Spite on the Slopes

[Lizzie Parker-Taylor]

Winter couldn't have come soon enough for Lizzie if it had tried, but finally, it was here. A frosty breeze through her hair made Lizzie feel at home like nothing else, as she waited at the top of the beginner slope. She had a job this holiday, an actual job that she couldn't love more. Finally she'd been deemed old enough to train guests by herself, and this was her first real solo assignment. Lizzie hadn't actually encountered them yet, but Caro had invited a friend from school and their family to stay for a while, and Lizzie got to be the one to teach them what they were doing on skis. She waited patiently for the guests to arrive, looking out at the view and thinking about just how lucky she was.

 

[Caro Taylor]

Coming back home after really getting to experience another part of the country on her own for the first time was a strange mix of comfort and disappointment. Back to the same-old same-old. Caro had invited Sophie, her friend from the paper, to come and visit their lodge, and was delighted when the invitation was accepted. At least the holiday wouldn't be completely boring. Their first day heading to the slopes, Caro was determined to go along with them, even if it meant putting up with how high-and-mighty Lizzie had gotten now that she was an instructor, and having to ski the boring slope. Spending time with Sophie would be worth it. After fitting Sophie and her sister for their skis, Caro lead them out to where Lizzie was waiting. "Here we are. This is my sister Lizzie, she's gonna be teaching you guys today." She leaned over to whisper to Sophie. "She's awful, but listen to the safety stuff at least. I'll teach you to do cool stuff."

 

[Sophie Wilson]

It was a sign of her fondness for Caro as a friend that Sophie had agreed to come on this trip. Not only agreed, but gone out of her way to convince her parents and sister of coming as well. Not only that, but she actually felt a little excited at the prospect, though skiing still seemed like a terrifying pastime. She had no doubts that she would be horrible at it, but she could only hope Amber would be worse. She walked next to her sister, who looked annoyingly bright and pretty in her pink coat with light yellow scarf. It was like Amber attracted pastels like a magnet, revolting.

She recognized the older girl from the argument between her and Caro she had witnessed last year, and gave her a nod but no smile. She had no opinion of her, but she trusted Caro's judgement and her friend was not a big fan of her older sister. She smirked when Caro told her she would teach her cool stuff, she had no illusions about being able to do anything 'cool' on skis, unless one called falling on your face 'cool', but the offer was appreciated. "Noted, safety stuff." She told her before turning her gaze to the older girl. She looked bossy, and Sophie could understand Caro's opinion.

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber had never expected to go on a trip to go skiing, especially not on Sophie's suggestion. Honestly, she wasn't a big fan of anything to do with sports and she had a feeling skiing was no exception, but she was curious about it anyway. She didn't want to write it off before trying it, and at the very least they had a nice vacation in another part of the country. Not to mention how much she had enjoyed shopping for the perfect winter outfit.

She followed Sophie and her friend Caro to the instructor. It was nice to see that Sophie had a friend, even if it meant her sister had barely looked her way ever since they arrived. Not that she usually paid Amber a lot of attention. She frowned when she saw who the instructor was. Lizzie Taylor? Really? She realized Caro was called Taylor too, but it was a common last name. She hadn't expected to see this girl here, one of the few people at Hogwarts she knew and didn't get along with. Determined not to ruin the vacation, she kept her smile in place as she turned to the Gryffindor, wondering if the girl would do the same. If she was really an instructor, she couldn't let her dislike of Amber show right? "Well, we're here!" She said brightly but somewhat unnecessarily, just to fill up the awkward silence that had fallen.

 

[Lizzie Parker-Taylor]

Lizzie hadn't paid too much attention to the friends Caro was making at school, having quickly resigned herself to her sister avoiding her for seemingly no reason. She definitely didn't expect who she saw approaching from the lodge though. Lizzie had made a pretty concentrated effort to avoid that prissy Hufflepuff since first year, but now there she was, apparently one of Caro's new friends, and one of Lizzie's very first skiing students. Fantastic.

Lizzie gritted her teeth for a moment, then quickly forced a smile, trying to make it as natural and professional as possible. "Hi! I'm Lizzie. I'll be your ski instructor." She smiled at the younger girl, avoiding looking at the Hufflepuff at all. "Has Caro got you all set up with skis and poles?"

 

[Caro Taylor]

It didn't take Caro long to notice that Lizzie seemed... weird. She looked all stiff and uncomfortable. Could she actually be nervous? This was hilarious. Suddenly, she was immensely glad to be here, to see the golden sister actually unsure of herself for what seemed like the first time ever. She folded her arms, trying not to smirk. "Of course I did." She snapped. "I know how to do my job. Your turn." The temptation to smirk was greater than ever, but she kept her face set, not willing to let Lizzie see how much she was enjoying her sister's nerves.

 

[Sophie Wilson]

Sophie rolled her eyes at Amber's exclamation, it was so like her to need to announce herself. She did notice that Amber seemed weirdly tense at the sight of Caro's sister. Did she know her? Sophie was pretty sure the two would be in the same year. That was interesting, but it might be nothing. Sophie raised an eyebrow when Caro's sister asked if Caro had set them up with skis and poles. Surely she could see that she had. "Obviously not." She said dryly as she raised a pole slightly. "We just stole these from random people on the way here, that's okay right?" She shared a look with Caro and resisted the urge to laugh, it seemed to Sophie like everything Caro had said about her sister was right. The two had bonded over their dislike for their older sisters, and it was kind of funny to have both of them here together. Amber and Lizzie seemed very different, but both annoying in their own ways.

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber could tell Lizzie remembered her as well, but the girl tried her best not to show it. Fine, two could play that game. Amber smiled at the girl as she introduced herself, hoping her nerves weren't showing too much. She wasn't very sporty and failing at this in front of this girl would be kind of horrible. She had the feeling the professional instructor face wouldn't last very long if Amber fell on her face in the snow. She knew Sophie would laugh as well, and she started to wonder what she was doing here. But it was too late to back out now.

Lizzie asked them if the other girl had set them up with skis and poles though it was obvious that she had. Amber noticed that she wasn't looking her way at all, which she wasn't sure if she should be happy about or not. Sophie's dry comment surprised a small laugh out of her, though she normally wouldn't have approved of her sister being rude. Lizzie deserved it, though, so she didn't say anything to Sophie and couldn't quite hide the smile. "Yes, I think we're ready to get started." She told her, making it clear with her tone they were all waiting for her to say or do something new and useful. A part of her really doubted Lizzie would be patient enough to be a good instructor, but she hoped the Gryffindor could surprise her.

 

[Lizzie Parker-Taylor]

Of course, Caro had to needle her on top of that Hufflepuff showing up. Perfect. Great. So much for Lizzie's shining teaching debut. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Lizzie smiled quickly instead. "Great! Okay, the first thing we're going to go over is posture. You want to have your knees very slightly bent, but keep your body weight centered over your feet. Try not to lean back or forward, you want to be as centered and upright as you can, with your arms in front of you. Keep your feet hip width apart and parallel, make sure the skis aren't touching each other, and try to keep your head up. I know it's gonna be tempting to look down, but keep your eyes up." She gestured forward. "We've got this flat area up here for basic practice, so just have a go sliding around on the flat before we give it a try on the training slope." Lizzie gave an encouraging smile, hoping none of them would give her any more sass.

 

[Caro Taylor]

Caro had to resist the urge to giggle at Sophie's response to Lizzie. It was so nice to have someone at home who didn't immediately love Lizzie. She tuned out the teaching spiel as Lizzie began giving it, rolling her eyes. Sure the beginner stuff was necessary, but it was so boring. She didn't know how dad could stand doing this every day. Lizzie was gonna get sick of it within a week, guaranteed. How dull. Hopefully Sophie and her sister were paying attention, so they wouldn't have to do all this again.

 

[Sophie Wilson]

Sophie was pretty proud of her joke, even more so when Amber actually laughed at it. There really had to be something going on between Amber and this Lizzie person if her sister didn't take the opportunity to scold her for being rude. She glanced at Amber curiously, the impatience in her voice being out of character for her as well. Sophie couldn't help but think her sister might be more bearable if she showed this side of her more often.

Lizzie started to go on a rant on everything they needed to remember and while Sophie tried to remember everything she said, she was pretty sure she didn't. She stared blankly at the instructor. "Wait... knees bent but no leaning forward?" She wasn't sure how she was going to manage all of these things. There was no way she wasn't going to look at her feet, how could she make sure she wouldn't fall if she didn't? She crossed her arms, not wanting to show the nerves that were building up inside her. "Fine, let's get started." She hesitated, then tried to do what the older girl had said. She glanced at Caro for confirmation as she bent her knees and tried to force her back to stay straight. "Like this?" She wasn't sure how to 'center' her body weight anywhere, but she hoped she was doing alright so far. She felt slightly ridiculous.

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber paid close attention to Lizzie's explanation, feeling like she was back in school listening to a lecture on Astronomy or History. It was a little hard to picture, but she thought she had the basic idea. It was a little worrying, though, because understanding it in her mind didn't mean she could actually do it the way she was supposed to. Amber wasn't used to failing at things, and she tended to avoid things like this that could cause her to fall and humiliate herself. Especially in front of the first person at Hogwarts she had not gotten along with after meeting. She sighed and tried to do what Lizzie had said, bending her knees slightly but trying to keep her back straight and her arms in front of her. She squeaked in alarm when the skis started to shift in the snow and used her poles to stop her slight momentum. She blushed and glanced at Lizzie. "What happens now?"

 

[Lizzie Parker-Taylor]

Lizzie nodded at the younger girl's question, coming over to correct her posture a little. "More upright, keep your shoulders squared without leaning back and don't look at the ground. You basically want your whole body except your knees to be pretty much directly above your feet." She lightly moved the girl's shoulders until she was in position. "Here, just practice standing there for a moment, then try pushing yourself forward on the flat, and remember to stay upright." Trying to stay professional, she headed over to the Hufflepuff girl. "You're fine, that's normal. Snow's slippery. You need to keep your skis a little more parallel, the backs of your skis were nearly touching." She bent down to shift the girl's feet carefully. "Alright, same thing, just try gently pushing yourself forward on the flat. Just get used to moving around in that position." Lizzie kept a careful eye on the Hufflepuff... as much as she didn't want to be around her, someone Lizzie disliked getting hurt on her watch would be beyond a disaster.

 

[Caro Taylor]

Boring, boring, boring. Caro pushed herself ahead, skiing forward easily on the flat to demonstrate. "Cmon, try to catch up with me!" She said encouragingly, looking back at Sophie. She couldn't wait to get on the actual slopes with her friend, this part was always the worst. The best part would be tonight though, curled up telling stories by the fire, that was what being home was really about. Caro always thought like the skiing part was only really good for making you cold enough that the fire felt really, really nice.

 

[Sophie Wilson]

Sophie scowled at her friend as she pushed ahead. "I'm doing my best!" She snapped. "Not everyone was born on stupid skis." She pushed forward slowly. "This is stupid. I bet the first person that suggested tying sticks of wood to your feet to move forward in the snow was banished by the other cavemen." She muttered, mostly to herself as she pushed forward again. "But he managed to procreate anyway and now here we are, skiing." He scowled down at her skis but when she looked up she had actually moved quite a distance. A small smile appeared on her face. "Hey, I didn't fall. Or die. Or both." She looked at Caro. "That's a win, right?"

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber watched with some jealousy as Sophie moved without expressing much fear, unlike Amber who was ready to give up as her skis shifted even slightly in the snow. She just hated the feeling of not being in control of her own movements, and sliding around on snow made her feel like she definitely wasn't in control.

Amber tried to listen to what Lizzie said, keeping her skis as parallel as she could though she didn't feel very stable. She pushed herself forward and was surprised that she didn't immediately fall and break a limb. Maybe she could do this? She pushed again, a little harder, but her balance shifted and tried to lean away to make up for it, causing her to turn slightly. In a slight panic now, she tried her best to move back into the position Lizzie had told her, but she had lost complete control over where she was going and crashed into her instructor with a yell, closing her eyes tightly on impact.

 

[Lizzie Parker-Taylor]

Lizzie kept an eye on the two guests, watching the younger one as she slid over to Caro. Her balance wasn't perfect, but for a beginner she was doing well, and Lizzie gave her a thumbs up. "Great jo-" She started to call out in encouragement, but was cut off abruptly, as the Hufflepuff slid into her. Yelping, Lizzie slid a bit and grabbed onto her instinctively, barely managing to keep them both standing. "Woah! Hey, careful, are you alright?" She looked the other girl over anxiously as she helped her to regain her balance, terrified the girl might have hurt herself. She looked okay though, and Lizzie let out a sigh of relief. "Careful, you've gotta stay totally centered."

 

[Caro Taylor]

Caro grinned, watching Sophie's slow progress towards her. She was clearly still uncomfortable, but her progress was obvious. She beamed, high fiving her friend when she caught up. "That's a win for sure! Awesome!" She grinned, ignoring the rest of what her friend had been mumbling. She had gotten used to Sophie's cynicism, working on the paper with her. She was about to give her friend another challenge, when the a commotion distracted er and Caro looked back, eyes widening as she saw Amber had clearly collided with Lizzie, and couldn't hold back a giggle. Lizzie looked so freaked out, completely out of her usual confidence. What a loser.

 

[Sophie Wilson]

Sophie gave Caro a shaky high five as she tried to balance on her skis. This wasn't the worst thing in the world. Maybe. But she still wasn't sure she actually wanted to go down a slope. That really seemed like the sort of pointless thing that could injure you and wasn't worth it, like most sports.On the other hand, she really didn't want to disappoint Caro. The girl had been nice enough to invite them over, after all. She waited for Caro to say something else but saw her friend's eyes widen at something. She turned her head just in time to see the wonderful collision, Amber had her eyes squeezed shut tight as she slid into Lizzie with a very undignified yell. Sophie snorted and then just outright laughed, unable to help herself. Oh, it had all been worth it just for this. "Good going, Amber!" She shouted at her sister. "I see you're a natural!"

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber was irritated. Skiing was not her thing, it seemed. She had made a fool of herself by skiing straight into the instructor, and though Lizzie didn't actually show any sort of derision she was sure the girl was enjoying her failure, even if she probably hadn't enjoyed being run into. Sophie's laughter made her wince and grimace. She glared at Lizzie, the easiest outlet of her sudden annoyance. "I'm trying to be careful, but maybe you should have taught me how to stop once I got going before telling me to try skiing somewhere." She snapped before trying to jerk out of her grip, which almost made her lose her balance again. "So how exactly do I stay centered?" She asked Lizzie, irritation still clear in her voice. She ignored Sophie completely, knowing the younger girl was just looking for a reaction. Honestly, she was this close to just giving up and going for some hot chocolate. She also really wanted to go shopping nearby for some souvenirs and maybe a new scarf.

 

[Lizzie Parker-Taylor]

Lizzie had to fight back a scowl. Of course she would treat slamming into Lizzie as all Lizzie's fault. There went any potential that she might have become slightly less prissy over the last two years. "You shouldn't need to know how to stop yet." Lizzie said, trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice. "We're on the flat still. You... it's okay. Look. We'll try something different." Lizzie tried to squash her frustration down, beginning to gently move the Hufflepuff's body around until she was settled correctly on the skis. "There. That's centered. Try to stay exactly like that, equal weight on each ski. I'm gonna take the ends of your poles and just pull you for a while, so you can get used to moving, okay?" She stepped back, picking up the girl's ski poles, and began to walk backwards, slow and steady, pulling her along. "Just try to stay as still as you can."

 

[Caro Taylor]

Caro giggled more at Sophie's comment, hiding her smile behind her mittened hand. It was satisfying to see Lizzie having so much trouble trying to teach someone, as well as a relief that Sophie hadn't been the one to struggle the most. Turning back to Sophie, she smiled. "Let's go back to where we started while we wait for them. You're doing fine." She turned around quickly, sliding back along the flat to the area they had left from.

 

[Sophie Wilson]

Sophie grinned as she watched the two bicker before returning her attention to Caro. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen Amber argue with anyone that wasn't me." She paused. "Wait, no that's not true. There was this one time with the guy that sold me my wand, it was weird." She nodded when Caro said they should go back to where they had been, though her turning around wasn't nearly as smoothly as hers had been. It wasn't hard to imagine falling over or losing control of her balance, so she was glad she once again managed to follow her friend without falling on her face and breaking her nose, or something worse.

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber scowled at the girl and huffed. "In what world don't you need to know how to stop first thing!" She demanded. "That's the most important part for safety." She insisted, tossing her hair and nearly losing her balance again. She scowled at her skis. "Are these broken?" She asked, getting more and more frustrating. The girl's suggestion sounded horrid but she sighed and nodded. "Fine." She snapped. "Am I "centered" now?" She tried her best to stay still, but her face paled as they started to move. It took trust to do this, and she didn't trust Lizzie very much at all.

 

[Lizzie Parker-Taylor]

Lizzie sighed, struggling not to get angry with this girl's constant complaining. Any remote possibility that she had gotten less fussy since first year was well and truly out the window. "You don't need to know how to stop until you know how to start. We're on the flat, there's nowhere to go where you won't be stopped by friction, except into other people." She tried to sound reassuring, but couldn't quite quash the irritation from her tone. What a horrible way to start this job. She watched the other girl as she pulled her along the flat area, nodding. "That's it. Keep your knees in line and your weight even on each ski. Much better." Lizzie managed to calm herself down slightly, focusing on the other girl's technique.