Chapter Text
Today is going to be a good day, were Lily's first thoughts as she stepped into the rink at 7 am on the dot.
There were many reasons why Lily believed this at the moment: (1) She'd managed to wake up on time for once, (2) She was seeing her friends for the first time in weeks today, (3) Petunia had managed not to sneer at her during breakfast, (4) she was having a tryout with a guy today and he seemed like a really promising partner.
And to top it all off, it seemed like most people were running late, so the ice was nearly empty when she stepped onto it.
Lily took a deep breath as she let her blades carry her through the long axis of the rink. The cold air in her lungs felt like home. Oh, she'd missed this, even if it had only been a couple of weeks she'd been away.
Her family vacation to the Canary Islands had been hot and humid and stressful; the complete opposite of what being on the ice felt like. Holidays were supposed to be for relaxation, but her sister would never allow that, even when Petunia wasn't around, Lily had felt her presence hovering, as she knew how to do.
But here she felt free; it was her little world. Petunia had never set foot in this place, and her negative vibes couldn't penetrate the walls.
Lily focused on the steps of the Argentine Tango, it was a little awkward doing it by herself, but after months partnerless she'd gotten used to it. Hopefully, that would change today.
Paul Macmillan was a boy a year older than her, whom she had seen around in competitions before and had a few friends in common with her. Up until July, he had been skating at a different rink with a girl who Lily didn't know well, but they had fallen out for some reason and decided to end their partnership.
Lily's coach, Minerva, had arranged the tryout between her and Paul. Lily had texted with him a little, to test the waters, see if he seemed like the kind of partner Lily wanted; talented, focused, hard-working, determined. So far, he seemed like all of that and more, the only thing left to do now was try and skate together, see how they fit. But other than that, it felt like a pretty done deal.
"LILY!"
Lily came to a stop and looked up to see Mary and Melanie calling to her from the boards. Her face broke out into a huge grin.
She quickly skated over to them, and enveloped them both in a bear hug; she'd missed seeing her beautiful friends' faces every day. "Oh my god, I'm so happy to see you guys."
Mary hopped up and down in excitement. "Us too! We've got so much to tell you."
Lily let Mary go so she could get a better look at her. "Yeah, no shit, you got box braids! Why was I not informed of this executive decision?"
Melanie pulled her dark hair out of her face as Lily released her. "She literally just showed up like this one day, didn't bother saying anything, and told us not to tell you because she wanted to surprise you."
Mary flicked her hair back and did a little pose to show off her hairstyle. "Well, I think the do speaks for itself."
Melanie rolled her eyes and took Mary's hand. "We gotta put our skates on, come with, Lily."
Lily put on her skate guards and walked over to the stands with her friends.
"Your tryout with Paul is today, right?" Melanie asked.
Lily nodded, a slight smile on her face.
"You excited?"
"Honestly, yeah."
Melanie grinned at Lily and squeezed her hand. "My baby's finally gonna be partnered up again."
"Although, if same-sex partnerships were allowed, I would've ditched Thomas for you years ago." Mary put in.
"And if you did pairs, I would drop Sirius in a heartbeat to skate with you."
Mary sighed. "If only the ISU weren't cowards, our lives would be so much easier." She'd never badmouth the International Skating Union in front of their coach though, Minerva tolerated no cheek.
Lily laughed; she didn't know how she'd survived the previous three weeks without her friends.
"Excuse me, girls."
Lily turned around, immediately recognising that voice, and threw her arms around her coach. "Minerva! I'm so happy to see you."
Minerva patted Lily on the back. "I'm glad to see you too. When you girls are done, can you meet me in my office?" Minerva looked pointedly at Mary and Melanie. "Sooner rather than later."
Lily's friends smiled innocently. "Of course, you'll have her in a minute, we promise!" Melanie assured their coach.
Minerva gave the girls a knowing look and walked away.
Lily tried to listen to her friends and answer all the questions they had about her vacation, but she was very curious as to what Minerva wanted to talk to her about. She figured it was something to do with Paul coming in for a tryout later. Was he coming later than he said? Earlier? Was he postponing? Or worse, had he changed his mind?
"Lily," Mary called her attention. "You can go talk to Minnie. We know you're dying."
Lily smiled at her friends. "Thanks, babes, I'll be right back." She said in one breath.
Lily tried not to run any more scenarios in her head because she knew the more she did, the more catastrophic they'd get, and she wasn't going to let anything, not even her thoughts, ruin this day. She needed this. She needed Paul, she needed a partner. Now.
She still remembered the day John had ditched her as if it had been yesterday. It had been the week after they'd placed 5th at the Junior Grand Prix Final; Lily had been pretty pleased with the result, they'd gotten a new personal best score and the fact that they had been one of the six ice dance couples to make it to the final was good enough for Lily. But John had been livid. Once they'd gotten home to London, he had blown a gasket on Lily, told her she wasn't good enough for him, that she was a lousy partner and would never be able to get him the results he wanted. Then, just like that, he had ended their partnership and walked away from her.
But the worst thing for Lily had been that she just stood there as John put all their failures on her, as he deemed her not good enough. She just stood there in shock, not knowing what to say. She knew John had always placed their shortcomings a little bit more on her than himself and had always pushed her to work harder. But she honestly hadn't seen the day he just burst.
She often imagined what she could've said to him then, because oh there had been so much she wanted to say. She told herself she'd say all those things to his face one day, but the truth was that she hadn't seen him since that day, since he'd switched coaches and moved to a completely different city, and if she confronted him, she was scared she'd freeze again. So she just stayed quiet for now.
Lily was especially desperate to get a new partner for a few reasons — apart from the fact that she, well, needed one to compete — Firstly, she wanted to show John that she did not need him to be successful, since he'd made it quite clear that he thought she would never succeed without him; second, her plans for how her first senior season was meant to go were tragically off course.
Most top skaters would do about five international competitions per season if they were in good health. First, they would do a Challenger Series event, which was a small competition with a narrow field, only very few skaters would skip it. Most Challenger events took place at the beginning of the season in September and October. Challengers were events to test the waters, to show your programs for the season, to show the judges the condition you were in, to take constructive criticism. Then there was the Grand Prix Series, which was an invitational event, the requisites for an invitation were world standings and placement at the previous seasons' World Championships. Most skaters would get two assignments, and some would get one. Depending on your placement at these events, skaters could qualify for the Grand Prix Final held in early December, and get a cash prize depending on their placement at the said final.
Then during the second half of the season, the continental and then world championships would take place. Usually, somewhere between the first and second halves of the season, national championships would take place, most big skating federations –such as Russia, the USA, Japan, Canada– would have their championships between December and January. At Nationals, it was also where each federation would decide which skaters to send to international championships.
The European Championships took place in late January, and the Four Continents Championships – the four continents being Asia, the Americas, Oceania, and Africa – took place after the Europeans, in February. The biggest and most important event of the season would be the World Championships, held between late March and early April, which was also (usually) the last event of the season.
This was the season of well-established senior skaters, but for most of the not-quite-there-yet skaters and just-out-of-Juniors skaters, things would sometimes be a little different because of many reasons. Lily liked to plan ahead, so at the beginning of the last season, she had made a plan detailing what this season would ideally be like for her and John. She was supposed to do at least two smaller B competitions, including one Challenger, get at least one Grand Prix assignment, medal at Senior Nationals and make the European and World Championships teams. The Grand Prix was not gonna happen at this point, but if she got a partner right now, she could still make a late Challenger and Nationals. And she was going to.
That's what she told herself when she went into Minerva's office. She was going to win a medal at Nationals, and she was going to earn those Championship spots.
Lily's stomach dropped as soon as she saw the expression on Minerva's face. She was looking at Lily with a certain tenderness in her eyes, which could only mean bad news. Lily immediately tensed.
"Please, take a seat, Lily."
Lily slowly sat down on one of the famously uncomfortable chairs facing Minerva. She waited for her coach to speak.
"Alright, I will just come out and say it. Miranda Abbott called me yesterday." Paul's coach. "She said that they have decided to go in a different direction."
Lily felt like she had just been stabbed by a thousand tiny daggers. She felt her throat close up and tears sting at her eyes, but dear god she would not let them fall.
How dare he? How dare that talentless, backstabbing, cowardly rat decide to go in a different direction? She was a Junior Grand Prix Finalist! She was a two time Junior National Champion! She had her career! He didn't! He wanted what she had!
Honestly, it wasn't even Paul that she was upset about, he was a lousy skater who would need a long time to catch up to her. But next week would mark nine months without a partner, and at this point, Paul was the only ice dancer in all of Britain who she could've partner up with. Was she going to have to partner with a foreign skater? She hadn't even thought about that. Was she going to have to put down 'willing to relocate' on her ice dance partner search profile? She felt like she was going to throw up.
"But please do not worry, Lily. I happen to have another potential partner lined up for you."
Lily did a double-take. "What? Who? From which rink?"
Minerva waved a hand. "Slow down, you have to have a tryout first, and he's from right here, from this rink. I actually thought of you for him weeks ago when he became available, but you were lined up with Paul, so I left it alone. To tell you the truth, though, I believe he's a far better match for you than Paul."
Lily tried to go through every available male ice dancer she shared a rink with but came up empty as to who it could be. Unless... Minerva wouldn't think of matching her with a singles skater? Dear god. "Can you just tell me who it is? I'm dying over here."
Just as Minerva opened her mouth to reply, there was a knock on the door, and Potter's nosey head poked in.
Lily's patience was wearing thin. "I'm sorry. Potter, we're in the middle of a conversation here." Her tone was sharp.
Here Lily would have expected a smirk and/or a witty remark from Potter to take place, but to her surprise, he remained impassive. "I was told Minerva wanted to see me."
Lily was about to retort when Minerva spoke up. "Yes. Please, James, take a seat."
James sat next to Lily without another word. Something seemed off with him.
"Lily," Minerva started in a firm but gentle tone. "I've already talked about this with James, and he's already agreed to it. And I know that you two are not the greatest of friends, but you are both extremely talented skaters, and dare I say, two of the most talented ice dancers Britain has seen in a long time."
Oh no. Lily did not like where this was going. Nope. Oh, hell no. This was not happening. No no no no no no no.
"I think that together, the two of you would be a force to be reckoned with. So, what do you say? Will you give it a try?"
Every instinct in Lily's body was telling her to just yell out no. But she didn't. She waited.
Lily gaped at her coach. "Are you - are you serious?"
"Quite serious."
Lily looked at James, he had a slight smile on his face but didn't give out much from his expression. Lily scoffed. "Did Catherine finally get tired of hauling your big head around the ice?"
Now that Lily thought about it, she hadn't seen James's partner since she'd gone on holiday about three weeks before Lily went on hers. And if she'd been gone since then, that would mean she'd been gone for almost two months. What in the hell had happened with her?
James's smile immediately dropped at Lily's comment. A gloomy look overtook his eyes. Had they had a fallout? "Her father got a job in Scotland, she's going with, she's going to try and find a partner there."
Lily nodded slowly. That seemed... weird.
James quickly diverted the subject. "So, d'you want to give it a go? I'm in if you're in."
Lily could barely contain the giggle that was threatening to escape her mouth. This situation was just too bizarre not to be funny. "I'm sorry, but, Minerva, if I find him pretty insufferable as it is, I really don't want to find out how insufferable I'll find him if we have to spend pretty much every waking hour of the day together."
Minerva seemed disappointed with Lily's response, which pained Lily, but what could she do? Agree? "Alright, how about you sleep on it before making any definite decisions, we can talk about this again tomorrow. You can go."
James needn't be told twice, he got up and left faster than Lily could react.
As Lily reached the door, Minerva spoke one last time. "And Lily, please really think about it."
"Can you believe it? Me and James? Partners! I genuinely don't know what Minnie was thinking." Lily ranted to her friends as they walked the short distance from the tube station to Yuna's house.
All four girls had their skate bags hanging from their shoulders. Their exhaustion after a three-hour session was palpable.
Yuna's house was a sort of meeting place for them, and for pretty much everyone from Minerva's group. Perhaps, it was better to clarify that this wasn't actually Yuna's house, it was the Lupins' place, they'd taken Yuna in when she'd moved from Osaka to London after partnering up with Remus less than a year ago.
Lily still remembered back when Yuna had just moved to England. Her English had been pretty limited, and she knew absolutely no one. So, Melanie, Mary, and Lily had taken it upon themselves to take her under their wing. It'd taken a while for Yuna to warm up to them, and get comfortable in a completely new environment, but she had finally started viewing London as a second home.
Mary had taken a special protectiveness towards Yuna, being the only one out of her friends who had also moved to London by herself (only from not from somewhere as far as Japan, but from Newcastle).
Lily was sure Remus's mother was a saint. She'd made it clear since they were kids, that they were always welcome at her home, and to this day, she was still there with a warm meal, a warm hug, or a friendly chat whenever they needed it. Most of the time, it was their go-to for lunch, since the house was so close to the rink, and Mrs. Lupin's food was amazing.
As expected, all four girls were greeted with hugs as Yuna unlocked the door to the house.
They all took their shoes off and exchanged pleasantries with Mrs. Lupin before being invited into the dining room for a meal.
"Can you believe it? Me and James skate together! I've no idea what Minerva was thinking." Lily complained as she kind of aggressively stabbed at the plate full of food in front of her.
Her friends' silence seemed suspicious.
Mary avoided Lily's eyes. "Uh-huh."
Lily frowned. "What? What?"
"Well, it did seem a little crazy when you first said it, because it would seem impossible for you to skate together without you killing James at any given time. But the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. I mean, you're both superb skaters, I actually think it would be a crime for you guys to deprive the world of your combined power as a couple." Mary explained.
Lily stared at her friend in shock and a little disgust. Was she serious right now?
She looked to Yuna and Melanie, who were each seated at one of her sides. But they didn't seem too keen on arguing with Mary's logic.
Yuna seemed to catch on to Lily's expectation for a response. "I have no idea what you're so against, Lily. I think you and James would make a great match."
Lily's frown deepened. "But – but I can't stand him, Yuna."
Yuna shrugged. "It's just business. And you can learn to get along."
Was everyone in her life determined she skate with James now?
Lily turned to Melanie in frustration. "Aren't you going to side with me?"
Melanie sighed. "I do see why you think it wouldn't work."
"Thank you!"
"But – I also think you shouldn't knock it till you've tried it."
Lily scoffed and leaned back on her chair. She then proceeded to finish the food on her plate in record time. She couldn't help it, she stress ate.
She got up and brought her empty dish to the kitchen. As she rinsed off her plate, she heard the front door open. Then she heard footsteps into the dining room and a voice that could only be Yuna's say, "Remy-kun!"
Lily froze. What was Remus doing here? She thought the boys weren't coming back here for lunch, she'd asked the girls to make sure they weren't coming here, she could not deal with James right now.
Lily approached the dining room just enough to hear what was going on better but not be seen.
Yuna was spouting some rapid-fire Japanese at Remus. Lily wished she understood anything of what Yuna was saying, but after a year hearing her speak it, she had learned pretty much nothing. She just barely caught a 'Lily-chan' amid Yuna's bit. What was she saying about her?
Luckily Remus replied in English since he was quite self-conscious about his Japanese and refused to speak it in front of anyone but his mum and Yuna. "I know! I'm sorry, I just ran ahead to warn you guys! Where's Lily?"
That's when Lily decided to walk into the room. "Is James coming?"
Remus nodded.
Her friends must have sensed her discomfort because Yuna immediately got up and grabbed Lily's arm. "Let's go to my room."
"We'll keep him busy down here, try to run him off," Mary reassured.
Lily nodded absentmindedly and let Yuna lead her away.
Lily loved Yuna's room. There was something about the way it was organised that made her feel so relaxed and at ease. Lily wished she could have a bedroom as minimalistic and clutter-free as this, but sadly, she was a bit of a hoarder.
Lily sat on the side of Yuna's bed, but almost immediately laid down on it out of tiredness.
Yuna sat next to her quietly.
Lily rubbed her temples and closed her eyes for a few seconds. She then turned to look at her friend, who had sat back on the bed. Lily could tell Yuna wanted to say something, but she knew Yuna wouldn't try to impose her opinion without being asked, so Lily prompted her. "What d'ya think?"
Yuna sighed. "Well, the thing is, I do understand your point of view, but I'm not going to lie, it does frustrate me a little bit that you aren't even willing to try with James. I know that you know what it's like to be partnerless, but you've been partner-less for eight months, I was partner-less for over a year, and if a skater half as talented as James, who is Junior Grand Prix Final champion, had agreed to partner up with me eight months out, I would have jumped at the chance."
Lily looked away from her friend, she didn't want to respond to that, because in a way, she knew Yuna was right. Objectively, James was by far the best option out of everyone she had considered, and she should very seriously consider his offer. Even if she didn't want to admit it.
Lily froze as she heard a knock on the door. She felt Yuna get up to open the door. She heard the door open a little and a brief hushed conversation. She didn't sit up to understand better.
The door shut again.
"He says he wants to talk for two minutes, and promises he won't say anything obnoxious."
Lily sighed. "Fine." She sat up.
All too soon, Yuna was gone, and James's lanky frame was walking through the doorway.
"Two minutes." Lily declared.
James took a deep breath. "I know that you don't think this is a good idea, but you are objectively a great skater, and it would be a great privilege to skate with you. I wouldn't like to miss this opportunity just because of some dumb shit I've done in the past. I swear to you I will take this with the utmost seriousness, and if you want to stop at any point, that's fine by me. But please, let's at least have a tryout, see if we're any good together, then you can make your decision. And I'll accept whatever choice you make."
Lily sighed deeply. This was the most frustrating day of her life. The more people told her she should give James a chance, the more she found herself agreeing, but there was still a little voice in her head telling her to be wary, think of all the shit he's done.
James was very calm today for whatever reason, which was weird. If Lily could get some kind of insurance that he'd be this calm every day, she probably would've agreed to a tryout already. But she knew this wasn't every day James, every day James was annoying, rude, irresponsible, a troublemaker, rude, egocentric.
'And an insanely skilled skater' a little voice Lily wanted to yell at to shut up finished her sentence.
She could not possibly turn this around in her head anymore, or it was going to explode.
Oh well. "Fine. We'll try out."