It was a bright day if not a bit cloudy. Snow fell from the white clouds and covered the grounds like blankets. The trees of the Forbidden Forest dipped in complaint to the snow piling atop their branches, and Hagrid's house looked like a gingerbread house covered in icing. The Hogwarts castle looked like a cottage you would see on a Christmas card. The falling snow added to the snow that had already fallen, and the Hogwarts grounds were covered in it.

Ron and Harry were leaning over the cold railing leading outside Hogwarts castle, their eyes set on the falling snowflakes. Neither of them said nothing; it was nearing Christmas, and, as usual, Harry had stayed at Hogwarts while the rest of the students (all besides Ron and Hermione, and a very small number of others) went home to their families for the holidays.

Ron's family was on a business trip (something to do with Mr. Weasley's job in the Ministry of Magic), which was why Ron stayed, and Hermione's folks were out of the country. Besides, even if they weren't away for Christmas, Harry was pretty certain Ron and Hermione would stay at Hogwarts anyways, just to keep him company, if nothing else.

Harry wasn't complaining on any account. He was only so used to actually having "friends." While living with the Dursleys, Harry's cousin Dudley had made it absolutely certain Harry didn't have any friends at all. And it worked, almost too well.

Hogwarts had become more of a home to him than Privet Drive, and his friends had become more of a family to him than the Dursleys.

There were footsteps behind them, and Harry turned as Hermione stepped up beside them, her bushy brown hair flecked with snowflakes. "What are you two doing?" she asked.

"Admiring the snow," Ron said, not even turning to look at her. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I was studying," Hermione said.

"Studying?" Ron asked, confused. "Studying for what?"

"You know. Our exams!"

"What! Hermione, we don't have exams for ages!"

Hermione looked as though someone had questioned the importance of breathing. She huffed and crossed her arms. "Not ages," she said. "Months isn't ages. You two should start preparing, too! I, for one, think studying is important!"

"Well, you're right about one thing." At this, Ron turned to look at her, more annoyed than anything else although the beginning of a smirk was curving the corners of his lips. "You're the only one who thinks studying that."

Hermione scoffed.

"Harry and I are just gonna cram it all in at the last second," Ron said, "more than likely."

Hermione looked horror-stricken. "Ugh! Boys!" she groaned. "You know, someone once said that girls are smarter than boys. And do you want to know who said that?"

"Let me guess. A girl."

"No! Well...yes, but that's besides the point!"

"Point? What point? I didn't know you had a point."

"Well I don't NOW!"

At this point, it seemed, Ron had had enough. He scooped a handful of snow off the ground, formed it into a quick, hardly round at all ball, and hurled it right at Hermione's face.

Harry didn't even have time to shout "Ron! Wait!" before it was too late. The snowball shattered against Hermione's face, sending shards of ice in all directions. Hermione gasped, from shock or hurt, Harry couldn't tell.

"Ron!" Harry said.

"She was bugging me!" Ron complained, but even he looked a tad remorseful for his rash snowball. Hermione actually looked ready to cry. "Hermione," Ron said, and then, he started stuttering, "I'm...I'm sor-"

Harry half expected Hermione to run off before Ron could finish.

But instead of doing that, Hermione kicked snow up off the ground and into Ron's face. Ron yelped in shock, and while he was still brushing snowflakes out of his face, Hermione formed a snowball in her hands and chucked it directly at his face, just as he had done to her.

Harry laughed - right up until Ron smashed snow into his face as well, clearly annoyed with them both. Harry took it as a challenge; he knelt, gathered two handfuls of snow, and threw them both at Ron's back.

Ron kept shouting angrily, while Hermione looked thrilled. "Come on, Harry!" she said, balling up more snow. "Help me against Ron!"

Harry had never been in a snowball fight before, and whenever it did snow at his Aunt and Uncle's house, Harry was always dragged outside by Dudley and used as a personal snowball target. If Harry moved or tried to run, Dudley would either punch him in the stomach, or run with fake tears streaming down his face, crying because Harry threw snowballs at him.

Now, however, Harry was certain the same rules didn't apply here at Hogwarts with his best friends.

Honestly, he didn't know which side to pick - it was Hermione, or Ron.

Or, of course...there was always the side of himself…

With a half smirk and half smile, Harry scooped snow into his arms, balled it - and threw it straight at Hermione. Hermione exclaimed something he couldn't make out, and that was only because her mouth was now full of snow. Ron, who had finally managed to get snow out of his eyes, was laughing so hard he was in danger of falling over. Hermione shut him up with another snowball.

It wasn't long before they were engulfed in a full-blown war against each other. There were no sides, no winners, no losers; this was just for fun. At one point, Fred and George stepped outside, caught one look at the snowball fight in front of them, and quickly joined in. Although they didn't blatantly point out which sides they were secretly on, Harry could tell they were favoring him and Hermione.

Ron was left to fend for himself, although Harry did offer him whatever backup support he needed.

Unfortunately, one of the reasons he needed backup support was because Harry was bombarding him with snowballs. Harry wondered if there was a way to make multiple snowballs at once using magic - he was sure there was, but he hadn't been at Hogwarts very long. If there was one, he was sure he would learn it later rather than sooner.

The snowballs were flying through the air almost gracefully, hitting their targets with less grace. Hermione seemed to be having the most fun, pelting Ron with as many snowballs as she could muster, and while he was trying to get her back with snowballs, she would spurt random history facts, just to catch him off guard. Needless to say, it drove him crazy.

"Hey!" Ron protested as Fred and George smashed a snowball against Ron's head - the snowball was so big, it could have been used for the head of a snowman. "You're supposed to be on my side! Hit her!" He pointed wildly at Hermione.

"We don't hit girls!" Fred said, but he threw a snowball at Hermione anyway.

It took them a little longer before they decided to make forts. There was an unspoken cease fire as Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred and George built their forts. Fred and George worked together to build a giant fort; Hermione built her fort as though she were a soldier on the front lines of battle, creating high walls with the snow that encircled her and protected her from all angles. In the end, Harry ended up pitching in with Ron to build a fort, using as much snow as they could gather.

Once they had finished, the cease fire was forgotten, and the spheres of snow flew like cannonballs. It was an amazing feeling, especially for Harry. Even though Ron scowled whenever hit in the face by a snowball (as did Hermione, Harry, Fred, and George), in the end, they laughed and returned fire.

Harry had to admit, it was probably one of the funnest things he'd ever done, chucking snowballs at his friends with the knowledge that they wouldn't get mad at him or beat him up for doing it, like Dudley would.

They were his friends.

Except, they seemed more than just "friends."

They were his family.

Amidst the snowballs, laughing, scowling and returning of fire, there was a time when Ron, covered in snow pelted on him by Hermione, Fred, George, and Harry, he threw a snowball without aiming, and it missed its target (Hermione's face) entirely.

None of them noticed exactly who it had hit until a loud, feminine, angry voice shouted, "WEASLEY!"

They froze.

Then, they slowly turned to the voice of their Head of House, each of them equally worried. Fred and George winced; Fred whistled, "Oooh, whoops,", Hermione said, "Oh, Ron, look what you've done," and out of all of them, Ron looked the most terrified.

Professor McGonagall stood, the remains of a snowball shattered against her robes. She looked cross, and she stared Ron down in a way that would have made even the bravest man falter.

Ron started stuttering almost as bad as Quirrell used to. "P-Professor!" he stuttered. "I-I'm...I-I'm sorry, I d-didn't mean to-"

A snowball thrown by Professor McGonagall silenced him. Ron gasped as the snow hit his face, and he looked too shocked to say anything else. Professor McGonagall smirked softly, turned, and headed back inside the Hogwarts castle.

"Man, that was close!" Fred said. "I thought you were doomed!"

"That was much too close!" Hermione said. "Were you even looking at where you threw that snowball, Ron?"

"Of course I wasn't!" Ron said.

"I thought she was going to take points from Gryffindor," Harry said. "Just for a moment."

"You're just lucky it wasn't Snape!" Hermione said. "Or else, we really would have gotten points taken from Gryffindor!"

Although Hermione appeared to be angry, Harry could tell she was just as relieved as the rest of them. They decided to call the snowball fight to an end, and headed back inside to the Gryffindor common room to dry off and warm up.

All in all, Harry had to admit, it was the best snowball fight he'd ever participated in. It had been almost as fun as riding a broom. Harry wondered what a snowball fight would end up like if the Gryffindor Quidditch team turned one of their practices into a snowball fight.

Harry smiled to himself.

Now that would be wild.

Author's Notes:

So, yes. I got this idea, and I decided to turn it into something, so here it is! :D I hope you guys enjoyed it! I'm sorta new to the fandom still, so...yeah. I've only read the first three books, and I can't wait to continue on with the series. I'm loving it so far. I can't believe I didn't read Harry Potter before now! :D

So, let me know what you guys think, if you fancy, and I'll see you guys next time! :)

Until next story!

-BeyondTheClouds777