The winter had almost completely settled itself into Hogwarts this year - the snow covered every piece of the grounds it could grasp on to, from the intricately designed bridges, to the gargoyles that sat proudly at the top of spires, whom appeared to almost be sporting a frown on their icicle-ridden faces. Peeves was making the most of the cold weather and could be regularly seen pushing students over on icy walkways and pelting snowballs at unfortunate first years, much to their distaste.

Spirits could not be broken though, as it was the last day before the Christmas break, even the most sour of individuals was in a particularly upbeat mood - Professor Severus Snape sat at his desk as his fifth year students got on with their task of brewing a successful Draught of Peace, it was the last lesson of the day. He was currently observing Crabbe and Goyle arguing over who had stolen who's porcupine quills, meanwhile neither had realised they had been dropped on the classroom floor several minutes ago, Severus was simply bewildered at how dense two people could be. He slowly shifted his eyes over to Potter who had, by the looks of it left the land of the living entirely and was currently staring off into another universe, Severus took a deep breath in and gradually let it out, nothing could get him down today, not even students being completely uninterested in his class, which would've usually resulted in a very satisfying detention.

Severus took a silent minute to reflect on how well this class had done this year, he had set some tasks this past term which even Granger had found challenging to successfully complete. Not that he would ever give the slightest indication of it, Severus was proud of this class and knew the majority would pass their OWLs with at the very least Exceeds Expectations, he also knew some were beyond lost causes but not at the fault of himself, it was simply impossible to teach some students that couldn't tell their arse from their elbow. These particularly positive thoughts were soon interrupted by the quiet but increasingly evident sound of shrieking coming from the small air grates behind Severus, which led to the courtyard outside. These were immediately recognised as the high-pitched shrills of one extremely punchable pink toad.

"How DARE you think this is acceptable! I am the High Inquisitor and I will not stand for this disrespect!"

bap bap bap

The familiar sound of snowballs being hurled at someone echoed through the classroom.

"STOP." bap "THIS." bap "INSTANT!" BOOF

"Not if you don't say please!" A certain poltergeist could be heard giggling to himself. If ghosts could wet themselves, Peeves would've definitely done so by this point.

The slightest of smirks spread across the potion master's face as he slowly began to piece together what was going on outside. As he turned around from the grate to see his entire class with similar smirks to him on their faces, he knew exactly what they were all thinking. He simply bowed his head in defeat and said "Go on then." The entirety of his fifth year potions class hurtled towards the door like a group of startled bulls, trampling over each other in the most chaotic scenario that had ever had the honour of taking place in the usually extremely regulated potions classroom. Snape would not show it, but he was just as eager to get outside as the pack of savages that had just tore out of his class leaving a trail of destruction in tow, including evidence of potion on the roof, ties on the floor, shoes lost in the corridor and cauldrons launched into the abyss.

Severus simply cast a cleaning charm on the room and shut the door behind him, as he began his ascent to the ground floor of the castle, his signature cape swishing behind him as if it had a mind of its own, he could not contain his excitement and let the corners of his lips curl just slightly into what could be described as Professor Snape smiling from ear to ear. As he reached the courtyard, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the daylight and the added glare of the gleaming white snow layered thickly onto the floor and surrounding courtyard. Severus scanned the yard and immediately found what he was looking for in all it's glory - Peeves the poltergeist bombarding Delores Umbridge with a ridiculous amount of snowballs. Students were struggling to keep themselves standing while others were weeping with laughter over the event occurring before them, it came to Snape's attention that Umbridge was not even attempting to fight back, it then also came to his attention that her wand was in the possession of one particular transfiguration teacher who was hiding away in the background trying to keep herself together. Smirking, Severus made his way over to his best friend. "Was this your idea by any chance?"

"Oh, what would possibly give you that impression Severus?" Minerva replied in her thick Scottish accent.

"Just my intuition, of course, not the fact you are holding the toads wand or that I actually saw you conversing with Peeves just after lunch."

"It offends me that you'd even begin to think this low of me." The Scot said trying her absolute hardest to keep her laughter in. "It fascinates me how in situations such as these you manage to keep the utmost control of your emotion Severus, you are a true master of self-control."

"The same could not possibly be said about you." He said with a smirk and received a more than fair dig to the arm.

bap bap bap bap THUD

Umbridge had received an almost shower of snowballs as students had began to join in with the ruthless attack and was instantly sent flying to the ground, bouncing as she went. A snort left Severus' mouth at the scene unravelling in front of him, and the usual well-kept, stoic presentation of Minerva McGonagall instantly went out the window as she began to cry with laughter, tears streaming down her face. Severus had to use every bone in his body to keep himself from breaking down at the sight of one of the most feared witches in the wizarding world cackling next to him, he believed he had never had to focus this hard in his entire life.

Severus was practically holding Minerva up at this point, she had lost the ability to stand as soon as the slightest of laughs had left Severus' mouth, he knew he was not going to be hearing the end of this any time in the next century. At this point, Umbridge had started to take the form of an extremely haggard snowman. The Weasley twins had set up camp and were placing bets on who's snowball was finally going to send the more-white-than-pink toad to the hospital wing, as students had started to improvise by upgrading their snowballs in the forms of adding rocks to them and increasing their artillery to spells. One individual had cast the Wingardium Leviosa charm on Umbridge, so she began to spin uncontrollably every time a snowball hit her.

After an extremely enjoyable twenty minutes, it had come to the attention of the professors that the floating toad had appeared to of gone limp. Much to their disfavour, Minerva and Severus had to step in and put a stop to arguably the most amusing thing to happen at Hogwarts in decades. As McGonagall put on her teacher face and dispersed the crowd back to their dormitories, to prepare for the end of year feast, Severus began to levitate Umbridge in the direction of the Hospital wing, acting as if he touched the toad, he may catch a disease.

Minerva caught up to Severus after he had dropped off a worse-for-wear Umbridge at the hospital wing and immediately started giggling again. "We do have some fun don't we ey, old friend."

"Indeed. I'm starting to believe we're a bad influence on each other. I think we need some time apart" He smirked at her.

"Ohh you wouldn't last ten minutes in here without me, and you know it you grumpy sod." Elbowing him in the ribs. Severus wrapped his arm around Minerva's shoulders and tilted his head in agreement. No one would ever see this side of Severus apart from his best friend.

"Go and sort yourself out you old hag, you look beyond dishevelled." Before Minerva even had the time to react to what the potions master had said, he had scarpered away before he had the chance to feel her wrath. She made her way back to her quarters to prepare for the upcoming feast.

She shook her head and chuckled. "I'll get you back you overgrown bat."