The students seemed to have forgotten that their were assigned tables. They mixed up in all of the tables. Albus made his way towards the Slytherin table, when someone grabbed his arm. Albus looked down at his sister in confusion.
"Come sit with us, Albus!" Lily begged, gesturing to the Gryffindor table. Albus hesitated.
"Come on, Albus!" James called from the table."
"Okay," he relented. "Come on guys, we're sitting at this table."
"Eeeek!" Parisa squealed in delight. "Yay!" She sat down next to James, who grinned. Sabrina rolled her eyes, but Bella just smiled and shook her head.
Albus sat next to Lily, across from James. Scorpius sat on the other side of him, across from Parisa. Katrina sat on the other side of James, across from Lily. Bella sat next to Scorpius, and Sabrina sat across from her, next to Parisa.
James leaned towards Katrina.
"You single?" Katrina rolled her eyes.
"Not interested." Parisa batted her eyelashes.
"I am." James grinned and put his arm around her. Albus rolled his eyes.
Rose sat on the opposite side of the table as Albus, a few people down from Katrina. Albus noticed her and Scorpius exchange glances, but they quickly looked away.
"What is going on between you two?" Albus demanded.
"Well, like I told you-"
"I know what you told me and it's garbage. You are obviously still head over heels for Rose, and if I'm not mistaken, Rose is crazy about you, so why don't you two stop being stupid and just get together already?"
"Albus, there are so many factors that you don't understand-"
"You're right, I don't understand!"
"Yah, for once, Albus is right," Katrina agreed.
"Hey," Albus complained.
"Oh, shut it, you dummy." Albus squinted and stuck his tongue out at her. She stuck her tongue back.
"You shut it," Albus retorted.
"No you shut it,"
"No you shut it,"
"No you shut it,"
"No you shut it,"
"No you shut it,"
"No you-"
"Both of you shut it!" Scorpius commanded, exasperated. "Merlin's beard, you two are like children."
"Don't insult my intelligence," Albus said in mock offense. "I AM a child." Katrina rolled her eyes.
"That's believable."
"Thank you," Albus stated huffily, and Katrina laughed.
"You big baby." Albus ignored her. Bella and Scorpius shared a glance.
They stuffed themselves full with chicken and potatoes and fruit and pie and pudding. Slowly, people trickled out of the hall, until there was only a handful of people left. Katrina and Albus exited the room, and stopped at the steps that led to the grounds. They sat on the steps and talked.
"Are we going to talk about what happened in the hallway earlier?"
"I'm not sure what happened. Really, It could have been a teacher making sure kids weren't where they weren't supposed to be."
"But you told us to hide. You knew something."
"I just had a feeling, that's all. It was probably nothing." She didn't look convinced, but something else caught her eye. "What's that?" Albus looked up, where she was looking. In the eaves above them, a plant with white blossoms had sprouted.
"Look at that, some jokester put mistletoe up there." There was an awkward silence and they looked at each other, each wondering what to do. Finally, Katrina leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
"Goodnight." And with that she was gone, down the hall off to where the other Beauxbatons students were sleeping, leaving Albus slightly stunned. After a few minutes of sitting there amid the falling snow, stunned and paralyzed, he stood up, brushed himself off, shoved his hands in his pockets, and walked off towards the Slytherin common room, the ghost of a smile plastered on his face.