Double sow cow, Triple lutz, double lutz…
She stared in amazement through the glass at the ice rink, watching the older kids take skating lessons. How she wanted to be like them! To have her hair fly out in all directions, falling down low and coming back up with a crown of snow on her head-that would be the most wondrous gift of all.
But she was only a small age of six, still fumbling to lace up her own skate. Her breath condensed as she breathed, blowing smoke every which way. She rubbed her arms through her thin jacket. She never imagined that it would be this cold!
It was no secret thatGinevraEmma Weasley wanted to be an Olympic skater. It was no secret that she desired to be one of the best skaters England will ever see. It was also no secret that she wanted to go into pair skating, not just figure skating. She loved watching two people on the ice, dancing like fairies whirling this way and that in difficult but beautiful patterns. She had yet to see; however, a pair who was truly synchronized-truly together, not only on the ice, but also in the heart. She wanted to be the first one. Her and her partner, whoever he may be, would be the first ones to display such togetherness.
A bell rang, signaling the end of the advanced class and the beginning of the beginners class. Virginia, or Ginny, as she was called at home, nervously stood up in her skate. The blade protector thingies (as she called them) were on, shielding the sharp blade from the carpeted floor. She was already shaking from the cold, but she was awfully determined to show the world that she had some modicum of talent in the petite little body she possessed.
Her family had been very skeptical about her adamant pleas to start skating lessons. They weren't the richest family in the world, but they managed. She had wanted to skate ever since she saw the American skater Michelle Kwan on television. That was when she was three, still playing with Cheerios and squirting milk out of her nose like all three-year-olds do. Her mother had turned on the telly, beckoning her to put down her mess of cereal and milk and watch what was on the screen. Ginny quickly did so and ran over to her mother, clapping her wet, sticky hands together. Her mother laughed a bright, jolly laugh and wiped her hands with the apron she wore.
xFLASHBACKx
"Look at that girl on the telly, Gin-bug. Look at her face. Do you see that determination? Can you see her passion flickering in her eyes? That's a real grown-up girl, Ginny. That's who I want you to be like. Proud, strong, and determined to get what you want. Don't ever let anyone put you down, love."
Her mother held her close as they watched the lady-Ginny couldn't call her a girl-on the screen skate with her heart on her sleeve. They watch her jump and twirl and glide across the ice in her lovely royal purple costume, decorated with sequence. It was an almost ethereal picture of a butterfly, flitting around this way and that.
"Mummy?" said Ginny, looking up at her mother with large, doe-like eyes.
"Yes, love?"
"I wanna be like 'er when I gwow up!" Ginny stood up quickly and began to slide around the living room in her socks. "I wanna fly acwoss the white stuff, Mummy! I wanna wear that pwetty dwess and I wanna 'ump 'ust like 'er!"
Molly Weasley simply laughed and patter her daughter on the head. "I'm sure you'll be just like her, Ginny. Now go get cleaned up. We're going to London today."
"To buy skates?" asked Ginny, innocently smiling up at her mother.
"No, dear. We have to get Charlie his school books."
"THEN can we go buy skates?"
"No, we have to come home after that, dear."
"Then when will I get 'em?"
"Maybe later, love, when you're older."
Ginny paused for a second.
"How 'bout now?"
Molly laughed and waved her away, bustling back into the kitchen to clean up Ginny's mess. Ice skating was a very expensive sport. The skates, the costumes, and the teacher all added to a large sum of money-money that they didn't have. Her husband, Arthur, worked as the head of the Department of Energy in the British government, but he was underpaid and overworked. She herself was a part-time factory worker at the local textile mill. The money they brought in was only enough to send their children to a good boarding school, pay the rent for their house, keep food on their table and decent clothing on their bodies. They usually rode the bus to and from places, or they rode their bikes. There was no money spare for extracurricular activities as petty as ice skating. Molly hated to let her only daughter down like this, but there was no way it could be done. There was just no way unless a miracle happened.
And a miracle did happen. Sometimes, the lake near their house would freeze up. The ice was at least two feet thick, since it was such a small, shallow lake. A lot of the kids from her neighborhood would go down with their ice skates and glide around, cheeks red with merriment. Two months after watching Michelle Kwan skate on the telly, the lake froze. Everyday, Ginny would toddle down to the lake, sometimes with one of her brothers in tow, and watch the skaters.
She always sat on the bench right next to the ice on her knees, growing with anticipation as she watched the kids glide around. Some of them played hockey, while others simply tried to imitate the skaters they saw on television. The adults skated around too, making sure none of the kids got hurt. It was always such a beautiful scene. The only thing that was bad about it was that fact that Ginny herself wasn't out there skating with them. She longed to be out there, playing and gliding with the rest of them! But it wouldn't happen. Dreams like that never happened.
Weeks came and went, and Ginny loyally went down every day to see them. Sometimes, when she brothers were too busy to take her and when the ice was deserted, she would take out two sponges that she had taken from the sink. She would stick them under her shoes and tie them with a rubber band. Glancing to make sure no one saw her, she would carefully step out onto the ice and move her feet in shuffle, trying to get a good glide out of them. This would only last for about five minutes though, because after that, the sponges would be completely soaked and she wouldn't be able stand anymore. Once, she had tried to step on the ice with only her shoes on, but she immediately slipped. After that experience, she made sure she always had something that would hold her up for a while, at least until she got her balance.
During the summer, Ginny would take a pair of Ron's (her other brother) old rollerblades and skate around on the sidewalk in those. Ginny was enrolled into pre-school during the last week of August. By the time September came, she was at a point where she could skate in a straight line on one foot. October rolled around and she could make circles in the pavement. The lake had started to freeze again, and by November, there were kids skating on it.
This particular year; however, Ginny decided that looking forlornly at the skaters would not do her any good. Practicing on rollerblades was a lot better than simply sitting on the sidelines, watching. At least she actually moved and felt like she was getting something done.
And that was when the "miracle man" came, as she called him.
Late one evening, a knock came at the door. Her mother went to go open it. Ginny peeked out from behind the door and saw an elderly-looking man with a long, silver beard trailing to the floor. His twinkling blue eyes shone from behind golden half-moon spectacles, and he carried a small parcel wrapped in brown paper, tucked under his right arm.
"How may I help you?" asked Molly as she looked at the man.
"Is there by any chance a 'Virginia Weasley' here?"
Ginny perked up at the sound of her name. "I'm right here!" she called as she ran to the door, "But who are you?"
"Ah, god question, good question," said man, laughing. His eyes twinkled merrily. "I was wondering why you weren't at the lake anymore."
Molly looked down at her daughter, then back to the man. She then eyed the parcel, eyes widening. Could this be the miracle they have been waiting for?
"Because I want to practice, not watch!"
"Ah, a little girl with such a big dream," he said knowingly. Ginny looked back at him, confused, but said nothing. She watched as he turned to her mother.
"Mrs. Weasley, my name is Albus Dumbledore. I work for a company that builds ice rinks and teach young children how to skate. I have been watching young Miss Weasley for about a year now, and I have never seen such an ostentatious show of talent and devotion! I would like to ask your permission to train her, free of charge. Our new rink needs some publicity, and we're counting on the classes to pay for the construction."
Molly Weasley looked back at him, eyes shining with tears. "Would you really?" she asked, "Would you really train her?"
"Little girls with big dreams are always welcome."
Molly smiled and nodded her head. "Of course, sir, of course. She has been wanting to skate ever since she was three."
Ginny looked at the man bewilderedly. He was going to teach her how to skate? He was going to teach her how to skate like Michelle Kwan? Huzzah!
"And this would be for the little lady," said the man, handing a package down to Ginny. Ginny looked at it for a moment and tore it open. The brown paper wrappings revealed a shiny pair of pure white skates, complete with forest green blade covers and silver laces. She smiled widely and thanked the man, who simply took there, eyes twinkling. He seemed to have a magic aura around him with his all-knowing glance, but magic didn't exist. It must have been her imagination…
"Well, I must be going now. Lessons will start tomorrow at 9 am at the Hogwarts Ice Rink in London. We would also like to see your son, Ron, there. See you soon!" He waved merrily and started down the walkway, whistling happily. Molly waved and shut the door. She turned to her daughter.
"Well, love, I suppose you've gotten your wish granted."
xEND FLASHBACKx
"Would all beginners please step out onto the ice, please," said a voice over the loudspeaker. Ginny and about fifteen other kids got up and walked to the ice. Some fell the moment they stepped on. Others clung to the side, but Ginny stepped onto the ice determined that she would not fall once today and make a fool of her self. She slowly glided to a wall and leaned against it, waiting for the instructor.
The instructor was a severe man, forehead creased with frown lines. His onyx black eyes gleamed with malice as he surveyed each and every one of the children who were lined up against the wall, shaking from the cold and his glare. His hair was slicked back and his long, bony finger stuck out, pointing at one of the little boys who was hanging onto the wall for dear life itself.
"You. Name."
"Ne-Neville Longbottom, sir."
"Can you tell me, Neville, how to execute a spread eagle?"
"N-no, sir."
A girl next to Ginny raised her hand, but the instructor ignored her.
"You, boy with the glasses. What is the speed at which I need to propel myself in order to get a decent sow cow?"
"What does 'pro-peel' mean?" the boy asked. The instructor rolled his eyes. The girl next to Ginny only stretched her hand up further.
"Humph. You bunch are not worthy of being selected. How many of you have actually skated before in your life?"
No one raised a hand.
"My name is Severus Snape, and I will be your instructor for the length of this course, which only lasts, thank God, for six weeks. Those of you who do well in this class will be placed with scholarship in an intermediate class. The rest of you shall be…expelled."
His voice was deathly quiet, but everyone heard him. He was one of those instructors who didn't need to demand respect. Everyone was already afraid of him.
"I will now take roll. Brown, Lavender."
A small "here" was heard.
"Chang, Cho; Creevy, Colin; Diggory, Cederic; Finnegan, Seamus; Winters, Jehanne."
"Here!" they said, and there was a small "present" that was heard. Snap looked up and saw Jehanne, blushing furiously, but smiling all the same. He grumbled and resumed droning out names.
"Granger, Hermione; Longbottom, Neville; Lovegood, Luna; Malfoy, Draco; Parkinson, Pansy; Patel, Parvati; Potter, Harry; Freudenthal, Klaus; Weasley, Ron; Weasley, Ginny; and Zabini, Blaise."
"Here!" they chorused.
"Seems like all you brats are here, except one who is 'present.' Now, we will first learn how to pry ourselves from the wall. Push off slowly, bend your knees slightly, keep your back straight. If it helps with balance, stick your arms out."
Ginny did as she was told, remembering how she skated with rollerblades. Rollerblading was just like ice skating, wasn't it? So this shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Neville fell the second his arm left the wall. Harry's arms flailed around (he was the kid with the glasses). Hermione (who was standing next to Ginny) outright skated without listening to Snape's instruction. She came to a stop about five feet away from the wall, waiting for the others to join her. A blonde boy by the name of Draco Malfoy did what Snape said but then skate out like Hermione, only he went further. He looked Ginny, who was still skating slowly, telling herself that ice skating was just like rollerblading and she shouldn't be afraid. He smirked at the sight of her, laughing at how cowardly she was being. Ginny's eyes flashed with anger and she stood straight up and skated quickly toward him, intending to show him that she could skate. She stopped a foot away from him.
"I'm not scared, blondie."
He only smirked again, and turned to watch the others. Ron was skating slowly but surly toward his sister. Blaise with her stick legs was trying to help her friend Pansy, with chubby legs, stay upright. Lavender and Parvati were clutching each other's hands, praying that they would get out of skating lessons alive. Jehanne was holding her hand out to Klaus, who had fallen about three feet from the wall. Seamus seemed to be whistling an old Irish jig as he…jumped? He was bouncing up and down, moving slowly across the ice with his hops. Colin was holding on tight to his camera, which hung around his neck. Cho and Cederic were holding hands and skating cautiously toward Hermione, whom they seemed to know.
Ginny watched Snape sake his head at the clumsiness that surrounded him. His eyes were turned upward, as if he was asking God why He had given him such a talentless, stupid bunch of children.
"We're going to keep working on this until you get it right!" said Snape, obviously annoyed. He pulled Neville up roughly by the arm. "And we're going to start with all those who fell. Weasley, Weasley, Malfoy, Granger, Winters, and Freudenthal….and Finnegan, I suppose. I want five laps around the other half of the rink, understand? Don't come back until you finish them. Finnegan, get that hop out of your glide. You look like a rabbit already. Don't go acting like one. Freudenthal, I've seen you skate before. Don't think your 'I don't know how to doing anything' act will get you off the hook here. Winters, don't help him. He can help himself. Weasley, bend your knees some. And Malfoy…just go."
The six of them skated off to the other end of the rink with Draco leading them, followed closely by Ginny, who refused to be seen second to anyone. Hermione kept looking back at Harry, who was staring at the floor. Jehanne and Klaus were currently discussing…politics? For six-year-olds, they seemed to be pretty tuned to the news. They were currently arguing which democrat had the better platform: Dean or Kerry. The two were obviously from America. "How'd they end up here?" Ginny wondered aloud as she skated at a steady pace just in front of the two.
"We just moved here. Our daddies got swapped from Norfold in America to London. They be in the mili-try."
Ginny blushed at the fact that they overheard her. "Oh."
"My name's Jehanne," said the girl who had dark, black hair and glittering black eyes. She stuck out her hand, tanned bronze from the sun.
"I'm Ginny," she replied, taking the girl's hand.
"I'm Klaus," said the boy with amber eyes and brown hair. A spray of freckles dotted his nose providing a bit of contrast to his somewhat fair skin.
"MOVE it! You are so slow!" came a cry from behind. Draco Malfoy was skating toward them. His aristocratic features were screwed up in a glare. The four quickly moved out of his way and continued skating.
"Just ignore Draco," said Klaus, "He's just being a big meanie-head. We live down the street from him."
"I'm…sorry?"
Jehanne laughed and shook her head. "Let's go back to Snape. We're done."
The four of them glided back to the rest of the class, where Snape was waiting impatiently, tapping his foot. Everyone was tired and sweaty. They were also freezing their tushies off.
"I'm going to pair you off now. You will be practicing how to skate in sync with one another. To do this, you must have rhythm. Each skate must touch the ice at the same time. This is a singles and pairs class-it is only the basics of skating, so don't go complaining to me about how you don't intend to do something. There will be a mix. Now, I want Brown and Creevy together, Chang and Diggory, Finnegan and Granger, Freudenthal and Parkinson, Lovegood and Longbottom, Patel and Malfoy, Potter and Weasley female, Weasley male and Winters, and Zabini with Thomas, who is THIRTY MINUTES LATE!"
A black boy cutely huffed onto the rink. "Sorry sir. Just got back from soccer practice."
Snape glared at him and pointed to Blaise. Dean Thomas reluctantly skated toward the black-haired girl with dangerous brown eyes.
"These partners were assigned by alphabetical order, except for Thomas, who messed up my system. They will change every time I see you until the proper partner has been found. Now move it! I want two perfect, in sync laps!"
Malfoy started skating quickly while Parvati scrambled to keep up only to find herself falling numerous times. Snape rolled his eyes. Lavender and Colin could do two steps, Cho and Cederic figured it out pretty quickly, as did Harry, Ginny, Seamus, Hermione, Zabini, and Thomas. The rest of them caught on a while later. Jehanne was skating backwards holding Ron's hands as he skated forwards in an effort to get him to skate faster while Luna and Neville struggled along but made some progress. Poor Klaus was practically holding up Pansy in an effort to keep her upright. Needless to say, he would feel it in the morning.
"Most of you have somewhat improved today," said Snape, when the class was over. "At least you can stand. I expect each one of you back here at nine o'clock sharp in two days. Anyone who is late will stay after and wash the bathrooms. Is that clear?"
Everyone nodded his or her head and Snape dismissed them. As they exited the rink, a lady handed them a towel. "Showers are in the locker rooms. Your clothes are also in there."
Ginny and Jehanne sat down on a bench to unlace their skates. Klaus sat on the bench opposite of theirs. He ended up helping Jehanne and Ginny-the girls' fingers were frozen, and they had tied their knots too tight.
"Oo. Lookie here-Freudenthal's bendin' down like a servant," said Draco, walking over to them, carrying his black skates.
"Shut up, Malfoy. Your act is dumb."
Draco glared at Klaus menacingly. His face softened a moment later after his grey eyes surveyed the room. No one else was there. An eyebrow arched perfectly over his right eye as he said, "Oh, really?"
"Yup!" replied Jehanne, happily. "I want ice cream. Wanna get some later, Drake?"
"Whatever."
"Yo, Malfoy, dad at two o' clock," butted in Klaus.
The blonde-haired boy glanced behind him and indeed saw his father approaching the glass doors that separated the interior from the exterior. He made a mad dash toward the locker rooms and disappeared. Klaus shook his head. "Scared of his daddy, that one is. His daddy's real mean."
"Oh," said the redhead, quietly.
"Ginny!"
Ginny turned around and saw her mother walking toward her.
"Hey, Mum!"
"Hello, love. Who are your friends?"
"That's Jehanne and that's Klaus. They from America."
"Oh, I see. So who's winning for the democratic nomination over there? Dean or Kerry?"
"It's so Dean!" shouted Klaus, standing up immediately, "he's real popular and he's got a whole lot of ads!"
"No, it's Kerry! Dean's got no ex-ex..experience! He only a doctor! You know, the evil ones who make us eat medicine. Kerry at least has some background."
"Dean!"
"Kerry!"
"Dean!"
"Did someone say my name?" asked Dean when he came out of the locker room, holding his bag of clothes. The two American sniggered and shook their heads. It was, after all, just one of those things that were funny when they weren't explained.
TBC
A/N: Click the review button and give me suggestions! If there are any plot holes, please tell me! Constructive criticism welcome, just not flames. I think flames are useless and do nothing but hurt the author and the readers. Thanks for reading!