winter in hogsmeade - hermione granger fanfic

ch. 11 - ice skating

I woke up feeling very foggy, I rubbed my eyes a bit and stretched my back as I would anytime I'm waking up. Except... it's dark outside.

I hear laughter approaching from behind the door to our dorm room, I hear keys jangling as they unlock it. until Addi and Pansy enter the room in a flurry. Quite literally too, they were covered in snow and giggling like little girls. I turned to look at them, bed head and all.

Quickly they noticed me and Addi seemed to blurt out, "What the hell happened to you?"

Pansy elbowed her in the stomach which earned an "ow" from Addi. "What she means is, you look rough Nat." Pansy wasn't really helping the situation. "I think I slept through a whole class." I tried laughing it off as something humorous but I felt like shit on the inside.

"Oh babe, you slept through dinner." Addi stated.

As I took in the information she just spoke, I was mind blown by it. I refused to believe I slept for that long and missed one of my classes in the process. "Well better hurry up and get dressed if you want to come ice skating." Pansy said as she continued to get ready. Adori nodded.

"Ice skating?" I questioned while yawning.

"Yeah, the lake is frozen over, so everyone's going ice skating in a few minutes."

"Okay I'll get ready."

I shuffled out of bed to wash my face and wake up a bit more, before moving on to layers.

If the lake was frozen that means it's definitely below freezing, so the more layers the better.

I wore first a tank tank, then a t-shirt, and then a sweater, topped off with a hefty winter coat, and scarf. My bottoms were just a thick pair of mom jeans with leggings underneath.

I am actually pretty good at ice skating, mostly because my mum used to figure skate so I would go ice skating with her on the weekends.

"Alright, the guys are probably waiting for us so let's head out." Pansy grabbed earmuffs before heading out the door, as we followed her. As we reached the bottom of the stairs, Blaise stood there and held out his hand as Pansy took it delightfully. did i sleep for a week or something?

No one said a word about it, but Draco look unusually grumpy at this exchange.

We quickly hurried to the nearest exit, everyone loved ice skating at hogwarts. It was usually a one time per year thing but some years we didn't even get so lucky. It all depends on the lake. We scurried to the edge of the dock, where professor trelawney had set up a little shack for handing out ice skates.

There were several students out on the lake already gliding along gracefully, some more than others. We all approached Trelawney and asked for our show size in ice skates, and began tying them to our feet. I observed what few students were already skating, mostly Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs that I saw.

The lake was light dully by a few floating lanterns, they hung quite high off the ground and let off a dim golden color that reflected off the ice. Which caused the lake to look as though it was glowing, tt looked very peaceful.

We all stood up together trying to hold our balance as we slowly stepped on the ice. I hadn't been skating in a few years but it came back to me all at once. Before long I was smoothly sailing on the ice. Everyone looked at me with their eyes popping out of their heads, mouths wide open as I start skating backwards with ease.

"Shut up nat, it's not fair." Addi said as her knees buckled. Each time she tried to stand she would wobble and fall over once again.

I looked around once again hoping to see if hermione and harry were here. I spot a couple people wearing red clothing and beanies, making their way onto the ice, meaning Gryffindors were starting to get here. My heart fluttered slightly at the thought of seeing Hermione. "Nat, a little help here?" I turn around to find Addi had landed on her butt and was waiting for me to help her up. "Oh sorry, what happened?" I chuckle lightly trying to make her feel better.

"Oi, there's Natalie!" I hear from behind me, and it sounded like a certain red head's voice. "Ron!" This was greeted with a large bear hug.

"Where's everyone else?" I ask trying to be subtle.

"Oh Harry wasn't feeling too well so he stayed back, and i think Hermione was putting in her skates last I saw her." Ron responded cheerfully.

"I heard my name."

I turn to face the direction of the voice, to see Hermione's beaming smile. "Nothing bad, of course." I replied, earning a small giggle.

"Well let's skate already, my ankles already hurt." Ron groans loudly. We both laughed at him, as we took off on the frozen lake. Everything was perfectly lit up just enough to see what we were doing. as we skated further onto the lake, I noticed Hermione was struggling a bit to stay balanced. I waited for her to catch up.

As she approached me happily, I notice she stumbles a bit and I glided forward to quickly catch her. She grabbed my shoulder for support and smiled at me gratefully. "Thanks, this is probably a sign I should stick to what i'm good at." she laughed.

"But what's the fun in never trying to go out of your comfort zone?" I returned a smile.

"I guess I'm just not as coordinated as you are."

athere was a pause where neither of us said anything as I tried to summon up the courage to do something. I took a deep breathe, and reached down. I slipped my fingers in between her's, grabbing her hand. "I could try to show you."

I glide forward keeping a tight hold on her hand. She follows behind me closely, focusing on keeping her legs sturdy. While I was busy focusing on how breathtaking she looked.

I caught myself staring at her for a couple minutes before she noticed my gaze. "Can I help you with something?" She teased.

"Sorry, I didn't meant to stare." I finally looked away, towards my feet. "That were you staring at anyway?" she giggled. "You, obviously."

"I just.. sorry I meant like.." I tried to find better words but I just kept fumbling with every attempt at a sentence. I just realized hermione never let go of my hand. I looked down at our hands, still interlaced, and then back at Hermione. My eyes begged for an answer from her, but not necessarily using words.

This whole time she kept this meaningful gaze at me, while smiling. I could never tell what was going on in her head or what she was thinking.

She simply leaned forward and kissed me on the lips lightly, like a peck but with more meaning. I stood starstruck, as Ron, Harry, Addi, and Pansy all stared at us with their jaws on the floor. Harry and Ron especially stood frozen in place.

Addi suddenly blurted out , "Finally!"