Harry and Ron talked often in their dorms now, Kelly and Hermione complaining all the time about it.

"Are you trying to tell us something?" Kelly had asked during lunch, when Harry and Ron had moved to sit away from them so they could talk by themselves.

"Should we un-invite ourselves as your dates?" Hermione had asked after her.

In truth, Harry and Ron had surprises awaiting the trip to Hogsmeade. They had sent out an owl to a small place called Hasty's Diner for reservations for a special dinner. The girls didn't know about it; it would be tricky, and in truth, Harry was a little nervous about it. The diner was right next to Madam Punifoot's, or whatever it was called. He'd had an experience there that he didn't want to repeat, and he'd never even been in Hasty's Diner to know if it was anything similar.

The day before Christmas was loud and packed with things to do. The common room, normally lacking people around Christmas time, was full to the brim. The only people who seemed to have gone home were the people who hadn't been asked to the dance or weren't interested in the dance anyway.

It was common knowledge inside the house of Gryffindor that Kelly and Harry were going to the dance. Knowing smiles spread across the room whenever they entered together, and Harry couldn't understand why. He barely liked her as more than a friend.

Though it was public knowledge inside the common room, outside occupants had no clue. Guys still frequently asked her to the dance, and she made many enemies by turning them down, no matter how nicely she did it. The most interesting revenge on her was taken by Draco Malfoy. It still had Harry wondering, and now certain Kelly wasn't telling him something important. When Malfoy had tried to get revenge, a showdown had occurred.

A blast of orange light flew past Harry to his right. He stopped walking, horrified, because Kelly had been on his right. He turned, but she had ducked the spell. It was amazing; how could she have known it was coming? Especially when it was eight o'clock and they weren't likely being followed?

Malfoy threw another spell, this one blood red, at her. She jumped up and it flew right under her. For a moment, Kelly and Malfoy just glared at each other. Then, like it was planned, Malfoy started firing spells while Kelly started doing front-flips, heading towards Malfoy.

One spell went over her just before she came up. The next, badly aimed, went to her left. The third went underneath her. The fourth just missed her neck by an inch. Malfoy didn't fire a fifth. Kelly stopped just in front of him and grabbed his wand before he could cast another spell. She let her hand, holding his wand, fall to her side.

"Leave us alone or I will hurt you, Malfoy," Kelly said.

"Why? What can you do to me?" Malfoy snarled.

Kelly smirked, then whispered, "Do you really want to know?"

Malfoy's smirk wasn't there for long. Kelly swung her foot up and kicked him hard in the face. Malfoy staggered backward, using the wall for support, a giant red mark appearing on his face. Soon covering it, however, was blood. Harry wasn't sure what was bleeding, his nose or his mouth, only that it was hurting badly and bleeding Niagara Falls. Malfoy put his hand to his face and lifted it away, staring at the blood. He looked up and glared at Kelly. Kelly threw his wand back at him and said, "That's only a taste of what I can do. If you want more, just ask. I'll be glad to help you out any time."

After that, Kelly snapped at every Slytherin who asked her.

"Can we go now?" Ron asked, tapping his foot in impatience.

"Go where?" Hermione asked, playing innocent, but curious. She and Kelly had been chitchatting for quite a while, postponing what Ron had woken up for. Their time was running out.

Ron scowled. "Harry, come on. We'll have the snowball fight by ourselves."

"Not without me, you won't," Kelly said firmly, crossing her arms.

"We're leaving right now," Ron said. "We won't wait. So unless you're ready, which I can see you aren't—"

"Harry," Kelly interrupted, looking at him sweetly. "You won't leave me, will you?"

Ron turned to Harry, raising his eyebrows as if to say, "Well?"

Just say you'll wait Harry, said a voice in his head; it wasn't his own.

"What?" Harry asked, looking around wildly.

"You won't leave me, will you, Harry?" Kelly asked again, now eyeing him as though trying to figure out what he was thinking.

Wait for her, Harry. It's May. Trust me, if you like her, wait. It will—

CALL HER A SCUMBAG AND BOLT, HARRY! DON'T WAIT FOR THE—

RILES! Harry thought this was Vikki. CALM YOURSELF! Harry, I personally recommend you wait for her, but it's your—

DITCH HER!

"Harry?" Kelly asked, now looking at him with alarm.

"W-what?" Harry asked.

"Harry, you okay, mate?" Ron asked.

"Oh, y-yeah, I'm fine. It was the—" he stopped suddenly, remembering the common room was still full. He leaned forward, and Kelly and Ron did, too. "It was the Secret Students."

"What?" Ron asked.

"They entered my mind and started arguing. It was weird," Harry said.

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" Kelly called. Harry noted that she was stiff and seemed to be glaring at anyone who dared look at her.

"I'll wait for you," Harry said.

Kelly turned to him and at his words, or because it was simply him, her eyes softened and she smiled. "Thanks," she said, while Ron shifted angrily.

"Hurry up!" Ron called after her, impatient. "I ain't waitin' all day!"

Kelly was gone for half an hour. When she finally returned, she had nothing new on and her excuse was, "Well, I just got talking to Parvati about… well, ya know… girl stuff, and then Lavender showed up and I started talking to her…." Harry noted Parvati and Lavender playing a long-standing game of chess in the corner of the common room.

The grounds, usually so fresh and green, were now covered in a white blanket. Plenty snowball fights had been fought before; it was obvious. Several mounds of snow were at different intervals on the grounds, used as barriers for refueling snowballs. Hagrid's hut looked like a giant white cake in the distance, with just one candle lit off to the right. The trees in the distance remained still in the silence of the beautiful morning.

"You do know," Kelly said, leaning over so that only Harry could hear, "I did that just to annoy Ron."

Harry grinned, knowing she did just that. Ron was stomping through the snow, leaving very big pits where he had been treading.

"Aight, finally ready, are we?" Ron snarled.

Everyone but Ron grinned.

"Yeah, we're all ready," Harry said, as Ron seemed to waiting for a verbal answer.

"Okay. Hermione, you're with me. Harry and Kelly, you go over to that mound and get ready, 'cause I'm showin' no mercy," Ron said, stomping over toward the mound a few feet to his right.

Hermione shrugged, and then grinned at them as she started walking toward the mound Ron was hiding behind. Harry and Kelly had just started walking toward the mound Ron had assigned them when Hermione screamed.

---

A/N:

So I leave you wondering why Hermione screamed. Oh, and earlier in this chapter I said, "Harry wasn't sure what was bleeding, his nose or his mouth, only that it was hurting badly and bleeding Niagara Falls." The whole "bleeding Niagara Falls" thing is sort of an inside joke between me and a friend. We were playing Softball, and she got hit in the nose by the ball and her nose started bleeding really badly. Therefore we say that she was "bleeding Niagara Falls". Just some background information, if you wanted to know….

Next chapter you find out why Hermione screamed. Then you meet a first and second year Slytherin, who aren't really very nice. This is their one-time appearance. Then explained suspiciousness on Kelly's part. The snowball fight actually takes place, and then there's fluffyfulness. Then they go to bed, get questioned, and Harry has a rather patronizing dream.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Ooh, and you know that little button in the bottom left-hand corner? I bet if you click it, something cool will happen! Try it and see! -.

Riles