A/N: Written for the Slytherin Cabal's Twistmas Fest in 2020! Many thanks to the modmins of The Slytherin Cabal for hosting this fest again! It's such a fun one to do! My prompt was: Snowball Fight.

Many thanks to brownlark42 for her attention to detail in beta'ing this story!

If you liked this (or hated it) let me know about it in a review! You can find me on Tumblr at crochetawayhpff or Facebook at Shan Crochetaway. Enjoy!

Summary: Scorpius and Albus's snowball fight gets interrupted by something far more deadly.

Pairing: Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Potter

Rating: T

Warnings: N/A

The Start of Something

"There!" Scorpius shouted, throwing another snowball as hard as he could.

Albus snorted as he dodged the snowball and rolled through an embankment, coming up fast with a flurry of snowballs aimed at Scorpius's head. He frowned at his boyfriend and whirled to the side, but he wasn't quite quick enough and one hit him in the back of the head.

"Bloody hell, did you pack that thing with a rock?" Scorpius asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Nope," Albus replied with a cheeky grin, "ice."

"You git," Scorpius replied and tackled him into the snow.

"You love it," Albus said breathlessly beneath Scorpius. "Tell me I'm lying."

Scorpius shook his head, pressing a kiss to Albus's nose. "I don't love getting hit in the back of the head with a bloody ball of ice."

"Sorry about that." Albus reached out and rubbed the back of Scorpius's head. "I really did think you'd get out of the way in time. When did you get so slow?"

"Oh, shut it you," Scorpius murmured and kissed Albus. He loved kissing his boyfriend's soft lips. Every time, Albus did this small gasp, like he was surprised all over again that Scorpius was kissing him. It curled his toes and made his heart flutter.

Albus wrapped his arms around Scorpius and rolled them over, so it was Scorpius who was pressed into the snow. "I hate to cut this short," he murmured into Scorpius's lips, "but we should probably get inside before either of us gets hypothermia." It was a bit of a hike to get back, and the sun had already started to slant through the trees before the snow flurries began.

"Mmm, wouldn't want that," Scorpius hummed pressing one last kiss to Albus's lips. He pushed at Albus's chest to get up, but Albus didn't move. He was looking past Scorpius's head at something, a concerned look on his face.

"You alright?" Scorpius asked, tilting his head back to try and get a look at whatever Albus was seeing. But the fresh snow collapsed, and all Scorpius got for his troubles was a face full of ice crystals.

Sputtering, he wiped his face clear in time for Albus to jump up and yank Scorpius to his feet.

"Do you hear that?" Albus asked, looking around rather frantically.

"Hear what?" Scorpius asked. He still couldn't see what had Albus so enraptured.

"You don't have any dragons around do you?" Albus asked.

"Dragons? Albus, it's Wiltshire. Of course there aren't any bloody dragons here." Scorpius shook his head. "Are you sure it wasn't you who took a snowball to the back of the head?"

"I swear to you, I heard a dragon, Scorp. It sounded like a Ukrainian Ironbelly." Albus spun in a slow circle, looking for the dragon, but there was nothing to see but falling snow.

"A Ukrainian Ironbelly? Are you mad? Why on earth would there be a Ukrainia—"

"Shut up!" Albus hissed. And then Scorpius heard it. A low rumble that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing at attention.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Scorpius asked, trying to peer through the snow where the sound had come from. The snow only fell harder and the wind picked up, making the snow begin to cake to the sides of the trees. Seeing beyond the treeline was impossible.

"I'm telling you, it sounds just like a damned Ukrainian Ironbelly," Albus whispered. "We should get back to your house. Pronto."

"We're not exactly close to the manor," Scorpius whispered back. "Actually," he turned in a circle again. He could make out the treeline that indicated the south woods, but… he couldn't see anything else. "I'm not sure where the manor is."

"What do you mean you don't know where the manor is?" Albus asked just as the low rumbling from the dragon rolled through the woods. The snow was now falling in large, heavy wet flakes, and Albus kept brushing it off his face and shoulders. "Snow dampens sound. Do you have any idea how bloody close that dragon has to be if we're hearing it through all of this?"

"Uh, pretty close?" Scorpius asked as panic licked through him. "We should run, right?"

"Only if we know where the bloody manor is. Get your wand out," Albus replied. "We need to stay back to back and keep moving, hopefully in the direction of the manor. And stay quiet."

"We can't do magic outside of school," Scorpius hissed, but he drew his wand anyway.

"I'm Harry Potter's son. I'm pretty sure they'll forgive us," Albus muttered. "And if we get expelled, your dad can afford to hire us tutors."

"Why are you always so bleeding sensible?" Scorpius asked. The panic was rising, and he was pretty sure he'd be freaking out entirely if Albus wasn't here with him. Albus reached around and grabbed his wrist, and Scorpius shifted his wand to his other hand so he could clench Albus's hand back. Slowly, they inched through the snow, toward what Scorpius really, really hoped was the manor. The south wood was getting farther and farther away. Hopefully, that was a good sign.

The dragon's roar was louder now and…

"That was definitely a fireball," Albus said. "Come on, we have to move faster!"

They abandoned trying to stay back to back, and sprinted with difficulty through the increasingly high snow drifts. Ice whipped Scorpius's face as he dashed after Albus, cursing his boyfriends longer legs and faster speed.

"Albus!" he shouted when he could barely see him. The snow was flying harder than ever and now the entire ground shook in what Scorpius was pretty sure were dragon footsteps. Why wasn't it flying? Perhaps the wind and snow were too heavy even for a beast as large as a Ukrainian Ironbelly. Despite his fear, his logical mind begged the question of what in the bleeding hell was a Ukrainian Ironbelly doing out here? There hadn't even been a domestic Welsh Green in the last three hundred years. Britain also didn't have a local dragon reserve. Where would it have come from?

A fireball flew over his head, and a glance behind him showed the vague outline of a dragon through the blinding snow.

"Oh, shite," he muttered, trying to speed up. Albus was a speck in the distance, and the dragon was getting closer, it's roars almost deafening now.

"SCORP!" he heard from ahead of him. Scorpius ran faster, but a stitch began in his side and he gasped with the pain. The snow reached almost to his knees and the land between here and the manor wasn't even close to being flat. Every five steps or so, he was tripping over something and stumbling. At some point, he lost his wand, and when he went to look for it, the dragon roared again, sounding even closer now. Another fireball blasted above his head.

"Shite shite shite," he muttered. "ALBUS!"

Albus turned around, and through the driving snow, Scorpius was pretty sure he started making his way back toward him. The dragon kept coming, unhindered by the storm. Scorpius wondered if the dragon could see any better in this than he could. If not, was it possible to hide from the dragon?

He began digging through the snow, still searching for his damned wand.

"Scorp, we gotta go," Albus panted heavily. "Come on!"

"I dropped my wand!" Scorpius said, still frantically looking for it.

"Accio, Scorpius's wand!" Albus shouted.

Twenty feet from where they were, a small stick flew up out of the snow and smacked into Albus's hand.

"Tuck it away if you can't hang on to it," Albus snapped, grabbing Scorpius's wrist and dragging him forward again. It wasn't often that Scorpius thought about Albus being the child of Harry Potter. That command in his voice sounded so much like something the famous Harry Potter, Head Auror, would say. He was reminded all over again that his best friend, his boyfriend, was the son of the most famous wizard in Britain. Even being chased by a dragon, it was a little surreal.

Albus kept pace with Scorpius this time, though they seemed to never get ahead of the dragon as it crashed behind them, roaring and shooting fireballs. He didn't let go when Scorpius gasped and they stumbled over a frozen creek and up a steep embankment. It felt like hours had passed, but it was probably only minutes before Scorpius could see the hulking grey block that was the manor ahead of them.

"Thank Merlin," he gasped as he and Albus darted through the gardens and into the conservatory at the rear of the manor. The abrupt freedom from the heavy snowfall was almost a shock. The conservatory was cold on a day like today, with the sun blocked and the wind whistling around the house. "We need to find my dad."

He looked back out into the storm, but couldn't see a thing. The snow was blowing so hard, that he could hardly see more than five feet out the windows.

"Mr Malfoy!" Albus shouted, pulling away from Scorpius and heading further into the house. Malfoy Manor was a massive house and Scorpius snorted at the idea that his dad would hear Albus all the way from his study. He wanted to follow his boyfriend, but he was worried. That dragon was still out there. The house had more secure wards than the property. If a dragon could get through the property wards, could it get through the house wards?

He kept his eyes fixed on the south wood, hoping to catch a glimpse of the dragon. It was all just blinding, white snow as far as the eye could see. Even as the gusts of wind came in waves, there was nothing he could see but snow.

"Your dad's not in his study," Albus said from behind him.

A chill went down Scorpius's spine. "What do you mean?" he asked, turning from the windows and the burgeoning evening darkness.

"He's not there. Was he planning on going out?"

"In this?" Scorpius snorted, turning back to the storm and screamed.

The dragon was right outside the conservatory door. Albus rushed forward. He grabbed Scorpius by the collar and yanked him back to the house proper, keeping the dragon in his sight at all times.

"Where the bloody hell did it come from?" Scorpius asked, horrified. "I was looking for it! It wasn't there!"

"Dragons can't do magic," Albus said.

"I know that," Scorpius snapped, "but it wasn't there!"

"I have no idea," Albus shook his head slowly.

Then as they were watching the dragon wiggled, it moved, it shivered, and suddenly there wasn't a dragon. It shrank and shrank and shrank and a man was standing there.

Not just any man, but Scorpius's father.

He opened the conservatory door, shivering as a gust of wind blew in after him. He shook the snow off his shoulders.

"Alright, boys?" he asked.

Scorpius's knees gave out and he fell down onto his bum. His dad… was?

"I...what? I don't…" Scorpius trailed off, unable to form words.

"What the hell, Mr Malfoy?" Albus asked, shaking with anger. "You scared us half to death!"

"Oh, was that you?" Draco asked, putting his hands in his pockets. "Whoops." A smirk played about the corner of his mouth. "Who wants hot chocolate?" he asked as he passed them by and headed toward the kitchen.

"What? Did he?" Scorpius shook his head. He still had no idea what to think of what had just happened.

"Did you know he was an Animagus?" Albus asked, helping Scorpius to his feet, his anger and fear starting to fall away.

"No! He told me he was working on a special project, but…" Scorpius shook his head again. "Well, he just earned himself the biggest prank of them all."

"Shall we enlist my uncles?" Albus asked with a devious grin. "Uncle Ron was telling me about a few new products that are in the development stages."

"Send the owl, Al. We have a war on our hands," Scorpius said. He still couldn't believe his dad had decided the best way to show he was an Animagus was to scare the shite out of him and his boyfriend. But that didn't mean this little prank war was over. Two could play at that game.

~Fin~