The Kind Hufflepuff

Chapter 47: Snowball Fight

A/N: Merry Christmas Eve (For those who celebrate).. It's not over quite yet.

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The Kind Hufflepuff - Year Two

Chapter Forty- Seven: Snowball Fight

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The weather was cold like it usually was at Hogwarts around this time of the year, snowflakes always seemed to be falling as Cali had found herself spending more time outside than ever before, relishing in the cold weather during her sleepless nights in the Forbidden Forest. But she wasn't just outside during the dead of night, finding herself outside often to avoid the worried glances from her friends and the falsified smiles to the Slytherin that seemed to be causing these feelings within her.

She hated that she was upset with Regulus, upset that he had feelings for one of her best friends and hated how much that bothered her. She hated that he was acting as though nothing had changed despite the fact that Cali felt as though everything had. So instead of facing her problems, of lying to her Hufflepuff friends about how she was doing and pretending like nothing had changed with Regulus Black, she walked along the perimeter of Hogwarts during much of the day, and headed back outside after curfew most nights.

That's where she was currently, along the edge of the Hogwarts grounds after barely nimbling on raspberries and her lunch before coming up with a lame excuse to leave, avoiding the gaze from the Slytherin table that followed her steps. She was kicking around the snow as she walked closely, wiping at her nose aimlessly as it ran. 

She kept walking until she felt something hit her back, a moment of cold taking over her back as she hissed in reaction. She spun around to see Regulus Black bending down once more to get another handful of snow before hurling it at her once more. "What the bloody hell are you doing?" Cali demanded, stomping towards him in annoyance.

"Oh, the mysterious Calista Higgs, I almost didn't recognize you," Regulus remarked sarcastically.

"What are you going on about?" Cali demanded. 

"You've been avoiding me," Regulus shrugged, walking close enough to bump her shoulder. "Would you care to explain why?" he asked her.

"I haven't been avoiding you," Cali denied, rubbing her hands together.

"Really?" Regulus challenged, grabbing her hands to help her warm up.

"Really," Cali confirmed nervously.

"Why are you walking around outside in the freezing cold then?" Regulus challenged.

"Well, if you're so convinced I'm avoiding you then what is your theory as to why?"

"It started on Valentines Day," Regulus hummed. "Did you hear about that date with Dahlia?"

"The girl that's been bullying Daisy?" Cali asked.

"Yeah," Regulus gulped.

"Yeah, I heard about it," Cali sighed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

At this point they walking side by side, their shoulders almost touching as they walked. "I meant to tell you," Regulus admitted. "But I realized you were avoiding me and didn't know how."

"Why?" Cali questioned, clearly confused.

"Why didn't I want to tell you about Dahlia and I's date?" Regulus asked, earning the boy a nod in response before he sighed in response. "I wasn't sure how you would react truthfully."

"You thought I would react badly?" Cali challenged, rolling her eyes. "I just don't understand why you agreed to go on that date. I overheard your conversation with her, Reg. She knows you like someone else," Cali pointed out softly, her eyes averting from him.

"You overheard?" Regulus asked, clearly surprised as color raised to his cheeks.

"Yes," Cali confirmed.

"Look, if the reason why you're avoiding me is because I like -" he began, trying to explain as he grabbed onto her hands, keeping them warm and bringer her closer to his proximity. 

Her eyes met his for a moment, confusion building in her eyes before she interrupted him, "You like Daisy."

His eyebrows furrowed in response, "Daisy?" He questioned. "The first year you hang out with?"

"Yes, that Daisy. I overheard the conversation," Cali pointed out and Regulus refrained from arguing with her, chuckling for a moment as he brought the girl into a hug.

"I don't like Daisy," Regulus assured the girl before Cali pulled him deeper into the hug before finally letting go, quickly bending down to grab a fistful of snow and threw it at him.

"Oh, so that's how this is gonna be?" Regulus challenged, and Cali giggled in response before grabbed another snowball and throwing it again.

Regulus bent down this time before throwing the ball at her as he exclaimed, "WAR!"

The Gryffindor boys appeared out of nowhere, laughing loudly as they said, "Did we just hear a war be declared?" They asked the two as they nodded enthusiastically before Regulus threw a snowball at Sirius while Peter threw a snowball at Cali.

The group did not have much coordination and the teams were a little unclear at times, with them working together at times before turning on each other but the snowball fight lasted for hours before they all slowly claimed a truce, deciding to warm up in the castle as the cold got to them until only Regulus and Cali were left.

"I haven't spent that much time with my brother in quite some time," Regulus mumbled as Cali grabbed his hand, smiling brightly.

"Wasn't it nice?" Cali asked.

"It was weird," Regulus shrugged. "Can we go get hot chocolate?"

"Absolutely."

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A/N: This was so short and so is the next chapter but combining them seemed weird.

I must admit that I have already storyboarded the rest of this part and even part three. I've really enjoyed writing this story, and surprisingly enough, I've written part two faster than I wrote part one. Though, it wouldn't surprise me if that was largely due to the increase of grammatical mistakes. 

When I wrote the first part, I was in the middle of University working towards a Creative Writing degree. Back then, I had this dream of working as a writer and making my career out of that. I felt as though everything I wrote had to be perfection on the off chance that I made a name for myself. But now... Thing are different for me.

I don't want a career in Creative Writing anymore, I've realized that for how passionate I am about such a thing- I don't want to sully it by forcing it to be my biggest source of income and truthfully, I was never that decent of a writer for that to even happen in the first place. I am going down a different career path nowadays, but it feels so much more fitting.

And gave me a freedom with my writing that I desperately needed.