Do You Wanna Build A Snowman

by Aphrodite-Venus-u.k

The holidays are here and Marcus Flint finds himself very busy studying for his N.E.W.Ts, but girlfriend, Katie Bell, thinks he needs something to take his mind off exams. Years later, they share a moment with their children.

Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

Summary: The holidays are here and Marcus Flint finds himself very busy studying for his NEWTs , but girlfriend, Katie Bell, thinks he needs something to take his mind off exams. Years later, they share a moment with their children.

Time: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and eight years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Genre: Romance, Friendship, and Family

Rating: PG

Date Finished: December 2, 2014

Marcus Flint had his dark head ducked over a thick Transfiguration book in a small corner in the library. He normally didn't spend all that much time here, but his fellow classmates were just being downright stupid in the common room. Yes, he was awful that Christmas break was just a mere few days away, but he had to get his Transfiguration grade up if he had any hopes of passing the class. He was doing fine in all of his other classes, but Transfiguration was his worst subject. No matter how hard he tried, he simply could not get his grade up.

"I'm surprised to find you here."

Marcus jerked his head and found himself staring into the blue eyes of his girlfriend, Katie Bell. "I have a quiz on Wednesday and I actually need to pass this one."

"Marcus, it's a Saturday and you've been at this all week." She gently pulled his book away from him. "You need to take a break. Besides, Christmas is coming and there's new snow out there."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Marcus asked. He knew that he wasn't going to like where this was going. He hated the cold and it was just downright cold out there.

Katie leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear, "Do wanna build a snowman?"

No, not really...Building a snowman did not sound like his idea of fun, but she was giving him that puppy dog face and she did look really cute when she did that. No, he had to be strong. He had to focus on passing the quiz. However, she did look really cute and they really didn't get all that much time to themselves. Maybe, he could squeeze one little snowman in.

"With magic?" he asked, his brown eyes hopeful.
"No."

Some much for that.

"We do it the Muggle way. It's more fun that way."

Marcus didn't see how doing things the Muggle way could be fun. It was always so much slower.

Katie tugged on his arm. "Come on!"

"I'm not dressed for this."

Katie took in his jeans, sweatshirt, and boots. "Yes, you are."

"I don't have a coat."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Then, what that's looped over your bag."

Marcus opened his mouth.

"Don't say that you don't have gloves, because they'll next to wand."
"What did you do, study me before you came over?"

Katie flashed him a brilliant smile. "Maybe, now come on!"
Marcus gathered up his things. What in the world had he gotten into?

Katie was waiting outside the library, tapping her foot. "You are so slow."

Marcus just grunted. "So, where are we going to do this?"
"Um...Down by the lake sounds like a good place to me, what about you?"
Marcus thought about it. The air down there was cooler, but the wind didn't whip through there like it did in the courtyard or other places on the grounds. Considering that, plus the wind chill, plus the actual temperature, the lake didn't seem like all that bad of an arrangement. "That sounds good."
"Great." Katie grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the main entrance. "I just hate that the dementors are here. They suck the joy out of everything."

Marcus paused as he pulled on his coat and gloves. "They surely won't be down that far, will they?"

"I don't know. They are not supposed to come onto the grounds, but that didn't stop during the Quidditch game. If they'll down there, we leave."
"Sounds like a plan."
The couple walked down to the lake and much to Marcus's disappointment there was not a dementor in sight.

Katie bent down and scooped up snow in her gloves. "This is just prefect." She held it up to Marcus. "See, it's not too dry or wet. It's just right for building a snowman."

Marcus looked at the snow. It looked like snow to him, nothing special.

"Okay, you start making the bottom. Make sure it's huge, I want to try to make this snowman as big as possible."
Marcus looked around at the unmarked snow, thinking that maybe this had all been a big mistake. There was an awful lot of snow on the ground. "How big are we talking?"
"Maybe as tall as me. You're too tall to be a model."
He looked at Katie's frame. Sure, she wasn't anything all that tall, but she wasn't exactly short either. This was going to take awhile.

"Hop to it!" Katie exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

Marcus knelt down in the snow, soaking his jeans, and started to roll snow up. He had never seen her so happy, she was almost giddy. He had never seen something as simple as making a snowman make someone so happy. If she was happy, then he was too.

"No, you have to pack it tighter. I know you have more muscle that than."

Or not. Marcus sat back on his heels and looked at the snowball. He didn't see anything wrong with it.

Katie knelt down next to him and started packing the snow. "If you don't, then the entire thing will just fall down."

Marcus watched her. She really wasn't anything different from what he been doing, but, then, who was he to say something.

Katie moved back. "Now, you try."

Marcus started packing snow, this time a little harder than what he had been doing before. "Better?"
Katie nodded. "Much, now just make sure that you keep it up."
"How many of these things are we going to need?"

"Three." Katie looked over at him. "Have you ever built a snowman before?"
"Yeah, but we always used magic and made it different colours and different shapes."

"But you've never done one by hand?"

Marcus shook his head as he added more snow to the snowman. It was getting to be about a metre round now. How much more did she need in order to have the so called prefect snowman? They didn't have to be huge to be prefect or even look like an actual snowman. It really wasn't about what it looked like, but who you made it with.

Katie smiled over at him as she started to make the middle. "That's enough for that. Just roll it over there."
Marcus followed her finger and rolled to his right. He did have to admit that this was a rather good spot for a snowman. It was a small hill that overlooked the ice covered lake. It looked like something off of one of those cheesy Christmas cards that all the shops were selling this time of the year.

He rubbed his hands together as he made his way over to Katie. She had a ball that was about one fourth the size of the bottom. He knelt down next to her as she added some more snow to it and watched as she kept rolling it.

"How big are you going to make it?" Marcus asked, as she added some more snow.

"Just a little bit more and it should be done. You don't want it to be too big or too little, otherwise he'll just look wrong."

"How do you it's a he?"

"It's called a snowman, not a snow woman."

She did have a point with that one.

She finished adding the snow next to where the bottom of the snowman was and started smoothing down the sides until it was a perfect round ball. She looked back over at Marcus. "Um, some help would be appreciated."

Marcus sighed, he had to at least pretend to be annoyed by this. He walked over to her, picked the snowball up, and put it on top of the other. Katie stepped back and looked at what they had done. Marcus only hoped that she liked what they had done so far because he did not want to start over.

"Now, for the top." She knelt down in a snow bank and started to pack snow together.

Marcus put his hands in his pockets and watched. She did look really beautiful with her cheeks red from the cold and snow littered throughout her hair. She looked like an angel sent down from heaven.

A few minutes later, Katie looked back at him. "Now, put this on top."

Marcus knelt down next to her and added the final snowball to the snowman. He did have to admit, it didn't look all that bad. In fact, it was one of the better snowman he had seen for awhile.

Katie looked at the snowman. "I still think it's missing like."

"Please, don't tell you're one of those people who thinks that a snowman is not complete without a carrot nose, coal for eyes and ears, sticks for arms, a hat, and a scarf."
She rounded on him. "What's wrong with that?"
Really, Marcus was one of those people too. A snowman just did not look like a snowman without those things. It just looked like a pile of snow, but he wasn't about to let in on that.

Katie pointed her wand at the snowman and soon it looked like something off of one of those lame Muggle holiday specials. Since Marcus had been dating Katie, he had watched some pretty bad Muggle telly. He didn't know if she actually liked that crap or was just wanted to make him suffer. Besides looking like something off a bad show, it did actually look pretty nice. Its arms were wide open, waiting to pull you into it's warm embrace, the eyes and the smile actually made the him look like he longed to be your best friend, and the scarf and hat made him look almost human. Marcus really wasn't a fan of the carrot nose, however. There was just something to off about it for his liking. He couldn't decide if it was too short of too big for the snowman's face.

Katie looked up at his frowning face. "You shouldn't look like that. It makes you look funny."

"I don't like that nose."

She studied the snowman. "Yeah, you're right. There is something off about it, but I don't know what."
"I don't know either."

They both studied it for several minutes.

"I think it is too small," Katie said, walking over to it. She started wiggling the nose. "Maybe it's just buried in here too far." A few seconds later, a longer nose appeared, not much longer, but just enough to make the snowman look normal.

She walked over to Marcus and smiled at him. "You're wet."

"I tried to tell you that I didn't have the right clothes."

"I guess you did." She leaned into him. "Let me warm you up."
He could feel her body heat through his wet clothes and it did feel really good. He bent down and kissed her lips.

"Happy Almost Christmas," Katie whispered.

"Happy Almost Christmas," Marcus muttered back.

Not even a dementor could ruin a day building as something as simple as a snowman. It wasn't about how you spent your day, but who you spent it with. Right now, it didn't matter how cold it was or anything like that. It was just prefect, just prefect.

Katie hooked her arms through Marcus's. "It's probably about curfew and people will be wondering where we are."

"Yeah, I guess we should go back."
They started walking up toward the castle.

"Oh, and Marcus?"
"Yes?"
"Don't push yourself too hard. I'm sure you are going to do just fine."

Christmas Eve, Twelve Years Later

Thud...Thud...Thud...

Groaning, Marcus rolled over onto his back, looking at the clock. Why didn't his children understand that today was the day to sleep in? They were going to be up very early in morning to see what Father Christmas brought.

"I think the kids are up," Katie said, opening her blue eyes.

"I noticed."

The bedroom banged up.

"Mummy, Daddy! Guess what?" Renee asked as she bounced onto Marcus's side of the bed. She was a Daddy's girl.
"It snowed!" Anna yelled.

Kasey and Aiden jumped them with the guidance of Emily.

"You're going to wake up Colton," Katie said, reminding them of their one year old little brother.

"He's already awake and waiting for you," Anna said, bouncing on the bed.

Kasey tugged on Marcus's arm. Her eyes wide. "Daddy, there's marshmallows on the ground." At the age of six, she liked to play make believe a lot.

Aiden rolled his eyes at his twin. "It's just snow."

"Be nice to your sister," Katie said.

Emily, the oldest at ten and the only one to be adopted, sat on the edge of the bed. "We have to do something about this."

"About what?" Katie asked.

Marcus sat up, pulling Renee off of him.

"We should build a snowman!" Anna exclaimed. "We haven't done that in forever!"
"Snowman!" Aiden, Kasey, and Renee exclaimed.

Marcus and Katie exchanged looks. It looked like they were going to build a snowman.

Marcus slid out of bed. "I'll go get Colton."

Katie nodded. "Everyone get dressed and be downstairs for breakfast."

"What about the snowman?" Kasey asked, her voice soft.

"We'll build it after breakfast."

Marcus padded out of the room and down the hall to his youngest son's room. Colton was standing up in his crib, waving as Marcus stepped into the room. He bent down and picked up his son, he simply could not believe how fast his children were growing. It just seemed like yesterday that the Dark Lord had fallen, instead of over eight years, almost nine for that matter.

Time was just passing too quickly for his liking. Why in July, he would be thirty and Katie had just turned twenty-seven in November.

Colton tightened his grip on Marcus, as he dug around for a pair of warm clothes. Finding some, he quickly dressed his son before heading back to his own room. He sat Colton down on the bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and long sleeve shirt. He touched his face, he probably could skip shaving this morning and just do it tonight before going over to Katie's parents.

He bent down to pick up Colton and headed downstairs to the madness of the kitchen. Don't get him wrong, he did like being a father, but sometimes it was just downright crazy around here.

Today it was different. The kids were all sitting at the table, waiting quietly for their breakfast. Marcus put Colton into his high chair and stared at them. Quiet children made him very nervous. Plus, the focused looks on their faces made him even more nervous. They were plotting something, something that was going to probably cause him a lot of pain and suffering.

Katie appeared hovering bowls, boxes of cereal, milk, juice, spoons, and a few pieces of fruit above her head. She carefully sat each item down on the table, so that each was placed in a proper place instead of the mound that it would have been had Marcus brought it in. He wasn't one for household spells, never mastered them no matter how many times someone showed him.

The kids all dug in, still ever so silent.

Marcus gave Katie a concerned look, which she returned with one of her own. So, it just wasn't him...

Katie sat across from Marcus and bit slowly into an apple. Neither one of them were much for the head of the table, preferring to sit on one of the sides. The kids were all still chewing, slowly.

"So, how do you guys want to go about building this thing?" Marcus asked.

Anna swallowed. "It's not a thing, Daddy. It's a snowman."

Colton played with his cereal, staring at them with eyes wide.

"We can't take too long," Kasey started in. "Father Christmas comes tonight."

"How long you think it takes to build one?" Katie asked.

Kasey shrugged. "I've never build one, so how am I supposed to know. You and Daddy are older so that's something that you should be telling me."

Katie smiled. Sometimes, well most of the time, their kids could be really cute, expect for those times that they wanted to murder each other.

Emily poked Marcus's arm. "Can you make the snow different colours like you did last year?"
"Of course." Last year, Marcus had entertained the kids by making the snow behind the house turn all different colours, every colour he could think of for that matter. He was surprised that Emily remembered him doing that.

Marcus started peeling an orange, while looking outside at the snow, which had started falling again. If this kept up, there was going to a lot of snow, more than they had had since he moved in at the age of eighteen.

The kids, however, stared at the falling snow with their mouths hanging open. It wasn't a big snow, so to say, but enough to make it look like a winter wonderland. Even though Marcus didn't really like the snow, he did like a white Christmas. There was just something about Christmas that implied snow. Sand was just not Christmas.

"Go rather up your coats and stuff," Katie said a few minutes later, once they had finished their breakfast.

The kids ran off.

Marcus bent down and picked Colton out of his high chair. "Is this going to be an all day project?"

Katie shrugged. "I have no idea what this is going to be."

"Great."
"Don't be such a downer. It's Christmas and, besides, one day they are going to be so embarrassed by you that they won't want to be with you at all."

"What about you?" Marcus asked as he put Colton on his hip.

"Oh, trust me, I will always be the cool one in this relationship."
Marcus just snorted.

"It's the truth."

By the time they made their way into the entry way, the kids were already dressed and waiting.

"You guys are getting old and slow," Emily said.

"Excuse me?" Marcus asked as he sat down on the floor and placed Colton beside him. He started to pull on his boots.

"Yeah, Daddy, you don't have as much spunk as you used and I'm pretty sure that you are going to start getting grey hair."

He laced up his boot. Emily always told him that he was he getting older and it was the truth. There was still on the Quidditch pitch that he couldn't do anymore because it just downright hurt. Granted, he had had his fair share of injuries and did have a bad back as the result of one, but, still, he was not that old.

Katie smirked at him as he started pulling on her own heavy winter clothes. She looked just as lovely as ever. It seemed like time had just simply stopped her aging.

Marcus picked up Colton's clothes and started putting them on him. Was it even wise to be taking Colton? He knew that little ones shouldn't be out in the cold, but Colton would be covered up. Did it even matter all that much? Oddly, Marcus couldn't remember what they had done with the other kids.

Maybe he was getting old.

Once they were all dressed, Kasey pushed open the front door and they stumbled out into the winter wonderland. It had stopped snowing and the temperature wasn't all that low. The snow crunched under their boots, reminding Marcus of stepping on a bed of pine needles.

The family walked behind the house, to the edge of the hill, right before it started its gently slope down toward the lake.

Emily put her hands on her hips and looked around. "This is good."

Kasey looked up at the sky. "She'll have the perfect view of Father Christmas when he comes."

Aiden rolled his eyes. "I am not building a girl."

Kasey rounded on him. "What's wrong with girls?"
Aiden didn't answer.

Marcus and Katie exchanged small smiles, before Katie clapped her hands together. "Okay, we need to figure out how big you want to make her."

"Him," Aiden muttered.

Kasey gave him another look.

"It doesn't matter if it's a boy or girl," Anna complained, rolling her eyes. "I just want to buld something."

"We could always build both," Renee offered up in a small voice.

"Yeah!" Kasey exclaimed.

"Two it is," Katie said. "Now, how big do you want to make them?"
"As tall as Daddy!" Kasey yelled.

"Are you sure?" Katie asked. "That will take a lot of snow."

Kasey got a thoughtful look on her face, well as thoughtful as a child could look. "Maybe we'll try to something like my size."

"I think that would be a good idea."

Kasey nodded as she kneeled down in the snow and started to roll it into a ball. The rest of the kids followed her lead and some they were all engaged in making the snowmen.

Katie put her arm around Marcus's waist, much to his surprise. Sure, they touched and everything, but tried to keep it to a minimum in front of the kids. "It does bring back the memories, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess."

"Don't you remember when we built our own snowman?"
"I believe we have done a lot of things over the years."
"I think you're right, but you have to remember that."
"I do." He leaned in and kissed his lips. "Very much."

"Ew! Mummy and Daddy just kissed! Yuck!" Aiden yelled, grossed out by in the way that only a little kid could be.

Marcus bent down and scooped his youngest shoulder over his shoulder. "You think it's gross, huh?" He tickled him.

"Yes!" Aiden attempted to say, his voice shaking from the tickling.

Marcus gently put Aiden back down. "You just wait."

"Girls are icky, so I'm never going to have a girlfriend, let alone kiss one." Aiden made another face. "Yuck!"
"Aiden, quiet being lazy and help us!" Emily yelled. "You're going to make us do all of the work!"
Aiden ran off over to his sisters.

Marcus looked down at Colton, who was playing in his own little snow bank, unaware of what the others were doing. Katie had rushed over to the help the others, who were starting to stack the snowballs.

Colton threw a little bit of snow in the air and watched in wonder as it danced back toward him. He smiled and giggled as a few flakes landed on him. He looked up at Marcus and held his little gloved hand out to him. Marcus took it and Colton buried both of their hands into the snow.

Marcus's eyes kept shifting from Colton to the rest of the giggling kids, who now had two snowmen standing, close to each other. A few of them had darted off a few metres to the trees and were digging through the snow for small limbs or something. Katie and Emily were smoothing down the sides of the snowman.

Colton yanked their hands out of the snow and ran his mitten over Marcus's gloved fingers, brushing the snow off of them and watching as it feel back down to the ground.

"It's snowing on you," Marcus said.

Colton looked up at Marcus. "Snow!"
"Yes, that is snow."
"Snow!" Colton tossed a few flakes of snow up into the air, most of it managed to find its way into Marcus's mouth. Colton pointed at Marcus's face and laughed.

Katie looked over at them and shook her head. Now, what was that all about?

Marcus reached up and brushed the snow off his face, which didn't really help anything because his gloves were soaked. He picked Colton up out of the snow bank and they made their way over the the rest of the family.

Kasey and Aiden came running over to them with sticks in their hands, their faces red from the cold. "Here, will these work?" Aiden asked, breathless.

Emily took the sticks from him and looked at them very carefully. "They should."

"What about mine?" Kasey asked, proudly displaying her own.

Emily looked at them closely. "They will be lovely."

Kasey looked over at Aiden. "Mine are lovely."

Aiden kicked at the snow. "That's such a girly word."

Kasey just stuck her tongue out at him.

Marcus shot a look, but there really wasn't much else he could do.

Anna and Renee stuck the sticks into the snowmen and stood back to look at their work. It was still missing something, Marcus could see that written clearly on their face. They slowly turned and looked at each.

"Eyes! He needs eyes, a nose, and mouth!" Renee exclaimed.

Katie pulled out her wand and with a few quick taps of it coal and a carrot appeared in her hand. She bent down and the children rushed over to her, taking the items from her hand and placing them on the snowmen. Sure, the stuff wasn't straight, but it did look pretty good to Marcus.

He pulled his own wand out of his pocket and soon a scarf and hat were in his hands. He bent down and handed them over to Anna, who ran over to the snowmen, which were not much taller than she was and placed the items on.

Standing back, they all stared at their work.

Emily looked over at Marcus. "Okay, can you do it now?"

"Do what?"

"The colours!"
Marcus nodded and pointed his wand at the snowman, an explosion of colour covered the snow. The kids clapped their hands in delight as the snow shifted from hot pink to neon orange.

Katie put her hand around Marcus's waist. "I think we might just have this all figured out."

Marcus smiled at her. "Have what figured out?"

She leaned into him. "Everything."

The snow started to fall again. There were better things than a white Christmas, family and all of that stuff, but still there just something downright magical about snow during the holidays.

Happy Holidays! This is my last story for the year! Thanks for reading!