Title: of Ice and Wobbly Skates

For: Val/Chatter Chick

House: Slytherin

Name: Madam'zelleGiry/Giry

"I don't know if this is such a good idea, Tonks…"

"Don't worry about it! It's going to be just buckets of fun!"

Oh, those famous last words. Tonks had been trying to talk him into this for months, though why she'd brought it up back in the heat of July was anyone's guess. Remus had been rather reluctant, but she'd held firm, begging and begging and begging… he'd finally agreed just to get her to stop bringing it up. But now that he was standing on the edge of the frozen Black Lake with wobbly knees and a chill running down his spine, he was beginning to think that the nagging really hadn't been that bad. Maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to give in…

Tonks had already strapped her skates on, and she stepped out onto the ice with ease, apparently determined to start skating circles around him even before he'd put his skates on. She grinned as he just stood there in his boots, and he knew that she was loving every minute of this.

"Ice skating is a very romantic activity for couples, Remus," she explained, giving the same argument that she'd done ever since that fateful July day. "Harry told me that Muggles just love it. It's a way to bring people closer together!"

"I'm sure it is," said Remus dryly, still not willing to trade his boots for the pair of skates that sat on the snow next to him. "But how romantic is it going to be if I'm falling all over the place? I've never done anything like this before! Where in the world did you learn to do that anyway?" he asked, observing her twirling like some kind of expert.

His words made her giggle, and she toppled over on the ice to sit back on her side. "Just give it a go, Remus! It's really not that hard!"

"No thank you," said Remus and he crossed his arms defiantly at her. He wasn't trying to be particularly flirtatious, but he knew that she was probably going to take it that way anyway. "You have enough skill for the both of us. I'll just waaaa-"

He was cut off as she waved her wand and exchanged his boots for the skates, all but pulling him onto the ice to join her. She was on her feet again, as he realized what had happened and he struggled to make his way back to the shore, his feet dancing all over the ice from the lack of traction. Before she could get over to him, his feet slid out from under him entirely, and he found himself landing smack on his behind, groaning as the impact of the fall radiated through his entire body. He looked over at her and made a face as she laughed gaily and skated over to help him to his feet.

"Here, try it like this," she said kindly, grabbing him by the elbows and taking a strong grip. She pushed one of her feet forward and gently nudged his foot to tell it to follow her movement. He still looked unsure of himself, but did his best to copy what she was doing. "That's my boy," she cooed, helping him to move his other foot, and then the previous one so that they'd taken a full step forward. "Look at you!"

He chose not to address the fact that she seemed to be treating him like he was an infant because he was trying too hard to concentrate on every single step that he took. Grudgingly, he might have admitted that this wasn't nearly as bad as he'd thought, but that was kind of going to be irrelevant until he could take a step forward without Tonks having an iron grip on his arms.

She was still enjoying herself thoroughly, cooing encouragements at him as he was obviously ignoring her to the best of his ability. "Maybe this isn't quite that bad, Remus?" she asked with a smile, loosening her grip so that she was only holding onto one of his arms.

"I have no comment at this time," he responded, starting to shake and flail at the unexpected return to his own sense of gravity. She let go of him completely, and he ended up flat on the ground again, groaning in pain as he'd landed on his back and it had definitely been far too long since he'd been young enough to just walk away from something like that.

She gasped and dropped down to her knees, scooping up his head in her arms and… trying not to laugh!

"And has this been the romantic experience that you were so hoping for?" he grunted, pulling himself back up on his elbows and testing his response. Wasn't as bad as he'd thought.

She smiled and dropped a kiss on his lips. "Oh, absolutely, my love."