Cross Games Freedom into the Snow

The snow was crunching beneath Jake's and Mayleen's feet as they walked to the ice rink in Hogsmeade. It was a Hogsmeade weekend for Hogwarts, and Mayleen had written to Jake to meet her at the Three Broomsticks. He had wondered why she wanted to see him at first, it was something she hardly ever wanted, but when he got there and saw Mayleen disappointed about something he immediately knew why he had been her first choice in calling. Marcus had graduated from Hogwarts and he had left her because she was a year younger.

Comforting his sister was hard for Jake now. They had grown apart since Mayleen had met Marcus and now was the time to patch up their relationship. But he wasn't exactly sure of how to do that, until he thought about the ice rink. He had suggested that they go there and she had accepted happily. Mayleen was so different now that she wasn't with that boy, Jake knew that he was a bad influence on her, but he couldn't separate them, and he had eventually given up on pulling them apart. When they reached the rink Jake had told Mayleen to go ahead of him since she was the one that needed to be cheered up and as soon as she stepped on the ice, Mayleen was dragged away by some old friends, whom she hadn't spoken too in a while, of course because of Marcus.

Jake sat down on a bench on the edge of the rink for a moment, watching Mayleen enjoy herself with her friends. Marcus had been his sister's first love, and he had taken her for granted. That was something Jake wouldn't tolerate, not at all. If he saw Marcus again he would put him in his place for what he did to his sister. Mayleen waved quickly to Jake, telling him that she was going to leave with her friends and Jake nodded and waved back, telling her it was okay. He watched her walk off with her friends, a small smile on his face, and he got up off the bench and he stepped into the rink. He knew how to skate, but he never really did it because of his friends, they would've teased him because of the fact that he was able to do that. Now that they were gone he could do whatever he wanted and he was free for once.

However he was a little rusty since he hadn't done it in a while, so he started off slow, not wanting to hurt himself skating. That would just be embarrassing, especially for someone like him. He skated around the rink making small star shapes all over the rink subconsciously. He had to admit it was fun to skate, and he actually liked it a lot unlike other guys who thought it was a girl's thing.

Dionysus’ grin was insufferably wide as he fallowed in the wake of the ermine trimmed coat tails that swished with the sashay of his cousin’s hips as she attempted to stalk away from him up the dimly lit cobbled Hogsmeade road. Certainly, it was safe to say that whatever words he had uttered in his velvety drawl, she had taken offense to. The scarlet that inflamed his cheek lent to the contents of the conversation though those that overheard would provide a rather more thrilling account of the situation than his inflamed cheek. He was also missing some hair. A scorch mark of reddened scalp was all that was left from the abuse he’d been dealt at the burning tip of her wand. She’d spared him, of course. She knew that her father wouldn’t much appreciate the killing of one of her cousins. It didn’t matter how truly irritating Dionysus was, he couldn’t be reduced to a pile of ashes. He was to be married within the month and it was that fact that he had reminded her of - and it was that reminder that had provoked her into lashing out at him. She bore enough stress, the weight of which was real in the pocket of her coat, and her cousin’s teasing had been enough to push her over the edge that night. She had little time and as a result, just as much patience. Dionysus should’ve known not to push her. He didn’t, though, and so that was where the problem had arisen. What aggravated her more was that none of his siblings tried to stop him. They merely smirked and dug their hands further into their coat pockets. She certainly knew now who she could trust.

It wasn’t a great task to lose her cousins. The streets of Hogsmeade - even at this time of night - were heaving with people looking for last minute Christmas bargains. She would have been easily picked out amongst them had they decided to take note of her attire. However, the ermine and the rich material it clung to disappeared out of their line of vision as she stalked further and further up the road. Her hair, set into curls with delicate pearl pins, blew gently in the breeze and she couldn’t help but retreat further into her coat as the icy breeze circled around her, ripping against her cheeks with caress-like force. It would’ve baffled her, the idea that it could be so cutting yet so gentle, had she had the time to spare a thought to the wind. She didn’t though. She wanted to be as far away from the members of her family that had left her so irate. Thankfully, moulding into the crowds wasn’t as hard as she would have first thought and she did so without little trouble. The people were compliant and moved together, lifting her up towards the top end of town, the farthest point from Hogwarts in the village, towards the ice rink that had been erected especially for Christmas. She knew that she could hide there, amongst the happy, smiling people. They wouldn’t think to look there. After all, she certainly wasn’t the happiest cookie in the world.

The booth was scarlet and egg-shell white. Bright lights and bows covered the top and a bored looking assistant clad in an elf costume leaned lazily over the counter, staring into space. Athena approached the booth with apprehension written across her sharp features. She turned her eyes slowly on the elf and slammed her glove-clad hand down on the splintered wooden surface. The man, young by the look of him, lifted his eyes to hers and she arched an eyebrow at him. He swallowed visibly and stuttered out a shoe size that she nodded her head to. She then began to unbutton her coat and folded it up before tossing it to him, snatching the boots he’d taken from the shelf out of his shaking hands. She then leaned down and removed her shoes before throwing them at him and walking across the concrete slabs to the opening of the ice rink. She wasn’t quite as confident skating as she was walking but she could do it, alright and soon enough she had the boots on her feet. She was helped onto the ice, of course, but once she was there she was released and Athena turned ever so slightly to see the gate be close again.

The dark haired girl huffed and crossed her arms over her chest as she slowly slid around the rink, following the crowd of people. She certainly didn’t want to do anything ‘impressive’. She didn’t actually think she could. Well, she could try. As per usual, though...Athena was feeling very delicate. She didn’t particularly trust herself in anything. She just wanted to crawl under the covers of her bed at home and sleep away the year. But she had a feeling that, should she fail in finding someone to marry, there wouldn’t be a bed to sleep in come Christmas.

The lights decorating the rink were very festive, he had to admit that. But it didn't really feel that way. Sure there were people skating like nothing was wrong, like they were all happy, and maybe some of them were. But there was something about the atmosphere that suddenly changed, and now it seemed like there was worry and maybe even fright taking over the happy festive mood of the rink. Someone must have something on their mind that was really bugging them, and it must be something big as well.

Screeching to a halt on the ice, opposite of everyone else, Jake looked around at the surroundings. It was pretty loud too, in and outside the ice rink, but he couldn't shake this feeling that someone was troubled. He didn't know who it was and he really shouldn't have cared, it had nothing to do with him, probably, so it wasn't any of his business. And yet he found himself standing there, looking into the crowd of people skating, searching for whoever it was that was troubled. Not seeing anyone that seemed that way, Jake sighed and continued what he was doing. Except he wasn't making the same star shapes anymore, not he was just skating in a straight line, speeding up to follow the rest of the crowd. He didn't want to seem like he was doing something exciting or impressive.

That would just be distracting to everyone else, and he didn't like to be the center of attention most of the time anyways. It was better to lay low away from anyone, than to be in the middle of something, waiting to be made a fool of. He came close to the crowd when he began to slow down, and he just continued to skate in a straight line, spinning slightly at some points. No one seemed to notice him behind them, but Jake looked at everyone in the crowd, or everyone he could actually see, the change in atmosphere still present in his mind.