Alice leant back slightly in her seat and turned her head to one side, so that she could just see the girl in question out of the corner of her eye. "I'd hardly call her a girl," she said, but Draco wasn't listening to her. Still staring at the back of Hermione's head, he bent himself further over his food, straining his eyes to look up under his hood. He saw her approach the display counter at one end, then exchange a few words with the woman at the till. She turned round, and Draco hurriedly stared down at his plate, lest she should sense him looking at her.
"D'you think we should leave?" Alice said quietly. "I mean, she does look pretty mean to me. D'you reckon she'd try and take you away in broad daylight?"
"I don't know," Draco muttered, stealing a glance at where Hermione was now sat, browsing the laminated menu. "If we get up, she'll see me."
Alice pretended she was examining the cheap, fluorescent art work on the wall by Hermione's head. "Maybe," she murmured. "But she's got her back to you, if we went quickly she might not recognise -"
She stopped suddenly, as Hermione's face swung round to stare at the pair of them. Alice continued to gaze at the artwork, then glanced at the woman staring her straight in the face. She shrugged, and gave a look that clearly asked 'What are you looking at?', before turning back to Draco and lifting a chip from her plate. "She's sure got fierce eyes… is something wrong with her?"
"Yeah," Draco said quietly. "She's got a cold."
Alice shook her head. "That's one Hell of a cold," she muttered. She munched on the chip, wrinkling her nose slightly. "Cold," she said, then, "Hang on…" she stared round at the counter, where an old man was ordering a cup of coffee, then looked back at Draco's bent head.
"Right," she began, "I'm going to go up there and cause a diversion, yell at them about my cold chips, and you're going to sneak out the door as soon as you're sure she isn't watching you." Alice threw another glance at Hermione, who was now sitting, waiting patiently for the waitress to take her order.
Draco looked uneasily at her. "Are you sure…?" he asked.
"Positive," she said. "You just wait round the corner in the alleyway next to that hat wear shop, and I'll be out in a minute. Most they'll do is throw me out, I expect; well, I was never going to pay for it anyway."
Alice stood up and made her way to the counter, just as the old man was shuffling back to his seat. She placed her hands on the plastic worktop next to the till, and leaned forward towards the bleach-blonde woman who had served them earlier, the woman leaning as far back as she deemed polite in reaction. "Look," Alice said in a loud voice. "When I order fish and chips I want them to be hot - that's freezing cold! Have all your heaters broken down or what? I'm not paying for that! And another thing -!" She continued her rant as the blonde-haired woman continued to frown, while Draco flicked his eyes across to Hermione, who was watching the scene with a mildly interested expression on her face.
He couldn't risk another second. Alice could be thrown out at any moment, and that would mean the avidly watching crowd would move their eyes from the counter and see him. He stood up, and not making a backward glance walked speedily to the door, opened it and exited, just while Alice was getting into her stride.
He dashed out to the pavement, spotted Georgie's Hat Emporium a few shops down and ran into the alleyway next to it. He leant against the dank, dirty wall, the smell of a nearby skip turning his empty stomach. He let his head fall back, and closed his eyes.
A footstep in a puddle, the swish of a cloak. "Hello, Draco," whispered a woman's voice.
"Drake! Drake!" Alice launched herself round the corner into the alley, her breath coming in short gasps. "I didn't even wait for them to throw me out - she left too and - and…"
"…I used a glamour, you stupid boy - only you could see me as that dirty little mudblood." It was a hissing, stinging voice, as though the woman was screaming at him while hardly moving her lips. "It's what you should have used when you first escaped, you fool! Then they wouldn't have found you!"
Alice straightened up, brushing her long, matted hair out of her eyes. She felt as though her insides had completely deflated. She was too late.
Her hooded friend was pinned against the wall by a skeletal hand gripping his neck. The woman that she had seen in the café, the woman with the stark white features and the glaring black eyes had now turned those burning pits of ebony on her. The woman's raven black hair gleamed in the dim light as she tossed it over her shoulder, a look of disgust on her face as she viewed Alice's wretched form.
"Don't -" Draco gasped, he too was staring at Alice, though his look was pleading. "Alice - run - she'll -"
"Quiet!" the woman snapped, and it was a hard, cold sound. "Filthy little Muggle, did you really think you could help him escape from us?"
Alice frowned, "Are - are you talking to me?" she said, a sliver of her old defiance visible in her tone. "What's a Muggle? Drake, what does she -?"
"Drake!" The woman let out a high-pitched cackle, and turned her gaze back to the boy struggling under her grip. "What a clever little boy you are," she jeered. "Though not clever enough!"
"Alice - please - run!"
"Alice," the woman drawled. "That’s a very pretty name." She gave a false smile, and Alice felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck. She's not human… she can't be… those eyes… so wide… so - mad...
"You said she was looking for you," Alice said, staring right at Draco, trying not to look at the woman's leering face. "You didn't say she would hurt you -"
"What's this, Draco?" The woman snapped her head round to look at the boy, then dropped her hand so that he slipped several inches before his feet hit the ground.
"I - I thought it was someone else -" Draco muttered, his face entirely apologetic. It began to rain, heavy drops splashing into the alley, soaking his hood - her hood. "I'm so sorry, Alice - I'm so - I didn't know, she used some sort of disguise -"
"What?" Alice's frown deepened. "Drake - Draco - what are you talking about? Who is this woman?"
"This woman indeed!"
"Alice, please, just run!" The rain was hammering down harder now, making it difficult to hear over the sound. "Get out or she'll -"
"I'm losing patience!" the woman shrieked. She shot out a hand and shoved Draco back against the wall, then reached inside the long black cloak draped around her, and pulled out a thin wooden stick.
Alice put her head on one side and stared at it for a few seconds. A stick? A wooden stick, what is she going to do with -
A sharp, icy hiss broke into her thoughts. "Avada kedavra!"