There was snow falling to earth on that special day in mid- December.

At least it was going to be a special day for one person, although this young woman in her twenties did not know that yet.

It should not have been a surprise to see snow falling, but still, for people venturing London, it was. It was the first time in three years that it was snowing in England, and it was the first snow the young woman had seen for quite a few years now.

That is why this young woman couldn't believe her eyes when she woke up that fateful December 18th, 2001.

For the first time in more than three and a half years, she really wanted to get up and go out or even do anything that's not sitting in her little flat, sipping some tea, while reading a book out of her vast collection. 

If you were to take a closer look at her, you would immediately see that she had not been out in a while. Her skin was lacking any sign of sunlight it might have had if she had gone outdoors. Taking an even closer look, you might have been able to see that she had not slept well in quite some time, too. There were deep bags under her eyes because of her lack of sleep. Even if she was exhausted, she couldn't bring herself to sleep for longer than a few hours.

She had to see too much in her young life, she had to endure too much. It was way too much that she had to understand and do and sacrifice in her life. To put it short: her life didn't go the way it was supposed to since she got that one letter that changed her life when she was 11. What she got told changed everything.

Said young girl was told that she was a witch. Only shortly thereafter she got sent to a school only for people of her kind, a school for witches and wizards. At first, she did not have any friends because she was very bright and did not try hiding her knowledge. She found her first real friends on Halloween when she got attacked by a mountain troll and two boys her age had to rescue her. Those boys never really left her side, at least not until three and a half years prior.

Then one of those two, then her boyfriend, got killed in this terrible war that had cost them so many lives. Following that event, the young witch got more and more introvert, and after she redid her last school year she left this world behind.

Her other best friend was lucky. He was struggling with the loss of his best mate, but his girlfriend helped him cope with it, in fact, they both helped each other seeing that his girlfriend was the sister of his dead friend. They were each other's light in the darkness. A light that she didn't have, and so she chose to live the life of a muggle, to give up magic completely.

She told no-one the plans she had and so it came to be that even her closest friends did believe her to be dead. She went missing two and a half years ago, and she did not intend to change that anytime soon.

Today was the first time in years she was showing any remote signs of happiness.

She thought back to those times when she was a student at Hogwarts with all those snowball fights she and her housemates had, and she remembered those times when she was but a little girl, playing in the snow while her father tried to catch up with the little bundle of joy running about that was her.

She remembered those times that had never come back. Her parents were dead, despite all the things she tried to do to save them. The only person in her life was she, but despite her lacking any social contacts, a spark of life did run through her, and she could not dress quickly enough.

Only a few minutes later she was standing outside her door, looking up at the sky and savouring the feel of the cold snow on her still-warm skin.

After a few moments of standing there like that, she took a nice walk in the nearby park.

There, in between all of those people, she was feeling like Hermione Granger, a woman nobody knew and not Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's best friend and brains of the golden trio. She started to feel like herself again, felt free after years of self-inflicted imprisonment.

With the ghost of a smile tugging at her lips, she took her time on her walk in the little park near her London flat. Despite it having been still early in the morning, surprisingly many people were going about in the park. Everyone was wearing their warmest coats, to not freeze to death while enjoying the newly fallen snow.

Slowly, Hermione was finding happiness in the way the others were enjoying themselves and while doing so, she didn't see the small iced puddle underneath the thin layer of white snow.

Before long, she felt herself slipping and beginning to fall to earth thanks to gravity. But while she was falling, she felt two strong arms securing her from falling and keeping her safe next to the icy puddle.