22

Snowball Fight

Luna was waiting for the Gryffindors as they trekked towards the tree, most of them wearing thick winter robes. She waved to them, laughing as she spotted Neville, who hadn't been able to find his robes and had been forced to borrow Seamus's "authentic, muggle, winter coat". It was puffy and red, reminding everyone of a marshmallow with food colouring in it.

"Teams!" Ginny exclaimed, "Who're are the team captains going to be?"

Everyone immediately picked Harry, which wasn't a surprise, and by popular vote, Ron was selected as the opposing captain.
"Does anyone have a coin?" Luna asked. No one did. "Well, then Ron will pick first since he was voted into captainship," Luna continued.

"That doesn't make any sense! Harry was voted captain too!" Hermione said.

Everyone groaned.

Harry shrugged. "Just let Ron pick first."

Ron beamed and chose Luna, which was shocking; he had never seemed to like her all that much. "I heard she's a wicked hand at throwing things," he reasoned.

Harry chose Hermione since she was one of his best friends. Ron chose Neville, just because he didn't want to have his sister on his team, and Harry chose the last person, Ginny.

"Excellent!" Luna piped up, "I love it when couples split during battle and oppose each other!"

"Guess that's an indication of how the marriage'll be, eh Harry?" Ron jibed, nudging Harry, who was standing next to him.

Harry elbowed him hard. "I suppose it's always that way with you and Hermione," he whispered back.

Ron glared at him, though it dawned on him that Luna had probably meant all of the people on the teams. She, of course, had not heard anything about anything.

"We need rules of course," Hermione pointed out logically.

"Why?" Luna asked.

"Well, we did split up into teams, didn't we?"

Luna nodded. "So?"

Hermione sighed. "Fine. I suppose we don't need rules then. We'll just aimlessly throw snowballs at one another until everyone is wet, cold, and exhausted."

"Duh," Ron said, and Hermione shot him a glare.

So, the games began. Hermione launched many good shots at Ron, hitting him square in the face several times, much to her pleasure. In turn, Ron tried to hit Hermione, but in the end only got her once in the stomach.

Neville, attempting to get Ginny to throw something at him by hitting her, accidentally hit Luna, who was in the midst of sneaking up on Ginny, in the face. Luna looked at him, eyes ablaze. "Oh, you asked for it, marshmallow boy!" she exclaimed and chased him in circles around the tree, hitting him with every snowball she had.
Ginny cracked up and collapsed in the snow, causing Harry, who was running after Ron, to trip over her and do a roll on the ground.

Ron bent down to help him up, and Hermione sent a snowball right at him. It hit him in the head, dusting his red hair with snow.

Ginny sprung up, hurrying to make sure that Harry wasn't injured too severely from his fall. "Harry, I'm sorry!" she cried, kneeling next to him

Harry chuckled. "That was a wicked roll, wasn't it?" he asked, and Ginny laughed, overjoyed that Harry was still intact.

Ron smirked at them and aimed an especially large snowball directly at his sister. It hit her square it the chest. "Ron, you beast!" she yelled and ran after him, throwing fistfuls of snow.

Harry and Hermione laughed.

Luna tackled Neville and pinned him to the ground. "No, please don't hit me," Neville pleaded, "I-I'm on your team."

Luna grinned crazily and got off the panicky boy. "Bad aim," she commented.

Neville nodded shakily.

Luna shoved him jokingly. "Don't let it happen again, or I'll turn you into a leaf!" she threatened.

Neville whimpered and hurried to seat himself next to Harry, hoping for some decent protection.

Harry was watching Ginny chase Ron, grinning as she knocked him down and began throwing snow at him as he struggled to get up. He finally managed to stand but collapsed again in exhaustion.

Hermione laughed, plopping down next to Harry. Luna was by the tree, making a snow angel, and Harry turned his attention to her. She stood up to examine her work and smiled happily, clapping for herself.

Ginny and Ron ran by, Ron stumbling and then hurrying to get back up and Ginny cackling as she chased him.

Soon, everyone had collapsed in the snow, and as Hermione had predicted they would be, they were all wet, cold, and exhausted.

Ron dragged himself to where mostly everyone was sitting and laid in the snow, closing his eyes.

"Some fun, eh?" Neville asked.

Harry nodded, and Ron mumbled something that sounded like a yes. Luna waltz over to everyone, seeming to be full of energy despite the fact that she had used a lot of it already. "Oh, don't tell me you five are tired already?" she said, appalled at her friends' lack of oomph.

Harry pulled Luna down in between him and Neville, causing Neville to squeak and scurry away from him. "Luna, why do you have so much energy?" he asked, lying back on the snow sleepily.

"I'm tapping into the force, Harry. I would have thought that you would know that," Luna said.

Hermione looked at Luna in a slightly sceptical manner. Luna had always had "SEER" written all over her in capital, bold letters. Perhaps that was why Hermione had never liked her.

Ron sat up and rubbed his nose. "You sure there weren't rocks in those snowballs?" he asked Hermione.

Harry laughed. "Gee, Hermione. Throwing rocks at people is rather cold, don't you think?" he joked.

"Ha ha ha," Hermione said sarcastically, "It's probably from falling on your face so much, Ron."

Ron narrowed his eyes. "I didn't fall on my face," he said, and he hadn't. He had fallen on his stomach.

Hermione rolled her eyes.