Hermione sat on the frozen ground outside the door to the tent, fumbling her wand in her mittened hands as she tried to cast yet-another warming charm over herself. It had started snowing at some point that afternoon, and now the sun was well-and-truly set and it showed no signs of stopping. She was miserable, cold, and going out of her mind with worry and boredom. She wasn’t sure what the date was precisely, but it must be nearing the middle of December. Being on the run from the Death Eaters had been bad enough in the middle of summer with the constant fear of discovery and endless hunger. The addition of sub-zero temperatures had done nothing to improve things.
At times like this, she couldn’t even blame Ron for leaving. The whole thing was hopeless. What chance did three unqualified teenagers stand against the combined might of the Ministry of Magic and Lord Voldemort. She was supposed to be the brains of the trio, the one with the plans and ideas. And what help had she been, really. She might as well just…
Hermione cut herself off, glaring down at her chest where she suddenly remembered the hateful locket sat, resting under layers of jumpers, scarf and coat. She had to do something to get out of this mood. It was overdue time to pass the locket on to Harry, but she knew that his mental state was worse than hers, so she had taken to stretching out her own hours wearing it as far as she could.
Shaking herself, Hermione stood, gazing around at the thick carpet of snow. If she stopped dwelling on the cold and damp for a minute, it actually looked sort of beautiful. Almost magical in a way that didn’t require a wand or any fancy spell work. Forcing a smile onto her face, Hermione poked her head through the tent flap.
“Harry, do you want to build a snowman?” she called, injecting cheer into her voice.
“A snowman?” Harry asked in complete bafflement, looking up at her from where he had been sprawled on the floor reading through old textbooks in the hopes of finding a clue.
“It doesn’t have to be a snowman,” Hermione clarified. “I think some company is overdue, and we could both use something to take our minds off Horcruxes for a while.”
“I don’t think I’m really in a snowman building mood,” Harry sighed, looking away from her and back down to the book he had been reading.
“Please, Harry?” she asked, fighting to keep the smile on her face as her voice cracked and the locket reminded her that he didn’t really want her here anyway. “We only have each other, it’s just you and me now. We can’t mope about her all the time. It’s killing me. I’m trying to have courage, but we’ve lost Ron, and now it’s like you’re blocking me out too.”
“Okay Hermione, we can build a snowman,” Harry smiled sadly back.