A/n: Well, this is... er... this is -cough- something I should have post on a lonnnnng time ago. Y'know, back when it actually was snowing.

Snowball Fights: One-shot

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The holiday season was upon Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry yet again.

James Potter cracked an eye open. Light seeped through the curtains that surrounded his bed. He yawned and sat up, scratching his head as he did so.

James swung his legs over the side of the bed and pushed past the drapes. He took a gray t-shirt that was on the floor and tugged it on, covering up his bare chest. Then, he grabbed his round glasses from his bedside table and slipped them on.

He turned to the window, and a delighted smile spread across his face. There were either marshmallows falling from the sky, or it was snowing!

"Padfoot! Pads - wake up!" James cried, running to the bed next to his and yanking the curtains open. Sirius Black was fast asleep, clutching a pillow to his chest. "C'mon! Get up!"

James ripped the pillow from his friend's grasp and hit him over the head with it.

"Gedoffme!" Sirius mumbled, but then gave up after his tenth blow to the head.

"It's snowing!"

Sirius sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Blimey, are you serious?"

"No, you are," James grinned cheekily, using his friend's own over-used joke. He turned to the window. "See for yourself."

The other marauder trudged out of bed and stared through the window. It appeared as if all of the color was sucked out of the world, turning everything white. Yes, it was definitely snowing.

-----

"I still don't know why you both make such a deal about this - it snows every year!"

"Moony, you're no fun," Sirius complained, wrapping a scarf around his neck. "And what if one day, the world turns into a fiery underground and it never snows again? Eh? What will we do then?"

Remus Lupin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because that's definitely going to happen."

Sirius shrugged. "You never know,"

James downed a glass of pumpkin juice and tugged on wool gloves. "Time for some Slytherin payback, eh guys?"

"Oh yeah, Prongs!" Sirius grinned, and the two boys high-fived, their eyes gleaming wickedly.

"You can count me out this year." Remus said, unfolding his copy of the Morning Prophet.

"Aw, c'mon, Moony!" James whined. "It's the first snow fall of the year!"

"Yeah, Lupin! Stop living your life with your wand up your ass."

"His wand's right here!" Peter Pettigrew chimed, taking it from Remus's pocket and smirking cheekily.

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Peter can come with you guys." Remus reasoned, buttering a crumpet.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Sweet!" Peter grinned happily and the three boys bid their werewolf friend goodbye as they hurried out of the Great Hall.

-----

"Evans,"

Lily Evans looked up from the book she was reading and scowled. "Rosier, what a - forgive me - horrible surprise."

Evan Rosier grinned viciously and plopped down on the blanket of white next to Lily. "What are you doing out here?"

"Well, I was trying to read until you came along."

"Aw, c'mon - you know I'm better than Potter," the sixth year Slytherin stated.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, much better."

"I don't like sarcasm, mudblood." Evan murmured, his lips at her ear.

"Oh, heavens, I'm terribly sorry. I definitely wasn't using sarcasm." she snapped. Lily wasn't the type of girl to become easily threatened.

The Slytherin stood rigid, clenching his jaw. His lips were pressed into a firm line, and he stared at her.

"Are you going to leave now?"

"Not a chance in hell, Evans."

Lily sighed. "What do you want?"

"Me? Just to spend some quality time with you, my pretty little mudblood."

She raised her eyebrows at him, and he smiled. Her cheeks were tinged pink from the cold weather and it gave her profile an angelic affect.

"Because we all know that if every muggleborn was as pretty as you, Slytherins wouldn't mock you so much."

"Oh sure," she snorted, snapping her book shut. "Save the crap, Rosier."

"But it's true," he whispered, and then leaned over, pressing his cheek against her own.

Lily flushed scarlet. "I - er - Evan - "

" - oh look!" He grinned wickedly, breaking contact. "Here comes Potter and the rest of his stupid friends."

Both the Gryffindor and Slytherin looked up to see James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew trudging through the snow.

"So it is," Lily murmured, raising an eyebrow. "I wonder what they're up to."

Rosier only tugged on her scarf and smirked.

-----

"See that lot near the lake?" Sirius whispered, his breath forming a cloud around his face.

James nodded, his eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah, I see 'em." He scowled in disgust as the Slytherin boy - was it Evan Rosier? - leaned over and nuzzled the girl's cheek.

"We'll get them good,"

"We'd better." James said darkly, and then stooped down to the ground. "Peter - you make the ammo! Sirius, keep watch! I'll build the fort."

All of the sixth year boys set to work doing their jobs. Sirius narrowed his eyes at the couple whilst James scooped up snow and stacked it around them. He pulled out his wand to make it taller, and then smoothed it out. James took drew a circle on the fort with his wand and popped it out. A spy-hole.

"Merlin, Peter - what do you call that?"

Peter looked up from where he was crouched on the snowy ground and smiled weakly. "A snowball?"

Sirius spat on the ground and shook his head. "That's not a snowball - what'd you use, Worms? Your bare hands?"

"Er, isn't that what we're supposed to use to make snowballs?"

James let out a throaty chuckle. "Are you a wizard or aren't you, Wormtail?"

Peter gave both of them a questioning look.

"Your wand, Peter - your wand!" Sirius shouted, grabbing his own. "Wingardium Leviosa," he chanted with a swish and flick.

"Brilliant, Pads." James praised as the snow levitated into the air. Sirius nodded his wand at it and the snow began to roll itself into a perfect sphere.

"And that," Sirius stated proudly, "is how you make a snowball using magic."

Peter cheered and then followed Sirius, making about twenty or so more.

"Okay," James breathed, taking his glasses off and rubbing them on his cloak; they had become fogged up. "I think that's enough - let's go, men! Stay low to the ground!"

The three sixteen year olds flattened themselves out on the ground and did a sort of army crawl to bring themselves closer to the couple by the lake. James peeked his head out over a snow mound and saw that the Slytherin boy was looking at him curiously, smirking.

"Shit! Men, we've been seen!" he cried. "Fire the snowballs!"

"Wait - wait!" Sirius whispered, pulling out a small set of binoculars. "I want good aim."

"There's not time for that - go, go, goooo!"

"No - Prongs!" Sirius gasped in horror as he focused the binoculars. "It's not who you think - it's - EVANS!"

Too late. James had already grabbed a handful and fired them at Lily and Evan.

"Oh my - POTTER!" Lily shouted, her face covered with snow. Its coldness burned her fair skin and she knew that she must be getting frostbite. "YOU IDIOT!"

Evan took her book and put it in front of his face, shielding the snow. "Potter, you bastard! Cut it out!"

James didn't stop until he had flung every snowball at the redhead and handsome Slytherin. Evan eventually pulled Lily to her feet and they ducked behind a tree.

"Ugh," Evan groaned, wiping snow from his shoulders. "I'm fucking freezing."

Lily rubbed the snow out of her face, her teeth chattering. Snow flakes were caught in her red strands of hair, which was mussed to her face because of the dampness. "You're cold?"

Rosier rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, would you like to wear my cloak?"

"No. But. Thanks. For. Asking." she snapped, conjuring a warming spell on herself. "Merlin, I'm going to KILL HIM."

"Yeah, well I'll help," Evan sneered, and they popped out from behind the tree.

"Oh... Evans..." James drawled coolly. All three of the marauders were at a stand-still, completely rigid. "Fancy seeing you on a fine day like this, eh?"

Her green eyes turned into deathly slits, and the redhead looked like a tiger about to pounce.

"Mate, I'd run if I was you," Sirius whispered.

"YOU'D ALL BETTER RUN, DAMMIT!"

"WAAAH!" Sirius, Peter, and James darted off towards the Forbidden Forest with Lily sprinting madly behind them. Her hair whipped back, making it look like a stream of fire was following her.

The redhead wouldn't have caught up with them. She wouldn't have, if Peter didn't trip.

"Argh - guys!" He yelled out, as his foot caught on a root of a tree and he was launched into the air, only to land on his face.

"You tosser!" Sirius cried. It was like a chain affect: Peter tripped, Sirius tripped over Peter, James tripped over Sirius, and Lily tripped over James.

"Merlin!" Lily growled, hitting James in the back fruitlessly. "If I was in the position to get my wand out..."

"Oh Evans, don't even bother!" he chuckled, trying to get up.

"Screw you!" she yelled, and then tackled James to the ground. They rolled around, snow sticking to their hair. James was on top, then Lily, then James again.

"I win," he breathed, and moved to a straddle position.

"Ugh, get off!" She gasped for breath, pounding on his chest. Her long red hair was sprawled out around her, making it look like blood against the snowy white.

"Not until you admit that I win."

"God, Potter! You're such a - a - " she wheezed, " - a child!"

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh really? Do children do this?"

It was at that point that Sirius and Peter chose to look away. This was because James had swooped down and pressed his lips against hers. His mouth moved against Lily's steadily, and for a second it seemed as if her anger for him had gone away. It hadn't.

"Dammit, Potter!" she shouted, pushing him off of her. Although she attempted to mask her feelings (even to herself), she couldn't deny that the cold had subsided from their shared moment.

His hazel eyes gleamed with emotion. "Is this about the snowball?"

Lily staggered upwards until she was leaning against a tree. She closed her eyes. "Possibly. Or it could be the fact that you're an asshole."

James sighed; his features were washed with hurt. "I'm sorry... Lily."

She opened her eyes and smiled weakly. "Y'know... you do have pretty good aim."

He grinned proudly, "I know. Did you see the one I hit Rosier with?"

"Hmmm, oh yeah."

"Wait - what were you doing with him, anyways?" James's eyes turned on her, glaring and accusing.

Lily shrugged. "Mm, I dono. He sort of came out of nowhere - not that it's even your business."

"Right - sorry." He sighed, but then perked up. "So how about that kiss, eh? C'mon, Evans, I know you liked it."

She masked her smirk. "Rosier was right; I like him better."

"Better? What? Better than who?"

"Better than you." she said matter-of-factly, and then brushed by him, stooping down into the snow. Her slender hands scooped up the white mess and rolled it into a ball.

"Hey...," James said slyly, eyeing the snowball the redhead now hid behind her back. "What d'you think you're doing with that, Evans?"

"Hmm?" she asked innocently.

"I - er - the snowball - and - "

"I don't know what you're talking about,"

"But - "

Woosh.

She whipped around and fired the snowball straight at him. It came, hurtling towards his face, and hit, stinging the marauder.

"Hey" he cried, rubbing his cheek that was surely red.

"Gotcha!" Lily smirked, and turned around to walk back to the castle.

"Brilliant," he said, positively beaming as she walked away. "Hey wait - do you guys think she was serious when she said she liked Rosier -" James said his name in disgust, "- better than me?"

Sirius and Peter exchanged glances. "Uh-huh. Yep. Definitely." they said in unison.

James rolled his eyes. "She totally doesn't." He held a gloved hand to his cheek. "Proof! I have proof!"

The three boys grinned and each scooped up snow. They spent the rest of the day throwing it at each other - not at seemingly innocent redheads - but perhaps a few unsuspecting Slytherins.

And a first snow of the year it was.