Secrets and Dirty Deeds

By the Barefoot Pianist

Chapter 22

Christmas was always an occasion to be enjoyed… even if the temperatures didn't reach to more than minus thirty. Carmen had enjoyed the days following before Christmas, sitting in front of the fire and making a start on the extensive amounts of sweets she had bought at Honeydukes. The castle was fairly empty, save for a handful of students and teachers.

On Christmas Eve, going outside for a snow fight, Carmen exited the girls' dormitory clothed in volumous quantities of warm clothing. Scarf, beanie, ear mufflers, gloves, thermals, woollen socks, cloak… everything that kept you warm was sure to be worn by her. As she walked towards the door of the common room, putting on her suede gloves, a voice came from behind her.

"You know, a cow was killed to make those gloves." It was the nosy third year big-mouth by the name of Pritchard.

Carmen turned around, a little annoyed – they were her favourite gloves and no-one was going to criticise them. "Oh really?" she said in mock interest. "I didn't know there were any witnesses… now I'll have to kill you too!" His eye's widened in horror and turned pale. He slowly backed away from her and then, when in the safety of his dormitory, he slammed the door shut. Carmen approached the door, seeing that he had left his wand on the low coffee table in the centre of the common room, and put a locking spell on the door. She gave a small smile and left the room.

…………………………………………………

Most of the Slytherins had gone home for the holidays. Pansy, Millicent, Blaise and Nott had boarded the Hogwarts Express, which left only Crabbe, Goyle, Daphne, Jade, Carmen, Pucey and Malfoy. He had been told a week earlier that due to some last minute plans, his parents would be going away and that he would have to spend his holidays at school. He chucked a fairly big tantrum, when receiving the letter, but then calmed down seeing that he couldn't do much about it… except hijack the Hogwarts Express, but that never occurred in his mind, but in Carmen's…

The group of Slytherins were congregated by the lake which had frozen over with three inches of ice. The landscape around them was covered in a good foot of snow which then became the perfect battle ground for a snow ball fight.

As Carmen was the last one out, she snuck up behind everyone, standing around in a circle, talking and breathing steam. She would have looked like a leopard sneaking up on a prey as she hid behind a hedge, making a dozen or so snow balls. As she was working on one, a family of small hedgehog looking animals, no bigger than her palm, scuffled out of the hedge. She nearly jumped up out of surprise when she saw them and the delicate snow she was moulding in her hand dropped and landed on one of them. There, the small mound of snow covered hedgehog looking thing was still, and Carmen was inspired.

A few minutes later, she had her snowball pile ready to fire and a few, especially big, snowballs lay beside her. She grinned, rather evilly, looking down upon them. She took the smallest snowball and pegged it at Goyle's head. It was lucky that Carmen had trained as a Chaser for the last three months for her ball throwing skills were impeccable. She hit bulls eye at he turned around and rubbed at the back of his head.

Everyone else had stopped talking and was looking in the direction of the hedges when Carmen's head popped up from behind it before they were pelted with snow balls. Immediately, everyone split up and began grabbing handfuls of snow and chucking it in whatever blind direction.

Carmen ran out from behind the hedge, pegging snowballs as she ran. She came down to her last few snowballs and quickly decided who her victims would be. Her eyes immediately fell on Pucey.

Pucey, who was reaching down for more snow beside the lake, was hit right on his left buttock. He gave a howl and clamped his hand on it. "What the hell was that?" he exclaimed and looked down at the hedgehog looking creature at his feet. "I just got hit on my butt by a snowpigme!" Daphne ran to his side to see what had happened, and Carmen took the initiative to give her a closer look.

Running around, clutching the remainder of her snowpigme-balls, she deliberately bumped Daphne into Pucey, who fell back words on to the frozen lake, still holding on to her. Finally the skidding seised, some twenty metres way from the edge of the pond, Pucey realised that he was still gripping onto Daphne who had slid along on top of him. He cleared his throat shyly.

"Oh, uh…" Daphne started, trying to get up and off him, but then slipped again and fell on top of him – again. She gave a small laugh, "Uh, sorry."

"It's alright. Besides, I could get used to this!" he joked, which made Daphne get off him very quickly.

Meanwhile Carmen had dispensed of her remaining snowpigme-balls on Malfoy. In pain, he was trying hard to reach the remainder of the quills in his back, when the assumed mother snowpigme bared sharp teeth and sunk them in his boots. He yelled and kicked his leg about with the snowpigme still holding on strong, while he hopped around and bumped Crabbe. He too, fell over and slid on the ice, but the force at which his head had hit the ice had created at crack… which was spreading rapidly.

Crabbe sat up on the ice and said in a highly intelligent voice, "My dear God, I do believe that I hit my cranium, which may result in mild to severe concussion."

Everyone gaped at him, partly because he had become intelligent, but also because the crack issued from his hit had spread to all parts of the lake and around Crabbe, who was now quickly separating from safety. But before anyone could even yell out a warning, a giant tentacle shot through the air, carrying the piece of the ice on which Crabbe had sat on. The ice rose twenty feet, similarly with Goyle, and then landed in the snow beside the lake. The giant squid sunk his tentacle back into the water as everyone ran towards Crabbe to check if he was alright.

He gave a grunt. It seemed that he had returned to his former level of intellectual ability. Carmen spotted the huge block of ice which lay in the snow beside Crabbe and said, "Anyone for snow cones?"

A/N: R&R!
I am so, very, desperately, without doubt, very VERY sorry that I haven't updated in ages… But I made sure that this chapter is extra long. :)

I've been having quite a crap time – last week, and this week – and I won't get started because I know I'm going to bore you all. But I would really appreciate it if you'd give me a reason to live by reviewing! Thanks!