The Daily Prophet

Sunday, November 26th, 1995

Sports Pages

Hogwarts Quidditch League Review

The second game of this year's Hogwarts Quidditch League between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses ended in an exciting tie yesterday. Following Gryffindors spectacular win over Slytherin, both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff went into the game determined to challenge Gryffindor for the lead by scoring many goals. Initially, both teams were evenly matched, but as they entered the second hour, Ravenclaw began to pull significantly ahead. However, in a shocking twist, the Hufflepuff Seeker caught the Snitch after a brief chase and ended the game on equal scores, 310 points each. This puts both teams in striking range of Gryffindor.

Gryffindor: 440

Hufflepuff: 310

Ravenclaw: 310

Slytherin: 70

Dear Fleur

Sorry about that, but the mirror ran out of power in the middle of your sentence. Hermione helped me perform some diagnostic spells on it and she thinks it would be best to leave it rest for a few days. Shall we try again on Saturday evening?

As I was telling you before we got cut off, our first meeting went okay. Some people just turned up to see if the rumours about Harry were true, but everyone agreed that they needed to practise Defence more.

We also made everyone promise to not tell Umbridge. We're certain that she would try and expel Harry at least, maybe even more of us, if she found out.

Thanks for your advice about how to stay focussed during Quidditch, by the way. This year is shaping up to be the most dramatic season in ages. The Quidditch pitch is booked solid all the time as every team is determined to get as much practice in as possible and tumours are already flying thick and fast about how I managed to play so well. I was actually accosted by the Slytherin team and Snape, the morning after our match, because they thought I had cheated by using performance enhancing potions. It caused a huge fuss, but I volunteered to be tested, just to see the smug look on Malfoy's face wiped off.

I think we're coming back to the same place we were in summer over Christmas, so we should be able to meet up fine.

Speak to you in a couple of days.

Love

Ron

As the Christmas Holidays neared, they were greeted with an impressive sight, on the morning of the last Saturday in term.

"That is a lot of snow," Ron said, looking out of the window from the Gryffindor Common Room.

"There must be three feet of the stuff," Ginny said in disbelief. "How did this all fall in one night?"

"It's the Astronomy Tower," Hermione said. "Part of the enchantments on the castle let the tower always have clear weather during lessons, but it still has to let down the rain or snow it puts off eventually. This must be a whole week's worth of snow."

"You don't seem happy, Hermione," Ron observed. "Don't you think it's pretty at least?"

"Oh, I love looking at snow," Hermione replied. "But I don't like being in it and I just know that all the younger students are going to want to spend the whole day playing and if no one responsible goes with them, they'd probably freeze themselves half to death."

Hermione's prediction seemed to be accurate, because the mood among the younger students at breakfast could only be described as 'manic'.

"Ron," Hermione leaned over to him, "we're going to have to make sure that none of them go outside unless they're wrapped up tightly."

Ron nodded in agreement. From where he was sitting, he could easily see at least half a dozen first years, who were entirely underdressed to be playing in snow at almost their head height.

"Excuse me, may I have your attention please."

Conversations in the Great Hall stopped almost straight away as the last of breakfast disappeared. Everyone looked up towards the staff table in surprise. Dumbledore almost never made announcements, especially not on a Saturday.

"Thank you," the headmaster said. "Somebody reminded me recently that, as much as we all enjoy Quidditch and love to watch our four talented teams battle for victory at the Quidditch pitch, Quidditch is still a sport for fourteen players. Therefore, in the interest of encouraging good, sporting fun, I have arranged for a little excitement this morning."

"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this," Hermione said quietly.

"A flag for each house has been placed in the grounds. If struck by a snowball, the flag will drop to the ground. The house with the last flag standing shall be declared the winner." The hall exploded into excited whispers, but quickly quietened again when Dumbledore continued. "The rules are as follows. There is to be no direct magic; the only medium to be used is snow and I expect everyone to respect the spirit of this rule." Dumbledore gave everyone a severe look over the top of his half-moon spectacles. "I will be personally refereeing and assigning detentions to anyone taking liberties with this rule." Then he smiled again. "I expect prefects to ensure that their younger charges are sufficiently protected against the cold and our older students to sufficiently protect themselves. The flags are already in place, but there shall be a ceasefire until ten o'clock sharp." He paused dramatically. "Good luck."

There was an immediate flurry of movement as at least half of the Gryffindor table rushed for the doors. Hermione half fell out of her seat as she scrambled to follow them, calling out underdressed first-years as she went.

The older students were slower to move, but there was an excited energy in the air, affecting even the most miserly seventh-year.

"I can't believe Umbridge would allow something like this," Harry said. But when they all looked towards her seat, she wasn't to be seen.

"Maybe Dumbledore finally snapped and did her in," Ron said.

"Nah, she rushed off to London first thing," Seamus said from just down the table.

"Maybe Dumbledore orchestrated something," Neville said.

"What? For a snowball fight?" Dean said incredulously. "I think he's just taking advantage of her absence. The real question is why?"

"I think," Ron said slowly, "that he's just trying to cheer everyone up. Between Umbridge and You Know Who, it's hardly been the most cheerful year so far. How about it, Harry? You gonna join in?"

Harry nodded slowly, a small smile showing on his face. "You know what? I think I might."

They found Hermione in the Entrance Hall. She was blocking a crowd of Gryffindors from going outside.

"No, Richards," she was saying. "No, you can't go outside in just a Pink Floyd t-shirt. Green, those trainers have more holes in them than your last Transfiguration essay."

The older students could summon, transfigure or even conjure winter wear, but the younger children had to trudge up seven flights of stairs.

They were met by blue skies when they walked out into the grounds. Combined with the fresh, white snow all around, it was almost blindingly bright.

The students were already congregating into four large groups. Ron could see a flag with the Gryffindor lion in the centre of his housemates.

"The seventh-years have agreed that I should take command," Alicia Spinner said, once everybody had arrived, her prefect badge glinting in the sunlight. "But I expect everyone to listen to the other prefects, too. Ron and Hermione, you're in charge of the first and second-years, alright? Try and find something useful for them to do, even if it's just mass-producing snowballs. We need someone to take charge of building some kind of defensive structure… Angelina, thank you. Those of you who are good at charms, help her out. Those of you good at transfiguration, we're going to need animated snowmen or snow… creatures… things. Any other ideas? Yes, Beatrice."

"How about some kind of siege weapon, like a cannon?"

"I don't know," someone else spoke up. "A snow cannon? We only have an hour or so to prepare."

"How about a trebuchet? It's simpler than a cannon, isn't it? It's basically a way of storing elastic energy."

"Right," Alicia said. "You two deal with that idea. Anything else?"

"We should try to spy on the other houses," Hermione spoke up. "To make sure they can't pull any surprises on us."

Alicia nodded. "Have some of the first-years act as lookouts. Anything else? No? Well, get to work everyone."

There was a flurry of movement as everyone rushed to their preferred duties.

"First and second-years over here," Hermione said. Ron went to stand beside her, but while he was good at breaking up fights and settling arguments, Hermione was the better prefect of the two of them for actually organising them to do anything. Under her instructions, within a few minutes, the youngest Gryffindors had made an impressive snowball production line. Ron had to talk a few of the less confident first-years through some of the more complicated charms they were using, but Hermione made herself busy by igniting large bonfires of bluebell flames, charmed as to not melt snow and ice, but still warm enough to keep everyone from losing sensation in their extremities.

As they worked, half of the rest of the Gryffindors were busy constructing castle walls for their little fort. They were going to the trouble of compacting the snow into massive bricks, first. It was taking longer and using more snow, but they had experimented first and this way was much stronger.

Meanwhile, those remaining were building a snow army. Tigers, bears, one particularly menacing looking rabbit, and dozens of lions of all shapes and sizes were patrolling around the inside of the fort.

With everyone for the most part settled in their tasks, Ron and Hermione got together to try and make some way of launching snowball's more effectively than with just the Levitation or Banishing Charms.

"Okay, so if we take our barrel and put an Acceleration Charm on the inside," Hermione said, inspecting the long tube they had constructed out of compacted ice, "then we just need to work out some kind of feeding mechanism."

She performed some spell work on their barrel and picked up a snowball from the pile that the first and second-years had made.

"Watch where you're aiming that thing," Ron warned.

"Oh! Right." Hermione swung the barrel away from a group of third-year boys and towards a stretch of the partially constructed wall. Hesitantly, she fed a snowball into the tube. There was a whoosh and the snowball disappeared, but instead of flying into the wall, it disintegrated into a cloud of snowflakes.

"Maybe a little too much power," Ron suggested.

Eventually they managed to get it shooting consistently and they began working on a mechanism to supply it with ammunition quickly.

"And how are things here in the Gryffindor camp?" Dumbledore asked, as he was checking the students' efforts during the ceasefire.

One of the snow lions approached the headmaster, inspecting him sceptically. Dumbledore patted the lion on the head and it left him alone.

"We're almost ready, sir," Hermione said. "Thank you for organising this. I wasn't sure, but to have cheered everyone up."

Dumbledore followed her gaze to look at Harry, who was helping to build a drawbridge across the moat. "I'm glad," Dumbledore said simply.

From the top of the walls, there were shouts of alarm and Alicia could be seen running outside.

"We've still got twenty minutes, don't we?!" Hermione said in a panic.

But they weren't under attack, it was a contingent of Hufflepuffs under a flag of truce.

"They want to form an alliance," Harry told Ron and Hermione, after they went outside to see what was going on.

"Are we allowed to do that, sir?" Ron asked Dumbledore.

The headmaster made a sweeping gesture. "Indeed, I applaud the ingenuity and the attitude. Though, I suspect that the other two houses may agree to something similar."

Ron looked across the snowy grounds. The Slytherins had built their own castle to rival Gryffindors, but the Ravenclaws had shrouded their quarter of the battlefield in a thick, white fog. He could just about see faces peering over the tips of the Slytherin parapets and a delegation was already headed towards the Ravenclaws.

Alicia shook hands with the leader of the Hufflepuffs and they returned to the giant igloo they had constructed. All the Gryffindors huddled close to Alicia when she re-entered the fort.

"Okay, we're teaming up with the 'Puffs until the other two houses are dealt with. After that, we'll settle our differences one on one."

"It looks as if Slytherin and Ravenclaw are teaming up, too," Fred said from the top of the wall.

"I think that Gryffindor and Hufflepuff can work together better than Slytherin and Ravenclaw can," Alicia said. "I half expect Slytherin to stab Ravenclaw in the back, and if I expect it, then Ravenclaw will be on guard for it, too."

They spent the last few minutes in preparation. The wall was completed and a massive sheet of ice was conjured to act as a roof and guard the flagpole from above. Ron and Hermione finished their snowball launcher and loaded it up. The snow army was sent outside the walls and then the drawbridge was raised and the gate closed.

Everyone watched as Dumbledore walked to the centre of the battlefield and raised his wand. A tension-filled silence permeated the air. A spark flew out of Dumbledore's wand and flew high into the air. A moment later it exploded into a shower of golden sparks.

"Release!" Alicia shouted.

The trebuchet, which had been disillusioned as it was brought outside the walls, was made visible again as the mechanism began spinning. A huge snowball, at least two feet across, was flung high into the air. Everyone watched with bated breath, but it sailed over the Slytherin defences, missing it by a couple of metres.

"Reload!" Alicia shouted over the cries of disappointment. A wand was pointed at the trebuchet and it began winding back up, but the Slytherins and Ravenclaws had already begun their attack.

It was clear, as the Slytherin castle gates opened, that they had focussed primarily on transfigured snow animals. The army that thundered across the open ground between them was significantly larger than Gryffindor's and consisted of an equally diverse selection of creatures.

From the mist around the Ravenclaw quarter, dozens of snowy birds flew out and took a position above the Slytherin army. Eagles were the most common, but there were other birds of prey and a very out of place raven.

Ron grimaced. "We'll have to rely on snowballs for those birds," he said. Hermione hummed in agreement as she finished attaching the snow all launcher to a tripod.

"Wait till they get in snowball range," Alicia commanded. "Then send out our army to meet them."

Ron and Hermione helped the younger students levitate the, by now quite impressive, snowball supply to the top of the walls, where the older students were preparing to launch them.

The trebuchet swung again, this time hitting the Slytherin castle walls and punching a hole right through it. A cheer went up from the Gryffindors, but it was short lived, because Alicia gave the order to attack.

A dozen voices cried out "expulso!" or "Wingardium Leviosa!", and a storm of snowballs flew towards the advancing army. At the same moment, Gryffindors smaller force charged.

There was an explosion of snow when the battlelines crashed into each other and an almost sickening show of snowy violence. Teeth snapped, paws stamped and claws swiped. The Ravenclaw birds dived from the sky, crashing into their enemies, pecking at eyes and driving beaks into bodies. Everyone's transfigurations were surprisingly durable, so they could take quite a bit of punishment before they collapsed into piles of snow. Lions would limp around on three legs. A snake wound itself around its opponent, even though it was missing a head.

Things were looking grim, as even with ranged support, the Gryffindor army was outnumbered, but then the Hufflepuff cavalry arrived… quite literally. Riding in on horses made of snow, the Hufflepuffs crashed into the Slytherin flank. The horses were large enough to carry students, so were also big enough to crush a lot of the smaller creatures in front of them. Their riders were also flinging snowballs as they went. Ron even saw Ernie Macmillan drive a lance made of ice through a snow snow leopard. The arrival of the Hufflepuffs was enough to force the battle back, away from Gryffindor's castle.

Ron had been helping Hermione aim and shoot their launcher, until a Ravenclaw eagle slammed into it, smashing it into pieces. He looked around the battlefield. It was quickly devolving into chaos.

"Weasley!" Alicia called over to him. "We're planning a counter-attack against the Slytherins. Take half a dozen with you and knock down their flagpole. We'll handle things here."

"Okay!" Ron shouted back. He was a little surprised to be called on, but then again, there were only six prefects and he was probably the most adventure-experienced one of all of them, except for Hermione, but she wasn't the first person to come to mind when thinking of good soldiers. Plus, because she was on the Quidditch team, Alicia knew that Ron had his seer abilities to back him up.

Ron could see a few of the mounted Hufflepuffs pulling away from the fight and getting ready to go on the attack, so he quickly thought of who to bring with him. He looked over at Harry, but he and Ginny were busy transfiguring more animals to send into the fight and Harry was probably the wrong person to send into the Slytherin camp, not unless one wanted to see Harry duelling Malfoy and getting detention from the headmaster.

In the end, Ron grabbed the twins, Seamus, Dean, McLaggen and Angelina.

"Try to keep up," the Hufflepuff leading their cavalry said, as Ron and his squad jogged up to them.

It was a struggle to move quickly through the deep snow. The Hufflepuffs were clearing the way ahead of them, which made it easier, but Ron was still puffing by the time they approached the Slytherin's castle.

"I don't suppose you have any ideas of how to get in," the Hufflepuff asked Ron, as they stared at the imposing walls ahead of them, with dozens of students in silver and green hats and scarves staring back at them from the top.

"We're out of range for the moment," Ron said. "We could make a battering ram."

There were hurried arguments for and against this idea, but they were all made irrelevant when the trebuchet shot again and another boulder of ice and snow hit the gates in front of them, knocking them wide open.

"Charge!" The Hufflepuff called, and in an impressive show of bravery, he and his housemates galloped straight into range of the Slytherin's.

Meanwhile, Fred and George had finished conjuring a thick slab of ice to act as a shield and the Gryffindors advanced. They all struggled with the strain of moving their shield forwards while it received a torrent of snowballs being thrown at it, but the Hufflepuffs had managed to draw a lot of attention and Ron and the others managed to pass through the broken gateway and into the castle. Ron could see the Slytherin flag in the middle of the courtyard and the brave, brave Hufflepuffs buried up to their necks in snow off to one side.

"On three drop the shield and hit the flag. Ready? One, two, three!"

As one, they let the slab of ice fall and shatter against the ground and then seven wands were flicked forwards.

Even as they were all pelted with half a hundred snowballs, they heard a loud gong and Dumbledore's magically enhanced voice declaring that Slytherin had been knocked out. Ron and his fellow Gryffindors cheered, but they all silently agreed that they should save the rest of their celebrations for when they weren't surrounded by the entirety of Slytherin house, many of whom were glaring at them angrily.

"Well done, everyone," Ron said, when they had started to make their way back. But, before anyone could respond to him, they heard another loud gong.

"And the flag of Gryffindor House has also been hit," Dumbledore declared again.

They could see that in their absence, the Gryffindor army had been squashed and the Ravenclaw flock of birds was now returning to the Ravenclaw area.

"Oh well," Dean said as they trudged back towards their housemates.

"We just got totally overrun," Alicia said to them when they got back. "But good job taking out the Slytherins."

Tables laden with hot drinks had been put out so the Gryffindors and Slytherins sipped at teas, coffees and hot chocolates while the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws prepared for another engagement.

"Did you have fun, at least?" Ron asked Harry and Hermione.

"I did," Hermione admitted. "But I just know that all the young ones are going to want to do it again every time there's snow."

Ron looked at Harry, but he was watching the battlefield, still with a smile on his lips.

The morning was dragging on and eventually Dumbledore had to conjure a giant sand timer to encourage the remaining houses to attack. The Hufflepuffs left a minimal guard at their igloo, then marched forward towards the Ravenclaw's obscuring mist. There was a collective shout of "ventus!" as they pointed their wands. A cold wind whipped through the grounds, throwing up snow as it went and blasting the mist away.

But, to everyone's surprise, instead of fortifications, there were dozens upon dozens of flagpoles, each bearing a Ravenclaw eagle.

"But which one is the real one?" one of the first-years asked.

"Probably none of them," Harry said.

"Ah," Hermione said. "The classic shell game. A Disillusionment Charm?"

The Hufflepuffs charged forwards and the Ravenclaws met them halfway. The spectating students cheered as the battle continued, but it became clear that the Hufflepuffs had the upper hand. More and more of the fake flags were hit and it seemed to be only a matter of time until Hufflepuff would stumble across the right one. Which was why it was a great surprise when a gong sounded from the other side of the grounds.

"And Hufflepuff has been defeated," Dumbledore declared.

Everyone was confused until word spread that while they sent the main part of their forces into battle with the Hufflepuffs, a few of the older Ravenclaws disillusioned themselves and sneaked into the Hufflepuff base, winning the game. Dumbledore awarded Ravenclaw House a trophy he conjured out of ice and he challenged them to keep it from melting for as long as they could.

Everyone went in for lunch tired, but in high spirits.

"If his plan really was to cheer everybody up," Hermione said, "then I think the headmaster succeeded."

"Either that or he's preparing the students to fight pitched battles," Harry said darkly.

"I don't think Dumbledore is that…" Ron searched for the right word, "… ruthless."

"Maybe not," Hermione said. "But the last war lasted for more than ten years. Even the first-years might be adults by the time this is all over."

"Do you really think we might be fighting You Know Who for the next decade?" Ginny asked.

Hermione shrugged uncertainly, but Ron could see the troubled look on Harry's face.

"So, we lost in the end, but everyone had fun," Ron said into his little mirror. He was sitting in his bed, the curtains drawn and spelled to block sound from leaving.

"It sounds 'orrible," Fleur said. "A3."

"Oh, come on," said Ron. "Beauxbatons is in the Pyrenees. You must have gotten tons of snow there. B6."

"But we don't go frolicking in it," Fleur said. "I didn't, at least. I dread to think what all zat snow would do to my 'air. B4."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Fleur, you could spend an afternoon repotting a Devil's Snare, then go do gymnastics in the Forbidden Forest for an hour and still emerge as the most beautiful person in a hundred miles. Pawn captures C4."

Fleur glared at him, though the effect was slightly ruined by having to be transmitted through a two inch wide mirror. "Real beauty takes work," she declared. "Which reminds me, did you brew that skincare potion I recommended? B-pawn takes C4."

"Yes, though Seamus and Dean really took the mickey out of me when they saw me applying it."

Fleur harrumphed. "Tell them that they're not allowed to criticise you until they get beautiful girlfriends of their own."

"That's just mean," Ron said. "Okay, I'll do that."

"Good."

"Oh!" Ron exclaimed.

"What is it?" Fleur asked.

"Sorry," Ron said, reaching into his pocket. "It's just a thing Hermione gave to everyone." He pulled out a gold Galleon and held it so that Fleur could see it in the mirror. "She's charmed it so that it tells us the date of our next meeting. Oh, and rook B8."

"A Protean Charm?" Fleur asked. "Very impressive for a fifteen-year-old."

"Hermione's birthday was in September, actually."

"Whatever. Oh, our five minutes are almost up. Talk to you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

The image of Fleur's face disappeared and Ron was left looking at his own reflection. He looked down at the chessboard, his game with Fleur only eleven moves in.

"A Protean Charm," he murmured to himself.

The next morning, he sat next to Hermione at breakfast.

"Morning, Hermione," he greeted her.

"Good morning."

"Hey, later on, do you mind showing me where you found that spell you used on the D.A. coins?" Ron asked.

Hermione gave him a sceptical look. "It's a NEWT level spell, Ron," she said. Then she caught herself. "I'm sorry, that was really quite a horrible thing to say, wasn't it? Of course I can," she said. "Sorry."

"Uh, it's alright," Ron said.

"What do you need it for?" Hermione asked.

"I had an idea for a Christmas Present for Fleur."

Ron spent a lot of time over the next few days thinking about his little project, but all of that was put out of his mind when Harry woke up one night screaming that Ron's dad had been attacked by a giant snake.