A/N: Here is a short little piece I wrote a while back. I hope you like it. It is fluffy, happy, and light- a change from what I usually write. It was fun. This is the first time I wrote 'next generation'. Did I do a good job? How can I improve? Please leave a review.
I do not own Harry Potter. I do not own Harry Potter. I do not own Harry Potter. I do not own Harry Potter.
Ginny kissed Albus goodbye. "See you at Christmas."
"I'm bored." James whined. Harry groaned. His oldest being bored was never good. And leaving him to his own devises to cure said boredom was not a good idea. Harry learned that the hard way.
"Why don't you go play outside?" Harry suggested. "I am sure that Teddy and Al will be happy to join you." Teddy Lupin was staying with them for the holidays. In order to avoid the chaos that would come with James and Al sharing a room, James and Teddy were sharing.
James sighed. "But there isn't enough snow."
"Yes there is." Teddy leaned against the wall, eyes twinkling. James opened his mouth to speak, but Teddy cut him off. "Look outside." All occupants of the room turned towards the window. Teddy chuckled when James's eyes got wide. It must have snowed overnight, for everything was white. The trees were covered in snow. The trunks were all white, and snow was piled as high as two feet on some branches. Only the tallest bushes could be seen. But even then, all you saw of them were a small mound in the snow. The ground was covered in, at the very least, four feet of snow. Gray clouds blocked a majority of the sun. It was the best conditions for playing in the white powder, as you didn't have to be worried about being blinded by the sunlight reflecting off the snow, but still bright enough to see. Big flakes of snow fell from the sky, creating a haze.
"So, who's up for frolicking in this new found winter wonderland?" Teddy asked brightly. James and Teddy looked expectantly at Harry.
After a moment Harry gave in. "Oh all right. You win. Just let me get my coat." James grinned, and then ran off to get his stuff. Teddy followed him, albeit a bit slower. Harry shook his head. "What have I gotten myself into?" He muttered as he too went to get his winter things.
James was outside waiting for him. His son was wearing his Gryffindor hat and scarf. Harry smiled slightly, remembering his own wintry Hogwarts days. "Where's Teddy?" Harry asked.
James took on a look of pure innocence, but his eyes gave him away. They were twinkling with mischief. "I dunno."
Harry looked at his son skeptically. He was about to say something when he heard some one grunt behind him. He turned around to see his godson rolling a huge ball of snow.
"What are you doing pushing a snow-boulder?" James asked incredulously. He was looking at the older wizard as if he had lost his mind. The corner of Harry's mouth twitched slightly. He knew exactly what Teddy was doing.
"I'm making a snowwizard." Teddy straightened up and brushed the snow off his gloves. "Wanna help?" James blinked a few times. "Or you could continue to stand there looking like a troll." He said the last part quietly so James wouldn't hear. Harry started on the next ball. He could have used magic, but it was more fun to do it the muggle way. James was still watching them.
"Jamie, either help or be covered in snow." That got James's attention. He started to make the third ball. Teddy and Harry were rolling the middle one.
An hour later (they had to start over a few times), all the balls were finished.
"Now what do we do?" James asked. They had three huge balls of snow, the smallest of which probably weighed the same as Lily. After a moment of silence, James spoke. "Wait a minute; you want me to put them on top of one another? How in the world am I supposed to do that? That one," he pointed to the medium ball, "weighs more then I do."
Without speaking, Teddy pulled out his wand and pointed it at the middle ball of snow. It rose into the air and landed on top of the largest one. He then pointed his wand at the smallest ball. It also rose up into the air and landed on top of the medium ball.
James stared at him. "How did you do that?"
Teddy laughed. "You'll find out when you older. Try… sixth year?" He looked to Harry, who nodded.
"Sixth year." Harry confirmed. "Now, for the face…"
"I'll go ask mum if she has anything that might work." James started to walk back to the house, but stopped short and turned around. "What do we need, exactly?"
"Go ask Aunt Hermione. She'll know." Harry told his son, who then ran into the house.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Mum! Mum! MUM!" James yelled. He wiped at his runny nose.
"I'm in the parlor, James!" Ginny shouted back. James hurried into the room. His mum and his aunt were talking about something.
He turned to face his aunt. "Do you know what we need to make the face?"
Hermione looked confused. She shot a glance at Ginny, who then spoke.
"What were you doing, dear?" She asked.
"Making a snowwizard. Dad told me to ask Aunt Hermione for what we need because he said that she knows and then to go back outside with the things that we need that Aunt Hermione knows what they are so we can finish." James said it all in one breath. The two women looked at him, and then they both burst out laughing. It was a moment before either of them could speak.
"Here, I'll help." Hermione walked out of the room. A minute of two later she returned with a small cloth bag. She handed it to him. "Give this to your father. Tell him that I told you that he has to teach you more about muggles." Ginny covered a laugh with a cough. James looked questioningly at his mother. He shrugged, and then left.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Here he comes." Teddy told his godfather.
Harry waited until James got closer. "Did Aunt Hermione help you?"
James nodded and showed them the bag. "She also told me to tell you that she told me that you have to teach me more about muggles."
Harry laughed. "I thought as much. Now, let's finish our snow person." James handed the bag to Teddy, who placed the contents on the topmost snow ball.
James blinked. "Seven pieces of coal and a long carrot." It was a statement, not a question. They stepped back to admire it. Harry had added arms while James was inside. Teddy stood next to him. He screwed his face up, as if he was concentrating really hard on remembering something. James burst out laughing, and Harry couldn't help but chuckle. Teddy decided to imitate the snowwizard's face. It was quite comical.
Wham! Something cold and wet hit Harry on his temple. He wiped his face off and slowly turned to face the little hellion. Teddy, who had changed back, watched intently. James (who had stopped laughing) gulped, unsure of what his father was going to do. With a serious face, Harry silently approached his son. He picked him up, slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, walked a little bit, and then dumped him head first into a particularly large snow drift. Teddy doubled over in hysterics. Harry simply smiled sheepishly. James managed to free himself after a desperate struggle with the snow bank, a struggle which he came out victorious. Disgruntled, he forcefully shook off his hat before placing it on his head. Teddy had to turn away to hid a smile. James saw this. He bent down, packed together a handful of snow, and chucked it at the metamorphmagus. Who, in retaliation, made his own projectile, glanced at Harry (who had made a few snowballs in anticipation), and threw it at the same time Harry threw one of his. Both hit their mark.
"You know what this means?" Teddy asked gravely. "War." The other two nodded in agreement. They all went to separate parts of the yard, each staking their own territory. Snowballs were soon flying all over the place. As far as Harry could tell, James was winning. He was doing pretty good as well, but Teddy was loosing quite badly. It didn't surprise Harry that much that James was winning. His son was one of the chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch team at Hogwarts. Wham! Harry flinched. Nothing like a snowball to the ear to bring a person back to reality. Harry mentally berated himself for getting lost in thought. He threw one of the cold menaces at Teddy, who was snickering. After getting hit a few more times (mainly by James), Teddy, who was apparently sick of loosing, took out his wand in an act of desperation. He pointed it at a pile of snowballs, muttered something under his breath, pointed his wand at James, and then pointed it at the snowballs again. One by one, each snow ball rose into the air and sped towards James. Most of them hit.
"Hey!" James cried indignantly as he dodged yet another snowball. "That's not fair!"
Teddy grinned mischievously. "All's fair in love and war, mate." His pile of snowballs never ran out. Harry would venture to guess that he charmed it to keep replenishing itself in addition to hurl at James. He agreed with James that it wasn't fair, since James couldn't do magic outside of school. He pointed his wand at a patch of snow, pointed it at Teddy, and muttered the charm under his breath. Snow balls started to form in the air, and then they would fling themselves at Teddy. He figured that that would even things out a bit.
"What the…" Teddy trailed off as a snowball hit him from Harry's direction. "Not fair!"
It was Harry's turn to smile. "Life's not fair, Ted."
Teddy opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't due to a mouthful of snow. "I never said it was." He said after a moment.
"Doesn't mean that it's not true." The bombardment of snowballs had ceased when Teddy got hit, giving James a chance to speak (and catch his breath). Teddy merely shrugged in response. Harry raised an eyebrow. What his son had said didn't make a lot of sense to him. He shook his head in bewilderment. The strangest things tended to come out of his eldest's mouth. James was once again being rained down upon by snowballs, as Teddy had reapplied the charms. The snowball fight started up again, but this time with renewed vigor.
"Ow," Harry muttered. A snowball had just hit him upside the head… hang on, snowballs don't normally do that. He grimaced as it happened again. A snowball had been charmed to hit him in the head. He smiled wryly. It had been him who first told Teddy about this particular spell. He looked at his godson.
"It's for James's benefit." He said matter-of-factly. James smiled innocently and waved. Harry gingerly got up and brushed the snow off.
Teddy recognized that look on Harry's face. "James," he said in warning. James looked up, and upon seeing his father, got the hint and ran. Harry chased after him, the snowball following and still hitting him in the head. Teddy, for the second time that day, was doubled over in hysterics. The enchanted snowball was zooming after Harry, who was chasing James, who was running as fast as he could away from his dad (and indirectly the charmed snowball). It was a sight to behold. This went on for a while. James tripped, and rolled down a small hill. Harry caught up to him and, much to James's dismay, began tickling him. The snowball of doom then caught up to Harry and resumed its task of thumping him on the head.
"Bloody snowball." Harry muttered. He aimed his wand the annoying thing and melted it. Satisfied, he put his wand away and went back to mercilessly tickling his son. He knew all of James's weak spots. The boy in question was shrieking with laughter.
Teddy walked up to the pair. He was secretly grateful that he wasn't the one being tickled. Unfortunately he was one of the most, if not the most, ticklish person on the planet. "I hate to break this up, but it's getting dark." Harry stopped the tickle attack. Indeed it was getting dark. And colder by the second.
James stood up. "I don't know about you, but I'm cold. Let's go inside." He walked towards the house, with Teddy right behind him. Harry hesitated. He could have sworn he saw a snowy owl in his peripheral vision. Sure enough, in the tree closest to him, there was a white owl perched on the lowest branch. She watched him with her intelligent eyes for a moment before flying off into the twilight.
"Harry!" Ginny Potter called to her husband. He jogged to the house. Once he got inside, his glasses fogged up. He wrinkled his nose in annoyance. He took them off to fix it.
"What happened to you? You're soaked." His wife asked. After he put his glasses back on he looked down. He was dripping wet, literally.
"Youth." He smiled. Ginny giggled, and with a wave of her wand he was dry. "Thanks." They entered the kitchen. Teddy was drinking some warm pumpkin juice. James was probably off telling Lily and Al an embellished account of the day's activities. Ginny handed Harry a cup of tea. He nodded in thanks.
"Look," Teddy gestured to the window. "It's still snowing."
Please leave a review. It makes me so happy when you do. I little bit of happiness goes a long way. So please, please, please leave a review.