Harry Potter AUS

Day 2; Young James Potter; Snow Angels

My breath frosted in the air as I hurried across the snow covered, deserted courtyard. It was almost Christmas and most of the school had gone home for holiday. Hogwarts was almost eerily quiet - usually, there would be some sort of crazy snowball fight going on outside.

I had almost made it back inside - back to the warmth - when whump! A huge snowball smacked me in the center of the back, and I tripped and fell into a drift on the edge of the walkway.

The cold snow stung my hands as I struggled to my feet, fuming. I turned around and glared at the boy walking towards me.

James Potter. I should have guessed.

Before I could turn around and march off, he called, "y/n! Wait! I'm sorry!"

He jogged to catch up with me, brushing his messy brown hair back from his face. "I'm sorry. I wouldn't have thrown the snowball if I knew it was you."

"Whatever," I mumbled, turning away from him.

James was such an idiot. He was always pulling stupid pranks, and he was only sorry after it was too late.

He tugged on my hand. "y/n," he whined, "Please forgive me!"

"Why should I?" I scowled.

"Man, someone doesn't have any Christmas spirit."

I wrenched my hand out of his grip and stormed in the opposite direction before he could say anything else. Unfortunately, the opposite direction was back into the center of the courtyard, where snow was beginning to fall. The flakes swirled around me, growing bigger by the second, and before too long they were obstructing my view of the castle around me.

James caught up to me and turned me around to face him. "y/n," he said, and then trailed off suddenly, as if I had startled him

"What?" I snapped.

"You - you look so beautiful," he stammered.

For a moment, I froze. Me, beautiful?

Our eyes met, and I didn't see any trace of insincerity in his. He brushed his hair out of his face and stepped closer. James was standing so near to me that I could see the snowflakes on his eyelashes and the smattering of freckles across his cheeks. He smiled at me and my heart stopped.

Only after I shivered and interrupted the moment did he take my hands in his and say, "Let's go inside. It's cold out here. We can get some hot cocoa, and then you can listen to the rest of my apology."

I rolled my eyes but smiled and let him keep holding my hands. James led me to the closest door to the school and turned around to face me.

"You have snow in your hair," he said with a laugh.

I started to say "so do you" when he interrupted me. "It makes you look extra pretty."

He squeezed my hand and we headed off to the Great Hall, presumably to get the hot cocoa he had promised me.