a/n: just a cute lil oneshot about the marauders and jily at hogwarts.
enjoy and don't forget to review :) also, happy holidays! has everyone watched fantastic beasts?
Every winter, the Marauders had a snowball fight whenever it snowed. During their first three years at Hogwarts, the fights were relatively harmless.
In their fourth year, they began bewitching snowballs.
In their fifth year, they bewitched snowmen.
In their six year, they made snow igloos.
And then seventh year came, and Hogwarts awoke one fine winter morning to witness the most extravagant and thrilling snowball fight ever to grace Hogwarts' grounds.
"Up and at 'em, Potter!" Sirius Black commanded, his gray eyes glinting as he smacked his best friend with a pillow.
"Eunghh," James Potter grumbled, pressing his face deeper into his pillow.
"Prongs. If you don't get up right now, I'm telling Lily you keep a diary about her!" Sirius threatened.
James Potter shot up from his bead, his messy black hair sticking up even more as he ran his hands through his hair.
"Pads, you wouldn't," James said, horrified. "And it's a journal! Journals are manly, like me!"
Sirius scoffed and smacked James on the head one last time with the pillow. "Get dressed. Snowball fight after breakfast."
James shoved his glasses on his head and dashed to the window to look outside. The large, normally grassy lawns had been covered with a thick blanket of snow, the lake frozen into ice. Finally, the first snowfall of the year had arrived.
James quickly got dressed in a pair of jeans under his manly snitch patterned snow pants, and layered two sweaters under his red winter coat. He wrapped a Gryffindor scarf securely around his neck and put on a golden bobble hat. Glancing in the mirror, he grinned. Perfect.
Waddling down to the Common Room, James joined his fellow Marauders, all attired similarly.
"Ready to head down, boys?" Sirius grinned, making all the girls around them swoon.
"Let's do this," James said happily, leading the way down to the Great Hall.
After a healthy breakfast of bacon, cupcakes, pie, and pumpkin juice, the Marauders got down to business.
"Prongs and I are on a team," Sirius said, narrowing his eyes impressively at Remus and Peter.
"No," James disagreed. "I want Remus."
Sirius gasped, hurt and betrayal clouding his eyes. "Prongs, you wouldn't."
"I haven't forgiven you for smacking me with a pillow to wake me up this morning," James informed Sirius.
"Then I get Remus, and you get Peter," Sirius said, crossing his arms.
"I don't THINK so, Black!" James said, intimidatingly widening his eyes and craning his neck at Sirius.
"Okay, fine. You have Remus. But I GET LILY!" Sirius shrieked, pulling the redhead to his side.
Lily's sounds of protest were quickly muffled by James' screams of "LILY IS MINE" and "GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY WOMAN".
Sirius and James were soon having a standoff right in the middle of the Great Hall, arguing about who they wanted on their team.
"Let's settle this like men, Black," James spat out. "ROCK PAPER SCISSORS."
"May the best man win," Sirius said grimly.
The pair sat down across from each other, staring deep into each other's eyes.
"Moony, you judge," Sirius commanded.
Remus sighed and put down his book on war strategies. Although he didn't care which side he ended up on, his side was going to WIN and CRUSH the enemy. Heh. Who said any of the Marauders were normal?
"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" he said, carefully watching the two.
Quick as lightning, James whipped out a fist as Sirius brought out paper.
"HAHAHA," Sirius chortled, as James screamed in frustration and pounded on the table.
"Best out of three!" James thundered.
"Fine. Only because I have pity for you, who's going to LOSE," Sirius mocked.
James' ears glowed red as he stewed with anger.
"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"
James won. The tension in the room was palpable. It all came down to this.
"Rock. Paper. Scissors... SHOOT!"
In what seemed like slow motion, Sirius' hand reached out with scissors, and James with... paper.
A few seconds of silence passed, and then Sirius' shout of "YES" filled the room.
"A fine game with a worthy opponent," Sirius said, shaking James' hand as James moaned into the table.
"Now then... I choose Remus!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Lily!" James called.
"Frank!"
"Wormtail!"
"Marlene!"
"Hestia!"
And thus the teams were made.
The eight Gryffindor seventh years trooped outside of Hogwarts and quickly marked the game's boundaries.
"Okay, team," Sirius commanded, sternly looking at his group. "There is no way that we are going to lose this snowball fight. Are we clear?"
There was a murmur of agreement from Frank and Marlene, while Remus saluted and shouted, "Yes sir!"
"Exactly the spirit I like to see," Sirius nodded approvingly. "Now, as for our strategy, I'm thinking avalanches and ice spears..."
On the other side of the lawns, James was gathering his soldiers. "Alright, gather round, men and women!"
Lily and Hestia rolled their eyes as Peter just stared at James with expectation.
"We're going to take Black down. So what we're going to need are a few snowmen and an igloo..."
Once both sides had prepared their attack and defense strategies, they met in the middle of the field.
"Ladies and gents! You all know the rules. Weapons must be made of snow. No murders or serious maiming of bodies allowed!" Sirius announced.
James nodded in agreement. "You must stay within the boundaries at all times, and this game does not end until every member of a team has given up to the opponent."
"Or until McGonagall shouts at us for being 'too disruptive'," Remus added.
"That too," James acknowledged. "Anyways, we have a few minutes to get to our spots, and we begin the moment the clock chimes twelve."
Both sides retreated to their command centers, inside their igloos similarly supplied with refreshments and a couch. Now all they had to do was wait.
They didn't have to wait long. Remus stared at his watch, and when the second hand began nearing the 12, he began counting down.
"Ten."
"In your places, everyone!"
"Nine."
"Don't show any mercy."
"Eight."
"Fight hard."
"Seven."
"Don't go down without a fight."
"Six."
"Let's take them down."
"Five."
"We got this, guys!"
"Four."
"Everyone ready?"
"Three."
"Let's do this."
"Two."
"It's time."
"One."
"CHARGE!"
The change was astounding. The field was peacefully covered by untouched snow, and the next second, snowballs were flying and snowmen were marching.
James and Hestia were crouched behind a large tree, with Lily and Peter hiding behind a similarly large tree ten meters down. They charmed their army of snowmen to advance towards the Black fort.
Meanwhile, Frank and Marlene were sending their own snowmen, armed with pointy ice spears, to face off the Potter snowmen. They charged, and the snowmen began battling.
James snickered, "Easy. This is nothing. We're gonna destroy them."
However, he did not factor in Sirius and Remus, who were using the snowmen merely as a distraction. As the Potter side watched the fight intently, they snuck behind them.
Sirius eyed James and Lily, on opposite sides of the lawn, a plot whirring into action...
"Watch out, Lilyflower!" Sirius called, transfiguring the tree branch above her head into a towering pile of snow, dangling precariously from the branch.
James glanced over, and his eyes widened in horror. "Nooo! Lily!"
He sprinted over to her, and Sirius took the opportunity and let the snow tumble onto the two, burying them under.
"Sirius!" Remus gasped, shocked.
Sirius cackled evilly. "Relax, Moony. I bet Prongs is having loads of fun under there with Lils."
Meanwhile, James was crushing Lily into the ground, the two of them isolated from the others by a thick wall of snow.
"Um," James coughed. "This is rather..."
"Awkward. Unfortunate, yes," Lily concluded, her bright green eyes gazing up at James.
James' breath caught as the scent of Lily's strawberry hair whiffed into his nose, and had the strongest urge to snog her senseless. No, we've just become friends.
Lily tried to smile and brush off the awkwardness of their proximity, but James' bright, hazel eyes seemed to melt her insides.
He doesn't like me like that, she told herself.
James and Lily stared into each other's eyes, green meeting hazel. James hesitated, then went with his instincts. He leaned in and kissed Lily.
It was everything he'd dreamed of. Lily's lips, soft and cherry flavored, were molded to his. He was burning with passion. Lily, although surprised, melted into James' embrace, her head spinning.
Finally, they drew apart. Staring at each other, James broke into a grin.
"Go out with me, Evans?"
"Okay, Potter."
The pair dug themselves out of their secluded pile of snow and emerged to find the rest of their friends surrounding them, grinning expectantly.
Eyeing James and Lily's linked hands, Sirius said, "So I guess you guys are going to leave, get a little private time?"
He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Lily smiled at Sirius sweetly, then snatched up a handful of snow and smothered his face with it.
"You wish, Black! Bring it on!"
Laughing, the Gryffindors resumed their snowball fight, Lily and James glancing at each other from time to time, goofy grins on their faces.