A few weeks had passed and Hogwarts was clearly moving in to winter, the last leaves falling from the trees leaving only the icy branches behind. The ground had become harder, the grass covered with frost in the morning that almost looked like snow from the windows of the castle. As well as that, the many roofs of the castle becoming whiter with frost every day. Students were beginning to wear their scarves, the colour matching the colour of their houses, and rushing from building to building to avoid the biting winds. The grounds of Hogwarts began to get progressively emptier as people who used to relax outside in the autumn sun were now littering the hallways or the great hall instead in an attempt to stay warm, congregating around fireplaces.
However, an exception to people staying indoors was the big Quidditch game that day. Gyffindor and Slytherin had both been training and today was the day of their match, creating even more tension between the already feuding houses. Despite Alice hating the idea of flying, she somewhat enjoyed watching the sport, though she looked away if someone got injured.
The great hall was buzzing with excitement in the morning, especially the Gryffindor table, confident that they were going to bring home another win. Mostly, the students were slagging off Slytherin, but the favour was returned as the Slytherin students were giving the Gryffindor's the same treatment.
"Just try not to die, okay?" Alice asked Harry over breakfast. Of course she said it in a joking way, but she was always worried about her best friend. Considering who he was, she knew that he was a big target for the Slytherin beaters, and they wouldn't go easy on him.
"Don't worry about me, I'm the boy who lived, not the boy who died falling off a broom." He replied, a grin on his face. Alice rolled her eyes at him, she knew he was joking, he wasn't really a cocky person. It just amused Harry to joke around with the stupid titles that the press gave him.
"Keep that attitude up and you'll be the boy with no friends in a minute." She replied with a serious expression, making Harry laugh. Once breakfast was finished the group decided to head down to the pitch, careful not to slip on the icy courtyard as they crossed it. To prevent any potential mishaps, Alice linked her arm through Harry's. At the very least, she figured if she went down, he'd be going with her.
They made their way across the grounds, wind biting at their noses and painting their cheeks red. Instead of going straight to find seats, Alice and Hermione were stood at the tunnel where the teams enter the pitch, since they had both decided that they wanted to wish the boys luck just before they went on and find seats as the match began.
It was somewhat awkward as Ron and Hermione were in a weird state of not really talking, but luckily Harry and Alice were perfectly capable of carrying a conversation.
Harry was talking Ron through their tactics for the match, since Harry was the captain of the team, and while this was happening Alice discreetly pulled Ginny away from the conversation. Ginny was also a member of the Gyffindor team, and she was very good, which she attributed to growing up playing with her brothers.
"Do you have any idea where Lavender is?" Alice asked quietly to Ginny once they were far enough away from the others to not be heard. "Trust me, I'm not complaining that she's not here, I'm quite grateful for that actually, I just figured she'd be all over your brother at the minute."
"Well, she actually came up to me in the common room earlier..." A mischievous smile broke out on Ginny's face, Alice egged her on. "She had said she wanted to see Ron before he went on, but I didn't really want to put up with her, so I gave her the wrong directions. She should be in the men's loo right about now."
Alice couldn't stop a laugh from escaping and drawing a couple of eyes their way, Ginny couldn't look prouder.
"You, my friend, are a genius." Alice praised as they rejoined the group. Ginny nodded, grin still on her face as she agreed with the statement.
"I know." She responded with a wink. As the girls approached the group the laughter and talking stopped, Alice turned around to see the Slytherin team approaching, lead by none other than Malfoy.
Alice stood next to Harry, who was already glaring at his opposition. The entire teams were glaring each other down, actually. Clearly the feud between the two houses was as strong as ever.
"You know, Potter, you're not winning." Malfoy said matter-of-factly, his team mates nodded, agreeing with their leader. Smugness was practically oozing off of him, causing many Gryffindor's to scoff. "May as well give up now."
"Funny you should say that, Malfoy, because who has a history of winning between us?" Harry asked, the Gyffindor team making noises of agreement. It was now Malfoy's turn to scoff.
"Well, Potter, your luck is gonna run out sooner or later." He said smugly. Alice took a moment to have a better look at him. Even though he was acting like an arse, she couldn't deny how good he looked in a Quidditch uniform, green was definitely a good colour on him. His hair was pretty much perfect, even more so than usual, as if that was possible. He was leaning slightly on his broom, defining the muscles at the tops of his arms in a way that had Alice mighty distracted.
As Malfoy glared at Harry his eyes were cold, almost intimidating, Alice noticed that they weren't like that when it was just the two of them. He never had that horrible sneer on his face when it was just her around, which she definitely preferred to his current attitude.
Malfoy glanced over at Alice, not being able to keep his eyes off her even to glare down his enemy, and not liking how she looked standing next to Potter. A proud feeling arose in his chest to see that she was looking back at him, but his frown only worsened when she looked away again. As much as he didn't understand why it bothered him, Malfoy's only thoughts were she should be next to me.
"Oh, I don't think so, Malfoy." Harry chuckled, though it was devoid of any actual humour, before casually slinging his arm over Alice's shoulder. Malfoy saw this, and it was like he felt his blood boil. Alice could see his jaw clench, his hands made fists causing his knuckles to go white and his eyes filled with rage. It was actually quite a scary sight, causing Alice's eyes to widen.
Malfoy went to take a threatening step towards Harry, but stopped in his tracks when a loud whistle came from the pitch. The whistle called the players to walk on and begin the game, stopping whatever Malfoy was about to do.
Malfoy turned to walk down the tunnel, but not before sending one more deadly glare at Harry. If looks could kill, the boy who lived would be six feet under.
"Well," Ron said, breaking the silence. "Guess we should get out there."
"Right, listen everyone, you know what you're doing and I know you can do it, so just give it your all, okay?" Harry said encouragingly, turning to face his team. When everyone nodded back at him he smiled. "Brilliant, let's do this."
As the team began to walk off, Hermione and Alice decided to go and find their seats for the game. Luckily, Neville had saved two seats next to him as he knew that the girls would need some when they came up. Alice had grown to quite like Neville, he was thoughtful and kind, she was glad they were friends.
Although never having flown herself, Alice had always liked the Quidditch matches. Of course the sport was fun to watch, but the atmosphere was also amazing. The stadium, for one, was always a sight to see. Every student was wearing their houses colours, making the whole place vibrant, and the cheering if a team scored was almost deafening. Granted, it usually ended up giving Alice a headache, she still thought it was worth it.
Both teams mounted their brooms and rose in to the air, Malfoy and Harry glaring at each other the whole time. Alice wasn't even anywhere near them and she could still feel the tension radiating off of those two. Even though the cheers were coming from every house, it was clear that they were mostly supporting Gryffindor. Only the Slytherin house were supporting their own team.
The stadium roared as the match started, the competitors shooting around so quickly that at points Alice struggled to keep up, occasionally losing someone in the flurry of brooms only to see them again seconds later on the other side of the pitch. Whirring red and green figures flew around the pitch at lightning speeds, the respective supporters cheering when their team scored.
After about an hour long match, the game was ended when Harry caught the snitch. Nobody was surprised, Gryffindor did have a habit of beating Slytherin when it came to Quidditch, but that didn't stop the cheering only getting louder as Harry did a victory lap around the stadium. Although Alice was proud of her friend, and happy that Gryffindor won, she couldn't help but try and spot Malfoy on the field. Actually, she'd been watching him play since the beginning of the match, hardly watching her own team at all. Finally, she managed to spot him, but she could only see his back retreating as he stormed off the pitch. Part of her wanted to go and check on him, to see if he was okay since he seemed mad, but she knew that Hermione and Neville would wonder where she had ran off to.
Considering her options, she decided to check on him next time she saw him, maybe she could find him later, but for now she was happy cheering for her friends success and laughing as he raised his hands to the sky in victory.
---
"Yeah, I'll be back soon, have fun guys!" Alice yelled over the commotion of the Gryffindor common room, though it was so loud most people probably didn't even hear her. The entire house was celebrating Gyffindor's victory on the Quidditch pitch earlier today, everyone happy with the victory. Harry was trapped in a conversation with Neville about their favourite Quidditch teams, Ron had Lavender all over him and couldn't look more smug about it and Hermione and Ginny were gossiping in the corner. The rest of the house was talking excitedly, some doing Quidditch chants or waving their Gryffindor scarves above their heads in triumph.
Alice had stayed for the festivities for a while, congratulated her friends on the team for their win, spoken to people in her house, but she was getting a headache and the common room was loud. After discreetly getting her potions book and notebook and telling Harry where she was going, she slipped out of the portrait door and headed to the library.
Of course Alice was proud of her team, but the library was nice, quiet and gave her a fighting chance of actually concentrating. Somehow, she'd been managing to keep on top of the work for Slughorn's extra lessons, but that wouldn't keep happening if she didn't keep up her studying. Harry had offered her his cheat book, the one that belonged to 'The Half Blood Prince', whoever that was. In her opinion, Alice thought that that was a stupid name. Hermione had been trying to figure out who it could be, but she had had no luck yet, despite her hours of research.
Giving a warm smile to the librarian as she entered the library, Alice walked down the hallways filled with bookshelves and made multiple turnings to get to the little table that she liked so much last time. She liked how hidden away from other students it was, like her own little safety bubble. However, when she arrived, a certain blonde was already sat there.
"Hello clumsy, get lost on the way?" He asked, smirk on his lips. Alice rolled her eyes, hugging her books to her chest.
"Actually, Malfoy, I was going to do some studying, and I can find my way through a library." She replied, noticing that Malfoy had a book open in front of him.
"Look, I'm busy, so are you sitting or not?" He asked, smug smirk on his face. He had used the exact same words that Alice had used on him back. Rolling her eyes at what he did, she sat down none the less, opening both her potions book and her notes so that she could begin work.
They sat in silence for a short while, the only sound between them being Malfoy turning a page in whatever book he was reading, which caused Alice's curiosity to get the better of her.
"What're you reading?" Alice asked, pointing at the book that was open in front of Malfoy. He stopped reading and looked up, making eye contact with her, which almost made her forget what she'd asked him. His eyes were a gorgeous grey, and she found herself thinking that she'd be more than happy to stare in to them all day, but he broke her out of her trance by answering her question.
"It's a book about Quidditch tactics," He said, holding up the book to let Alice see the cover, which was an illustration of two people flying around on brooms throwing a quaffle between them. He placed the book back down. "Clearly, we need to brush up on some things. I'm not letting us lose again, especially not to Potter."
Alice scoffed quietly. There wasn't much distance between them due to the small table, occasionally their knees knocked in to each other, and it made both of them a tad flustered.
"Well, I wouldn't be much help with that." She replied, placing an elbow on the table and putting her head in her hand as she flicked through her potions book.
"And why's that? Too clumsy to ride a broom?" He asked, obviously he was trying to act normal, but he couldn't seem to stop looking at her. He wanted to take in every little detail of her face. He knew that he was being stupid, this was just some girl from Gryffindor, but his heart always beat faster when she was around and it was new to him. After a brief consideration, he decided that he liked the way she made him feel.
"I wouldn't know, I've never been on one." She admitted, Malfoy's eyes widened as if he didn't believe her, placing his book down in shock.
"What? How?" He asked, sounding surprised. Alice shrugged, being nonchalant.
"I just never wanted to, do you know how unsafe they are?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, Malfoy didn't even know how to react, it was crazy to him that she'd never even been on a broom.
"They're not that bad, they're only dangerous if you don't know how to ride one."
"I don't know how to ride one!" She pointed out, voice raising in pitch a little. Malfoy chuckled again, he didn't mean to, she just makes him happy. It was weird, not much made him happy, but she didn't even have to try.
The two carried on working, occasionally talking when one of them came up with something to say. Alice eventually got tired, saying goodnight to Malfoy before heading back to the Gryffindor common room. It was relatively messy due to the celebrations earlier in the night, but Alice knew that it would be cleaned by the next morning. She made her way up the stairs to her dorm and to her bed as quietly as possible.
Getting to sleep was difficult, though, as a certain Slytherin was on her mind.