Sirius, James, and a whole lot of snow. A short drabble. Part 20 of 25 Days of Christmas.
So... Very late. I realized I never posted it anywhere except Tumblr. So now... Here it is!
"James," Sirius hissed. "Jaaaaaames."
"Go away, Sirius," James muttered, turning over and burrowing deeper into his blankets.
"James Fleamont Potter!" Sirius hissed again. "It snowed last night."
"Thank you for that brilliant discovery. Not let me sleep!"
"No!" Sirius sounded insulted and James inwardly sighed, realizing he wasn't going to get any more rest. Not that he was going to give into Sirius' plans yet. "We have to go!"
"Go where, Sirius?"
"Outside."
"It's cold. And early."
"Exactly! We have enough time to get everything prepared."
"Get what prepared?" Despite himself, James was curious, and he pushed his head up to look at his best friend.
"Snowballs." Sirius said it as though the answer was obvious.
"We promised Remus not to prank the professors the rest of the year." James smiled slightly as he remembered the prank that brought that promise on. Slughorn deserved it though; he was always rude to Remus. Not that their friend agreed with them. A few days of sounding like a duck wasn't too bad, in James' opinion.
At least, they could have done much worse.
"We're not going to prank anyone. We're just pegging them with snowballs. Besides, I'm going to aim for the Slytherins."
James barely hesitated before pushing back his covers. "Let me get ready. Peter and Remus?"
"They're already ready."
"Remus agreed?" James raised an eyebrow skeptically as Sirius nodded. "Fine by me."
"I think he's tired of studying."
"Remus? Tired of classes?"
"Apparently, it's possible," Sirius drawled. "Hurry up, mate" he added impatiently. "They're waiting for us at breakfast." He threw a dirty sock at the other second year who sent him a scowl back.
"Took you long enough," Peter commented when the two finally made it down to the Hall.
"Blame Sirius and his socks," James grumbled. He grabbed some toast before nodding. "Let's go!"
The four quickly filed out. Empty as the castle in the mornings were, they made it outside and to a large tree in the courtyard with no second looks. Even though he was bundled up, James still shivered, rubbing his arms together, but the excitement towards their activity for the day kept him moving quickly, settling down.
"Sirius and I will work on the fort," Remus said. "James, Peter, work on the snowballs." In silent agreement, the four set to work. While he worked, James kept an eye on his friends' progress, and a while later, noted with satisfaction the stability of the fort and the large pile of snowballs they had gathered.
"When do you think people will start coming out?" Sirius asked.
"Soon enough," James reasoned. "It's not frighteningly chilly out and classes start soon."
"Speaking of classes, we have our first one in two hours," Remus said, sitting back to regard his friends. "Am I to believe you will not be attending?"
"Come off it, Remus. It's nearly break anyways."
"Still -"
"It's Charms," James added. "We all figured out Cheering Charms two classes ago. Flitwick even said we didn't need to come today!"
"Yes, but what about -"
"And no Potions - Slughorn's still out, remember," Peter said.
"Okay and then there's -"
"Herbology," Sirius finished. "During which we're just checking up on mandrakes. We can afford to miss it today."
James smirked as Remus only sighed heavily, not arguing. Not that he seemed to want to argue, James thought, as the werewolf continued packing snow into the fort.
"Heads up," Peter said suddenly. "Mary and Dorcas are coming."
"Perfect," Sirius answered. "Our first victims."
"Everyone ready?" Remus asked.
"Affirmative," James answered, holding a snowball in each hand. Both he and Remus quickly scaled the tree, keeping themselves low to the branches. Sirius and Peter, less nimble, stayed on the ground hiding behind the tree and fort. "Aim. Fire!" Quickly, all four of them sent their snowballs racing towards the two girls. Shrieks of surprise alerted them to their victory, and James peaked up to see both running back into the castle.
"Success!" Sirius crowed, albeit quietly. "Everyone should start coming out soon." Sure enough, groups of people were soon arriving, chattering quietly with each other and racing in the snow.
"Ready, mates?" James asked. After they all nodded, he yelled, "Fire!" Snowballs went flying every direction, both no one seemed to notice the boys in the tree. People turned and twisted, shaking off the snow and looking for the perpetrators. Other students had the misfortune of meeting the victims' eyes while laughing, and soon found themselves covered in snow as well.
"Snowball fight!" Sirius shouted a while later, jumping up and throwing snowballs at random people, left and right. The others quickly joined him, and a large-scale fight ensued. Friends against friends, housemates against housemates.
It was only a an hour later, when people started dispersing to get dry and go to class, that the four boys headed inside. Remus had headed back to Gryffindor tower, citing that he was tired, and Peter followed him. Left alone, James and Sirius wandered the hallways for a bit, still wet, but not wishing to go to back to the dormitories just yet.
"James," Sirius suddenly hissed. "There's a small passageway above the castle entrance that we could go to." He let his voice trail off slightly and turned to James suggestively. "We could charm up snow there…" With wide grins, they hurried there. Climbing inside the small alcove, they pushed the window open and regarded the clear view of the courtyard.
"You're better at levitating charms," James told Sirius and the Black heir nodded, whipping out his wand and levitating a large pile of snow. Charming it to stay cold, they settled down to wait for the unsuspecting students.
As they passed under the pair, Sirius and James took turns dumping large piles of snow on them. Then they would watch, amused at the reactions. Some of the victims would shout and curse, jumping up and down to get rid of the cold. Others would freeze and look around, shocked. A few muttered about Peeves as they hurried away.
Two shouts however, had James and Sirius exchanging frightened looks.
"Where did that -"
"James and Sirius," Remus interrupted Lily, shaking his shaggy hair to dry it. James peered out to see the pair were still under them, shivering and scowling and absolutely covered in snow, hiding even Lily's bright red hair.
"Those two idiots? How -"
"I know how," Remus interrupted again. James sent Sirius a worried look as they heard the words. Scrambling up, they started leaving, but froze when they heard, "Don't you dare leave. We're coming up, and you better be there when we get there."
"We could make a run for it," Sirius hissed. James nodded and they tried taking a step, only to find themselves unable to move. James tried talking, but found that he couldn't do that either.
I shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning, he thought mournfully.