Glitter and Snowmen by LittleRose13
Day 7, The 12 Days of Shipmas - Snowman☃️
In which some families are a little too competitive.
Words: 1,933 Pairings: Harry/Ginny
23rd December, 2015
“It snowed! Everyone wake up right now, it snowed last night and there’s snow everywhere!”
Lily Potter’s dulcet tones woke everyone in the house up within minutes through her sheer excitement. The seven-year-old swung open both her brothers’ doors and she ran into Albus’ room first, jumping on top of him where he lay under his duvet.
“Is it really snowing?” he said excitedly, pushing her off him and jumping out of bed. He ran to the window and pressed his hands and face against it. “We have to tell James, come on!”
Albus grabbed Lily’s hand and pulled her from the room. They hurtled into James’ room and Lily repeated her technique of jumping directly on top of her sleeping brother. James was less impressed than Albus had been.
“Geroff me Lily,” he complained, pushing his face deeper into his pillow.
“But James, you have to wake up! It’s snowed!”
“It’ll still have snowed in two hours, goodnight.” He sandwiched his head between two pillows and turned away from them. Lily shared a disappointed look with Albus.
“Fine, I’m gonna wake up Tebby!” She rushed from the room and directly into Harry, who was waiting on the landing.
“Don’t wake Teddy up, Lil,” he said kindly.
“Daddy! Did you know there’s snow?”
“I might have heard you mention it once, yes,” Harry replied, picking his daughter up.
“James won’t wake up and play with us,” she said glumly, resting her head on Harry’s shoulder. From the ground, Albus could see the sly grin she was showing over Harry’s shoulder and he rolled his eyes at his little sister.
“It is a bit early for your brothers.”
“Albus is awake,” Lily said confusedly. “He’s a brother.”
“Well, as we’re the only three up, we get to make the first footprints.”
“Yes!” Lily cried, heading straight for the stairs.
“Stop. Not in pyjamas, your mother will have my head.”
It didn’t take long for Lily, Albus and Harry to be bundled up in coats, boots, hats, scarves and gloves. Lily was wearing James’ Gryffindor hat, which was sure to cause problems when he woke up, but Harry decided to let it slide for now.
“You can go first, Lily. You’re the littlest.”
Her brother was trying to be kind, but Lily resented being referred to as little. Harry could clearly see the internal battle she was undergoing, torn between not wanting to admit she was the littlest but also wanting to be the first out in the snow.
“Same time!” she cried eventually, grabbing Albus’ hand and jumping from the doorstep into the blanket of snow covering the garden. Her blue wellies sank into the surface with a satisfying crunch right beside Albus’ orange pair. He grinned down at his sister and they both sprinted off as fast as they could in the thick snow.
By the time everyone else was up and dressed for the snow, Harry had cast several warming charms over his youngest two children, who refused to come inside and warm up properly. Harry didn’t blame them; this was the first time it had snowed properly where they lived since Lily was a baby.
Snow always reminded him of Hogwarts and fond memories of snowball fights with the Weasleys; building snowmen with only a little magic help; sending Trevor the toad skidding across the frozen lake surface. Now stood here watching his children experience the wonder snow provided was just as delightful.
Despite now being a first year at Hogwarts and often too grown up to play with his little brother and sister like he used to, James emerged with a pure and childlike joy on his face. He came running out into the garden, immediately gathering a handful of snow and firing it at Harry, who dutifully allowed it to hit him full in the face. James cheered and went to scoop up more.
Teddy was a seventh year and Ginny a fully grown adult and yet they too were laughing hysterically, snow flying everywhere. There was something about snow that turned anyone into a child again.
“I want to build a snowman!” Lily exclaimed after a while.
“Me too!” Albus agreed, immediately scrabbling at the ground to make a start.
“Everyone should build one! A best snowman competition!” Lily cried in excitement.
“Wait, that’s not fair because the grown-ups can use magic!” Albus protested.
Lily considered this for a second. “Okay, put your hand up if you can use magic.”
Harry, Ginny and Teddy exchanged amused looks and obediently put their hands up. James’ hand shot up too.
“Legally, James. You’re a first year.”
James scowled at Ginny’s comment.
“Mum, you can build a snowman with James, Al can build one with Daddy and I’m going to build one with Tebby,” Lily announced.
“Come on Lily-Lu, it’s on!” Teddy grabbed her hand and ran with her to the other side of the garden where an untouched pile of snow sat. “I have the best idea, listen to this.” He whispered into her ear and she looked gleeful.
“I want to go with Teddy,” Albus sulked and Harry folded his arms.
“You mean, you don’t want to hear about my competition-winning snowman design idea, Al?”
Albus brightened up and turned to his dad. “What design idea?”
Harry cast Ginny and James a furtive look. “I can’t tell you here, come and see.” He took Albus’ hand and lead him to the corner opposite Teddy and Lily, who made a big show of turning their backs secretly.
“We’re not letting anyone else win are we, Mum.” James stated defiantly.
“Not if I have anything to do with it.”
An hour later, three snowmen stood in the Potters’ garden and everybody was freezing, despite the warming charms Harry had cast on his children’s coats.
Teddy and Lily’s was the most decorated out of the three, wearing not only a conjured hat and scarf but also a waistcoat and bow tie, which Lily had decorated liberally with glitter Teddy summoned for her. Its smile was made out of frosty snail shells Lily had found under a watering can.
Ginny and James’ snowman was the biggest, and probably would have survived a snowstorm it was so sturdy. James had insisted on using his wand (to remind his siblings that he had a wand and they didn’t) as the nose and it stuck out comically, too long for the snowman’s face.
Harry and Al’s snowman was the tallest but it also looked in danger of falling over at any point, and was held up entirely by magic which Harry kept topping up worriedly. It was wearing a conjured top hat, had a traditional carrot nose and looked a bit like a muggle magician.
“How do we decide who won?” James asked, his teeth chattering.
“Let’s discuss that inside where it’s warm,” Ginny said with concern.
Once the children were all bundled up in front of the fire with hot chocolates, the question of picking the winning snowman came up again.
“I think me and Tebby should win ‘cause ours had the most glitter,” Lily explained very seriously.
James and Albus protested instantly.
“It’s not about who has the most glitter!”
“Glitter looks rubbish on a snowman!”
“Glitter does not look rubbish,” Teddy pretended to be cross with James for Lily’s benefit and she nodded fiercely beside him.
“Well me and Dad’s was the tallest, so we should win,” Albus replied, ignoring Teddy’s response about the glitter.
“No! Ours was nearly as tall anyway!” James complained.
Harry, Ginny and Teddy exchanged glances, all silently regretting turning this into a competition.
“Can’t we all be winners? I had so much fun, I feel like a winner,” Harry said in a jaunty tone.
All three of his children looked at him like he’d just announced he wanted to become a professional opera singer.
“Didn’t think that would work…” Harry tailed off.
“We need someone who didn’t take part to choose a winner,” Ginny said, causing Albus to look around the room as if there might be someone else there he hadn’t known about.
As he looked at the fireplace, the flames turned green and Ron’s head appeared in the flames.
“Uncle Ron!” Lily exclaimed.
“Oh, hello all of the Potters,” Ron was taken aback by the reception. “Harry, do you have a minute?”
“Absolutely, come through.”
As soon as Ron’s head disappeared again while he prepared to Floo in, Harry turned to his family. “We’ll ask Ron to pick a winner. Don’t worry Albus, he’ll definitely pick his best friend.”
Albus beamed at this news and James opened his mouth to protest again but she was drowned out by Lily, who scoffed loudly. “Please. Everyone knows I’m Uncle Ron’s favourite Potter! He’ll definitely pick me.”
“Maybe, to make things fairer, we shouldn’t tell him who built each snowman?” Ginny reasoned, sensing another argument.
Lily went to speak but stopped herself. James and Albus were silent too. “That seems fair,” she said, after a pause.
Ron spun into the room and dusted himself off, accepting Lily’s rather violent hug and picking her up into the air. “How’s my favourite Potter girl?”
“Feeling like I really like glit-”
“That’s cheating, Lily!” Albus interrupted her.
Ron looked between them bewildered, then over to Ginny.
“Ronald, dearest brother of mine, we were wondering if you would do us a quick favour while you’re here and judge our impromptu snowman competition.”
Ron blinked round at the six expectant faces. “I have to judge who’s built the best snowman out of you lot?”
“We were in teams,” James explained. “Me and Mum, Albus and Dad, Lily and Teddy.”
“Three snowmen, but we aren’t going to say who made which one.” Ginny added.
“Okay, I can do that.” Ron shrugged and allowed the children to lead him away into the garden where the three odd snowmen stood proudly. Harry quickly shot another strengthening charm at their snowman and Teddy definitely enlarged the bow tie on theirs.
“These are mad, you know that right?” Ron grinned at the Potters who shared proud looks. “But if I had to pick the maddest out of the lot, then it has to be this glittery one. That’s yours I’m guessing James?”
James missed the joke, scowled heavily and grumbled “no, I hate glitter,” stamping his foot into the snow.
“Then again, if we’re talking about the best building of a snowman, then this one has a clear height advantage. A lot of effort has gone into the height of that.” He surveyed Harry and Albus’ snowman.
“But I also have a bit of a soft spot for snowmen with wands for noses.” He poked at James’ wand where it was firmly stuck into the compacted snow.
“So who’s the winner?” Lily said impatiently. “You sort of said all three.”
“All three are the winners,” Ron beamed and Harry groaned as the children started to complain.
“Lily, consider this a lesson in never relying on a brother too much.”
Lily saluted her mother, laughing, which was a relief as she was easily the most competitive out of the three Potter children.
They trudged back inside, leaving the three winning snowmen stood proudly in the garden.
Harry spoke when they were back by the fireplace. “Now that’s sorted, what did you need, Ron?”
Ron grinned. “I feel a bit silly asking now, but you couldn’t come and be an impartial judge for the First Annual Granger-Weasley Gingerbread House competition could you?”