She glanced out of the window at the ice, now covering the great lake. It glistened, throwing pools of light out in all directions where the sun hit it. She sighed, glancing at her watch. There just wasn’t enough time. She pulled her bag onto her shoulder and left the window... she’d go after lunch.

Feeling warm in her winter clothing, she quickly strapped her ice skates onto her feet. She was itching to get onto the ice, had been all day. She stood up, stumbling slightly on the fresh snow at the edge of the lake and then... bliss.

One foot after the other, she glided slowly across the unmarked ice. Speeding up from one direction she skated and then jumped. Spinning in the air she landed neatly and came again. Cross over in a circle, spread eagle, low spin and then jump. She felt so light and fluent as she graced the ice. She thought about it as she maneuvered round the cracks in the ice. At last she had found something that she really enjoyed, a sport she could do were she wasn’t over shadowed by her brothers.

Finishing the routine with a three beat count Dutch waltz, a backward attitude glide and a forward scratch spin, she reluctantly moved off the ice. It was late and soon the other classes would be out. She was lucky that she had been free that lesson, lucky that Professor Sprout had been called out to help with the war effort. But she had to go in. She couldn’t risk others seeing her. How mercilessly her brothers would tease her if they knew what she loved.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

He knew that he should be working on his Potions homework. Professor Snape would definitely not appreciate it if he ‘forgot’ it again. But she looked so graceful. He had never seen her so happy, never seen her so alive as she was when she was skating. Whenever he saw her in the corridors she always looked lonely, closed up with a pile of books slung across one shoulder staring at the ground. She never expressed any of her emotions, except loneliness and he knew, despite what his father had said, that he felt sorry for her.

Then he had seen her skate. A new world had opened up for him. Her eyes gleamed with health and happiness and he truly forgot the lonely girl that he saw every day in the corridors. The jumps, the twirls, the glides that she did were so magical and beautiful. She looked like a fairytale princess as the sun gleamed off her snowy skin as she zoomed across the ice in her old brownish skating boots. Her loose red hair streamed out behind her as she laughed into the darkening air, smiling as she crossed the frozen lake. She was so pretty, so very beautiful and he knew that if her brothers saw her know they would be amazed.

Then everything would change. As she left the ice her face would close up again and her eyes would loose their pretty light that he had seen just moments before. It was like she was a different person off the ice. A strange lonely girl, locked up in her own thoughts, overshadowed by her large rowdy family. And he missed the old her. The her that made his heart spin. The her that made his face laugh at the compete look of joy on he beautiful face as she accomplished a new move. The her that wore her emotions on the outside for all to see for once.

He knew it was useless. Malfoys didn’t love. Malfoys couldn’t love. And was it love? A love from afar? She had never even seen him looking at her. All she knew him as was a white haired git that pissed off her brother and his friends. He looked out of the window again and saw that she was walking in. She had slung the old second hand boots of hers over her slumped shoulder and was stumbling along in the fresh snow outside the castle.

He looked at her again as she wondered back towards the great castle locked up in her own thoughts. It was two days to Christmas… Shouldn’t you always tell the truth at Christmas? But how could he… How could he explain to her that she made him feel like no-one else had ever done before? How could he explain that he had come to that conclusion by watching her skate every day for two months through a third storey window of a castle?

He turned away from the window just as she ducked through an archway into the castle. Trying to concentrate, he turned back to his Potions essay… Seriously what good would it do him to know the difference between The Wolfsbane Potion and The Arequadilia Potion?

She awoke on Christmas day feeling happier then she had in a long time. She pulled the curtains away from around her bed and slipped her feet into the slippers her mum had made her the year before. She ran to the window, and to her relief she saw that it had stopped snowing. The previous two days the snow had been falling fast and with all the students out there playing in it she had not had a chance to go skating. Doing a little hop of joy, she ran down the stairs to the common room to unwrap her presents.

Christmas day was the only day in the whole year that the other girls in her dormitory actually got up before it was necessary and although she wasn’t particularly friendly with them, she smiled as she moved towards her pile of presents.

She grabbed the top one off the pile and pulled off the wrapping paper to discover a thick Weasley jumper in a pale blue with Ginny on it. After pulling the jumper on, she began to un-wrap the rest.

Her present collection she decided after she had finished the un-wrapping had been very satisfactory this year:

Mum – Knitted jumper, scarf, gloves and socks, all in pale blue.
Dad – Pale blue cloak from Madam Malkin’s in Diagon Alley to go with the other presents.
Mum and Dad – New charm for her bracelet.
Ron – Chudley Cannon Chocolates.
Fred and George – Box of Latest Tricks.
Percy – Book on Wizarding Facts of the Twenty First Century.
Charlie – Dragon hide gloves in a silvery pale blue.
Bill – Silver necklace with pale blue stone.
Harry and Hermione – Her own set of wizard’s chess pieces.
Luna – The latest ‘Quizillia Witch’ book.

Still gasping over how much her family was prepared to spend on her (and how her mum and dad were going to get food in the year to come), she reached over for the last present. It was wrapped in forest green paper with a silver trim and did not look like any paper she had ever seen before. Shrugging off the thought that it might be something dangerous, she carefully peeled the wrapping paper off, revealing a white box with Italian writing on it. She carefully turned the box over and tried to decipher the heading:

Apparecchiatura pattinare del ghiaccio più fine del Sig. Bonsveneys.

And underneath:

I caricamenti del sistema bianchi del ghiaccio, graduano 5 e una metà secondo la misura.

By now she was incredibly puzzled. She turned the box over again, but there was nothing but a barcode on the back. Frowning slightly she came to the conclusion that it was bought from a Muggle shop – this confused her even more. Rubbing her nose slightly she racked her brains as to whom could have given her this obviously extremely expensive Italian made gift directly from an Italian Muggle shop. Coming up with no answer, she carefully placed the box under one arm and scooping up all her other presents she ran up the stairs towards her dormitory.

Dumping all her belongings in a pile at the foot of her four poster, she clambered under her duvets and placing the white box on her knee she drew the curtains around her bed. Then ever so slowly she began to peel off the Muggle version of Spellotape that was holding the box together.

Moving the tape to one side she slowly lifted the lid… She gasped and froze solid and a cold rush came over her as tears filled her deep brown eyes. She didn’t even bother to move the long lock of red hair from where it had fallen over her eyes. She felt sick and giddy all at the same time and tried to take deep breaths so as to come to grips with the amazing surprise that had met her as she had opened the box.

Then ever so slowly she lifted her hand to stroke the pristine white leather of a most amazing pair of custom made…ice skates.

Okay, so it hadn’t been the best Christmas ever. Then again, were his Christmases really ever good? He had everything he could ever want, so there was really no point in his family buying him anything else. All he received from his parents these days was a significant monetary increase in his Gringotts account… But could money buy happiness? Could money buy love? He wondered if Ginny had opened his gift yet. Had she liked it? When would she wear them? Would she even wear them? He knew that she went skating after lunch nearly every day and hoped that today wouldn’t be an exception.

~*~*~*~*~

Sure enough two hours later he watched as his favorite little Weasel wandered out of the Castle. He observed her closely and saw, to his great surprise and joy that she was smiling. She had a look of determination on her face as she marched towards to Great Lake. He smiled at her from his third story window, knowing that she was unable see him bathing in the joy that the smile on her face had given him.

~*~*~*~*~

Far down on the ground below him, Ginny sat down on the cold, wet snow. Taking a deep breath she reached for the white box. She lifted back the lid and paused in thought for a moment. Should she wear them? Excitement overtook her again, and as a feeling of giddiness spread through her, she reached for the first white boot. She had never received anything in her life that had obviously cost so much money. The thought of the secret person that she didn’t know intrigued her. She pulled the boot on her foot and tying it up, she wriggled her toes around a little. Well, whoever had bought it for her had definitely been watching her closely; it was a perfect fit. This scared her a little, but she tried to keep thoughts of the Riddle Diary out of her head as she reached for the other boot.

~*~*~*~*~

He watched her as she strapped on her new skates and admired the way they glinted in the afternoon sun. He watched carefully as she slipped onto the ice and he sat down in preparation to watch her usual warm up routine. But it didn’t come. Instead, he saw her make her way to the far corner of the lake. His face creased in confusion as he watched her begin to skate in what looked like a ‘T’ formation. He was even more confused when shortly after he saw her do an ‘H’. Then slowly it came to him. She was writing on the ice. They were wobbly letters, and the K was backwards, but down below him on the clean ice of the Great Lake he could read an unmistakable ‘THANK YOU’. He now understood the look of determination on her pale face and the smile that he had never seen before and it struck him that she knew that her gift-giver had been watching her.

He saw her sit down beside her message and wait. He wanted so much to go down there and tell her that he loved her, but how could he? Would it be okay if he just went down and spoke to her? Yes that would be alright. He thought about it for a while. He was frightened about how she would react. If she scrunched her nose and looked at him in distaste, he would be not only embarrassed, but heart broken. But then again, what if she liked him too? No, that could never be the case. She hated him. His dad had nearly killed her in her first year of school, for crying out loud! But this was his last year of school. This would be the last time he would get the chance, and if you couldn’t tell the truth at Christmas, then when could you? He slowly rose to his feet, his mind made up. He grabbed his winter cloak and whisked it across his shoulders as he exited his room.

~*~*~*~*~

She waited for fifteen minutes before she clambered to her feet again. Hoping that her present giver had seen the message, she began to skate her usual warm up. She was so involved in her skating that she hadn’t realized that someone had approached the ice and was watching her. She finished her last spin and she was about to begin her next routine, when she caught a glimpse of yellowish white along the edge of the Great Lake. Reeling with shock, she missed her next jump and landed sprawling across the cold ice.

~*~*~*~*~

He had been watching her for about ten minutes before she noticed him. She had turned around to begin her next routine and he saw the look of shock on her face. Then, without warning, he saw her miss her jump and collapse onto the ice. Without thinking, he ran towards her, and forgetting that ice was slippery, tried to run across it. His feet slipped out from beneath him, and before he knew what was happening, he had landed in a small heap about a meter away from her.

~*~*~*~*~

Quickly she pulled herself to her feet and skated over to him.

“Do you need some help there?” she asked, biting her lip nervously.

“Um,” he cursed himself, Malfoys never said “um”. “Yeah, that would be great.”

He brushed his hand through his pale blonde hair before taking the proffered pale blue, mitten clad hand.

“Thanks,” he replied.

“Why were you watching me?” she asked him gently.

“You are very talented.”

“Thank you,” she said as a slight blush tinted her cheeks.

Draco noticed her blush and thought for a moment before saying, “Nice boots.”

She stared at him before responding, “Yes, I got them today.”

“Present?”

“Yes.”

He lifted his head up and stared into her eyes. “Will you teach me to skate?”

Her eyes widened at his request.

“You’re a Malfoy,” she replied, looking aghast.

“Well spotted.”

“Why?”

“Well, my Father was a Malfoy, and that made me and my Mother Malfoys…” he said wryly with a smirk settled on his face.

She looked down, smiling slightly. “No, why do YOU want ME to teach you to skate?”

“I would like to skate.”

She lifted her eyes up to meet his, “So, have you ever skated before?”

“No,” he responded looking out across the ice.

“Do you have skates?”

“I can get some.” Ginny quirked her eyebrow at his response.

“There are no skate shops around here.”

“I can get some. I am a Malfoy.”

She pondered his question for a while, and then looked up to see him staring at her.

“I would really like to skate with you,” he said and watched her turn away.

“You really want to skate… with me?” she asked over her shoulder.

He reached forward and picked up her mitten covered hand. “Really.”

She stared at his hand and he dropped it quickly. “Okay,” she replied. “Tomorrow?”

“Usual time?”

She stared at him.

“Err yeah, after lunch?”

“Fine.”

Then, pulling her hat back onto her loose red hair she turned and skated away. He watched her go with a smile on his face, and then turned around shaking his head as he carefully made his way back to the shoreline along the lake. What had he got himself into?

~*~*~*~*~

She was there long before him the next day. Not on the Castle side of the Great Lake, but beside her favourite weeping willow, close to the Forbidden Forest. She couldn’t sort out in her mind why he had asked her to teach him to skate. Why had he been watching her? Why had he stared at her throughout the whole previous evening and this morning at breakfast? What was he up to?
She shivered as an icy breath of wind whistled past her as she got up to start her warm up.

She had been at it for about twenty minutes when she heard a shout from the other shore.

“Gin - errr - WEASLEY!”

Nearly tripping, she swerved and began to skate slowly towards him, marvelling once again at how smooth her skates were upon the fresh ice and how neatly they turned at the slightest movement of her feet.

“Did you get some skates?” she asked him quickly.

“Yeah.”

She looked down at his feet and raised her eyebrows at a pair of white leather, highly expensive, Italian made boots.
Then she looked at her own feet. She shook her head in disgust and pulled her hat back on over her ears.

“Follow me.”

He stared at her, “Wha-a-t? Onto the ice?”

She put her hands on her hips and smiled. “Look Malfoy, you are never going to learn to ICE skate if you don’t get onto the ICE!”

He smirked at her; she was definitely Molly Weasley’s daughter. “Can you help me?” he asked with a fake pout on his face.

She reached out her blue mitten to him, “Come on.”

He looked at it, and hesitating for only a second took it and stepped onto the ice.

“That’s it, now the other foot. Good Ferret!”

“Don’t baby me Weasel!” he shot back.

“Sorry, couldn’t help it!” She smiled at him and watched as he cautiously placed both feet onto the smooth surface and struggled to stand up. Sighing, she turned to face him and took his hands in hers. Could things get any stranger?

He felt an amazing warmth shoot through him as the little Weasel placed her small, blue mittens into his dragon hide gloves. He smiled and grasped them firmly.

“Now I want you to slide your left foot slowly towards me,” she prompted him. Then she watched as he slowly began to extend his foot.

“That’s it, now the right one,” she encouraged him. Yep, he was defiantly moving and slowly but surely he began to skate along the ice.

He felt an amazing thrill that he had never experienced before. He was actually skating! A real smile spread across his face as he thought that skating with Ginny felt right. Her hands fitted his perfectly and the smile on her face as she managed to get him to move along the ice was just about the most rewarding Christmas present he had ever received.

Slowly as they reached the middle of the Great Lake Ginny turned around and increased their speed. She continued skating, but this time she held him behind her, as if she were dragging him across the ice. She could feel him getting more confident.

He skated behind her, holding her hands for a while and then he took his chance. He leant in and slowly moved his hands onto the curve of her hips. She slowed down slightly but continued on.

“Easier to hold on,” he explained

She just nodded.

Then he began to lean into her, his white blond hair next to her red curls. It was a while before he realised that she had stopped.

“You… You… Did you get me the skates?” she whispered, “I mean, well, was that present from you?”

He looked away from her and then turned back to stare into her eyes.

“I thought you would like them.”

“I do but… Oh never mind. WHY Malfoy?”

He looked at her. Her hair was messed and curling down her shoulders. Her cheeks were flushed pink and her small, white teeth were chewing slightly on her little lips. She was gazing into his eyes as if trying to figure him out. He had never seen her look more beautiful.

She heard a breath catch in his throat as he moved closer to her. Slowly and gently his lips came into contact with hers. She was slightly shocked, but she responded slowly, a strange feeling of heat rushing through her body. A moment later he broke away from her.

He took a step backwards and a look of shock appeared on his face as he toppled onto the ice pulling her down with him.

“Sorry.” He muttered.

“No its okay.” She was reeling with shock.

He looked at her sitting beside him and one of his hands travelled to her lower back as the other moved upwards to pull of her blue bobble hat. As he lifted his hand upwards to tangle into her hair, his lips met hers again. It was like no kiss he had ever experienced. Sitting on the cold, wet ice he could feel her body pressed against his. She was inexperienced, but this was part of her charm. And oh how her mouth felt so right against his! She felt and tasted so good. No girl had ever made him fall over himself before, literally, and she felt perfect in his arms.

She had never been kissed like this before. In her previous years at Hogwarts she had shared a few childish kisses with her previous three boyfriends, but it was nothing like this. Disregarding the person, she admitted to herself that she was on fire. Never had she felt this rush of feelings streaming through her all at once. Never had she felt hot and cold at the same time.

Reluctantly he broke away.

“Okay?” he whispered, as if asking for permission.

“Yes,” she murmured in response.

She stood up so abruptly that her skates skidded slightly on the ice. Draco watched with a look of puzzlement settled across his face as Ginny stumbled and turned away.

“I can’t do this,” she said with her back to him.

“Why ever not?”

“You don’t get it do you?” she exclaimed, frustration evident in her voice. Ginny whipped her body around so that she was now facing Draco. Small strands of crimson hair were strewn across her face. “I have no friends because I am forced to be alone. My brothers harass every single person that stays in my company for more than two minutes! I am a Weasley and you are a Malfoy!” Ginny said this while pointing her finger in Draco’s face to emphasize what she was saying. Draco, still in shock at the words coming from her mouth was left speechless and unable to react as she continued to rant. “The fact that a boy kissed me is enough to turn my brothers into a pack of snarling wolves after your arse! Let alone the fact that you are part of the family that my family has hated since… Oh, I don’t know when! But we hate you!” Ginny pushed the hair out of her face and threw her hands up into the air.

It was the most that she had ever said in his company before and he was aghast. No one had ever spoken like that to him before and it made him admire her all the more.

“Just stay away from me. I can’t believe I was led to thinking you actually wanted to learn how to skate.” Ginny’s breath was still coming hard from her rant. A deep blush spread across Ginny’s face as she finally took in what happened.

Draco’s look of admiration had been wiped off his face when he heard Ginny’s demands. He needed her to listen to him. “But Ginny, wait!”

Ginny twisted her face with loathing and said, “Don’t call me that, I hardly know you. Just leave me alone.”

And with that she turned away and skated as fast as she could towards the side of the lake. Draco’s eyes followed her movement as she pulled her skates off. His eyes widened with shock when he noticed that she ran back towards the Castle without bothering to put her shoes on.

He got up slowly and grimaced as he felt his wet backside. Stumbling a little he skated slowly to the shore and carefully pulled his skates off. It wasn’t until he had begun to walk back inside that he realised that she had left her new skates lying in the snow.

~*~*~*~*~

He had been sitting by the window and staring out towards the lake for three hours. His grey eyes were clouded by the thoughts running through his head. He thought he had found someone that liked him too; he thought he had found someone that he actually felt comfortable with. But never had he felt so unloved in his life. Not even his Father could make him feel this bad. It was the most horrible thing he had ever experienced. He wished he hadn’t told her. He thought back to what she had said. It was true; he had never seen her with any friends. She was exactly like him. Neither had any friends, both were over shadowed by their families, both carried a reputation that didn’t really apply to them. His face lit up when it finally came to him. They were so alike inside. It wasn’t that they needed each other; it was more than that. They shared a bond.

~*~*~*~*~

Hours had passed and Ginny was still thinking things through long after her dorm mates had gone to bed. Ginny wrinkled her nose while the same thought kept flashing back into her mind; why did you leave him?

Try as she might she couldn’t sleep, and there was no point in trying, so, getting out of her bed she pulled a warm cloak on and left the room as quietly as she could. Whispering ‘holly berries’ to the Fat Lady, she walked down into the Entrance Hall. Taking care to be as silent as possible, she pulled open the front door. Her feet crunched on the freshly fallen white snow as she wandered towards the place that she had left her new white boots.

They were gone.

And it was snowing.

~*~*~*~*~

Draco was frustrated. His face was screwed up in concentration as he paced across the wooden floor of his room. He knew that sleep would elude him if he lay down. Instead, he made a quick check to make sure that no one was in the room before slipping out of the Slytherin Common Room. His mind was still reeling as thoughts of Ginny distracted him. He hadn’t realised that his feet had carried him outside until he felt snow falling on the back of his neck. He threw a glare up towards the clouds before pulling his robes higher over his shoulders.

~*~*~*~*~

Ginny walked around to the other side of the Great Lake and sat down under her favourite tree. Wrapped up in her new blue cloak she felt deliciously warm. She had to admit that watching the fresh snow fall on clear ice in the light of the moon was incredibly beautiful. She snuggled deeper into her cloak and sighed.

Then she heard the crack of a branch breaking.

She crept backwards until her back was against the tree and waited. Her breathing quickened and her heart was pounding fiercely. She tried to keep the fear from her face. What kind of creature was creeping around the lake at this time at night?

She stood up and grabbed a stick, then, rounding the side of the tree, crashed headlong into a tall person and screamed. The next thing she felt was his cool hand covering her mouth. She was furious. She somehow managed to work her mouth around the side of his hand and bit him – hard.

Draco yelped and scowling, drew his hand away from her mouth quickly. “What was that for?” he remarked crossly, a sneer firmly set on his face.

“You covered my mouth and I couldn’t breathe, plus, your hand is cold!” she replied crossly.

Then turning around she walked back around the trees and sat down, watching over the Great Lake again and trying to cool her Weasley temper.

He followed her slowly and finding a piece of uncovered grass sat down. She turned and scowled at him. Draco scowled back and she smiled slightly.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked.

“Well what are you doing?” she retorted quickly.

He glowered at her and she smiled back. “For a high and mighty Malfoy, you tend to be a baby!” If it was possible, the look on Draco’s face deepened. A tense silence passed between the two before Ginny said, “I couldn’t sleep.”

“Humph.” Draco, still upset at her previous comment, refused to look at her.

“So, what are you doing here?” she asked. A slight smile spread across her face.

Draco couldn’t help but watch her from the corner of his eye. Struggling to keep a smile off of his face, he retorted, “I couldn’t sleep.”

“But, why the lake?” she asked.

“Why are you by the lake?” he threw back at her.

Ginny turned and looked at him. She was shocked by how his pale hair and skin seemed to glow in the moonlight. He was so…beautiful. Ginny’s eyes widened in shock after the thought crossed her mind. She shook her head slightly before saying, “I believe that this is my spot. Anyway, I asked you first.”

“My, my Weasley we are tetchy tonight.” A slight smirk crossed his lips as he finally turned to look at her.

“So…” Ginny didn’t know what to say in response and was a little thankful when Draco interrupted her.

“I dunno. Hey Weasel can I ask you a question?”

“Fire away Ferret Boy.”

“Why are your brothers so bloody protective?” he asked. Draco casually began to trace shapes in the snow with his finger, trying to avoid the inevitable glare that he knew she was going to throw his way.


She looked at him sharply. She struggled to keep her voice even as she asked, “What ever do you mean?”

“Oh come on Weaslette you know damn well what I mean.” Now Draco turned to face her. She was unable to decipher the look on his face. “They follow you everywhere! They don’t let you do anything alone.”

She smiled slightly. “Well I suppose they are a little over protective.”

He coughed, “a little?”

“Okay well a lot… But why does it bother you?”

“I was just wondering,” he said nonchalantly.

“Oh. Well I suppose it’s because I am the only girl in five generations of Weasleys. I guess that means I’m pretty special and my parents just don’t want me to get hurt. Also my parents…well, they cant have any more kids, so my mum wants to really look after the only daughter she is ever going to have. I suppose my brothers must feel the same.”

He nodded slightly. “Makes sense.”

They sat in silence for a while and then she turned to him. “Why are you an only child?”

His slight smile became rather fixed. “Why would you like to see more Malfoys around?”

“No, seriously,” she replied blushing slightly.

The smile then faded completely and his eyes went icy cold. She watched and saw hatred building up inside of him and it scared her.

“Don’t tell me if you don’t want to. Sorry.”

“No, its okay. It needs telling someday.”

She nodded and moved slightly closer to him as if encouraging him on.

He looked at her then started to speak. “My Mother and Father’s marriage was arranged simply because my father needed an heir. My Father and my Mother were never in love.” he looked at her and continued, “my mother didn’t want to have a child with someone she didn’t love, but my father needed a son. I was not only an unwanted child, but I was convenient. After I was born, my Father didn’t have a need for any more children, so he left my Mother alone and me without a sibling. Goodness knows what he does, but he is not faithful and it breaks my Mother’s heart to see me growing up under his influence. She said that her only reason for living is me, despite who my Father may be, and she doesn’t want me to grow up like him.”

She looked at him and saw that his grey eyes had softened, no longer reflecting hate, but sadness and she felt a great longing to hold him and protect him. He looked so alone.

“Don’t you see why I would rather have a family that protects me, than a Father that hates me and a Mother that never wanted me?”

“But your Mum loves you now… Right?” Ginny tried to keep the pity out of her voice.

“Now she does. But it isn’t the love that your family loads on you. It isn’t the love that I want. If I was so special then why wouldn’t she brave my father’s hate to give me a sibling?”

“Some times having siblings isn’t the best thing that could happen to you.”

“You see it differently to me. You get over loved, I get under loved.”

She nodded and he sighed.

“Why does your father hate you so much?” she asked softly.

A scowl graced his features and she saw hate rising up inside him once again. “To him I am weak and afraid. I am not the son he wanted. I am not like him.” he spoke harshly and his tone was rough. She knew that the way his Father acted towards him had upset him greatly.

She looked at him again. “I think that you are just fine, no matter what your father says, it is what’s on the inside that counts. Your father is a fool not to see that.”

He smiled at her and then went back to staring out at the snowy lake. She turned and wrapping her coat more tightly around her, leant into him and promptly closed her eyes. He sighed and wrapped his arm around her, letting his head drop down onto hers. As time passed watching the snow fall, the two silent figures drifted to sleep.