A collaborative snapshot with Kit and myself. Set at about 1AM on Christmas morning.

Smoke billowed from the chimney of the small log cabin that was dusted in snow. A snow covered footstep led down to the lake beside the cabin and the hill behind it stretched into the darkness.

“You bring me to a log cabin, miles away from any other human in the Norwegian fjords. Are you planning on doing away with me, Ignan?” Miranda Elliot stepped out into the cold, boots sinking into the crisp snow covering the ground. The fur coat hung loosely over decidedly muggle clothing as she closed in on her lover.
“No one will hear me scream out here.”

"If I had wanted to 'do away' with you Mira, I could have done it a long time ago, with far less trouble." Ignan told her. Though there was humour in his voice, it was absolutely true.

“I can sleep soundly tonight…” Her voice practically dripped with sarcasm. Her arm linked his as they walked further away from the cabin to find a suitable place to stop. The bottle in her spare hand swung with each step, liquid warmth sloshing against glass.
"Tonight, yes." He agreed with a wink. "But tomorrow..." He squeezed her arm in his hand as they walked, breath condensing in the bitterly cold air.

Mira stopped, dragging him to halt as she pulled him around to face her. “I’ve never slept so soundly as beside you.” Perhaps it was the heat (or rather, cold) of the moment, the excitement of abandoning the country for the Christmas holidays, escaping family. But despite the bitter cold threatening to fight through her coat, Miranda hadn’t felt quite as happy and comfortable in a long time.

"Is that why you always sleep through your bloody badge summoning you these days?" He asked with a smirk, "I was thinking much the same in honesty, your absence is more than a little strange when we are apart. Though, no more sleeping as soundly as the start of the month, please." He clasped her a little more to emphasise this. "And that is the last we'll say on that." Despite herself, the witch allowed her lips to purse for a moment. It wasn't easy to forget ten days in a coma and the hell she'd awoken to. Escaping to Norway was right on the cards but it wouldn't help her forget.
   
"Not even after you retire, either." Ignan agreed. "Never. The next long sleep you can have it when you've turned up your toes. Now, put that aside your mind, we have to find a good vantage point." He gestured up above them where the sky was a strange glow.

"Who says I'll ever retire?" Mira's lips twitched and she started moving a little faster. It had been nine days since she'd woken and she still felt somewhat out of sorts. Rest and healing potions only did so much good when a body had fought poisons. She gripped onto Ignan perhaps a little more than was usual.

"Hah!" Ignan replied to her comment. Who would imagine Mira doing such? He would grow old and even more crotchety first, but he would teach until he could see he was doing no good, or someone he wisely respected informed him. He changed his hold on Mira to sweep her along with him through the snow, their boots crunching.
   
Round the bend, and up a little rise, and they reached a suitable height. Much higher and he feared Mira would tire and there wouldn't be the greatest of benefits over nearby treeline. Up above them, the sky was shifting colour, purples, greens, blues as if charms were stood upon the wispy clouds above them, pulled by air currents. Ignan wrapped his arms around Mira from behind to keep them both warm, to allow her to lean against him as they watched.

This time last year Miranda never would have imagined she would be in such a position with the Hogwart’s Deputy Headmaster. This time last year they’d arranged to meet in two days and he’d shown her his dead arm. Now his arms were around her and it felt good. The lights danced beautifully above their heads with her full attention until she decided to speak.
“You’re right.”
Let me just bask in those words, Ignan thought to himself as he heard Mira say them. He didn't say this out loud, he didn't fancy spoiling the moment.
"Sometimes I can be." He replied softly from above her and gently rubbed her arms over the fur coat she wore. "Makes everything pale into insignificance when you see what nature does."

Miranda didn’t respond. They stood in silence for what seemed like forever with the unopened bottle at their feet. Her hands were on his arms, leaning back into his chest. For a couple that didn’t do romance or the dreaded ‘L’ word, they were doing fairly well tonight.

 He was quite content to stare up into the sky for hours until their toes grew to ice, if he could stay with his arms around Mira. But he had more than just the lights on his mind. He leaned forward gently and kissed the back of her head affectionately and released his arms from around her. He stooped to collect the bottle from her feet.

"A bottle of firewhiskey had a lot to answer for at the Hogs Head." He remarked as he stepped round, turning to face her. "But without it, I know I wouldn't take back the time together." He leaned down again to put the bottle back, but instead of standing back up, he pulled his cloak around his right leg and dropped to one knee in the snow. He took a steady inhalation of the cold air. It was time. He'd thought about it long and hard over the past few months, and sat at her bedside, he couldn't see how it could be delayed any further.
   
 "Miranda." He spoke, commanding her attention without too much force, hoping he did not sound a little nervous as he made eye contact. "I love you." His hands were busy before his cloak as he organised cold fingers beneath gloves, but his gaze did not falter, even when he offered up the ring that had been secreted inside his cloak.
    "Will you marry me?"

Time appeared to have stopped still. Miranda was frozen to the spot, staring down at Ignan with wide eyes that had begun to water, lips parted in shock. Out of all of the possible reasons he had had to bring her to Norway, proposing hadn’t been one of them. Never in her wildest imagination had she expected her grumpy wizard to consider marriage, let alone drop down on one knee and tell her he loved her.
“I…” She looked from the ring to Ignan. All manner of thoughts were swimming through her head but not one of them seemed even remotely logical.
“Are you feeling alright?”
"Better than I have ever been, Healer." Ignan replied, managing a genuine smile. She hadn't seen it coming, that was good, but if she said no… His blue eyes didn't shift from her face gently lit by the northern lights swirling above them.
A rare thing began to happen to Miranda at this moment. Her eyes began to fill with what could only have been a few tears of happiness. She released a nervous laugh but didn’t move to wipe them away.
“Merlin almighty, Ignan!” She exclaimed quietly through the nervous laugh. She dropped down to her knees opposite him, gloved hands reaching up to his cheeks. “You sneaky bastard…”

So it wasn't an immediate yes, curious, but she didn't seem upset, to his relief. Instead Mira fell to her own knees, which had him wondering if she didn't feel quite right at the shock.
"Is that a good sneaky…?" He asked tentatively, allowing her to clasp his face. "Or…"

“I don’t know, well ah…” Miranda stopped herself before she started to babble. Her hands dropped from his face, eyes staring into his in surprised delight. “It is but…why would you want to marry me?” Dark hair fell over her shoulders as she shook her head lightly, disbelieving.
To say Miranda was stunned was an underestimate.
Suddenly a frown marred her formerly blissful features, “This isn’t because of the coma? Because I don’t want pity or worry or whatever feelings of the need to protect me that may have been stirred up.”

Just say yes… Ignan pleaded in his head, looking mildly alarmed at Mira's sudden indecisiveness. The woman made split second decisions every day of her professional life.
"No, no it's not because you slept half of December, no." He shook his head, reiterating three times just to be sure she really understood. "I've been contemplating it a while. Long nights alone at Hogwarts with not enough students to give detention to." He shrugged gently. "No, it's right. I've not felt like this before, Mira. You'd make an old wizard a very … happy man." He cringed, and daresay, though the light was poor, Ignan Storm might very well have blushed.

A sharp intake of breath was accompanied by Mira’s eyes continuing to water. Her hand was raised to cover her mouth as her brain began to speed through an incredible whirlwind of thoughts.
“Okay,” she breathed quietly, voice being carried by the cold wind. “Yeah.” A nervous laugh escaped once more and started to shake her head. “Okay.”
"… yes then?" He asked, not sure if she was more saying that out of reassurance for herself or in response to what he'd just explained.
“Yes.”

There it was. He was frozen for a moment, staring at her, a little in shock that it had actually happened after all the weeks of thinking. Mira had said yes. Yes. Merlin. Shock fell away to a genuine smile and he reached his left hand forward to kiss her tenderly. Then he remembered he'd actually bought a ring.
"Ah, gloves." He uttered on reaching for her hand, and glanced up to her, both of them a little wide-eyed and flustered.

Upon glancing down at her hand Miranda realised she was actually shaking. Her right hand moved to left to pull the glove off as Ignan flustered.
“Should I have examined and approved of the ring first?” she asked, a pathetic joke for a serious moment. Ignan’s words had suddenly stopped her brain from working normally.

"Hmph," Ignan replied, sounding more his usual self in amongst the surprise, "Rings can change, I cannot." He took her hand in his and after a moment, coordinated what might well have been a rather cold ring onto Mira's finger. "Well now…"

Dark eyes stared for a moment. She’d not worn a ring on this finger for a long time. She’d not worn rings for a long time. It had only been last year her original wedding and engagement rings had been taken from around her neck and stored at the back of a dark busy cupboard. Perhaps this would bring more luck.
When Miranda finally drew her eyes from the sparkling diamond on her finger, she smiled at her…fiancé.
“No wonder you were pushy about coming away. Merlin, Storm.”
He laughed, genuinely, dipping his head and squeezed her hands.
"That and avoiding the family." He admitted with a shake of his head. "Though we do get to watch the lights, well, when I'm not distracting my wife-to-be." He shifted his weight, getting back to his feet, and pulling Mira up with him. He drew his wand to dust off the snow and dry them both before they caught cold.
“Wife-to-be…” The witch mused as she stepped in closely to Ignan and put her arms around his neck (more of a feat than usual considering her flat boots and their height difference). “I don’t cook or clean or shower you in gi-” She stopped as a chill came over her. It was already cold outside but her cloak had been keeping her warm. This was a chill within, an ice cold chill numbing her senses as Mira gripped tighter to the wizard. “Ignan…”

As hers went around his neck, his slid around her waist and back. As they were alone, he afforded a lingering, genuine smile on his weathered face. She was reeling off all the things she didn't do, but Ignan wouldn't ever dream of asking her to do (between the house elf and a life of independence) when she suddenly stopped and her hands gripped. The temperature was dropping, and that was a feat in itself.

The smile fell away from Ignan's face. The lights dancing above them seemed to be extinguished. Despite Mira being in his arms he could hear her as if she were already screaming. He looked up, wand raising instinctively as he seized Mira's right hand with his left tightly, whirling around to be sure. Dementors. Their happy little isolated moment had appeared to one or more to be a passing feast.

"Don't let go of my hand, stay close." He ordered firmly, squeezing it in return so tight in an ordinary situation it might feel as if he could break the very bones. He glanced down to her worried face and summoned memories of the Hogs Head, of being at home, of sharing moments of dark humour and of just a moment ago, fresh in his mind before he cast aloud at swarming black cloaks and rotting hands closing in on them.

She was close, not willing to move an inch further away than was necessary. Voices began screaming in her mind, Maya, Jon, Leon, Katrine wailing in pain, distressed. Ignan’s grip on her hand was tight and Miranda used her left to pull her wand out. A darkness was engulfing them, the dancing northern lights were no longer visible. Instead all Miranda was able to see where the black cloaks floating toward them as the intensity of the screams increased and she struggled to stay standing.

No longer following Ignan’s orders, instead wanting to be away and not being able to adequately cast a patronus, Miranda started to pull back, feet dragging through the snow as she moved, pulling at Ignan’s hand as she cast his spell.

Mira kept hold but did not stay still. Luckily his augury patronus left the tip of his wand in the nick of time, and he sent it streaming through the cold air up into the darkness. Its blue, spectral wings extended, beak open wide as it snapped and twisted at the dementors. He stood steady as he could as the light from the charm lit up the snow as bright as daylight by their feet, revealing the dementors.

We're going to marry, I love her, she's right here, she's safe… Ignan's eyes didn't leave the trail of his patronus. If anything it was greater and larger than he ever recalled, and he sent it diving and swooping splitting the dementors. Despite the grim and horrible situation, he let out a laugh as the horrible wraith like figures retreated backwards.

"Not even you can have this night!" He yelled at them, his voice oddly echoing off the hill around them

And then, in a sudden, last minute decision, the Defence Professor engaged in one tactic he occasionally suggested to his students when the odds were against them. He bid retreat. Turning on the spot he swept the other arm around Mira with his wand still in hand and with a blink they were gone.

With a pop and a gasp they reappeared not far from the lodge by the lake's edge where they were staying, just where they'd paused before setting out to decide on which path to take. It was the first place that wasn't immediately at the warded building that he could think to take them. Only he miscalculated where it was safe to land, stumbling on arrival, releasing Mira's hand to attempt to catch his own balance. With a rush of snow and a yelp he pitched off the edge of the slope in the dark.

“Ignan!” Mira screamed as she stepped to the edge and looked down into the darkness. “Shit!” The habitually calm and collected witch, usually helpful in a crisis, began to panic. “Shit, shit, shit.”
Brain in gear, Elliot. Stop panicking. The wand was still in her hand and she pointed it to the edge, yelling “LUMOS MAXIMA” A Bright light shone from her wand, reflecting against the white snow and below she could see her husband to be lying in a heap; blood tinting the snow around him. “Shit, shit shit.”

But this was something she could handle. She could handle injuries. Dementors were far from her scope of skills but injuries were manageable. She just needed to reach him.

It did take a few moments to calm herself enough to focus on apparating to the spot below but when she appeared next to the wizard with a pop, she immediately dropped to her knees and surveyed the situation. It was fixable but he would hurt when he woke up.