Carter blinked. "Umm... okay." What did she expect? For him to drop everything and whisk her off to America? "You'll have to wait till the end of term." Which was when he might actually consider making such a trip.

He blinked. "Are you sure?" he asked. "They've never done anything to me." At least... not that he knew about anyway.

O_O

Sweet Merlin! Next year he was getting one. What if they were evil? Would he have to sleep with one eye open?

Luckily, Destiny was busy telling him that she'd come see him play. This distracted him from thinking about evil house elves. "Brilliant!" he said happily. Then he'd have one fan. Woo hoo! That was practically a fan club!

O_O

Sweet Merlin! Why was Destiny shoving him toward a magic snowman?

What if it bit?

"Ermm... I'm pretty sure this isn't Frosty..." he told the girl who had obviously been watching way too many movies.

Although... he should totally take advantage of that...

"There's only one way to find out." he whispered to Destiny. "Start singing and see if it joins in." he suggested. That way, if he was about to be killed by a crazy rampaging snowman he'd be going out happy.

Daichi had been nomming on his cookie absentmindly while watching the snowman circle around the place. He listened as one of the Slytherin's started to speak about the snowman going to sing and he giggled. That would be funny to see...and hear~

Taking another bite, Daichi noticed a hand shooting out from the corner of his eyes. He blinked a couple of times as he stared at it before looking up at the girl. A confused expression flashed his features and he looked at the hand again. What did she want? Was she preventing him from stepping towards the snowman or....

OOOOH! He knew!

"LOW FIVE~!" He shouted and slapped the girls hand. He gave a loud laugh in which his voice changed in a high squeak. Yay for high low fives!

Aurora had heard about the animated snowman in the entrance hall... it sounded creepy. No-one wanted a snowman to come to life... it was... weird. But she'd wanted to find out about it... So she'd convinced Kennedy to come and check it out with her. (Not that he'd taken much convincing...)

As they entered the great hall she grabbed his hand and stared at the lumbering thing. It looked truly bizarre... Part of her wanted to laugh... but part of her was pretty freaked out. So she stayed quiet and just watched it for a minute or so.

Jez glared at Nate as he blocked her spell, but her wand found its way back into her pocket. Nate cast that spell he'd used on Scott before, and Jez felt a sting as the cut on her forehead healed. "Thanks," she mumbled. "Sorry I was so stupid there." Jez looked at the snowman, now a few metres away. "What does it want?" she whispered. "It's like it doesn't really know. But if it doesn't know, how can it be here? Unless someone's enchanting it ..." Jez bit her lip.

How can there be a snowman in the hall? Did this happen in the Wizarding world? Was it normal? Kennedy walked down the hall with his girlfriend. Yes, his girlfriend, Aurora. He stopped though when be spotted the snowman.

What the...?

What was it doing? "Is this normal?" he asked, Aurora. Like did this happen a lot. His eyes went back to the snowman. It was melting, look.

If that thing kept at it was going to make a big mess and then the poor elves would have to clean it. Pfft. "Hey!" he said. "You're kind of making a m-mess," he said. Hopefully the snowman was polite enough to leave or clean.

Salander was making his way across the Entrance Hall when his foot suddenly slipped from under him...

!!!!!!!!!!!!

He flailed for a few seconds before regaining his balance, eyes glaring at whatever that was that nearly made him fall. There was a puddle?....

.... all across the Entrance Hall.

Uhuh.

His eyes followed the puddles to its source, and saw the disfigured snowman meandering about. "Oohh, thats gotta hurt." he murmured, drawing near the Snowman gingerly as he grimaced at its head.

He turned towards the students gathered, all having been drawn at the melting spectacle "Anybody know whats going on?"

Also, where is a caretaker when they need one?

Eeep!

Carter was going to take her to Hershey Park to get free samples of chocolate! Sure, he may not have said it like that, but Destiny got the gist of it. He was such a good friend. And well, if she liked hugs, this would have been a perfect hugging moment. Besides, he had already hugged her. He wasn't getting another!

And then, just like that, she was glad she hadn't hugged him. Why was he doubting her? It was just like the time when she had tried to tell Mia about the house elves and their evil ways. Why didn't anyone believe her!? "Why would I make that up?" While it was true that she was a very good storyteller, she would never tell stories about that. Silverware was dealing with food.

No one messes with her food.

Which only made her wonder, if Carter was going to be famous, was he going to have better tasting food? Famous people ate expensive stuff, didn't they? Destiny would have to ask, but it would have to wait. They had a snowman to deal with.

A snowman who wasn't Frosty. She should have known, though. The Frosty on the Muggle box wasn't missing a piece of his hat. "Carter! That's not how it works." Had he never seen the moving picture before? "He has to say Happy Birthday first!" And until then, she would just stare at Daichi.

Her hand still held out towards the boy, Destiny wiggled her fingers a little, just in case he didn't notice her. Although, she thought it was difficult not to, she was standing right there! Plus, the shine of the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain badge was awfully shiny for some reason. It might have been because the main doors were open. But really, that wasn't important.

What was important was that she, Destiny Shepard wanted a cookie!

And as Daichi FINALLY noticed her, a grin spread across her face. She was going to get one! She hoped they were chocolate.. It was her turn to have a look of confusion as the boy just slapped her hand and said something about a low five. She had to admit, though, his squeaky voice was slightly funny..

Shaking her hand, not that the slap hurt or anything, Destiny eyed the cookies before pointing to her mouth. Did he understand now!?

And just when she thought the whole moving snowman and Daichi giving out low fives couldn't get any weirder, in flailed Sal. Destiny wouldn't say anything, but she was actually hoping the Head Boy would have fell down. Right in front of her.

It would have given her the perfect opportunity to steal his Head Boy badge. She would have put it right next to the Quidditch badge she was wearing. There was always next time.

"I know what's going on, Sal!" she said, even raising her hand. "There is a snowman over there. And by the looks of it, he is leaving little puddle trails to let all the other moving snowmen know where to find him." Like that Muggle story.

"Right, I'm sure someone is enchanting it, but don't go blowing it up!" Nate said, his voice raising slightly. "Come on, I don't feel safe with this here," he added, wanting out of there. The puddles were enough to irritate Nathaniel, but a zombie snowman? He was pretty bothered. Nate made his way slowly up the stairs, away from the snowman, hoping Jez would agree and follow him.

As students gather around, the snowman continues to move in circles tipping it's hat here and there to a few students.

India had just been entering the hall when she saw a bunch of students in a circle. What was going on?

And then it hit her.

The floor. She'd slipped - and slid across the entrance hall floor.

"WATCH OUT" she yelled as she slid across the floor. Unintentionally of course. But sore none the less. And frozen.

Looking up she noticed she was now next to the Head boy. Hello Headboy.

Teeth chattering she looked up at the headboy, and began to stand up. "Wh-wh-wh-what is g-g-g-going ugh-ugh-on?" She spoke through shivers. The puddle was cold. Very, very cold.

The snowman then proceeded to tip its hat to her. What was it thinking?

Wait was it thinking?

Shiver.

Shiver.

Kourt smiled at Indy as she linked her arm through hers. "Aww...bummer." She replied, following her friend's eyes towards the snowman. "Yeah...I know, but it hasn't really done anything yet. I"m just kind of wondering what it's doing here and how it came to be alive? This is the same snowman that the Minister threw his cane at earlier..." Poor snowman.

And suddenly, there were many more students gathering around. Of course this wouldn't stay quiet for long.

The snowman continued going around in circles, tipping its hat every now and again. Okay...so it appeared as though it meant no harm, which was good. But the question remained as to why it was here...in the entrance hall...of Hogwarts?

Aurora shook her head. "No... well... I don't think it's ever happened before." she said, staring at the snowman. She began to giggle. "But it's actually pretty funny, don't you think?"

Aurora waved a little when the snowman tipped it's hat in their direction, then she leaned in to her boyfriend (cue excited shiver) and whispered. "If it knows we're here... do you think it can talk?"

Kennedy eyed the snowman warily. His mom told him not to trust anything that wasn't human in the magical word and this was one of those cases. What would his mom do if she was here? Hmm, most likely she'd chase the snowman with a broom until it left the grounds frightened. Of that he was sure. "I guess it is," he said, pulling Aurora slightly closer to him. What if this snowman had freezing power and suddenly went ZAP and started freezing people. "Let's try shall we," he said, winking at Aurora. Yep, he winked and now he was going to talk to a snowman.

"Well, hello to you too, Sir Snowman," he said, bowing his head slightly. He didn't have a hat to tip. "U-Um, can you...talk?" he asked.

Kennedy looked around and saw that they weren't the only ones gazing at this creation of nature, if it could be considered that. "Are snowmen allowed inside Hogwarts?" he asked the crowd. "Are they dangerous?" Because if they were then he needed a head start at running.

Understandably, as Stella had learned by now that news tended to travel through the castle rather quickly, the group watching the snowman that had prev iously been her and the three firsties had grown. Although at least she'd managed to find out that the snowman's appearance had been just as surprising to everyone else as it had been herself. She just hoped that the puddles were just water, but either way she'd relegated herself to not moving very much to hopefully not slip. "Alright, so the snowman just suddenly animated itself and decided to head in here. What is with the cane? Does it have anything to do with this?," she asked, to nobody in particular, even as she'd stopped in her focusing on said snowman to glance at the Gryffindor firstie who had answered her earlier question before going back to snowman-watch.

She didn't really expect the girl to know the answer, especially as the conversations had continued and the snowman just continued circling pleasantly. It was being oddly polite for something that really shouldn't be there. And was leaving puddles all over the floor for people to slip in. To which end she was forced to sidestep a little as she tried to avoid being collided with by two people who had in fact done exactly that. Slip on the puddles. "Salander?," she asked, her gaze landing on the boy she remembered from the carnival before turning to the Ravenclaw who had almost collided with him. "Are you two alright?"

Something told her the snowman wasn't likely to be starting to sing any time soon.

Heading inside to go warm up in the staff room with some company and a bottle of fire whiskey Eddie couldn't help but notice the peculiarity of the large main oak doors being ajar. In a snowy and cold season like January he wondered who had been so irresponsible as to leave the doors open.

Eddie was about to close the doors when he felt water connecting with his already wet feet. Looking down at his feet he saw big puddles of water everywhere. "Just puuurfect." he muttered to himself as he splashed through the puddles when he headed further inside to hopefully find the culprit.

He was hoping to find just one person when the trail of water puddles ended but no such luck. A whole group of student's were milling around something. Raising his voice over their chatter he called out "What in holy sugar snaps is going on here?"

Seeing the Head student Salander amongst the student's he asked "Mr Salander can you explain why the whole entrance hall is full of water puddles?" It was just then that the Astronomy Professor noticed the snowman which was walking around in circles and tipping his hat off to the student's.

Good Merlin, who charmed the snowman to life?

Kourtney's head whipped around as a loud voice called out above the chatter of the students. Oh...the Astronomy professor. Her head swiveled to look between the snowman and their teacher. As she hadn't been addressed specifically, she simply remained quiet, awaiting for the heads to respond.

Professor Roslund had asked the question that had been voiced several times over. That and why in Merlin's beard was a snowman circling the entrance hall? Who had enchanted it? And why? Was this an idea of some kind of joke?

Jez was just about to follow Nate when Professor Roslund showed up. She decided to stay behind to watch proceedings. She couldn't help staring at the snowman. While trying to blow it up hadn't worked, thanks to Nate, it was now tipping its hat at people. Things just got weirder and weirder here ... Jez almost felt like poking the snowman with her wand again! Almost ...

Aaaaand she was hesitating. Why was she hesitating? Nate thought it was a perfectly comforting thought to be getting out of there. Then he spied Professor Roslund and paused on the stairs. Ok, this could get interesting... he thought, taking a few steps back towards the zombie snowman and sitting down on the stairs.

After Daichi gave Destiny a low five. He thought that it would be over. But when the girl shook her hand in front of him again he blinked. She wanted another low five? It was then that she made her hand to her mouth as though she was eating and the knut fell on it's place.

"Oh! Yah! just say if you want a cookie...." He blushed slightly in embarressment while giving one of the cookies in his arms. As he gave the cookie, Daichi noticed a badge shining on her robe. Gryffindor Captain?

"I could have sworn you were a Slytherin..." he muttered in confusion and scratched the back of his head with his free arm. Yeah he was a bit stupid and didn't think that Destiny either stole the badge or she was dating the real Gryff Cap hehe. Or holding it with her for cleaning, that could be true too right?


Daichi turned so he could see the snowman again. He..or was it a she? It , was still moving around in circles. The young Slytherin jumped slightly when the snowman suddenly tipped his hat towards the students including himself.

Still, it was a friendly gesture right? "I guess it's friendly..." He said although he was unsure about that.


Holy Sugar Snaps?

Daichi turned around yet AGAIN when a voice shouted that. Thinking it would have been a student, he was taken aback when he saw it was Professor Roslund. Soooo even Professors said weird things hehe~

He smiled and waved his free hand as the Professor made his way towards the Slytherin head boy and silently nommed on his Nth cookie. Yes, he was interested to know those questions too.

"Thank you!" she said smiling, "I think that it feels a lot worse than it is, but it does feel quite deep, but I'll live!"

Jez saw Nate looked around at her with something like confusion in his eyes, like he couldn't quite believe she wasn't getting out of the situation. Jez smiled. Most people were a bit iffy about her obsession with being in the thick of the action, her parents included. She sat down next to Nate on the stairs to watch the snowman. "Who brought the popcorn?" she joked.

Scott walked into the entrance hall after recovering in the hospital wing.
He looked at Jez and Nate and smiled at them, not looking where he was going, just focusing on them.
He slipped over and fell into a puddle. He looked up at them, a confused expression on his face, but started laughing.

A brief smile crossed Aurora's lips as Kennedy pulled her closer and she leaned back, into his chest a little. "Don't... he might have a headache." she said, referring to the chunk missing from the things head.

Oh... or go ahead anyway... Hmm... she should give Kennedy her hat... it would be amusing to see him tip it at someone.

A headache? Kennedy tilted his head to the side confused, but then understood. He hadn't really paid much attention to it's head. He then remembered something from the snow competition. When lord Borr had arrived he wacked a few snowmans with his cane thing...could that have been what charmed this one to move?

He wasnt sure if that was true or not, but it was a coinsidense...or maybe a snow queen was charming snowmen to come to life and stuff. "You know what I think," Kennedy said, "It's weird that this snowman is missing a chunk of his head...just like the ones Lord Borr hit with his cane." He looked down at Aurora and grinned. This whole weird stuff going on actually got him excited.

"Hmm... that is weird..." Aurora replied, scrutinising the hole in the snowman's head. "And if there's one thing I've learnt from Hogwarts it's that coincidences do not exist." she said, grinning mischievously. "Do you reckon Borr charmed them into movement to keep us in line?" she chuckled.

Then she looked at the floor, "Seriously though... someone's going to have to clean all that up or people will be falling all over the place." she said, pointing at one of the puddles. The water was gradually spreading all over the hall from all the people walking through and that was surely dangerous - especially in a place where people liked to run a lot...