Hermione stood on the shore of the Thames, facing east. She listened to a music album that she’d been particularly enjoying. She watched the light shift over the snow as dawn approached, turning from a deep grey-blue into a sort of lavender. She thought about the sleeping earth, the hibernating animals, the seeds biding their time. She thought about winter, and overwintering, and how all the bright alive things of the summertime needed this long, cold season to sleep, to dream.