Chapter 91: Choosing!

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"Of course. The weather will be getting warmer now. Winter is almost over. This may be the last snowfall of the season." Hermione informed them with a shrug.

"So, what do we do now? Tracey, you dragged us here. What's in your mind?" asked Harry.

Tracey's lips spread in a wide grin as she crouched down and scooped up some snow, moulding it round.

"We, my dear friends, shall endeavour to continue the age-old tradition of pelting each other with snow to show our deepest affection." She said pompously and threw it directly at Harry who just turned sideways to miss the snowball.

The snow sailed away harmlessly to much chagrin of Tracey.

"Fine, dear Tracey. You have called war and we will fight a war instead of brawling like some barbarians. We shall make a team and see whose team wins. The losers have to carry the winners to the castle on their backs. How about that?" Harry announced with a matching grin.

"Fine." She huffed and crossed her arms. "We should choose our teams now. I choose Iris. Your turn."

Iris slung her arm around Tracey's neck and shot him a competitive glare.

"I choose Daphne." Harry said with a smirk, wrapping his arm around the blonde who just sighed at her friends' antics.

"I choose Neville." Tracey yelled giddily. The other boy ran to their side. He too was sporting an eager smile.

"I choose Hermione." Harry declared, pulling the said girl to his side.

Hermione herself wasn't interested in participating in this 'childish and immature' play, but the happy looks of her friends made it hard to step out.

She sighed, things she had to sacrifice for her friends. And no, she definitely wasn't smiling giddily at the prospect of being able to play with her friends. Absolutely not.

"Great. Teams have been chosen. Now how will we decide the winners?" Tracey questioned him as the two teams faced each other.

"The team loses when all the three members are hit by a snowball. We will do a best of five to prolong the game. Whichever team wins the most out of five rounds wins the game." Harry supplied and they began walking backwards to create some distance between them.

On their one side was the Great Lake and on their other side was the fringe of the woods. They also drew clear boundaries with a stick that crossing it would disqualify the players. The game would become tedious if they kept running away.

"Hermione, are you fine with the responsibility of making the snowballs?" Harry asked as they stood alertly.

"Yes." Hermione answered quickly and kneeled on the ground, her hands already digging in the snow.

"Great! Daphne and I will take care of them." He grinned and nodded at Daphne. They too squatted down and made snowballs.

Five minutes later when enough snow balls had been made, the game started without much fanfare.

Harry hurled one at Tracey whose eyes widened in disbelief at the speed the projectile was thrown at her. She would have been done there and then if not for Iris who pulled her aside.

"Don't get carried away, Harry. I would like to keep our friends alive for some more years." Iris chidded.

"Sorry!" Harry yelled back sheepishly.

In the excitement of the game, he almost forgot to keep his monstrous strength in check.

He was ridiculously more powerful and quicker than his friends. Only Iris was the one who could even dodge his snowballs. 

That too only barely. And with that realisation, he heaved a disappointed sigh. The game wasn't going to be fun if he took out all of them so swiftly and effortlessly.

"Iris! We two shall play defence and leave the offence to Daphne and Tracey." Harry suggested as he easily ducked a throw by Tracey.

"Okay!" Iris replied, shooting one ball at him. He just batted it away with his hand.

Their roles decided, the players took their positions. Neville and Hermione sat behind their teammates, quickly making snowballs.

Harry and Iris stood a little ahead of them to keep them safe. Tracey and Daphne stood forefront, the main attackers of their respective teams.

And then all hell broke loose.

Tracey and Daphne kept shooting at each other. Hermione and Neville kept supplying them with more ammunition. Iris and Harry had the hardest job to bat away the stray balls from colliding with their snowball makers. But they did it admiringly with their better reflexes and sturdy bodies.

They both looked on in surprise at how elegantly Daphne moved. She danced between the projectiles and made no noise as if she was barely touching the ground. 

Her throws were always correct, always on the path towards her opponents' heads. It was just her bad luck that Iris was far more powerful and quicker than her, jumping before her teammates and batting away the snowballs.

Daphne's eyes narrowed and her shooting frequency increased exponentially. Even Iris couldn't be everywhere to save her teammates.

One by one, Tracey and Neville fell when freezing snow slammed against their faces.

"What type of demon are you!" Iris whined loudly as she dodged and jumped to keep away from Daphne's snowballs. Harry and Hermione too joined in the fun and Iris went down quickly after that.

"We won!" Daphne cheered happily, jumping in his arms, rocking back and forth and blushing when she stepped back.

Even in this cold weather, sweat covered her face and her pale cheeks were red from exertion.

Her blue eyes glowed from joy and her normal stoic face was filled with pride.

Harry couldn't help, but grin at her cute and beautiful expression.

"Yep. All thanks to you." Harry laughed, patting her back and moving towards Hermione and congratulating her too for her help.

"Don't count your chickens before they are hatched. There are four more rounds to play." Tracey interrupted their celebrations with Iris glowering beside her.

The results were in fact the same after the next four rounds. The end score was 5 — 0 in favour of Harry's team.

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