He supposed he'd just never really noticed her before. She was in the year, below him, after all, and in Ravenclaw whilst he was in Gryffindor. But when they met for the first time, something just … clicked.

Chapter I – The Book Full Of Letters

Albus and Scorpius trudged through the thick white blanket of snow covering the path that led to Hogsmeade. The trees that flagged the route were but shadowy skeletons in an icy world against a black and white background. More snowflakes swirled down from the cloudy grey sky, and the biting wind left the two boys squinting. Both had wrapped up warm – it was cold, even for January.

When they reached the village, it was considerably deserted. Albus supposed that everybody was inside, only venturing outside when they needed to. As the boys continued on, they arrived at The Three Broomsticks. Scorpius indicated to the door and they ducked inside, where it was considerably warmer and alive with the sound of many people talking at once. Several fires burned intensely in their grates and there were only a few tables left. Albus' feet felt like blocks of ice, but he managed to shuffle to the bar and order two Butterbeers.

'Of course,' replied Madam Rosmerta, filling two tankards with hot, buttery liquid. He paid her six sickles, then weaved his way back towards Scorpius, who had found a tiny table in the corner of the bar (all the others were taken). He set down the frothy tankards and made himself comfortable opposite his best friend.

'So. You were going to tell me about that letter your dad sent you this morning,' prompted Albus.

'Oh yeah. Just going on about how disappointed he was that I chose to stay at the castle over Christmas, et cetera. I don't give a shit what he thinks, though. I mean, I got to spend weeks with Rose, just her and me undisturbed. And he expects me to not use that opportunity?' grumbled Scorpius.

'Well, the fact that he doesn't know about you and Rose may have some effect on the situation,' Albus reminded his friend.

'Oh, shut up!'

They sat in silence for a few minutes. When they had drained their tankards, they made for the door.

'Honeydukes?'

'Good for me.'

The howling wind was bitter against their faces as they hurried across the road to the colourful, brightly lit sweetshop. Honeydukes, like the Three Broomsticks, was heaving with people, mostly Hogwarts students. Pushing his way through the noisy crowd, Albus found himself face to face with a wooden shelf labelled 'Acid Pops'. He turned and held up one of the sweets, calling to Scorpius.

'You should give these to your Dad, that'd be a laugh! Can you imagine burning a hole through his tongue?'

'Yeah, that would shut him up! It would be great … he wouldn't be able to have a go at me. But I mustn't allow myself the pleasure.'

Albus grinned. He and Scorpius enjoyed having a go at Scorpius' father, Draco, whom they both disliked greatly.

The boys browsed the stock for a while, occasionally stopping to pick something up. When the number of people in the shop refused to diminish, Albus and Scorpius left Honeydukes, both with pockets bulging with treats they had bought.

The dark-haired boy shivered in his jumper and pulled his scarf tighter around him as a snowy owl, camouflaged in the blinding whiteness of its surroundings, swept high above them, a letter tied to its leg. The falling snow began to turn to sleet as the pair began the hike back up to the castle.

That was the moment when they heard a small yelp of surprise from behind them. Albus turned to see a girl lay splayed on the floor, surrounded by pieces of parchment.

Hurrying to help her, he couldn't help but notice that she was a rather pretty girl. She had long dark hair that fell down her back and beautiful big brown eyes that studied Albus carefully as he approached.

'Do you, um, would you like some help?' He held out his hand.

'Oh, yeah, thanks.' She took his outstretched hand as he pulled her up. 'I slipped on the ice. Oh no …' The girl had just looked down at the snowy ground beneath her, which was strewn with the pieces of parchment. At a closer look, they looked more like … letters.

'Here, I'll help.' Albus began picking up the letters, which were damp from the melted snow. The ink had begun to run and the parchment were soggy, but with a quick mutter of a hot air charm he dried them off before too much damage could be done. Albus handed the letters back to the girl and she smiled at him.

'Thank you.'

Once all of the letters had been collected, she pulled out a worn leather book cover which was devoid of pages from the pocket of her fluffy brown coat. Albus looked at her enquiringly but she just carried on with what she was doing, pulling out her wand.

'Reparo,' she whispered anxiously, as if she only half expected something would happen.

The letters miraculously stuck themselves back into the book.

'I've never been much good at that spell. Hopefully it'll work better this time. But, um, yeah, thank you very much for helping me. I should probably get going. Oh, and my name's Aoife. Nice to meet you.'

'Ee-fa,' Albus tried out the name; he liked the sound of it. It felt nice in his mouth. 'I'm Albus. Hopefully I'll see you around again someday, Aoife.'

And then she was gone, and Scorpius was at his side, asking,

'Who was that?'

And Albus simply replied,

'Aoife.'

Competitions:

The Multichap Competition by sangkar – prompt: 'someone with at least one line of dialogue must pick up, or hold a book'.

A Trip To Hogsmeade Challenge by xThe Painted Lady – prompts: wooden, owl, stock, scarf, jumper, bitter, taken, pull, parchment, high, icy

And thanks for the truly amazing beta-ing by aimz66!

I hope you liked it! Jasmine