ALBUS POV

I had woken up for the fifth time that night, beginning to get extremely annoyed at Scorpious, as he tossed and turned, muttering 'Rose' and 'Beautiful' over and over and over again. It was distracting and was keeping me up.

"Scorp!" I whispered. "Scorp!" I said, a little more harshly. "SCORPIOUS MALFOY!" I said loudly, and that sure as hell woke him up.

"What?!" He groaned, not giving me time to answer before rolling over and falling back asleep. I sighed and turned over to look at the clock. 7 am. I thought this was a sufficient time to wake up, as breakfast started soon. I rolled out of bed, wandering to the bathroom to tame my hair and get washed.

When I emerged about 10 minutes later, Evan and Flynn had gone, and Scorpious was slumped on his bed, fully clothed in his clothes, but still asleep. I had lost hope.

I walked over to his bed and shook him roughly by the shoulders, something my dad would not be proud of. My mum on the other hand probably would. "Scorpious!" I yelled, and he shot up and out of his bed quicker than a nimbus 2100. He looked startled as I stood there staring at him, then he ran a hand through his hair and began to walk towards the stairs. Ok then.

We plodded down to breakfast, and saw Lorcan sitting at the Ravenclaw table, looking extremely nervous. I rolled my eyes; he had put himself in this position, and was definitely going to get himself out of it. Stupid Jordan.

We sat down, and began talking to him, just as the girls walked over, Manon's face falling as she saw Lorcan sitting there. I don't blame her; he had just asked some slut instead of her.

Rose began explaining the intense details of the shopping trip, Heather just rolling her eyes. It was such a Heather thing, and it made my stomach do flips. Which was also highly annoying.

We were mid discussion of the coming Christmas at the burrow, and the fact Rosie had invited Manon and Heather, when Lorcan just decided to pounce on us that Jordan was coming as well. I internally winced at Manon's facial expression, looking hurt and then just downright angry. Everyone had shocked faces on.

"She's not even family?" I said, mentally slapping him.

"Yes well neither are Heather, Manon or Scorpious, but they're coming" Lorcan muttered, clenching his teeth at mentioning Manon. She just got up and stormed out, after saying something to Roxy, not looking back. Then the best thing happened.

Jordan came over.

"Good morning!" She beamed at the boys, after Heather and Rose left. Roxy was in the process of leaving, but something changed her mind, as she turned back around, picking up her pumpkin juice.

She then dumped the contents on Lorcan's head. Then she stomped out as well, and Scorpious and I struggled to contain our laughter.

"What a bitch! Aw, look at you!" Jordan said, using her cuff to wipe the worse of the juice off his hair, causing Lorcan to grimace. I also began to hate her even more after calling my cousin a bitch.

"So, what's the deal with your weird friends huh? You are all good looking guys, why on earth do you hang out with them, hm?" Jordan squeaked, resting her head in her hands, leaning forward slightly and revealing a little too much.

"You mean Rose, Manon, Roxy and Heather?" Scorpious questioned.

"Yeh, whatever their names are" She said, fiddling with Lorcan's jacket collar. "The odd Quidditch one, oh and that ginger one, eugh, she's so annoying!"

This set an inner fire off inside Scorpious, as I saw his jaw clench, and he glared at her, not saying anything, because Lorcan shot him a pleading look.

"And that weird one with blue hair? Manon? Like, does she even look in the mirror in the morning?" Jordan laughed, a high pitched evil sound, and I noticed Lorcan's teeth clench as well, shaking his head slightly. What was she doing, purposely insulting our friends?

"Oh and of course! That nerdy blonde one? Thinking she's so smart, what a loser!" That was it. I was gone. I clenched and unclenched my fists; she had stepped over the line with that one. I don't quite know what had come over me, as I felt an odd strong sense of responsibility for Heather, though I knew that she was perfectly capable of defending herself.

We all sat there for a good five minutes in a weird silence, which involved Jordan attempting to sit on Lorcan's lap, but he was having none of it, pushing her off firmly. She sulked, and then decided it was time for her to go to Hogsmeade, calling out to her friends. Finally. Lorcan and Scorpious breathed out, and I unclenched my fists.

"My god, Lorc. What have you got yourself into?" Scorpious breathed, looking genuinely scared for our friend.

Lorcan just shrugged, and excused himself to go to the bathroom to clean up, still having pumpkin juice dripping off him, insisting we meet him before we leave, at the exit.

Lorcan came out around 10 minutes later, taking his time, and was wrapped up in his Ravenclaw scarf. Scorpious kicked some of the crisp snow on the ground, and we set off for Hogsmeade.

When we arrived, Lorcan mentioned he wanted to go to Honeydukes to stock up on peppermint creams, and Droobles gum, so we made a visit to the sweet shop. I browsed carelessly through the shelves stacked high with all sorts of flavoured sweets, I began to wonder what Heather's favourite was. I remember her mentioning Bertie Bott's, but I shook my head, why was I thinking of her? She barely liked me.

Lorcan purchased his much loved peppermint creams, and I decided on a chocolate frog, and found I had got the card of Albus Dumbledore, my namesake.

We trudged in a comfortable silence to the three broomsticks, munching thoughtfully on my chocolate frog, and we passed the dress shop, which was now quite empty apart from a small group of girls.

"Why are you reading muggle books? How filthy" I was the only one who heard this, Lorcan and Scorpious chatting. I knew it was Jordan. I stopped outside the shop, looking through the glass, and spotted Heather in a chair, reading a book, typically. Then I realised Jordan had just called heather filthy. I felt the familiar rise of anger in my stomach, and Lorcan and Scorpious had also stopped to listen.

"Oh do us all a favour and piss off, Jordan" Heather moaned. I snorted at her reply, and felt the fire of rage flicker out.

I heard a high pitched squeak, as Jordan turned on her 6-inch heel and stomped towards the exit of the door, and towards us. Lorcan looked suddenly extremely panicked, and I smirked. Whatever came his way, he deserved it. I cut him some slack, however, as he was my friend. I pushed us all into Three Broomsticks, narrowly missing an encounter with Jordan. We slumped down in a booth, removing our scarves.

"Bloody freezing" Scorpious muttered. I nodded in agreement, Lorcan just looked pained.

"What's wrong, Lorc?" I asked as he genuinely looked ill.

"Nothing" He said, brightening up.

"Good, It's the Quidditch term cup tomorrow, and I am determined to beat Hufflepuff" Scorpious said, rubbing his hands together maliciously. I smirked at his competitive side, which he got from his father.

"On the other hand, you should really be excited for Christmas at the burrow!" I smiled, feeling a flurry of excitement; it was my favourite time of year. "Also Grandma Molly says she is throwing a New Year's party, in honour of our extra guests, so be prepared for that as well" I was really looking forward to this Christmas.

Lorcan began to cheer up a bit at this remark; I knew it was his favourite time as well.

"What's happening with my sister and your brother, do you know?" I questioned, because I hadn't heard much from Lily or Lysander.

"Oh I know he asked her to the Yule Ball" I grimaced "and that he asked her to be his girlfriend" Lorcan finished. "I have no idea what her reply was though" He added, pondering slightly, running a hand through his hair.

I hadn't really heard much from either of my siblings, to be honest, in the past few weeks. Oh well, I thought, they can get on with whatever their doing.

We drained the last of our butterbeers, and stood up and began to put our scarves back on, to venture into the snow storm which was taking place.

As we were on our way back, I noticed a small blonde figure, looking for something in the snow. I noticed it was Heather, and that her pack of friends had walked back without her. I gestured to Lorcan and Scorpious to go ahead, and that I would be there soon.

I jogged over to where Heather was searching, and I noticed she had no gloves or scarf on. She must be freezing, I thought.

"Hey Heather, what are you looking for?" I asked, reaching her. She spun round, and I noticed how adorable she looked with snowflakes dotted in her hair, concealed by a beanie, and snow caught in her eyelashes, her blue eyes sparkling.

"Oh, hey Al, I just dropped my necklace and I can't find it" She said, continuing to rummage through the snow.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a gold shiny object, sitting in a patch of fresh snow. I smiled, walked over and picked it up. Dusting the snow off of it, I could see there was a tiny gold 'H' charm dangling in the middle.

"This what you're looking for?" I smirked, holding up what I had just found.

"Yes! Thank you!" She said, picking up her book, and held out her cold hands for it. I then remembered she wasn't wearing a scarf and I was.

"Do you want to borrow my scarf? You look freezing" I said, about to take it off.

"No, no it's fine. I just misplaced mine" She shrugged. I remembered I was still holding her necklace, and gestured for her to turn around, so I could put it back on her. I thought it was the gentlemanly thing to do, so I did.

She gave in and turned, and I lifted up her blonde hair, and fastened the necklace quickly, removing my hands hurriedly. She turned back around, smirking at my clear awkwardness.

I shoved my hands in my pockets, and we made our way back towards the castle, as it was nearly time for dinner.

"I, erm, heard what Jordan said to you in the shop" I muttered.

"You did? Oh she is such a skank" Heather groaned. I chuckled at her obvious displeasure in Lorcan's new girlfriend.

We continued in a comfortable silence, and got back to the castle, just in time.

We were sitting at dinner, when a commotion ran out through the first years, murmurs of 'they're here' were echoing throughout the hall. McGonagall gave her little speech, and through the doors burst Durmstrang Institute, clad in travelling cloaks and black boots, and they were followed by Beauxbatons Academy, who walked in, the girls of the school had every boy drooling. How pathetic.

I turned my attention to the Ravenclaw table where Manon was being asked by a Durmstrang boy to pass him a dish, and further down I saw Lorcan fuming. Oh this was hilarious.

I turned back to the Gryffindor table, seeing Heather in deep conversation with Roxy, and watching her chattering, I felt my stomach to a rapid somersault, and that's when I realised something.

I did like her.

A lot.