Snow flakes. They're so small and yet, so unique, each with a pattern all their own. It's is said that no two are alike but honestly, who has time to find out? People with a lot of time on there hands and enough patience to collect that information that's who.
For as long as anyone can remember, gentle snow falls have always brought a good memory or two. Whether it was when you were really little or further along in you're years, snow has always given a happy day. Maybe this is too general, maybe its completely wrong, but from experience Ginny Weasley had never known anyone to say that they had a bad day when it was snowing like it had been on a chilly, morning in December.
From her dorm window, she watched the delicate flakes dance gracefully in the sparse wind. She loved watching the snow; how it moved, the patterns that they form, the detail of the small crystals themselves. It was like a dance almost, how the snow flakes fell from the sky, and always seemed to catch her attention, drawing her in to their hypnotic waltz.
A small grin spread on her lips as Ginny carefully opened the window. Sticking her hand out, she caught a few of the whirling snow flowers in her palm before withdrawing her hand back into the warmth of the room. She watched as they slowly melted from the heat of the cracking hearth until they collected in a small pool in the centre of her hand.
"Just like all good things…" she mused, turning her wrist so the that the melted snow trailed down the creases in her hand till they dropped onto the hard wood floor beneath her. "But why waste the them?"
With a grin on her lips, she gingerly pushed herself up off of the floor and skipped over to the trunk at the end of her four poster. The lid gave a satisfying creak as she lifted it, giving the growing excitement in her chest more fuel. She pulled out a worn, hand-me-down winter cloak and smiled as well-loved memories passed through her mind before gently draping it over her shoulders and fixing the clasp beneath her chin.
Next to come from the dull, red luggage case was an equally worn looking pair of gloves and a scarf. Both were a deep crimson, the colour faded only slightly from use. The wool used for both was soft in Ginny's hands. Her mother had taken great care when she had made these for her favourite daughter, only daughter to be more precise.
Carefully, Ginny wrapped the scarf around her neck and then slipped her hands into the neck of each glove. After fastening her feet inside of her old shoes (once worn by Percy who had happened to have very small feet in his first year) , she made her way out of the dormitory and walked down the winding stairs into the common room.
A soft hum vibrated in her mouth, making her tongue tingle until she couldn't hold it in anymore. The sound pushed past her lips, making them form the words that had belonged to a lullaby her father had once sung to her. Yes today was definitely a day of remembrance, her thoughts going so far as the song her father sang to his temperamental daughter to urge her into sleep.
The song was caught however as Ginny's eyes landed on a shadowed couple before the fire. Harry and Hermione sat propped up against the couch, Hermione sleeping peacefully against Harry's chest.
A year before, Ginny's stomach would have clenched, twisting in knots from jealousy till she had to leave the room for fear of saying something irrational. Finally after six years, she had gotten over her obsession for Harry. It had taken a few talks with Ron and then a horrible go at a relationship with the boy-wonder before the pair had concurred about the lack of relationship possibility between them. Harry had later filled in the position of an eighth brother which was much appreciated by Mrs. Weasley. Nothing like another son, even if he wasn't her own officially.
As quietly as possible Ginny began to creep over to the portrait hole, trying not to disturb the cuddling pair. An old floor board would have none of this however and let out a rather noisy protest to her sneaky escape. Ginny nearly jumped a mile out of her skin, her expectations of a clean get-away dashed in one swoop.
"And where are you off to so early I the morning, Ms. Weasley?" Harry ask softly, amusement in his tone. Ginny laughed quietly and turned, throwing her hands up in defeat.
"You caught me," she whispered back, feeling a grin spread across her lips. Harry chuckled.
"You're not very stealthy when it comes to sneaking out Gin."
"Apparently," Ginny replied before rolling her eyes and placing her hands on her slender hips. Her tone was the kind that she'd often used with Ron or the twins, an amused but with a hint of stop-being-so-protective.
"So where are you headed?" Harry asked again, catching the tone and performing his brotherly duties like Ron would like.
"Do you honestly expect me to stay inside when its snowing like this?" she asked sarcastically, pointing towards the window to prove her sanity. Harry gaze wandered over to the window and a smile was instantly on his lips.
"I'll never understand what you see in this weather," he said, shaking his head before tuning back to his 'little sister'. "But you enjoy yourself. Be careful though. Ron will have a fit if you so much as get a bruise."
"I will," Ginny groaned and took her cue. She backed towards the portrait hole, watching as Harry returned to his former position and let out a soft sigh. Once clear of any other barriers, she made her way out the portrait hole and walked down the practically deserted corridors. Almost everyone had gone home for the holidays. Only a small hand full had stayed behind to spend Christmas at Hogwarts. Among the Gryffindors, there were only a few; Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Ron and a few other seventh years along with students from other years but they were limited in number. It was almost the same in the other houses as well, a small group of students staying behind for reasons both logical and not but it hardly mattered.
It didn't take long for Ginny to reach the grand entrance doors that lead out to the snow covered grounds. Pushing open the doors, she skipped down the steps and onto the already worn path that winded narrowly down towards the now closed gate to the Muggle world.
The grounds were covered with a thick layer of the soft powder, like a blanket protecting the hibernating earth below. This was the sight Ginny loved to see, winter being her preferred time of the year. This was a trait, or so she'd been told, had been one that belonged to her mother and her grandmother before her. Something about the love of the first winter snow fall had bewitched the women of the Prewett line and had apparently passed on to Ginny. Every year before Ginny went to Hogwarts, she and Molly would run outside at the first sign of winter and wait till it snowed. The would stand near the garden fence for hours, or at least until the sun set, and wait for the first flecks of snow to fall from the sky.
Standing before the snow covered ground now was almost unbearable. Ginny ran out onto the grounds, kicking the snow in the air and watching it fall before doing it again. She was near the lake when she kicked so hard at a clump of snow, she was sent sprawling backwards. Her eyes sparkled as she lay there in the snow, laughing hard at her own clumsiness. Light flakes of snow landed softly on her cheeks and eyelashes and she stuck out her tongue trying to catch as many as she could. She then quickly drew her tongue back in and closed her eyes, savouring the taste of the sweet snow. Snow, to Ginny anyway, had a distinct taste that screamed winter and nothing else tasted anything like it.
"Isn't rather cold, lying there in the snow?"
A voice brought Ginny out of her musings, causing the space between her eyebrows to pucker in a frown. The voice cold only belong to one person. Oh no. Not now.
Ginny hesitantly opened her eyes, not really sure if she wanted to see the face of the Slytherin Prince. But even through the slits between her eyelids, something about Draco Malfoy made her skin ripple into rows upon rows of goose bumps. His face was ghostly pale minus the light dusting of red across his high cheekbones. His silver coloured eyes were cold, almost metallic in colour, but somehow showed a hint of life through the carefully prepared mask that attempted to prove otherwise. A shock of platinum blond hair fell before those eyes, loose from a usually gelled hold and swaying in the gentle wind. Beautiful was the first word that came to Ginny's mind. Sure she had noticed the finer aspects that made up Draco Malfoy before today but with the snow falling around him like it was now, all his features were accentuated, giving him an almost angelic look…
'Stop it Ginny!' she mentally scolded. 'He's a Malfoy! He can't look angelic! He's…'
She was stop mid mental rant by a cool wave of shock. The barbaric, monstrous, biggest prat alive, had his hand held out to her to help her out of the snow bank. Ginny stared at his palm in awe, her eyes wide with confusion.
"Do you want help up or not?" Draco finally asked impatiently, bringing Ginny back from reality. She blinked a few times, like someone waking from a daze or a day dream, and took his hand.
'Draco Malfoy is helping me up. Draco Malfoy is helping me up.' No matter how many times she restated this fact in her head, she couldn't quite grasp it. It wasn't like him at all. Or was it? Ginny hadn't really had or felt the need to have a sit down conversation with him so there may have been many things she hadn't known about the mysterious Malfoy heir.
Draco pulled her to her feet effortlessly, as if she weighed nothing at all. Ginny made a point to release his hand quickly, maybe to convince him she had no other thoughts on this or maybe to prove it herself, and dusted the snow off her cloak.
'When I look up, he'll be gone,' she told herself. 'Or walking away. No way would he want to hang around m…a Weasley.'
After brushing the last clump of snow from her robes, Ginny cautiously raised her gaze only to see that Draco was still standing before her. She raised an eyebrow in confusion.
'What's wrong with his head?' she wondered.
Now, Fred and George had been major influences on her when she was growing up. So much so that even they had been on the victim end of some of her own pranks though that was rare. The mind set they had created together however, had stuck with Ginny since she was exposed to it at the tender age of five. With an opportunity like this set before her, how could she possibly pass it up? He was probably going to hex her into next week but she'd burn that bridge when she came to it.
Kneeling down, she gathered some snow in her hands before straightening and rolling it in a tight ball. She raised her eyes to Draco once again. Clearly he had never played before or he would be gathering some snow of his own by now. But no, he just stood there watching her with a confused look.
"What are you doing?" he asked, arching an elegant eyebrow. Ginny smiled at him, as sweetly as possible, and then threw the snowball at him. With a splat, the snowball made contact with his regal nose. Draco brought a hand to his snow covered face and wiped off the cold crystals as fast as he could, revealing a stunned look.
"Never had a snow fight before Malfoy?" Ginny sneered before spinning on her heel and running towards the castle. Glancing over her shoulder, she caught sight of Draco grabbing some snow and following her retreat. Ginny squeaked with amusement and surprise and ran faster, her legs taking long strides to lengthen the distance that Draco was closing.
She scrambled behind a large snow bank and armed herself with another ball of snow. Heavy foot falls came towards her position before suddenly stopping. Carefully, Ginny crawled up the hill of the snow bank and slowly leaned over to spy on her pursuer. Below her, Draco was squatting low to the ground, not noticing her watching him from above. Ginny took her time, aiming as precisely as possible on her target, and threw her snowball, hitting the crown of Draco's head. He visibly cringed as snow slid down the neck of his robes when he looked up to see her over him.
With Draco momentarily frozen, Ginny made her escape. She slid down the snow bank and bolted behind another snow bank to wait. Apparently Draco had learned from his first mistake because this time she did not hear his approach. Grabbing a handful of snow, she crawled around the snow bank but Draco was waiting for her. He threw his already prepared snow bomb but Ginny ducked out of the way just in time, the ball literally brushing her cheek as it flew past.
Not wanting to take the risk of getting caught by another ball of snow, Ginny made a run for it. She leapt to her feet and bee-lined towards Hagrid's Hut. She didn't get far however, before she was grabbed from behind and brought down by Draco's weight. She rolled away, or tried to, but was pinned by the larger Slytherin, his Quidditch toned body holding her firmly in place.
"Well done, little Weasley, but now there's no escape," he said, a smirk forming where shock had been only a few moments ago. "Your mine."
"Yours, eh?" Ginny mocked, taking on the tone of a fearless woman warrior. "I belong to nothing and no one Draco Malfoy."
"At the moment, it doesn't look like you have a choice," Draco replied, the brash tyrant.
"We'll see about that." Ginny grabbed a handful of snow and smeared it into Draco's face. He barely held in a yelp and Ginny took her chance and pushed him off her. She scrambled to her feet and took off once more but Draco quickly caught up to her, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her close.
"You're a hard girl to hold onto you know that?" Draco hissed in her ear. "But now I have you and I don't plan on letting go."
"You seem very sure of yourself there Malfoy. What if I have different plans?" Ginny inquired boldly. She could feel Draco smirk against her crimson hair when she began to twist against him but her attempts where in vain. His only tightened around her, pulling her against him. Eventually, Ginny grudgingly gave in.
"All right Draco, what do you want," Ginny sighed, Draco making it apparent that he would hold true to his words.
"I thought I made that clear already, my dear Ginny," Draco quietly drawled. Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Could you be anymore vague?" she asked dryly.
"I could if you want me too." Ginny dropped her head into her chest. She was starting to get tired of this as well as insanely confused. A gasp was ripped from her lips as Draco whipped her around so they stood face to face. He smirked down at her, only to receive a glare from the fiery Gryffindor.
"Enough of this game, what do you want with me?" Ginny snapped.
"You started the game. I'm just finishing it," Draco replied coyly.
"Draco," Ginny warned. Still holding Ginny tightly with one arm, Draco reached up and brushed a stray piece of hair out of her face while his eyes softened. Steely grey eyes locked with chocolate brown.
"How much would your brother want to throttle me if I told you how beautiful you are?" Ginny's eyes nearly shot out of her head.
"Excuse me?" she barely whispered. Draco smiled a real smile down at her. It took her breath away.
To her surprise, he leaned down and gently pressed his lips against hers. As the hand that had moments before been brushing away a stray lock moved to her cheek, Ginny felt like her insides were beginning to melt. Shudders shot along her spine like electricity, making her skin ripple into goose bumps. Slowly, she slid her arms up and around Draco's neck and her eyes (losing their shock) fluttered closed, her body reacting to the kiss instinctively.
Draco smiled against her lips, the soft curve making the world fade around them, before he pulled back and rested his forehead on hers. The look in his eyes was unlike any Ginny had ever seen before, especially from him. They were soft and held compassion, caring and something else. Was it, love? Ginny shivered involuntarily. No, it wasn't but it was definitely something to look into.
Draco let the hand on her cheek reluctantly slide off her cheek and move to undo the clasp on his robe. In an act of chivalry, he draped the thick material around Ginny's shoulders.
A smile formed on her lips as she slid her arms down to his waist and rested her head against his chest. Draco placed his arms around her shoulders and kissed where her hair parted.
"You're my snow angel, Ginny," he softly said, his words causing Ginny to raise her gaze to his. Draco's eyes were almost sparkling with happiness and Ginny was sure hers were doing close to the same.
"And you're my snow angel Draco, no matter how much you suck at snow ball fights" she replied just as softly but with a hint of amusement in her voice. Draco chuckled and kissed her lightly again before pulling back and taking her hand in his.
"Come on, let's go get some hot chocolate and you warmed up." Ginny nodded eagerly and they slowly made there way back up into the warmth of the castle, though even that was hardly needed. There was enough warmth between them to make the snow melt.
Author's note: Okay, still the same fluff and extreme fluffy ending but after reading this over a few days ago, I really wanted to redo it. I'd like to think it's a little better but I'll leave that up to you all to decide. I hope you like it! Please R&R!!!!!