His cheeks and nose were flushed both from the wet chill and from the physical exertion that went into building a glorious snow hut. Alistair and Ettie had spent the afternoon rolling snow-boulders around and using charms to make their fort sturdy.  Most of the work they had done was with physical labor-- it brought him back to his pre-Hogwarts days, before he had a wand. There was no other choice but to roll the snowball around like some sort of muggle. There was a certain amount of satisfaction that came with working with your hands. Yes, perfecting a complicated spell came with it's own excitement. But it wasn't the same.

And now, now their fort was complete. It was small, but sturdy.  He looked over his shoulder at Ettie, a slow smile spreading across his features.  "It's no castle, but." He rolled his shoulders, a casual shrug. "I don't think it'll collapse." It probably wouldn't collapse. Alistair trusted Ettie's wandwork more than he trusted his own in this situation. Not that he would actually admit it.

With his backpack on, he dropped to his knees and crawled inside-- thankful for the water-resistance charms on his clothes. It helped keep the chill out, though his nose was beginning to burn with the cold.

Once inside, he pulled out a fuzzy blanket with Nessie on it and a thermos.

"Ettie, get in here!" He said, "I'm not above bribery!"

Ettie wasn't actually sure how she'd gotten roped into this. Well, actually, that wasn't true. She did know. She knew it was because Alistair asked and generally when he asked she said yes. Of course that had been when she thought she'd be able to use a charm to roll around the hulking masses of snow. It had drastically dropped in appeal after he'd decided that would be cheating and they needed to be oh-so muggle about it all. So of course she groused and grumbled but actually it'd been a pretty enjoyable morning all things considered.

She was standing back admiring their work as he crawled inside. It really was quite a feat given their relative size. It wasn't like she were lean and strong like Gracie Slant or even his sister Isla (and she was a third year!!). Ettie knew she was small and a little bit round. She also knew it looked like she might blow away on a particularly blustery afternoon more often than not. It felt kind of nice to have kept up with him, even if her muscles were burning and her pale skin stung from the cold.

Bending down to peer into the opening, she grinned at the Slytherin and tapped her chin thoughtfully "Hmm. I might need to hear what kind of bribes you're offering," of course even as she said it she was dropping down to crawl after him, because really if you were going to build a snow fort you should live in it, at least a little. Finally all in she pushed her knitted cap back off her forehead and grinned at him, "Hi."

He tugged his knit cap more firmly over his ears, "C'mooon, Ettie!" Alistair urged her before fiddling with the thermos. Once he got it open, the sweet smell of hot chocolate reached his nostrils. The heat provided such a stark contrast to the cold that it literally felt like it was burning his face. "Got it from the counselor's office." She liked to feed people, and she had been more than willing to fill his thermos up for him.

She finally wiggled her way into their little snowy clubhouse.

"Hi." He replied, raising his brows as he took a sip. Teasing, taunting her. "Deliiiicious." It nearly burned his tongue, but he wasn't about to admit it. Did Ms. Yukawa drink her stuff boiling?! Alistair's next sip was much more cautious. Dark chocolate, thick and decadent. It was almost too rich for his tastes.

"It's almost as good as my pain perdu." All of his friends had tasted his french toast at least once. It was a rite of passage at this point.