Alicia slipped on her favorite "I'm Dancing Away My Blues" dress. She'd never put it to the test for something as monumental as the deaths of her parents, but she'd never failed to have a good time while wearing it. Finding her black strappy heels, she put them on, and then shrugged on a cardigan as well. Grabbing her wand and her purse, she double checked her makeup, and smiled. She was going out with Katie tonight, and together they would dance until they couldn't imagine feeling more alive. It was good that way. Arming the wards of her flat, she Apparated away. She walked the path to Rose Cottage, smiling broadly when the puppies barked a welcome from inside as she walked up to the door. She knocked, waiting for Katie to answer it. How had she started not keeping a somewhat regular lunch date with Katie? They'd been out of habit while Katie was gone, and then the whole fiasco that had started off her... whatever it was... with Cormac had shamed her into hiding... But why hadn't she picked it up again when things with Cormac worked themselves out? No matter, she was here now, and more ready than ever before to spend the evening in her friend's company. She was past the point of needing consolation, and to the point of needing to keep busy and moving. Luckily, those were things she could almost always count on Katie to be up for.

As melancholy as she'd been the past week about hearing of Ali's horrible news concerning her parents, Katie was determined to make this a fun night for her friend. Alicia obviously wanted a few hours away from the sadness and Katie more than wanted to help with that.

Alicia was supposed to show up soon, and Katie was trying to finish putting her makeup on. Her eyes met Fred's in the mirror from where he was standing in the doorway, and she gave him a little smile before trying to block him out so she could concentrate on her mascara.

Fred smirked as Katie returned her attention to the mirror. He'd had no end of fun following her around as she got ready to go out; even watching her fiddle with the little tubes and sticks and pots of cosmetics was intriguing, and he knew he ruined her concentration by being within arm's length of wherever she was. Brief consideration had been given to telling her that she didn't need the paint and gloss and other things littering the counter, but she didn't wear them all the time, and he could tell she enjoyed the ritual of putting them on for a 'special' occasion.

When Pea started to bark, running circuits around the cottage, jumping on both her and Fred's legs, Katie knew that Alicia must be at the door. "She's here!" Katie said unnecessarily as she turned to Fred with wide eyes, before dodging around him and running barefoot for the door. She wasn't quite ready as Fred had been following her around and smirking at her every little step of the way.

She opened the door, a genuine smile pulling at Katie's lips as she took in her friend. "Ali, you look gorgeous." There was also a shadow behind her eyes that Katie was all too familiar with, but she'd not press it.

"No joke," Fred agreed as he caught up to Katie, having walked to the door instead of imitating her all-out race. He smiled faintly at Alicia over Katie's shoulder. "Simply smashing, Ali," he said by way of greeting, stepping back so both she and Katie could get into the house and out of the cold evening air.

Katie reached up on tip toes to wrap her friend in tight hug, giving her what support that she was capable of before pulling Alicia through the door. "Fred wanted to go out too. Is that alright Ali?"

"Alright? Of course it is. Honestly, do you think you really have to ask?" Alicia hugged her friend back, and then stepped inside the cottage, reaching down to pet the puppy that was wriggling excitedly at her feet. She lifted her eyes to Fred's and smiled. "Been a bit, Weasley, how have you been?" She smiled and brushed down her dress self-consciously. "Thanks for the compliments, you two. Kates, you look brill... That dress is phenomenal!"

Relieved that Alicia seemed to be holding herself together so well, Fred shrugged and answered, "Not too badly... the shop is doing well and I can't complain any about my free time." His attention was returned to Katie at Alicia's appraisal of the little silvery dress she was wearing, and he suppressed the several comments that wanted to escape at the opportunistic phrasing.

"Thanks Ali," Katie grinned, before her eyes widened again. "Oh! Not quite ready yet! Let me go get shoes and earrings and then we can go, yeah?" At Alicia's nod, Katie ran back down the hall, disappearing into her room.

As she dug around for her silver heels, a muffled shout sounded from the depths of her closet. "Eclipse okay!? It's a muggle club!" She didn't really expect an answer. She could barely hear herself in the stuffed little room.

Alicia smiled. A Muggle club sounded perfect. She could dance with any number of nameless guys to whom she was a nameless girl. She could forget all about everything for a while, and not have reporters hounding her as to why she'd missed half the practices this past week, or asking why she'd been seen with Dean Thomas more and more lately, and was there any credence to that other rumor... Sighing, she raked a hand through her hair. "I am so glad we're going out tonight," she murmured, more to herself than anything.

"It's a good way to forget, for a while," Fred agreed quietly, glancing over at Alicia from where he was lounging in the mouth of the hallway. It had been his own escape for the longest time, though he'd felt oddly unmotivated to go out of late. "I'm sorry, for what little it's worth. It's..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "I know the words don't matter."

Alicia met his eyes for a moment, and smiled. "I knew I'd be understood here. The words do matter, but actions are more, yeah? I'm glad you're going to come out too..." She allowed her eyes to flick towards Katie's room and her smile broadened. "She's a bit of joy for everyone, our Katie. We're lucky." A flicker in Fred's eyes spoke volumes, and Alicia smirked. "You might be a bit luckier than I, however." She knelt to pet the puppies again, happy for her friends, whatever joy they'd found in each other.

Fred nodded, a bit amused by Alicia's unexpected perceptiveness. "We are, at that. George used to say she was living sunshine." He found that he didn't mind someone besides Greg being aware of the changed relationship he had with Katie; he was happy with their new status, and she seemed to be - there was no reason to deny that there was something there.

Katie found the shoes she was looking for, a triumphant smile tugging at her lips as she emerged from the depths of her closet. Slipping her wand in a small silver clutch, she joined Fred and Alicia who were still standing by the door. "I found them," she grinned, holding up her treasures before leaning down to slip them on.

She made some last minute adjustments; pulling at her dress and trying to tame her hair after having had a safari in her closet. Looking from Fred to Ali and back, she asked, "Ready then?"

Alicia nodded. She had found herself incredibly lucky this past week. Her team had been dropping off meals all week, Dean had been wonderful, Angie had offered to get her drunk, Cormac... He'd been really decent. And now she was going to go out dancing with Katie and Fred. She smiled at the two of them. "You guys are all over awesome, you know that, right?" She nearly laughed at the look on Fred's face, and grinned at the blush that tinged Katie's cheeks. "Let's go dance until we can't think. That's my plan, at least."

Katie glanced at Fred, and at his nod she took Alicia's hand, giving it a little squeeze. "I think we can do that Ali. No thinking for tonight, promise," she smiled softly before Apparating them both with a soft 'pop.'

{Summary: Fred and Katie help Alicia live like a Fraggle.}