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It’s cold.
It’s cold and there is snow on the ground.
It’s cold, there’s snow on the ground, and Hermione Granger is not happy.
When she agreed to go on this Girls Only trip, she imagined a tropical island or maybe even a touristy place. Ginny and Pansy promised she would love the mini-vacation right before the holidays.
But it’s cold, there’s snow on the ground, she is unhappy, and her friends are nowhere in sight.
With a huff, Hermione stands from her perch on one of the wooden benches in front of the main cabin. Her friends are somewhere up the mountain, waiting for their turn to ski. Even with magic, Hermione doesn’t like the idea of falling on her bum while in the vicinity of strangers, so she said “Absolutely not!” and said she’d be fine.
She regrets her decision now.
As soon as she walks into the cabin, a familiar voice shouts out, “Mila!”
There is only one person who calls her that, and when she turns, there is Viktor, bundled up in a deep brown coat lined with fur. Hermione frowns a bit.
“Viktor? What are you doing here?”
“You are not happy to see me?” He shoots her a blindingly beautiful smile, then frowns back at her. “You are cold.”
He removes his wand from an inner pocket of his coat, and waves it in front of her. Immediately, she stops shivering with a whispered, “Thanks.”
“You forget you are a witch again.” Viktor’s voice is teasing. He doesn’t mean anything bad , but Hermione’s frown deepens, and her mouth purses. “You are alone?”
“They’re… Up there, skiing.”
Viktor smiles again, pure happiness on his face. “Then I am here for you, Mila.”
“Oh, that’s not –”
“We skate, yes? It is beautiful on the lake.”
The lake.
An actual lake.
As in, it was once water and only cold temperatures are responsible for a thin sheet of ice, and she’s supposed to put her entire weight on it? In addition to everyone else already on it?
“No, thank you.” She sounds almost prim when she responds to Viktor, as though that will ease the rejection. But he only rolls his eyes at her and takes her hand, leather glove on mitten. She says warningly, “Viktor.”
“Mila.”
His stupid eyes are twinkling at her; Hermione is sure if she looks hard enough, she’ll see stars twinkling in them. So she sighs and allows him to lead her back outside, though he’s nice enough to set a warming charm on her so she doesn’t begin shivering again.
“Trust me?”
Hermione feels one side of her mouth twitch upwards. “Always.”
They disapparate with a small crack and reappear on an unfamiliar lake.
Literally on the lake.
Hermione screeches and grabs onto Viktor’s biceps. Her shoes aren’t made for ice – none are, really – and she already feels off-balance. Viktor chuckles, a deep rumbling sound that reverberates from his chest, and twirls his wand toward their feet. It’s a good thing she’s holding on to him because she lifts off the ice momentarily while he replaces her flat shoes with a pair of white ice skates. His own are black.
“No, no, no,” she chants.
Honestly, there is no reason for anyone to need to stand on razor thin blades.
Stand on razor thin blades and move.
Stand on razor thin blades, move, and not fall.
But Viktor stows his wand back inside his coat and takes both of her hands in his. Slowly, he pushes her away from his body, but continues to hold her. He glides backwards and pulls her along with him.
“Viktor!”
“Do not worry,” he says, a promise in his eyes and that same bright smile on his lips. “Move with me. Like when we were younger. At Yule Ball.”
She almost smiles.
She almost smiles, but she doesn’t want to because this is not what she wanted for a Girls Trip.
She almost smiles, but she doesn’t want to, even though Viktor’s words have brought back memories of the first time she’d ever felt beautiful.
Felt beautiful and was told she was beautiful.
And then Viktor brings her closer and they’re dancing on ice. Hermione is sure that he’s using magic, because there is absolutely no way she is this good at skating.
“Should I say sorry for appearing on your trip?”
Hermione ducks her head, but she can’t hide the smile on her face from him. Not when he lets go of one hand and tilts her face up to look at him. She shakes her head in answer.
Perhaps all she needed to get out of her bad mood was her fiance.