December 19th, 1890 - Ice Rink at the Festival

After work Josie had sat down in her favourite chair. Covered in a blanket, she was curled up, happy as could be. It had been her intentions to stay there for the rest of the evening. That was until her mum had announced that they would be heading off to the Christmas festival. Josie was not happy about this, but she accepted it - as she always did - and put her big coat and her boots on, ready to go to the festival.

They wandered around for a while, visiting the different stalls, and eating lots of snacks. The highlight of Josie's evening was when she and her mum had a competition to see how many sweets they could fit in their mouths at one time. It was an elite sport, particularly as they had to be sneaky. Smooshing sweets into one's mouth was hardly respectable after all.

All was actually going pretty well. Until her mum decided to force her into ice skating. "You love ice skating!" Mrs Jones declared. Josie had enjoyed ice skating, when she was a small child, but did not particularly like the idea of embarrassing herself. She protested (quietly) and said she didn't want to (quietly). However, the next thing she knew, she had some ice skates on, and her mum was pushing her onto the ice.

The forward momentum from her mother's push sent Josie flying across the ice. "No. No. No. No. No." Was all she could utter, before colliding with someone.

Oh no.

((OOC note: feel free to have Josie fall/not fall/whatever in response to this collision))

  

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the beauty is of course, MJ's

Hogwarts and Hogsmeade were two very separate environments, and after months of being cooped up in his office for much of the fall Nigel had forgotten how to act like a normal person—a non-professor. Fortunately the holiday season was the perfect time to practice being normal, because Nigel was terrible with the cold and snow and was bound to do something that made him feel a little more human and less like a stuffy authority figure.

The moment finally came when he stepped onto the ice rink. Nigel could skate, but not really. He could do a circle alongside the other skaters, and wasn't the slowest of them all, but he did have a klutzy side, and it was only a matter of time before it reared its ugly head.

He was already apologizing when he collided with the young woman, and even more apologies followed when the collision sent her sliding along the ice on her bottom for a good teen feet. He struggled to find his footing, but when he did he immediately made his way to her and offered a hand.

"Terribly sorry, Miss. I've got two left feet for skates and neither of them should be out here with this many people," he joked, shaking his head at himself and his own stupidity. He only hoped that Beth hadn't seen; he'd never hear the end of it.

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— gorgeous set by MJ —

Oh Merlin. This was too embarrassing. A million thoughts were going through Josie's mind has she skidded across the ice on her bum. Were people looking? Were they laughing? Could anyone from work see her? She felt a pit in her chest. That pit was only slightly alleviated by the fact that from her bum-seat view of the ice rink, she had a prime view of the fact that many people were on their bums.

Once she had stopped skidding, Josie looked up to the person who had helped her. He looked far too respectable to be skated into by some silly secretary. She saw him skating towards her, to help her presumably. Knowing she only had a few seconds to turn her panic around, she took a few deep breaths, before switching on her cheery smile and saying, "No no! It is my own fault!" She replied, cheerfully. This was a correct statement. It was indeed her own fault.

She politely held onto his outstretched hand. "You're too kind sir." she told him, with a genuine gratitude, and this time with a genuine smile.

  

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the beauty is of course, MJ's

"Definitely not your fault," he insisted at he pulled her up, secretly pleased that she hadn't frowned, stuck her nose in the air, or yelled at him for his clumsiness. He could traverse rocky mountains or even snow with little difficulty, but apparently trying to cross a frozen puddle with blades on his shoes was a no-go.

She was a pretty woman, but young. She must have been around Beth's age, probably younger. As he smiled at her his mind raced through last year's rosters at school. She hadn't been in his class, of course, but she very well might have been in other classes. (It was an unintended side-effect of being a professor—every young woman he met was a potential former student.)

"Kind enough to help you up after I've sent you flying across the ice?" he challenged with raised brows, still happy that she was not, at least upon first impression, an unpleasant person. "Sounds more like basic decency to me."

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— gorgeous set by MJ —

Josie was glad for the hand up, as even with help she struggled to get back on her feet. She did not feel secure standing on the skates, but was at least finally upright. She looked off the rink to see if her mother had seen the debacle. She could see her mother in the distance happily chatting to a friend, so it was most likely safe to assume her mum had not seen her make a total fool of herself.

Upon the kind man commenting about human decency, Josie gave a genuine laugh. "I suppose you're not wrong." she replied. It would have been perhaps concerning had she fallen over due to bumped into him and he just skated off. "But still, I am very grateful. I might have been sat there all evening had you not helped me. I have no idea how I would have gotten up!"

Josie did not want to contemplate what would have happened had the man not helped her. Visions went through her head of being sat there for hours, or other terrible things happening because she was stuck on her bum, on the ice, in the middle of Hogsmeade. Embarrassment wouldn't cover how that would have felt.

  

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the beauty is of course, MJ's

Nigel felt himself sway as the young lady struggled to her feet. If they had to struggle, at least they would do so together. He took a moment as she glanced around to seek out his own sister, who he finally located on the other side of the ice with the back of her head pointed in his direction. Good. Hopefully he wouldn't be walking right into a trap when he went over to see how she was doing in a few minutes.

"I'd like to think that someone else would have the decency to help you up," he laughed, letting his hand fall to his side after she'd released it. "I would hate to think that we're surrounded by terribly uncaring people. Though you never know," he said, glancing over to nearby gentleman who was seated flat on the ice as other skaters passed him, blissfully unaware of how many times he rose to his knees only to fall right back down.

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— gorgeous set by MJ —

"I was worried I was going to be sat there a while, but I think someone would have helped me eventually. People are good and caring in the end." She replied, her innocent nature ringing through her response. Josie too looked to the gentleman sat on the floor, who had tried to get up time and time again. She felt a pang of guilt. Josie was saying that people were good and caring, but not even she was going to go help him. Although, she was completely incapable of even skating over to him, never mind helping him. Had she tried, they would have both ended up stuck on the floor, and what then?

Josie's eyes snapped back to the gentleman who had helped her. Her mind had wandered a second too long. "Right..." she started, scanning the area for her escape plan, "If I get back to the side, I should be able to get back to my mum." While this should have been a statement, it was very much uttered as a question. Josie was extremely unsure, and looked to the gentleman for affirmation.

  

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the beauty is of course, MJ's

He smiled at her response, even if he didn't quite believe it true himself. It wasn't that people were cruel; they simply did not take it upon themselves to worry about the plights of others, even if they were in a situation to help. He'd seen it in the halls of Hogwarts, especially, when a student was dropping their books or being teased by another student and no one bothered to step in and assist them.

"I'll help you, of course," he said, as if it was a no-brainer, and offered his arm for her to hold onto. He'd be better with the support, too, enough if he did not voice it out loud. "Lead the way—slowly, perhaps," he teased lightly, hoping she found it funny instead of embarrassing.

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— gorgeous set by MJ —

Josie gave a small chuckle. "Yes I think slowly is a good idea." she replied. As much as she wanted to get off the ice as quickly as was physically possible, she also didn't want a repeat of what happened earlier. Her bum was quite sore actually. She had hit the ice with a fair amount of force. Next time it could be her head and that would not have been good. Not at all. No, slow and steady would suit her just fine.

As she slowly moved across the ice, Josie's eyes were planted firmly on her skates. After realising she hadn't spoken for far too long, she added. "I'm Josie Jones by the way. Might be best to introduce myself after you saved me back there."

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the beauty is of course, MJ's

He gripped her elbow no tighter than was socially acceptable, lest the young woman find herself the unfortunate victim of Hogsmeade's gossip mill. (The only thing worse than the gossip mill here was the one at Hogwarts, and even as a professor he was glad to be rid of it for a few weeks.)

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Jones, though I must admit I wish we'd met under less... chilly circumstances," he said, smiling down at her. "My name is Nigel Vane." She was young, but recognized no Josie Jones from his class rosters.

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— gorgeous set by MJ —

As they reached the side, Josie let out a deep breath of relief. It was only then she realised how tense her body had been the entire time she had been on the ice so far. In the distance, Josie could see her mother, still completely oblivious of the situation she had gotten her daughter into.

Josie turned to look at the man she now knew to be called Mr Vane. He was actually quite handsome - she had barely noticed through her stress. She could feel her cheeks becoming ever so slightly warm. "Well I can't thank you enough Mr Vane," she replied, "I don't know what I have done without you."

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the beauty is of course, MJ's

"You're very welcome, Miss Jones," he said with a polite nod of his head, moving his hand away. Merlin he hoped Beth hadn't seen him. He probably looked suspicious with a lady on his arm and a smile on his face, and if anyone was going to point it out it was her. "I hope to see you again. Stay safe," he added. It was unlikely though, he thought. It would one of the difficulties with working at Hogwarts.

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— gorgeous set by MJ —