Death By Lethal Snow Bank ((Rachel))

[Edward Summers R6]

“Gizmo get back here!” Edgar cried as he launched another desperate grab at the elusive owl. The happy owl, thinking they were playing, merely hopped out of Ed’s long fingers reach and flew up to a higher branch. “Oh bother. You stupid owl. Your suppose to give me my letters not play keep-away!” It was true, even from this angle Ed could see the small roll of parchment tied to the owl’s leg. This silly game of chase had started back in the great hall during breakfast. Gizmo had landed, neatly on top of Edgar’s food plate, and stuck out its leg displaying the roll proudly. After wiping food off his glasses Ed reached out for the letter only to have the owl leap away, and so the chase had begun.

They had circled the great hall a few times, been through countless halls and classrooms and had finally ended up outside. The snow was falling pretty thick on the grounds and it was hard to see. The snowy Owl was nearly lost in the camouflage of heavy snow. Ed shivered as he continued his chase, having forgotten his heavier robes and coats inside the warm Great Hall. After an eventful chase Gizmo had taken refuge in a tree and Ed had promptly started his climb. Twice now, the owl had leapt from his grasp and flew higher up into the tree. Ed cursed and nearly fell out of the tree, barely managing to grab a handhold before he fell.

Gizmo gave Ed trouble; he had ever since Ed’s parents bought him for his first year at Hogwarts. Though Gizmo was one of the last things the family had ever bought him, since than he was sorted into Ravenclaw and became the family leper. Ed loved Gizmo though, and though the playful owl didn’t like to show it, he was rather intelligent. “Ok Gizmo, I’m getting tired, I’m cold, and I’m pretty sure that four of my toes have already fallen off and will be found in the spring much to the horror of some unfortunate student. Will you please give me the letter?” Ed climbed a bit higher, nearly reaching Gizmo who only hopped away and flew to the top of the tree.

Ed growled in frustration and finished the climb, coming face to the face with the owl. Ed grinned in victory. “Ha! Nowhere to run now.” Gizmo merely cocked his head, eyeing the Ravenclaw with curiosity. Suddenly the owl’s face pitched forward and with a slight Snick he struck Ed on the bridge of the nose, cleanly picking Ed’s glasses off his face. Ed reacted in surprise, pitching back and bringing his hands up, only to realize that he had let go of his handholds. “Oh bother.” Ed managed to say before he began his fall. Ed screamed an unmanly scream as he fell, feeling the branches break and slap his back on the way down.

His fall ended shortly, and rather softly too. Although he was buried headfirst up to the waist in a giant snow bank bellow the tree. With his arms pinned, and blinded by compacted snow and no glasses Ed was securely stuck. He kicked his legs furiously trying to dislodge himself to no avail. “Oh bother.” Could be heard slightly muffled from within the bank. “Is anyone out there? I need some help please.”

[Rachel Cohen R6]

It was still snowing. Rachel didn't know how much more snow she could take, all the endless white. It was never ending, and rather exhuasting. She was absolutly ready for spring. Ready for the chilling white to melt and water the ground so plenty of flowers could grow. She had woken up to early that morning. The young girl could barely keep her eyes open as she watched the powderey white stuff fall from the sky. It was mesmorizing. Her emerald eyes followed several flakes from their spot in the clouds down to the the ground below. She watched as they spun around in the air, without the help of magic. She watched as they mingled with each other. Sometimes separating after awhile, but more often they would stay connected like twins. Rachel wondered what secerts they where whispering with their frozen lips. She watched as each individual flake became part of the snow piles outside and sighed. It seemed that everyone, even people, real people, where much like those snow flakes. Thrust into the cold world. All different and beautiful in their own specail ways. Meeting people on their journeys. Making friends, Making enemies, falling in love. But still becoming part of the crowd. Any crowd. Watching people want to fit in so bad. And why? Why aren't they happy to be different, unique? It didn't seem like it. Then again that was pretty hypocritical of her to make that judgement. She wanted to fit in sometimes, didn't she? Well, most times she just fit it in. She was never one to be normal, or just regular. But there where other people just as pretty, and intellengent as her. She was sure one of them could replace her if they wanted to. Take her reputation. They could become that Ravenclaw girl. You know. The pretty one. The one who has a list of ex-boyfriends a mile long. That girl could be easily replaced by any other girl. She was sure she would be upset if she was de-throned. But here she was doing things that girls like her weren't supposed to do. Girls like her should have been in bed getting their beauty rest. Girls like her shouldn't be watching the snow falling and thinking what it would be like to defy all of them. Girls like her should be staying on a day like this, spending it with their boyfriends. Not walking out the entrance on their way outside not even thinking about AJ.

She was right to hate the weather. It was freezing. And no matter how pretty the snowflakes looked in her dark hair, it most certianly wasn't worth it. So why was she still out here? Why was she walking away from the door that seperated the cold from the warm and was instead walking towards the middle of the grounds? What was the purpose of this? She didn't know and she pushed her thoughts aside. Why did it matter anyway? She didn't need a reason. She could act on impulse if she felt like it. Plus, it was a good idea to just clear her head. To think about nothing. It was probably a good idea she wasn't in the common room. She could only imagine what people would say. She wasn't acting like herself this morning. Her crazy personality was not at all showing. It was only fitting that she let everyone think that the regular Rachel was still there, instead of this odd creature that looked like her. Not let anyone know how much she wanted out of the spotlight. The pressures of everything around her where finally getting to her and she wanted to crack under them. To let the world see her as she really was. Young, fragile, and tired. She smiled secretly to herself as she imagined her friends seeing her like that. They would marvel at how her confidence was gone, for once. But something within Rachel pushed the vision aside and let her know she was having a bad day. A rough patch. She was still the confindent girl she had always been. This was healthy though. But realizing this she knew she would be okay. The mood was almost over, and all it took was freezing weather and a thin navy sweater to bring her regular self out. She turned to leave, back to the warmth when she heard it.

It was sort of a scream. But it stopped her in her tracks. What was it? Where did it come from? She wasn't sure but her curosity was up. She walked over to a snow bank where she thought she heard it come from. To her amusement she saw the top of a head covered a little bit by snow. The thing was wiggelinging and seemed to be mummering under its breath. So it was alive at least. "Can i help you?" Rachel asked unsure. They called at the same time asking for help. "Uhm. Well ... What can i do?" Rachel asked.

[[So its a bit short. I'm osrry. No real inspiration.]]

[Edward Summers R6]

Ed registered a dull Thud as he hit the snow bank, after that all he knew was that he was cold and blind. The white snow pressed in around him and held him firmly in place, his body heat had already begun to melt the snow around him which in turn soaked his clothes and made him even colder. If his earlier proclamation that some of his toes had fallen was proved false, Ed had no doubt that he was about to lose a few extremities in the next few moments. Edgar was stuck, and his body was swiftly beginning to grow numb from the cold of the snow. “Damn that owl.” He muttered under his breath, something that could barely be heard on the outside of the snow bank.

Gizmo wasn’t a stupid owl, far from it. The owl had actually helped quite a few times with Ed’s homework, scratching out a certain equation until Ed finally got it right. The owl had brains, quite a lot of it, but the owl was also rather playful, and sometimes Gizmo had a hard time knowing when to stop the game. Ed wriggled inside the snow bank, if he could only get to his wand. The cold and wetness were simple to remove. Ed was quite adept at Charms and they were very simple charms to perform, but it was extremely difficult to get at ones wand when their arms were pinned, and ones wand was sitting inside his school bag, inside the great hall. Ed sighed, wondering if the antics of Gizmo had finally finished off his master.

Just than a female voice drifted through the snow and reached his ears. Had someone actually heard his earlier calls. Ed wriggled with renewed fury and actually managed to pop his head out of the bank slightly, his glasses were still held by Gizmo so he couldn’t make much out other than a blurry smudge standing before him. “Oh, hello.” Ed said in a cheery yet embarrassed tone. “Um…I appeared to be stuck, would you mind giving me a little tug?” Ed’s faced screwed up in concentration and he grunted a little with the effort, but suddenly a hand burst through the snow bank a few feet below his head.

Ed grinned sheepishly, he couldn’t see very well at the moment, so he had no idea whether this girl was laughing at his pain, or truly concerned. “My owl…Gizmo.” He said pointing up to the tree with his free hand. “Likes to play games and as usual, it went a bit far today.”