OOC warning! This chapter of extreme fluff may seem totally OOC (or maybe not) but you know what, I thought it fitting and just plain fun to write, and gosh darn it sometimes LIFE is just OOC! And what can I say? Snow can have magical effects on people! So have fun reading this chapter and don't take it too seriously- I felt the need to give my characters a well-deserved break from the dramatic.
Chapter Twenty-four- Snow
"Hey Draco…" Cari said coyly, waiting for the boy to turn his unsuspecting head. As soon as he did- WHAM! Draco was met with a face full of cold snow.
"Oh so that's how you want to play, is it?" he asked mischievously, taking the mound of snow he had been rolling into a snowman and hoisting it into throwing position.
"No!" Cari cried, giggling madly, trying to escape the inevitable attack.
The snow had stopped early that morning (three days later) and there was now at least a four foot layer of snow on the ground, up to six feet in some of the drifts. All of this made it nearly impossible for Cari to flee. She felt the mammoth snowball hit her right in the back, pushing her forward into a snowdrift, all the while laughing hysterically.
She just lay there for a moment, waiting to attack as soon as an opportunity presented itself.
"Sorry, Cari," Draco said, laughing and coming over to assist her, thinking she needed it. How wrong he was! As soon as he was within range Cari attacked, throwing a huge loose pile of snow up in his face. He fell back, blinking and sputtering. Cari laughed again, then scrambled to get away as Draco cleared his eyes.
"Oh no you don't!" he shouted playfully, tackling her in the snow. She thrashed beneath him, throwing snow up in his face.
"Hey!" he cried, relinquishing. Cari sat up, her face flushed with laughter and cold, eyes bright.
"I just couldn't resist, Draco!" she exclaimed breathlessly.
A playful glint in his eye, Draco gathered up a good-sized pile of snow behind his back, and as soon as she started to get up he assailed her, bombarding her with handful after handful of snow.
"Oh, that's it!" Cari cried, smiling and shaking her head. The two of them then began tossing snow haphazardly, laughing and shouting and shrieking (Cari, anyway), creating the second largest snowball fight Malfoy Manor had ever seen. Their tumult grew to such a clamor that Lucius eventually came out to see.
"What on-" But he never got to finish his sentence since at that exact moment he got a double attack of snow right in the face.
Cari gasped, dropping her snowball.
"Oops…" she bit her lip to suffuse her laughter. Draco, however, didn't bother.
"Sorry about that, Father!" he cried simply, beaming, and really not sounding sorry at all.
Lucius slowly began wiping snow from his face, his mouth twitching.
"Oh, don't think you'll get away with it that easily," he said dangerously, then proceeded in attacking both Draco and Cari with his own handfuls of snow.
"Father!" Draco cried, never seeing Mr. Malfoy consorting in childish activities such as this.
"What? Do you think I was never fifteen years old?" he asked, raising his eyebrows, his perfect hair uncharacteristically unkempt. With a look at Cari they both then proceeded in double-teaming Draco, and the three spent the rest of the morning participating in the largest snowball fight Malfoy Manor had ever seen, and generally being wild and unruly and completely out of the ordinary.
As they trekked across the open grounds back to Hogwarts Severus was attempting to explain the art of Occlumency to Lindsey.
"So it's like mind-reading?" Lindsey asked.
"No, that's Legilimency," Snape corrected.
"So then Occlumency i-" but Lindsey never got to finish her sentence, for her next step was directly into a drift of snow over six feet deep; stumbling she completely disappeared in the soft powder.
Snape let out a bark of laughter in sheer surprise, then was unable to stop himself from breaking into a veritable fit of it, laughing hard like he had at Professor Balbossa, only differently- warmer. He laughed until he gasped for breath, eyes tearing; still Lindsey hadn't been able to get back up.
Severus was about to master himself enough to ask if she was okay when a snowball from the hole Lindsey had disappeared through got him right in the face and an icy barrage of loose snow followed. Lindsey giggled, then pressed a hand to her mouth to stop it, her head peeking out of the hole, watching Snape's look of utter surprise.
"Oh, you're not going to get away with that," he said, his voice menacing, though this was made less so by the wide grin on his face. His eyes sparking he began gathering snow and Lindsey scrambled frantically to escape. Just as she was liberated from the snow ditch Snape attacked and Lindsey almost fell back into the drift to escape the pelting snowballs. Laughing, she turned to tell him okay, okay, sorry, but as she was about to speak another snowball caught her right between the eyes.
"Alright, that's it!" she cried, grabbing up a pile of snow. "Now you've done it!"
Snape bent to scoop up more himself but when he straightened she was gone. He looked around warily, shaking his head at himself inwardly for consorting in such behaviors and enjoying it so much. He whirled around upon feeling a tugging at the back of his robes.
Lindsey, who had been trying as delicately as possible to pull back the neck of his robes and then proceed in dumping snow down his back , squeaked in surprise, and dropped her ammunition.
"Oh, I don't think so!" Snape said, smiling deviously. Dropping his own pile of snow he picked her up by the legs and slung her, kicking and laughing, over his shoulder to dump her into the snow drift again. He stood over her for a moment, laughing. Lindsey sat in the hole, face flushed, hair a mess, clutching a stitch in her side, and just cracking up.
Finally catching his breath somewhat Snape gave in and extended his hand to help her out of the snow ditch. Lindsey reached up and took hold, but then used all her strength to yank him headfirst into the hole with her.
"Ha!" she exclaimed triumphantly, now laughing over him. Then with a cry she scurried to get out of the hole before Snape could free himself from the tangle of robes and snow but was too slow, Snape grabbed her feet and pulled her back in. After that they both gave up trying to get out and just pelted each other with snow in there, reveling in the day and creating a ruckus, and generally just making fools of themselves and enjoying every minute.