Ron sighed as he stared out the window. There were two feet of snow. It was about two weeks after winter break in their sixth year.
"What is it now, Mr. Weasley?" Professor McGonagall asked, clearly exasperated by the redhead's constant boredom during her class.
"It just looks so fun to play in," he replied.
"Mr. Weasley, if you have any desire to learn about large animal transfigurations, then you must pay attention!"
He couldn't help but chuckle at that statement. He had no desire whatsoever to learn anything at the moment.
McGonagall looked up at the clock. "There's about one hour left," she said to herself. "Put your books away, students! We're going outside!"
Harry and Ron exchanged glances with large smiles on their faces. Hermione pouted as she thought about how the entire class period would be wasted on silly flakes of crystalline water, but even she couldn't help but feel at least a little excited.
McGonagall added, "And I strictly forbid you from not having fun!" as she led the class out the door. After a few moments, they were in the front lawn. She tried to set boundaries, but the class of "mature" sixth-years had already started frolicking in the pure white snow.
"Don't hurt anyone!" she said to the class, who wasn't paying attention in the least. "Watch out for slippery patches, and stay on the front lawn!" Just as she was about to continue, she was hit in the back with a snowball. "Why do I even bother?" she said to herself as she made a snowball to throw at the student who hit her.
On the other side of the lawn, Harry and Ron were hiding behind a large tree, waiting for the perfect time to hit Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Suddenly they heard a voice behind them.
"What're you guys up to?"
Ron jumped and said, "Hermione, don't scare us like that! Malfoy almost noticed us!"
"Oh, don't mind Ron," said Harry. "He's a little jumpy right now."
"Oh, shut up, Harry!" said Ron a little too loudly. Malfoy heard him and turned his head. Ron, Harry, and Hermione tried to hide behind the tree, but they could still be seen.
Malfoy picked up a snowball and said, "I think it's time we teach them a lesson." Him, Crabbe, and Goyle immediately started pelting them with snowballs.
"Run!" yelled Harry as he, Ron, and Hermione sprinted away from them as fast as they could, but they couldn't avoid them. Ron and Hermione managed to hide behind another tree after only getting hit by a few, but Harry was hit in the head and nearly fell down.
"Oh, that is it, Malfoy!" he yelled as he formed a snowball and threw it, but Malfoy ducked just in time.
"Really, Potter? You missed! Ha! I bet you couldn't even hit a brick wall if it were an inch from your face!" replied Malfoy as he threw one and hit Harry's face, knocking his glasses off.
As Harry scrambled to find them in the snow, Malfoy turned around and started walking back to Crabbe and Goyle.
"That's my best friend, you numpties!" cried Ron as he and Hermione came from behind the tree and started pelting snowballs at his back. The first one that hit him was rather large and knocked him down.
As they chased him across the lawn, Harry eventually found his glasses, put them on, and sprinted to catch up. He hastily packed some snow into a snowball and pelted it forward toward Malfoy, but unfortunately, he horribly miscalculated (or simply did not aim) and hit Hermione in the back. She abruptly stopped and turned around to face a guilty-looking Harry awkwardly half-smiling back at her.
"I think it's time for some payback," Hermione said slyly to Ron, who had stopped running as well and was now standing next to her.
"Oh, shoot."
Harry, though laughing, was running as fast as he could in the opposite direction (and holding his glasses to his face) while Hermione and Ron followed closely in hot pursuit, snowballs flying from their hands and hitting Harry's back.
From a high window on the side of the building, Professor Albus Dumbledore looked out over all that was happening and smiled. Sure, school was important if one wanted to get a good job in the wizarding world, but they needed a break once in a while.
After a moment, he laughed and said to himself, "What am I doing cooped up in here?" before putting on a jumper and joining the students on the front lawn.