Of Snow and Ice

Sirius was always so sure of himself, so when he stepped onto the ice and his legs slipped out from under him, it was hard for Remus to suppress a laugh.

He, in fact, failed miserably at that.

"Dammit, Remus, I can't see what's so funny." Sirius struggled to prop his body up. He shivered as he eyed the crowds milling about on the ice, their skates scratching an intricate pattern into its surface. "How do they do it, hmm, the Muggles?"

Remus glided over to his friend's side and showered the disgruntled boy with a shower of ice flakes as he came to a stop. "Oh, Sirius, you just don't understand how funny this is. And as for how they do it -- well, they've been doing it far longer than you have, I think. How long have you been on the ice?"

Sirius packed in his hands a heaping of snow and threw it at Remus, who deflected it easily. "I've been on it long enough to fall, thank you very much. Now help me up."

"Here, I'll teach you. It's not hard, I promise." Extending a hand, Remus pulled the unsteady novice to his feet. The metal blades upon which his balance rested tilted this way and that. Almost immediately, Sirius toppled over again, but Remus caught him by the shoulders and held him there. "I'm going to push you upright, okay? And then I'm going to hold your hands and lead you around the rink a few times. If you're feeling comfortable, I'll let you go and you can try this on your own."

"Merlin, I feel like I'm three."

Remus smiled as he forced Sirius off him and placed his gloved hands in his own. They stood opposite each other. Above them, a light flurrying had begun. "You act like it, sometimes."

"I have no idea why I even agreed to this."

"Because your family is intolerable and your house miserable. Because they force you to return home for winter holidays against your will," Remus said, brushing a stray lock of hair away from Sirius's face. "Because learning how to ice skate is quite easy. Don't rush it is all."

"All right. Fine. Not rushing. Instruct me in this arcane art, Great One."

"It is all about gliding, my friend. Push off with one foot and glide on the other. Then switch. It is really that simple -- no different from walking, if you think about it." Sirius stood still, a pout slowly forming on his lips. "For my sake, won't you at least try?"

"What if I don't?"

"Perhaps I'll accidentally let it slip to James and Peter that the almighty Sirius Black couldn't tame one of the Muggles' most leisurely pursuits."

"Remus, how I love thee." Sirius looked down at his skates, which were made of a very wizened, brown material. "So I push off…and then I glide?"

"Yes."

Slowly, he inched across the ice, Remus leading him along and moving no faster, no slower than his pupil. Sirius's eyes never left the tentative path charted by his skates. Sometimes, he felt his body lurch left or right, and once, it even threatened to repeat his first experience on the ice. However, he needed to only squeeze Remus's hands, and aid, along with advice would arrive.

"Try and stand up straighter. You'll lessen your chances of falling over," Remus told him. "You've done a brilliant job so far, and we've almost gone the entire perimeter of the rink. I'm quite proud."

"Of my hard work or your handiwork?" Remus didn't answer; only a slight upturn of his mouth spoke for him. "D'you think I could try this on my own now?"

"Are you sure? I would have preferred to have taken you around at least a few more times."

"Remus, you're not my mother -- and praise God that you're not."

"Well, I try my best." Gently, he extracted his hands from Sirius's grasp and moved away. Sirius stood alone as throngs of children in red mittens darted around him, rounding the corner of the rink with unnatural speed. "Go on, then. I'll be here if you need me."

Part of the scene before him was reminiscent of an infant taking his first steps, viewing the world for the first time as an upright citizen. But Sirius was not an infant: he was fourteen years of age, and Remus doubted any infant could affix onto his face the knotted brows and narrowed gaze that Sirius was sporting as he advanced forward, little by little. He approached learning how to ice skate as he did everything else in life, either with utter disinterest or unyielding determination.

Skating clearly fell under the latter category.

"Remus, man, I think I've got it," Sirius announced as he completed one lap around the rink on his own. "Think I can go faster?"

"Do you think you can?"

Sirius tucked his hands in his pockets, an inane grin appearing on his face. "I'll race you. Let's go around once. Winner gets a bottle of Butterbeer -- provided by the loser, of course. Ready, go!"

Remus laughed, feigning a furious demeanor as Sirius suddenly took off and frightened a group of toddlers. "That wasn't a fair start, you know," he muttered into the air. "Oh, I guess I shall have to go for it, then."

There was little uncertainty in either of their minds that Sirius was the stronger -- and faster -- of them. There was, though, equally little uncertainty in Remus's mind that he was the better skater, and as they rounded the first turn, Remus casually cut in front of Sirius, whose arms and legs were flailing about in a desperate attempt to regain first place.

"This -- is not -- fair," Sirius wheezed. They hurtled down the straightaway, Remus leading by a mere two paces. "Not fair -- at all."

"Not fair? I suppose having a few seconds up on your opponent doesn't have all the advantages it used to, hmm?"

"I -- am not -- going to lose -- dammit!"

"Indeed, lies are comforting, aren't they?"

Sirius charged forward, scrambling, as Remus's back grew more prominent in his field of vision. "You will not -- bloody -- win -- this one!"

Suddenly, Remus felt something hard collide against him. Distracted, he overlooked the last turn entirely and flew out of the rink, crashing onto the thin accumulation of snow, pain coursing up his back. He clutched his head and looked around. Sirius laid next to him on his stomach, his eyes slightly crossed.

"Ooh, that was something, wasn't it?" Sirius, swaying slightly, stood up and offered Remus a hand. "Sorry 'bout that one, mate."

" 'Sorry'?"

Remus sat up and let his head drop, feeling the blood rush back to his brain. The world was in sharper focus now. He looked at Sirius's hand askance, and then lunged for his legs. Sirius easily toppled over and yelled, "Oh, hell, it's cold!"

Remus reached for a handful of snow and doused Sirius's face with it. The two of them howled. "Snow is usually cold, Sirius, or is that a lesson you need to relearn?"

"There are many things I need to learn, figuring out how to get yourself around a Muggle ice rink without killing yourself and your friend being one of them," he laughed.

"Now." Remus leaned in, his fingers brushing the cold from Sirius's cheeks. "Where's my Butterbeer?"