Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; never have, never will.

Luna awoke one morning in January and stretched before running to the window and staring down at the snow-covered landscape. "Oooooh!" she said in wonder. The almost-six-year-old walked over to Newt and gently shook him awake, saying, "Newt, come look at the snow!"

The two of them were still gazing out of the window when Xenophilius came in a minute later. "Good morning, moonbeam," he said.

"Good morning, Daddy." Luna pointed at the snow outside. "It's pretty, isn't it?"

"Indeed, it is," her father replied, taking her hand and leading her downstairs. "Come, your mother should have breakfast ready now."

A knock sounded at the front door. "I'll get it!" Luna shouted, running to the front door; she opened it to find Cedric standing there bundled up in his winter clothes. "Hi, Cedr - " she began.

"Luna!" Xenophilius' stern voice interrupted from the sitting room above. "What did we talk about?"

"I'm supposed to ask who it is before I open the door," the little girl answered, quickly closing the door.

"That's right," Xeno said as he came down the stairs. "And did you do that?"

"No, but - "

"'But' nothing. We cannot risk letting strangers into our home."

Luna burst out laughing. "Silly Daddy! Cedric's not a stranger!"

"That is not the point!" said Xeno sharply. "Now do what I told you."

"Okay," Luna said with a sigh; she then called through the closed door, "Cedric, would you mind knocking again?" More knocks came.

"Who is it?"

"It's Cedric!"

"Now can I let him in?" Luna asked Xeno; he nodded.

"How's it going, Lu?" asked Cedric, stepping inside.

"Very well, thank you. I'll put on my winter clothes and then we can play in the snow." The little girl rushed up the stairs to get dressed.

As the two children were heading outside a few minutes later, Newt came scampering after them; he put one paw on the snow-covered ground, then yowled and scurried under one of the kitchen chairs.

"It's just snow, Newt," Luna told him. "It's nothing to be afraid of." She turned to Cedric. "He doesn't like snow very much."

"Well, I'm not surprised," the nine-year-old replied. "Snow's just frozen water and you know how cats hate water." Luna nodded.

"You don't have to come outside with us if you don't want to," she told the cat, gently stroking his fur before she and Cedric stepped outside.

"Let's make a Snow-kack!" suggested Luna.

Cedric cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Uh, what's a 'Snow-kack'?"

"A Crumple-Horned Snorkack made from snow," Luna replied as if that were obvious. "Daddy showed me how to make one when I was two. I can show you if you like."

"All right," Cedric said, and so they began.

"No, Cedric," said Luna after a while. "That horn is too straight. You have to make it more crooked, like this - " she gestured toward the horn on her own Snow-kack. "See?" Cedric tried to reshape the horn on his Snow-kack...and half the snow fell off and hit the ground.

"Ugh! I can't do it!" grumbled Cedric in frustration, kicking a clump of snow with his foot. Luna walked over and patted him on the arm.

"It's all right," she assured him. "It just takes some practice, that's all." Just then Pandora peeked out the door. "Are you children okay out here?" she asked.

"Yes, Mummy," answered Luna. "I tried to show Cedric how to make a Snow-kack but he didn't really get it."

"Yeah," sighed Cedric, "it's harder than it looks. Hey, why don't we all have a snowball fight? Luna, get your dad out here, will you?" The little girl obediently rushed back into the house and grabbed Xeno's hand.

"Come on, Daddy! Cedric wants us all to have a snowball fight!" she cried, tugging at her father's sleeve.

"I really don't have the time, Luna," he told her. "I still have several Quibbler articles to put together."

"Pleeeeeeaaaase, Daddy?" Luna begged, giving him the puppy-dog eyes. Xeno sighed. "Well...I suppose I can spare just a few minutes," he said.

"Right," Cedric said once Pandora and Xeno had come outside wearing their winter clothes. "Let's make it boys against girls. Mr. Lovegood and me versus you two," he said to Pandora and Luna.

A minute later found the two teams standing on opposite sides of the yard. Cedric began by heaving a snowball at Luna, which the little girl dodged before lobbing a snowball at Xenophilius, hitting him squarely on the forehead. It became clear after several minutes that Xeno had no athletic ability whatsoever; every snowball he threw was off target by at least one foot, and he wasn't fast enough to dodge the snowballs coming at him from the other side.

Luna let out a burst of laughter. "Daddy has Loser's Lurgy! Daddy has Loser's Lurgy!" she cried in a singsong voice, pointing at her father. Xeno glared at her and stomped back into the Rook.

"It looks as though we've won, sweetie," said Pandora with a smile. "Now let's go in for some hot chocolate." They stepped into the kitchen.

"That was a good game," said Cedric after taking a sip of his drink. "Even though me and Mr. Lovegood lost."

"I'm sure his mood will improve by tonight," Pandora told him. "He's always been a bit...sensitive about his lack of athletic ability."

"I didn't know that," said Luna thoughtfully; she stood up abruptly. "I'm going to go apologize for laughing at him," she added as she headed upstairs to her father's study, where he was preparing to print the next Quibbler edition.

"Daddy?" she said softly. Xeno turned around.

"What is it, Luna?" he asked.

"I'm sorry for teasing you earlier. I didn't know it would upset you so."

"Apology accepted," Xeno replied with a smile. He then leaned forward and ruffled his daughter's long blonde hair. "You know, your mother always tells me that I ought not to let others' words get to me and that we should laugh at ourselves once in a while. But that's often easier said than done, at least for me."

Luna nodded in understanding. "Why didn't you tell me you're not sporty, anyway?"

"I really thought I didn't have to, honestly," Xeno answered, "because you and your mother focus far more on academic pursuits than athletic pursuits, as I do. It's also the real reason why I didn't want to join your snowball fight in the first place."

"Oh," said Luna. "I saved you some hot chocolate if you want some later," she added, making her way back downstairs.

"Thank you, moonbeam," Xeno called after her before starting to print The Quibbler.