was pretty good at keeping things to herself.

Alice looked at herself in her full-length mirror when she was done getting ready. All of her roommates stared at her. "Wow, Alice," said Jane breathlessly.

Her dress robes were a dark shade of brilliant blue that draped gracefully over the edge of her shoulders. Her dark, flowing hair was pulled back in an elegant French braid. A delicate silver necklace hung from her neck that matched her earrings. The brilliant blue in her robes brought out her dark, sapphire eyes.

She had never spent so much time on herself before.

It was almost eight. Alice headed down to the Great Hall with Jane, and they parted to find their dates. There was a big crowd of people there, waiting for the doors to open. Alice looked through the crowd for Elliot, but he was nowhere. After a few minutes, she started to get frustrated. "Bastard did show up," she muttered to herself.

She decided to go to the back of the crowd. She still couldn't find him. Finally, she gave up and decided to go back to Ravenclaw Tower.

Then she saw him.

She stopped to look at him. He looked absolutely gorgeous. He was wearing robes of forest brown. His dark hair was pulled back, his was mustache neatly combed. His face was no longer scruffy, but clean-shaven. He stared at her with dark eyes of awe.

"I've been looking for you," he said as he came closer to her. "You look beautiful."

"Thanks," she said. He held out his arm. She took it. The doors of the Great Hall opened, and they walked in, completely oblivious to the frantic whispers about them from the crowd.

The first event at the Ball was dinner. As Alice and Elliot sat down at their table, Elliot pulled out Alice's chair so she could sit down. He's so chivalrous, thought Alice. Why is he being this way?

Dumbledore had some things to say before the dining started, and then they ordered from their menus. The conversation during dinner was actually more normal than Alice had expected. At first, they talked about the map, but then they started talking about school, their families, and even some of Alice's stories.

As they were finishing up their dinner, some people had already started to dance. Then, a slower song started to play. Elliot turned to Alice. "D--Do you want to dance?"

"Yes," Alice heard herself saying.

They got up and Elliot took Alice's hand. They came over to the dance floor, and Alice found herself holding Elliot's hand with her left hand and her right hand was on his shoulder. He placed his hand on her slender waist and they started dancing. When he did this, Alice felt unusually nervous, something that she didn't feel very often.

Alice noticed that many people were staring at them. But this time, she didn't care. The irony of a stubborn Ravenclaw dancing with a Slytherin and a Slytherin dancing with a half-blood Ravenclaw was something she had put beside her.

After that song was over, Alice didn't want to stop. Fortunately, another slow song started to play right away. She could feel him draw her closer. The next thing she knew, she had her head right up against Elliot's shoulder. They kept dancing, closer than they had ever been before.

The song ended. They stopped dancing and just stared at each other for a moment. The next song that played was a faster song, so Elliot suggested they go outside. Alice agreed. She needed the air.

They walked out in silence. After everything, Alice was very confused. This boy had blackmailed her and was a cheater and had wasted a lot of her time. Yet, she wanted to be with him. She wanted to be close with him and dance with him forever, and he acted like he felt the same way. They walked along the grounds, alone. She stopped turned to him.

"Why are you doing this?" she said.

"Doing what?"

"Why did you ask me to go to the ball with you?"

"Because...because I wanted to go with you! What's wrong?"

Alice reflected on all the things that had happened, and suddenly a thought occurred to her. "You're using me, aren't you?" she said fiercely.

"Using you?" Elliot looked bewildered.

"You've been using me all of this time, even blackmailing me, how do I know that you didn't ask me to the dance just to get what you want?"

"I'm not using you now, I swear."

"But you were using me before."

"Yes, I was, but that was before I--"

Alice cut him off. "I don't like being used, Turner. I really don't."

"Fine." Elliot said. "Let's go then, now."

"Go where?"

"Go get the stone."

"But it's dark."

"We can do it. I have the map...it's all done...I didn't want to leave it alone. Let's go. We can go get the stone, and then we will never again have to have anything to do with each other."

"Fine." Alice snapped. They marched off together towards the dark forest.

They entered the forest with Elliot, map in hand, leading with Alice close behind. With the trees getting thicker, the moon could shed less light upon them. "Lumos," they said as their wands lit in front of them.

"Look for a centaur statue," Elliot said.

Alice looked around. She spotted a statue; it barely visible because it was covered with weeds. "There," she said.

Elliot examined it. "This is it," he said. "We're supposed to go south here."

The map lead them through the increasingly dense forest by a series of strange markers. Finally they reached the last marker.

"We're nearly there," Elliot announced. "Now, we're supposed to look for large, hollowed-out tree."

They looked around, and sure enough, Alice spotted the tree in the distance. It looked frightfully imposing. The hole in the middle of it was shaped like a gaping frown that made the tree look like it was howling.

"Let's go," said Elliot. He ran towards the tree. Alice followed. They jumped through the hole and found themselves in the trunk of the tree. Below them, was a passage, which contained a ladder that was propped up inside it.

"You scared?" asked Elliot.

Alice gave him an angry look. "No," she said as she descended down the ladder.

At the bottom of the ladder was a massive, underground chamber, bigger than the Quidditch field. Its walls were high, covered in emeralds, rubies, diamonds, and, of course, sapphires. The light of Alice's wand bounced off each of the stones, which magically absorbed the light and each of them, in turn, lit the entire chamber.

Elliot climbed off the ladder and looked around the chamber. Then he pulled the map from his robes. "The Sapphire of Knowledge is at the very end of the chamber. There."

In the distance, Alice could see a part of the chamber that was contained two magnificent eagle statues, and between their beaks held a necklace, with a shiny, perfectly cut and brilliantly blue sapphire that outshone any other sapphire in the chamber.

Hesitantly, they walked towards the eagles where the necklace hung. When they got to it, Alice noticed how carefully cut and symmetrical it was. She could feel the magic radiating from it. She felt smarter just looking at it.

As they stared at the sapphire necklace, Alice felt an urge that she had never felt before. It was an urge of greed. She wanted the necklace. That necklace could make her anything she wanted. She didn't have to study anymore. Learning would effortless. Alice decided to take action, and as Elliot reached for the necklace, she snatched up the necklace in her own hand in one swift movement.

"What are you doing?" said Elliot in shock.

"I want it." Alice said menacingly. "I could know anything with this. It's mine."

Suddenly, there was a rumbling, and a strong howl from above. The tree, Alice thought. I knew there was something to it. It knows we've taken the stone.

"Give it to me!" Elliot shouted.

Things started to shake, and Alice decided to make a run for it. The stones on the walls were falling off and dust was falling all around them.

Alice could see the entrance where the ladder was. I'm almost there, Alice thought. Just a few more strides. Damn heels! She kicked her shoes off and kept running. She could hear Elliot's footsteps, right behind her. Suddenly, there was a crash and large howling noise. The next thing Alice knew she was falling backward, and she had let go of the necklace. A large crack had formed in the floor. She fell down into it, grabbing a protruding stone to save herself from falling to her death.

Elliot had managed to keep his balance and didn't fall into the crack. He peered over and looked at Alice hanging onto the protruding stone. He looked to her left, and Alice turned her neck to see what he was looking at. The Sapphire of Knowledge was hanging off a protruding rock as well, slowly slipping off it because of the rumbling rocks. Alice was slipping as well. This is it, she thought. I'm going to die because of some stupid stone.

Suddenly, she saw a hand reach down in front of her. "Grab on!" Elliot said. Alice let one hand go of the rock and she grabbed his. Then she grabbed his other hand and he pulled her up from the crack as the Sapphire of Knowledge slipped off its rock and fell, lost forever.

There was no time for stalling. Elliot grabbed Alice's hand and they ran, as fast as they could, out of the chamber, up the ladder, and out of the howling tree. They stopped and watched as the tree swayed and howled violently, until finally it let out one final scream and collapsed onto itself.

Things were quiet. Nothing could be heard except for Alice's and Elliot's hard breathing.

Alice turned to him. "Why...why did you do that? After what I did...you could have had the sapphire."

"Because I couldn't let you die, Alice. I just couldn't. You're more important to me than that stone."

Alice smiled. His hair was messed up, his face and robes covered in dirt. She was sure she didn't look much better; her dress robes were ruined.

"I don't know what came over me," said Alice.

Elliot laughed. "I don't know what came over you either," he said. "You know why I had wanted you to help me so bad, right?"

"You said it was because I was smart enough to help you."

"Yeah, that was part of it. But I also knew that you were proud of your hard work, the way you acted in class, and I knew you would frown upon people who cheat. I knew you wouldn't approve of the Sapphire of Knowledge because it helped people cheat. When I first asked you, your reaction confirmed my suspicions, confirming that you wouldn't want the sapphire for yourself. See, I couldn't ask a fellow Slytherin to help me, because they would betray me to get it for themselves. I needed someone smart and someone who I could count on not to betray me. You were perfect. Of course, I was wrong about the last part."

Alice looked down. She felt ashamed of herself, acting so greedily. Then she looked back at Elliot. "How did you find out about my writings?" she asked curiously.

"Well, after I asked you the first time, I had to find a way to get you to help me. I noticed some parchment sticking out of your bag. At first, I thought it might be homework, and I thought steeling your homework might work to get you to help me. But, homework has to be turned in at a certain time, and that might not work. I stole it all anyway while you were not looking. Then I started reading it. I couldn't believe a girl like you would write stuff like...well, that. Then things started to get complicated. I was really impressed with your work. You have a real talent. You demonstrated how smart you are in decoding that map, and your strong will when you tried to take your stuff back..."

"Then why, did you save me instead of getting the stone?" she interrupted.

"I started to fall in love with you. I didn't know what to do. That's why I kept insisting for your help. At first, I really did need you, but later on, I didn't. I still wanted you to help. I still wanted you around."

Alice looked at him. Now she knew everything. And despite everything, she loved him to. She looked over at the rubble that once was the howling tree. "Well, it's all over now, isn't it?" she said softly.

"It is. And your eyes, Alice, are sapphire enough for me."

Alice smiled. He bent down and kissed her. She felt a surge of energy go through her as she felt his soft lips press against hers, and this time she kissed back. As they pulled apart, she knew that she was going to forgive him for everything.

He looked down at her and stroked her hair. "I'm sorry, so sorry about everything I put you through. I promise I will never, ever, do anything like that to you again. Please forgive me, please."

Alice gave him a smirk. "No more blackmailing?"

"Promise."

"No more adventures through a howling tree?"

"Guarantee it."

Alice took his hand. "Come on, lets get out of here."

And with that they went back the same twisted path as they came, through the Dark Forest, and back to the castle to enjoy the rest of the dance.

THE END