Snow-covered dream

[Michelle]

Michelle was in a world of her own. Snow fell from the sky above her and she gazed at it wondringly. She had never seen real, live, snow before, and though it was seeping into her shoes and making her feet wet and numb, she didnt care. She kept strolling along the bank on the lake, fascinated at every snow-covered tree and the grest expanse of ice that used to be the magic horizons Lake.

I'm never going back home thought Michelle dreamily, not even considering taking the thought back once it had been thought. She knew she had turned her back on a lot to be here, but she didn't really care anymore. She had got what she wanted for the first time in her life, and she wasn't about to lose it because of some guilt she'd been traped beneath all her life.

It was time to concentrate on her own happiness now.

[Adia]

Adia was busy, oh yes, very busy indeed. For the past several minutes she had been throwing fireballs at the Lake, burning neat little holes into it. She was just beginning to consider going for a more artistic look and drawing a picture in the ice, when she heard the crunch of footsteps that announced someone else's presence on a cold January morning.

She turned to see the red-headed Hufflepuff girl that had been talking to Ace before. Adia scowled, annoyed just at the memory.

Throwing one last red-hot flame at the ice, Adia got up and brushed the snow from the black cloak that hung heavily on her thin frame. She approached the girl, half smirking, wondering how much havoc she could wreak right beneath the window of the Head's Tower before they even noticed. There was a lot you could get away with in this school.

"Well, look what we have here. A Hufflepuff taking a walk in the snow. How after-school-special. Mind if I heat things up?" Adia smiled, and threw a fireball that landed inches from where Michelle was standing. "Want to play a game? It's called Die, Hufflepuff, Die. Ever heard of it?"

Adia took another step towards Michelle.

[Forgoil Halifirien]

"You know Miss; when you play with fire you always are at risk of getting burned", came a silent voice from out of the shadows. It wasn't hard to notice such brilliant blasts of flame impacting with the surface of the water then turning their fury on a girl. For Forgoil had been wandering up the stairs of one of the numerous towers that the Castle had and spotted the flames from afar. And this time Forgoil Halifirien had come prepared. As he materialized from out of the shadows, it was evident as to what was strapped to his back.

It was his old fencing rapier, not the ones used for sport, but the ones that spilled blood back in the 16th century. It's metallic hilt shined dimly as he made his way closer to the two girls. It was clear that one was not out for trouble, yet it was crystal clear as to who was itching for trouble. The grey-haired boy was clothed in his black school robes, but beneath them was a uniform that was a token of his house (ooc: see Cedric Diggory's uniform). The Scot didn't have the characteristic spring in his step, but the cold determination in his eyes was proof enough that Forgoil Halifirien has set on his goal.

To make sure that this girl was not harmed; to prevent the advancing girl from trying to harm this girl.

"Miss; kindly stop what you are doing. You could be seen from the Castle; I am certain that I am not the only one that noticed what you're up to. If you desire a challenge; then you shall find me a ready subject, though you will not take any satisfaction in harming this girl.", said Forgoil as he placed himself between the fellow Hufflepuff and the advancing girl.

"Last chance Miss; cease and desist. Or things will heat up for the both of us. Because already on the way is one of the prefects, and this new one has a low tolerance for people like you.", bluffed Forgoil. He hoped that this ace would keep the girl from attacking, but he would not cower if she started the melee.

[Michelle]

Michelle took a step back from the black haired girl, her heart thumping. What was going on? But sudenly, out of nowhere, a boy with a rapier at his waist appeared, trying to stop Adia from attacking her. Michelle was too speechless to thank the boy, instead turned her hazel eyes on Adia's, wondering what she could have done to anger the girl.

"I haven't done anything wrong!" she cried, feeling she needed to justify herself. "What is your problem?" she cried angrily, her hands curling into fists at her sides, trying not to get angry because then she might be in as much trouble as it looked like Adia was in.

[Adia]

Adia sneered at the approaching Hufflepuff boy and all his 'bravery'. To her jaded eyes, she saw no more than a little boy playing at being a knight in shining armour, trying to save a damsel in distress from the evil witch.

Her mouth curled back in a spiteful laugh. "And what is this new Prefect going to do, exactly? Take housepoints from me? Give me detention? Send me to see the Headmistress?" She hissed the last word with venom. "Do you really think that bothers me in the slightest?"

She turned back to Michelle, who, just like the Hufflepuff she was, was yelling at Adia from behind the safety of the boy's shoulder. "That's right, you have done nothing wrong!" Adia laughed, and threw another fireball close to Michelle's head, but it flew past her at top speed and landed in a snowdrift. "But my problem is you!"

Adia grinned, and placed a hand on her hip. Well, this was certainly cheering her day up.

[Lottie]

Lottie hadn't got a whole lot to do that day, it seemed things had slowed down a little since Christmas, and even the common room which was usually lively had quietened down a lot.

For Lottie, this wouldn't do.

Wrapping up once more in her Hufflepuff scarf and pulling on a jumper over her bright tee, the brunette girl headed down towards the lake. There was usually someone down there in this sort of weather itching for a snowball fight, and nine times out of ten, Lottie was only too happy to oblige.

This time must have been the tenth time out of ten, because the snowballs she could see flying over the horizon weren't snow at all, but fire. "Fireballs?!" the brunette girl asked herself, wondering about finding a Prefect to let them know someone wasn't playing by the rules. Though, as happened ten times out of ten, Lottie's curiosity got the better of her and she inched forwards a little in time to see a fireball whoosh past Michelle's shoulder. It had been a while since she had met the girl in the Entrance Hall, and they hadn't seemed to speak much since then.

Though looking back at the girl who was throwing the fireballs, Lottie's eyebrows raised. The girl was only too familiar to her, but not the first one who would have come to mind when she saw the fireballs at first. Well. It was definitely time to teach her the rules of snowball fighting.

"Hey," Lottie grinned as she walked up to the trio, her hands clasped behind her back moulding a very nicely rounded snowball. "You know, it's not nice to be not nice to people... I thought you knew this, but then you never really did strike me as being a people person," the girl's tone of voice was light, nearing amused as she spoke, a shrug of her shoulders punctuatin the final sentence.

Holding the snowball in gloved hands, the Hufflepuff continued. "You see, the rules are like this. One, you get the person to agree to play, two, you don't use fire, because fire is bad, three, you get snowballs, and then it carries out something a little like this!" With the final word, Lottie shot the snowball in Adia's direction, aiming for her legs. It was less painful to be hit there, but would hopefully provide a small distraction for a while.