Even when December arrived, Umbridge still had not managed to do anything to Hagrid.
Just as the twins had said, Hagrid was no longer the simple, big fellow who had only Dumbledore looking out for him. He was a major celebrity in the Wizarding World's Potions circles, and countless potion-makers wanted to secure a partnership with him but could not.
Not to mention that his Care of Magical Creatures classes were already very popular with the students and packed with practical knowledge. So although Umbridge loathed him, there was little she could do about him.
Hagrid was fine, but Hermione and Ron found themselves with more to do.
With December's arrival, Hogwarts began to be blanketed in heavy snow frequently, as though it had become a crystal castle.
For the other young wizards, this might have been a rare and beautiful sight, but for the Prefects, it was something of a nuisance. They had to keep an eye on the young wizards to stop them from carrying snowballs, or controlling them with magic, and then pelting one another inside the Castle.
Snowball fights were allowed, of course, but they had to take place outside the Castle.
That should have been easy enough to understand, but once people got into a snowball fight, they tended to lose control of themselves...
In the first week of October alone, more than ten young wizards at Hogwarts received detention for having snowball fights in the Castle corridors. And that was with even more of the little ones fleeing so quickly at the sight of a Prefect that they could not be caught.
"Why are these little kids so unruly these days? It's outrageous," Ron said.
Hermione gave him a thoroughly disdainful look. "I wonder who was still outside having a snowball fight on the