“Blimey, this is dull.”

Ted slumped over the table, resting his head on crossed arms. The comment wasn’t meant for anyone in particular, just a general announcement for the group of first-years who’d gravitated towards a few tables off to the side of the dance floor. It seemed to Ted that the Yule Ball didn’t really know what to do with the first-years now that it had them. It was the kid’s table at family Christmas come early, only without the toddlers.

From under the long bangs of a green-and-turquoise hairstyle chosen to match the Hall’s décor, Ted stared at the swaying forms of teachers, guests, and older years that populated the dance floor. He huffed. “Thought there was supposed to be some brighter music sooner or later…all it’s been is this slow dancing and waltzing stuff.”

Perhaps it was childish to sulk, but to be fair he was eleven, and he hadn’t spent this long in a suit since the last family wedding, and he was bored. Obscenely bored. With an annoyed groan he rolled his head in the other direction and peered instead out one of the darkened windows. Outside, a sickly crescent moon illuminated the thin layer of snow that spread across the grounds, a tiny flakes glittering as they drifted on the wind.

A grin slid onto Ted’s face. He sat up and turned excitedly to the person beside him. “Hey, think there’s enough out there for a snowball fight? Bound to be better than sticking around this stuff joint, yeah?”

Slow, waltzing music was drifting through the Great Hall, threatening to make twelve-year old Alexandra fall asleep right then and there. She had plopped herself down at a table where there were a few other first-years making small talk. Looking down at her lap, she smoothed out the purple dress she'd worn over black leggings. It was obvious that she was not into the dancing, the small talk, or the general sparkliness that the Great Hall seemed to hold.

Girls were in their beautiful, long gowns and dress robes; and the boys with them were just as handsome as everyone spun around the dance floor in time, some people stepping on the wrong beat, but for the most part, it was pretty well organized. She sighed as she leaned forward, resting her head on the palms of her hands as Ted slumped over and complained to himself and the general area around him.

Lexi couldn't help but smile, at least she wasn't the only one having a wonderfully awful time. She followed his gaze outside the window, the crescent moon catching her eye more than the snow. It was the best time of the month for her; no aches or pains, no joint issues, she was feeling great. And she shouldn't have been wasting this absolutely great feeling on a dull dance with a bunch of stupid couples who were too absorbed in themselves to even notice anything else. Or so Lexi thought.

Ted turned to her with a grin, asking excitedly if she thought there was enough snow for a snowball fight. "Are you kidding me? I don't care if there's not enough snow, any excuse to get out of this room is good enough for me." She said, standing up from where she was sitting to get a closer look out of the window, there was a bit of snow; but if the first-years could put their minds to it, they could make the small amount work for some good times in the cold.

Annette's head popped up at the mention of outside. She was completely and utterly bored. She had attended way to many of these sorts of parties growing up and hated them now as much as she hated them then. She was dressed in a ice blue dress with flowers on the bottom, she wore a thick sweater over it and was still frozen. Most people would be in awe of the glimmering dresses and dress robes, but Annette was no longer intrigued with the colors and movement as she was as a child.

She was impressed, though, by the amount of work had been put into the Great Hall in preparation for the Ball. She tried to decipher all of the spells and enchantments placed on everything, but it was just too involved for her inexperienced eye to handle, so she was once again, bored, she shivered, you would think with this many bodies, it would be as hot as Vesuvius in the Hall, but with the doors wide open, there was no way to lock in the cold. "I'll come out, if I can grab a coat first, this sweater isn't going to cut it."

Sybil sat quietly at the Ravenclaw table, pencil in hand. Far as she knew, the other kids around her were largely complaining of boredom, fidgeting and shaking their legs until the table vibrated. But it wasn't boring at all for her - not this amazingly diverse array of colours and textures and shapes that twirled and swirled around with the people in the room. All the older students looked so pretty or dashing in their formal wear when they were just walking about - what more when they took to the dance-floor! And the decorations, their elaborateness made it near impossible to believe this was merely a school function. Why, this was definitely a far cry from the tacky pin-up letters they made in Muggle class last year for the Christmas party. Of course, this was the wizarding world and it had to be far easier to come up with all that fancy floating stuff. It was an interesting lesson in enchantments and spells too, Sybil thought.

As she worked furiously at capturing the wonder of the entire event on paper, Sybil felt perfectly lost and satisfied in what she was doing. No need for anything else, they were free to do nothing - no questions to be answered, no small talk to be made--

At least not until some boy suggested going out to play in the snow, and the entire group of first-years burst into excitement. Sybil could already feel some kids getting off their seats and heading for outside, but she didn't even lift her head to look. Oh no, no no no. Staying here was easier.

Long ago Noah Pratt’s stuffy, smart dress robes had become scruffy. The tie hung loose, undone around his neck, his shirt was no longer tucked into his trousers and miraculously creased and his hair, previously been flattened into some semblance of tidiness was fighting against the neatness and once more resembling a short mangled mop. It could quite simply be said that Noah Pratt could not do tidiness and would probably look scruffy anywhere he was.

But the young boy cared not. Somehow he still had a plate of food. Another plate of food. Dinner had ended a good hour ago but Noah had been determined to eat more. Hogwarts food was amazing. He’d never tasted anything so scrumptious before so it was fairly definite that the scrawny lad his parents had sent off for his schooling would come back quite a bit less scrawny in a few days.

So Noah was sat at a table, gorging quite contentedly on turkey breast, cranberry sauce, stuffing and roast potatoes for a second time. He wasn’t interested in any sort of dancing and neither was he interested in admiring stupid girls in silly frilly dresses. He wanted to sit, eat and then maybe wander off somewhere interesting. Or he could carry on with what had been the project of the night. Next to Noah’s plate was a goblet half filled with a black, unsavoury looking liquid. The young Mr Pratt’s project for the night had been to mix as many of the different juices, pops and other beverages into an amazing cocktail of deliciousness. So far it wasn’t working out too well, the black liquid in his goblet, bits of fruit floating in the top, was the worst creation yet.

“Hey, think there’s enough out there for a snowball fight? Bound to be better than sticking around this stuff joint, yeah?” came the voice of the funny haired Ted Lupin. Noah looked up and, mouth full of turkey and red sauce, offered a grin. But his mouth was way too full to talk. Instead he continued chewing and McGee instead responded.

“I’ll go.” The boy muttered through his mouthful of food. His bright blue eyes cast towards the Hufflepuff. “Without a jumper.” That was the courageous Gryffindor spirit!

Noah sat contentedly in the semi awkward silence among the other first years, While the discomfort from a majority of them could easily be felt in the atmosphere, despite the general festivities among the older students. The lack of movement made it a lot easier for him to hide the fact that he came stag. He sat in his dress robes, askew and poorly assembled over his young body. Some people were starting to talk about a snowball fight, however he was content at the moment with absorbing the scene for now.

His eyes wandered from the dancing to the other Ravenclaws to the girl next to him, recreating the scene about them.  He watched quietly for a moment before pushing himself to speak. "That's quite good~" he said to Sybil, trying to hide any nervousness in his voice.

The redhead picked up her black cloak from where she had been sitting - a now brilliant smile replacing the indignant frown that had etched her face before; after all, the Yule ball pretty much amounted to slow, dull torture for her. She just wanted to run around; get her blood pumping in the freezing cold like any other sane twelve-year old!

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going out right now!" She said, wrapping the thick cloak around her pale arms, tying it at the neck and properly covering up her plain purple dress that she'd worn for the occasion. A quick pat down let her know that her wand was still safely secured to the interior of her cloak, stitched into the hidden pocket she'd made.

With a farewell salute, she jumped through the crowd up people and made way for the door, running out into the chilly courtyard. There was a couple snogging by the fountain - gross, Lexi made a face and turned to find the window that the other first years had been looking through. She jumped up and down in front of it, waving her skinny arms back and forth. "It's cold! Come on out! Much better than watching 'em dance!" She said, in reference to the majority of the older years who were having a ball. (No pun intended...)

Rico grabbed his dress coat and threw it over his shoulders, "I'm with her!" He ran after Lexi and vaulted into the snow, the fluffy white precipitation covering his black ensemble. His father would have been rather cross and told him to dust himself off, but Rico's father wasn't here, and he was going to get cold, have his suit soaked, and have a little fun at the Yule Ball, no matter the circumstances.

Rico army crawled through the snow and began to pack it into a fort. There was a perfect amount of snow, it was just the right type to. It was still damp, larger flakes, perfect for snow balls and igloos. Rico grabbed a handful of snow, his olive skin already utterly frigid. He pressed it between his palms and fingers, smoothing it into a perfect sphere. He didn't care if she was a girl, Rico was gonna hit Lexi with this work of art.

Rico chucked the snowball as hard as he could, directly at the backside of Lexi's black cloak.

Ted's face lit up as more of their classmate chimed in agreements. The moment Lexi grabbed her cloak he was on his feet too, the soles of his high-tops -- which he'd only gotten away with wearing because their red matched his vest and tie -- squeaking against the stone floor. "You're on," he laughed, nudging Noah Pratt with his elbow just hard enough that Pratt couldn't complain without sounding like a wimp. "Last one to the fountain's a rotten Doxy nest!"

He burst into a run, rattling Dione Sayer's chair as he shot past. She gave him a disgusted look over one shoulder before going back to her plate of food, which was smothered with the violently red sauce she'd brought herself. Ted made a mental note to "borrow" her bottle of the stuff later on and add it to the hors d'oeuvres -- anything hot enough for her dead tongue to taste was bound to make things more interesting. Filing that away for another hour, he darted after Lexi and Rico, hoping that their escape wouldn't be noticed by anyone who'd send word back to his Gran.

He arrived on the scene just in time to spot Rico flinging the first shot. Ted whooped and, not bothering for nearly as much artistry as his Slytherin cohort, swept a sloppy handful of snow into a vague ball before flinging it at the side of Rico's head. "And Slytherin takes the first shot! Return fire, return fire!"

Jack was returning from is so far, adventurous night[1] covered form head to toe in snow. After a few minutes he began to get REALLY cold. Jack could feel the frozen precipitation melting onto his skin, only to freeze over. He felt like a walking icicle. So what do most people do when their cold, they move around to warm up.

Jack decided that he would practice his shot like he was earlier with Heliotrope. He grabbed a nice handful and compacted it to perfection. After admiring his work, Jack flung it to the nearest tree. "Bullseye!"  he muttered to himself.

He continued this for another few minutes, gradually warming up. Then he heard voices coming from the courtyard. The sounded high and excited, so older kids were out. "And Slytherin takes the first shot! Return fire, return fire!" Must be Ted, his voice was not hard to recognize. With a grin Jack bolted to where the voices were coming from, when he got there he was wearing the biggest grin he's had all day.

He could tell that no one noticed him...yet. With stealth in his favor, Jack hid behind a pillar, compacting snowballs faster than he ever has before. Within half a minute he had 30 some odd number of snowballs ready to be chucked. He grabbed a handful in his left hand and threw as quick as he could. One, two, three snowballs went flying high into the unsuspecting first years. He hid again behind his pillar and knew he had to of hit someone.

1.	http://absitomen.com/index.php?topic=12708.msg106968#msg106968

Lexi stopped waving and jumping up and down as Rico pegged her in the back with an icy cold ball of slush, she turned around; her golden eyes practically ablaze as she scooped up her own handful of snow and returned fire as Ted had instructed. With a softball-trained pitch, she threw the snowball towards Rico; her grimace from the initial shock of cold shifting, the corners of her lips turning upwards in a smile.

Suddenly, a volley of snow hailed down from the air; one hitting Lexi directly on top of her head. "Oi!" She shouted, brushed the snow out of her now-messy curls. "Who threw that!"

When nobody answered at first, she ducked another snowball from one of the other first years; crushing a snowball in her own hands and aiming for Rico again. For now, it was one snake against two lions; and he was sure as heck going to lose. "Watch out Rico, we're going to get you!" She shouted, before dodging another ball of icy debris. "My grandma throws better than you!" She taunted, sticking her tongue out in true, immature Lexi fashion.

Rico laughed as his snowball connected on Lexi's back. "Huzzah! Point for Slytherin!" Rico ducked as he was bombarded with snow balls. One connected to  his neck as he popped up from his fort and chucked another nowball, this time at Ted. "AH! Slytherin down Slytherin down! Calling for backup!"

Mercedes swooped in out of no where, flinging snowballs like it was her job. Rico grabbed a few more handfuls of snow, and dodged the icy spheres of doom. "I see you Jack!" Rico said, chucking a snowball at the lad half-concealed by the tree. "Snakes make a comeback!" Rico and Sadie shouted, ducking from another rain of snowballs.

And just like that the Slytherins had a comeback! Ted yelped and laughed in the same breath as snowballs pelted his good suit, dashing across the lawn to duck behind a pillar near Lexi. Now more than ever he was glad he'd worn his trainers instead of those fancy shoes he normally got stuck with when dressed like this. There was no running in those things. Way too stiff.

He pressed back against the cold pillar and peered around the edge, where both the Posada twins had gotten John Windell mixed up in the conflict. A pair of fifth-years, apparently looking for some bush to make out in, got a stray round right down the girl's dress that sent her screeching back into the hall. Ted grinned. Right, shots fired on both sides and innocent civilians splattered with crossfire.  If ten years leading similar combat among the cousins had taught him anything, it was how to step up the game.

"I've got an idea!" he called to Lexi and anyone else who might have decided to join 'their side.' "Cover me!"

Without waiting for a response he charged forward, headless of the snow coming either to aid or impede him. Subtly, he drew his wand from the back pocket it'd been hiding in and readied it for a spell. Six feet from the Posada twins he hit the deck, dropping to his knees and thrusting his wand into the snow. "Ventus!"

A powerful gust of air burst from the tip of his wand, spraying melting snow over both the twins like a snow blower. The move left grass stains on both his knees and opened Ted up for a counter, but it was worth it. He threw his head back and laughed, having a ball.

Mercedes squeed with glee as freezing slush splashed on her silver and blue locks. She packed a firm ball and flung it straight forwards and ducked back down again. She closed her eyes and her hair and skin turned the color of the snow, quite different from her black dress with red tights. "Remind me why we don't do this more often!" Sadie laughed pressing more snow together.

Meanwhile, Annette came tromping into the snow, her jumper hanging about her, she looked at the two sides and joined the Slytherin front. "Lotusorder joins the snake ranks!" Rico yelled as Nette slid behind their fort. The trio looked at each other and each compacted a perfect frozen sphere. They each peeked their eyes above the small fort Rico had fashioned, "One, two, three, FIRE!" The three of them each chucked their snowball in opposite directions.

"Take that!" Anni yelled as another volley was fired.

Alexandra McGee was shaking in her flats. No, not from fear. (What do you take this Gryffindor for? A wuss?) But the fact that she had succesfully gotten a good amount of snow in her hair, and it was melting and dripping down the back of her neck. Quickly, she used a drying charm to attempt to fix the predicament she was in. But her mediocre skill with the charm left only a small amount of cold, snow-water to dry; the rest of it soaking her hair and the back of her dress.

She whipped her head around at the sound of Ted skidding to a stop by a pillar near hers. She took a moment to catch her ragged breath as she watched Ted expertly peg a fifth-year with a nice, cold snowball. "Nice throw, Lupin!" She said, before noticing Annette slide behind the Posada's fort. "You traitor!" She shouted rather loudly, throwing a snowball at her in frustration. "That's not cool Annie! Not cool!" She yelled, knowing she didn't really fancy the nickname.

Lexi jumped up at Ted's command and ran a few paces in front of him, hitting snowballs out of the air with her bare hands in an attempt to give Ted some space. She threw a few more missiles into the air, hoping they would arc into the enemy's fort.

As Ted got down, so did she. Well, she more threw herself to the side as the sheet of melting snow and slush flew by her. She landed in a careless heap, her exposed ankles well and truly frozen; along with her snow-covered dress and her fiery hair that was now dusted with the white powder. She got pegged with a snowball that was more ice than snow as she had been trying to stand up, and she toppled right back over.

She looked up with a wild smile, this was probably the most fun she'd had in her time at Hogwarts. Ever. "I'm so cold!" She said with a laugh, pushing herself to her feet and running out of the way of the incoming volley. "Watch yourselves snakes! You aren't going to be safe for long," she warned as she dived behind a row of snow-covered benches, hoping to sneak around behind the Posada/Lotusorder fort and give them the surprise of their lives. If she didn't get caught[1]... everything would work out perfectly.

1.	If you snakes would like to catch her, go for it.  She'll get you back sooner or later! Hahaha