Disclaimer: Harry Potter and co. never have, never can, and never will become mine. Sadly. Please don't sue. I am but a sad, young, little fan-fic-writing child, with not a penny in my pockets.
Love is a Funny Thing, Chapter 5
Lily, Michelle, Amanda and Hazel stepped outside, each looking distinctly different in their assorted muggle snow wear. Students hadn't been let outsideif notwearing the bare minimums—a jacket, hat, pants, mittens and boots. Not all the students, especially those that descendedfrom pure-blooded families, possessed acceptable muggle snow wear, and few had heavy wizard wear designed for winter. In solution, there was an assorted box of muggle winter wear near the door. If the teachers by the doorsnoticed a student not wearing acceptable clothing, they would give them a muggle hat, or boots, or whatever clothing was needed.
Lily's cheeks already had flushed pink patches, contrasting with her pale skin. She sported one of the loaned-out jackets, a bright, tomato-red one that was puffy but comfortable. Lily complained that it clashed terribly with her bright red hair, which was currently loose, blowing every which way in the fierce wind.
It was very strange seeing all the students of Hogwarts frolic across the snowy grounds with their strange, puffy, bright muggle clothes on. Everyone looked like colorful blobs bounding across a huge, snowy backdrop.Some studentsstopped to make snow angels. Lily could even see a few people skating over the lake, which was completely frozen, a thin dusting of powdery snow accumulating on its surface.
"Hey, nice jacket, 'Chelle." Smirked Hazel jokingly, staring at Michelle's bright orange jacket.It was rather odd, with yellow-and-brown pom-poms attached to the buttons, and matching ruffles adorning the sleeves. The horrendous jacket was so puffy it made thin Michelle's figure look comparable to the Fat Lady's.
"You're not exactly a fashion plate yourself, are you, Haze?" Michelle retorted. "Those boots are the weirdest footwear I've seen in my whole life." Hazel had been forced to wear fake leopard-print boots that reached nearly up to her thighs, over some borrowed thin black pants.
The girls continued their lightchatter as they slowly (their assorted snow wear made the girls so abnormallypuffythat it was impossiblyto move quickly) but surely made their way to the spot by the edge of the lake where most of the people in her class seemed to be gathered in small groups, talking, making snow angels and engaged inother random endeavors. Suddenly, Sirius Black leaped up in front of everyone, presumably to make an announcement.
Lily shivered a little. The intense cold was getting to her, and she hadn't put a warming charm on herself. She quickly took out her wand and muttered the spell while pointing at herself. She suddenly became comfortably warm. The sensation reminded her of the tickling warmth of stepping into floo powder flames. She turned back to look at Sirius, whatever he was doing.
Sirius conjured a large orange microphone and stood on a frosty white snowbank for extra height.
"Friends! Fellows! One and all!" Sirius began. Everyone gradually stopped chattering and playing in the snow, and turned to him. He continued, "We would like to welcome youuuuuuuu..." (he dropped his voice dramatically at this point) "to the sixty-sixth annual snowfight snowball wars! A Hogwarts tradition since our dear forefathers," said Sirius sappily, brushing an imaginary tear from the corner of his dark grey eyes."Everyone that wants to participate in this snowball war must be a seventh year Gryffindor! If you want to play then come over here, and we will explain the rules!"
Hazel, Amanda, Lily and Michelle, in want of anything better to do (besides making snow angels, which Lily hadn't since practically before first year) decided to join in.
The four friends migrated over to where Sirius was gathering people to participate in the snowball wars. Lily couldn't recognize many people because they were all bundled up like fat little snowmen. She and her friends joined the crowd, while other people blundered over to join the large group.
"Everybody!" Sirius called out with his tangerine colored microphone. "Here are the rules for snowball fights, devised by me, Sirius Orion Black!" (he gave a devilish grin at this point.) "One! It is every man for himself! Two! You must hit all your snowballs with the Scoring Charm, otherwise your points won't be counted over there on the scoreboard!" (he pointed to a large black scoreboard that was set on the top of a protruding snowbank. It had everybody's name who was participating listed in neat green lettering, and a 0 next to each name.)"Three! No shoving, pushing, knocking over, throwing people into the lake...we'll just skip over those, shall we? Four! The snowball must make full contact with the person! Five! You have to throw it , not aim it with your wand! If you don't follow this rule, you will be disqualified immediately. Six! The person who gets twenty points first wins! I will do a countdown from thirty, and then we will begin!"
Everybody quickly scattered in various directions as Sirius began to slowly count. Lily scampered over to a large, snow-covered, iced-over oak tree. She saw people running around in all directions.
"4!" Sirius exclaimed, people frantically looking for hiding spots. Lily began shaping snowballs, and hitting them with the Scoring Charm. Snowballs were her special talent. When she'd been little and her family had played snowballs in the wintry weather, she'd sent Petunia into hysterics with her hard snowballs that had hit with pinpoint accuracy.
"1!" Sirius cried, and a whirl of color and motion began almost immediately. Lily felt a snowball hit the back of her jacket. She whipped around in a swift motion, grabbed on of her packed snowballs, and furiously threw it at the person who'd thrown it at her. Her cheeks lit up in a grin of success as she saw the white snowball hit the person's navy blue jacket. She looked up at the magical scoreboard and saw that Lily Evans: 1 was recorded.
The participating students trampled around, throwing snowballs every which way at their peers. Triumphant cries of "yes!" could be heard, as well as noises of slight pain as hard snowballs hit them. Lily felt just like she was six years old again, playing in the snow with her sister and parents. This was a kind of simple, timeless joy.
Lily crouched and hid by the snowbanks near the lake, snow gently falling from the cloudy but bright sky, and melting on her cold, flushed pink nose. She was warm, now, from running all around, pelting people with snowballs. Currently she had seven points, and planning on only going up from there.
Suddenly, she spotted a figure in a dark brown jacket, not facing her, slowly backing up so the person in question was about two feet from her, but didn't seem to notice Lily. She could tell the person was a boy, just from the way he walked—boys just seemed to have a distinct walk.
Lily quickly, deftly grabbed one of her snowballs and aimed at the back of the boy's chocolate-colored jacket. Just as she was aiming, though, he took a step backward and Lily accidentally pitched forward, knocking into whoever it was and landing on top of him, his head facing hers.
She noticed, in a second, that it was James. James, of all people! He wasn't grinning his trademark cheeky grin that seemed to be permanently affixed when he was close to Lily, because he was as shocked as she was.
It was only a few seconds, but time seemed to freeze and stand still, those seconds captured in their minds forever. Lily looked down at James, lying on top of him, looking at his flushed cheeks and bright, enchanted hazel eyes. She felt a little quiver in her stomach.
James looked up at Lily, her red hair spilling all over his face, little pieces of ice and snowflakes nestling in the red locks. Her eyes seemed to hold all the brightness of emeralds, and her cheeks were flushed from the exhilaration of the snowball war. He suddenly realized that their faces were barely an inch apart. He noticed her pale pink lips, a color of a not-yet-ripened-strawberry, and idly wondered (not for the first time) what it would be like to kiss her.
The moment was broken and gone the next second later. Somebody kicked the pair quite fiercely, and they went flying in the air. Lily, squealing, feeling the rush of air on her flushed cheeks, grabbed James around the waist, forgetting who he was. All she knew is she was flying unchecked through the air, and about to land on the icy surface of the lake, she realized. She closed her eyes, winced, and fell hard on the icy surface of the lake.
But something was wrong, she realized, as she looked over at James, who had separated from her somehow at the impact of the fall. He was about a foot away. Their was a thin, seemingly inconspicuous spiderweb of cracks forming on the bluish, snow-dusted frozen surface.
"Watch o—"she screamed at James, but she felt the cracks widening and deepening, slowly, but surely, under her. Then she felt the icy water engulf her and James, and knew no more.
A/N: Like it/ I liked the ended, not to brag or anything! Anyways, the fabulouso Lily-and-James-falling-on-top-of-eachother idea was contributed by hello? Mary! ( But I made up the lake thing! Hahahaha!)
Sorry this chapter was a little short, but I just can't seem to do really long chapters...or if it was badly written. I'm only a young teenager, so I'm still developing my writing skills and whatever.
I will be updating in a week or so, ok? So look out! Please, please review! As always, any comments, suggestions, criticisms, whatever just PLEASE brighten my day a little...review! Thanks!
Anyways, onto my reviewers (I love you guys dearly and truly! Really!)
CrazyPhychoticFreak : You'll see about how things will end! No, but I do like happy endings. I feel sorry for the characters too! What I put them through.
Melanie: Thanks! I'm not sure where this fic is going, but hey. My name? Sorryz, can't give that out on the internet!
A-is-for-Amy : Did I write that really? OMG! checks OMG! I did so not mean to write that! I'll fix it asap, thanks for pointing it out!
Hello? Mary : Thanks a bundle for the long review! Yes, the general snowball idea I was planning to use. GMTA. (Great mind think alike, lol!) But thanks for the landing-on-top-of idea. I may just use that. About your other idea for the detention...I don't know if I'll use it, I might though, it's a really good idea! It just might come out a little different in a fic! Thanks so much for the ideas and compliments!
californiagurl: Thank you ! I'm updating as fast as possible.
Grr, the stupid site isn't working...can't upload this...grrr...gotta wait till the login thing's fixed.