The First Snow

Mirabelle made the long, slippery trip up the numerous stairs to the Owlery. Why did they have to make it so high up? Surely the owls would have been just as happy a few stories lower. Anyhow, it was a journey she had to make.

"Blast!" she shouted as she slipped on ice and grabbed the rail.

What a nasty fall that would have been, she thought, grimacing. After what felt like an eternity, she stepped through the entryway and caught her breath. She couldn't help but think back to the Post Office at Hogsmeade; Mira had always thought there were so many owls here, but she had been astonished at the amount in the glorious post building.

"Storm!" she called, smiling at the gray and black barn owl.

Storm flew down to her arm and nipped playfully at her shoulder. Grinning, Mira pulled out the letter and walked over to the small stone "table". The owl knew the drill; he flew to the table and held up a leg. As soon as she tied the scroll to it, he was off. She watched him peacefully as he flew into the distance; the sound of footsteps and a shout made her jump.

Marigold was walking up the stairs when she almost fell. She shouted out and skipped the last remaining steps to land on level ground. She crinkled her nose and held her leg.

"Oh, fie!The stitches came open.....again. Knew I shouldn't have tried to climb these stairs."Marigold said, cursing her stupidity. She didn't notice the girl until after she had rolled up her dress.

"Oh! I'm sorry for my immodesty! I didn't realize you were here."she said, sitting against the wall and pulling out her wand. The nurse had been kind enough to teach Marigold a spell in case she couldn't make it to the hospital wing. Marigold pulled down her stockings a bit, looking at the gash. Good. Only two popped out.

"Episkey."she said, pointing her wand it. The new stitches laced through her skin, replacing the old ones. Marigold grimaced. It was quite painful. But, after a minute, she smiled. The wound was healed.

"Sorry. I'm Marigold by the way."Marigold said, pulling up her stocking and lowering her dress. She stood up and held out her hand to the girl.

(OOC: "Fie!" is used a general exclamation of disgust.)

Mira went through a series of emotions in about 30 seconds: slightly afraid when she heard the shout, a smidge of shock at seeing so much of the girl’s leg, a dash of worry when she saw the open wound, relief when the wound healed, then finally she was back to the normal extra dose of cheer she always had.

“Don’t be silly, when you’ve got to lift your skirts you’ve got to lift your skirts,” she laughed brightly. “I’m Mirabelle.”

The Hufflepuff went and sat on the ledge of one of the open archways. Funny that she hated flying so much because of the height, yet she could sit here where she was liable to fall hundreds of feet to her death at any minute.

“Oh, I know you!” she gasped, remembering why the girl was so familiar. “You and a few other students went into the forest at Hogsmeade!”

Mira immediately knew she should have held her tongue. Would Marigold be upset with her for so blatantly calling her out? As a member of the most misunderstood house, Mira had first-hand experience with people pointing and talking at her like she was something on display. Gossip was never appreciated.

“I mean, it’s all around the school…”

The odd thing was, though everyone knew this group had some sort of mishap in the Forbidden Forest, no one actually knew what had happened.

Chatting? Was that what Jace heard as she climbed icy stairs in the bone chilling cold. She had wanted to write to her father, but she was quite scared of people.

Something that scared her even more: people her father wouldn't approve of. What if there were mudbloods up there? Would my father be angry with me? Sighing, she let her head drop and her hair fall over her face. No matter what she did or how harsh she may be at times, she could never be cruel enough to discriminate a friend based on their blood. What control did someone have in that matter? You couldn't exactly choose who's bloodline you were born into. Jace had just happened to find herself in a wealthy and very pure line. She never asked for that, nor did any other.

She'd never be perfect and her father may just have to deal with it someday, she thought as she remembered a half blood girl she had talked to a week previously.

Why was she up here again? Oh yes, that's right. She was writing to her father. Foolishly, though, she had just brought parchment and a quill to write the message in the Owlery. Good idea, Jace, she scolded herself.

Nonetheless, she made her way up the icy steps, careful not to fall as many before her did and after her would.

Mira got up from her perch and began pacing. It was a rare thing for her to feel uncomfortable, but she did now. After all, she really didn’t know this Marigold..what if the girl had a temper? What if she went into some…some sort of…uncontrollable rage spiral?

“Truthfully, all that’s really been said is you went into the forest,” she began, feeling as though she was on trial before the king. “And then you came back out all beaten up.”

She reached down and picked up an old piece of parchment pinned down by a small icicle.

“No one actually knows what went on inside the forest,” she said, studying the paper.

Mira’s curiosity got the better of her and her mind wandered from the subject at hand to the subject in her hand. She unfolded the crumpled up paper slowly. What if it was like a message in a bottle? An old forgotten love letter? The missing piece to a puzzle in history? Or….a list of books to get in Hogsmeade. Well, that was disappointing, she thought grumpily. The sound of footsteps brought her back to reality.

Carefully, and to avoid being noticed for as long as possible, Jace lightly stepped into the Owlrey. She noticed, immediately, that there was another girl pacing. She'd seen her before but blasted be if she could remember the girl's name. Another girl seemed to be in front of her, staying rather quite.

Quietly, she moved to the other side of the Owlrey, to write to her father. Pulling her quill from her robes, she noticed that her piece of parchment was no longer there.

"Huh," she said before realizing it was aloud. Please don't turn around, she prayed, freezing from the sudden whimper that slipped from her lips.

Jace sucked her breath in, hard, but two girls turned to face her. They weren't Slytherins, that much was obvious, and they didn't look like Gryffinors either.

Mira listened intently as Marigold told the tale. It sounded awfully exciting. A sphinx! And what was a siren? What were they guarding?

"Wow...you defeated a sphinx?" she asked in wonder. "How did you manage that?"

She was just about to badger the Ravenclaw with more questions when a new girl arrived. The Slytherin seemed intent on turning invisible and didn't even acknowledge them. Mira knew the type; she used to be that way herself. Too shy to even look up at others.

"I'm Mira," she smiled pleasantly. "You're Jace, right? I sit behind you in Charms."

Jace looked up and smiled a crooked smile. "Yeah, I'm Jace, and I know who you are. Both of you."

The Sphinx tale she'd heard being told in the Slytherin common room. Two fifth years had been talking about it, both arguing over who could defeat it faster, or something like that.

"You know, they say there's other creatures in the Forbidden Forest, even worse than Sphinxes. Trolls and stuff, you know?" Jace said, pulling some confidence and deciding it was about time she made so friends at this school-- she'd be spending the next seven years of her life here.

"One of the sixth years was telling me about a troll he saw in the forest. He was too eager to tell me all the details about it. I think he was making it up, we're known for that, right?" Jace asked, thinking about the other things Slytherins were known for.

She giggled thinking about another story a fourth year girl had told her, about how she'd took a Gryffindor boy to the Black Lake and ended up leaving him there, without his robes. The stories she'd heard from other Slytherins ranged from tears-welling-up-in-your-eyes-hilarious to just plain cruel.

A gust of air brushed through the owelry, sending chills down Jace's spine, and probably down the other girls' skin, too.

Mira listened intently to the two girls spouting out their facts and opinions; she had nothing to say on the matter. She was still stuck on the adventure Marigold and her friends had in the forest. It was almost painful keeping her mouth shut for so long when she had so many questions.

“Pardon my interruption, but…” she started, taking a deep breath. “How did you defeat a sphinx? Did you answer the riddle correctly? Did you kill it yourself? What happened with the siren? What did Renoir do? Were you injured?”

She rolled her eyes at that last part. Mira, you dolt, she thought, almost hitting herself in the head. Of course the girl was injured. How she had managed to make it up so many steps with that leg was beyond Mira, however.

"No no, you weren't being rude. It's fine, really. I just like to consider myself clever enough so I'd feel better with my chances with a Sphinx, but I'm kind of small and defense spells aren't my strong hold. I'm better on the offense. So, a troll would most likely crush me in seconds, but a Sphinx would give me enough time to think of a plan, you know?" Jace said to the Ravenclaw girl.

For some reason though, the Ravenclaw girl seemed almost intimidated. Is she scared of me? Jace thought. Is is because I'm a Slytherin? Not that Jace minded being a Slytherin, because she knew she was fit to be there even if she tried to hide it around most people, nor did she mind people being scared of her, she preferred it really. Jace just didn't understand why someone would be scared of her without her giving them a reason to.

Did I do something to her? Jace wondered, trying to recall which Ravenclaws she may or may not have pulled a prank on with Figaro, an older Slytherin boy that she'd known for a few years before she came to Hogwarts. But to all of her knowledge, she'd been nothing but polite to the girl. It's probably because I'm a Slytherin, Jace thought. Or maybe Figaro and Joshua did something to her that I don't know about. They were known for that sort of thing.

The Hufflepuff girl, Mira, seemed almost disinterested in their conversation and more curious about what exactly had happened with the sphinx. But, Jace didn't know either girl very well, so she didn't really think it was her business to ask about it, even if she was just as curious.

“I never knew sirens were so dangerous,” Mira said thoughtfully.

Whenever Mira thought of sirens, she thought of mermaids. Mermaids weren’t dangerous, depending on who you asked. There were the ones here, ugly little things that hissed. Then there were the ones in the Mediterranean; beautiful creatures that probably also hissed, but at least they looked better doing it.

“I know I probably wouldn’t have much of a chance with either of them,” the Hufflepuff chimed in, sensing a growing tension between the girls. “Luckily it’s not the kind of thing that happens everyday, though, right?”

Mira laughed nervously, finding herself unable to think of anything to say, which was a rare occurrence. It only happened in awkward situations. Jace and Marigold clearly had clashing views, though they were trying to be polite about it. Before she could add anything else, she felt something.

“It’s starting to snow!” she said happily, looking out a window. “The first snow of the season is always the most beautiful. There will certainly be a few snowball fights this afternoon.”

The snow was falling faster now, quickly gathering in little piles all around them. Marigold had done a top notch job of starting a snowball fight between the boys down in the courtyard. Mira laughed a bit too loud when Finnius Ruddock slammed a big chunk of snow at Peyton’s face. The lads heard her and looked up.

“Oy, join in the fun, girls!” Finnius shouted.

They took out their wands and started charming the snowballs, one by one.

“Uh oh,” Mira muttered, backing away. “We’d better start makin’ our own!”

She had just managed to pat together five decent-sized snowballs when one came flying through the open archway, breaking against her shoulder. Mira peered down to the yard and saw Seamus flick his wand, sending another one flying. With a grin, she tossed one of hers over and it plopped straight onto Peyton’s head.

If there was ever a more uncomfortable situation, Jace thought to herself. She'd never really been in a snow ball fight, and while throwing chunks of frozen water at people seemed splendid, she wasn't quite sure who to throw them at.

It was obvious that she didn't really know anyone there, and they didn't really know her. They didn't get her and they hadn't tried to.

As beautiful as the snow was, Jace felt out of place. Quickly, she turned around to look for the parchment she'd brought with her for her letter, thinking she might get done what she came to do, and hoping she didn't get hit with any of the icy snow.

"Dear Father..." She started, trying to think of what to write, but the noises from the other students just kept any words from her mind. It was becoming clearer and clearer that she was going to join the fight that the rest of the students seemed to be enjoying.

Jace gathered the snow from the other side of the Owlery and started packing it into spheres that looked similar to the ones the girls had made. Once she had a pile that was about as tall as her knees, she decided to speak up.

"Hey, do you mind if I join the fight?"

It was extremely cold and Lenah would much rather be in the common room right now but she promised mother she would write and she always keep her promises.

She carefully walked up the icy steps to the owlery with her letter in hand, she had written it the day before but didn't have enough time to send it until now. She could hear voice above and wondered who they were so she quickened her pace while be cautions.

It would be extremely embarrassing if she were to fall and hurt herself. Sighing she finally reached the top and looked up to see two girls throwing snowballs down below and one asking to join.

Quickly looking over the side of the tower she saw the boys down below. As fun as it looked she knew he parents wouldn't approve of such behavior and strangely that made her want to join in more.

Safely tucking her letter away she walked up next to the girl who asked to join and smiled shyly not everyone was friendly.

"Could i possibly join too?"

she asked nervously biting her lip she was aware that it was a nasty habit or so her mother had told her countless time.

Mira dodged several more snowballs, cursing herself for not knowing the charm the boys were using. It made no matter, though; she had a certain advantage being up so high - it somehow made the snow hit even harder. She was just about to ask Jace and Marigold to join when she turned and saw the Slytherin's immense pile of snowballs.

"Of course, both of you join!" she exclaimed with a grin when another Ravenclaw came upstairs. "Station yourselves at different openings!"

Another pile of snow came flying at Mira's face, and this time she couldn't dodge it in time. She dropped to her knees, not sure whether to laugh at how ridiculous she must look or cry at the stinging in her eyes.

"Those lads are going to regret this," she declared with a grin, wiping the water off her face.


((OOC: here's a pic of the Owlery))

Happy to join a fight to release the stress she'd been building up from doing things her father wouldn't approve of, Jace quickly reached from her pile and "stationed" herself at an undefended opening in the owlery.

The owls seemed to have slowly diminished while the snow flew between the girls and the boys. They wanted to get through this winter without being taken down by balls of frozen water, Jace thought.

"Oomf," Jace exclaimed as a rather small ball of snow hit her precisely on her left cheekbone. "Good Aim." She muttered, reaching for another snow ball.

Mira crouched down and gathered more snow. She wished there was some sort of spell that made snowballs, it would certainly save a lot of time. As she patted the snow together, she peered over to the yard. The group below had grown; now it was Seamus, Finnius, Peyton, Gavin, two Hufflepuffs, and three Gryffindors. And up here? Four small first year girls.

"Alright, ladies, let's get serious about this," she said, standing tall and trying out her best war commander voice. "We have the advantage! They may be able to charm their weapons to fly up; but from here, ours fly faster than a Peruvian Vipertooth!"

She cleared her throat and scratched her head. They probably didn't even know what a Vipertooth was. Mira was fascinated with dragons, however; a fascination she shared with her father. One of the few wizarding books they owned, actually, was a large volume about dragons.

"Anyhow, um..." she tapped her foot, thinking of one last encouraging thing to say. "Get 'em!"

Mira picked up all the snowballs she could carry and went back to her spot. As she expected, one flew up from the ground and smacked her on the forehead. With a huff, she slammed a few toward Seamus and Gavin, her aim impeccable.