I'm back with a new story! Don't worry I'm almost done with the next chapter for Secrets of Midnight but I went skiing last week and this idea came to me and I just couldn't get the plot bunny out of my head. Not to mention I would do anything to procrastinate writing the smut for SoM. Hehe.

Anyway this is a LONG OneShot story, but I made it multichaptered because of the "lessons". But do not worry, I'll get you a new chapter every day, or every other day, depending on how fast the editing will be done. The chapters will be very short though. I already have nine out of the ten chapters ready.

I'm very very grateful for Sexy. Lil.Emo and DravenDestroyer for the very fast and very great editing. I'm so happy you two are helping me out with the stories :3 Thank you thank you thank you

Next to the usual Severus/Harry there's also mention of Ron/Hermione and Fred/George/Draco. But just mentioned. The story is Post War.

Hope you will enjoy this!

Cheers,

Liz

PS: This story is dedicated to my dear Hanni (Johanni93)! I'd like to wish you the best of luck for your exams darling ;)

Skiing Lessons for Beginners

– Lesson One –

Though learning from a friend would seem more fun, it would be more rewarding for the beginner skier to hire a professional instructor.

"Can we just go and have a drink?" Harry shouted frustrated. "I think I might be better at this drunk." He was already horrible enough when he was sober, he absolutely had to be better when drunk. Or maybe he wouldn't be freezing like this with some alcohol in his system.

"Drunken skiers are the worst, Harry." Hermione commented sliding gracefully next to him. "They don't look where they are going and they aren't even careful enough to be on the slopes. It's too dangerous."

Harry didn't want to say he only meant it as a joke, as it was he wasn't sure he did. He definitely wanted to drink something before he continued to torture himself with this... sport.

"Still... Can we?" Harry asked staring at the girl with huge begging eyes. He stood up and brushed off the snow from his ass and knees.

Hermione considered him for a second "Okay, let's go." She then sighed in resignation. "But we should wait for the-"

She was interrupted when two men burst out from between the trees nearby, sliding towards them in alarming speed on their snowboards. Both men were wearing a three piece suit that Harry knew was not considered the regular skiing clothing, however they did not seem to care about it when Hermione previously commented on it.

Fred and George stopped right next to Harry, almost knocking him back into the snow and Harry looked at them with envy as he realized the black suit looked spotless on both wizards even though they had been snowboarding for hours. And among the trees none the less, not on the trail, like Harry.

"Harry-"

"Old boy-"

"You look like-"

"Someone just-"

"Attempted-"

"To transform you-"

"Into a snowman." Fred and George finished together and for a second Harry contemplated to either turn those two into snowmen or simply knock them into the snow. He disregarded the idea as he was sure he would sooner fall over himself then touch these two or even grab his wand. Not to mention the trail was crowded with happily skiing Muggles. Someone could still see him use magic, even though they were standing at the edge of the forest. Harry attempted to get away from the people as much as possible, partly because he didn't want to uphold anyone but mostly he liked to think that they wouldn't pay him much attention if he didn't make an idiot out of himself in the middle of the slope.

"Yeah, thanks." He murmured at the twins giving them a look that hopefully carried murderous intensions and not despair.

"Still not getting the hang of it, are you mate?" Ron asked joining their group.

"Nope." Harry admitted.

"Want us to help?" Fred grinned at him with an evil glint in his eyes.

Harry snorted and shook his head. He was pretty sure that the twins 'helping' would mean they would bring him up to the hardest trail and leave him there to come down any way he could. However, Harry had to admit, it might be more helpful than what Hermione had been doing so far. Well, he didn't actually blame Hermione for his lack of progress in skiing, the girl did everything she could but Harry just... didn't feel it.

When he tried Quidditch, well, flying with a broom, it was instinctive. He didn't need to learn the basic manoeuvres, they just came to him. It was gut feeling. But the only gut feeling he had now was nausea every time he came relatively close to a tree, another skier, or maybe the edge of the trail. That was the worst. Sometimes one of the sides ended in a cliff and Harry was actually terrified that he would lose even that tiny control he had over his skis and just run through that weak net; because really, did they actually think that net would withhold anyone?

He shuddered as his eyes wandered to the nearest cliff. It was far away but it didn't matter, the cramp in his stomach intensified.

"Okay, can we go now please?" He looked around his friends. "I would rather laugh at the lack of my abilities next to glass of beer."

Ron sniggered next to him but nodded and turned around to slide down to the nearest bar which to Harry's relief was nowhere near any ravine. Harry too, got back on his skis and attempted to slide down however he managed to fall over two times during the 30 feet distance he had to do. Hermione and the twins followed him with the same speed and twins even fell with him. Harry noticed he was ridiculed but he found it much funnier than insulting so he laughed with them.

The sun was brightly shining over them so they sat outside. A waiter came right away and took their orders for the four beers and one hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon. Harry was glad to finally be seated as his legs were almost trembling from the exercise. No matter how much he hated skiing itself, at the moment he had to admit that it was rather a nice sport, or at least it was tied to locations that were rather beautiful.

They were at the top of the mountain, he and Hermione were working their way slowly downwards on an easy trail while Fred, George and Ron were wandering all around the place, disregarding trails, carving their own path through thick, fresh snow. The sunshine was blinding and the air fresh and Harry felt rather good being away from the London smog.

Unlike the others, he never skied before though. It was Hermione's idea, who else's would it have been really. Years ago, sometime after she and Ron got together, Ron was about to meet Hermione's parents for the first time. Mr and Mrs Granger thought it would be nice to celebrate Christmas abroad together so they invited Ron too. Ron reluctantly accepted the invitation more afraid to make a bad impression on them than skiing. They spent a week in France and Harry was surprised to hear that Ron actually enjoyed his time there. And even found that skiing was fun, especially after Mr Granger taught him how to do it. It was a nice bonding time for them, while the ladies watched and enjoyed the show.

The next year, Ron suggested the twins join him and Hermione for a trip. By that time Ron talked so much about skiing that Fred and George became actually curious about this insane sounding Muggle sport. However, they preferred to learn snowboarding. And they did. Magnificently, Harry thought. They seemed natural in it, by the end of the week they had out performed Ron and flew high with their snowboards and improvised tricks and, naturally being the Weasley twins, they finished the week off the trails, zigzagging between huge trees and more often than not rocks and even animals too.

This happened two years ago. Obviously Harry was always invited too but he always declined. Sometimes because of work, sometimes because of Sirius and Remus and little Dorian. It wasn't like he didn't want to come, if not for skiing but at least hanging out with his friends was more than enough reason for him to want to come, it was just that there always seem to be something in the way.

Well, not this year anyway. Hermione asked him and this year everything was good to go. So they reserved a little cabin in the woods and arrived there yesterday. About where exactly that 'there' was, Harry wasn't sure. It had a long French name and none of them were able to pronounce it except Hermione. They just called it Here.

Here was a beautiful little town, surrounded by enormous mountains and covered with fluffy, sparkling white snow. Smaller streams and a bigger river crossed the charming town and Harry felt like he just apparated into a winter postcard.

Then the skiing lessons started and the vacation turned into a nightmare.

At first he felt excited. Then anxious. Then simply terrified. Skiing was not his sport, he realized after spending about an hour on his skis. After the second hour, he was already planning his escape from Here. After the third hour he just wanted to drink away the misery that was skiing. Although, Harry was still reluctant to call whatever he was doing 'skiing'.

George, who was sitting across the table, loosened his tie before sipping his beer.

"You really shouldn't be wearing that." Hermione commented the unusual outfit.

"Cut it Hermione," Fred laughed. "This is perfect." He looked down on himself, sweeping a bit of snow from his shoulder.

"You'll catch a cold." She protested. Unlike the twins she was wearing proper skiing outfit: white thick pants with grey patterns and a deep purple ski jacket. A long white scar was around her neck, her own work. Ron was wearing simple black pants and a grass green jacket with a bit of white around the shoulders and the back of the arms; Christmas gifts from Hermione. His green scarf was also Hermione's creation not for Christmas just out of love and wanting to keep her fiancé warm.

Harry decided to buy black ski pants too and with that a midnight blue jacket with colourful tartan patterns on it. He thought he looked rather good in it, though Hermione reminded him that was not the main purpose of the outfit. If he knew skiing would be this horrible he never would have purchased any of his gear though.

George told him earlier that they had put some magic around themselves so that the suit would repel water and snow and keep warm even if they were buried under a mountain of snow, so Harry wasn't concerned about the twins getting sick during the holiday. When Harry asked why were they even wearing a suit of all the things they could wear while snowboarding, George only shrugged and said "'Cause it's fun" and walked away grinning. Since then Harry realized that wearing a three piece suit wasn't that much of a weird thing to do on a slope. He saw Muggles with funny hats all over the place, others wore impossible colours, like the colour scale of the rainbow and he even saw a man dressed up in monkey costume. He realized this was all okay here and he liked that.

He took a sip from his beer listening to the chitchat of his friends and enjoying the sunshine when suddenly something caught his eyes. Platinum blond hair moved couple of tables away and though he was sure a lot of people had platinum blonde hair he still stood up and walk towards the owner of the hair. To his surprise there was another man at the table with the same hair however longer, much longer. And another one, with shoulder length hair that was black, like the darkest night.

Harry felt a twitch in his stomach as he recognized the person to whom the black mane belonged to. It wasn't the unpleasant twitch he felt near the precipice; it was rather a nice jolt and nearer to his groin than his stomach actually.

He walked to the table but no one paid any attention to him until he spoke.

"What's going on here, secret Death Eater meeting?" He grinned at the blonde, purposefully ignoring the very familiar sneer he received from the other side of the table.

Draco snapped up his head but then realized it was Harry who spoke and a grin showed up on his face instantly. "What the actual fuck are you doing here, Potter?" He laughed standing up reaching a hand towards Harry, who shook it with an equally grinning face. Then Harry leaned towards Lucius Malfoy and initiated a handshake which was accepted right away followed by a pleasant, "Hello Potter".

Then Harry turned towards Snape and reach out his hand the third time. The man was casually leaning on the table with a hand around his mug of tea. At least Harry suspected it was tea. He didn't fail to notice the long fingers, nor the appalled sneer that welcomed him.

"Severus, don't be a jerk." Draco said and Snape accepted his hand, however the contact was very brief to Harry's displeasure.

"So, Potter, what on Earth brings you here?" Draco asked again motioning for Harry to sit.

"I guess the same thing that brings you here," Harry gestured towards Draco's snowboard boots with his head and then draw his hand in front of his own body. "Sunshine, snow, cold and skiing. Why don't you all come over to our table, the twins would be delighted to see you again." Harry teased and didn't fail to notice the slight blush on Malfoy's cheeks.

After Draco, Lucius and Snape joined their table, Harry actually felt immensely better. He realized again that skiing wasn't the only thing he came here to do; he also wanted to spend more time with his friends.

Though it was still quite early in the day, another round of beer arrived with the new people. Harry however switched to non-alcoholic as he realized Hermione must be right regarding his ability to concentrate when under the influence of alcohol.

They were chatting happily in the bright forenoon sunshine, but he only paid attention with one ear. He was very glad that they run into the Malfoys, Harry and the family were in good terms ever since the war, and he considered Draco a very good friend. Snape however... Harry had to admit the man felt like a shock to him. They hadn't met since the trials after the war, when Harry fiercely argued for Snape's innocence. They won but Snape took off without a 'thank you' or even a look at Harry. This, Harry painfully admitted to himself during a drunken night, made him feel quite terrible. He didn't want to go into details regarding his feelings for the man but he was sure there were some kinds of feelings. He knew because he tried to avoid facing said feelings ever since that drunken night.

Snape smiled absentmindedly at something Lucius said and Harry was surprised to feel the tremble in his stomach again. Snape looked younger and healthier. His black hair shined in the sunshine, his sharp, endless eyes mirrored mirth as he watch Fred imitate something. One side of his mouth was still curled into a barely noticeable half smile. His lips... Harry licked his own lips as he stared at Snape's. Then he felt eyes on him and the mouth he was observing smiled again. He looked into Snape's eyes and his bubble suddenly burst and what he heard got through his clouded mind.

Fred was imitating Harry's previous, rather ridiculous attempts at skiing.

"It's my first day, okay?" Harry cried, shooting daggers at Fred who just laughed even harder. Harry grabbed his beer and took a mouthful but after a moment of resentment he couldn't help himself and he laughed with the others too. Over the edge of his glass he let his eyes dart to Snape again and found the man looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

He cast his glance down like a kid who was caught doing something wrong then he remembered he wasn't a kid anymore so he looked back, right into the black eyes and raised an eyebrow at Snape as if challenging him to speak up. Snape didn't though and Harry could swear he saw a small smile appear at the edge of those nice lips, but it was gone before Harry could enjoy it.

TBC

Soooo, how do you like it? Do you guys like skiing/snowboarding? I LOVE skiing. It's an amazing sport :)

Let me know what you think!