Work Text:
“Alright!” Fred shouted, and the chattering silenced almost immediately. “I’m going to explain the rules— yes, we have rules, this is a competition after all —so we’ll be having a fair game.”
A silence crept through the school grounds, and everybody looked at each other. Harry stopped his thoughts as soon as he heard that Fred and George were going to explain rules.
“So, first, no magic except using it for making snowballs and control them—”
Cries of outrage echoed at the school grounds, and Ron shouted, “What?”
Fred rolled his eyes, and merely sighed. “We didn’t make the rules, we simply repeat them. This snowball fight competition wasn’t our idea—”
“Even though it would be brilliant, would it come from us—”
“So please complain to our sister rather than us.”
Ron glared at Ginny. She simply stuck out her tongue.
The twins looked at each other, and George continued their speech. “And second, you can’t bring your flag to another place other than the assigned one. You may be asking, what flag? We’ll explain it now.
Every team has a flag which they must protect. And the goal of every team is to catch a flag from another team. The first team, who managed to capture a flag from another team and bring it to their flag, wins. These flags are hidden behind snow walls you’ll have to build, and you can’t have more than two people guarding the flag. The others must get at least three metres away from the flag if they aren’t currently running with an enemies flag to their base. Did everybody understand?”
Nobody raised their hand, but Hermione. “In how many teams are we going to be placed? I’ve heard that only some third-year and fifth year Gryffindors are really participating—and who’ll make sure nobody cheats?” She asked, the questions coming out like a pistol.
Fred grinned, and George looked smugly at Hermione. “Well, we will have four teams, they’re already chosen. And our referee for this is… err, Katie Bell? I think, that’s what Ginny said—”
Katie nodded to George’s right side, and everybody immediately crowded around the twins, asking for their team. They, however, didn’t look as overwhelmed as Harry would be—in fact, they just smiled and stayed quiet.
“Guys! Stop talking and hear them out!” Angelina shouted, and everybody quiet down again. “Thank you,” she said, and then turned her sight to the Weasley twins.
They both didn’t say a word, but instead flicked their wand in one smooth motion. The scarfs of everyone suddenly changed colours. Ron actually jumped when he saw his scarf turning orange, and Harry almost laughed when he noticed that his scarf turned a familiar snake-like green.
“Slytherin colours, really?” Angelina said disgusted, and Harry couldn’t agree more. Well, Slytherin colours suited him, but it definitely wouldn’t be his first choice.
“Now, now, Johnson,” Fred laughed, “I’m in your team, and I am wearing these colours willingly. It was also Ginny’s idea of wearing these, I reckon she plans some kind of revenge,” he stated, and threw Ginny a suspicious glance over Lavender’s shoulder. She just ignored him completely and talked to Hermione.
“Guys!” Katie shouted over the crowd, “the flags are in the middle! Grab yours and start building a wall protecting it! We’ll start in 15 minutes!”
It was silent again, but then, the whole group exploded. Everybody wanted to have the flag first and place it on their respective ground. Fred just shook his head and sighed. “I will just wait here till this has calmed down.”
In fact, it did calm down after two minutes, and Lavender grabbed their flag and placed it in the snow. Meanwhile, a fifth year Gryffindor asked if they could just charm the wall to never fall down.
“‘s against the rules, we can only build a non-magical snow-wall,” Fred simply stated, “now, we want to win, don’t we? So start helping me,” and with a swish of his wand, the snow flew around and began to vaguely resemble the shape of a wall.
They all started flicking their wands, and occasionally, Harry and Angelina helped out by securing the wall with extra snow that they placed with their hands. No magic would’ve done that job, and everybody felt satisfied by the result.
Harry grinned and felt relief. He beamed at the result; it was a long time ago since he had actually been allowed to play in the snow, and he hasn’t got time the past two years due to… circumstances, but now, he just stood there and grinned like a madman.
Katie came over and quickly checked their wall. Then, she asked, “Now, I need to know who are guarding the flag.”
Harry’s group blinked. “Uhh…” Parvati said in a failed attempt to distract Katie.
Katie gave them a disappointed look. “Okay, I’ll come back later. Meanwhile,” she looked around, and her eyes fell on Hermione’s team, “you’ll figure out your problem. Just figure out two people who will guard your flag. Otherwise, you can’t participate.” She swished her head, her hair flipping, and strutted to Hermione’s (wasn’t there Ginny?) group.
“… Wow,” Angelina said, voice astonished. “We should never make her a referee again.”
“Yep,” Fred agreed, “and I’d say Johnson and I will protect the flag.” Angelina agreed, but the others just stared at them in bewilderment.
“No way, you are the best in our group, in strategizing, in leading…” Harry told them, but they brushed it off.
“We can use these abilities to protect the flag,” Angelina said, and Fred nodded like a loyal pet, “and we’ll make sure nobody will even come near the wall.”
A Gryffindor agreed. “Look, I can help you,” he offered. “I’m at the same level as them, and they will destroy enemies within seconds. No worries, Potter.”
“Fine,” Harry reluctantly agreed, and then eyed the others. “What is our strategy for now?”
There was a silence. Harry gulped. They didn’t think…? “Uhh, your plan is not me, is it?”
Everyone looked ashamed to the side, except for Fred, Angelina, and surprisingly, Lavender and Parvati. Harry sighs. “How’s this—we’ll try to distract and cause as much mayhem as possible, while a small, separate group of us try to steal flags? I think that’s a good plan.”
They glanced at each other and came to a silent agreement. “Great,” he said, and smiled. “Everybody who wants to steal flags, go to the right side. And those who want to cause trouble, go to the left side.”
They firstly stood stiff, but then, one after the other, the group split. Unsurprisingly, most of them want to go and cause trouble, while only the unknown Gryffindor from before and Parvati went to the other side.
Just in time, Harry thought, when he saw Katie going towards them. “And?” she asked, and Fred quickly told her that he and Angelina were going to protect the flag.
Katie just nodded, and walked off again. Angelina made a long-suffering sigh.
“Alright, I need everybody’s attention, please!” Katie shouted, and the noise dimmed. “Thank you. Now, I’ve noted all guards for the flags, so the games will begin now. Good luck to everybody!” She said, throwing everyone off-guard. Fred was the first to get himself together and immediately formed snowballs, followed by Hermione and George.
“Come on!” Harry urged them, and began to create snowballs with a quick charm. He then grabbed a few of them, and ran off, followed closely by Lavender and Parvati.
Running directly into the battlefield, Harry realized that the snowball fight was in full swing and ducked just in time to miss a snowball.
Then, he noticed that the shortest way to a flag was the flag of Ron’s team. “Hey!” Harry shouted in the hope that the fifth-year Gryffindor from before could hear him, “I need you!”
Seconds later, no-name stood in front of him, panting. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“Listen, could you go and distract these with Lavender and the others? Parvati and I must get the flag of Ron’s team.”
He frowned, and muttered quietly, “Team orange is distracted by team violet… that’s a good chance to catch the flag. Alright, I’ll do it. Guys, come over!” He yelled.
The others came quickly, but Harry ran already to Parvati. “Come on, we’ll retrieve orange’s flag,” he frizzled, and Parvati immediately understood. They both ran towards the wall.
On the way to it, they almost got hit by a few snowballs. One flew closely past, and Harry whipped around his head. He saw Ginny and Hermione, whispering to each other, but no one else. They were so indulged into the topic that they didn’t notice anything around them.
Harry couldn’t drop the chance. Before he could even comprehend what his hands had done, Hermione and Ginny were soaked in snow and spluttered. Parvati laughed, but Harry said, “Let's keep going! We’re nearly there!”
The team has done an excellent job. Nobody noticed them, and because Harry and Parvati were rather small and skinny, they both slipped past every snowball fight and even managed to not get seen by George. There was only one obstacle to the win and the entire glory of the team: Ron and Dean, who were put as the defenders of the flag, and they didn’t look happy with their job.
“I’m still angry that we can’t fight with the others and have to sulk here,” Ron grumbled, and Dean agreed. The two, like Hermione and Ginny earlier, didn’t pay attention to their surroundings, so when Harry and Parvati charmed them with a storm of snowballs, they promptly fell, spluttering and swearing.
While Harry charmed even more snowballs and let them fly towards Dean and Ron, Parvati sprinted towards the snow wall. Just as she was about to climb the wall, Ron and Dean finally gained steady feet and charmed a few snowballs towards Harry, who ducked just in time.
“Bloody hell, Harry! You actually didn’t think to win against us when we’re two, and you're only one person, did you?” Ron laughed, and nearby, Dean charmed the snowballs with impressive speed and flew them towards Harry in the exact pace. He fell over, but Harry thought he saw some green inside the snow wall.
“You might want to check your flag, mate,” he instead replied, and grinned so wide that his cheeks hurt despite the snow. Ron and Dean jerked their heads just in time to saw Parvati vanishing inside the little snow fortress and her touching the flag.
Ron paled. “NO—”
Parvati grabbed the flag, jumped out of the snow wall, and started running. Harry closely followed her, leaving an astonished Ron and Dean back. It took them a few seconds to comprehend what had happened, and when they finally started to follow them, Harry and Parvati already ran half of the way to their flag.
However, Harry could still hear swearing from Dean. “Ron, we need to follow them, run faster!” and a, “Yes, I know, I’m trying!”
Parvati grinned at Harry when they saw their flag, still standing proudly. Angelina and Fred spotted the two running away from Ron and Dean, and the two threw a few snowballs at them.
“Fast!” Fred shouted while charming even more snowballs. “You’re nearly there!”
Harry ran to the wall, Parvati closely following. She was already jumping over the wall…
Suddenly, a loud whistle echoed through the school grounds. Everybody stopped in their motions, although a few snowballs still landed in other faces.
“We have a winner!” Katie then said, and pointed to Professor Lupin, who was standing next to a smug-looking Ginny. He held a brown flag in his hand.
“What? ” George cried out loud. “No way! Lupin—I mean, Professor Lupin isn’t even in the game!”
An unimpressed Katie just pointed at a parchment. “Here it is. Professor Lupin is certainly in Team Purple.”
Fred rushed to Katie even faster than George, nearly knocking Harry from his feet. He snatched the parchment out of her hands, and his fingers gripped it so hard that the paper began to crumble.
“It’s true,” he then whispered, “there’s Remus Lupin written in Team Purple. I’ve never seen him on the list, though.”
Fred’s head turned very fast to Ginny. “You wrote that list,” he growled, and had to be restrained by Katie before he could attack his sister.
“It’s just a game,” Ginny replied, “and I wanted to take revenge.”
It was quiet. “Revenge for what?” Harry said, absolutely stunned.
“Well, my brothers always underestimated me. It got worse when I—I got taken down to… the chamber. They were so overprotective after that. I just wanted my normal life back. So I’ve decided to show them that I can plan, strategize and defend for myself. In this game alone, I’ve nearly knocked out over 50 people, and I came up with the plan to distract everybody while Professor Lupin stole the flag,” she answered coldly.
Everyone stared at her in amazement. Then, Ron spoke up. “It’s true,” he said, “I’ve seen her, and she’s a monster in snowball fights—or just generally in fights.”
Ginny grinned, and smiled. “Thank you, Ron,” she said.
An awkward silence stretched, till Lupin spoke up. “Miss Weasley talked to me earlier this morning. She said that I should grab the flag when she distracts everyone. I agreed,” he said.
“Oh,” George muttered, and he and Fred shared a look of understanding.
“Well, I have a class in fifteen minutes,” Lupin exclaimed, “so we better get up to the—”
He was cut off by a storming Professor McGonagall, appearing from the castle. She was marching with her boots and a thick scarf to the students, and looked furious.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” she shrieked, and pointed at the ruined plants, the walls full of snow and the absolute mess on the ground.
“Uh, uh,” Ron muttered, and took Harry’s hand. Together, they slowly vanish to the castle.
“DETENTION! EVERYONE!” Professor McGonagall screamed, and everyone hurried back to the castle. “YOU WILL CLEAN EVERYTHING ON THE SCHOOL GROUNDS WITH NO MAGIC! I WILL NOT TOLERATE—”
As Professor Lupin tried to calm Professor McGonagall down, Harry and Ron ran and stumbled all the way to the castle, clutching their hands to their stomach, closely followed by a fuming Hermione and a grinning Ginny.