For Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Assignment One, Meteorology Task Four: write about something or someone frozen
386 words, excluding A/N.
The world was frozen.
The grass that surrounded the little cottage was painted with silver-white frost, crunching under Susan's feet as she slowly walked down the hill. The air was icy, icy enough that her thick coat wasn't enough to keep the chill from her bones and her breath spilled out like smoke.
"Remind me why we're doing this?" asked Justin, shivering. "We could be sitting indoors by the fire."
"It's beautiful," said Susan. "Isn't it?" She gestured to the trees they were heading towards, their branches bare and cold, sharply outlined against the grey sky.
"It is," Justin agreed. "But not beautiful enough to be worth freezing to death for. Nothing is that beautiful. Not even you."
It was a good thing that Susan's cheeks were already red from the cold; it made her embarrassment that much harder to detect. "Come on," she said, taking his hand and leading him to the trees. The golden-brown leaves were frozen stiff. She picked one up and let it crunch in her hand, ignoring the stab of cold that shot through her body.
"It's so fragile," she said, thoughts wandering. "So easily broken."
"If this is going to turn into some kind of metaphor," Justin snapped, "I don't want to hear it."
"Where's your sense of poetry and romance and beauty?" asked Susan, rolling her eyes.
"You know I never had one."
"Let me teach you," said Susan.
"Can't I learn indoors?"
Susan shot him a stare almost as frosty as the ground. "That's not how it works." She picked up another leaf. "But fine. No metaphors. Let's just enjoy it for what it is. Don't you think that crunching sound is lovely?" She let its fragments float gently to the ground.
Justin nodded. He picked up a leaf of his own, but instead of crunching it he tossed it at her, so it hit her face.
Susan scooped up an entire handful and flung them at Justin so that they fell and clung to his coat.
"Take that back," spat Justin, gathering up another pile of leaves.
"Look," replied Susan, ducking quickly, "you started it. It's not my fault." She laughed as she reached to the ground to re-arm herself.