Snowballs, anyone?

Adelaine and Seamus walked arm in arm through the falling snow, chatting and laughing their way to the post office. They had possibly had a few too many butterbeers at their young age, but did that matter? Of course not.

"So, you said you need to look around?" she asked him politely as they rounded the corner.

"Oh, er, ya, I just-" Seamus flustered, turning red.

"Haha, it's okay," she teased him, nudging him with her elbow. "Here we are."

She gasped when they entered. Adelaine had been here several times before, but the sight of so many owls, such organization..it just never got old. Seamus smiled and pulled her toward the small writing station.

"So, uh, you get tat letter written, I'll be jus' ov'r dare," Seamus said, turning to go look at quills.

Adele got settled, choosing blue ink to write with, and wrote.


She rolled up the scroll and tied it with a slim, black ribbon as a sign of mourning. Adele walked over to where Seamus stood in front of the owls.

"Which do you suppose I should use?"

Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Adelaine turned to see Asher smiling pleasantly at her, Marigold following close behind him. She quickly stopped a worker and requested Asher's owl, then followed the man to the front to pay. Once the letter had been sent, she returned to the others.

"Thank you for that, Asher," she patted him awkwardly on the shoulder. Adele spent a lot of time with the rest of Seamus's gang and sat with them at meals, but she didn't know Asher very well.

"Successful shopping trip, Marigold?" she turned to her friend, nodding to the several parcels she held. "Seamus was thinking about dropping his broom there over the holidays."

Tipsy? Was she tipsy? She was used to having a cup of mulled or spiced wine with dinner every night, so a few butterbeers should have no effect.

"Naw, Adele's fine, she's jus' not quite sa worried," Seamus laughed, elbowing her in the arm. "She's even grea'er when she's got no' a car' in ta world, ain't she?"

Adelaine grinned from ear to ear at him, blushing furiously. She caught herself and immediately turned to look at some shabby looking barn owls, undoing and redoing her braid.

"Say, Marigold, is that your little owl?" She pointed to the far right corner of the ceiling, where Orin flew around speedily.

Deirdre entered the post office with two small parcels in her arms. She had been wandering the town for proper gifts to give her parents and had eventually found a goblin-made dagger and an emerald necklace from Dervish and Banges.

She noticed Adele, Marigold, Seamus, and Asher all talking in the front. "Nice te see ye all here. How was Te Tree Broomsticks?" She asked.

Deirdre payed to send the packages and watched the owl she chose fly off with them.

"Sa wha' are ye doin' now? Maybe I can join ye, if ye don' mind?

Adele was relieved when Deirdre found them; she had almost forgotten that their whole group got separated. Where was Arya? She hadn't spotted Mitri, either.

"Don' know what ye all are up too, but Adie an' me are goin' fer a walk," Seamus announced, pulling her out the door.

There was a lovely little wood toward the end of the village with a trail or two they could get lost on. The snow was falling gently outside, and the crowd seemed to be thinning just a little. It was almost romantic, until she thought about Lord Rickon.

"Seamus, listen," she began, breaking the silence after they'd walked for a few minutes. "You know--"

Snowballs slammed both her and Seamus in the back. She turned to find Asher jumping out from behind a crate, aiming another snowball.

Adele had just been about to (very uncomfortably) tell Seamus about all her suitors - which actually made her sound like someone in a brothel, she realized - when the snowball fight began. She couldn't even tell where they were all coming from, but Seamus immediately pulled her behind an abandoned food cart to make snowballs.

"Jus' let ta lads 'ave it!" Seamus exclaimed, jumping up to throw a few.

She did the same, and aimed for Gavin and Marigold. Adelaine honestly wasn't even sure who was on whose side.

"Oi, Adele, take this!" Peyton yelled, hurling a giant snowball at her.

The snowball hit her in the stomach, and she slammed one back at him, laughing.

Deirdre threw a snowball at Adele from behind a tree. She had a small pile of snowballs on the ground nearby. Leaning around the trunk, she tossed one at Gavin and another at Marigold.

"Take tha', ye scoundrels!" She shouted with a laugh.

A snowball hit her on the shoulder and Deirdre ducked back behind the tree. She was smiling and laughing. It was fun to do this with her friends.

((Sorry it's not very long.))

Adelaine and Seamus kept behind a large wooden wagon, disappointed that they couldn't remember a charm to move things along. Self-making snowballs would have been a miracle.

"This is folly," Adele shouted, hurling another ball that smacked Gavin in the face. "It's five on two!"

"Oy, Robb," Seamus shouted, noticing the fourth-year Ravenclaw. "Get o'er here an' help us, mate!"

Robb had been lounging outside the Post Office, but ran over to come to their aid. He was a skinny red-haired lad from London town, but he was a Chaser and had impeccable aim.

"Righ', Adele you sit there an' make 'em," he directed, aiming a few at Marigold and Asher.

Adele did as she was told and within minutes, a pile of at least 30 snowballs was before her. She picked up a few and slammed them at Deirdre and Peyton before ducking again.

Deirdre stayed behind her tree for awhile. She had snowballs coming at her from both sides and didn't want to risk it just yet. After a bit, she leaned out and threw a few snow balls at Seamus and Robb before falling back.

This is ludicrous! she thought. I'm goin' te be massacred!

Deirdre leaned back out to throw a snowball at Marigold. Peyton got her in the face just as she went to throw it and she threw it in a completely different direction. She heard a gasp of outrage and wiped the snow from her eyes to see an old witch with green hair, snow covering her face.

"Which of you threw that?" The old woman seethed.

Deirdre panicked. "Run!" she yelled and ran toward the woods to hide out.