I can feel Riddle glaring at my head as he stands behind me as we are about to compete in the third event of the Slytherin Christmas Games.

After the last game where almost all of the 5th and 4th years were eliminated,the tensions between every pair had almost doubled. There were only 15 pairs left.

Last night an announcement was held by the 4 prefects,who are in charge of the games.
They said that the 3rd event would require people to dress up warm,and since there were no more classes,there was no time limit to this one.

This one would apparently eliminate half the contestants or probably even more.

So that leads to where we are stood now, Aria and the others sending me worried looks as we are led outside into the freezing cold from a secret tunnel in the dungeons that some of us didn't know existed.

"Weasley."

I turn around to face Riddle.

"What do you want from me now?"I ask.

"It's a snowball fight,"He murmurs,leaning towards me,so close that I don't think anyone else heard.

"So what do we do?" I try not to let the panic enter my voice,I hate the cold,almost scared of it, and I can see Riddle smirk as he puts two and two together.

"We team up."

"Riddle, we already are a team?"I point out.

He groans. "No we team up with another team."

"Why would anyone pair with us? I'm a blood traitor remember? And I'm the youngest since you couldn't bloody work on your own?"

He sighs. "You forget I'm literally the heir of Slytherin."

""You forget that everyone in the years above hate me,"I retort.

"We're teaming up with Malfoy and Parkinson and Nott and Greengrass."

"Nott and Greengrass? But Aria and Astoria aren't— Oh."I sigh. "No no no not the older ones. Especially not Malfoy and Parkinson."

He sends me a grin. "Tough luck,darling," He drawls "you have no choice."

"Don't call me, darling,"I snap as I shove past him.

Stepping onto ice,and I almost slip, and once again, Riddle is to the rescue.

"Careful Weasley,we don't want to get eliminated before we betray the others do we?"

I blink. "We're going to turn on them?" I say.

"Oh my Salazar." Riddle groans. "We want to win,so I finally get the respect I need and you can actually be treated like a Slytherin,instead of like a blood traitor. And the only way we do that is if we eliminate as many people as we can."

"Ohhh,"

"Yeah ohhhh,"Riddle mocks.

"So the third event of the Slytherin Christmas Games is a snowball fight." Felicity Davis calls cheerfully.

"Each of you have three chances."Hestia Carrow explains. "You get hit three times each and you and your partner both are eliminated from both of the games."

"So if I get hit three times and my partner doesn't will we both be eliminated?"An older boy asks.

"No you both have to be hit three times each and then you are eliminated."Cassius Warrington corrects.

"And when you are hit three times,you will have a red cross floating above your head. When that appears,you can no longer throw any more snowballs." Felicity adds. "You must come to the sidelines where we will be waiting for you,so you can warm up and get the cross removed. You cannot re-enter the games after that."

I can feel Mattheo's warm breath near my ear.

"Listen,we're gonna stick together." He says.

"Fine," I sigh. "But you can't leave me at all."

"I won't," He smirks. "I would've never thought of that sentence leaving your mouth,"

I roll my eyes. "Whatever Riddle."

The games begin in the freezing cold,and not even a minute goes by before one of the 3rd years, Tracey Davis is completely eliminated.

Survival of the fittest. That's what Riddle called it.

"They go for the easy ones first." He said earlier. "Don't show yourself as weak,and if anything stick to Malfoy, Nott and Berkshire. They have power and they certainly aren't weak."

Riddle is one of the attackers, so if he's eliminated by one of the older years, then the rest of the third years will turn on me.

"Emily duck!"Enzo yells before hitting Flint, who's right behind me, right in the face with a well aimed snowball.

A cross appears above his head, and I quickly make a snowball before throwing another at his arm. Then Theodore Nott throws one,even though Flint dodges and sends one straight back, hitting Pansy Parkinson.

My wand is pressed against my pocket: they didn't take them off us,and neither did they state that wands weren't allowed so carefully I pull mine out before muttering a useful little spell that Fred taught me.

Snowballs float in the air, and with a small flick I send them spiralling towards Flint, and a few other older years who are creeping behind Parkinson.

"Nice one Weasley," Parkinson calls with a grin and I grin back, even though we've had a few bad arguments, we're a team now. For a while anyway.

"Good aim,Emily,"Lorenzo grins and I smile.

It's not as bad as I expected.

Draco Malloy and Pansy Parkinson both got eliminated, and all of the 5th and 6th year pairings are eliminated too.

There are only 7th, 4th and 3rd years left.

Riddle wanders back towards where we have claimed our area, not a single cross above his head.

There's one over my head, because I didn't duck in time, but overall Riddle looks relieved that I'm not eliminated.

And then as quickly as he got here, he sends me a small knowing smile before picking up a snow and rolling it and silently pointing at Ashley's older brother.

I nod, picking up a snowball and aim for Daphne Greengrass, as Riddle steps next to me,before nodding and we both throw them the short distance.

Daphne's final cross is over her head and she lets out an outraged yell.

Adrian still has two left to go and with both me and Riddle aiming for him, it's not long before he too is eliminated.

Then Felicity's whistle cuts through the air, telling us that it's over, the remaining pairs have passed onto the next game.

"Good game Weasley," Riddle says, his usual grin back on his face.

"You too, Riddle." I responded grinning back.

So uhhh hi again?