A/N: Ill again…but with finals coming up! Yay! bleeeeeah
Potions class was torturous. The assignment required complete focus and concentration, both of which were in short supply.
Emerging into sunlight was painful as well, as my eyes seemed to have rebelled. They no longer obeyed my will to keep them open, and began to sink shut even during lunch. I kept jerking awake inches above my cold slices of ham and cheese. Coming out of that floating, falling sensation was interesting as, I almost fell off of the bench. Fun.
I finally put my head down and gave up on trying to eat. At least the last of my classes were over for the Christmas holiday. Granted, the holiday didn't start for a couple days, but the relief was overwhelming. The only homework we had now were projects that could thankfully be put off until after Christmas. Procrastinating wasn't something I usually did, but at the time, it seemed so appealing.
After a short nap – which I am sure left red marks or lines or something on my face – I finally got up and, stuffing some ham into my mouth as a last-minute thought, walked out of the dining hall.
Back up the stairs and through the corridors, it seemed to be taking forever to get to the empty classroom where I was to meet Granger. Everything seemed to be slowing down to match the fuzzy frequency inside my head. Thankfully, that had receded into a very faint buzz.
As I past a lavatory, I decided to stop in to splash some water on my face. Maybe it would wake me up. After doing so, I found that the house elves had not restocked the paper towels and I was left with my sleeve to dry my face. The tough material was a little stiff and scratchy. (I had put on a new set of robes that had just been sent from home.)
Continuing on my way, I found that the water had helped a little, and things seemed to be moving at a normal pace. I arrived after a few more minutes of trudging along corridors and up steps. The door was closed.
Odd. I pressed on the latch and pulled, but it remained firmly shut. Hmm. I tried to open the lock with a charm, but it didn't work. So there wasn't much I could do but wait.
After maybe ten minutes, she finally showed up.
"Where've you been?" I asked, trying not to sound impatient. I was tired and wanted to go back to bed.
"Sorry," was all she said, offering no excuse. Where had she been? She looked almost as tired as I felt. She was probably up late wigging out over projects and homework or something. Maybe over Potter? How annoying. She continued to cling to him. How annoying! Stupid.
Then I realized that I didn't know if she really clung to him or not. This is what happens to my mind when I don't get enough sleep. I start imagining things. Whatever.
I stood there, waiting for her to attempt to open the door, when I noticed that she didn't have the phonograph. My brain was starting to slow down again but it still registered the fact that something wasn't right.
"Follow me," she said primly.
Huh?
"Where are you going?" I asked, thoroughly confused.
"You'll see when we get there."
Great. Now what was going on? I followed her, not really paying much attention to where we were going. I was too tired to function properly. Before I realized what was going on, she was heading outside by a side door of the castle. Outside?
I hesitated. It was cold out there. When she noticed I hadn't come out, Granger poked her head back through the door and told me to hurry up. Excuse me? She obviously felt that she was in charge. Not a chance. This was my plan. Mine. And besides…well I couldn't think of anything besides. But there had to be another reason why she wasn't in charge. I was too tired to think.
I begrudgingly submitted and stepped outside. The biting cold immediately stung my ears and cheeks. Trudging through the two-foot-deep snow, I was thankful that I had worn my tall boots. They laced up to just below the knee, very comfy and warm. The edges of my pants and my robes were starting to collect a ring of snow as we went further and further.
Finally we rounded a copse of trees jutting out of the Forbidden Forest, and she stopped. We were awfully close to the forest and I was painfully aware of the cowardice I had shown on my first trip into the trees. Doubtless, Potter had told Granger all about it and they had all had a good laugh at my expense. I glanced up to see if she was waiting for a reaction. I wasn't going to be the butt of another laugh.
She wasn't looking back, just pausing for breath. Then she went down the small slope of the hill and walked down to the edge of a small pond that I had just noticed. It must've been an offshoot of the lake, but I hadn't known of its existence before.
I was surprised when she shuffled out onto the ice. What if it was too thin and she fell through? But apparently she had charmed it to stay solid, or something, because she strode confidently out. Well, strode until she hit a particularly slippery patch and had to slide, arms flailing, to maintain her balance. I suppressed a laugh, but I couldn't help smirking at the ridiculousness of it all.
I made my way down the hill and came to a halt at the edge of the pond just as she came sliding up.
"Come on," she said, turning back and going to the middle of the ice. This was nuts. But I went out anyway. Everything else seemed ridiculous; I could see no reason why I should expect any different.
"What are we doing here?" I finally asked as I slipped and slid across the slick surface. Being able to maintain balance was harder than I expected, and immediately following my question, I promptly slipped and fell flat on my butt.
Ice is hard.
"We are here to practice the waltz, of course," she said, after a small laugh.
"How on Earth are we going to do that on a pond?" I asked, quite bitter about her ability to stay upright. Struggling to my feet was interesting as well. After a few futile attempts, she came over and offered me a hand. I took it, if not to help myself up, to keep her from getting angry with me again for refusing aid.
"You can't waltz because you don't pay attention," she said. What? "That's why you miss the steps. Out here, you have to pay attention or you'll slip and fall." She looked smug. Irritating.
"What about music?" I asked, looking for any type of loophole to get me off of that ice.
"We'll have to do without. I'm not bringing my phonograph out here," she said, matter-of-factly. She waited for me to step into position, which I did with small difficulty.
As we began to attempt to waltz, it proved more difficult than either of us anticipated. Multiple times I slipped and fell, leaving her trying to recover her balance. However, she fell almost as much. And when she did, she took me down with her.
Her feet would fly out from under her and, instead of letting go as I had done, she clung onto my arms and pulled me down as well. Each time, we landed in a jumbled heap, both trying to stand up and recover what was left of our dignity.
One upside to all of that was that, after numerous attempts, we managed to get the hang of it. I was no longer stepping on her toes because I was constantly concerned about keeping my feet where I could stand on them. When she moved in the right direction, I had to as well, to maintain balance. So her idea worked.
Once we were confident of our feet, we started going faster and continuing on to the rest of the dance. I was improving quite a bit, and was proud of it. Let's see Potter beat that.
On our last run of the entire dance, we reached the point where she was supposed to spin out and then around. She reached the fourth beat when she slipped again. Being only connected to one arm this time, she grabbed it with both hands and, after it seemed as if we just might stay upright, I slipped, landing both of us in a heap again.
You'd think this would be frustrating, but apparently it wasn't to her. She just sat there on the ice, giggling. I didn't understand it. We had just fallen. Again! What was so funny?
"Let's call it a day," she said, when she had finally picked herself up. Good. My knees and butt hurt from falling so much. Like I said, ice is hard.
We stumbled and shuffled off the ice and started the hike back to the castle. I knew I'd be amazingly sore the next day, and would probably have massive bruises. I hadn't noticed how dark the sky had gotten. How long had we been out there?
When we reached the door, we paused to stamp off the snow from the edges of our robes and pant-legs. How does it stick on there like that? After we got as much off as we could, I yanked on the door-handle and the door swung creakily inward.
As we stepped inside, the wave of heat hit me. It was like an oven. I had felt fine outside. I hadn't even felt the cold. Why was that? It had never happened that way before. Usually it was relief to get inside, but this time, it was stifling. The coat that I usually wore everywhere except the common room was roasting me, so I took it off. That felt better.
A mirror hung just opposite the door, and I chanced to glance into it, and paused. I looked ill. My cheeks were flushed from the wind. I looked like I had a fever. It was so different from the usual pale face I saw whenever I looked into a mirror. Creepy.
Apparently, we had been out there longer than I had even imagined. The bells were just ringing for dinner. All afternoon. We had been out there all afternoon. How many hours was that? I hadn't even noticed. It hadn't seemed like an extremely long time.
Carrying our coats, scarves, and gloves, we walked along the hallway, our footsteps resounding on the stone floor. It was only then that I realized how hungry I was.
Entering the dining hall, we parted, each to our own table. I sat down and dug ravenously into the slices of meat I sawed off of the roast in front of me. Heaping mashed potatoes onto my plate, I looked up and saw Granger also digging in with a voracious appetite.
Oh, they were garlic potatoes. I love garlic.
Satiated after the large meal, I went up to my dormitory and climbed into bed. Lying there, staring up at the canopy of my bed, I relaxed and let sleep wash over me.
A/N: My nose has decided to turn into a fountain and my muscles are rebelling. So, if this stops making any sense it is because I was having delusions in my ill state and my beta quit. But she didn't, so extra love for Miss Cordelia for putting up with my nonsense. Currently listening to Mae, Destination: Beautiful.
