The Same Mistake

Ellie sat curled up in the arm chair before the crackling fire in the Gryffindor Common Room. The two arm chairs next to her were occupied by Hermione and Ginny. On the floor, Harry and Ron were playing a rather aggressive game of Exploding Snaps.

“Do you fancy a snowball fight today?” Ginny asked hopefully. Ellie smiled down at her book; Ginny had told her in confidence that she wanted to get back at Ron for throwing a ridiculous fit after finding her kissing Dean Thomas earlier in the week.

“I think that is a wonderful idea,” Ellie slid a bookmark between the pages of her novel. “We never had snowball fights at Beauxbatons; it wasn’t deemed proper and it hardly ever snows.”

“What?” Ron asked astonished. “That’s, that’s inhumane that is! Let’s go, right now.” Ron jumped up, completely disregarding his game with Harry.

An evil smile hung on Ginny’s lips. “Come on, Ellie, Hermione. We need to go change.”

Upstairs, Ellie tugged on an extra sweater and a second layer of pants. Shoving her feet into a pair of boots, Ellie wobbled over to her bed. Once Ellie had pulled on her blue coat, she looked rather like a puffy version of herself. Ginny, on the other hand, simply slipped on her black peacoat leaving her not at all puffy but most definitely adorable.

“It’s not negative degrees out, you know,” she teased.

Ellie huffily placed her hands on her hips. “I hate being cold.”

Ginny appraised her friend, “Well, if nothing else, you’ll make a great snowball shield.”

The well padded group trooped outside, their hands covered in thick mittens and gloves. Their booted feet sunk deep into the snow. Ginny appeared to be swimming, not walking, through the snow. Ellie followed in the ruts Ginny had cut through the snow.

The group drifted until they were positioned at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. “Ok,” Ron directed in his maroon knit hat, he stood out violently against the sea of white. “Boys versus girls, each team has five minutes to build barricades. Go!”

Ellie, Hermione, and Ginny pulled out their wands. Harry and Ron dove into the snow. With a flurry of arms and gloves, the boys began to build their fort. Ten feet away, the three girls synchronized their wands movements; the snow before their feet lifted up and neatly arranged itself into a smooth four foot wall with curved sides.

The fists full of snow that Harry and Ron held fell lamely back to the ground. “Why didn’t we think of that?” Ron groused.

“Because you’re a boy,” Ginny replied loftily.

“Oh, shove it!” Ron threw a snowball at his sister. It arced gracefully in the air, perfectly aimed at Ginny.

Ginny lifted her wand, “Diffindio!” The snowball burst into harmless great white flakes.

“Wait!” Harry shouted jogging to the neutral territory between the two snowforts. “Rules! No magic. You have to make, throw, and dodge the snowballs without magical interference. Deal?”

“Yes,” the girls chimed innocently.

“Okay! On the count of five,” Harry jogged back behind his fort. “One! Two! Three! Four – “

The snowballs flew fast and furious from both sides. Harry hit the ground tossing clump after clump of cold snow at the girls. Ellie peeked over the edge of her fort only to receive a snowball to the face. She shrieked, falling back away from the wall. Hermione took up her post, launching unsuccessfully aimed snowballs at her two best friends.

Ginny seized control, sending a flurry of hard packed snowballs straight at Ron. He stumbled under the attack, falling to the cold ground.

“Oi!” Ron shouted. “What about Harry?”

Ginny packed another snowball that Ellie found to look suspiciously like a heart. Ginny sent it sailing through the air, it caught Harry precisely between the eyes coating his glasses with white powder. Grinning foolishly, Harry launched a counter attack.

Ellie scooped up handfuls of snow rounding them into perfect spheres. Leaning around the edge of the fort, she aimed her snowball at Ron who was still lying on the snow. With a deep breath to steady her arm, Ellie released the snowball. But, instead of colliding with Ron, Ellie’s snowball veered left zooming back to the castle. It smashed against the North East tower.

Shielding her eyes against the sun, Ellie squinted up at the castle. She could just make out the distinct outline of a tall figure poised in the window. Her distraction cost Ellie several snowballs to the back of the head. Icy tendrils of snow snaked down the back of her coat.

Ellie cried out in surprise. Shoving one hand down her coat, Ellie scrambled to remove the snow. Dancing on the spot, Ellie wobbled then toppled face first into the snow. Behind her, the snowball fight raged on; no one noticed Ellie’s struggle.

Twitching on the ground, Ellie fought to stand up, but her heavily padded outfit prevented any successful movement. She fought off her mittens, shoving her bare hands into the deep snow. The cold bit her fingers and stung her palms. Ignoring the cold, Ellie pushed herself up onto her knees. Panting, Ellie crawled back to the fort and collapsed against it. Blinking the dripping snow from her eyes, Ellie stared up at the caste again, trying to relocate the figure in the window.

“Ellie! Get back in the fight!” Ginny shouted in annoyance, lobbing an angry snowball at her teammates.

“Zut alor!” Ellie cursed, swiping the snow from her coat. Gathering two handfuls of snow, Ellie chucked a snowball at Ginny, who stepped out of the line of fire at the last moment. Ellie’s snowball knocked Hermione on the cheek.

Chaos broke free! Snowballs flew in every direction, team distinctions were destroyed. Ellie was under heavy assault; snowballs pelted down on her. Scurrying forward on her hands and knees, Ellie waded back toward the castle.

Catching on, Harry dove after Ellie, dragging her back to the fight. Laughing joyously, Ellie kicked off Harry’s grip on her ankles, threw a snowball at him for god measure, and began her journey again. This time, Ginny seized Ellie’s still bare hand. Yet, instead of pulling her back, Ginny moved with Ellie up to the castle.

“You’re not going to leave me behind to get destroyed by Ron just so you can meet up with a highly questionable git even if he is your mystery boyfriend,” Ginny said adamantly.

Ellie gaped at her friend in surprise. “I – I don’t’ know what you’re talking about.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about and we are going to discuss this later, but,” Ginny pushed open the large castle doors, “right now I believe someone is waiting for you.”