Quiet days, with skating

boot has liked the quiet days. very much.

At the christmas eve feast boot got to sit with Hermione until Mr Lupin for just a little while. christmas day feast was even better. did you know that they put stuff inside the birds they cook, like goose and turkeys??? the stuff they put inside has raisins and onions and apples and chestnuts mixed in. it tasted amazing.

master gave boot some thick socks and a blanket for his cupboard. of course boot gave master proper thanks.

other gifts

Mr George and Fred Weasley showed boot a strange thing: they transfigured their boots so that they had metal parts sticking out of the bottom of them, like knives, and they used them to move across the ice on the lake! not walking, but sort of sliding around on the edges of the blades. boot had never seen such a thing before. They call it 'skating.' boot thought it must be hard. Mr George Weasley kept falling down a lot, but it didnt seem to hurt him, because every time he did they would both laugh.

Then they said boot should try it. boot didnt think he could but its really really really hard to say 'no' to Mr George and Mr Fred Weasley. They transfigured his shoes, and then boot was stuck doing it anyway, because he couldnt walk back up to the castle with those things sticking out of his shoes!

at first boot just tried to walk on the ice, but that didnt work. boot just waved his arms and fell a lot. then they took boot's hands and went on either side of him, each holding a hand and pulling him between them and then, oh, hermione, boot was skating! For just a little bit, until he fell again.

then they let boot go back to shore and changed his shoes back. and it was time to go back for hot choco inside.

when boot lay down to sleep and closed his eyes he could almost imagine that feeling again. going over the ice, faster than anything. fast and free.