I'm so so so so sorry! It's been over a month! I swear that I didn't mean to take this long to update. I've just been busy prepping for an audition and it's the end of third term so there are a bunch of tests and course recommendations and I had a Bio project that was do along with signing up for the Biology SAT Subject test and blech! To say it quickly, I've been busy.

Anyway, this chapter is just fun filler before we get to the more interesting next chapter, but I like it. I hope you guys like it too. Enjoy. Oh, and I have to thank my anonymous reviewer:

Sakurainmymind (Thanks for the support, and don't worry, you'll see the reaction sometime in the next two chapters. Not sure which one yet.)

~Robin

Chapter 9

December 4th 1998

"Can you believe how much work we have to do this weekend?" Ron asked. "We've got the essay for McGonagall, the other one for Flitwick, and we have to research all those ingredients for potions, plus practicing that new flibberty-whats-it spell for defense."

"Well, Ron. At least you don't also have Rune translations plus Arithmancy problems too," Hermione snapped. She was just slightly stressed out from the work the teachers were all loading on before the holidays.

"Well at least we've got all weekend. We can do the charms and start the potions tonight, and then finish it and do the transfiguration and practice the spell tomorrow," Harry reasoned.

"Right," Ginny said. "It can't be nearly as difficult as defeated Voldemort, right?"

Harry thought about it. They sat down and took out their charms books, settling down around a large table in the common room to work. After a few minutes Ginny groaned. "Never mind. I think it's worse."

"Let's just get it done," Harry groaned. By dinner, several hours later, they had just finished, and were packing their books up.

"Well that wasn't quite as bad as I expected. It only had to be a foot. McGonagall's will be brutal. It's got to be at least two," Ron said as they walked to the great hall.

"Don't remind me," Harry said. Transfiguration was not his strongest subject. He was just scraping a very low E in the subject. Even in potions he was doing better than that, now that he had a teacher who actually taught them something instead of swooping around like an overgrown bat and insulting their potions. Slughorn had actually managed to get Harry's potions skills up to scratch.

"Stop complaining you two. We've got all weekend to finish," Ginny said.

"I suppose you're right," Harry admitted, wrapping his arm around his girlfriend's waist. Ron muttered under his breath at the contact, but Harry and Ginny rolled their eyes.

"You'd think that with us sleeping in the same bed every night he wouldn't mind this," Ginny said loudly to Harry, trying to bug Ron even more than he already was.

"I don't have to see that," Ron said.

"Yeah. Because you're with me," Hermione said, gesturing to his arm around her waist. "Remember? Don't be a hypocrite, Ron." Ron just mumbled something under his breath as the other three rolled their eyes at his typical behavior.

"Let's just go eat," Ginny said as they walked slowly down a set of stairs. "I'm starved." Everybody laughed and sped up to reach the great hall for dinner.

December 5th 1998

Harry woke up to someone jumping excitedly on his bed. Unfortunately, they accidentally jumped on his legs and slipped off, falling onto the floor. Harry sat up and winced from the pain and sat up to see a wildly grinning Ginny on the floor next to his bed. He looked at the clock.

"Was it really necessary to wake me up by jumping on my bed at six thirty on a Saturday?" he asked her grumpily, rubbing his eyes and falling back onto his pillow.

"Yep," she replied, jumping back up onto the bed and hopping up and down again.

"Can I ask why?" Harry asked.

"I suppose you can," she said, smirking and sitting down by his ankles, back against one of the posts on four-poster bed. Harry waited for her to answer. "Well, aren't you going to ask?"

"You cannot play these tricks on me when I just woke up," Harry complained.

"Apparently I can," she said, still smirking.

"You shouldn't be allowed to," Harry corrected himself. "Now, why did you have to bloody wake me up?" he asked.

"It's snowing!" Ginny said excitedly, and loudly.

"So. It snowed on Wednesday too. You weren't this excited-or energetic-then," Harry groaned, exasperated with her antics.

"Ah. But we didn't have several inches of snow on Wednesday now did we?" she asked smugly.

Harry shrugged. "You're point?" he asked, closing his eyes and rolling over.

"My point is that because it is the first big snow of the winter and it is a weekend it is time for the annual Hogwarts snowball fight," she said happily.

That caught Harry's attention. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"We're starting a tradition. Every year when the first big snow comes, that Saturday there will be a huge snowball fight between everybody that will participate," Ginny said, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Sounds like fun, but can I sleep for a while first more?" Harry begged.

"If you're sure you want to," she said, leaning forward and snuggling up against him so that their bodies were pressed together, their faces only a couple of inches apart. Her breath ran across his face, blowing his hair slightly.

"You play dirty," Harry grumbled, kissing her gently before sitting up, stretching, and getting out of bed.

Ginny pouted. Harry looked back at her. "What?" he asked innocently.

"You didn't do what I wanted you to do," Ginny complained, still pouting.

"I know your tricks," Harry said, smirking at her.

"Do you?" she asked him. Harry nodded. "We'll see about that. The snowball fight is girls against boys and magic will be allowed, so I wouldn't be too sure," she said. It was her turn to smirk again.

Harry just shrugged nonchalantly, but inside he wasn't so confident. They were going to have Hermione. This could end really badly.

"Well, I've got to go prepare then, don't I?" Harry said, heading for the door.

Ginny gave up and just sprang out of the bed, grabbing him and pulling him back to the bed. The springs groaned as she pressed her lips hard to his, pulling him down on top of her.

"What the bloody hell have you two been doing this morning?" Dean asked, aggravated and sticking his head out of the gap between his scarlet hangings.

"Ginny woke me up because she was excited about the snow," Harry told him as a way of explanation, sitting up and taking Ginny with him.

Dean rolled his eyes at their position. Harry shrugged. Ginny just pulled herself onto his lap. Dean chuckled. "Right. Well next time, at least be quieter about it," he suggested.

"See. You woke someone else up too," Harry scolded her. Ginny just shrugged, kissing him again.

"But I got you awake too. So it worked out just fine," she reminded him brightly.

"I suppose you did," Harry said, chuckling and lying down again, pulling her down so that they were side to side on the bed.

"Yup, and you know about the snowball fight. My mission is complete," she said, yawning at the end. Harry yawned too, his eyes fluttering closed. He was allowed to get another hour or two of sleep on a Saturday and was just nodding of again when he was jabbed sharply in the ribs.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, looking at his girlfriend. "What was that for?"

"To keep you awake. You're not going to sleep again until tonight. We have a snowball fight to be part of and work to do. It's going to be a busy day."

"Fine. Let's just get changed and go down for an early breakfast then," Harry suggested. It was after seven and the great hall would have food already.

"Sounds good," Ginny said hopping up and skipping out the door. When he was sure she had left he closed his eyes again only to hear her yelling, "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT GOING BACK TO SLEEP NOW," from the bottom of the stairs.

Harry chuckled and stood up, stretching his arms above his head. It was going to be a long day, and he needed a shower.

Two hours later, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron (who only woke after much shouting and grumbling) were sitting at the Gryffindor table in the great hall eating breakfast.

They took a nice slow time eating while Hermione read the Daily Prophet (which was actually writing real stories again) and the other three talked. Ginny told Ron about the planned snowball fight, which he responded to more excitedly than a twelve-year-old would have, bouncing up and down in his seat and starting to plan his strategy.

"How are we arranging this, Gin?" Harry asked, suddenly realizing the issue.

"We'll go to the common room and announce that it'll start at eleven. Everybody who wants to can come and others will see how much fun it is and join in," she explained quickly.

"What about the other houses?" Hermione put in, finished with her paper.

"A bunch of people will probably be out enjoying the snow, so they could see and tell their housemates," Ginny said promptly.

"Sounds good to me. Let's go tell everyone else," Ron said, hopping up from the bench and his now-empty breakfast plate.

Ginny, Harry, and Hermione shared amused looks at his excitement before standing up themselves and following Ron out of the great hall, back to the relatively busy common room. Only a few people were still eating breakfast, so Ginny stood up by the fire and shot sparks from her wand for their attention. "Fellow Gryffindors!" she called. "We are having a snowball fight out on the front lawns for all those that are interested. It is boys against girls, and magic will be allowed. We start at eleven."

Excited mutters broke out. It seemed like everybody wanted a break from their studying and work. They all needed something to be happy about after the troubles of the previous year.

Ginny sat back down on Harry's lap, much to Ron's discontent, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back against him. Hermione checked her watch. "It's already a quarter past ten. We should probably get our stuff and then head down, shouldn't we?" she asked.

"You're probably right," Harry said reluctantly, standing up and taking Ginny with him.

"Hey! I didn't want to get up yet," she complained.

"This was your idea, so you have to be there when it starts," Harry said stubbornly.

"Fine," Ginny grumbled, going over to the stairs up to the girls' dormitories. "Come on Hermione. Let's go get our stuff for the snow."

"Coming," Hermione said, following the red-head to the stairs as Harry and Ron headed for their own set and dashing up to the top. They entered their room and started digging around for their hats, gloves, and scarves. Once they found everything (somehow one of Ron's gloves had ended up in one of the showers) they grabbed their cloaks and went back down to meet the girls.

The girls were chatting on a couch when they got down. "What took you two so long?" Hermione asked. "You must have been up there for ten minutes."

"Have you seen their dorm recently. It's a mess. They probably found some of their stuff in the bathroom, or under their mattresses or something," Ginny said, laughing and rolling her eyes.

"Hey. Just because we're guys, doesn't make us completely unorganized," Harry defended.

"I didn't mean you, love," Ginny said. "I was talking about Ron. His stuff always seems to move of its own accord at home. I imagine it's much the same here."

"Let's just go," Ron muttered, shooting Ginny a glare and stepping over to grab Hermione's hand, before leading her out of the portrait hole. Hermione looked back at the other two, shaking with silent laughter at her boyfriend's behavior.

"We should go rescue Hermione," Harry said, following Ginny out of the portrait after the other two.

"She doesn't want rescuing, Harry. I think she and Ron were gearing up for a good snog, but we can't have that, can we?" Ginny said more loudly than necessary, breaking apart the kissing Ron and Hermione with a slight smirk on her face.

Hermione chuckled while Ron glared at his sister. "If you're not going to let us snog, then we should at least go and get people ready, not just stand here."

"Alright, fine. Let's get a move on. Some people are already starting to head down," Ginny said, gesturing to the open portrait hole and a few younger Gryffindors exiting it, fully decked out in hats, gloves, scarves, and cloaks.

The foursome began walking through down through the drafty castle, but used a few shortcuts, and managed to arrive before anyone else had. They waited until a few minutes past eleven for any stragglers to join and then Ginny stepped to the front of the small (about fifty people) crowd. It was a little bit more than half the house.

"Sonorous," Ginny muttered into her wand before placing it on her throat. "Hem-hem," she said in her best Umbridge impersonation. Everybody fourth-year and up jumped and looked directly at her. The younger students just looked confused but turned to Ginny anyway. She beamed. "Thank you. Now, we are about to start the first annual Hogwarts snowball fight." The crowd cheered, the seventh years the loudest. "There are only a few rules. One, it is boys against girls. Two, magic will be allowed, but please, no shield charms. They're long-lasting and make it less fun for the rest of us trying to hit you. Finally, most importantly, have fun! Now please, girls over here and boys over here," she finished, gesturing first to her right, then her left.

Once everybody had been sorted out, Ginny said one final thing. "Remember. You are allowed to fight dirty. We start in three minutes. Meet with your team and plan your strategy. If you're hit with a snowball you will be marked with red. Three hits, and you're out. If you don't leave, you'll be hit with a jelly-legs jinx, causing you to fall over and face-plant in the snow," Ginny told them, waving her wand and casting the necessary charms. Hermione looked impressed by the spell-work, and Harry felt a burst of pride for his girlfriend. She was brilliant for thinking this all out so well. "Your three minutes... starts... NOW!" she finished, running off to join up with the girls.

"I have an idea," she said once she reached the group. They looked at her expectantly. "Well, we all know levitation charms, and us older students know disillusionment charms. We can charm some of you invisible, and you can set traps by levitating snowballs into trees and letting them fall on the boys. They'll be able to hit multiple times and multiple boys at once. The rest of us will distract them with other snowballs and our own special twists."

There were nods of agreement and impressed looks from many of the girls. Ginny grinned and clapped her gloved hands together. "Wonderful. Any volunteers for trap-setters. Hermione, Parvati, and Padma will put the charms on you, and then we can all start making snowballs. I'll show you a charm I learned a few years ago to help speed up the process."

About ten girls, first through third-years, stepped up to the three seventh-years, while Ginny showed the rest her charm. It was a really simple one. They just had to scoop the snow up and say 'ball forma' while moving their wands in a circle and the snow formed into a ball. It was usually used while cooking, but Ginny had thought that this was a better use of it when she learned it helping her mum make cookies at Christmas time a few years beforehand.

They were just starting to make the snowballs and handing some of them off to the trappers, who were just slight glimmers in the air, when sparks flew through the air between them and the boys.

"That's the start!" Ginny shouted to them all. "Girls! Take cover and build up some ammunition before attacking. Let's do this thing!"

"You'll never win!" Ron shouted from the other side.

"Oh won't we, Ronald, oh won't we," Hermione whispered from Ginny's side. "We are so going to cream them," she then said louder to her friend.

"Definitely," Ginny nodded, moving her wand in a circle over several small piles of snow on the ground. They all formed into perfect spheres and Ginny piled them up, repeating the process a few more times and passing some off to the trap-setters who came their way.

When she had a large armful, she scooped them up and stuck her head above the pile of snow she and Hermione were crouched behind to look for any boys in their immediate area. She saw a Seamus and Dean right up ahead, looking away from them and took careful aim, before launching two snowballs, one at the back of each of their heads. They both turned around sharply only to see a large pile of snow. With matching smirks, they began to creep up to it, only to have a large batch of snowballs dumped on their heads as they crawled under a tree.

When they didn't move out of the war-zone, their legs started twitching madly and they fell in the snow. "I think you might want to step aside, boys," Ginny said, now standing in front of them.

"Shut it. We get it. You got us out. No need to rub it in," Dean said sullenly.

After the two boys moved, Ginny and Hermione went back to collect their snowballs only to find that half of them were gone. The boys were stealing their snowballs! That was playing dirty. Ginny was impressed in spite of herself.

She and Hermione shared one look before grabbing the rest of their snowballs and following the tracks, which the boys had forgotten to wipe out. There seemed to be several of them, and probably around fourth or fifth-year, judging by the size of their feet. (Ginny had a lot of experience with boys' feet. It was one of the 'perks' of have six older brothers.)

They soon spotted three fifth-years up ahead aiming at some of the other girls and started lobbing snowballs at them. The boys were caught by surprise and didn't manage to launch a counter-attack before the girls they had been attacking got them on the other side. The boys were all quickly hit three times and had to remove themselves from the game.

Ginny and Hermione ran over to the other girls. Neither of the two younger girls had been hit three times yet. In fact, only a few girls were out already. Hermione had been hit twice, but Ginny hadn't been hit yet and was still going strong.

"Gin," Hermione breathed, pulling her friend behind a snow-drift. "Harry and Ron up ahead."

"Brilliant," Ginny smirked, making more snowballs with her charm. "Hermione, you go sneak to that drift behind them and call out to Ron. I'll make sure he's the only one who goes over. When he gets close enough, hit him with snowballs. I'll deal with Harry."

"Sounds good," Hermione grinned. Ginny knew that Hermione wouldn't follow the plan. She'd want to have Ron to herself for a few minutes. Ginny was going to recruit Harry to help her get the couple out of the game.

Hermione snuck off, rather stealthily, and around the boys without them noticing. Then she heard Hermione and took the opportunity to show some of her hair above the snowbank and whisper, "Harry." Her boyfriend's head whipped around and he missed his best mate walking the other way, towards Hermione.

"Harry," Ginny said slightly louder. Harry looked in her direction.

"Ginny?" he asked.

"Yes, it's me. Over here, you prat," Ginny said, waving her hand above the snow pile. She had snowballs in her other hand just in case he thought it was a trap and came armed himself.

But of course, he didn't. He just went right around to the other side of the pile and crouched down next to her in the snow. "What?" he asked.

"Ron and Hermione are probably over there snogging right now, so we're going to hit them and get them out of the game," Ginny said, gesturing to the other snowbank.

"Sounds like a plan," Harry grinned. "Ron's only been hit once already and so have I, but we should be able to sneak up on them if they're-er-occupied."

"Excellent. Hermione's been hit twice already, and should be easy to hit again. Have a few snowballs," Ginny offered, handing him a few of the perfectly round snowballs from the pile between the two of them.

"Thanks," Harry said, taking them and then moving around to her other side to peer around the side of the snow bank. "Coast is clear. Let's move out."

Ginny lead the way to the other snow bank and didn't even bother trying to be quiet. Hermione and Ron were much to busy to pay attention to the things happening around them, so it didn't matter either way. She and Harry each got on opposite sides of the couple and she yelled, "Attack!" before running behind the bank and starting to pelt her best friend and brother with snowballs. Harry was on their other side, and soon, the pair had both been hit three times and had to leave the field.

Harry and Ginny were just starting to celebrate when they were each hit in the back by several snowballs at once. They both turned to face their attacker to see Luna and Neville standing behind them laughing, Luna's wand up and several more snowballs floating in mid-air in front of her. "Shouldn't you be moving before the jelly-legs jinx takes affect?" Neville asked innocently.

"Shouldn't you be joining them, Neville?" Luna asked sweetly, firing her last snowballs at him before he could react.

She, Harry, and Ginny laughed as Neville pouted, before the three that had been hit removed themselves from the playing field, noticing that only a few students were left, most of them girls, who were now ganging up on the remaining boys.

They went off to find Hermione and Ron, who were in the great hall eating lunch with the rest of the people who had been eliminated. When Neville, Harry, and Ginny sat down Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow, "Who got you three out?"

"Luna," they all said at once, laughing at Hermione's incredulous look. "She can be quite vicious when she wants to," Ginny added after her laughter had subsided.

They all ate in relative calm and peace. That is until Hermione had to bring up a less enjoyable subject. "We have so much work to do. We'd better get started," she said as they finished.

"Do we have to?" Ron complained. "Can't we do it tomorrow?"

"Not if you want to sleep in," Hermione snapped. Ron pouted but went with her and the others when they left, not wanting to be left behind, or forced to get up early the next day for the second time in one weekend.

December 19th 1998

"I am so ready for the holidays," Ron groaned, relaxing onto the seat of the train compartment.

"Even though you won't see me for a week and a half?" Hermione asked, one eyebrow raised as if daring her boyfriend to answer incorrectly.

"Of course not, Mione," Ron said, softening as he pulled his girlfriend to his side and kissing her forehead. "The holidays are never as much fun without you being there. I'll miss you so much and I wish you didn't have to go see your parents."

"I wish you could just come with me for a few days and then we could go to the Burrow, but I need to talk to them about what happened," Hermione told him. "I'll be there on New Year's Eve for the spectacular fireworks that I'm certain Fred and George have been planning for everyone."

"I know," Ron sighed, kissing her gently on the lips.

"Please don't start," Ginny groaned. "My poor virgin eyes. They don't need to see this."

"Right, Gin, like you haven't seen snogging before. You and Harry snog all the time," Ron shot back.

"Sure we do, but my eyes are usually closed," Ginny said, smirking at her brother.

"On second thought, maybe I do need a break from this," Hermione whispered to Harry, looking at the bickering siblings.

"Now you know what I had to listen to for the first six and a half years of knowing the two of you," Harry said, gesturing to her and Ron.

Hermione blushed slightly, but shrugged it off. Sure, she was going to be away from Ron for the first time in a while, but they always say, 'Distance makes the heart grow fonder.' She didn't know how her love for Ron could grow to be more than it already was, but she wouldn't complain if it did.

So, good, bad, terrible, awesome, hilarious? Tell me in a review please. Next chapter will be up in less than a month. I promise!