James Potter had been in a peaceful state of slumber, comfortable and warm in his four-poster bed within the Gryffindor boys dormitory. He was abruptly awoken from such peace when his face made contact with something ice-cold and wet hitting him in the face. He sat bolt upright in shock at the assault and found himself blinded, eyes stinging, thanks to the offending substance. He spluttered curses and wiped what he now could make out as melting snow from his face and hair.
“Sirius you bastard. What in the actual fuck!” James growled, reaching for his glasses on his nightstand.
His vision returned to him, James had just enough time to make out that the person at the end of his bed who had lobbed a snowball at him was in fact not his best mate. On the contrary it was the exact opposite. It was the unrequited love of his life, Lily Evans. Who gave him just enough time to gape at her in astonishment at finding her in his bedroom before she pelted another chunk of snow into his unsuspecting face.
“Evans!” came his cry of confused fury. She laughed heartily at his expense, which was joined by his dorm mates. Wankers.
“First snow of the year! Boys vs girls snowball fight in the clocktower courtyard in 10 minutes,” she teased.
James braced himself for the impact of another snowball that never came. Shielding his face with his hands. Satisfied after a few seconds that the hit wasn’t coming and that Lily Evans had in fact vacated the premises he lowered them to stare ominously at his group of friends. They were all lounging in their own beds in various states of undress, bed hangings already drawn open. Icy mush was trickling down his neck and chest, pooling in his exposed navel. It sent cold shivers down his spine and caused his skin to break out in goose flesh. The warmth of the dormitory fireplace usually made it safe enough to sleep shirtless without experiencing cold. His mind wandered briefly to the fact that his crush had the opportunity to see his quidditch toned physique, a minor consolation prize.
“She was gonna shove it down the front of your trousers. Until she saw the tent and changed tact,” Peter snickered.
Hot embarrassment flooded James. He couldn’t help the fact that as a bloke he woke up every morning with a boner. His friends should have had the common decency to not let it get so far as for Lily to notice it. He got far too many embarrassing erections in front of her as it was. Thinking about the fact that she had thought about touching his trousers, touching him, in order to execute a prank was definitely not helping his situation.
“You’re all a load of bastards.” James growled, to which his friends laughed harder.
He threw his pillow at Sirius. Which hit him with such force he toppled out of his own four-poster bed backwards, meeting the floor with a solid thunk. Remus threw his hands up in the air in mock surrender as James made to grab his second pillow. With his mates no longer laughing at his expense, James rose from his bed to get dressed. He adjusted himself awkwardly as he swapped out his pyjama trousers and underwear for a clean set and warm pants for going outside. He threw on a long sleeved shirt, suitable jumper and donned his shoes. If a snowball fight was what Evans wanted, a fight was exactly what she was gonna get.
The 6th year girls were already waiting with a pyramid of prepared snowballs and several makeshift barriers constructed on the playing field. Colourful flags were erected at the barriers at the far end on either side. Sirius grinned upon seeing the makeshift battlegrounds, rubbing his hands which were wrapped in fingerless gloves together in anticipation.
“Finally! The gents arrive. Now you’re all here, let's lay some ground rules.” Lily started, tossing a snowball in the air and catching it back in her hand with ease.
“Oh of course miss goody good has rules for a bloody snowball fight,” Sirius mocked playfully. If he wasn’t careful she’d throw that snowball in his direction in a minute.
“Shut your trap Black before you’re swallowing snow!” Marlene chanted.
“As I was saying.” Lily interrupted. “You’ll see we’ve already built defences for either team. The goal of the game is to capture the opposition's team flag and return it to your base. If you are hit you must return to your base and try again. If you have the flag in your possession when hit, you must leave the flag on the ground. It cannot be picked up by a fellow team mate until you have first returned to base. This means your opponents have an opportunity to steal their flag back and return it to their home base should they be able to do so. Also to keep things interesting NO MAGIC!”
“Ah what!?” Peter exclaimed.
“To be fair Pete if we were using magic we could just accio the flag.” Remus reasoned.
“Or charm our balls to chase them relentlessly.” Sirius complained.
“Scared you’ll lose without magic POTTER!?” came a yell from across the barricade.
“NEVER EVANS!” James called back.
The first volley of snow balls came barrelling over from the girls who had stationed themselves behind their base barricade. Which gave the boys absolutely no time to come up with a game strategy before they were ducking and running for cover. Three snowballs simultaneously missed James by mere inches. Sirius and Remus were sending their own flurry back in quick succession, throwing them powerfully over arm like a cricket ball. A high pitched shriek let them know they managed to hit at least one of their intended targets. James slid into place beside Peter who was tactically crouched low by the first row of blockades and yelling directions at Remus and Sirius.
“Too far to the left!”
“A little higher!”
“Bullseye!”
James risked a peak over the top of the barricade and a snowball ricocheted off the top of his head. Cursing James moved back to base and tried advancing forward again. Followed closely by Sirius who kept his position low.
“What do you recon Prongs? We both make an approach from either side causing a distraction while Pete slips up the middle?” Sirius asked gruffly. He flinched every time a snowball made contact with the barrier they’d all huddled behind. “Or do you want me and Remus to do it? You’ve got the better long arm.”
James shook his head. “Moony’s got it covered, I’m pretty sure he’s hit Dorcas a couple times already. They’ll be expecting us two to make the assault so they’ll be focused on us and not Pete.”
They advanced forward barricade by barricade. Sirius was shorter than James so he found it easier to keep low enough while running so as not to be hit. James however had a lot more close calls and direct hits forcing him to turn back. He noticed that Peter had managed to snake his way through the centre column and was patiently waiting to make his move. Sirius and James needed to get closer to the front if they were gonna cause a distraction. Without Peter shouting how to aim, Remus was struggling to stop the gaggle of girls from advancing forward. James fisted handfuls of snow and threw wildly hoping at least one made its target.
A loud cry of “Ah FUCK!” told him that Sirius had been hit. He saw Sirius doused in snow sprinting back towards base yelling “I zigged when I should have zagged!”
James attempted a mad dash for the girls flag, hoping with speed on his side he could dodge volleys long enough for Pete to make the snatch. He slammed violently into another body as he came around the final barricade. The contact caused them to both wind one another, the air leaving their lungs in a violent oof. The girl fell backward into the snow, taking James with her, as her legs swept his own out from under him. He tried his best to not break his fall with her body to little avail. His face made contact with the snow over the girl’s left hand shoulder. Coughing and spluttering snow for the second time that day James tried to push himself off the girl to apologise to discover he’d fallen on top of Lily Evans. Her green bobble hat had fallen from her head, which left her red hair sprawled out and contrasting vibrantly with the snow. His heart felt like it skipped a beat. She was winded but otherwise unharmed despite the fact he’d fallen directly on top of her.
“Uhh Potter? Is that your wand in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”
James scrambled hurriedly to his feet repeating “Wand! Wand! Definitely wand!” Though truth be told he wasn’t so sure which she had been able to feel pressed against her leg as both were an option. He held out a hand to help her back onto her feet which she graciously accepted. James heaved her up out of the snow and back onto her feet one handed, blushing furiously and praying the cold air hid his embarrassment. A loud whooping cheer sounded from the girl’s base where Mary Macdonald was triumphantly waving the boys’ flag.
“Gotcha Potter” Lily grinned. “Woohoo!” she cheered, using her hands like a megaphone to send the sound towards her teammates.
She was still doused in snow from where she’d fallen, hair all out of place. Yet James' heart pounded in his chest seeing her so happy and carefree. Silently he wondered to himself how every time he looked at her she seemed to grow even more beautiful. His reverie was broken by a sharp slap to his back.
“Best of three Prongs?” Sirius asked, not yet ready to truly admit defeat. Thumping his open palm against James’ back for a second time.
James watched Lily race back towards her team for a second game as he addressed Sirius. “Sure thing. A couple more can’t hurt.”
“Just next time you’re gonna attempt to grope Evans in the snow… Maybe do it while we aren’t all watching ae?” He chuckled.
“Fuck off Padfoot.”