Author's Note: I'm taking this chapter in a different route than the past chapters. This story, as you may know, is in Lily's POV. Always has been, always will be.

Except this chapter.

We're going to be diving into James's POV at some point in this chapter. We're going to start in his, actually, then go over the events again in Lily's. Hope it flows well, I anticipate a difficult chapter to write!

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Chapter 29: The Marauder's Annual Snowball War

Saturday, December 3, 1977 - James's POV

Hogwarts grounds.

Two o'clock. Afternoon.

Weather is calm.

Snow is fresh from last night. About eight to ten inches deep. Perfect consistency.

Conditions are ideal.

"Are those fucking furballs going to be there the whole time?"

Okay, almost ideal.

"Padfoot, they're distracted. Just don't hit them with a snowball, the girls will never let us hear the end of it," I told him. Rouquin and Truffle were next to the castle wall playing with a Bluebell flame that Lily cast for them and jumping around in the snow, sometimes so buried we could only see a couple of tufted tails. We were at least fifty feet away.

"Why do they get to be warm?" Wormtail mumbled next to me.

"They don't need it, Wormtail," Moony told him, rolling his eyes. "It's for distraction."

"And why are you complaining about the cold? You were the one trying to get us to move the date to yesterday!" Padfoot barked at him.

"Could you guys shut up, get over the Kneazles, and help me build this damn barricade?" I was building our defensive wall and have yet to have any assistance from the other three.

Sometimes I wonder why I put up with them.

"Prongs, I have a decent arsenal being made over here. I'm at least being productive," Moony said, pointing to several decent piles of perfectly formed snowballs.

Okay, sometimes I wonder why I put up with two of them. Moony is cool, even with that whole werewolf thing. In fact, that makes him cooler because he doesn't let it affect him.

I turned to Padfoot and Wormtail. "Well?" I asked them.

"Well, what?" Padfoot responded with a shrug.

"Help me make the damn barricade!"

"Fine! Merlin, Prongs, you're testy today."

"Did you seriously just use the word 'testy' in a sentence, Padfoot?" Moony asked him, suppressing his laughter.

Padfoot just threw a snowball at him.

"Hey! Don't waste the ammo! We'll need that to defeat the girls!" Wormtail exclaimed.

"You sound nervous, Wormy," Padfoot teased.

"Don't get cocky, Pads," I warned him. "You know very well your girlfriend has quite the throwing arm and impeccable aim."

"Oh, yeah, she's a Chaser, isn't she?" he said thoughtfully as he built up the wall a little by hand. We found out in our experience that it works better than magic.

Moony hit him on the back of the head.

"Hey, he didn't deny the 'girlfriend' comment!" I pointed out.

"Wait, is Padfoot blushing?" Moony observed.

"I think he is!" Wormtail agreed.

"Shut up. Em and I haven't declared anything, yet."

"Thou doth protest too much."

"Shove it, Moony."

"As much as I would like to say that pissing Padfoot off would help our chances, here, I think it would have opposite effect at this point," I pointed out. They all nodded (and Padfoot stuck his tongue out at Moony), and we finished setting up our barricade. It was tall enough for us to crouch behind without being seen, which is quite a feet. Padfoot and I are both at the six-foot mark in height (he's bitter that I'm six-foot-one to his six-foot), and Remus is only an inch shy of six feet tall, so we had to make the barricade quite tall.

We walked out to the middle of the area we designated for our battle to meet the girls, who also finished their (much shorter) barricade.

The hardest part about this is not getting distracted. Lily is, hands down, the prettiest girl at Hogwarts (then again, I would not deny being a bit biased), and her friends aren't far behind. Lily was there in jeans and trainers, wearing a fitted dark green down jacket with matching gloves and knit cap. Emmeline was in jeans and snowboots, her red jacket fastened to her neck and black gloves on her hands, fluffy black earmuffs were keeping her ears warm. Padfoot couldn't keep her eyes off her. Moony was staring at Marlene in all black, with a matching knit band protecting her ears, it all accenting her blonde hair. Dorcas was the most eccentric, each piece of knitwear was a different color. All wore their Gryffindor scarves (like we were) and had their hair braided in pigtails from behind their ears.

Yeah, distraction will be hard to avoid playing against these four.

"You ready to accept defeat gracefully?" Lily asked me, a smirk planted on her face.

"Could ask the same to you," I retorted, matching her smirk the best I could. All I really wanted to do was kiss her, but I was here to compete.

Kissing can come later, we share a dorm after all and haven't slept apart since we started dating.

"Any rules or other things we need to know before we begin?" Emmeline asked. She had the same look on her face that she sported before a Quidditch match. She was definitely our biggest threat.

Moony took the opportunity to use his wand to mark a glowing line in the snow. "Cannot pass this line here." He then waved his wand over each of us. "Each hit will be registered and the tally will be retrieved at the end. Most hits to the other team is the winner."

"Sounds easy enough," Dorcas said, grinning.

"One more thing," Padfoot added, looking devious. "No warming spells. Period."

"Well, that's masochistic," Marlene mumbled.

"Think about who we're playing against here, Marles," Lily reminded her with a chuckle.

All I have to do is here that chuckle and I don't need heating spells, I thought to myself. No! Distraction bad! Head in the game, Potter!

"Are you saying we're masochists, McKinnon?" Padfoot asked.

"Bite me, Black," she replied.

"Saving it for Em, actually." His comment turned Emmeline bright red. I was just glad he didn't go with the alternative of "I'll give Moony the honors." Luckily Padfoot's tact filter was turned on today. Rare treat. Sure, his comment about Emmeline wasn't completely tactful, but for Padfoot? It was the best we were going to get.

"Anyway," Moony said, looking annoyed, but still grateful (apparently noticed that things could have gotten uncomfortable fast), "ready to get started?"

"Lets do this!" Lily declare, punching the air. The other girls followed suit.

I winked at her. "Good luck," I said, turning and walking back to our barricade. We all squatted down behind it and readied a snowball.

"Did you see Em's face?" Padfoot asked us. "That's the-"

"-same look she has before kicking major ass in Quidditch. Yeah, I noticed," I finished for him. "She's our biggest threat, Dorcas close behind."

"Marlene's quick, too," Padfoot added, peering over the barricade. "The enigma is Lily."

"Padfoot, you're starting to sound like Moony," I told him. "Enigma? Really?"

"Shut up, Pro-"

He couldn't finish before a snowball landed right on his head.

"Looks like the game is on!" Wormtail exclaimed excitedly, throwing his first snowball. Unfortunately, he stood so he got pelted right in the chest, falling over backwards.

"Wow, we're doing great," Moony said sarcastically, looking down at Wormtail.

"We've only just begun," I reminded him with a smile. I pointed my wand at the mound of snowballs and levitated six of them. When I got them over the barricade, I sent them flying top speed over towards the girls. Four yelps followed.

"Smooth, Prongs," Padfoot said, smiling and peering over the barricade. "You hit them all without looking!"

I smiled smugly. It was pure luck, but I wasn't about to let Padfoot know that.

Moony then stood and I peered over the snow barricade. He threw a snowball right at Lily, who was also standing and prepping her own throw. Moony released first, but only just. Lily released and hit Moony square in the chest. He sat down and looked at me as I barely missed a snowball to the head from Emmeline.

"I think Lily is a good contender," he admitted. "Where did she learn to throw like that?"

"Definitely not Quidditch, I've seen her fly. Not pretty," Padfoot said, standing briefly to throw a snowball and dodging another from the girls.

When he sat I hit him over the back of the head. He glared at me before continuing the game.

We were evenly matched, but I wasn't about to admit that out loud. Or to Lily.

Definitely not to Lily.

I grabbed several snowballs in my arms, winked at the guys, then ran around the barricade, throwing snowballs at the girls as I ran. I heard Padfoot do the same, although I think the entire castle heard his war-cry.

Dorcas and Lily did the same as we did, and before long all eight of us were in the center of our area, pelting snowballs at each other at top speed. It was a blur of snowballs and laughter, everyone getting hit at all angles. Suddenly the guys and I were out of ammo and we knew our chances of getting hit too many more times were a little slimmer if we were moving than if we were staying there making more snowballs, so we turned and all ran as fast as we could through the thick snow back to our barricade.

The girls were in pursuit.

I could feel snowballs hitting my back, but I started to zig and zag to the barricade. I dove behind it, dodging any more hits. Padfoot and Moony weren't far behind, and soon the three of us were quickly refilling the ammunition.

Then it hit us.

"Where's Wormtail?" Padfoot asked slowly.

We all looked at each other, fear in our eyes. Then it hit us.

Literally.

Wormtail fell through the barricade right on top of us, sending what seemed like hundreds of snowballs at us.

"Ready to pick it up, gentlemen?" I asked them.

They grinned and took out their wands in response, sending dozens of snowballs back at the unsuspecting girls.

Saturday, December 3, 1977 - Lily's POV

"They seem so sure of themselves," Dorcas said with a chuckle.

"They don't know what will hit them," Marlene said with a smile.

We were behind our barricade, about half a dozen piles of snowballs around us.

"I just realized something," I said, grabbing a snowball and smiling.

"Oh? Better be good, you look like you just won this war," Emmeline said, matching my smile.

"Dad and I play catch all the time in the summer," I said, wiggling my eyebrows. I knelt on my knees, facing the boys' barricade. I peered over the barricade and I could make out the top of Sirius's head. I wound up and threw it as hard as I could. It made perfect contact.

I turned back to the girls, grinning. They all stared at me, mouths gaping.

"Where in Merlin's name did that come from?" Marlene asked.

"Shame you can't fly, you'd be a fair Chaser!" Emmeline added.

"Focus, girls," Dorcas interrupted. "It's game on!" She stood and threw a snowball and we could hear the faint sound of it making contact. "Got Peter."

I saw a snowball land at my feet. "Apparently, he didn't get us."

"Incoming!" Marlene exclaimed. Suddenly six snowballs came flying at us, hitting all four of us, causing all of us to yell out. Two hit Emmeline in the chest, one hit each of the rest of us. The other narrowly missed my ear.

"That's it!" I exclaimed, grabbing a snowball. I stood, seeing Remus had the same idea. I noticed we both wound up at the same time, but he released a split second before me. I ducked as soon as I released the snowball, but didn't miss seeing my shot hit him in the chest. Emmeline threw her own, but I didn't see it hit anyone, just saw it sail over the Marauder's barricade.

"Sirius is up!" Dorcas said, throwing her own. "Damn! Missed!"

"Um, girls? What are they doing?" Emmeline told us, peering over the barricade with a look of confusion. The rest of us peered over and saw James running towards the line Remus drew in the snow, one arm supporting several snowballs while the other was ready to throw. We started to fill up our arms in the same fashion, and we heard Sirius give a war-cry. With a laugh and war-cries of our own, Dorcas and I ran out just as they did, leaving Marlene and Emmeline behind (I think I heard Em ask us what we were doing, but I'm choosing to ignore her). I started throwing as fast I could, not caring if I got hit. Marlene and Emmeline joined us shortly after, as Remus and Peter met up with their teammates.

Snowballs were flying in every direction, and all eight of us were laughing. Then I noticed something.

The guys were retreating.

"Girls, this is our chance!" I harshly whispered to my teammates. We all instantly started to throw whatever remaining snowballs we had on us. I went after James instinctually, watching him zig and zag in order to be a harder target.

Not bloody likely!

I kept hitting him in the back until I saw him dive behind his barricade dramatically, shortly followed by Sirius and Remus.

Peter was left alone in the field.

We had one snowball left and Marlene held it.

I looked at her and nodded, pulling out my wand from my waistband. She threw it, and I whispered, "Geminio."

Suddenly one snowball became a hundred.

One whisper of "Waddiwasi" and they all went flying at him, top speed. He put his hands over his head and started running towards their barricade.

I noticed Dorcas whip out her wand and flick it, and Peter tripped and fell through their barricade, my hundred snowballs close behind.

After a moment, dozens of snowballs came flying back at us.

"Shit," I mumbled. We all went running to our barricade, the four of us diving behind it more successfully than the Marauders did.

Then again, we didn't have a Tripping Jinx cast on any of us.

"I think this is nearing its end," I said, breathing heavy.

"I agree," Dorcas said. She was also running out of breath.

"One last hurrah?" Marlene asked.

"Ready?" Emmeline started, brandishing her wand.

"Set?" Marlene continued, pulling out hers.

Dorcas and I held ours out, never having put them away from before. "GO!" the two of us exclaimed in unison.

We made dozens more snowballs and sent them all towards the Marauders at once, as we saw a similar assault coming at us.

"Wow," Remus said, as we all stood in a circle in the middle of the field.

"That was..." Dorcas started, breathing heavy.

"Intense," I finished, grinning.

We were all breathing heavy from the snowy assault. Snow was stuck in our hair (which is why Emmeline suggested we braid our hair into pigtails, and I would be forever grateful) and our knitwear was all damp and covered in snowflakes.

"Best Marauder Annual Snowball fight ever!" Sirius exclaimed. "Talk about going out with a bang."

We all stood in silence for a couple of minutes. He was right. This was our last winter at Hogwarts. This time next year we will all be working adults in a world plagued by war, most likely fighting alongside each other.

It's quite frightening when you think about it, especially since one or more of us could be dead within the next few years.

"So how do we figure out the winner?" Marlene asked, breaking us all out of our morbid thoughts. From the looks of everyone's faces, we all had the same things going through our heads.

"It's easy," James stated. "Just point your wands in the center."

We all followed suit. Remus then pointed his wand in and mumbled something. The wands began glowing.

He smiled. "And the winner is..."

Author's Note Part 2: Cliffhanger! The next chapter should be up sometime this week. I'm writing in the evenings after work when I'm not too tired, so my goal is to post by Saturday evening (and that's EST time, here).