I.
Free period was what Harry had been waiting for. He would get the chance to see Ginny and Ron and Hermione, since they all had free period together. He mostly wanted to see Ginny, though; she always smelled flowery and her hair was always shiny and soft. He had thought about asking her if she would go out with him, maybe to Hogsmeade, or maybe he would get her alone so he could walk with her around the lake, and slip his hand into hers, and then things would take off from there. But he was too nervous. She had, after all, just gotten over Dean Thomas, which he was happy about-but Ginny wasn't so happy. Lately she had taken to moping around all day, and he was almost afraid that today during free period she would be moping instead of laughing and playing around with everyone else. Harry pushed those thoughts to the side, though, and made his way through the crowded halls towards the Gryffindor common room, his spirits lifting when he saw Ron and Hermione waiting for him.
"Hey," Harry said, dropping his bags by a chair in front of the fireplace. He glanced out the window; snow was falling lightly onto the ground, which was already covered in a fresh blanket of snow. "What's up?"
Ron just shrugged, reaching for some chips he'd stolen from the cafeteria. Hermione fluttered around, unable to stand still. "I've got so much work to do," she said, "and you probably do, too, guys. I color-coded your schedules a couple weeks ago, what happened to that? You should be doing work now, I planned work for free period..." She trailed off, trying to tuck her wild hair behind her ear, but it would just spring back in her face again.
"Hermione," Ron complained, "it's free period. Meaning, I don't have to do work." Harry nodded in agreement. Hermione looked furious.
"No, you guys. We've got to pass our exams if we want to pass this year! This is an important year, I mean, next year we'll be in seventh year and if we don't pass the OWLs, we're screwed."
"We'll do some work later tonight, okay? Promise," said Harry, noncommittally. He just wanted to pacify them before their bickering got to real arguing. "Let's go outside now," he said. "We can have a snowball fight or something."
Ron nodded. "Yeah. If only Fred and George were here, they'd be on my team."
Hermione's eyes darted back and forth between Ron and Harry. "Well, okay," she said reluctantly. "But you have to do some work tonight."
"Yeah, we promise," said Ron and Harry unison.
"Hey, where's Ginny?" Harry said, looking around.
"Oh, she went to the library. She'll be back soon." Hermione put some papers in her bag and began to organize her things. "Why don't I ask if she wants to come outside with us when she gets back?"
Harry nodded and smiled a little. "Yeah," he said, a little too enthusiastically. Ron shot him a weird glance.
When Ginny came back, they all put their coats and hats on and traipsed outside into the snow, which was just above ankle-deep. They occasionally threw snowballs at each other but mostly they walked and talked, and they even attempted to build a snowman but it didn't go over well. Hermione ended up on the ground, covered in snow and laughing, while Ron helped her up and Harry and Ginny watched with laughter in their eyes.
And then a snowball hit Harry square in the back of the head, hard. He turned around sharply, his hand going up to rub his head. "Ouch," he said under his breath. Ginny gasped and he could hear Ron and Hermione come up behind them. Harry looked up and saw, not too far away, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. He grimaced and bent down to scoop up a snowball, making sure it was packed tight.
"No, Harry," whispered Hermione. "Don't. You'll get in trouble." Harry scowled and half listened to her, half ignored her. He rose with the snowball in his hand but didn't throw it.
"Potter, Granger, and the Weasleys," Malfoy said. "Out for a stroll in the snow." He sneered. "Shouldn't you be doing homework? To pass the OWLs?"
Hermione glared at Malfoy. "Why aren't you studying, then?" she asked.
"Oh, since my father is affiliated with the schools, I'll pass. I have a one hundred percent chance of passing, you know-my father will make sure of it." He chuckled and came closer, Goyle and Crabbe flanking his sides and cracking their knuckles as usual.
"Just leave us alone, okay?" said Ginny, uncomfortably, but she kept her voice steady well enough. "We don't want to talk to you." She shoved her gloved hands in her pockets.
Malfoy laughed. "I'll leave you lot alone, then..." he said, raising an eyebrows arching. Harry was unable to see the point of his bothering them, but he was angry anyway, so the moment Malfoy has his back turned he threw the snowball as hard as he could. It his Malfoy in the back of the neck. Malfoy froze for a moment.
"Harry!" Hermione hissed. Ron laughed and clapped Harry on the back.
Malfoy turned around, seething. His face was turning pink. "Potter," he said, and then when it seemed like he couldn't think of anything else to say he pivoted and stalked off. Crabbe and Goyle followed like they always did, never questioning Malfoy. Trusty sidekicks.
"I hate them," said Ginny, crossing her arms over her chest. Harry shrugged.
"They're not worth it," he said, and Ron nodded. Hermione just sighed and began walking towards the castle.
"Let's go in," she said, teeth chattering. "It's freezing out here." Everyone agreed and Harry trudged behind everyone else, already planning to put his wet socks in front of the fire to dry them faster. He sped up to catch up with Ginny.
"What do you have next?" he asked, although he already knew what class she had.
"Herbology," she said, and shuddered. "It's going to be cold in the greenhouses." Harry nodded. "But nothing even grows in the winter. I don't know why we have to study plants when nothing grows!" She sighed in exasperation and Harry kept nodding, his heart beating a little faster.
After a small moment of silence, Harry said, "Hey, d'you think that maybe-maybe you'd want to-I don't know, maybe go to the Three Broomsticks with me tomorrow? Maybe?" He stopped talking after realizing he was babbling like an idiot. He wanted to say something to redeem himself but could think of nothing to say, so he was quiet, waiting for Ginny to respond.
Ginny blushed a bright pink. They walked into the warm castle and she had her eyes on her feet, but Harry thought he saw a smile. "Well," she said, "I think I could do that." She looked up at him and he hair framed her face, and her freckles seemed to stand out more than usual, and her blush made her seem even prettier than usual. Harry grinned widely.
"Okay, cool," he said, and then didn't talk again until they got to the common room because he couldn't think of anything to say. Ginny was quiet too.