Disclaimer: Sadly, these characters are not mine (except for cutie-pie Marie), I am just playing with them.

Warnings: occasional swearing.

Author's Notes: SS/HG romance. This story begins three years after the end of Deathly Hallows. I know it is summer now, but maybe you would like to cool down a bit and read a story about winter.

"You can't blame gravity for falling in love."

-Albert Einstein

Immediately after Apparition Hermione's nose was hit with a strong stink. She looked around and quickly found the source of the unpleasant smell. It turned out that the only Apparition point in town was located near the big garbage can behind some shabby house. She could not contain an exasperated sigh. This was amazing really, there had to be dozens of secluded places in Alpe d'Huez, but wise wizards decided to choose exactly this one. However she should not be at all surprised, as a total lack of common sense and logic was so typical for wizarding community.

Hermione took shrunken suitcase out of her pocked and turned it back to its original size. She did not really need a suitcase as such, because there was nothing that could not fit in her small bag with Undetectable Extension charm. But it was strictly for propriety sake, as it would be strange and suspicious to arrive at a hotel full of muggles with only a small bag on her shoulder and stay there for several weeks in a row.

The hotel in which she was going to stay was in 20 minutes' walk distance. It was late afternoon of December the 1st, so it was already getting dark, but the darkness made this town even prettier. The lights on the streets were already turned on, illuminating Christmas decorations, which were present in abundance on every window, and Christmas trees small and big. The snow was slowly falling around. All in all there was a merry cheerful atmosphere of upcoming holidays that made every person's spirits elevated. Too bad that Hemione did not have anybody to share her current contentment with, but this was solely her fault that she estranged her friends and made her parents afraid of her. She already regretted her decision to leave Crookshanks with Harry and Ginny. Nevertheless Hermione was determined to stay true to the initial purpose of this trip: to temporarily separate herself from all the worries and agitation of the after-war rebuilding wizarding Britain and sort out her own mixed feelings.

She walked along the streets and every place felt familiar to her. Hermione used to spend all her summer vacations here with her parents and several weeks during winter, now it seemed so unbelievably long ago like it happened to a completely different person, but she was a completely different person back then, so naive and innocent. Time changed her, but tender memories already tinted with sadness remained.

When Hermione was four years old her parents brought her to Alpe d'Huez for the first time, at six she started skiing. The summer after her second year at Hogwarts was the last time she was here. After that her life became too busy, she was, understandably, too much occupied with the events in the wizarding world, receiving mental and physical traumas, seeing horrors she would never forget and creating base for her future nightmares.

Finally Hermione reached her destination: hotel M. It was four-floored wooden house which looked just like she remembered. There were intricate carvings around each window, red and green lights went well with the color of the wood creating the air of coziness. And the best thing was a cute reindeer with a scarf around its neck which was standing on the rooftop and smiling brightly at everybody. She was really envious of this optimism.

She descended down the stairs leading to the lobby. The hotel was rather small, so Hermione considered herself to be quite lucky to obtain a nice room on the fourth floor with a view of the Alps. This house obviously did not have a lift, and Hermione grateful that she was a witch levitated her luggage while nobody was looking with a complacent smile gracing her lips.

The unpacking was fairly quick process, because she wisely decided not to unpack the enormous amount of things she had taken with her, but instead just took her skis and ski equipment out of the small bag which was in the suitcase. She put it neatly in the corner of the room. Then she took out her night things and started to get ready for sleep. It was still too early for that, but she did not sleep well the last couple of nights, in addition fresh mountain air had a calming effect on her, thus she was already really sleepy.

Soon Hermione was in bed. With contented sigh she closed her eyes and was fast asleep in no time.

Hermione woke up feeling well rested for the first time in many days. The room was bathing in the sunlight as the curtains were forgotten to be drawn. She stretched, then stood up and came to the window. Impulsively she opened it wide letting cold winter air wash over her. Peculiar feeling enveloped her body: this very second a new stage of her life began and she was ready to welcome it.

Quickly Hermione dressed and descended for breakfast. She was sitting at the table drinking her usual morning tea when a young woman came to her table. Hermione eyed her curiously. There was nothing special about her appearance, except for the fact that she possessed a rare kind of beauty: long dark blonde hair, big blue eyes, rosy cheeks that served as an actual evidence that she was spending a fair share of her time outside breathing fresh mountain air.

"Excuse me. Don't you recognize me?" said the woman quite forwardly with a slight French accent. Hermione was surprised but looked at her more closely, after several seconds realization dawned on her.

"Marie, Marie Easton." Young woman's face immediately brightened up. "Sorry, I haven't recognized you straight away. It was so long ago..." Hermione stood up unsure what to say next. It seemed like a ghost from the past suddenly appeared before her. But she was freed from the responsibility of creating a reply as Marie pulled her into a hug.

"Oh, don't worry, it's ok. I have only guessed it was you, Hermione, because of your hair." Her smile widened. "Time passes but some things about us never change, don't they."

Hermione's confusion melted away at the direct physical contact with the ghost and was replaced by delight of meeting her old friend from the Muggle world. Apparently her hair became even bushier here in snowy weather, if it was even possible, she noted ironically.

"It's very much true" Hermione readily agreed with the smile of her own. "And I am glad for it; otherwise we wouldn't know ourselves anymore." She sighed. "So happy to see you anyway."

"Me to. You've got to tell me what where you up to all these years and why you haven't come to visit me earlier." There was a flash of reproach in Marie's eyes, and Hermione felt a brief pang of guilt, even though she knew perfectly well that there was not a single reason for her to be guilty.

"Of course I will, I just was so busy that..." Hermione trailed off again feeling how lame her words sounded, but she just could not explain what was happening in her life, as Marie did not know about existence magic and the whole separate Wizarding world. And it's not something she could tell a Muggle over a cup of tea. Something must have shown on her face because Marie immediately introduced another topic of conversation.

"But I am sure you will adore our town all over again, when you see how peaceful and relaxing it is. You know, it has changed very little over the years, so you'll certainly recognize most of it. Anyway, I have to work now and I'm sure you have plans for the day, but I'll be delighted if we have a chat in the evening." Marie swept her hair back in a characteristic gesture and inclined her head, eyeing Hermione carefully.

"That will be great. How about seven?" Hermione asked smiling again as she had already managed to snap out of her annoying thoughts how she'll never be able to be completely honest with her old friend.

"Great. In my office then, it's right down the hall there."

"Ok, see you then."

"Have a nice day, Hermione."

"You too, Marie." And Marie was gone in a moment.

For some time afterwards Hermione was sitting deep in thought. So deep actually that she tried to drink out of sugar-bawl instead of her cup. It was all slightly bewildering. Well, if she was really honest with herself, coming to the small town where she spent enough time in her childhood, for some reason she had not really expected to meet people she knew. The thought had not even crossed her mind.

Marie Easton was three years older than her and Marie's parents were the owners of this hotel. Also if Hermione remembered correctly her mother was French and her father English. Hermione and Marie were playmates and used to spend a lot of the time together whenever Hermione came here. However, after Hermione went to Hogwarts and faced all the problems which were attached to the revelation that she was a witch, any contact with Marie was gradually lost. They went completely separate ways in life up until now and Hermione almost completely forgot her old friend. Hermione was pleased to meet Marie again, the person who knows nothing about war and horrors she had lived through and of whom Hermione had only positive memories. It was refreshing to feel herself an ordinary woman for once and pretend that she lived an ordinary life like everyone else. But with that came one complication: Hermione had to lie to Marie about her past and create a believable backstory for herself today. Joy.

Hermione went up to her room. Her initial point of coming here was to try to ski without using any kind of magic, with wand or not. To ski as she used to in her childhood, when she did not know what powers she possessed. She reckoned that it would help her clear her head and skiing using magic was no fun, also it seemed like cheating: maybe it was silly, but she truly hated the sound of the word. Nevertheless, Hermione was not going to leave her wand in the room - with her history of misfortunes any kind of emergency was possible.

She changed into her ski suit, then took her ski, poles, ski goggles, helmet, (arhhh how she imagined she would carry all that stuff), gloves, and boots and went out of the hotel. She promptly decided not to take a bus, but instead went on foot. Halfway to the gondola lift Hermione regretted her reckless decision as ski and ski equipment were rather heavy to carry in hands; however it was too late to back down.

When Hermione finally reached her destination, she clearly understood that she was totally out of shape. She bought a ski pass for two weeks and a map of Alpe d'Huez Grand Domaine Ski Area, which combined the resorts of Alpe d'Huez, Auris-en-Oisans and several others. It was one of the biggest ski domains in Alps and had several very long as well as difficult pistes. While she was in gondola she applied sunscreen to her nose and cheeks. It was a procedure Hermione had never forgotten to do after her rather unfortunate (and quite funny ... for others) sunburn in the shape of the goggles. Then she opened the map and began to study it closely making an approximate plan of today's journey in her head.

Hermione was certain that her skiing skills was as rusty as they could possibly get, and as much as she wanted to hope that it was like riding a bike she very much doubted the truthfulness of this idea. So naturally she decided to start with the green pistes, the easiest ones. Soon she discovered that skiing was indeed not like riding a bike, however, at the same time she did not feel like she was stating completely anew: her body was adapting and trying hard to remember the proper moves.

Mountains are scary and intimidating in general, Alps in particular, and it actually takes time for the one to get comfortable with the idea of skiing among them. After a couple of hours of reminding herself that she was a damn Gryffindor and that she had fought in the damn war, Hermione finally felt long-awaited sense of freedom that usually comes when skier becomes more or less comfortable on skis and sure in his or her own abilities. This allowed Hermione to relax and really enjoy the magnificent captivating snowy scenery all around her. The weather was amazing. Slopes were superb. She was free.

The task of creating a plausible story for herself turned out to be no near as complicated as she feared: she easily did it over lunch sitting in a restaurant, while her aching feet rested on a chair next to hers (because obviously sense of propriety disappeared this high over the sea level together with the decent prices). Also in all honesty Hermione counted on Maria's tactfulness in the hopes that she would not ask too many inconvenient questions.

As it happened her high hopes were not wasted in vain. The evening was actually spent in a really lovely manner, once the conversation got over the part where Hermione had to tell something about her past. Marie did not press her to tell a lot and certainly did not ask for details seeing that this topic was uncomfortable for her friend; Hermione was deeply grateful for it.

Hermione told her that she finished boarding school in Scotland. Marie looked at her sympathetically, obviously disapproving of Mr. and Mrs. Granger's decision to send their daughter to such a school in the first place, sadly she could not know that there was no actual decision making involved. Then fictional-Hermione received her bachelor degree in Economics in London, after that she wanted to take a year-long break to travel, her parents disagreed, thus they seriously argued and currently fictional- and real-Hermione was on no-speaking terms with them (alas for very different reasons) as they had not made up yet. Luckily fictional-Hermione saved enough money during her studies and also when she was still at school her aunt died and for some reason left some money to her niece in the will (by the way second fact was true to real-Hermione as well). So fictional-Hermione was able to carry on her plan in spite of her parents' opinion.

The look on Marie's face clearly conveyed that she did not completely believe everything Hermione said, but she did not question further to Hermione's relief. Regrettably she was never an accomplished liar.

After the difficult part of the evening was safely over, Hermione discovered some facts about Marie's life, however, only some because, like Hermione, Marie was not overly eager to talk about it, now at least. And, like Marie, Hermione felt that she was not being told everything.

Marie's parents died in a car accident when she was studying in Grenoble University. Thus she did not have the chance to finish her education because being an only heir she had no other choice but to take on her parents' hotel business. It was her heritage and she did not have the heart to sell it. Although Hermione could recall how Mr. and Mrs. Easton looked for the life of her, she had a distant childhood impression that they were nice people and was truly sorry to hear about their death.

In the end mutual understanding was found and they comfortably talked about other things including books, Hermione's well known forever favourite subject of discussion. Marie turned out to be a great companion and it was genuine pleasure to talk as well as listen to her.

Two weeks of marvelous weather with brilliant crisp mornings had passed. Hermione was as confident on her skis as she ever was, the last bits of apprehension disappeared and she explored numerous slopes of the mountains with great enthusiasm feeling her general level of fitness increase. The only thing she was disconcerted about was her loneliness, an absence of a person to spend her day with. This sense was especially accurate sometimes while skiing, sometimes while sitting in the restaurant, it was not constantly present but it made quite regular visits into her mind. Of course, Hermione tried to smother it, but she was not always successful. It was quite difficult to sort out her mixed feelings: yes, she was lonely, but she did not want to make an effort of meeting new people and making new friends here. Building a relationship was always abstruse process for her which required far too much effort. Also it seemed like everybody were coming to this resort already with company without a slightest intention of making new acquaintances. Certainly there was Marie, but she was quite busy all the time with her hotel business.

But regrettably such weather simply could not continue for indefinite amount of time, especially in Alps. Finally grim grey clouds covered the sun shedding an enormous amount of wet snow on earth. However, Hermione's stubbornness did not let her merely stay at home and enjoy hot chocolate that day, she just had to go and ski as usual.

She chose to go on the other side of the Ski Domaine in order to find there more plausible weather. Her assumptions turned out to be true and she prepared for another delightful day. Though as it often happens not everything went as planned and a sudden disruption made its undesirable appearance.

Hermione was descending moderately difficult slope when an unfortunate patch of ice made her ski slip throwing her off balance. In the attempt to restore her equilibrium she abruptly changed her trajectory causing her to collide with another luckless skier, who obviously was in the completely wrong place in the completely wrong time. They both fell and positively rolled down till the end of the slope which happily was not far down. Gravity is astonishingly cruel from time to time.

After seemingly unending spinning and swirl of white and grey Hermione was lying on her back gazing at the piercingly blue sky above. There was only a single cloud which, she was considering, looked remarkably like a frog. She was thinking about how she could really see its round bulging eyes, when a sound of somebody trying to get out of the snow intruded into her ears. Then...

"Fuck! Fuck! Buggering fucking hell!" followed by "shit" for good measure. At that she blinked a couple of times and then dissolved into a fit of giggles still with her eyes skyward.

"What the fuck are you snickering about? Is it funny to you or you just hit your head too hard?"

Hermione's giggles intensified, but suddenly they abruptly stopped as she realized that the male voice sounded vaguely familiar. It was the deep voice that she had spent six years of her life listening to in Potions classes, with the exception that it had never pronounced such words, in her hearing at least.

Hermione took of her goggles and raised herself on one elbow. Another skier, whom she had obviously severely offended, drifted into her line of vision. And the most unusual sight in her life was presented before her eyes. Prominent nose, fathomless black eyes glaring down at her with hardly suppressed surprise mixed with anger - there was no mistake, this was Severus Snape.

"Merlin, I really did hit my head too hard," she murmured and fell back on the snow with a low thud.

So what are your thoughts? Reviews and constructive criticism are very welcome.