Sunday December 1st 2019:

"We sure got a lot of snow so far," Scorpius observed, walking into the winter wonderland of Hogwarts grounds with Albus by his side.

Winter came early that year, and the outside grounds were piled with blankets of glittering, fluffy snow so thick that crunching sounds were made each time the bundled up teens took a step. Their steps left behind a track of deep, snow carved footprints as they trudged through.

"Yeah. So, when your mother said for you to get some "much needed air", did she mean even in cold weather like this?" Albus asked.

The visible lump in Scorpius' throat was enough for Albus to acknowledge his mistake.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to —"

"No worries. I'm just still having trouble, and yes, she did," Scorpius said, smiling sadly.

"But this is the absolute worst season to be out of them all!" Albus complained.

"Why?" Scorpius asked, making sure his own scarf was secure around his long neck.

"Snowballs. Remember? Or worse... ice balls," Albus warned, surveying their surroundings.

Speak of the Devil, a snowball struck Albus and Scorpius in the shoulders. As thankful as both of them were that it was not their heads, or an iceball used, both of them were equally startled when they saw who hit them.

"Whoo! Not a bad aim if I say so myself," Lily bragged, sprinting over to the Slytherins.

"Oh, it's just you, Lily," Scorpius said, relieved.

"What was that for?" Albus said, dusting the frost off of his shoulder.

"Lighten up, Albus. It's called fun. You used to love having fun," Lily said, pulling Albus close to her. "Hey, Scorpius. My brother here really does talk about you all the time, you know! Everytime he comes home for the summer or Christmas, he would just go on and on about you."

Albus went scarlet. "Lily!"

"What? It wasn't a secret or anything," Lily said, quickly tilting her head from Albus to Scorpius with her arm still around her relative. "Like, there was this one time where our Mum and Dad came into James' room and he was busted when they spotted him with a lollipop, because our parents had us on a diet from sweets a couple of years ago. Did you know that already? I'm sure you do. Anyway, Albus and I were talking just in the next room, and we overheard. You know what Albus said? He told me, "You should see how much candy my mate Scorpius goes through in just a day," and he had this big grin on his face while saying it, and —"

"OK OK, that's enough out of you, chatterbox," Albus said, wriggling out of the redhead's clutches.

Deciding to make his friend feel less uncomfortable — even though he enjoyed what the talkative young Gryffindor was saying, and was curious to hear more — Scorpius said, "Well, two can play that game. Three even."

Scorpius' head was hit by another snowball, only that one felt much harder.

"Four is even better," the corporate of that specific snowball said. Out emerged Hugo from behind a tree.

"Actually, just three," Albus said to the new recruit, taking a step back.

"Oh no you don't, Al," Hugo said, grabbing his cousin and shoving him forward.

Albus knew that the three would not not let him join in the fight, so he reluctantly agreed to join, and he had to admit that successfully hitting someone with a perfect shot was immensely satisfying.

Hugo enjoyed playing rough and had a very impressive aim. He would often taunt the other players with a chicken's beak, and a pig's snout. Those taunts threw Scorpius off guard, so he got two headshots in one. Amused from the reaction, Hugo truly threw Scorpius off when instead of him peering out to attack, it was himself.

Lily enjoyed going full on out, despite what her cute appearance and behaviour may suggest.

It was a fun but aggressive fight with worthy competitors, and although Albus had his moments of getting irritated from skull-knocking shots, he had to admit to himself that he was mostly enjoying himself, as well as Scorpius — even though he couldn't aim properly even if his life depended on it.

They fought and fought until everybody's hair had essentially turned white with snow.

"How did you do all of that?" Scorpius asked Hugo as soon as the match was over. He was gaping at him like he was the most fascinating thing.

Hugo laughed. "I'm a Metamorphmagus, mate."

Scorpius was thunderstruck.

"Wait," Albus said as Lily lifted him from the ground that she pinned him to. "I saw Dylan and the others before I saw either of you two. Why weren't they the ones throwing the snowballs? I'm not complaining of course, I'm just saying."

"Eh, I persuaded them a little. To not bother you, I mean," Lily said casually, gawking over at the exact bullies walking faster than usual from the sight of her, except for Roger.

"All of them?" Scorpius said in doubt.

"Once you tackle the leader of the group, the rest will fall down with him," Lily said. "Like dominoes!"

Just then, an iced up snowball smacked the eleven-year-old directly in the head. They saw the culprit, Roger, smirking with pride and escaping to join the others inside the school.

"But then again, there is always that one rebel," Lily said, trying to disguise her pain and anger with a weak sounding laugh.

"Rebel who deserves a major arse-whooping," Hugo added, angrily.

"Perhaps you could do the honours?" Albus said. "We won't stop you."

Hugo chuckled. "I would, but that wouldn't help anything. Only get me detention and risk my house some points."

"Great. So nobody's going to do anything about it?" Albus growled.

"He'll get his comeuppance in the end. At least, that's what mum always said," Hugo assured.

Albus vulgarly sighed and stared off into the school's entrance corridor — the very place that Roger escaped to completely scott-free.

"Mama's boy," Lily playfully whispered under her breath.

"No, I'm not!" Hugo defended.

"Are you hurt?" Scorpius checked, laying a hand on Lily's shoulder and assisting Hugo in sweeping off the frosted snow and small chunks of ice off from her shoulder length hair.

"Nah, I'm fine," Lily said. "But hey, he didn't hit either of you like they usually do, right?"

Finally noticing her brother staring into the hallway leading back to the inside of the castle, Lily added, "I could see Albus' fists curling up, so I should probably be leaving."

"Yeah. See ya, Albus," Hugo said, trusting Lily's word and leaving with her.

After Hugo and Lily said their goodbyes to Scorpius and a distracted Albus, Scorpius saw that Hugo transformed into Roger as they strolled away, making him do a bunch of stupid things, and letting Lily throw a snowball in his face. It felt strange to see Roger's usual hard face smiling and having fun like that, but it was also inconceivably amusing to see him do such dumb things. Scorpius laughed watching the duo laugh themselves, whereas Albus was still intently focused on where the actual Roger departed.