A fine winter's day (( Friends ))

[Head Girl Andi]

Catalina sat at the Ravenclaw table with her trunk packed and resting at her feet. Her plate was piled high with a small mountain of French toast and smothered in syrup. Today was the day they would be heading off to Weinig Zug and the start of the vacation trip. They'd of course be traveling by Floo powder and that always made her hungry. Of course many things made her hungry but this especially did. As she sat and ate the murmur of students outside in the hallway grew louder and louder until it reached a feverish pitch which told her she had better hurry up and get out there.

Simply unable to finish her last 2 pieces due to time constraints, Catalina stood up and waved her wand at her trunk which lifted into the air and follow her out to the hallway where she stood in the midst of a crowd of students. In silence they listened to Professor Sprout discuss the rules for the trip. They were the same general set of rules they'd used the previous year on Quidditch trips, represent the school well, don't use magic in front of muggles and so on and so on. Reaching up she picked up her box and tucked it safely into her robe pocket for emergency uses only.

One by one students began to step into the fireplace and vanished in green flames. As she stepped into the fireplace she too was whisked away in a swirling flame and in a few seconds she emerged in the hallway of another castle, one that wasn't familiar at all. Stepping out with her trunk she looked around at the pleasant decorations that adorned the walls.

Quickly surveying the rest of the students who were already there, she found none of her friends were there yet. Looking at the key in her hand it read 314. Taking the closest flight of stairs up she climbed two sets of stairs and reached the 3rd floor. Walking down the corridor she watched the numbers on the doors until she reached 314. Putting the key in she turned the knob and entered her room, which was quite cozy. A small fireplace sat across from two large beds and there also sat a couch and a little table. It was certainly a nice room but Catalina wondered who her room partner would be during the trip, she hadn't realized that she'd need to share her room. Nervously Catalina set her trunk at the foot of the first bed and sat on the soft bed while she waited for her friends to show up, "ye all come ter me room at 10:15" she had told the rest of them last night at dinner. Patiently she watched the clock on the wall as it slowly ticked... 10:11.... 10:12.... 10:13....

[Valerie Rice]

Valerie appeared in the beautiful castle with her trunk next to her. As she looked around at the strange environment she suddenly felt a new wave of panic assault her. Why exactly had she signed up for this trip anyway? "Come along miss! Step away from the fireplace! Lots of people coming still!" A Gruff voice called out to Valerie and she quickly grabbed the handle of her trunk and dragged it over to the side of the lobby where she sat on her trunk and took out her key. The little tag on her key read 315. Taking the handle of her trunk, Valerie set off towards the stairs with every intent of disappearing from public view as quickly as possible.

As she reached the 3rd floor she walked down the hallway and found her room. Right across from 314 where Catalina was. Sighing, Valerie put her key in the slot and turned it and opened her room. To her shock she found two beds in her room. She didn't realize she was going to have to share the room with someone! Another wave of panic hit Valerie as she sat down on the first bed and wearily looked to the door in anticipation to see who she'd have to share her room with, if she had any luck it would be someone very popular and so they wouldn't be in the room very often thus leaving Valerie alone to sit here by herself. The clock slowly ticked until it was 10:15, the time she was supposed to go across the hall and meet Catalina. Rising from the bed Valerie sighed and looked at the other bed, maybe she could ask Catalina to switch room mates and she could spend the week in Catalina's room, she'd be safe there and no one would bother her. With her mind made up, Valerie walked out of the room and took two steps to the other side of the hallway and knocked of 314, all she needed to do now was gather the courage to ask Catalina.

[daph]

She had been one of the last students to step into the fire at Hogwarts, and as a result, she was one of the last to step out and into the enchanted castle. She started immediately up towards her room, using her wand and a moving charm to bring her bags behind her as she walked along as she looked down at the tag on her key in order to figure out her destination. The number was 315, which meant she had two flights of stairs ahead of her.

She was thankful for the charm she had put on her matching blue bags when she arrived at the third floor and looked up from her key to read the numbers on the doors. It was then that she saw Valerie only a short bit ahead of her, and she smiled slightly, continuing on until she reached the fellow seventh year, where she had to pause for a moment to gather her courage and begin to speak.

“Valerie, Hello”<br>
Standing in the hall next to the other girl she shifted her weight, always feeling awkward when she had to speak. She broke the tension by looking down at her key again, reconfirming that the number on the tag was 315 before she looked over at the door that Valerie was knocking at and motioned towards it.

“I guess this is my room.”<br>

[rosewood]

Julie Rosewood had been asked by her friend Savannah Johnstone to share her room with her. Actually the request had been more in the form of a command rather than asking her if she would like to be her bunkmate, but Julie took her friend's aggressiveness in stride and acquiesced happily. She was used to Savannah's slightly gruff and forceful manner, and thought Savannah's good qualities were enough for her to forget about such things and be friends with her. If you asked Savannah about that though she would probably say Julie was the lucky one to have been befriended by her. There was another reason she was bunking with Savannah other than she was a close friend. She wanted to assure Savannah she was not going to forget about her friends now she had a… well, she supposed she could call him a boyfriend, though they were just at the beginning of their relationship. What better way to prove to her she valued their friendship then to be her bunkmate?

Harry was on her thoughts today more than usual. He had flashed her a smile when he saw her today and yelled, "Good news! Ginny!" before each was hauled off by their friends. She was very happy about that as it could only mean one thing: Ginny had finally recovered after her rescue! Julie couldn't have been happier or more relieved about this unexpected news, Harry had looked so depressed for the last few days and the whole wizarding world had been worried about the fate of the kidnapped girl. She hummed a little tune to herself as she pulled on a white headband to hold back her mane of chestnut brown hair and looked at her reflection. She brushed her wavy tresses a few times and then looked at Savannah. "I'm off to check what Cat's up to, see you there OK," she said. There was a bounce in her step as she walked, or rather skipped off to her friend's room two spots of colour in each cheek.

Somebody was standing outside the room, a tall girl with blonde hair that was just a little shorter than her own, looking as if she was hesitating about something. "Hi there!" said Julie cheerfully. "You’re Valerie right? I've seen you on the pitch before and with Cat sometimes. I'm Julie Rosewood," she said with a friendly smile. She could be friendly with Draco Malfoy today she was feeling that happy! It was then that she noticed a seventh year from her own house at the door of room beside Cat's. "Hi Daphne! Didn’t know you were joining us on the trip," she said with a grin. Julie wondered what Cat was up to and why she had left them so long and she decided to take action. She rapped her knuckles a few times on Cat's door. "CAT! You've got visitors! Open up and let us in!" she called. She turned to Valerie and shrugged her shoulders. "Subtlety never was my forte," she admitted. She was suddenly hit by a realisation. "Um Valerie had you knocked the door before I arrived?" she asked.

((Forgive me for keeping you waiting.))

[Head Girl Andi]

Catalina sat in her room for a few moments watching the clock ticking ... 10:12....10:13..... when she heard a rapping at her window. Rolling over onto her side she looked at the window and saw Jupiter waiting for her! "Aye! Jup'ter!" Catalina said as she ran to the window and opened it, allowing the owl to fly in and land on the table after he dropped a package and a note on her bed. Unrolling the letter Catalina quickly read it and frowned, she had an entire box of candy at home but now Amber was going to take it to work! With a sigh she turned her attention to the package and unwrapped it and found her teddy bear 'Snowball' in the box. "Snowball!" Catalina exclaimed as she grabbed and hugged her fluffy bear before taking her wand from her pocket. Tapping the bear's tummy with her wand, the tummy opened up revealing a small stash of sweets! Taking out all the candy and spreading them on the bed, Catalina was taking stock of what she had when someone knocked on the door.

Leaving her sweets and bear on the bed, she walked across the room and reached out to the doorknob when someone pounded on her door and started shouting. Immediately she opened the door and looked to see Julie's face about 6 inches from her's! "Aye gobdaw!! Why ye haf' ter go an' bang on te door! I was comin' ye kno!?" Behind Julie she saw Valerie and then Daphne, all standing in the hallway looking quite odd. "Come in t'en, I just got a package from me sist'r Amber." After all had come in Catalina closed the door and dove back onto her bed and grabbed some of the sweets. Tossing one chocolate truffle to the others, she looked at them, "so.. what do ye want ter do today?" As she looked around the room she still noticed the other bed and looked at the others. "Anyone seen Alexa? She's suppos'd ter be my room mate."

[rosewood]

Catalina reached the door before Valerie answered Julie's last question. Totally unperturbed and in reality only half listening to Catalina's surprised exclamation Julie walked, or rather bounced over to Catalina's bed, plopped herself onto it and pulled one of the pillows into her arms. She leaned against the wooden back of the bed, hugged the pillow to her and stared off into space, a dreamy look on her happy and contented face. It had been so long since she had seen Harry look so happy. She wondered when they would get to spend some time with each other. Their last meeting had been far from happy. This time though they could have some fun. Julie was smiling to herself thinking of all the winter activities she could do with Harry when a chocolate truffle thrown by Catalina landed in her lap.

Julie woke up and answered Catalina's questions. "She is? I didn't even know she was coming on the trip," answered Julie, still smiling. "I'm up for anything. Skiing maybe? Any of you tried that before? Or we could explore the village. Anything is fine with me. What say you, Daphne, Valerie?" asked Julie turning to the other two. They hadn't said much since they entered the room.

((I think Alexa's in Paris. Better ask her.))

[Valerie Rice]

Valerie waited only a short while before she was joined in the hallway by two others. First was Daphne, her new found friend. Or at least Valerie thought they were friends, they hadn't really talked too much outside of tutoring sessions but then again Valerie didn't really talk too much and their last conversation in the Student Lounge seemed to show Daphne as one about as shy as she was herself. "Hi Daphne" Valerie said as she watched her go to room 315 and look at it. "That's my room too" she sheepishly said as a sigh of relief fell over her, she wouldn't have to share her room with someone she didn't know.

No sooner had Daphne arrived than another girl showed up, this time it was Julie, one of Catalina's friends. Watching Julie get to work on delivering several loud knocks to the door, Valerie suddenly became aware that she was in the midst of three Ravenclaws, and she was definitely not one to be able to keep up with a conversation with three Ravenclaws. She was snapped out of her thoughts before she was able to even get truly going by Julie asking if she had knocked. "Umm, yes I d.." The door was suddenly swung open before she could finish and Catalina was there, hollering at Julie about the way she knocked. Taking in the exchange between the two, Valerie looked over at Daphne and hoped she'd have some sort of idea, she wasn't liking the way this was going, she didn't particularly want to have to spend a lot of time with these two if they were going to be that loud. Of course that sort of charisma many times would allow Valerie to simply sit with a group and not have to say anything for hours on end, then again they could turn the conversation on her and place her in the middle of it and have everyone staring at her for something to say.

Feebly Valerie walked into the room and sat down on the second bed and eyed the large mound of candy that Catalina had. Catching the small chocolate in her hands she looked at it and listened to Julie discussing their options. Exploring the village was an alright idea, she could maybe buy something for her sister as a present. The second idea however was much more to her liking. As her father owned sporting goods store, she'd been shown all the various sports and skiing was one of them, and she actually was quite fond of it, in fact sports were about the only time when Valerie would talk. "I want to go skiing" she said confidently, then suddenly looked down at her feet, "um, if you all want to though.. we don't have to..." Nervously she waited for someone to break the silence that now gripped the room.

[daph]

She couldn't help but all of a sudden feel lost in a crowd that she didn't belong in. She knew her fellow Ravenclaws, though anything but well. She had kept to her self for most of her years at Hogwarts, her only real form of socialization being the tutoring sessions that she gave fellow students, and it was not often that a student from her own house needed help with their studies. Even thought she felt out of place, she would have felt even more so if she chose not to break away from the group, so instead she filed into Catalina’s room behind Valerie, making sure to stick close to the closest person to a real friend that she had.

Once inside, she caught the candy that Cat tossed to her, smiling at the sixth year after. She knew how much her fellow Ravenclaw liked her candy. It was then that the conversation drifted to possibly activities for the day. She had been skiing a few times before, her parents had said that it was a good way to get out of the city, though she didn’t think herself particularly talented at the activity, making her wish to lean towards going into the magical village for a little shopping. Valerie was the first to speak up when Julie asked their opinion, and for the first time she heard a tone of confidence in her friends voice. That being the case, she decided that if there was something Valerie felt confident about, she would push for that.

She hesitated for a moment, having to work up her courage to open her mouth and have words come
“Ho….how about we ski, and the…then go to the village for butter…beer and shopping if…if we feel up for it.”

[Head Girl Andi]

Catalina laid down on her bed and hugged her teddy bear while Julie took charge of the planning. The bear was very soft and fluffy just like Catalina remembered him from the summer time. While she fixed the bear's bow tie she listened to Julie roll out the idea of exploring the village or skiing. Skiing? That was the muggle snow sport. Catalina had never done that before but she had seen it on the TV. Her father used to bring home muggle Deeveebees to show them. One of those Deeveebees was about a muggle named James Bond and Catalina had watched him ski. It actually look quite dangerous what with the jumping around rocks and people trying to hit him and such.

Catalina sighed when both Valerie and Daphne both said they wanted to ski. If her memory was right though, in the deebeedee there was that eating place at the mountain, perhaps she could go there and read a book and sample the food while the others went skiing, she was certainly not going to jump out of those flying machines and have people chasing her around rocks! Instead of commenting on the matter, Catalina just hugged her bear tightly again and looked over at Julie for clarification of the day's agenda. As long as she wasn't in any danger and could eat some good food, she was content anyway.

[kalliyan]

Kalliyan Lockewood sat on her bed in the Gryffindor sixth year girls’ dorms; she was putting the last of her winter clothes in her bag to take on their school trip. This year the teachers had decided on Weinig Zug, a wizarding town in Switzerland, and Kalliyan was looking forward to it. She put the last of her sweaters it the bag before zipping it up, she then grabbed her brush and pulled her hair back into a neat ponytail and then clasped it with a silver pin. She flung the bag over her shoulder and then made her way downstairs; she would grab a quick breakfast while she waited to leave.

In the Great Hall, students were gathered trying to get in the last meal before they left, some were talking hurriedly with friends about how exciting this was going to be, others were listing off what they planned to do when they got there. Kalli, as she is affectionately known by her friends, sat at the Gryffindor table and ordered up some toast with jam and some orange juice and in the blink of an eye there it was before her. She held a triangle of toast in her hand and started to chew on it, she was on her last piece of toast when Professor Sprout arrived to give the usual precautionary lecture on what was expected in Weinig Zug. She dropped it and headed out into the hall with the others and filed inline for the Floo System, their transport.

She placed her emergency box in her bag and safely sealed it away before proceeding towards the fireplace. One by one, Hogwarts’ students disappeared in a whirlwind of green flames and soon she was one of them, tumbling through the maze that was the Floo System. Soon, she spilled out into the lobby of a beautifully decorated castle. The room was half filled with students and one or two teachers who had gone ahead first, their chaperones, the others were already in the rooms she imagined. She looked around for her friends but none were to be found, but she knew Catalina had gone ahead of her, Cavalez came before Lockewood. She pulled out her key, 314 it read. She went to the desk and was told to proceed to the third floor, which she did, “310, 311, 312, 313, ah 314, here we are,” she said and she spotted the gold numbers on the door.

She unlocked the door with her and key and walked in, it was now twenty minutes past ten and she was supposed to meet Cat and the others at ten fifteen, so she was a little late. When she entered she found Cat, Valerie, Julie and Daphne already there. She came in just as Catalina was asking about Alexa, the girl whose room number Kalliyan had taken over since she was not going on the trip any longer. “Hi guys,” she said as she brought her bag into the room and her trunk, which she had sent ahead, floated behind her. She looked at everyone and then went over to her bed and dropped her bag down on it, “Umm, I know Alexa was supposed to be your roomie Cat, but she opted not to come on the trip so Professor Sprout gave me her room number instead,” she explained.

The other girls were all coming up with plans of action for the day, shopping or skiing, “Well I think skiing sounds great, and we can do as Daphne so ably suggested and going for butterbeer afterwards,” she said enthusiastically and flashed Daphne a smile. She looked over at Cat, who was hugging her teddy bear and not saying a word, she obviously wasn’t keen on the skiing idea.

[Valerie Rice]

Valerie was glad that Daphne and then Kalliyan had said something to break the silence, but it seemed that silence was again taking it's hold on the room. She truly wanted to go skiing but wasn't about to open her mouth on the issue again, she was already hot. She could feel her face was warm, most likely blushed and her ears were very hot as well, a common feeling when she was extremely nervous or forced to speak in front of a large group.

Looking from one person to another it seemed no one was going to say anything now and this was the sort of situation Valerie tried to avoid at all costs. Gathering up her strength she ran through her mind what exactly she could say. After running it through a couple of times she decided it was time to speak. "We should go.. before it's too crowded..." Valerie then stood up and walked to the door trembling, she didn't like it when everyone was watching her and she could feel everyone's eyes on her as she got to the door. Quickly she turned the knob and walked outside to where it was cool and there was no one. Leaning up against the wall she sighed and tried to calm herself down, hoping that maybe someone would come out and join her.

[rosewood]

The group was joined by a Gryffindor sixth year Julie recognised from class but did not know on a personal level. She flashed her a small smile. Julie was still looking like a cat that had just finished a plate full of cream. She was finding it difficult to concentrate on what was going on with her friends. When she finally woke up from her dreams ad tried to push Harry to the back of her mind she realised nobody was saying anything than Valerie spoke up. "You're right, what are we waiting for anyway?" said Julie. She noticed that Valerie was very red in the face and wondered what was up with her. She turned to Cat who was looking slightly put out and squeezed her shoulder gently. "Come on everyone. Don’t worry Cat. I'm sure Valerie will help up us if we need any assistance," said Julie, turning to smile at the seventh year and jumping off the bed. She wasn't sure if Valerie heard her or not because she was already leaving the room. Julie pulled down her pale pink turtleneck sweater and tossed her hair back then went into the next room to get her skiing gear.

Julie returned in a few minutes and found the others were all ready. Valerie and Daphne were leading the way and Julie saw her chance to whisper something to Cat. "What's up with Valerie? She looks flustered or something, do you know what's wrong?" she asked Cat. It was a holiday and everybody was supposed to be happy, but it didn’t look like Valerie was, far from it. Cat knew Valerie much better than Julie so she might know why she wasn't looking excited.

It was a short way from their rooms to the skiing area outside the hotel. Julie was a spring person, who loved the time of year when the flowers just started to blossom and the trees began to grow their leaves after the winter, but she had to admit that the snow covering everything around her was indeed a spectacular sight. Deciding she would speak this time she looked at the other four and said, "OK can you see and safe slopes that aren't too steep? I want to make sure I can still remember how to do this." Julie had only skied once or twice in her life. Skating was her favourite winter sport and the only one she had any talent for. She was ready to ski today though and spend some time with her friends. It was also a good chance for her to get to know Kalliyan, Daphne and Valerie, as Julie was a social girl who always liked to meet new people. It had been so since was very young and had spent most of her time with her father and grandmother only and had longed for the companionship of people from her own generation. She was always ready to meet somebody new and have long conversations with them.

((I realise I am doing a little godmoding, if anybody wants me to change anything just say so. Just thought we'd move on a little. )

[Head Girl Andi]

Catalina gathered by everyone getting up and leaving her room that they were going to go skiing, despite it's obvious danger and risk of death! Grabbing a few chocolates she stuffed them into her jacket pocket and followed the others outside of her room and out of the hotel onto the snowy street. Catalina simply shrugged when Julie asked if something was wrong with Valerie, "I dun' t'ink so, she's very shy ye kno? She dun kno you really does she? I dun think she knows Kalliyan either, ye haf ter be careful wit' her so ye don't hurt her feelin', she's like Daphne, dun make her talk in front of te big group."

The walk to the ski resort was rather short, they were right when they said the village was super close to many muggle things. There was a decent sized line in the first building they went into, apparently it was where one paid to enter the ski place and where you could borrow skis. As they progressively got closer to the clerks, Catalina spotted the skis, many racks of skis, hundreds of them all lined up behind the counter with those pointy sticks that you use to ski with. However her eyes were drawn to bigger, fatter skis that were lined up on the opposite wall, they had no pointy sticks with them though. They actually looked like that "skate board" thing that Savannah was always riding in the hallways and talking about, but these here had no wheels. Slowly the line inched forward and Catalina took the two options into account. The skis looked quite dangerous, they were very slim and it looked like you could fall off of them easily, the big board thing though looked a whole lot safer, wider was better maybe? It looked easy enough when she watched Savannah skating down the hallways so that seemed to be the obvious choice.

Finally it was her turn, a rosy-cheeked girl waved for her to come up and Catalina obliged. The girl spoke some language that Catalina didn't understand, so she simply pointed at the large boards over on the wall and the girl went and got her a black on with orange stripes. As the clerk pointed to the price on the wall, Catalina took out the funny paper money muggles used and looked at them. She was supposed to pay 80 Euros and so she counted the numbers on the papers until she had 85 and handed it to the clerk who then gave her some back. The paper money concept was quite good Catalina thought to herself, writing how much each paper was worth on it was a brilliant idea, she wondered why Gringotts didn't do that, the papers were lighter to carry too.

Grabbing the orange board and heavy boots, Catalina walked over to a bench and sat down and put on the boots while she waited for the others to join her. When they had all joined her she followed the group outside into the cold and to the base of the mountain. Here and there were these chairs that were taking people up the mountain! Not really sure which one to go on first, Catalina walked to a few of them and looked at the pictures, some of them had pictures of tall mountains that looked really too much for her so she at last picked the one called "Bunny Slope" which had a small hill for a picture, it looked the safest out of all the ones she'd seen. Now that she had picked the one though she didn't know what she was to do first so she stood and watched other people get on, many had skis so that didn't help her but finally she saw a little girl with a board like her's. Following the little girl, Catalina did everything she did and finally made it onto one of the chairs and up the mountain she went!

The ride up was quite peaceful as the cool wind blew against her face, despite the amount of snow here it seemed much warmer than at Hogwarts since there wasn't a blizzard like cold wind blasting here. Her peaceful ride was cut short though as she looked down at the people going down the hill, in particular one person who was riding a board like her's. The person sped down the hill but ended up crashing into these bright yellow tubs that were in front of big poles, the result was a loud "THUNK!" that looked and sounded quite painful. The ride to the top of this hill took less than a minute though and soon Catalina saw that she was to get off, but the chair wasn't going to stop!? She curiously watched everyone ahead of her jumping off and sliding down the snow hill a little bit, it didn't look so hard. The little girl in the car in front of her was able to do it and as the end approached, Catalina prepared herself.

"Ye can do t'is" she said to herself as she watched the jumping time approach...."3...2...1... go!" Catalina jumped off the chair and hit the snow with her board, she then slid forward a few feet before she lost her balance and tumbled face first into the snow! "Aye gobdaw!" Catalina said as she struggled to get to her feet but the board was clamped tightly on her feet and she had to roll over in the snow a few times, tuck in her legs, reach down and fumble with the latches to finally get them off. This was not going to be a good day.

(( That's fine Julie, gets the post moving a bit. Oh and the price I used, it costs $80 at Bear Mountain here in CA to get in the park and rent stuff.. so ... yea enjoy ))

[daph]

Seeing Valerie’s quick depart from the room, she rose to her feet and followed, only briefly glancing back at the others. She knew they would understand—or at least Cat would. Once in the hall she saw Valerie and smiled softly, never sure what to say and then having to gather up the courage to actually say it once she did.

“Um…do you…I mean would you…help me?”<br>She found herself pausing for a moment after the words came out, though she new she had to elaborate, but it was such a struggle to start up the slow progression of syllables again.
“With skiing, I haven’t been for a…long time.”<br>
She paused for a moment waiting for Valerie to answer before she made her way into their room to get her winter clothing, having to dig in her bag to locate her deep blue jacket that matched her Ravenclaw scarf and gloves. It seemed that even away from Hogwarts she could not escape the colors of her house.

Once on the mountain, she proceeded to the rental room, where it seemed nothing short torture to try and talk to a complete stranger about getting skis. Perhaps that was why she felt connected to Valerie in some way, they both suffered from an intense shyness, thought for herself it wasn’t so much shy as the fact she hated the sound of her voice, and it was even harder to speak to strangers than someone who already knew its awkward sloth like quality.

After she had finally found skis that bit her, and paid her eighty euros, she proceeded outside and looked for Valerie, truly hoping her fellow seventh year would help her with her skiing. It had been years since her last time on the mountain, and she was feeling a bit insecure in her skills.

[Valerie Rice]

Valerie was glad when the others decided to join her outside the room and had all agreed to go skiing. The trip to the ski mountain resort was short and Valerie followed the others into the ski lodge and waited in line for her turn to rent her skis. Valerie waited apprehensively in line with the others and slowly inched her way up to the front of the line. With her skis in hand Valerie walked outside and watched the others begin their trips up the ski lifts. There were not many people on the slopes but those who were there seemed quite good. Of course Valerie wasn’t very good, she never tried to do anything special, just go down the hill and have fun.

Near one of the ski lifts she spotted a map of the mountain and went to take a look. Of the several lifts available, she decided that it’d be best if she started on a moderate slope, there was no need to push things so early. As she slowly trudged across the snow to the lift she spotted Daphne looking around quite lost. “Daphne” Valerie called out as she approached the girl and patted her on the shoulder. “Do you want to go up?” Valerie asked as she knocked off some snow from her boots with her pole. “If you don’t ski, maybe that bunny hill is good for you?” There was not much that Valerie could say to Daphne really, she didn’t know if she could ski or not and she was in fact unsure of herself and her ability to even teach Daphne how to ski, she had never before had to teach something to anyone.