I know - I have quite a number of unfinished stories, but the bunny hoppling by was so annoying that I had to write it down, for I couldn't concentrate on anything else and neither could I sleep -.-° The story is somehow inspired by they storm going on outside for, what, four nights and days? It's annoying. So here you go with a story appropriate for a winter without real snow until now (at least in Nothern Germany)...I hope you'll enjoy it...somehow. :) (First to recognize the reference gets a cookie ^^)

By the way: You may keep the typos: Sue my cat-.-°

And..well...again: If you hate slash, why bother reading this and waste time on flaming? Really, don't you have someting better to do? Imagine how many good hetero one-shots you could read instead of writing down how immoral the whole thing is...it's just an advice...you don't have to follow it, I like you even if you flame, because that means that you care...somehowXD And I like laughing:D

~w~

Storytitle: Winterreise

Rating: For now öhm...I think I rate T, though this chapter is definitely K+ :D (Bambi's Mom died in Bambi and I found it disturbing as a child)

Warnings: ...well...people and animals die in this chapter...

Pairings: None in this chapter

Summary: See description.

Disclaimer: Well, I'd sure be dissed if I claimed the characters appearing in this story...So, no, I don't hold any copyrights of Harry and all the other characters...but I borrow them to play a little, ok? JKR, Warner Bros and an endless list of other people own this. Oh, and the Winterreise is a wonderful work by Franz Schubert. Listen to it - it's great! Plot = Mine (yey..at least something that belongs to me besides my cat^^)

~w~

Prologue

~w~

It was dark. The last rays of the weak winter sun were long-lost to the fast approaching night,
leaving no warmth behind, but a piercing chill. It had snowed all day, leaving everything
under a thick cover, but now the sky starry and devoid of clouds. A crescent moon shone
down upon the still, white landscape. The cold breeze blowing caressed the old oak standing
in the middle of nowhere. It made the leaves brush against each other, causing a soft rustling.
Here and there was a faint creaking to be heard, when one of the old branches was caught by a
particularly strong squall or surrendering to the weight of the snow. Otherwise everything was
quiet. Most creatures living in the field nearby were asleep, except for the predators,
hunting their prey under the veil of the velvety darkness. There, the cry of an owl.
Then again nothing, but silence.

It had been a stormy autumn, followed by a fierce and bitter winter. Many of the animals
hibernating in the ground, ponds and caves had already died due to the constantly unusually
low temperatures. Everything else alive in woods and meadows was struggling to survive in
the high snow which had been there since the untimely end of autumn. A night as quiet as this
one was an exception. For nearly two months, blizzards had wrecked havoc upon the country,
destroying the forests, aswell as the cities of men, with their unstoppable winds, coming down
from the cold north. People feared to go outside. Those unfortunate souls who had not found
place to hide from the everlasting cold had mostly lost their lives to winter's fierce grip.
Scientists were calling it the coldest winter ever since 1709.

The atmosphere in this particular night was quite gloomy and tense. Men and animals alike
were waiting for the wind to become stronger, the clouds to form in the sky and the next
vicious snowstorm to assault their shelters once again. Roaring and trying to tear everything
in its way apart.

Silence. Menacing, stirring a deep-rooted fear in all living being. The calm before the storm.

~w~

Well...it looked like more in word... and since I'm too lazy to try to work out how to arrange this into a nice format in , I'll leave it like this-.-° Maybe I'll try tomorrow or so...

I hope you found it somehow interesting (wuhuu...snow and wind and silence...well done ...ähh...yeah...) and will join me in the next chapter...^^ Until then goodnight...

lg lu^^ (and cat...she snores-.-°)

I like reviewing readers (= readers who review...) and non-reviewing ones...but it is somehow good to have one's mistakes pointed out, so feel free to comment:) *arranges cookies and hot chocolate to warm you after this chapter*