It seemed as though someone finally knew how to get the best of Grace Eddy.

There was something that the determined seventh year Gryffindor did not know how to do and conquering it was something she had little control over conquering, which was unusual, considering she was so athletic.

As soon as she had arrived to the Winter Festival, having taken the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade Station, something about the activity had captured her attention. It was odd to be taking the train there and not be doing so in order to return to classes, but there was something serene about the emptier ride that she enjoyed. It had given her the opportunity to think about a great many things. Skating hadn't been one of them, but that had quickly taken over as she made her way through the busy festival.

It was surprising that the seventeen year old had never participated in it before, given that she had done things like skiing or sledding. But watching others make their way around the rink, it looked easy and Grace had finally decided that she was going to have a go at it.

After lacing up the skates, Grace teetered a bit on the blade before making her way over to the rink's edge. For a moment, she got the strangest feeling of deja vous, as the kind of walking she did on the skates felt like the kind of walking she did on high heels. She hoped her mastery of walking in heels would translate to a successful skating session.

Unfortunately, balancing spikey shoes on solid ground did not automatically equate to being able to balance on a thin blade while moving at a much swifter pace. At first, Grace choppily made her way across the ice, doing her best to avoid the other skaters so that she wouldn't create a mass pile up. She was slowly picking her way from one end to the other; Her confidence was bolstered.

Sadly, her good fortune did not last. An overconfident Grace soon began to pick up speed and when she approached one end of the rink, she felt the apprehension that came with not being in control of herself. Her eyes widened as she headed straight towards the curve where some other skaters had congregated.

"Look out!" she cried in warning. She cringed and held her arms out, bracing for impact. "Oh no! I don't think I know how to stop!"

It was Christmas Eve, and Chalmers Holt was trying to get in the holiday spirit. His mother was off with some new boyfriend, and of course, going to his father’s was never an option.  So with nothing else to do, the young auror decided to spend some time at the Winter Festival.  There would be a bonfire tonight, and Chalmers decided to get there in the later afternoon and see what else was going on.  Then, he finally settled on doing some ice skating.

After getting some rental skates (Chalmers had thrown out his old ones a while back), he laced them up and headed out on the rink. It had been a while since he’d skated, but he could remember the basics.  He always enjoyed it as a kid, and during his time at Hogwarts.  Chalmers made a few laps around the rink, smiling at some of the families and kids there. And then, there was her.

He didn’t know who she was, but he could tell she was going a little too fast for her own good. A pretty girl, who looked like she was about to crash.   Quick as he could, Chalmers skated in front of the girl, before she hit the wall, or any of the people standing in front of the wall. He took hold of her, but wasn’t able to keep them both upright.  The two of them ended up falling down onto the ice, and Chalmers found himself beneath the girl.

“Are you ok? I tried to stop you, looked like you were going to crash.” The words sounded kind of silly after he said them. Because naturally, throwing yourself between someone who was going to crash and the wall was what should be done in the situation.  But in his mind, Chalmers figured crashing into one person was better than crashing into more than one person.  Or a wall. 

The collision was expected but somehow still managed to take her completely by surprise. As she the group of people ahead had gotten closer and her fate inevitable, Grace had squinted her eyes closed as she braced for impact.

Her eyes were closed for mere seconds when she felt someone grab hold of her, likely with the intent of stopping her forward momentum and a disastrous pile up. Unfortunately, purpose and execution weren't always so easily accomplished and when all was said and done, Grace and the person who had attempted to save her had collapsed on the ice. Grace slowly opened her eyes, wondering if they had fallen into anyone else who might join their heap of tangled limbs.

When the coast was clear, Grace turned her attention to the man who was speaking. She immediately flushed with embarrassment and blurted out, "Oh gosh! I'm so sorry! Are you alright?? I guess I'm not very coordinated on these things." She glanced down at her feet before she made an effort to sit up, which would allow him to do so as well. With a half grumble, she said, "I guess I should have just waited for the bonfire tonight to toast s'mores. At least that is something I know how to do..."

She looked uninjured from what Chalmers could see.  He’d taken most of the impact, which wasn’t too painful. The auror was used to taking painful falls. Looking around, other people were wondering what was going on. They quickly just ignored it, seeing it was under control and went back to their conversations and skating. Chalmers just waited for the girl to move, and then he answered her questions.

“I’m good. It’s ok. I’m just glad you’re ok.” After she sat up, he did the same. “Yeah, ice skating can be a little dangerous your first time out. I think perhaps you might want to take it easy on them for now.”

Chalmers let out a laugh. Hopefully she didn’t think he was laughing at her though. Now that he could get a bit of a closer look at her, he thought she was very attractive.  Though she was a little embarrassed and possibly upset, he thought it cute. Chalmers tried guessing her age, and wanted to say she might be in her early twenties. Of course, age guessing was never something he had been good at.

“S’mores are pretty easy. And tasty. Skating doesn’t quite leave you with something like s’mores do.” Chalmers flashed her a smile. “So. How about trying to get you to stand up? I can give you some balance if you want to lean on me. It’ll be a little easier with someone helping out.”

He pushed himself up onto his feet and extended his hand out to her.  Hopefully she would accept it. Chalmers wouldn’t mind giving her a little lesson on ice skating, or staying around her for a while. He was alone today, and she was as well. It would be some good company, too.

“I’m Chalmers, by-the-way.” He had just realized he hadn’t introduced himself yet. If he was going to help her, she would probably want to know his name.  And Chalmers was curious as to her name too.

"I'm a trooper," Grace assured the man with an impish grin. Her eyes lingered on the pleasing features of his face and when she realized she was staring, she flushed and hastily looked down at her skates. Reaching out to touch her laces, she wanted to make sure that they were still tied tightly enough before she attempted to stand on them again. For some reason, they felt quite awkward on her feet, as if they would never be on enough for her to truly be comfortable.

Scrunching up her face, she wondered, "Perhaps I need the skates with training wheels." She bit her lower lip as she tried to imagine the skates before her with such an aide on them. Maybe there was some sort of charm that she could place on them too. "I think I remember seeing a few pair like that. Or at least with the double blades."

She only looked back up at him when he spoke again about the s'mores. His smile enhanced how good looking she already thought he was, but there was something about it that told her that she could trust him. Thus, even though she was awkward doing so, she reached out and accepted his offered hand with a grateful smile.

"Thanks, Chalmers. I'm Grace." Even after she stood and seemed to have a handle on her balance, Grace held tightly to him, not meaning to dig her fingers into his arm, but eager to latch onto the security in his balance. Laughing lightly as she looked warily around, she asked, "So? Where did you learn to skate so well?"

Chalmers smiled at her. “I’m sure you can get the hang of it without training wheels. Or if you want I could fix them up for you. They can be difficult to get used to.”

He couldn’t help but think how pretty she was, despite telling she was a bit embarrassed. Chalmers, for the first time in a while, wanted to be around a female for something other than work.  He didn’t even know anything about her, despite that she wasn’t a good ice skater.  But of course, he wanted to get to know her better, and decided he was going to try and stick around with her longer.

“It’s nice to meet you, Grace.” Chalmers helped her up and kept her steady. Slowly, he started skating, making sure she could keep up.  He smiled at her. “Just keep balanced on me. Don’t be afraid. And I learned to skate pretty young. My dad taught me in the winter. But I haven’t really skated since my dad kicked my mum and I out... And that’s something I don’t need to go into. I didn’t mean to bring that up.”

Chalmers still had a bit of a sore spot with his dad.  They had been a normal family, until his dad realized that his son and wife were not normal.  Piers couldn’t deal with magic, so Chalmers decided not to deal with him.  Sometime he would probably try to visit his dad, but he wasn’t sure he was ready for that yet.

And now, Chalmers decided to shrug that off.  He was pretty sure Grace didn’t want to listen to him talk about his family problems. So instead he decided he would do what was most safe. Ask her about herself.

“So what made you decide to try learning to ice skate?” He smiled, still helping her not fall again.

"I'm sure I could," Grace said with a hint of mild amusement. "But probably not without falling a few more times." Grace bit her lower lip and ducked her eyes, hoping to hide how nervous he made her all of a sudden. She liked his smile and wanted to see more of it, but she wasn't sure she could do so and still carry on an intelligent conversation.

"It's nice to meet you too, Chalmers," she responded, focusing on the her skates and watching them glide over the ice beneath her. She kept hold of him as they made their way slowly around the rink. Strangely enough, it felt fine for the fiercely independent Grace Eddy to rely on someone, especially a member of the opposite sex, for help.

Grace's head snapped up when her new acquaintance shared a bit of private information with her. She wasn't expecting that and she nearly lost her balance again, but thankfully she had him to lean on. The overshare managed to get her to forget about being nervous around him. Instead, she focused her brown eyes on his face and quietly assured him, "It's okay." She didn't want to pry further, but she couldn't help be intrigued to know more about this stranger.

She flashed him a sympathetic smile, understanding his need to change the subject. She took a deep breath and smirked when she answered his question. "Temporary insanity?" She shrugged. "I guess I thought it looked easy. I mean, I can ski, so this should have been a piece of cake."

Grace was doing well.  Chalmers was glad she trusted him enough to hold on. He remembered how much easier it was learning to skate with someone there helping. And helping her was definitely better than his planned outing of skating by himself.  Chalmers enjoyed being around people, and loved meeting new friends. And Grace seemed to be enjoying herself as well.  At least he hoped she was.

He gave her another smile as she answered his question.

“Yes, that can cause us all to do things we may not normally do.  There are some things the two have in common, but ice skating has a smaller surface to stand on.  Which I think makes it a bit more difficult. But I think you’re doing pretty well now.”

They skated around a couple more times, and Grace seemed to be doing better with her balance.  Chalmers noticed that he’d allowed himself to become more relaxed around her.  And that was weird, because he was normally on his guard around others.  It was also weird because he barely knew anything about her. He was normally a bit cautious, but there was something about Grace that he liked.

“So... were you here with anyone else? Or are you like me and just decided to go it alone and hopefully make new friends?” Inside, he hoped she was alone.  Because then he would have felt bad if he caused her to abandon any friends. And Chalmers wanted to spend more time with her.

"Don't worry about flattering me," Grace said with a hint of laughter. "I know I am terrible at this." She continued to grasp firmly at his arm as they moved across the ice. Chalmers tended to glide whilst Grace's movements were choppier and less grace-ful. Hardly the best first impression she wanted to have on a member of the opposite sex.

Still, Grace tried to make the best of it. Perhaps her failure at something might be seen as endearing to someone else. And didn't helping a damsel in distress appeal to the sense of chivalry in men? Maybe that was a high standard to hold someone to, but this Chalmers fellow seemed to be doing well enough at it.

As they made a few more rounds around the rink, Grace did relax and seem to become more fluid in her movements. She loosened her grip on his arm and found herself smiling a bit when he looked at her to make sure she was doing alright.

"I...uh....yeah, I'm here on my own. Well, I mean, I was going to try and meet up with some of my friends from school later, but I had some time to kill so that's why I decided to try this. I don't mind being alone, but I also don't mind making new friends," she told him with a grin. She paused and then blurted out, "Like you! I'm awfully glad I met you, Chalmers!"

“No, really, you are doing better.” He let out a small laugh.  He really was enjoying himself. 

Grace’s improvement also made Chalmers feel better.  His mom always said he had something of a “hero complex” that made him want to help others.  That’s part of why he became an auror.  Of course, even helping others on a smaller scale made him feel good too.  Such as saving a girl from crashing into others at an ice rink, and then helping her learn to skate.  But that wasn’t all of why Chalmers wanted to help her. It was also nice to have social interaction with others.

The fact that she came on her own made him relax a little. Chalmers didn’t want any angry friends to deal with.  Plus that meant he might be able to spend a bit more time with Grace.  Hopefully she wouldn’t object to going to the bonfire with him later.  It would be nice to have someone to be there with.  Chalmers thought it was cute when she said she was glad she met him.

“I’m glad I met you too.” He smiled again. “You wouldn’t perhaps want to accompany me to the bonfire later would you? Maybe you could help me make a s’more? I’ve never been very good at that.”

It had been quite a while since Chalmers had done anything remotely like asking someone on a date.  But he wasn’t sure that this would be considered something like that.  They’d only just met and he was asking her to something later that night at the same location they were at.  He hadn’t been able to talk to Grace that much, but hoped that she’d be up for hanging around with him a bit longer.

Grace finally accepted his compliment without feeling like she needed to deflect it. If he said she was doing well now, then she could trust that he was being truthful. Right? Heck, with a smile like that, he could make her believe just about anything.

She couldn't help but smile in return, especially when he asked if she wanted to join him at the bonfire. "Sure. I think I'd really like that." She laughed lightly at the mention of s'mores. "And maybe I can help you make s'mores to repay you for helping to teach me to skate."

Having agreed to that, Grace finally found herself at a loss for words. But not wanting there to be too much of a lull in conversation, she asked him, "So, Chalmers, what do you do?"