Snowfall

Snowfall

Snow fell gently on the sprawling Hogwarts grounds, leaving a fluffy layer of white powder over the green grass. It was early on a Saturday, and the sun had only just started peeking over the imposing stone school. Professors and students alike were still tucked in their beds, under layers of heavy bedclothes to protect them from the chill of the morning air. Even the groundskeeper, who had known the evening before that it was going to snow, hid away from the weather in his warm hut, thus leaving the grounds covered in pristine and untouched snow.

Two boys awoke that morning from a deep slumber. They had snuck out of their beds at midnight the night before to meet in a deserted chamber of the tallest tower in the building. They awoke in one another's arms, their legs tangled comfortably, the dark-haired boy's head resting on the other boy's chest. The light-haired boy awoke first and gently nudged his sleeping counterpart awake.

"Harry," he whispered gently into the other boy's ear, rustling the dark locks. Harry made small noises of dissent and wrapped himself tighter around the light-haired boy's naked body. The light-haired boy chuckled slightly and craned his neck to look out of the solitary window. White snowflakes fell past the window in straight lines, with no wind to bounce them off their path. The light-haired boy smiled to himself and put a hand on Harry's arm, caressing the smooth skin. "Harry, wake up, it's snowing."

At the announcement, Harry rubbed his nose against the other boy's chest and moved his head to look out of the window, his eyes scrunched up and squinting against the morning light. "Very pretty, Draco, can I go back to sleep now?"

Draco rolled his eyes and scoffed. "I thought you were supposed to be the romantic of the two of us; aren't you supposed to jump at the chance to go and do silly things like run in the snow with me?"

Harry buried his head into Draco's neck and bit down lightly on the pale skin beneath his lips. "Supposedly," he said, his voice muffled around the mouthful of shoulder, "but it's freezing cold outside. Evidenced by the snow."

Draco laughed quietly and began edging Harry off of him, sitting up slowly. "Well, you'll have to get up sometime; now seems as good a time as any."

Harry flopped onto his back and screwed up his face, looking as if he had just tasted something sour, making small whining sounds. Draco laughed louder as he began pulling his clothes on, watching Harry's lemon face.

"Fine then, have it your way. Let's go prance in the snow," Harry announced abruptly, throwing the sheets off of himself and racing to pull on all of his clothes. The smile on Draco's face grew as Harry hastily buttoned up his shirt, one button too high, and pulled his school jumper on over it. By the time Harry had started tugging his socks and shoes on, Draco was dressed neatly and properly, nothing untucked and nothing out of place.

"Come on, Harry, we haven't got all day," Draco chided playfully as Harry struggled with his shoelaces. "People are going to start waking up soon, and then there'll be no time for a nice frolic in the grounds before breakfast."

"Hey," Harry said, trying to sound offended, "I said 'prance', not 'frolic'. There's a subtle difference."

"Subtlety is wasted on the masses, Harry; whatever they see us doing in the snow they'll undoubtedly have heart attacks." A cloud floated over Harry's face at the statement, which made Draco frown. "Now," he said, affecting a stern voice, "get your skates on, mister."

Harry looked up and the cloud cleared instantly, a grin breaking onto his face. Harry had taught Draco the expression some time earlier, despite the fact that he hadn't been able to explain what skates were, exactly, and why one would need to put them on, and whenever Draco used the saying, he felt like the twenty-minute explanation had not been wasted.

Harry pulled his shoes and cloak on quickly and the two hurried down the tower stairs, making their best attempts at silence. They exited through a back door which Draco had found during his second year and burst into the white expanses of the grounds. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, drenching the morning with pink, yellow, and orange light as it rose steadily.

For a moment, the two boys stood there, reverently watching the snow fall and the sun rise, their hands linked between them. The moment ended when a sheet of snow that had been sitting precariously on the roof of the tower fell heavily to the ground barely a foot in front of them, scaring them out of their wits and showering them in even more snow.

They burst into laughter at how frightened they had been, and Harry picked up a handful of snow and pushed it into Draco's face as his mouth was still open. Harry giggled at the incredulous look on the aristocratic features of his lover and ran away as soon as he saw Draco reach for some snow. Draco chased Harry, wielding a fist of fluffy snow, trying not to laugh as Harry dodged out of his way. Finally, Harry tripped on a tuft of grass under the thick snow and fell face-first into the snow. Instead of scrambling to his feet and continuing to run, Harry turned to look over his shoulder, in which time Draco managed to jump on him and shove the handful of snow into Harry's face with undisguised glee.

"Fohf" was the noise that Harry made as the snow covered his face roughly, pressing into his eyes and mouth. "Geddoff me, Draco," he grunted, pushing the pale-skinned hands away from his face forcefully. Draco laughed and pinned Harry's hands to the snow beneath him.

"How's that for a taste of your own medicine, Potter?" he asked with a grin, studying the interesting facial expressions Harry was making as he tried to rid his face of snow without his hands.

"Tastes like snow and Draco-hand if you ask me," Harry replied derisively, sticking his tongue out.

Draco laughed and released Harry's hands, allowing him to brush snow out of his eyes. "You know," Draco mused conversationally, sitting back onto Harry's bladder, "snow looks much more striking in black hair than it does blond."

Harry furrowed his brow and stopped brushing out his hair. "What?"

"Well, the snow doesn't stand out as much in my hair because it's too light. The snow in your hair makes you look..." Draco paused, unable the find an adjective that would do the thought justice, and merely looked into Harry's eyes. "I don't know," he finally whispered, shrugging lightly.

It wasn't often that Draco couldn't find anything to say but on the rare occasions that he was rendered speechless, Harry reveled in the silence and the simple, captivating gaze of his lover's eyes.

After a moment, Harry smiled wanly and nudged Draco's hip. "Come on, we should get back inside," he said quietly. "We'll catch hypothermia."

Draco grinned wickedly and raised his eyebrows. "Only if we don't heat things up."

Harry laughed and shoved Draco off of him with both his hands, dumping the lithe blond into the snow beside him and sitting up. "You're insatiable, Draco."

Draco sat up beside Harry and brushed snow out of his hair and off of his robes, despite the fact that more snow was falling on top of him. "You've never complained before," he said, leering slightly.

Harry rolled his eyes and leaned over to kiss Draco gently. Their cool lips met and warmed instantly, snow melting upon falling on either boy's face. Harry pulled away first and smiled gently, reaching up to brush stray snowflakes off of Draco's eyelashes. "There. That should hold you till tonight."

"Don't be so sure about that," Draco said, smirking mischievously and standing up.

"What, you're going to attack me during lunch?" Harry said, grinning and pulling himself up.

"Now there's an idea..." Harry scoffed and grabbed Draco's hand, pulling him back towards the castle. With one last look at the risen sun, they entered the warm building, kissed their goodbyes, and returned without consequence to their diurnal lives.