Practice makes perfect

Not very sure that her standing up was a good idea, he prepared himself for the worst - which would be her falling down again. But it seems that time time she was a lot better than the last. Her legs seemed much more stable and her pain, a least some part of it, has gone away. "That's good. Now just take it slow. No need to rush it" he warned. Pushing herself too far, Alice might get quite the opposite result she hoped for.

As Alice took a few steps forward, his prediction turned out to be true. When she tugged on his shirt, he grabbed her hand tightly and pulled her towards herself, trying to prevent her from falling and just hurting herself even more. "It's fine. Look, just take my hand and hold it tightly. Then try to make a few steps. One at a time thought, no reason to rush it." For a moment he felt like a father trying to teach his little infant how to walk.

"Don't worry, I won't let you fall", he said nodding his head. He knew she might be a little hesitant to try again so he had to reassure her somehow. Observing her carefully, he helped her take a few steps and for the first time actually move "A few more", he encouraged her.

Honestly Alice wasn't surprised she fell down. She was clumsy enough when she was fine, let alone when her whole body was in pain. But the potion Andrei gave her seemed to really work. She listened to his words carefully and nodded. He was right, she definitely shouldn't push herself. Taking a few steps forward, she sighed in relief. This all seemed a lot easier than a few minutes ago. "It's fine, I can do it" she said nodding her head and taking a few more slow steps.

Wanting to try walking on her own, she let go of his hand and stepped froward. This time though, she didn't fall and Alice was thankfully for that. Now at least she could walk. Sure it was very slow and she had to be careful, with it was a progress from before. "Thanks. What did you give me anyway? That potion, what was in it?" she asked curiously.

Andrei's hand was slightly twitching as she insisted she would try walking on her own. Carefully watching her and ready to step in at any moment, he was relieved when he saw she was doing quite well. After a few more steps though, he became worried again. "Alright, that's enough for now. Just sit down a bit and you'll try again later", he said taking her hand and leading her to the sofa. "Nothing they wouldn't give you in the hospital wing. I just find it is a lot more useful to have these things close by. I can be, well you can call it clumsy, sometimes as well.", he said shrugging his shoulders lightly. Not that he would call his injuries from researching spells clumsy at all, but it was the best way he could describe it to Alice.

"Have you been given detention already from your head of house? For dueling I mean. I'm sure he was soft on you though, this being your first time ever in trouble I would guess. And the Longbottom name helps of course. But that kind of a duel would earn you well at least two months in detention and a hell lot of points lost for the Hufflepuffs. But I'm curious, what did you get?", he asked. It was obvious to him that some students in Hogwarts, such as Alice, had it much easier. Well then again anyone who had such a clean reputation as her would have it easy. Andrei on the other hand, had quite a bit of history behind him and most of it isn't very publish worthy. At times he would get blamed for things he had nothing to do with. However he still preferred his last name and reputation to Alice's. Being the troublemaker was easy enough. Getting up to the standards of a Longbottom was something different.

"Clumsy?" said Alice raising her eyebrown. Now that was rather surprising. "Well you certainly don't look the type. Unlike myself of course." She was sure the reason he would need such a potion would probably be to heal injuries after a duel or a prank he had pulled off. Not just falling down on his own, like Alice did a lot.

She shook her head at his question and frowned. She really didn't wanted to think about it because either way she knew it can't be good. And thinking about her parent's reaction to all of this definitely made her scared more than anything else. "Oh please don't remind me. And no, they didn't tell me anything yet. I'm going tomorrow to professor Kingsley's office and my parents will be there as well. Oh the joy" said Alice rolling her eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked rather surprised. If anything, her last name could only make things worse for her. Because everyone would expect to her to be and behave in a certain way, without her really having a say in anything. "And it's not a help at all having Longbottom as your last name. Having your dad be a war hero. Having your path already drawn out for you from the very beginning....No, it's not very helpful" said Alice starting to get a bit frustrated.

Hearing her talk about her family and her last name, he wasn't surprised at what she was saying at all. In fact, he was counting on it. Andrei knew that before he could even start working with Alice, he had to slowly pull her away from her family. He was sure they were the main reason she was part of the Potter's Army and that whole world that came with it. One of the main perks of being a Dark Follower was knowing this kind of information about pretty much all of the members of PA. They were closely followed of course, because of their tight connections to the Order of the Phoenix. In fact, Alice being friends with anyone from PA was also a problematic thing, but he would deal with that later.

If he could somehow distance her from her family, things would go much easier from there. Anyway, how hard would it be to manipulate a fourteen year old Hufflepuff girl who is out of touch with her family. Quite easy, thought Andrei. The thing was, she could be very good and useful indeed. Is she trusted Andrei fully, Alice could be a valuable source of information not just for him but for all of the Dark Followers. He could only imagine what things she knew or could find out, with her family and friends being who they were. Alice wouldn't know anything about this at all of course. Besides, in his mind, Andrei was only helping a little lost girl finally find her right path.

"You don't have to tell me about that. You're not the only one with a reputation to withhold", he said with a sigh. Something it was difficult being a part of the Dolohov family, but he learned it has brought him more good than bad. "You don't have to do that you know, follow someone's path. Make your own. It's your life anyway. Not your family's. You should live the way you want to. And as for your parents, wear the necklace I gave you. You'll see how well it works.", said Andrei with a wink.

Alice sighed when he said that. She had to admit, he was right. She shouldn't let anyone dictate the way she lives her life. She should make her own decisions and decide what she wants to do on her own. But then again that was a lot easier said than done. "I know...You are right. But...It's just complicated. It's not like my family makes me do anything they just...point me in a certain direction I would say" said Alice. Even as she said it though, she doubted her own words. Sure her parents never explicitly told her to do anything that wasn't good for her, but there was certainly a tight road she had to follow. Dueling with Gryffindors, going to the forbidden forest and hanging around with Slytherins definitely wasn't part of that road.

"It's just difficult" she said shrugging her shoulders. Besides, if she would stand up against her parents, what would she stand up for? She didn't know what she wanted from her life. She didn't know what was right for her. That was probably the biggest reason she didn't mind them telling her what she should do.

She laughed when he mentioned the necklace protecting her from her parents, doubting that it was that good. "Not to disrespect your necklace or anything, but not even Merlin himself could save him from my parent's anger. I can guarantee that. But why not, I'll try" she said with a smile.

He imagined this girl didn't really have an experience of fighting for something before. She was given everything and anything she wanted in life. This was the case with most children born into rich and well-known families such as hers. And he was sure Alice was no exception. Now if she was going to be any use to him, that certainly had to change. She had to learn how to fight to get what she wanted and work hard for it as well.

"It's not that difficult when you know exactly what you want. Is it hard? Definitely. Sometimes even seems impossible. But knowing that this particular choice is right for you and doing everything to protect your right to it, is the most gratifying thing you can hope for. Worth it in the end", said Andrei nodding his head.

"I believe you are seriously undermining my ability to cast a protection charm. I'm offended in a way", he said laughing. Andrei knew that if Alice was wearing his necklace all the work he had put into this now would be worth it. It was a long way to go, but he would have to take it slowly, once piece at a time. "Just try it out and you'll see what I mean. You might be surprised" Andrei added through a smirk.

"As I said, it is difficult when you don't really know what you want from life" she said shrugging her shoulders. Alice actually envied people who knew what they wanted since the day they were born. And not just job wise, but in every other sense as well. It must feel nice when you shape your life exactly the way you want it on your own. But since she didn't know what she wanted, she allowed her family or friends to help her in this and guide her towards what she should want. She didn't even mind this at all, to her it was helpful. But she never got to experience that complete freedom of choice. Never even cared about it before. Now however, the whole idea seemed very appealing. But she was still lost as ever. Maybe simply taking it one step at a time was the answer for her.

"If I did chose something I wanted, it probably wouldn't be too far from the box anyway. It would be something close to what was expected of me. That's the easiest way to go. Besides, I can't even imagine disappointing my parents in that way." Sure she sometimes did things that weren't actually smart choices but in the long run, she always followed the road her parents put in front of her. She was happy on that road, she felt comfortable and safe. Didn't even see any point in changing that when she was doing just fine on it.

"I'm not offending anyone, I am just saying. Well you never met my father so you couldn't really understand. He's wonderful, but he just worries too much about me. That's exactly why I know that he's going to freak out. But hey, I'll wear it just out of curiosity to test your spells" she said through a giggle.

Her story sounded like one he had heard many times before. It wasn't that different from his actually. Not like he had a lot of freedom in some of his life choices. Family tradition was simply something that had to be followed. Luck was on his side though as it ended up that his family tradition only helped him get to the place where he wanted to be. In Alice's case, it seemed it only slowed down her growth and potential. "Let me guess, overbearing mother and protective father?", he asked with a chuckle. This was too easy. Alice couldn't hind any emotions from her face, that was obvious. He could read her like an open book. "Well welcome to the club. It gets better with time, I can tell you that. Only if you stand up for yourself though. Helps them be less annoying if they figure out you are just fine by yourself".

A grin appeared on his face when she agreed to wear his necklace. This was exactly what he was hoping for. "Glad you are willing to try it out then. One more advice though. For your meeting with your parents tomorrow, just stand your ground. State your reasons and opinions and just don't seem to apologetic about the whole thing. The duel was your decision after all and I'm sure you had your reasons. So I don't see why you would have to apologize about it at all. If you think the same then just say it. Trust me, that makes things a lot easier.", he said trying to prove his point. If he could make Alice stand up to her parents, that would be the huge progress he was hoping for. And it might just happen very soon.

"That's pretty much the story of my life" said Alice rolling her eyes. She loved both of her parents of course, but sometimes she felt like they were protecting and controlling her way too much. Although on the other hand, they did have their reasons. Alice was sensitive. That was the truth and she couldn't run away from it. What she hoped was to change that for good. And Andrei's advice was certainly helping her to do exactly that. "Yeah, I never do that. When my mom yells at me it pretty much ends there, with her yelling at me. I'm not used to or supposed to talk back. I guess I always found it much easier to just keep my mouth shut. Because then the whole thing blows away much quicker. My brother was the one causing trouble in our house, and sometimes they would argue and shout for hours" said Alice.

Her brother was the troublemaker in the family, not her. And even he wasn't that keep on trouble. But for some reason, their parents trusted Frank more. No one followed him around to check on him at all times like her mother does with her. Maybe Andrei was right. Frank did stand up to their parents when he had to. Maybe that was a way to show that he could handle being on his own. The difference was, Frank actually was independent. Alice was no wear near it.

"I guess...Of course I had my reasons! One, she had started it first and I was only defending myself. And two, she not only insulted me, she insulted my whole family. That girl was asking for it, it wasn't my fault" said Alice with a frown. She didn't want to explain herself, because she didn't feel like she did anything wrong. "Not that my parents would agree to that. Or any of the professors. The only care that I broke the rules, nothing else. Well the world is not black and white."