Ch. 51

Not long after, Hermione was happily lacing up her skates while the other three in the group were struggling. She finished and straightened up, looking over at them and laughing.

Ginny had gotten into a rhythm of it but was still going slowly, while both Draco and Blaise were having extreme difficulties getting their skates laced up. Draco finally growled and looked around to make sure no one was watching before he waved his hand and the laces finished themselves up. Blaise quickly followed suit, and Hermione shook her head.

"Do you two really not know how to lace up shoes?" She teased.

"Why do it by hand when you can just use magic?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

She shook her head again and stood up, gesturing for the others to follow her. The other three slowly stood up, and they all nearly fell back onto the bench. After figuring out how to balance on their skates, they slowly ambled to the edge of the rink where Hermione was.

"How can you muggles do this all the time?" Blaise grumbled, his ankles buckling with every step and causing him to nearly fall over.

Hermione laughed. "We don't do it all the time. It's a cute activity for couples in the winter time and just fun do to in general. It's easier once you get on the ice."

"I highly doubt that!" Draco added, his eyes wide as he looked at the sheet of ice. "I've seen five people fall over already!"

"It happens," Hermione said as she rolled her eyes and led them onto the ice. "You just need to be confident."

"I'm confident that I'm going to fall, does that count?" Blaise asked sarcastically, testing the ice with the tip of his ice skate.

Hermione sighed and smacked her gloved hand to her forehead gently. "Just watch me."

She stepped onto the ice while holding onto the railing and kicked off, gliding slowly over the ice before turning to look back at them. "Well come on then!"

Ginny pushed past the boys with a look of determination on her face, mirroring Hermione's moves and successfully skating for a few moments before nearly losing her balance and flailing her arms, falling into Hermione. The two girls fell to the ice, causing the boys to panic. But as soon as they realized the girls were laughing and weren't hurt, they relaxed.

"Well," Draco muttered while looking at Blaise, "Might as well get it over with."

"Why don't you two hold onto the railing while you get used to balancing?" Hermione called out as she stood up and proceeded to help Ginny.

"Was already planning on it, love," Draco called back, looking down at his skates as he stepped onto the ice and held onto the railing with a death grip.

Blaise followed him slowly and the two boys slowly edged along the railing, trying to take steps instead of gliding on the skates. Hermione suddenly appeared next to them and made them jump, with Blaise letting out a small yelp.

She gave him an odd look before shaking her head at them. "Here, you aren't supposed to walk with the blades, you're supposed to slide across the ice on them."

"Well you should have said that," Draco said while scowling.

"Weren't you boys watching me when I took off?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. When they didn't answer, she sighed and said, "You need to push off with your back foot and use your front foot to glide, like this."

She demonstrated slowly, making sure they were watching. "Now, do as I did."

"You mean, let go of the railing?" Draco asked, looking at her like she was a madwoman.

"Yes, Draco, let go of the railing." Hermione looked behind her and pointed at a particular red head on the other side of the rink. "See? Ginny's doing it."

Both boys looked back to see that Ginny was in fact skating slowly on the ice, her arms flailing every once in a while but a large grin on her face. Blaise straightened after seeing her enjoying herself and he took a deep breath before letting go of the rail.

"Good!" Hermione said happily. "Now, angle your back foot out and use it to push off."

Blaise did as she said and pushed, finally gliding for the first time. He grinned and then slowed to a stop before shouting over his shoulder, "What do I do now?!"

"Do the same thing with your other foot!" Hermione answered. "You switch off from foot to foot until you're skating at a consistent speed that you like."

Blaise looked down and pushed off again, seemingly understanding as he switched off his feet and made it to the other side eventually where Ginny had fallen again. Hermione returned her attention back to Draco and smiled at him.

"Your turn!" She announced.

"Oh no," Draco replied as he shook his head. "I'm content with staying right here."

Hermione sighed and held out her hands. "Here, grab onto me."

He stared at her hands and then back up at her, and she gestured forward with her hands again impatiently. He sighed and rolled his eyes, taking one of her hands and trying to regain his balance before taking her other hand.

Hermione grinned as she began to skate backward, laughing as Draco began to panic and exclaim, "Whoa, whoa! Where are you taking me?!"

"Oh calm down," She laughed. "I'm going slow; now push off with one of your feet like Blaise did."

Draco did as Hermione told and panicked as he went faster, nearly crashing into Hermione and causing her to laugh. "Don't panic, that's what you're supposed to do. Now I'm going to let go and you're going to do that again."

"What?" Draco exclaimed with wide eyes.

Before he could do anything she had let go of one of his gloved hands and turned around to stand next to him, laughing. "Don't worry, I'm not fully letting go. I just wanted to see you freak out."

He scowled at her while she grinned and told her, "You should have been in Slytherin."

She shook her head and pulled him forward slightly. After a few moments of trying, Draco finally got the movements down and they were soon gliding slowly together along the ice. They passed Ginny and Blaise who were skating together as well, though they had both fallen a couple of times at that point.

Hermione's happiness was infectious, and soon Draco was grinning while they lapped the small rink. He was relieved that she was enjoying herself, especially since he knew that earlier she was quite the opposite even though she hid it well from the other two. He knew she had been thinking about her parents, but he didn't want to push the subject with her. So he left it alone, and now they were having fun. He hoped that Hermione's smile would stay for the rest of the day.

After skating for what felt like hours, Hermione and Draco exited the small rink, sitting down on one of the benches while they rested and watched Ginny and Blaise. The other couple had gotten tremendously better at the skating and were now chasing each other around on the ice. Hermione laughed at them and then rested her head on Draco's shoulder, closing her eyes and smiling happily.

"That was fun," Draco admitted.

She laughed, her eyes still closed. "I'm glad you liked it. You learned quickly, I'm proud of you!"