Professor Choloe Kelly stood in her quarters in front of the mirror, and stripped off her teaching robes and frowned. What happened to her once svelte body? She had been a size 8 for years and years...and now?
She had used the excuse of approaching 40 but then she saw other women who were well into their 40s who were svelte. She sighed. Too much sitting, and too much eating and drinking. Her teaching robes concealed her heft to some degree, but not enough.
Diet and exercise. She'd get good about one and bad about the other, then switch. She never could seem to get things synchronized, and a size 16 was a result. The only kind of exercise she liked to do, she was hesitant about. A knock on her door interrupted her train of thought, and she instinctively covered herself.
"Who is it?" she called.
"Professor Snape."
She sighed with annoyance. "Just a minute," she said, quickly putting her robe back on. "What the hell does that moody old git want..." she murmured, then thought better of it; he wasn't but a year or two older than she. She opened the door and looked up at him. He was dressed all in black, scowling, as usual, his black stringy hair almost touching his shoulders.
"I am told that you have an extra copy of the textbook you are using in your class -- I'm very interested in reading it and can't seem to find it anywhere. May I borrow it?"
"Oh, of course. Do come in," she said. She had been teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts for a little over 2 months, fresh from the USA. It was a culture shock for her but it was a fascinating place. The difference between the way Witchcraft and Wizardry was taught in the US and Europe wasn't that great, but the people were way different, much more formal and reserved. She liked the faculty here, but Snape annoyed her. She had tried to joke around with him on more than one occasion but had always been met with a scowl, so she had given up, and just did her best to be civil. She took the extra copy of the textbook and handed it to him.
"Thank you. I'll return it when I am finished. Do you know where I might find a copy to purchase?"
"I could look into it for you; I'll send an owl to the publishers."
"Surely you must realize I've already done that," he said in a condescending tone. Chloe made a face at him, her wide-set green eyes blazing.
"Keep that copy as long as you want. It's an extra," she said. "Good evening," she dismissed him, eager to get he and his attitude the hell out of her room. He bade her a good evening and left.
Glancing at the clock, she saw it was almost 10 PM. What could she do to get herself back in shape? She walked to her window and could see the lake from there. Did she dare try it again? It had been a few years since she had put on her skates, and she had brought them. She got her skating bag out of the closet and put them on. Oh how they hurt. No, this would have to wait, she decided, unlacing them. It would keep.
The next morning at breakfast, she decided to eat differently. She skipped the breakfast meats and heavy breads and took fruit and cottage cheese instead, then went to teach a full day of classes.
That evening, she was looking out at the shimmering lake again, shimmering under the full moon. "There's no time like the present," she told her fat reclection, and pulled on a pair of sweats over kneepads, a t shirt, and a sweat shirt over that. None of her skating attire would fit, and she wasn't going to try; it would just frustrate her more. She grabbed her wand and opened her door, making sure no one was in the hall to see her, holding her skates in her hand. She made a mental note to put them in a bag the next time, and perhaps stash them in her classroom. The students were all in bed, so she quickly went down the stairs and made her way to the lake which was quite a hike.
A twenty minute walk had her breathing pretty heavily by the time she arrived at the side of the lake. She raised her wand. "Acquas frigitas!" she said, and the lake instantly froze. "Glace-lisse!" she said and the ice was immediately smoothed to a glasslike finish, perfect for skating. The best Zamboni driver in the world couldn't have done a better ice cut.
She sat down on a log and put on her skates, and fitted the rubber guards over them, and walked, wobbily, to the edge of the ice, and leaned against a tree to remove the guard of her left skate, then stepped out onto the ice, and removed the other. She put them down on the ground and began stroking the ice with her blades. Oh her feet were killing her. She did a large circuit and then stopped and sat at the edge. Her feet were cramped up like knots, and she was huffing and puffing. "How did I get SO out of shape?" she asked no one in particular. She rested, then got up again and began gaining momentum. It was as if her body knew what to do, but it was just not used to doing it anymore. She did an edge change and began skating backwards, the wind blowing her hair into her eyes. She pushed it back, making a mental note to bring clips the next time, and then set up a spin. Only when she stepped onto her spinning leg, her leg did not want to hold her up, and it buckled beneat her. She was glad she had worn the knee pads.
Chloe had always skated as a kid. She had never not been able to spin, so this was very distressing. She got up and instead of a whole wind up into a spin, she stepped into one from a standstill. This went a little bit better, except it was wobbly and she couldn't cross her foot in front the way she used to. She had always been a fantastic spinner so she cursed herself, then decided to try a jump. Just a simple waltz jump. No fanfare, no setup. She stepped onto her left foot and jumped in the air, with a half turn, and slam-landed on both feet instead of one. "I suck!" she said to herself. She tried it again and this time landed on her right foot, but it was not a good controlled landing, and she hardly popped up at all. Her timing was sadly, way off.
Next she tried a salchow. That went well. She set it up from a back outside edge, stepped forward onto a forward outside edge, did a 3 turn and UP! She felt like she could have doubled it if she had wanted to, but it had been an awfully long time since she had done a double salchow.
Finally, she decided she had had enough and didn't want to overdo it. She Went to the edge, took her skates off, and undid her freezing spell so no one would be the wiser, then hiked back to Hogwarts and to her classroom, where she stashed her skates, then stole quietly upstairs. No one saw her. This would be her little secret!