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small_giftsTitle: what things upon the ice were done
Author/Artist:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
liseuse
Recipient:grandilloquism
Rating: PG-13
Contents or warnings (highlight to view): None
Word count: 3,330
Summary: There is a winter chill in the air, the ministry is trying to raise spirits, and the boys go ice-skating.
Notes: Dear,grandilloquism, I hope you enjoy this interpretation of your prompt! The title comes from the engraving in the pedestrian tunnel under the south bank of Southwark Bridge, the inscription of which is based on handbills printed during the original frost fairs. All my thanks go to my lovely beta, magnetic_pole. All remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone!
‘Brrrrrrrrrr,’ Sirius said, rubbing his hands together and stamping his feet. ‘Come on. Moony. It’s cold enough to freeze vodka out here.’
Remus rolled his eyes and shoved the key upwards, jimmying it to the right until he felt the click. ‘You’re exaggerating, and it’s your fault we have to fuck about with the keys like this every time we need to get into our own flat.’ The lock released, reluctantly, and Remus shoved the door with his shoulder until it swung through. ‘Mind, it’s not much warmer in here.’
Sirius grinned and flicked his wand at the fireplace, ‘Incendio!’, smiling as the flames began to roar. ‘At least we can do something about the chill in here. I don’t think it’s ever going to warm up outside.’
‘It will have to eventually,’ Remus said. ‘I mean, the world turns and we’ll get the sun back. Anyway, I don’t know what you’re whinging about, you spend half the winter as Padfoot most years, and he’s a blinking furnace.’ He wriggled the kitchen window up and sighed. ‘The fucking milk’s frozen’.
‘What on earth has you acting like such a wet Wednesday?’ Sirius said as he came to stand in the kitchen, sending a slight incendio to the hob and picking up the kettle. ‘Full moon isn’t for another two weeks, we’re full of Marlene’s excellent steak pie, and tonight it’s Yorkshire v. Lancashire in the Chuntering Cauldron. Which means you and Lil can argue the respective merits of your home counties for all you’re worth.’
‘I know,’ Remus said. ‘And I don’t care what Lily says, Yorkshire is clearly the best, and we’re clearly going to win. I mean, we’ve got Mashinter and Sturgess playing for us now. Who’ve they got?’ He picked two mugs up from the sink and dropped the teabags in before leaning out of the window to the postbox. ‘Letter from my mum, advert for a chimney sweep, letter from Gideon, letter from ‘Meda in her angry writing, oh, and lovely it’s a Howler, and something from the Ministry’.
Sirius picked the postcard up gingerly between his fingertips. ‘What on earth did I do now? I remembered her birthday, right?’
‘How the fuck would I know?’ Remus laughed. ‘Do I look like a calendar?’ He leaned round Sirius for the butter knife and slipped it under the flap of the Ministry letter. ‘If this is another bloody medical examination summons I will throw such a fucking hissy-fit’.
Sirius shook the letter to get its attention. ‘Look, you. I’ll open you in five minutes. I need to know what this is first.’ The letter shook itself like a discontented kitten and hissed for a bit before subsiding. ‘Thank you,’ Sirius said and gently put it down on the side.
‘For the attention of Messrs. Black and Lupin,’ Remus read. ‘As part of the Ministry’s constant efforts to cheer, calm, and aid those under its jurisdiction, it has been decided that, in these times of great difficulty and trepidation, that action must be taken to ensure the holistic wellbeing of Wizarding England. In accordance with festive tradition, and in the hopes of building new, great, cheering, memories, the Ministry will be holding a Frost Fair on the 22nd of December! The Thames will be frozen between London Bridge and Blackfriars, with all manner of excitement and frivolity for your enjoyment!
Yours, with pleasure and pride, Millicent Bagnold’
‘Well,’ Sirius said, picking up his letter and mug of tea, being careful not to let the Howler, which was busy hissing and growling to itself, come into contact with the mug. ‘Bagnold really is going for the popular vote.’
‘Hmm,’ Remus nodded and sent his mug wobbling across the room so he could bring the rest of the post and a packet of biscuits. He sat down on the floor, resting his back on the couch. ‘Still, might be nice? Make a change skating without the squid going for your legs, at least.’
Sirius laughed and reached down over Remus’s shoulder for the biscuits. ‘Oh, not denying that. Just saying that I haven’t really noticed the Ministry making any, what was it, oh yes, ‘efforts to cheer, calm, and aid those under its jurisdiction’ so far.’ The Howler started growling louder from its spot on the sofa. Sirius levitated the letter into the air in front of them, just before the fire. ‘Go on then, little grumbleface. Let me have it.’
SIRIUS ORION BLACK,
THE NEXT TIME YOU GET INJURED ON ONE OF YOUR TRIPS ABROAD I DEMAND THAT YOU TELL ME. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO FIND OUT FROM KREACHER. ESPECIALLY BECAUSE I FIND IT DIFFICULT TO DISCERN WHETHER HE IS CONCERNED OR GLEEFUL. I DO NOT CARE IF IT WAS A MINOR GRAZE WITH A DRAGON OR AN EMBARASSING TRIP UP A STEP.
YOURS IN ANGER, ANDROMEDA.
‘Oops,’ Sirius winced. ‘I probably should have told her about the broken arm.’ He shrugged apologetically at the envelope where the Howler had subsided into mild spitting.
‘I told you to,’ Remus said as he stretched his legs out, warming his feet at the fire. ‘I said she’d be annoyed.’
‘’Meda is always annoyed about something,’ Sirius said fondly. ‘It’s part of her charm.’ He flicked his wand at the tea mugs and floated them into the kitchen as he stood up. ‘Better go and find that nice notepaper she gave me last year, and make my apologies.’
Remus laughed and levered himself up from the floor, picking the empty biscuit packet up. ‘I’m going to the shop. We’re out of biscuits.’
--
‘Hey up, Lil,’ Remus said as he slid into the corner seat. ‘Ready to get thrashed?’
Lily glowered over the rim of her glass and wrinkled her nose. ‘We’re not going to get thrashed. Oh, I know, I know, you’ve got Mashinter and Sturgess, and they are the second coming, but we’ve got Rosenstein and Singh, and we’re going to win.’ She straightened her team jumper and nodded decisively.
Remus rolled his eyes and nodded indulgently. ‘Of course you are, I mean you did so well in the last game. What was it? 75 Chaser points and the Snitch for Yorkshire and, oh yes, nothing for Lancashire. Not even as if the Hornets won anything against Leeds in the rugby either.’
‘Shut up, please shut up,’ James said pleadingly as he set a tray of drinks down on the table. ‘She cried for three days after that match. Three days. I can’t take it again.’ He sat down and put his arm consolingly around Lily and then winced as she jabbed him in the ribs. ‘Oi! I’m helping!’
‘You, James Potter, have never helped a day in your life, and don’t start now.’ Lily beamed at him and kissed his cheek. ‘It’s just disconcerting.’
Peter came dashing up, ‘Sorry! Sorry! I had to stay late at work sending out more of the letters about the Frost Fair. You all got yours, right?’ He clinked his glass against Sirius’s and took a long gulp.
‘We did,’ Sirius said. ‘Sounds fun. I mean, I haven’t seen any of the other attempts to cheer the populace that were mentioned, but this one will come with roasted chestnuts, bags of popcorn and the sight of Moonshine on skates, so I’m there. I might put my bells on.’
Peter frowned at him, ‘There have been plenty of attempts, as you well know. I mean, what do you call the free shoe-shine day and the delivery of baked goods that went on at St. Mungo’s the other day?’
Lily leaned forward over the table and caught Peter’s gaze. ‘I call the shoe-shine day ridiculous and a terrible harkening back to the past and also pointless because they wouldn’t shine my shoes. Only had black polish. And the baked goods were unutterably vile. Two day old biscuits and buns from Madame Mille-Feuille are not a treat.’
James shrugged and then twisted round in his seat. ‘Save the argument for later, will you? The game’s starting.’
--
‘Mnnrgh,’ Remus yawned as he stumbled into the kitchen. ‘Suffering saints, it’s cold in here.’
Sirius looked up from the table where he was re-lacing a pair of ice skates. ‘Didn’t seem to make much sense putting the heating on when we were just going to go and get cold in an hour or so.’
‘Hrrumph,’ Remus said faintly as he lit the hob and filled the kettle. ‘Where did you find the skates? I thought the squid had absconded with them. Fucking hell, the milk’s frozen again. We need a better place to keep it.’ He shoved the window back down, shivering.
‘They were Regulus’s,’ Sirius said. ‘I found them in the back of the cupboard. I’d forgotten he even gave me them.’ He smiled sadly. ‘Probably not much use for skates in the service of Voldemort.’
‘Probably not,’ Remus said as he sat down at the table, resting his calf against Sirius’s. ‘I think Pete’s still got mine, from when he went on that date with Priscilla. I hope he cleaned the blood off them.’
Sirius laughed, ‘Doubt it, knowing Pete.’ He finished lacing the boots and put them on the chair. ‘Egg in a basket for breakfast? You’re going to have to say yes, it’s the only thing we’ve got, and we had eggs on toast yesterday.’
‘Eggs in a basket then,’ Remus nodded. ‘I’m going to go and have a wash and put on every jumper I own.’ He stood up and went to stand behind Sirius, putting his arms around his shoulders, and leaned down to kiss him on the top of the head. ‘I love you, but would it kill you to remember to buy jam when you finish the last of the jar?’
‘It might,’ Sirius called after him as Remus made his way to the bathroom, clutching his mug of tea. ‘And then you’d be sorry!’
‘I’d be sorry, but I’d have jam!’ Remus called back.
--
‘Brrrrrrrrr!’ Lily said as she rubbed her hands together and looked at the river. ‘Blinking heck, it’s cold.’
‘You’re from Manchester,’ Sirius said scornfully. ‘I thought this sort of weather ran in your bones.’
‘Plus school. Not like it has the best heating in the world.’ Peter said, a little muffled through the scarf he had wrapped around most of his lower face.
‘It takes a lot of energy to heat a small alien growing inside you,’ Lily muttered before casting a heating charm on her hands.
‘Hello, Lil’,’ Remus said as he joined them. ‘I come bearing chestnuts and popcorn and hot chocolate.’
‘You are my favourite,’ Lily said as she took a hot chocolate. ‘There are sandwiches in my bag, for later.’
‘Circe, it’s like going somewhere with my mother,’ Peter laughed before taking the bags of chestnuts from Remus so he could dish the rest of the drinks out. ‘Cheese and onion? Or corned beef?’
‘Ham and tomato,’ Lily smiled. ‘Plus a few roast chicken ones. Oh, and some Battenburg.’
‘Brilliant,’ James said. He slung his arm around Lily so he could steal popcorn over her shoulder and faced the river. It was full of people skating to stalls and sending candles up to float in lines. The sky looked heavy with snow, but there was a blue light rising from the ice and fire baskets dotted around.
‘It looks like a Christmas card,’ Lily said. ‘One of those decorated with adorable Victorian moppets, their hands in muffs and a spaniel by their side.’
Remus laughed. ‘It really does.’ He swallowed the last of his tankard of hot chocolate and dropped it onto the ground where it folded itself up into a small square and disappeared with a faint pop. ‘I’ve never worked out why Wizarding fashion is a hundred years behind Muggle.’
‘There’s a picture somewhere of Reggie and me dressed in velvet skating breeches, with fur top hats.’ Sirius looked out over the river and clenched his jaw at the awkward silence. ‘He’s still my fucking brother, Pete. Don’t even start.’
‘I wasn’t going to,’ Peter said unconvincingly. ‘I bet you looked adorable all dressed up like that,’ he added, his voice aiming for levity and falling somewhere between awkward and harsh.
‘I looked like an idiot,’ Sirius said, determinedly light. ‘But so did everyone else. And I still cherish the memory of Narcissa tripping over her skate laces and sliding to a halt at Mr. Nott’s feet.’
‘Oh, gosh, that was glorious,’ said a voice from behind them, and as everyone turned round to welcome Andromeda, Remus slid his hand into Sirius’s pocket, squeezing it tightly before turning into him, and pressing a kiss to the side of his neck.
‘Hullo, ‘Meda,’ Sirius said and then ‘oof’ed as she dragged him into a fierce hug. ‘Buggering Circe, you look like a fashion plate.’
Andromeda span round, arms outstretched, and her long skirt flew round her legs as her cape whirled through the air. ‘Isn’t it glorious! Used to be Cissa’s, I think. I’m sure I remember stealing it a few years ago.’ She raised an eyebrow as Peter opened his mouth, and then smiled grimly as he shut it again immediately. ‘Right, that’s enough chitter-chatter. Time for a skate, I think. It looks like the ice is all set up, and I think that the stall in the middle, which looks like a circus tent erected by someone who has never seen a circus, is the one in which we can get hot buttered rum. Race you!’ She transfigured her shoes into skates as she stepped onto the ice and Remus staggered back as Sirius whooped and raced after her.
--
Remus came to a showy halt in the middle of the ice, and watched James chasing Lily, her scarf flowing out behind her, and Peter practising crossovers with Dorcas. Andromeda was exchanging pleasantries with Bagnold over her third buttered rum, and the candles had been lit against the early evening dark.
‘Hello,’ Sirius said from behind him, coming to a skidding stop by Remus’s side. ‘Knut for them?’
‘Oh, these are worth a Sickle at least,’ Remus said with a smile, ‘I was just thinking how odd this all is.’ He pushed off gently and skated in a circle around Sirius. ‘I mean, Fabian’s in Budapest right now, liaising with Függetlenség, and we’re drinking whiskey and skating on the Thames.’
‘We just got back from Yugoslavia,’ Sirius frowned and looped in front of him. ‘And before that you were in Portugal and I was in Belgium, James was in Sweden and Lily was, well, Lily was in Aberdeen, but you see my point.’
Remus grinned at the memory of Lily’s face when she’d been told she was going to Aberdeen not Prague and turned around so he could skate backwards into Sirius. ‘She was so fucked off at that.’ He reached around behind him for Sirius’s arms, looping them around his waist, and felt Sirius tense. ‘Oh, stop it. Just pretend you’re teaching me to skate backwards properly.’
Sirius huffed a laugh into the back of his neck, before slowly setting off in reverse. ‘I don’t think anyone’ll believe it, Moonshine. At least not anyone who saw that double Salchow earlier.’
Remus looked around them, at the pairs and groups of skaters, at those people huddled over the fire baskets and the expanse of empty ice around them. ‘I don’t think anyone cares. And I fell on the Salchow, so we can claim over enthusiasm and a lack of skill.’
‘You know, if I was really teaching you,’ Sirius mused, ‘I’d make you do this all on your own. You’ll never learn if you’re always clinging to someone else’s hand.’ His voice changed on the last sentence, and Remus squeezed his hand. ‘My mother used to say that when she saw Reggie and me skating together.’
‘What if I learn best when holding onto someone?’ Remus said as he let go of Sirius’s hands and turned round to face him before taking them again. ‘What if I like being taught by your hands on my skin? Feel you change the pressure of your fingers when you like something? Watch your eyes widen as I do something you like?’ His voice dropped, and Sirius’s breath hitched. ‘I learned your body without taking my hands off you, felt every scar and every scrape.’
‘Yes, you did,’ Sirius said, his voice raw. ‘I learned yours the same way. But now there are so many more scars. Remus, how long can we keep doing this? Keep pretending that our world isn’t falling to pieces? Steeling ourselves to talk about people, standing in the rain at funerals and watching as people cry over those they loved?’
Remus slipped off one of his gloves and raised his hand to Sirius’s face. ‘For as long as it takes. What else can we do?’ He stroked a thumb along Sirius’s cheekbone and smiled sadly. ‘This is our world, and we have to fight for it. Your place in it has never been questioned, nor has James’s. Lily and me? We’re battling for it to stay ours, for that letter when we were eleven to mean entrance forever. I know,’ he carried on, seeing Sirius’s indignant look, ‘I know, you want us here. But, Sirius, so many of the people we went to school with, well, they don’t. I sat next to Rowle in Arithmancy for years. He lent me a quill, I helped him with his quixotic equations. And last month he tried to kill me.’
Sirius growled under his breath, and dropped Remus’s hands, pushing off violently into a wide loop, coming back to stand in front of him. ‘If I ever see him, I am going to shove my wand down his fucking throat and cast every curse I know.’ He scrubbed roughly at his eyes and put a smile on his face, the one Remus had come to think of as his “Molly Weasley now then, let’s all have a cup of tea” smile, and tugged at the end of Remus’s scarf where it had fallen from his collar. ‘But right now, I am going to buy you a buttered rum, and we’re going to tease Peter about something and watch James try not to fret about Lily and whether she should even be skating, okay?’
‘Okay,’ Remus said, tucking his scarf back into his collar. ‘One, two, three,’ and they pushed off the ice, gliding around the edge under the rows of candles until they reached James and Peter where, on Sirius’s nod, they parallel stopped, sending sprays of ice into their faces.
‘Oh, you bastards!’ James screeched as Peter swung round, wand out.
‘Sorry!’ Sirius laughed, throwing his head back and skating backwards away from Peter. ‘Pax! Pax!’
‘I’ll get you for that,’ Peter said, skating off in chase of Sirius who was looping away from them, heading for the circus tent, his laugh carrying across the river.
--
Remus shoved the key into the lock, pushing it violently upwards and throwing his shoulder against the door. ‘We really need to get this fixed,’ he said, as the door gave way and they tripped into the flat.
‘Not right now, though,’ Sirius grinned. He pointed his wand at the fireplace. ‘Incendio!’ He shrugged his coat off. ‘This moment in time calls for us, on that couch, with those bottles of beer.’
Remus bent down to untie his shoes, wincing as he stood up. ‘I don’t even want to think about how much I’m going to ache tomorrow.’ He collapsed on the sofa, yawning, and waited for Sirius to sit down so he could arrange himself comfortably, using Sirius as a backrest. ‘That’s better,’ he said sleepily, turning to watch the flames.
Sirius smiled down at him, gently running his fingertips up and down Remus’s arm, watching his eyelids droop until he fell asleep, curled into Sirius’s shoulder, with the firelight dancing over his cheeks.
Author/Artist:
liseuseRecipient:
grandilloquismRating: PG-13
Contents or warnings (highlight to view): None
Word count: 3,330
Summary: There is a winter chill in the air, the ministry is trying to raise spirits, and the boys go ice-skating.
Notes: Dear,
grandilloquism, I hope you enjoy this interpretation of your prompt! The title comes from the engraving in the pedestrian tunnel under the south bank of Southwark Bridge, the inscription of which is based on handbills printed during the original frost fairs. All my thanks go to my lovely beta, magnetic_pole. All remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone!‘Brrrrrrrrrr,’ Sirius said, rubbing his hands together and stamping his feet. ‘Come on. Moony. It’s cold enough to freeze vodka out here.’
Remus rolled his eyes and shoved the key upwards, jimmying it to the right until he felt the click. ‘You’re exaggerating, and it’s your fault we have to fuck about with the keys like this every time we need to get into our own flat.’ The lock released, reluctantly, and Remus shoved the door with his shoulder until it swung through. ‘Mind, it’s not much warmer in here.’
Sirius grinned and flicked his wand at the fireplace, ‘Incendio!’, smiling as the flames began to roar. ‘At least we can do something about the chill in here. I don’t think it’s ever going to warm up outside.’
‘It will have to eventually,’ Remus said. ‘I mean, the world turns and we’ll get the sun back. Anyway, I don’t know what you’re whinging about, you spend half the winter as Padfoot most years, and he’s a blinking furnace.’ He wriggled the kitchen window up and sighed. ‘The fucking milk’s frozen’.
‘What on earth has you acting like such a wet Wednesday?’ Sirius said as he came to stand in the kitchen, sending a slight incendio to the hob and picking up the kettle. ‘Full moon isn’t for another two weeks, we’re full of Marlene’s excellent steak pie, and tonight it’s Yorkshire v. Lancashire in the Chuntering Cauldron. Which means you and Lil can argue the respective merits of your home counties for all you’re worth.’
‘I know,’ Remus said. ‘And I don’t care what Lily says, Yorkshire is clearly the best, and we’re clearly going to win. I mean, we’ve got Mashinter and Sturgess playing for us now. Who’ve they got?’ He picked two mugs up from the sink and dropped the teabags in before leaning out of the window to the postbox. ‘Letter from my mum, advert for a chimney sweep, letter from Gideon, letter from ‘Meda in her angry writing, oh, and lovely it’s a Howler, and something from the Ministry’.
Sirius picked the postcard up gingerly between his fingertips. ‘What on earth did I do now? I remembered her birthday, right?’
‘How the fuck would I know?’ Remus laughed. ‘Do I look like a calendar?’ He leaned round Sirius for the butter knife and slipped it under the flap of the Ministry letter. ‘If this is another bloody medical examination summons I will throw such a fucking hissy-fit’.
Sirius shook the letter to get its attention. ‘Look, you. I’ll open you in five minutes. I need to know what this is first.’ The letter shook itself like a discontented kitten and hissed for a bit before subsiding. ‘Thank you,’ Sirius said and gently put it down on the side.
Yours, with pleasure and pride, Millicent Bagnold’
‘Well,’ Sirius said, picking up his letter and mug of tea, being careful not to let the Howler, which was busy hissing and growling to itself, come into contact with the mug. ‘Bagnold really is going for the popular vote.’
‘Hmm,’ Remus nodded and sent his mug wobbling across the room so he could bring the rest of the post and a packet of biscuits. He sat down on the floor, resting his back on the couch. ‘Still, might be nice? Make a change skating without the squid going for your legs, at least.’
Sirius laughed and reached down over Remus’s shoulder for the biscuits. ‘Oh, not denying that. Just saying that I haven’t really noticed the Ministry making any, what was it, oh yes, ‘efforts to cheer, calm, and aid those under its jurisdiction’ so far.’ The Howler started growling louder from its spot on the sofa. Sirius levitated the letter into the air in front of them, just before the fire. ‘Go on then, little grumbleface. Let me have it.’
THE NEXT TIME YOU GET INJURED ON ONE OF YOUR TRIPS ABROAD I DEMAND THAT YOU TELL ME. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO FIND OUT FROM KREACHER. ESPECIALLY BECAUSE I FIND IT DIFFICULT TO DISCERN WHETHER HE IS CONCERNED OR GLEEFUL. I DO NOT CARE IF IT WAS A MINOR GRAZE WITH A DRAGON OR AN EMBARASSING TRIP UP A STEP.
YOURS IN ANGER, ANDROMEDA.
‘Oops,’ Sirius winced. ‘I probably should have told her about the broken arm.’ He shrugged apologetically at the envelope where the Howler had subsided into mild spitting.
‘I told you to,’ Remus said as he stretched his legs out, warming his feet at the fire. ‘I said she’d be annoyed.’
‘’Meda is always annoyed about something,’ Sirius said fondly. ‘It’s part of her charm.’ He flicked his wand at the tea mugs and floated them into the kitchen as he stood up. ‘Better go and find that nice notepaper she gave me last year, and make my apologies.’
Remus laughed and levered himself up from the floor, picking the empty biscuit packet up. ‘I’m going to the shop. We’re out of biscuits.’
‘Hey up, Lil,’ Remus said as he slid into the corner seat. ‘Ready to get thrashed?’
Lily glowered over the rim of her glass and wrinkled her nose. ‘We’re not going to get thrashed. Oh, I know, I know, you’ve got Mashinter and Sturgess, and they are the second coming, but we’ve got Rosenstein and Singh, and we’re going to win.’ She straightened her team jumper and nodded decisively.
Remus rolled his eyes and nodded indulgently. ‘Of course you are, I mean you did so well in the last game. What was it? 75 Chaser points and the Snitch for Yorkshire and, oh yes, nothing for Lancashire. Not even as if the Hornets won anything against Leeds in the rugby either.’
‘Shut up, please shut up,’ James said pleadingly as he set a tray of drinks down on the table. ‘She cried for three days after that match. Three days. I can’t take it again.’ He sat down and put his arm consolingly around Lily and then winced as she jabbed him in the ribs. ‘Oi! I’m helping!’
‘You, James Potter, have never helped a day in your life, and don’t start now.’ Lily beamed at him and kissed his cheek. ‘It’s just disconcerting.’
Peter came dashing up, ‘Sorry! Sorry! I had to stay late at work sending out more of the letters about the Frost Fair. You all got yours, right?’ He clinked his glass against Sirius’s and took a long gulp.
‘We did,’ Sirius said. ‘Sounds fun. I mean, I haven’t seen any of the other attempts to cheer the populace that were mentioned, but this one will come with roasted chestnuts, bags of popcorn and the sight of Moonshine on skates, so I’m there. I might put my bells on.’
Peter frowned at him, ‘There have been plenty of attempts, as you well know. I mean, what do you call the free shoe-shine day and the delivery of baked goods that went on at St. Mungo’s the other day?’
Lily leaned forward over the table and caught Peter’s gaze. ‘I call the shoe-shine day ridiculous and a terrible harkening back to the past and also pointless because they wouldn’t shine my shoes. Only had black polish. And the baked goods were unutterably vile. Two day old biscuits and buns from Madame Mille-Feuille are not a treat.’
James shrugged and then twisted round in his seat. ‘Save the argument for later, will you? The game’s starting.’
‘Mnnrgh,’ Remus yawned as he stumbled into the kitchen. ‘Suffering saints, it’s cold in here.’
Sirius looked up from the table where he was re-lacing a pair of ice skates. ‘Didn’t seem to make much sense putting the heating on when we were just going to go and get cold in an hour or so.’
‘Hrrumph,’ Remus said faintly as he lit the hob and filled the kettle. ‘Where did you find the skates? I thought the squid had absconded with them. Fucking hell, the milk’s frozen again. We need a better place to keep it.’ He shoved the window back down, shivering.
‘They were Regulus’s,’ Sirius said. ‘I found them in the back of the cupboard. I’d forgotten he even gave me them.’ He smiled sadly. ‘Probably not much use for skates in the service of Voldemort.’
‘Probably not,’ Remus said as he sat down at the table, resting his calf against Sirius’s. ‘I think Pete’s still got mine, from when he went on that date with Priscilla. I hope he cleaned the blood off them.’
Sirius laughed, ‘Doubt it, knowing Pete.’ He finished lacing the boots and put them on the chair. ‘Egg in a basket for breakfast? You’re going to have to say yes, it’s the only thing we’ve got, and we had eggs on toast yesterday.’
‘Eggs in a basket then,’ Remus nodded. ‘I’m going to go and have a wash and put on every jumper I own.’ He stood up and went to stand behind Sirius, putting his arms around his shoulders, and leaned down to kiss him on the top of the head. ‘I love you, but would it kill you to remember to buy jam when you finish the last of the jar?’
‘It might,’ Sirius called after him as Remus made his way to the bathroom, clutching his mug of tea. ‘And then you’d be sorry!’
‘I’d be sorry, but I’d have jam!’ Remus called back.
‘Brrrrrrrrr!’ Lily said as she rubbed her hands together and looked at the river. ‘Blinking heck, it’s cold.’
‘You’re from Manchester,’ Sirius said scornfully. ‘I thought this sort of weather ran in your bones.’
‘Plus school. Not like it has the best heating in the world.’ Peter said, a little muffled through the scarf he had wrapped around most of his lower face.
‘It takes a lot of energy to heat a small alien growing inside you,’ Lily muttered before casting a heating charm on her hands.
‘Hello, Lil’,’ Remus said as he joined them. ‘I come bearing chestnuts and popcorn and hot chocolate.’
‘You are my favourite,’ Lily said as she took a hot chocolate. ‘There are sandwiches in my bag, for later.’
‘Circe, it’s like going somewhere with my mother,’ Peter laughed before taking the bags of chestnuts from Remus so he could dish the rest of the drinks out. ‘Cheese and onion? Or corned beef?’
‘Ham and tomato,’ Lily smiled. ‘Plus a few roast chicken ones. Oh, and some Battenburg.’
‘Brilliant,’ James said. He slung his arm around Lily so he could steal popcorn over her shoulder and faced the river. It was full of people skating to stalls and sending candles up to float in lines. The sky looked heavy with snow, but there was a blue light rising from the ice and fire baskets dotted around.
‘It looks like a Christmas card,’ Lily said. ‘One of those decorated with adorable Victorian moppets, their hands in muffs and a spaniel by their side.’
Remus laughed. ‘It really does.’ He swallowed the last of his tankard of hot chocolate and dropped it onto the ground where it folded itself up into a small square and disappeared with a faint pop. ‘I’ve never worked out why Wizarding fashion is a hundred years behind Muggle.’
‘There’s a picture somewhere of Reggie and me dressed in velvet skating breeches, with fur top hats.’ Sirius looked out over the river and clenched his jaw at the awkward silence. ‘He’s still my fucking brother, Pete. Don’t even start.’
‘I wasn’t going to,’ Peter said unconvincingly. ‘I bet you looked adorable all dressed up like that,’ he added, his voice aiming for levity and falling somewhere between awkward and harsh.
‘I looked like an idiot,’ Sirius said, determinedly light. ‘But so did everyone else. And I still cherish the memory of Narcissa tripping over her skate laces and sliding to a halt at Mr. Nott’s feet.’
‘Oh, gosh, that was glorious,’ said a voice from behind them, and as everyone turned round to welcome Andromeda, Remus slid his hand into Sirius’s pocket, squeezing it tightly before turning into him, and pressing a kiss to the side of his neck.
‘Hullo, ‘Meda,’ Sirius said and then ‘oof’ed as she dragged him into a fierce hug. ‘Buggering Circe, you look like a fashion plate.’
Andromeda span round, arms outstretched, and her long skirt flew round her legs as her cape whirled through the air. ‘Isn’t it glorious! Used to be Cissa’s, I think. I’m sure I remember stealing it a few years ago.’ She raised an eyebrow as Peter opened his mouth, and then smiled grimly as he shut it again immediately. ‘Right, that’s enough chitter-chatter. Time for a skate, I think. It looks like the ice is all set up, and I think that the stall in the middle, which looks like a circus tent erected by someone who has never seen a circus, is the one in which we can get hot buttered rum. Race you!’ She transfigured her shoes into skates as she stepped onto the ice and Remus staggered back as Sirius whooped and raced after her.
Remus came to a showy halt in the middle of the ice, and watched James chasing Lily, her scarf flowing out behind her, and Peter practising crossovers with Dorcas. Andromeda was exchanging pleasantries with Bagnold over her third buttered rum, and the candles had been lit against the early evening dark.
‘Hello,’ Sirius said from behind him, coming to a skidding stop by Remus’s side. ‘Knut for them?’
‘Oh, these are worth a Sickle at least,’ Remus said with a smile, ‘I was just thinking how odd this all is.’ He pushed off gently and skated in a circle around Sirius. ‘I mean, Fabian’s in Budapest right now, liaising with Függetlenség, and we’re drinking whiskey and skating on the Thames.’
‘We just got back from Yugoslavia,’ Sirius frowned and looped in front of him. ‘And before that you were in Portugal and I was in Belgium, James was in Sweden and Lily was, well, Lily was in Aberdeen, but you see my point.’
Remus grinned at the memory of Lily’s face when she’d been told she was going to Aberdeen not Prague and turned around so he could skate backwards into Sirius. ‘She was so fucked off at that.’ He reached around behind him for Sirius’s arms, looping them around his waist, and felt Sirius tense. ‘Oh, stop it. Just pretend you’re teaching me to skate backwards properly.’
Sirius huffed a laugh into the back of his neck, before slowly setting off in reverse. ‘I don’t think anyone’ll believe it, Moonshine. At least not anyone who saw that double Salchow earlier.’
Remus looked around them, at the pairs and groups of skaters, at those people huddled over the fire baskets and the expanse of empty ice around them. ‘I don’t think anyone cares. And I fell on the Salchow, so we can claim over enthusiasm and a lack of skill.’
‘You know, if I was really teaching you,’ Sirius mused, ‘I’d make you do this all on your own. You’ll never learn if you’re always clinging to someone else’s hand.’ His voice changed on the last sentence, and Remus squeezed his hand. ‘My mother used to say that when she saw Reggie and me skating together.’
‘What if I learn best when holding onto someone?’ Remus said as he let go of Sirius’s hands and turned round to face him before taking them again. ‘What if I like being taught by your hands on my skin? Feel you change the pressure of your fingers when you like something? Watch your eyes widen as I do something you like?’ His voice dropped, and Sirius’s breath hitched. ‘I learned your body without taking my hands off you, felt every scar and every scrape.’
‘Yes, you did,’ Sirius said, his voice raw. ‘I learned yours the same way. But now there are so many more scars. Remus, how long can we keep doing this? Keep pretending that our world isn’t falling to pieces? Steeling ourselves to talk about people, standing in the rain at funerals and watching as people cry over those they loved?’
Remus slipped off one of his gloves and raised his hand to Sirius’s face. ‘For as long as it takes. What else can we do?’ He stroked a thumb along Sirius’s cheekbone and smiled sadly. ‘This is our world, and we have to fight for it. Your place in it has never been questioned, nor has James’s. Lily and me? We’re battling for it to stay ours, for that letter when we were eleven to mean entrance forever. I know,’ he carried on, seeing Sirius’s indignant look, ‘I know, you want us here. But, Sirius, so many of the people we went to school with, well, they don’t. I sat next to Rowle in Arithmancy for years. He lent me a quill, I helped him with his quixotic equations. And last month he tried to kill me.’
Sirius growled under his breath, and dropped Remus’s hands, pushing off violently into a wide loop, coming back to stand in front of him. ‘If I ever see him, I am going to shove my wand down his fucking throat and cast every curse I know.’ He scrubbed roughly at his eyes and put a smile on his face, the one Remus had come to think of as his “Molly Weasley now then, let’s all have a cup of tea” smile, and tugged at the end of Remus’s scarf where it had fallen from his collar. ‘But right now, I am going to buy you a buttered rum, and we’re going to tease Peter about something and watch James try not to fret about Lily and whether she should even be skating, okay?’
‘Okay,’ Remus said, tucking his scarf back into his collar. ‘One, two, three,’ and they pushed off the ice, gliding around the edge under the rows of candles until they reached James and Peter where, on Sirius’s nod, they parallel stopped, sending sprays of ice into their faces.
‘Oh, you bastards!’ James screeched as Peter swung round, wand out.
‘Sorry!’ Sirius laughed, throwing his head back and skating backwards away from Peter. ‘Pax! Pax!’
‘I’ll get you for that,’ Peter said, skating off in chase of Sirius who was looping away from them, heading for the circus tent, his laugh carrying across the river.
Remus shoved the key into the lock, pushing it violently upwards and throwing his shoulder against the door. ‘We really need to get this fixed,’ he said, as the door gave way and they tripped into the flat.
‘Not right now, though,’ Sirius grinned. He pointed his wand at the fireplace. ‘Incendio!’ He shrugged his coat off. ‘This moment in time calls for us, on that couch, with those bottles of beer.’
Remus bent down to untie his shoes, wincing as he stood up. ‘I don’t even want to think about how much I’m going to ache tomorrow.’ He collapsed on the sofa, yawning, and waited for Sirius to sit down so he could arrange himself comfortably, using Sirius as a backrest. ‘That’s better,’ he said sleepily, turning to watch the flames.
Sirius smiled down at him, gently running his fingertips up and down Remus’s arm, watching his eyelids droop until he fell asleep, curled into Sirius’s shoulder, with the firelight dancing over his cheeks.
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