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“Come on, Padfoot!” James’ voice yelled. “Don’t be like that!”
“No!” Sirius shouted back. “No way, Potter.”
“It’s fun!” Peter joined in.
“Don’t you even try, Wormy!” Sirius called. “That ice could crack beneath you at any moment. I will not willingly step onto it.”
Sirius was standing in the snow by the Black Lake, his hands crossed on his chest as his friends had all put on their ice skates and walked out onto the frozen surface of the water.
James rolled his eyes. “Are you a Gryffindor or not?”
“Shove off!”
As a sign that this discussion was over, Sirius shuffled away from the lake and rested, leaning against a tree. He looked down at his hands as if there was something incredibly interesting about his fingerless gloves.
He would have to wait for them to be done for the next hour, just standing in the cold.
He huffed. Whatever . He wasn’t going to possibly drown just for a bit of useless fun.
“Pads?” a gentle voice said.
Sirius snapped his head up. He hadn’t heard Remus approaching.
“Come on, it will be fun,” Remus said softly. “I have a spare pair of skates.”
Sirius raised his chin. “Nuh-uh. No way.”
And then, without any warning, Remus took Sirius’ hands into his. Sirius’ heart short-circuited.
“Come on,” Remus repeated, pulling Sirius toward the lake. “The ice won’t crack, I promise.”
Sirius shook his head aggressively, trying to ignore Remus’ hands wrapped around his own. “You don’t know that. And I don’t want to find out.”
Remus tugged on Sirius’ arms. “Come on.”
“No, Moons, I—” Sirius stopped, resisting Remus’ pull, and groaned. “I—” He looked down at his shoes. “I don’t know how to do it.”
Remus’ grip on Sirius’ hands loosened as if in surprise.
“What?” he asked. “Why?”
Sirius shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. “No one ever taught me.”
They stood in silence for a moment before Remus tugged on Sirius’ arm again.
“I’ll teach you then,” he said. “Come on.”
Sirius groaned softly but let himself be pulled towards the lake. He put on the ice skates Remus handed him.
Because, no matter how pathetic it made him feel, the idea of being close to Remus, of Remus teaching him, was too nice to refuse.
“How am I supposed to stand?” Sirius asked, looking up at Remus from where he was sitting in the snow.
A small frown pulled on Remus’ face. “Just… normally. Like you always do.”
“Moony, there are blades attached to my feet,” Sirius deadpanned.
Remus rolled his eyes. “Oh, just—” He pulled out his hands. “Hold onto me.”
Sirius’ eyes flickered to Remus’ hands and after a brief reflection, he grabbed them and pulled himself up. Which involved a lot of groaning from both of the boys, along with Sirius almost falling back into the snow a couple of times.
“Merlin,” he breathed, trying and failing to balance himself. He was still tightly gripping Remus’ hands. “How do you do that?”
Remus let out a small laugh. “It’s just like normal standing!”
“Yeah, on a much thinner surface!”
Remus laughed again. “You’re fine.” And he tugged. “Come on.”
“Merlin,” Sirius exclaimed, throwing his head back and squeezing his eyes shut. “This is how I’ll die.”
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Remus said, rolling his eyes amusedly. “You’ll be fine, I won’t let go of you.”
That sentence filled Sirius with such a ridiculous amount of warmth that he felt his cheeks redden. He took a deep breath and nodded.
“Alright,” he said. “I’ll try.”
Remus grinned.
They walked out onto the ice and Sirius immediately regretted his decision.
“I’m gonna die,” he whispered, looking at his feet. “This is it.”
“Lose the dramatics, Pads,” Remus said, some sort of fondness in his voice. “Now look, to properly move forwards you have to direct your feet outwards.”
Sirius snapped his eyes to him. “What does that mean?”
“You know…” Remus said. “Diagonally.”
Sirius frowned. “What the bloody hell does Diagon Alley have to do with this?”
Remus chuckled. “ Diagonally . Look.”
He tugged at Sirius’ hand slightly down as if to point at his feet. Then, he moved one of the feet in the desired way, without actually moving.
“Get it?”
Sirius sighed. “I suppose.”
It took him five more minutes to actually get it and then he finally took off. Very slowly and still tightly holding onto Remus’ hands.
“How do you manage to do it backwards?” he exclaimed at Remus.
“Practice,” Remus said simply, a small smile dancing on his lips. “But you’re doing great, really.”
Sirius huffed. “Sure.”
“Yes, sure ,” Remus said, looking up at Sirius. But his eyes were glued to the frozen lake. “I think you should try it on your own.”
Sirius snapped his head up. “What? You said you wouldn’t let go of me!”
Remus couldn’t contain a tiny snicker. “But you’re doing so well! You won’t improve if I keep holding you!”
“No,” Sirius said, shaking his head. Then, he felt Remus gently try to tug his hands out - and so Sirius gripped them tighter. “Remus Lupin, don’t you dare let go of my hands!”
Remus laughed and tried again but time Sirius pulled him back. Remus stumbled and before he knew what was going on, he was falling forward, onto the ice, more specifically onto Sirius’ chest.
Sirius shrieked, finally letting go of Remus’ hands. Sirius’ back collided with the ice and Remus’ face with Sirius’ shoulder.
Somewhere in the background, James erupted with laughter.
“Piss off, Potter!” Sirius yelled.
Rolling his eyes, Remus lifted himself on his arms, his face now hovering right above Sirius’.
Remus saw Sirius’ expression shift and he could’ve sworn his cheeks turned slightly pink.
“I, uh…” Sirius stammered.
But he was cut off by a crack , right next to his ear where Remus had placed his hand. Remus snapped his eyes to it but it was too late - the ice was cracking.
Neither of them had time to react and a split second later were in the freezing cold water of the Black Lake.
“I’ll murder all three of you!” Sirius bellowed when James and Peter had already helped the both of them to the shore.