'Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Warning: None for this chapter.

Chapter 8 – Slytherins & Snowball Fights

As autumn progressed to winter, the relationship between Sirius and Kate took firm root and began to develop in earnest. While James and Lily could not claim the same progress – indeed, any gains could be measured in inches – there were times when things between them seemed headed in a more positive direction.

Sirius was grateful that he did not have the ups and downs with Kate that his friend was forced to endure. Even at the tender age of fifteen – almost sixteen – Sirius could appreciate uncomplicated relationships; he had far too much complexity in his relationship with his family to suffer it anywhere else in his life – if he could possibly avoid it. While Sirius sensed that there was much more to Kate than she had so far allowed him to see, he was happy to allow things to play out in their own time.

Days became weeks, with a never-ending routine of classes, homework assignments and tests to occupy the friends' time. Then, one Saturday morning in late November, the first real snowstorm of the year greeted the occupants of Gryffindor tower's 5th year dormitories – and presented an opportunity for a little high-spirited fun.

"Prongs," Sirius called over to his friend from his perch at the window. When there was no response, the dark-haired wizard grinned widely and launched himself across the room and onto James' motionless form. "Get up!" he crowed, bouncing up and down.

James groaned and pushed his head further under the pillow in a vain attempt to block out Sirius' voice. When it became apparent that this would not be effective, the disgruntled boy threw the pillow at his friend. "Padfoot, what in Merlin's name are you on about?" He reached for his glasses and once they were in place, James looked at the clock in disbelief. "It's half seven," he said incredulously. "On a Saturday morning!"

Sirius stopped bouncing and looked at his friend. "It snowed last night. A lot. Huge storm. No one else is outside…"

James snorted. "No bloody surprise there…"

Sirius continued as if the other boy hadn't spoken. "…we've got it all to ourselves. And you know what that means…"

James raised his head and looked directly at the other boy as a smile slowly worked across his face. "Stockpile the ammunition…" he said quietly, his smile broadening.

Sirius nodded. "Then set the trap for Snivelly, Malfoy and the rest of their little gang." He paused. "Game?"

"I don't suppose I can talk you into breakfast first?"

Sirius snorted. "Not bloody likely, Prongs. Now, c'mon," he swung his legs to the floor. You wake up Petey and I'll take on Moony. We can eat breakfast after we've built up our arsenal. Besides, we need to pull our plan together, yeah?"

James grinned, nodded and threw aside his bed covers.

XXXXXXXX

Less than ten minutes later, a grumbling Peter and a not-quite-awake-yet Remus were marching along behind James and Sirius as the latter two boys led them to a specific spot well away from the front doors of the school. Their progress was impeded by the deep snow which, in the shallower sections, reached to the middle of their shins; some drifts brought the depth to their knees. Finally, after much huffing and puffing, Peter and Remus came to a sudden stop behind their mates. Looking around, Remus recognized that they had not traveled quite as far as he had thought. He smiled; Sirius had led them to the single point on the grounds that was not visible from any window of the castle.

Sirius caught his friend's grin and returned it. "Gentlemen," he said quietly. "Let's start building up our arsenal, shall we?"

For the next twenty minutes, James, Remus and Peter magically formed an impressive inventory of snowballs, all neatly piled. While his mates were so engaged, Sirius moved a short distance in front of them and worked diligently to form a solid snow fortress behind which the quartet would be able to hide when the fight began in earnest. Standing back to admire his work, Sirius turned to his friends.

"I think we're ready," he said, grinning. "Breakfast, anyone?"

XXXXXXXX

When the Marauders entered the Great Hall, they bypassed their usual seats along the middle of the Gryffindor table, preferring instead to situate themselves at one end – the end not coincidentally located directly next to the Slytherin table. As luck would have it, that general area of the Slytherin table was currently occupied by Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy and members of their gang.

"So," Sirius began in a stage whisper. "Did you blokes take care of it?"

James leaned across the table in an effort to appear discreet. "Put it right where you told us – 'round back; you know, our usual place."

Remus casually glanced over James' shoulder toward the Slytherins then looked at Sirius and dropped a careful wink.

"Are they listening?" Sirius muttered out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes focused on his plate.

Remus nodded and leaned toward his friend. "If Lucius Malfoy leans backward any further, he'll be on the floor," he whispered, eyes twinkling.

Sirius allowed one corner of his mouth to lift slightly and his head dropped in a barely perceptible nod. "Well, then. Let's finish up here and head out so we can get started, yeah?" Sirius said, stuffing the last triangle of toast into his mouth and looking meaningfully at his mates. His message was received as all four boys stood and walked the length of the Great Hall toward the doors. Once they had reached the entrance hall of the school, they cast surreptitious glances behind them to confirm that the Slytherins had, indeed, taken the bait. When Lucius Malfoy's blonde head passed through the doors of the Great Hall, they knew they had been successful and they quickened their pace through the huge front doors of the school and out into the chilly morning air.

"Still behind us?" Sirius whispered.

"Yes," James confirmed. "Though they're trying like hell to make us think they're just taking a walk!"

"Let's step it up, then," came the response and the boys increased their speed until the Slytherins were forced to almost run to keep them in sight.

Soon, the Marauders reached their previously constructed fortress and confirmed that their arsenal was still intact. As they waited, they heard the hushed voices of Lucius and Severus as they approached.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" James spoke the incantation clearly, while pointing his wand at two of the snowballs in the pile. "Acceleratum!" he added and the white spheres flew through the air, arriving at the corner of the school just as the two Slytherin students came into view. Each hit its target square in the face, to the delight of the Marauders.

For one very brief moment, it seemed that time stopped as both Malfoy and Snape came to a halt, tightly compacted snow dripping from their faces and onto their cloaks.

Severus went for his wand first but out of nowhere, a snowball came flying and hit him in the back of the head. His wand dropped to the snow. Sirius looked at James then Remus then Peter and finally back at James. None of them had launched it.

Whilst Sirius had been preoccupied, Malfoy had taken advantage of his lack of attention and launched his own snowball, hitting Remus on the ear. That was it – the fight was on.

The Marauders sent one snowball after another and suffered their fair share of direct hits as well. Reinforcements from Slytherin came to join their comrades and more Gryffindors similarly arrived behind the fortress to fight with their house mates – Kate, Lily and Dorcas included. Just as their inventory was about spent, Sirius' head was whipped to one side by the force of a particularly well aimed snowball. He felt something warm on his face and, reaching up to feel his cheek, Sirius was surprised to find blood on his glove. As he did so, Sirius heard a triumphant shout from the Slytherin camp. Turning, he saw Regulus smirking in his direction.

"Serves you right, brother," the youngster taunted. "Fighting on the wrong side – as usual."

Sirius took one step in the direction of his younger brother before James caught him by the arm. "It's not worth it, mate," he said quietly. "Not in front of Malfoy and Snape. Leave it."

"He's only eleven, Jamie," Sirius whispered fiercely.

James tightened his grip on his friend's arm. "And you know right well that he's only repeating what he's heard at home. Right?"

Sirius nodded tersely, his eyes glued to his brother.

"Then let it go," James replied. "Let it go," he repeated, shaking Sirius' arm briefly for emphasis. "It's only going to come back to bite you when you get home."

That seemed to get through to the other boy as he dragged his gaze away from Regulus, nodding at his friend. "Ok, Jamie," he said quietly. "You can let go now. I'm not going to go over there." James held on for another few seconds then removed his hand. After a few more taunting comments, the Slytherin crowd decided to call it quits and dispersed.

Kate came over to Sirius, pulling out a clean handkerchief and pressing it into his hand. "Put this on your cheek, Sirius," she said quietly. "It will slow the bleeding."

Sirius gave her a crooked smile and took the bit of cloth from her hand, applying it to his face. "Thanks, Katie," he said.

Remus came up to them, saying, "Let's have a look at that." He looked at Sirius' cheek for several moments before he spoke. "There's a shard of ice stuck in the wound," Remus said quietly. He removed his wand from his sleeve, pointed the tip at the cut and a moment later, the ice shard disengaged itself and floated to Remus' free hand. He pointed his wand at it again and murmured an incantation the others couldn't quite hear and his eyebrows rose in surprise. "It has a timed heating charm cast on it," he told the others, then muttered a quick healing charm. The wound healed immediately; no trace of it could be seen on Sirius' face. Remus turned away to find Kate watching him curiously.

"Nice work," she said, one eyebrow raised.

Remus reddened slightly but managed an embarrassed smile. "I was very clumsy as a small boy and we lived quite a distance from town. My mum used to use healing charms whenever I got a bump or bruise. It got so I memorized them."

Kate looked at him a moment longer, then smiled warmly. "Clever boy!"

Remus smiled in relief, but then went back to the cause of Sirius' injury. "That was fairly sophisticated magic, Sirius. Could Regulus have learned that at home?"

Sirius' face had gone pale when Remus had first discovered the shard. It had not yet recovered. "In my house? With my parents? Really, Remus; one can learn anything from them." His tone was bitter and Kate stepped closer and rested her hand gently on his arm.

James spoke up. "I don't think Regulus cast the spell. You didn't see his face when Sirius first started bleeding. Unless he's an accomplished actor at eleven years old, he looked very surprised." He paused and looked 'round the circle of friends. "My money's on Snape."

"Isn't it always?" Lily asked, her tone direct.

"Listen, everyone recognizes that Snape is a genius in potions and I think they really overlook his talent with standard spell casting. He came to Hogwarts with quite an inventory of spell magic at his disposal," James responded, looking Lily right in the eye as he did so.

"So, it's alright to accuse him this time just because you put some thought into it?" Lily shot back. "Did you ever stop to think about why Severus might have such experience with...," Lily stopped suddenly as if she realized she might have said too much. "It could just as easily have been Malfoy," she added after a moment.

Sirius spoke up. "Doesn't really matter, does it? Regulus – my brother – threw it." He straightened his arm and caught Kate's hand in his own – winding their fingers together tightly. "Let's go back inside. It's cold out here."

As they trudged back through the snow, Peter said, "Well, say what you want, but I'm never going to forget the sight of Snape standing there with snow dripping off that long, hooked nose of his!"

He was happy a moment later to hear the chuckles of his friends as they, too, pictured the scene in their minds.

"Hey," James stopped suddenly and looked at his friends. "Never mind the snow dripping off that nose of his; anyone see who threw the one that hit him in the back of the head?"

"I did," Kate said quietly.

Sirius looked down at her. "You saw who did it?"

"Actually, I threw it."

Sirius wrapped his arms around her and gave her a huge hug. "That's my girl!"

He released her finally, grinning widely.

"Kate," Lily admonished. "I can't believe you did that."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Lily, I saw him draw his wand and I had no idea what he was going to do. I didn't want anyone getting hexed over a snowball fight, so I did the first thing that came to mind."

"Brained the bastard!" Sirius chortled, mood much improved.

Lily shook her head but let it drop and the friends made their way back to the common room and the warmth of the fire.

XXXXXXXX

December arrived and with it, the excitement of the impending holiday season. The house elves had already put up Christmas trees in each of the houses' common rooms as well as in the Great Hall. Fairy lights twinkled on every bough where they nestled amongst all manner of glittering ornaments. Despite the stress of midterm exams, the students were in high spirits, eagerly awaiting the month-long break from their studies. On the Friday evening before the final, pre-Christmas Hogsmeade weekend, the Marauders, Kate and Lily were gathered before the common room fire, reviewing last minute purchases that needed to be made the following day. As the chatter and laughter escalated, Kate glanced over at Sirius, lounging in one of the overstuffed chairs near the fire. Although he had answered comments and questions directed his way, he clearly had other things on his mind. As if he felt her eyes on him, Sirius suddenly shifted his gaze and looked directly at Kate. He blinked a couple of times then smiled crookedly, winking at her as he did so. Kate returned his smile and moved to sit on the ottoman at the foot of his chair.

"What's on your mind?" Kate asked, leaning toward him.

Sirius shook his head slightly. "Not much, really. Still coming to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?"

"Well...I don't know. I still can't forget what a great time I had with Remus on my first Hogsmeade weekend," Kate winked at him. "I suppose I could go with him if you're too tired or have something else to do."

Sirius reached over and took her hands in his. "There's nothing more important to me than going to Hogsmeade tomorrow with you," he said sincerely, eyes locked on hers.

Kate's brow furrowed. "Sirius, what is it? You know that you can tell me anything."

He searched her face for a moment longer then shook his head. "Not this; not yet," he whispered. "I just can't …"

"It's ok," Kate reassured him, squeezing his hands. "You don't have to talk; I just hate seeing you out of sorts. You know that I'm here if you need me."

Sirius nodded and brought her hand to his lips briefly. "I know, Katie. Really."

Kate smiled softly. "Meet you in the Great Hall for breakfast first?"

Sirius brightened. "Absolutely. I'll save you a seat!"

"Hah! As if you'll beat me downstairs," Kate teased. "You've been quite the lay-about every morning, I hear; only getting up after James or Remus threatens to hex you if you don't!"

Sirius laughed. "Someone's been telling on me, have they? I'll have to look into that." Katie, if you only knew how little I've been sleeping lately, he thought to himself.

"Alright, then," Kate rose. "I'm heading up to bed; I'm exhausted … and I want to be sure I beat a certain Marauder to breakfast in the morning." She smiled at him and walked across to the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories.

"'night, Katie," Sirius called after her. "Sleep well."

When Kate retired, Lily and Dorcas were not far behind and slowly, the common room emptied until James and Sirius were the only two students left.

James sat in the chair opposite his best mate. "Lily says Kate's a great listener," he began but his friend cut him off.

"Leave it, Jamie. We're too new for her to find out about all the shite that goes with the Black family," Sirius said tersely.

"And "all the shite" is why you're not sleeping, right?" James asked pointedly.

Sirius didn't answer right away. "I have to go home for holiday break, James. Have to. I tried to get them to let me stay here, but dear old Mum and Dad wouldn't hear of it! They want their first-born home where he belongs; after all, there's just so much satisfaction to be had kicking the life out of the house elves!"

James reached across the space between them and grabbed Sirius' arm. "Padfoot, if they're being physically abusive…."

Sirius tugged his arm, but James tightened his grip. Changing his tactics, Sirius relaxed and gave James a grim smile. "Don't worry about it, Prongs. I'll be fine. I always am. It's usually not too bad. They get everything out of their system early and make me stay in my room the rest of the holiday. Rather peaceful, really." He attempted to pacify James, but his words did not match the expression on his face. James knew him well enough to see the apprehension in his blue eyes.

"Come stay with us, Sirius. Mum and Dad adore you, can't think why. They'd love to have you over at Christmas; might even be moved to put a present or two for you under the Potter family tree," James tried to lighten the mood and remove that look from his friend's face.

"Sorry, Jamie," Sirius replied. "It's Christmas at Grimmauld for me this year. Appropriately named, the Black family residence, isn't it?" He grinned. "Look, don't worry about me, yeah? Maybe they'll let me come back early this year – who knows? If they do, I'll owl you so you know it's ok. Meanwhile, let's not talk about this any more, ok? And please don't say anything more to Kate. Agreed?"

James searched his friend's face then answered. "Agreed. But, Padfoot – if you need anything, if things get too difficult, you'll find a way to get a message to me, yeah?" He squeezed Sirius' arm.

Sirius brought his hand and slapped it on top of James' for a moment. "Yeah, Jamie. Promise. Now, let's head up. Maybe tonight I'll actually sleep a little before dawn, ok?"

James nodded and the two boys rose.

"Jamie, promise me something?"

"Anything, Padfoot."

"Make sure I'm awake in time to get to the Great Hall before Kate, eh?"

James laughed. "I'll do my best, mate!"