Year 1: The Bonds of Friendship
Chapter 6: February 2014
Attention all Gryffindor students,
The school-wide snowball fight will commence tonight at seven o'clock on the grounds outside the Entrance Hall. The building of snow fortresses for the battle will commence half an hour prior to the fight. All students who wish to participate are welcome. No sign-up necessary.
"This sounds like fun!" Dominique pointed to the notice on the noticeboard. "We should do it!"
"I don't know," Miles hesitated. "We have a lot of homework to do. I mean, there's that Herbology essay, and the Potions assignment. I don't know if we have the time to spare."
"Are you kidding me?" Dominique cried.
Miles broke into a smile. "Of course I'm kidding," he laughed. "We should definitely do it."
"Tom, Brittany, Joy, you guys in too?" Dominique asked the other first years nearby.
"Absolutely," Joy replied eagerly.
"No question," Tom agreed.
"Awesome," Dominique said. "And I'm sure the others will be in too. I know Brooke and Holly will be all for it."
"Tim, Zeke, and Grant wouldn't miss it either," Tom confirmed.
"So I guess we'll all just head out after dinner?" Dominique asked.
"Definitely," Brittany said.
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As expected, the other first year Gryffindors were just as excited about the upcoming snowball fight and also agreed to participate. As soon as they'd finished eating dinner, they hurried out to the grounds to see what was going on.
"Gryffindors over here!" one of the older Gryffindor prefects directed them.
They reported to the designated Gryffindor area and someone assigned them the task of stockpiling snowballs while the older students worked on building a wall big enough to shield them all. Soon, the wall was six feet tall and forty feet long and all the Gryffindors were huddled behind it, waiting for the signal to begin.
The Hufflepuffs had built their wall directly across from the Gryffindors while the Ravenclaws were on their right and the Slytherins on their left. Together, the four houses formed a perfect square.
The Hogwarts Head Boy walked out into the middle of the battlefield and turned around slowly, inspecting each fortress in turn. He raised his hand and cried, "let the snowball fight… begin!"
Suddenly, snowballs were flying in every direction imaginable. All the older Gryffindors went straight for the pile of snowballs the first years had made and started darting out and shooting them at other students. Before they all disappeared, Dominique grabbed one and started to make her way towards the edge of the wall, where she might have a chance at hitting someone with it, when some sixth year stepped in front of her.
"First years are making snowballs," he told her. "Not throwing them."
"But that's not fair!" Dominique cried in outrage. "Why should we be stuck making snowballs while everyone else is having fun?"
"Who else is going to make the snowballs?" the boy countered.
"I don't know," Dominique said sarcastically. "Maybe the people throwing them?"
"We don't have time for that," the boy said. "Now go on back and make more snowballs, we're running low." He grabbed her snowball from her hand and darted out behind the wall with it.
In a huff, Dominique returned to her fellow first years, enraged and offended.
"Who does he think he is, telling us we have to just sit here and make snowballs?" Dominique cried. "It's completely unfair!"
"We should just ditch this and have our own snowball fight!" Timothy suggested.
"I'm with Tim," Tom agreed. "Come on, we can play girls against boys."
Everyone seemed much happier with this new plan, so the first years ran far from the school snowball fight and split up, each team hurrying to build their fortress quickest. Just as Dominique and Holly were putting the finishing touches on their wall, a snowball came flying through the air, hitting Dominique squarely in the face.
"Game on!" Zeke cried, ducking behind the boys' fortress before the girls could retaliate.
"Oh, it is on!" Brooke cried, grabbing some snow and balling it up before sending it sailing through the air, over the boys' fortress and right onto one of the boys.
"Hey!" Grant protested, his head popping up from behind the boys' wall.
Suddenly, snowballs were flying everywhere. Screams of joy and peals of laughter filled the air as the ten first year Gryffindors pummelled each other with balls of packed snow. Just as Dominique was about to throw a snowball at Tom, she was hit with a fierce blow right to the back. She spun around to find Miles sprinting away, and she took off after him, chasing him down with her snowball. She almost reached him when he dove behind his fortress and she threw the snowball at the wall in frustration.
All too soon, the game had to come to an end. Curfew was on it's way, and Dominique was not about to be found outside after curfew for a second time in as many months. Sadly, the first years called a truce and together began to troop back into the castle.
"I can't believe we lost," Dominique overheard some seventh years talking ahead of them.
"It's those darn first years," the other said. "Ours just went and ditched us while all the other houses had theirs making snowballs for them. How were we supposed to win with nobody to make our snowballs?"
Dominique rolled her eyes. "Well it's not like we lost house points or anything," she muttered to Brooke. "What're they making such a big deal out of it for?"
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The next day, when Dominique and her friends walked into Herbology, they were met with a round of applause from their Slytherin classmates.
"What's going on?" Brooke wondered, confused.
"We just wanted to congratulate you," Quinn Adams said snarkily. "If it hadn't been for you ditching the rest of your house, we might not have win the snowball fight. So thanks for the help."
"We didn't – " Dominique started to protest, but Professor Longbottom interrupted.
"Alright class, settle down," he directed.
The Gryffindors took their seats while Professor Longbottom began his lecture on devil's snare.
"I wish everyone would just drop this whole thing," Brooke whispered to Dominique. "I mean, okay, so we ditched the snowball fight. It's not like we were trying to sabotage the game. It wasn't like it was mandatory or anything. Some people didn't even show up, and you don't see anyone harassing them."
"I know," Dominique whispered back. "It's so unfair. All we wanted to do was have some fun, and now everyone's making us feel bad for not wanting to sit around and build other people's snowballs."
"It's not even like we switched sides," Brooke added. "We just decided not to participate. Everyone's making it seem like we allied ourselves with the other teams or something."
"Brooke? Dominique?" Professor Longbottom called out, pausing his lecture. "Please save your conversation for after class is over."
"Sorry," Dominique muttered, her face heating up in embarrassment at being called out.
"Yeah," Brooke agreed. "Sorry."
"Now as I was saying," Professor Longbottom continued. "Devil's snare enjoys dark and cold environments…"
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"Ugh, where did all this work come from?" Miles complained later that day when classes were over and the first year Gryffindors were headed back to the common room. "I mean, we already had the Potions assignment and that Herbology essay, but now we have to do another essay for History of Magic, plus assignments in Transfiguration and Defence, and Professor Longbottom assigned a ton of reading for next class.
"Where are we even going to start?" Grant wondered.
"We should probably start with Potions, since it's due the soonest," Brittany suggested.
"Puffapod," Holly added when they reached the Fat Lady, causing the portrait hole to swing open. The first years walked in, only to be met by a wall of sixth years.
"And where do you think you're going?" one girl demanded.
"What do you mean?" Dominique asked.
"I mean, what makes you think you're allowed in here anymore?" the girl asked.
"This is the Gryffindor common room," Tom stated. "We're in Gryffindor. It's our common room."
"Not anymore it's not," the sixth year said.
"This common room is for loyal Gryffindors," another girl informed them. "After what you pulled last night, you no longer qualify."
"So where are we supposed to go?" Joy asked.
"We don't care," the first girl replied. "But you aren't welcome in here."
"You can't make us leave," Timothy said, stepping forward bravely.
"Watch us," the second girl said.
Suddenly, the first years found themselves being forcibly pushed back out the portrait hole and into the corridor. The portrait of the Fat Lady swung shut and Dominique gaped, shocked at what had just happened.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Zeke asked.
"I guess we can go study in the library for a while," Brooke suggested.
"But they can't – " Timothy started.
"Don't waste your energy Tim," Miles interrupted. "Let's just give them a chance to cool down. We don't want to start a fight."
"Fine," Timothy allowed, though he didn't seem happy about it.
Altogether, the first years trooped down to the second floor and found a quiet space in the corner of the library where they could study in peace. They started on Potions, and once that was done, decided to continue with Transfiguration.
Usually, the first years were very animated as they did their homework together, sharing answers and joking around, but today, they were quiet and kept to themselves. Dominique didn't like it one bit, and finally, got so fed up of the silent group that she decided to take a walk.
"Where are you going?" Miles asked when Dominique pushed her chair back.
"I'm just going to go see if I can find some more information about the switching spell in one of these library books," Dominique lied.
"Don't you have your textbook?" Miles asked. "It explains it all in there."
"I just thought reading another interpretation might help me understand it better," Dominique invented. "I'll be right back."
Not having a particular destination in mind, Dominique began to aimlessly wander the library aisles until she suddenly ran into her sister, studying at a table with her two friends, Kara and Brianna.
"Oh, hey Domi," Victoire greeted her.
"Hey," Dominique replied unenthusiastically.
"What's wrong?" Victoire asked, immediately sensing something was off about her sister.
"Oh, it's nothing," Dominique shrugged. "I don't want to talk about it."
Victoire hesitated and then turned to her friends. "I'll be right back," she said.
Victoire led Dominique to an empty aisle and cornered her against a bookshelf.
"Alright, tell me what's wrong," she demanded.
"I told you, I don't want to talk about it," Dominique insisted.
"I'm your big sister," Victoire frowned. "It's my job to keep an eye on you and make sure you're alright."
"Says who?" Dominique demanded.
"Maman and papa," Victoire stated matter-of-factly.
"Well don't waste your time," Dominique huffed. "I can take care of myself."
Dominique started to walk away, but Victoire grabbed her arm, stopping her from leaving.
"Come on Dominique," Victoire said. "I can tell something's wrong and I hate seeing you so upset."
Dominique sighed. "It's just this whole snowball fight thing," she said.
"What about it?" Victoire asked.
"You haven't heard?" Dominique asked, surprised.
"What should I have heard?" Victoire wondered.
"Well apparently, everyone's blaming us first years for Gryffindor losing because we ditched the game to play our own," Dominique explained. "The school-wide game was no fun. They wouldn't let us play, they just wanted us building snowballs for the older students, so we left. Now everyone's mad at us, and they won't even let us into Gryffindor Tower."
"They won't let you into Gryffindor Tower?" Victoire exclaimed as best she could while still using her library voice. "That's ridiculous. They can't do that."
"Well they did," Dominique muttered. "And they're a lot stronger than I am, so there's not much I can do."
"Well I guess we'll see what they have to say when I'm with you," Victoire said determinedly.
"No offense," Dominique said hesitantly. "But I don't think bringing a third year is going to make much difference."
"What about three third years?" Victoire amended.
Dominique considered. "I don't know…"
"Come on," Victoire insisted. "Let's get your friends and go."
Reluctantly, Dominique allowed her sister to rally Kara and Brianna and drag all the first years back up to the seventh floor and into the common room.
"I thought we told you that you're not welcome here," one of the sixth year girls said as soon as the first years had climbed through the portrait hole.
"You can't kick them out of the common room," Victoire said, stepping forward, Kara and Brianna on either side. "They're Gryffindors, same as you and me."
"And who do you think you are?" the sixth year demanded, placing her hands on her hips.
"Who do I think I am?" Victoire cried. "Who do you think you are?"
"Excuse me?" the girl cried, affronted.
"What's going on over here?" Teddy asked, stepping onto the scene.
"It's fine Teddy," Victoire said. "I've got this handled."
"Are you sure about that?" Teddy questioned.
"Yes," Victoire said, clenching her teeth. Dominique frowned. Was something going on between Teddy and Victoire? "I can handle this, you can go back to whatever you were doing over there with your girlfriend or whatever you want to call her."
"Yeah, about that," Teddy said. "I wanted to talk to you about – "
"Excuse me?" Brooke interrupted. "Can we focus on the real problem here?"
"And what exactly is the problem?" Teddy asked, redirecting his attention to the situation at hand.
"They told us we aren't allowed in the common room anymore," Timothy spoke up. "Just because we didn't want to play in their dumb snowball fight."
"Is that true?" Teddy asked, turning to the sixth years.
"So what if it is?" the girl who seemed to be their leader demanded.
"Well as a prefect, I'm required to report any behavior like this to our Head of House, and I know Professor Longbottom wouldn't want to be disturbed if this was just a misunderstanding," Teddy said, masking his threat.
"Oh well yes, I'm sure there's no need to bother Professor Longbottom," the girl agreed, backing off. "These first years must have just misunderstood. We wouldn't kick them out of their own common room."
"Well I'm glad we got that sorted," Teddy said as the sixth years cleared out.
"Thanks Teddy!" Dominique said, giving him a hug.
"No problem," Teddy said with a shrug. He turned back to Victoire. "Listen, can we – "
"Well if everything's sorted, then I think we should head back to the library, right girls?" Victoire asked, turning back to Kara and Brianna. "We've got to finish that Charms assignment for tomorrow after all."
Victoire and her friends disappeared, leaving Teddy and the first years standing awkwardly by the portrait hole.
"What's up with Victoire?" Dominique wondered.
"I don't know," Teddy shrugged sadly. "Anyway, are you guys good?"
"Yeah, thanks again," Dominique agreed as her friends claimed a table on the far side of the common room away from the sixth years to continue their homework.
"Anytime," Teddy smiled.
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"Hey Vic?" Dominique approached her sister a couple of days later. "Is everything alright?" she asked.
"Yeah," Victoire replied. "Why wouldn't it be?"
"Well it's just that… the other day, you seemed a little strange with Teddy," Dominique observed.
"What makes you say that?" Victoire asked. "I'm fine, everything's fine."
"It's just that – "
"I'm fine Dominique," Victoire insisted. "Just leave it alone, alright?"
"Alright," Dominique backed off. "But if you ever want to talk…"
"Thanks," Victoire said with a slight smile. "I'll keep that in mind."
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As the days passed, everyone slowly began to forget about the snowball fight and things started to go back to the way they used to be. The first year Gryffindors were grateful to find that the sneers and sour looks they would get in the common room began to cease, and the rounds of applause and congratulations from their Slytherin classmates came to an end as well. Soon, it was as if nothing had ever happened.