Edited on 7/12/2010

The First Snow

The hallways were filled with the usual large crowd of students rushing around to their lockers and out of the building at the end of the day. It was Friday afternoon and no one wished to remain in the school building any longer than necessary. Two boys stood by a locker, one standing taller than the other with bright red hair and mischievous blue eyes. The other was shorter with dark as night black hair shooting ever which way from his head and green eyes the color of emeralds. He was rummaging through the lockers adding and removing books from his bag as the taller one stood there waiting. Someone tapped the shorter one on the shoulder.

"Will you go to the dance with me?" Lavender Brown asked sweeping her long bleached blond hair over her shoulders and looking Harry in the eye. Today her eyes were grey, she changed contacts so much that it was hard to keep track; though she was beautiful no matter what color her eyes were. She had a nice body, with a more than generous amount of cleavage and long legs that would down right sexy in a pair of low rider jeans; in fact they were quite the sight now in her plaid school skirt. She was girl that any guy would kill to go to the dance with, except Harry wasn't interested.

"I'm sorry, Lavender; I'm not going to the dance." Harry smiled apologetically.

Lavender looked stunned at his rejection. "Are you serious?" She asked when Harry only gave a weak nod she looked down right furious. "My girls were right, you are a loser."

"Either that or gay," said her friend Parvati Patil, who Harry had turned down an invite to the dance from a week prior.

"Come on, he's not worth the time," said Parvati's twin Padma. That being said the three of them turned and stormed away.

"Uh, Harry," the red head boy said in shock, "Did you seriously just turn down a date with Lavender Brown? I've wanted to date her since she transferred here."

Harry shrugged and closed his locker. "She's not my type," he said, "And I seriously can't go to the dance. I've got plans."

"Man, you are a loser. See you tomorrow." Ron walked away down the hall towards the gym for basketball practice. Harry finished zipping up his bag and headed out of the school.

It was cloudy and a bit too cold for late October. The weather had been rather erratic lately, with extremely fluctuating temperatures and just all out strange weather conditions. It had started snowing as early as late September and was predicted to snow again sometime during that day. Harry zipped his jacket against the brisk air and started on the path home. He was walking through the park when the first snowflake fell.

Harry stopped walking mid-step, held out a hand, and threw his head back towards the sky, his green eyes closed and his lips slightly parted.

"Are you trying to catch a cold?" A dull baritone voice asked.

Harry's eyes snapped open and he looked to see who had spoken. A boy just a year or two older than Harry with platinum blond hair and eyes the color of captured stars stood behind Harry with a curious expression on his face. He had pale skin, a slightly pointy yet very handsome face, and thin lips that immediately grabbed and held Harry's attention; he couldn't help but wonder if they were as soft they looked. Harry shook his head, trying to clear the stray thought from his mind.

"If you're not trying to catch a cold then what, if I may ask, are you doing?"

"The snow," Harry answered, his eyes never straying from the boy's lips, "I was wondering of it was going to stick."

"And you can figure that out by staring at the sky?" the boy asked with an amused glint on his silver eyes.

Harry's cheeks flushed crimson and it wasn't from the cold. "I guess not," he admitted, slightly embarrassed.

"You're one interesting kid." The boy smirked, before turning and walking away leaving Harry standing there stunned, watching his retreating figure.

::-::-::-::

Harry opened the door to the apartment he was living in alone, and dropped his book bag to the floor. Kicking off his shoes he walked over to the phone. The tiny screen flashed one new voicemail; Harry pressed the button before heading towards the kitchen and popping some Ramen into the microwave. The voicemail was from his aunt:

"Boy, are you home? Don't lie I know you are, you have nothing better to do. Pick up the phone… whatever, I don't have time for this I have to go pick up Dudders' new shoes. I just wanted to remind you that you better bring your narrow behind over here Sunday before the Social Worker arrives. We will not have any trouble because of you, ungrateful little brat."

Harry rolled his eyes, before going over and hitting the delete button on the machine. That stupid woman was always calling for stupid reasons. Harry knew he had to meet the social worker that Sunday; he had the date circled on his calendar. He usually didn't like going over to the Dursley's house and pretending to be a happy family so that the state would continue giving money to the greedy family, but he was excited for this meeting, because this time things were going to be different. He had been planning on telling the social worker he's been living alone every since the Dursley's kicked him out a year ago when he was barely sixteen. He hadn't spoken up sooner because of some remaining fear of his uncle and because he thought he'd be forced to go back to them. But he wasn't scared anymore. He was now seventeen and had proved he could handle living alone, though he had recently put an ad out looking for a roommate. He was going to be emancipated and the Dursleys would never get another cent because of him.

He had only put out the newspaper ad for a roommate after Ron's parents had prodded him into it, saying no matter how bad the Dursleys were a kid his age shouldn't be living alone and he should come live with them. But the Weasleys had seven kids already, four of which still lived at home and he hadn't wanted to be a burden on them, so he said he'd get a roommate if that would make them happy, and they had agreed. Harry didn't much mind the idea of a roommate, as long as they weren't lazy and earned their keep, besides it would save him money on rent and food.

The microwave beeped, pulling Harry from his thoughts, he headed back to the kitchen and retrieved his cup ramen. After eating he sat down to do his homework. There wasn't a whole lot and he'd gotten done pretty fast which left him with nothing to keep him entertained. He glanced across the living room and out the bay window that over looked the park across the street; the snow was still falling and would probably stick. Harry shivered; he really did hate the snow.

With a sigh he got up and headed to his bedroom to grab his pajamas. A warm bath would be heavenly right now.

::-::-::-::

To Harry's surprise, when he woke up Saturday morning there was no snow on the ground. In fact the sun was out and the only sign of the previous weather was the puddles on the ground. Harry headed to the kitchen and fixed himself a breakfast of pancakes and scrambled eggs. As he sat there eating, he tried to figure out what to do with his morning. He had to work that afternoon, but all the hours before three was open. As if to answer his question, his phone rang.

"Hi ya Harry," an excited voice said from the other end.

Harry smiled. "Hey George," he greeted Ron's brother.

"Fred actually," the boy said.

Harry winced, he'd been so sure he's gotten it right, but it was impossible to tell those two apart being identical twins and all. "Oh, sorry Fred."

The older teen laughed on the other end of the phone. "Just kidding, this is George. Anyway, Ron wanted to know if you'd like to come over and play ball with us. Bill and Charlie are both visiting and we wanted to play some three on three, but Mom won't let Ginny play."

Harry smiled. "Sure, George, I'll be right over."

"Actually we're outside your apartment right now and are heading over to the park, come on down."

Harry laughed. "Give me five minutes." He hung up and went to get dressed. Five minutes later he was heading downstairs and was greeted by a crowd of red headed boys outside his apartment building. The group all laughed and joked around as the headed to the basketball courts in the park. They split into teams: Harry, Bill, and George against Ron, Charlie, and Fred and the game began. Harry was the shortest person out there, but that didn't matter much because he was wicked good at three pointers and free throws. The twins we're good point guards, and Ron, Bill, and Charlie could play just about every position. The ending score was pretty much a tie until Harry made this miracle shot and won the game for them.

They were all laughing and enjoying themselves by the time the game was over. All the physical activity had distracted them from the cold. Bill and George had picked Harry up and were parading him around the court. Harry was laughing so hard, he didn't notice the boy that was watching from a nearby park bench. Eventually Harry had to head home to get ready for work, but he promised the Weasleys they could get together and play again soon.

::-::-::-::

Harry worked at a local twenty-four hour supermarket as a cashier and a shelver. He had had a slow night at work, but had ended up working a double so instead of getting off at eleven Saturday night, he ended up going home at seven Sunday morning. It was cold and snowing when he got home, and he sat in the window watching the snow fall.