Song of the day: David Bowie - letters to Hermione

By now Autumn had given way to the harsh Scottish winter.

The black lake had frozen over and the Whomping Willow had shed its dead leaves, but the wild tree was by no means hibernating. Despite the fact that the cold reached the students' bones, causing sharp chills to rack their bodies, the mood was not gloomy at Hogwarts, rather it was joyous. Since the arrival of the snow many of the students had degenerated into younger versions of themselves. It was peculiar but snow had the power to cause one to regress into a state of child- like wonderment.

Alice skipped her way down to the quad where a couple of first year Hufflepuffs were building a snowman. She found herself smiling as she watched them, for their eyes shone with happiness and their excited laughter was infectious. Leaning against a nearby pillar, Alice soon felt something cold touch her face. She tilted her head up to gaze at the murky, grey clouds. Soft flakes of snow drifted lazily down from the heavens and Alice found herself stretching out to touch the crystallised ice. It was like Hogwarts was a miniature castle in a snow globe. The towers and spirals of the castle looked as though they were dusted with icing sugar.

You could no longer distinguish time as the mornings looked just like the afternoons for the sky remained constantly overcast, but this did not dampen anyone's spirits.

The ground was nothing more than a white expanse of snow, stretching as far as the eye could see and looking almost like unfolded angel's wings.

Suddenly Alice felt those all too familiar arms wrap around her waist yet she still jumped.

Frank chuckled. "Still not use to my surprise attacks?"

Alice then hugged him back. "Well as much as I love them Frank, no I haven't."

He then pressed his lips to her cheek as he held her closer to his chest. The couple soon lapsed into comfortable silence as they both watched the first years, who were by now struggling to place the head onto their snowman.

After a few minutes Alice twisted around in his embrace. She giggled as she saw Frank's face because the tip of his nose was bright pink as well as his ears.

Alice rubbed her gloved hand over Frank's nose. "Aww you've got a cold nose."

He grinned in response before catching her hand and holding it to the side. The mirth in the Frank's eyes soon faded into a passionate intensity. Alice mirrored his gaze and soon she found herself standing on her tip toes, moving closer to him. Their shallow breaths mingled and came out in small puffs of white cloud. Alice's eyes then closed as their lips met. Despite how many times they had kissed there was still hesitation on both parts.

Alice trembled as Frank held her face between his hands so that he could deepen the kiss. Her body was responding on its own accord as she found herself pressing into the hard contours of his body. Her cheeks were scorching hot and sharp tingles coursed through her muscles. Alice then teasingly pulled away from Frank only to have him dive back down for more.

The cold no longer bothered the pair as their senses were consumed by the sweet smells of each other and the feel of their tender lips battling for control.

The couple even forgot that they were in the Quad as they were so absorbed in each other, that is until something solid and frigid hit Frank's side. They jumped apart and Alice squealed, whipping around to see Sirius walking towards them.

"Honestly you two are scarring little children" he shouted. It was only now that Alice came to notice the horrified first years who had finished constructing their snowman and they were now staring at her.

Remus soon came into view along with James, who was carrying a giggling Lily on his back.

Alice then watched as Frank scooped up a handful of snow and moulded it into a ball before hurling it at Sirius. He skilfully dodged it which irritated Frank until a snowball hit his chest.

Frank grinned at Alice. "Nice shot."

In no time at all the snowball fight between Sirius and Frank had blown into a full on war.

There were now two low walls of snow constructed on either side of the Quad. The first years had fled to a safer part of the castle whilst the entire Gryffindor house had descended upon the Quad. There were two teams; Frank, Alice and Remus were on one side whilst Sirius, James and Lily were on the other.

The other Gryffindor's randomly joined either team but, to no surprise, Walter went to Sirius's team, so he had an excuse to aim at Frank.

After about 10 minutes Alice's coat was completely drenched from the number of times she had been hit. Alice peeped over the wall for a mere second but it was enough time for a snowball to just graze over her head. She quickly ducked back down and leant her back against the wall but snowballs continued to rain down around her.

Alice watched as Frank shuffled away from Remus and came towards her.

Giggling, she smiled at him. "Look what you've done."

Frank just grinned. "Are you ready?"

Alice nodded as she held a snowball in her hand as did he. "Three, two…," she counted down.

"One!" Frank shouted and they both stood up, lobbing their snowballs. Alice saw hers hit Sirius's head and Frank's flew In James's direction.

The couple laughed at their friends scowls before they were replaced with a look of determination. Too caught up in her mirth, Alice didn't notice the snowball that was coming her way.

She then felt Frank embracing her before a soft thud vibrated through him and into her body.

Alice's eyes shone as she gazed up at her boyfriend. "Aww you took a snowball for me," she cooed

Frank puffed out his chest. "Well I wasn't sorted into Gryffindor for nothing." He then took her hand and pulled her down behind the wall as an impish smile graced his lips. "You can thank me later."

All of a sudden all of the snowballs paused in the air. Alice pointed to the one above just above Frank's head which was frozen in the sky. Eh?

The two teams both stood up from behind their walls to see what was going on. There right in the middle of No Man's Land stood Professor McGonagall with her arms crossed.

"Everyone get to your classes. Now," she demanded before pointing to Frank and Sirius. "I have been informed by a pair of Hufflepuffs that you two were responsible for this."

Frank huffed as the head of house gestured for him to follow her.

He turned to Alice, rubbing his hand up and down her arm. "I'll see you later."

Alice just nodded before he and Sirius both disappeared.

She made her way towards the Gryffindor common room since she didn't have a class to go to. As Alice began to walk she began to shrug out of her coat. Then out of nowhere Walter appeared next to her.

She inwardly groaned before feigning a smile. Apparently having a boyfriend didn't stop him from persistently talking to her. "Hi Walter."

The sixth year beamed at her. "Hi."

Walter then paused for a moment. "Here I can dry that for you," he insisted as he eagerly took her sodden coat from her hands. Alice was about to protest but he was already drawing out his wand.

In his haste though the young wizard used the wrong spell. "In…"

It was like everything was in slow motion as Alice tried to grab her coat back but it was too late.

"…Incendio," Walter finished and in an instant her coat burst into flames around her. The sudden orange flare caused passersby to turn and gawp.

Horrified, Walter's eyes were bulging and he quickly turned to face her. "Oh…oh my god sorry…A… Alice…I didn't mean to do that," he stumbled over himself as he held up his hands. A few sixth year Gryffindor girls who had witnessed the incident gave Alice a sympathetic smile as they past her.

Alice gritted her teeth together, sure she knew that he was only trying to be helpful but Walter was really starting to grind away at her patience.

She forced a smile. "Its fine…I better go." Alice tried her level best to keep the edge of annoyance out of her voice but it came through despite her efforts. Walter looked like an injured puppy as he watched her hurriedly climb the stairs, muttering away to herself to keep calm.