Chapter III – Spiking The Pumpkin Juice

Aoife had gone in a bit of a hurry. Even though she had said she wasn't offended, Albus was worried that she might have been slightly upset about what he had said. Anyway, he'd better send the letter to his dad quickly because it was pretty chilly.

By the time he had sent his letter, Albus was already wishing that she hadn't left that quickly. He really liked her – she was a nice girl, but she also seemed complicated, as if she was hiding something. Life didn't seem so perfect for the dark-haired girl, yet she just wasn't ready to share it with anybody: or so it seemed. Albus may be good at judging what people were thinking, but it wasn't always easy.

He wanted to know more about her. But what could he suggest? … A walk together. Even though the weather was cold, the sun was shining brightly – with lots of layers on, it could be quite an enjoyable experience.

But then there was the problem of trying to ask her. Again, his disappointment that she had left so quickly returned. He could have asked her then, but it was too late now – he didn't exactly see himself running after her. He didn't even know where she was set off for. He assumed Ravenclaw Tower, but he couldn't be sure. What if he ended up wandering the corridors with no idea where she was? That would just be ridiculous.

He'd have to send a letter. Suggesting that they could meet up … next weekend? No – next weekend was Valentine's Day. He didn't like Aoife in that sort of way, did he?. How embarrassing.

He'd suggest the weekend after. That would be great – it might have even warmed up a bit by then. Albus smiled to himself as he walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Hello Aoife. It's Albus. Remember me? …

Hi! I'm Albus; you know, the one …

Hey Aoife!

I was wondering: would you like to perhaps go for a walk the weekend after next? If you do, I'll meet you at three in the Entrance Hall on Saturday. It's okay if you don't though.

From Albus.

He wasn't exactly happy with his letter-writing skills, but they would have to do. Now all he had to do was give the note to Lysander – the quiet boy was, after all, in the same house and year as Aoife. It also helped that Albus also knew where to find him. The library.

Lysander was, as usual, sitting right in the corner of the library, probably reading about some sort of obscure creature that most probably lived in Outer Mongolia, for all Albus knew. But it was Lysander's interest so it didn't really bother Albus like it did with others.

The black-haired boy tapped the blonde on the shoulder, and he looked up from his book. Handing him the message, Albus asked,

"Hey Lysander – will you deliver this to a girl called Aoife, please? I think you have your lessons with her."

"Yep," Lysander replied, smiling. "She'll have it by dinner."

"Thanks," Albus grinned.

Albus sat with Scorpius, Rose, James, Fred and Louis at the Gryffindor table for dinner. About ten minutes after he had settled down, Albus realised that James, Fred and Louis were smirking at each other and throwing glances at the Slytherin table every thirty seconds.

Rose seemed to have noticed too. "What have you done to the Slytherins this time?" she asked scathingly, eyebrows raised. "Spiked the pumpkin juice?"

"Nah," James said mischievously, "We spiked the pumpkin juice this morning, with some of Uncle George's U-No-Poo. We timed it perfectly so as for maximum effect about now." There was a glint in his eyes as he noticed that Roxanne, who had previously been sitting not very far from him, had now moved to the other end of the table, throwing worried glances at the three of them to show that she was slightly worried of what might happen. Her experience with the stuff that the trio were so very fond of hadn't been that pleasant.

Sure enough, quite a few of the Slytherins about half way down the table were looking rather pained. And even Albus had to put his hand over his mouth to stop him from laughing out loud when some of them stood up abruptly and ran off, clutching their buttocks.

"You know, you really should stop pulling pranks on them." Rose's tone was scolding, but a small smile was playing on her lips.

"Aw, come on, you have to admit that that was kind of funny," James grinned. The group of them all burst out laughing.

After the whole 'U-No-Poo' episode at dinner, Albus was almost out of the Great Hall before he remembered about the message he had sent Aoife. What if she said no? Oh god …

He had to find Lysander – this proved to be quite difficult when he became aware of the mass of people that surrounded him. It'd be quite hard to find him amongst this chaos.

"Lysander!" He called out. "Lysander!"

"Hey," said a voice not very far away. But that wasn't Lysander's voice. That was …

"Oh, hey Aoife," replied the green-eyed boy, flustered. "Did you, um, get my note?"

"Yeah, I did," Aoife smiled. "And I was thinking … yes. I'd love to come and have a walk with you. Because, you know, it's not like a date or anything, right?"

"Nope. Nothing of the sort. Just a casual friendly walk, if that's okay by you."

"Yep, definitely. So I need to meet you at the Entrance Hall the weekend after next. Why not next weekend? Are you busy or something?"

"No … I just thought, it's Valentine's Day, and I didn't want you to, you know, get the wrong idea …" Albus hated how awkward the conversation was getting.

Aoife blushed scarlet. "I … see what you mean. Well, how about we ignore the whole Valentine's thing and go for a walk, as friends?"

"Go on, then," Albus replied. It was then that he realised that by now, everyone else had made their way back up to their common rooms and he and Aoife were the only people around. "Well … I better be going now," he said. The girl bit her lip.

"Okay. I should probably go to. Bye!"

Thanks so very much to the wonderful Ami (AlwaysPadfoot) for beta-ing this for me at such incredibly short notice. She's a lifesaver!