Snow Day

Chapter 2: Snow Day

1985

Chaos and mayhem were in the ascendant.

No less than three glasses of milk had been spilled in the ten minutes since lunch had begun. George and Percy had had to be physically separated to prevent further injuries. They were currently glaring daggers at each other from opposite ends of the table. Bill and Charlie were shouting at one another about something – Quidditch most likely. Ron was currently in tears, protesting the fact that he didn't get the portion he had wanted. Ginny was jumping up and down in her mother's lap, refusing to eat altogether.

Molly was at her wit's end.

Fred was the only quiet one at the moment. That fact alone made Molly extremely nervous. He was dreamily gazing out the window, she assumed at the spectacular vista: a once-in-a-decade blizzard had hit Southern England yesterday, and two feet of pristine snow sparkled in the sun.

The December morning had dawned bitterly cold, which was why Molly was now clinging desperately to her last scrap of sanity. All seven of her children had been cooped up together in the house for over a day and a half. But since the sun's been shining all morning long, surely it'll be warm enough now....

"Mum, can I go outside and play?" Fred asked excitedly, interrupting her thoughts, which had been rather similar in their vein.

"Yes!" she cried with relief. "All you lot – out! I don't want to see any of you for the rest of the afternoon! Dress warmly, now.... Bill and Charlie – enough with the brooms, you two. Stay on the ground today, I'm warning you! You're in charge of Ron and Ginny," she admonished her eldest sons.

Noise rivaling that of an earthquake shook the cramped kitchen as seven bodies jostled each other to be the first dressed and out the door. Ron was soon in tears again, unable to find his hat. George had nearly strangled Percy with his own muffler, and they were wrestling with each other once again, crashing heedlessly into the other children who shouted in protest. Ginny got knocked over and began to cry.

"OUT!" Molly screamed, stabbing her finger at the door.

All seven children were momentarily stunned into paralyzed silence. Then they slowly turned as one and filed out the door quietly.

Blessed peace descended upon the kitchen.

The Weasley children began trekking toward the orchard paddock. Bill and Charlie had snuck their brooms out with them and were planning on flying despite what their mother had told them. All the other children followed them. Except for Fred, who struck out toward one of the hills in the distance.

"Where're you off to?" yelled his twin. When Fred didn't answer, George jogged after him.

"Look. Out there," Fred whispered and indicated with a subtle nod where to look when George caught up with him.

George gazed toward the distant hill. A small figure stood at the top, jumping up and down and waving at them. It took a seat on something and then started sliding down the hill, picking up a great deal of speed by the time it reached the bottom.

"Let's go!" George whispered excitedly as they made their way through the drifts as quickly as they could.

"Where'd you get it?" Fred cried when they arrived at the crest of the hill.

"It was my Gran's when she was a girl in Wales. She told me it snows a lot more there than it does here. It's really old, but it still works. Want to have a go?" Annie offered.

Fred nodded enthusiastically and sat down upon the toboggan.

"Look – put your feet on this bit here. You can steer it a little, but not much. Don't aim it at a tree, for crying out loud," she instructed.

"All right, all right. I've got it. George, gimme a shove," he ordered impatiently. With his brother's push, Fred sped down the hill, whooping in delight.

"Bring it back up! Hurry!" George shouted, eager for his turn.

"That your house?" Annie asked, pointing in the distance toward the oddest building she had ever seen. It looked almost imbalanced, like it should be toppling over. Smoke was lazily curling up out of several chimneys, and icicles dangled from every horizontal edge. It was strange-looking, but also cozy and inviting, somehow.

"Yeah," George answered. "I'm sick of being stuck in it with that lot, that's for sure."

"Who were all those people who came out with you?" she asked.

"Hurry up, Fred!" he shouted, then turned back to Annie. "My brothers and sister."

"All of them?" she asked, incredulous.

George shrugged and looked at her as if she'd just asked a very stupid question.

Annie pondered this revelation. She hadn't quite realized that her friends had had so many siblings all at home. They usually only ever talked about their older brothers, who were away at school this year. She guessed they must be home for the holidays now.

It was such a completely foreign concept to her: the idea of sharing a home with children her own age. And there were so many of them! How did they all fit? Could there be even more in there, too little to come outside? she wondered.

Fred had reached the top now and handed the sled off to George. "That was brilliant!" he cried.

George, not satisfied with merely copying his brother, tried lying down on the sled. He plowed headfirst down the hill at breakneck speed, roaring all the way.

"Your brothers were carrying big stick-things. What were they?" she asked Fred while they waited for George to return.

"Brooms," he answered simply.

"What for?" she asked. What good could two scrawny little brooms do to clear away all this snow?

"Flying," he answered her distractedly. "Move it!" he called to his brother who had paused halfway back up the hill to catch his breath.

Annie's eyes bugged out. "What?" she cried.

Fred turned to her with a smile, pleased by her reaction. He liked the way she was consistently amazed by all their everyday magical stuff, no matter that it was all second-hand or second-best. "You ride them. They fly."

"Witches really fly on brooms?" she cried softly in amazement, revealing a common Muggle misconception.

"If girls can do it, boys can do it better, I assure you," Fred snapped quite defensively. "Come on, d'you want your turn or not?" he asked testily as George held out the tow rope to her.

"Oh, yeah. Push me, you two. I want to go as fast as you this time!" she commanded.

Both boys put their hands on her shoulders and gave a shove. She flew down the slope, tumbling off the sled into the snow when she tried to steer away from a rock. The boys roared with laughter from the top of the hill.

A few minutes later, she was back at the top herself, beaming with pleasure. "Brilliant!" she cried. "Did you see me catch air?"

"We saw you eat a face full of snow, if that's what you're referring to," laughed Fred. He bent over the sled and began to run, pushing it from behind, then throwing his body on it once he reached top speed.

"Can you fly on a broom, George?" she asked.

George sighed wistfully. "Not a real one. Not 'til we're older – after we get our wands."

Oh, right. They had talked about that before, she remembered. How they were not allowed to do magic until they were eleven, when they would each get a wand. The same year they'd go away to wizard school.

She wondered sometimes if maybe the whole wizard story was just that: a story. She had begged, cajoled, teased, and attempted to trick her way into catching them doing magic. And after all that, they'd never shown her a single trick, had they? Never uttered one ruddy magic word.

But then, if they weren't magical, how else could she explain all the rest of it? The creatures in the forest that no one else she knew had ever seen? Or the books with the pictures that moved? And now, the astonishing house they lived in?

"You know, you never follow any other rules. Why obey that one?" she asked. She knew Fred and George spent a good deal of their lives being punished by their parents. Nearly anything that was any fun at all to do was against the rules, it seemed.

"The rules we break aren't serious ones. Fred and I are the only ones who get in trouble," he explained.

"And me, don't forget," she added slightly indignantly. She had gotten into plenty of trouble with Gran, usually for coming home too dirty, too late, or both.

"That's your own fault. You don't have to follow along, if you don't like it," he snapped. "Anyway, we can't do magic because of the Trace, remember? Mum and Dad would get in trouble, as well. Especially if anyone knew a Muggle had seen it," he said with a nudge to her shoulder.

There was that word again: the one that made her feel like something less. She knew George didn't mean anything hurtful by it. It was no different than him calling her a girl, or a human – just simply what she was. But it was different than what they were, and that caused her pain.

"Cheer up! We like it when you get into trouble with us!" he teased, misinterpreting the cause of her glum expression. "Here – it's my last, but I'll split it with you," he said as he dug into his pocket, pulled out a small colorful package, then handed it to her.

She turned it over in her hands. The label read "Chocolate Frog."

"Let me open it. They can get away from you if you're not careful," he explained.

George took it back from her and carefully ripped open the package. He deftly caught something in his hand as it attempted to jump away. It struggled in his grasp as he lifted it to his mouth and bit down. A long pair of squirming legs stuck out from between his smiling lips.

Annie's mouth hung open in shock.

George pinched the still-moving hind-end portion of the treat in his fingers, pulled it away from his own mouth, then shoved the wriggling thing in hers. She tasted only creamy chocolate as she closed her mouth, trapping the morsel. The treat gradually stopped moving as it melted on her tongue.

"Ooh, Godric Gryffindor," he said as he pulled a card out of the wrapper. "That's a good one. Here, I've already got it – you take it."

Annie looked at the small card in her hand. A dashingly heroic man filled the frame, his cape billowing behind him. His hands were resting atop a glittering sword. He abruptly swung it round his head and pointed it directly at her, as if he could see her, then rested the point back on the ground in front of him. She stared at him the entire time it took Fred and George to ride down the hill together on the sled, then climb back up to the top.

"You mean I can keep this?" she asked incredulously when George was back.

"Sure. I've got at least two more of him at home. Fred's probably got even more. Your turn."

"You go ahead. I'll go in a minute," she said, mesmerized by the man on the card. He was winking and smiling at her now. She wondered what he might do next and didn't want to miss it.

"You're sure?" he asked, already climbing on the sled.

Annie nodded without taking her eyes from the card. She slowly turned it over and read the details about this wild-looking man who had been a wizard nearly a thousand years ago! Could any of this be true? she wondered.

"Fred! Is this stuff for real?" she asked him.

"What's that? Oh, Famous Wizard card. Yeah, it's true. Which one have you got there?"

"Some bloke named Godric Gryffindor," she answered, her tongue tripping slightly over the outlandish name.

"Some bloke? He's only one of the founders of Hogwarts! One of the greatest wizards that ever lived! Some bloke, indeed," he sniffed, rather put out by her lack of proper respect for one of his heroes. "Where'd you get that, anyway?" he asked suspiciously.

"George gave it to me," she answered defensively, snatching it away as Fred reached out for it. She carefully tucked it inside her jacket pocket.

Fred looked at George, who shrugged from his seat on the sled. "Let Annie go this time, George," he ordered.

George rose reluctantly from his seat on the sled. Annie was only too happy to comply with the command. She didn't appreciate the tone of Fred's voice or his grabby hands at the moment.

Annie took her turn, but with far less enthusiasm than before. As she slowly walked back up the hill, she watched her friends arguing amongst themselves at the top. Was it about the card? she wondered.

She caught a few snippets of the conversation drifting down the hill from above.

"... not even supposed to know..."

"... shouldn't be so paranoid..."

"What if somebody sees it?" argued Fred.

"I trust Annie! Why don't you?" asked George.

The boys stopped talking when she reached the top of the hill.

She decided she'd rather give it up than have them be upset with her. She dug into her pocket and pulled out the magical card. "Here. You can have it back. Don't be mad at him, Fred. He was only being polite, anyway." She held out the card in her hand, waiting for Fred to take it.

Fred narrowed his eyes, looking carefully at her face while chewing on the inside of his cheek. Then he scowled. "Don't be thick. I've got six of him," he growled and waved away the card.

Annie burst into a smile. She could keep it, after all! "I promise I won't show it to anyone," she assured him.

"I know you won't, Annie," he said with a sigh, lightly punching her shoulder as he took the sled's tow rope from her hand.