"I still can't believe you have five weeks of detention when we get back." Susan said as I ran my fingers through her hair. Susan was laying on her back with her head in my lap while I was sitting against a tree.

"Yeah, but at least two of those weeks will be a formality. Professor Snape said all I have to do is inventory his ingredient stocks and after that it'll only be an hour each day, and Professor Flitwick has me tutoring students for an hour or two each day I'm with him, which I'm perfectly happy to do if he asks anyways."

"Professor Sprout's detentions are pretty easy from what I've heard. Tonks said that the worst she's ever had to do was search the forbidden forest for rare herbs or plants and bring samples back to be grown in the greenhouses."

"Tonks?"

"Pink hair.. metamorphmagus."

"Ahh."

"There you two love birds are." Hermione said as she walked up the path to our somewhat secluded spot.

"Hey 'Mione." I flexed my leg muscles to nudge Susan to get up but she stayed put. "Sorry, I'd get up and give you a hug but 'someone' kinda has me pinned here."

"Mine." Susan said and she wrapped her arms around my waist as best she could.

Hermione gave a small laugh. "It's okay. Mind if I join you two?"

"Sure." I said and patted the ground next to me. As Hermione was sitting I continued, "Sorry 'bout the mandrake. I didn't think it would work like it did."

"It's okay. I didn't even know anything happened until I woke up just before lunch. And outside a few bumps and bruises, nobody got hurt."

"So what's up? Were you looking for us?" Susan asked.

"No. I just needed some fresh air, and to get away from all the complaining and arguing going on inside my common room, and somebody placed a repulsion charm on my favorite table in the library." She reached into her bag and pulled out a book.  

"I can't wait for this day to be over. I never understood the need for people to be mean to each other just because it's the first day in April." Susan said.

"It's not about being mean, although there are plenty of pranks that can be viewed as mean, it's about being more cunning than your opponent and staying ahead of the game." I said.

"If it's about cunning and outmaneuvering your opponent, then why don't more Slytherins go in for the whole pranking thing?" Hermione asked, her eyes still scanning through the text in her book.

"Ahh. Now that's the catch. We have a reputation to live up to. We can't just walk into Zonko's and buy something, that would be too…"

"Gryffindor?" Asked Hermione.

"No… too easy."

"Well, I still don't see the point. Look at poor Hermione here!" This actually got Hermione to come up from her book. "Instead of sitting alone in the library, someone forced, or 'compelled', her into getting some fresh air and joining her friends."

Hermione now had her book in her lap and was staring at the innocent looking girl laying in my lap. "Wait, did you!?"

"Don't worry. The compulsion is already completed and the repelling charm expires at dusk." 

"You really had me going there, Sus." I took advantage of her supine position, wrapping my legs around her waist, and pinning her arms down with my elbows and started tickling her exposed sides. 

"Holly… Holly!… stop… no…" she cried out between laughing. Susan was kicking her legs and thrashing around trying to break free, but I had the superior position. I finally relented when I could tell she would be gasping for air. Once she calmed down she moved her hands from around my waist to around the back of my neck and pulled me down for a kiss. "Evil." She said playfully right before our lips met.

The kiss was quick and rather chaste, we did have company after all. We stayed there for a moment staring into each other's eyes, lost in the moment when what sounded like a growl cane from our friend next to us.

Hermione sat there staring at us. Her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned, into what we call the Hermione angry face. She silently put her book back in her bag and moved to get up.

Susan shot up. "Hermione! I'm sorry! It was Holly's idea!" I smacked Susan on the arm. "Ow!" She yelped.

Hermione rolled her eyes and started walking back down the path, back towards the castle. I was now on my feet and rushed to her. I grabbed her shoulder and spun her around and embraced her in a hug. "Please don't be mad. The charm can be cancelled with a finite spell. We didn't mean…" I was interrupted by Hermione as she muttered two simple words.

"April fool's." She said and she returned the hug I was still giving her. It took a moment for my brain to process, but once it did I started giggling. "Come here, you too Susan." Hermione said as I felt one of her hands stop hugging me. I soon felt Susan press against us as she joined the hug. "Are we all done with the pranks? I don't know if I can take anymore from my best friends."

"Yes." Susan and I said in unison. "But just to be safe, you should stay out of the main courtyard, just to be safe." I continued. 

The group hug broke and both girls stared at me. "What did you do now!?" Susan asked.

"It wasn't me! I promise! The twins just let me in on what they were planning. They wanted my thoughts on how to pull it off."

_________________________________

I was able to avoid answering any further questions, and the three of us spent the rest of the afternoon talking, reading, and studying. 

"One thing has been bothering me, Holly." Hermione had her book in her lap and was looking at me.

"What's that?" I asked, still writing notes.

"How did you get into the boys dorm to place the mandrake?"

Susan smiled, but she didn't say anything as I had her sworn to secrecy. "I have my ways." was all I said. I could tell that Hermione wasn't satisfied with that answer but I was saved from any further questioning by a loud noise, almost like a crack and then a thump, coming from the castle that drew her and Susan's attention.

"Time to go see the show." I said and grabbed three scarves out of my bag, handing one to each of my friends. I wrapped the scarf around my neck as I started walking back to the castle, leaving my friends in momentary wonder.

The scene that awaited us was that of a winter wonderland. The entire courtyard was blanketed in about six inches of snow, and rising from the top of the fountain was an ice sculpture of the twins standing in a triumphant pose with their hands on their hips. There were already a few snowmen that had been made, and a few more senior students making sculptures and then transfiguring the snow to ice so pure it looked like glass.

I was admiring the scene along with Susan and Hermione when I felt a thump on the back of my head and then the chill of the snow run down the back of my neck before the charms in my scarf evaporated the water. I turned to see Neville grinning, tossing another snowball up towards us.

"Depulso!" I yelled, with wand in hand, and sent the snowball back to its source. Neville was able to duck out of the way, but soon there was another snowball coming at us from the other direction. Susan deflected that one.

Nobody was wearing their school robes, us included, so I hadn't realised it when we first got to the courtyard, but once I scanned the area again, I think that everyone there was a Gryffindor, save for me and Susan. I looked to Hermione, who was holding a snowball herself, and smiling at me.

"Don't worry, Holly. As soon as you surrender, we'll stop." She said, as she started walking backwards, away from me.

I looked at Susan, I could tell she was going through the 'fight or flight' dilemma. "A kiss for luck?" I asked her.

"Always." She said, giving me a quick peck on the lips, then held her wand in dueling position and turned her back to mine.

I took my stance with my back to hers. Taking a deep, calming breath, I scanned the area one more time. I finally spotted the twins, the architects of this little ambush, I'm sure. My lips curled into a grin as I confidently said the two words that started the chaos. "Bring it!"

The next several minutes were mostly a blur. Susan and I started off defensively, deflecting the initial wave of snowballs, or banishing them back to their sources. I've never dueled in this situation, so I was a bit unsure of how to get out of the kill zone along with Susan. Unfortunately my dilemma was solved for me, as I heard several impacts make contact, and I no longer sensed performing 'the dance'.

"Sorry, Holly, but I can't keep up." She put her hands up and shouted "I surrender!" I didn't have time to respond, I had to stay focused. I dipped and dodged, whirled and twirled, and fired off as many spells as I could, both defensively and offensively, to keep fighting.

I had to 'move' a couple students out of my way, one with a Carpe Retractum, and the other with a very light Depulso, but I managed to get myself to a corner. I hadn't planned on using spells on the students themselves, but after deflecting a couple stunners and tripping jinxes, I felt it was fair enough, and the two I picked for those spells are in the dueling club with me, so I hope there aren't any hard feelings there. 

After a while I felt myself start to wane. The longest duel I've ever had only lasted a couple minutes, but it had now been at least five, and the constant use of magic plus the physical exertion was taking its toll. I knew I had to think of something, and fast, to at least go out with a bang. 

I spotted the twins, standing on the far side of the courtyard, and nobody behind them. I used the off beats of deflecting or throwing snowballs to form a rather large snow drift behind them. Once it was sufficiently large enough, I took off as fast as I could sprint, in their direction. I had to focus, as I'd never done what I was planning before, so I suffered getting hit by a mass of snowballs as I ran. I focused on the stone work of the castle above and behind the twins and once again cast Carpe Retractum. I knew I had to get my timing right, or I'd be in for a very hard landing. 

I cut the spell in mid air and was flying freely. I knew I had to focus, now wasn't the time to worry about the landing. I twisted my body around in mid air and cast one last Depulso. My vision started to fade, but I saw both twins flying backwards as I had planned, but then… black.

__________________________________

~Susan's point of view~

I don't know how she does it. I lasted a couple of minutes against the onslaught, but she is something else. Sometimes I wonder what she sees in me. She's years ahead of where almost everyone else in our class is with charms, and she is so charismatic and outgoing that it puts most of Hufflepuff's to shame. I hope she doesn't grow bored with me and move on to someone that could keep her more intellectually stimulated. Sometimes I get jealous of the more intellectual talks she has with Hermione, or the way she subconsciously or unknowingly flirts with Pansy and Draco. I have to remind myself that she grew up without any friends and that she is still new to the whole experience. 

The way she moves is amazing, almost like she's a professional dancer, dancing to music only she can hear. I've seen aurors dueling each other, and even professional duelers that don't or can't move like that. I've seen her happy plenty of times before, her smile is one of the most beautiful things in the world and what attracted me to her in the first place, bit when she's in the heat of battle she seems to truly come alive.

I've spent countless hours watching her during dueling practice, studying and admiring her and I could tell that she was starting to get tired, the half second delay in her spells, the way her stance changes to placing more weight on her back leg, and the subtle change in the rise and fall of her chest as her breathing changes. So when she charged across the courtyard it caught me off guard. I knew she was up to something, but I never would have guessed she would launch herself about twenty feet into the air towards her targets. She cast a Depulso which sent both of the twins flying backwards... two targets with one spell… she truly is amazing, but I could tell something was wrong after the spell was fired. "Holly!!!" I screamed, and I felt my heart skip a beat and was running to her as fast as I could.

'She landed in the snow bank… good' I thought to myself as I watched her fall. I heard at least one, if not both, of the twins laughing.

"Oiy, that was bloody brilliant!" One of the twins said as he exited the snow bank. "Indeed. Good show, Holly." The other one said emerging a moment later. They were both still laughing and dusting snow off themselves, they didn't notice that Holly wasn't moving.

I got to the snow bank and started digging. "Holly! Please be okay!" This got the attention of the twins and a few others. I heard people talking but I couldn't tell what was being said, my sole focus being on getting to Holly. My efforts were soon joined by the others, and we soon had her out of the snow and laid on the ground. She was unconscious but breathing. I held her hand and stroked her cheek. "Come on, Holly. Wake up." I said in almost a whisper. Someone had cast a warming charm, as the snow around her melted and the water evaporated. "Please be okay, Holly. Please wake up." 

I continued to stroke her cheek as I lifted her hand that I was holding up to kiss the back of it when her eyes fluttered open. "I thought you were supposed to give a princess a real kiss to wake her up." She said sleepily. That got a laugh out of me, but it also released tears. She reached up and wiped the tears from one of my cheeks with her thumb. "Hey, what's the matter?" She asked.

"You had me worried. I thought you might…" she interrupted me by pulling me down for a kiss. It wasn't a chased kiss like we do when other people are around, it was passionate like when we're alone. Time seemed to stop and everything else but her seemed to fade away, no longer of any importance.

One of the twins clearing his throat broke our kiss. It was then that I actually realized  I was totally singing my girlfriend in front of everyone, and I could tell from the heat that my cheeks were as red as my hair. The twins helped both to our feet and there was an applause from the rest of the gathered mass, and Hermione handed Holly her wand which she had found buried in the snow at some point.

"So did I win?" Asked Holly. Hermione and I just shook our heads but it got a laugh from the twins.

"Yeah, I would say that you did." One of them said. "Holly, why are your eyes purple?"