Chapter 8
Late afternoon is always the most dead time at the pro shop, no matter what day it is.
It’s why Lily Evans is so grateful that she clocks in at exactly 2 PM every shift. She gets time to go out and skate right before she starts, and then for the next couple of hours she gets to relax at the register and start on her classwork. Someone will pop in every 20 minutes, she can help them with whatever they need—which usually doesn’t end up being anything more than a sharpening—and then she can resume her work. If she’s really lucky, she’ll be done with everything by the end of her shift. Then, she clocks out at 7 and goes home. She works three days a week—Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday—and on Sundays she gets off at 5. The manager, Flitwick, pays her good money for the few hours she works, and she gets generous discounts on all of the skating equipment she could ever dream of in return. It’s how she’s able to continue financing her skating as she’s getting older and her skates are breaking down quicker, and she’s incredibly grateful that she’s found a way. She loves this little shop and the customers within it, and wouldn’t trade this job for the world.
It’s on one of these afternoons that she finds herself yet again set up at the cash register, cursing her statistics teacher for the terrible assignment he’s given them. Math already isn’t her strong suit, but her teacher’s inability to do his job doesn’t seem to help. Still, she’s trying her absolute best to figure out what the hell a confidence interval is and praying that this will be graded on completion and not correctness.
Her already-little concentration is broken when the front door of the shop opens, and the tiny bell that’s attached begins to ring. Lily immediately glances to the front door—and has to hold back from cussing once she sees who’s shown up.
Okay, maybe she doesn’t love every customer within this shop.
”Evans!” James exclaims as he approaches the desk, a big grin decorating his face as always. “How’re you doing?” He carries his skates in his arms, and already Lily knows she’s in for a bitch of a time.
“I’d be so much better if you brought your skates in more than every three months,” she retorts, crossing her arms as she stares him down. His smile immediately becomes much more sheepish, and when he reaches the desk he’s now raising both eyebrows.
”Come on, you love me.” She doesn’t deny it as she watches him drop his skates on the countertop. “You can get these done by 5, though. Right?”
She sighs. How could she say no? ”Yea, but you owe me,” she responds, taking them from him and placing them on the shelf behind her.
The truth is, she doesn’t really hate James. She’s known the idiot since eighth grade, and they’ve been good friends ever since they were both invited to Marlene’s birthday. But he goes months at a time without sharpening his skates, and it makes her job so much harder than it needs to be. She doesn’t understand his refusal to do it more often—she never charges him, and do his incredibly dull blades not make it nearly impossible to skate? She’s seen him playing out there when his skates are overdue for a sharpening, and she would need more than two hands to count on her fingers the amount of times he almost wipes out completely. Sometimes, she wonders if he has any sort of value for his life whatsoever.
“I always do,” he sighs, now resting both of his elbows on the counter as he looks across at her. “What now?”
”I dunno,” she says with a shrug. “A coffee would be nice.”
His eyes quickly widen, and immediately she regrets her choice of wording. “Woah,” he says, “are you finally asking me—“
”Oh my god, no, you idiot,” she interrupts, reaching forward and shoving both of his elbows off the counter. “I did not mean it like that.”
James just shrugs, that stupid little smile returning to his face. “I don’t know, Lils,” he says, and she could punch him right now. “Marlene’s 13th birthday party was a great time. I wouldn’t blame you for wanting more.”
Oh, right. That. “Shut up!” she exclaims, but she’s laughing all the same. For years, she found that story to be the most embarrassing thing in the world, and would threaten to sock James right in the face every time he brought it up. But it’s been long enough now that when he laughs about it, she’s right there with him.
Their first introduction had also been the day they’d both ended up having their first kiss. Marlene had acquainted them with one another basically the second Lily walked through the door, and immediately they’d gotten along. But it wasn’t long after that Lily realized the only reason she’d introduced the two of them was because she thought they’d be a perfect match for each other. “Lily figure skates and he plays hockey, isn’t that adorable?” she’d kept saying to anyone who would listen, and pretty much the second the words had come out of her mouth Lily knew what was going to happen.
She was right, of course. Two hours later, they were all playing Truth or Dare around the fire in Marlene’s backyard, and Lily was determined to pick truth for as long as she possibly could. No way was she having her first kiss with this dork.
She’d figured out that James Potter was an absolute dimwit the moment that he chose to complete a dare first. And sure enough… “Kiss Lily,” Marlene had said, practically cackling as James’s face turned ghostly white. Lily was sitting across from him in the circle, and he’d made his way over to her at the pace of a snail. When he finally did kiss her, it was a mere peck on the cheek. “Come on, dummy. On the lips.”
Lily’s face might have been more red than her hair as they’d leaned in and he’d practically smashed their lips together, the sensation nothing more than wet and disgusting. It couldn’t have lasted more than a millisecond, but as they’d pulled away from each other they both looked like they were going to be sick (which Dorcas had quickly commented on). And that had been the end of their short-lived relationship.
James wiggles both of his eyebrows, which only makes her laughing fit worse. “So is that a yes? Or—“
”It’s gonna be ten dollars for the sharpening,” she says, suddenly stone faced as she attempts to get herself back under control. James quickly throws both of his hands up in the air.
”Nevermind.” That’s what I thought.
“Alright,” she says, “I’ll have them done by five. Stop waiting so long to get them sharpened, though.”
He holds up a hand to his temple, as if he’s saluting her. She could roll her eyes. Already, she knows he is not going to listen. At least she can say that she tried.
With that confirmation, James turns towards the door and begins to make his way to the exit. She watches him leave for a second, then something suddenly comes to her mind. Something she’s been meaning to ask him about, but that’s totally slipped her mind. “Wait, James!”
He’s quick to face her again, and makes his way right back towards the counter. “Yes, ma’am?”
She takes the opportunity to lean on the counter, careful to talk as low as she possibly can. He thankfully gets the memo, placing both of his elbows on the counter and tilting his head forward to listen. “What is all this I’m hearing about you and Regulus Black?”
James becomes as pale as a ghost. “How did you—“
”I sharpen almost everyone’s skates at this rink, James. I know things. Now, what’s the deal?”
Okay, here’s the thing—no one directly told her about it. A few people do constantly fill her in on all of the drama going on at the rink, but Regulus is not among them. He’s nice enough when he comes in, always saying please and thank you, but beyond that their discussions are minimal. However, Barty and Evan are absolutely incapable of keeping their mouths shut around each other, and their conversations are so loud that she reckons the entire state of Minnesota can hear them. These two factors, paired with the fact that they always come in together to get their skates sharpened, basically ensure that Lily is up to date on everything when it comes to Regulus’s little trio. She still doesn’t quite understand how anyone can get so close to a boy who seemingly barely speaks, but apparently they manage.
So when Barty and Evan came in last week talking about how they think Regulus Black is this close to stabbing James Potter, she was intrigued. And obviously, she has to know more.
“I don’t know!” James nearly shouts, louder than he intends to. Lily’s thankful in that moment for their lack of customers. He then breathes out a deep groan, concealing his face behind his hands. “I don’t know what his problem is with me,” comes the sound of his muffled voice, and Lily freezes. She had expected the two of them to be laughing over this—she had no idea the severity of the situation. Now, she isn’t entirely sure what to do except stay put and listen. Finally, he takes his hands away from his head, and he pays no mind to the fact that his hair is now completely disheveled. “Like, if he doesn’t like me because I’m best friends with Sirius, that’s fine. I can handle that. But since Sirius left, it’s just—now he’s screaming in my face to stay the fuck away from him, and telling me to my face that he hates me, and on top of that now we have to coach this Learn to Skate class of little kids—“
”Wait, seriously?” she suddenly interrupts, her mouth falling open at the last bit. “You guys have to coach Learn to Skate together?” Okay, Barty and Evan definitely hadn’t mentioned that part of it—though the rest of it is shocking too. Despite knowing Sirius quite well, she’s never talked to his little brother except to fit him for skates and to sharpen his blades once a month. She absolutely could not see that quiet little pipsqueak of a kid screaming at anyone (though to be fair, she's heard that he becomes an entirely different person during competition season). Talk about not judging a book by its cover.
”Oh my god, Lily, it’s terrible,” he confirms with a nod. “The entire time we’re out there, he’s pretty much just scowling at me, and you should hear the way he talks to me every time the kids aren’t around. Like it’s my fault we’re out there together, or something.”
”Jeez,” she mutters, incapable of saying anything else. “I’m so sorry.”
James shrugs. “It’s alright,” he says, even though it could not be more clear that it is not. “Nothing you can do about it.”
”I know, but… I mean, come on,” she replies, gesturing wildly with her hands. “All of this because Regulus is jealous?”
James parts his lips like he’s about to say something, but seemingly decides against whatever it is, shutting his mouth again. Instead, he nods. “Apparently so.”
Lily decides not to question his response. But right as she goes to speak again, the bell on the front door rings. Her head turns; into the shop comes a mother and her little girl, one whom she’s never seen before. “Hi, welcome!” she calls out, offering a wave. “I’ll be with you in just a second, okay?” She doesn’t wait to hear the mom’s response, turning to James again.
“Well, I gotta go,” she mumbles, “but I’ll get your skates done by 5. And, hey, listen—you ever need to talk about it more, you know where to find me. Okay?"
He offers her a grateful expression, the corners of his mouth turning upwards. ”Thanks, Evans,” he says, and she knows that he means it about more than one thing. “I’ll catch you later!” he exclaims, shooting her a thumbs up on the way out.
Then he heads for the door, and the next thing Lily knows, it’s just her and her new customers.
Lily steps out from behind the counter, meeting them by the racks of figure skating dresses in the middle of the store. “So,” she asks, glancing over both of them, “how can I help you guys?”
The mother is fast to point to her grinning child, who seems like she’s about to explode as she bounces up and down. “I’m buying her first pair of skates today. ”
Lily’s heart bounces within her chest, and before she knows it she’s smiling along with the little girl. One truly never forgets their first pair of skates, do they? “Well,” she replies, bending down to meet the girl’s eyes, “I can help you with that.”
And with that, she gets to work.
❅ ❅ ❅
“Alright, now we’re just going to push out, and then in. Like this.”
All of the kids’s eyes are focused on Regulus at the moment, who is demonstrating how to do forward swizzles. James is currently taking the opportunity to linger in the back of the group, letting his face drop for a few seconds. It turns out it really hurts to put on a smile when he’s faking it the entire time, and would rather be anywhere but here.
He doesn’t mind the kids—as a matter of fact, besides Alex the kids are great this session. It’s the boy who’s supposed to be coaching alongside him that is driving him fucking crazy.
He’s trying to put up with it as best he can, of course. But this is their fourth session coaching together, and it’s hard to be nonchalant about this entire situation when Regulus is continuing to make him as miserable as possible. Outside of hockey, James didn’t even know misery was an emotion he was capable of feeling until a couple of weeks ago—but Regulus Black just continues to throw absolute curveballs his way.
Not even a month ago, James told Remus and Peter that he doesn’t hate Regulus so much as feel bad for him. And for the most part, that’s still true… but to say that those feelings are being pushed to their absolute limits right now? That would be an absolute understatement. Still, for the time being he tries to suck it up as best he can.
After he decides that he’s spent long enough sulking in the back corner, he takes a moment to watch the kids give their best shot at forward swizzles. And though they definitely have the spirit, he realizes that they don’t quite get what they’re supposed to be doing. He’s quick to skate up to where Regulus is currently standing, and once he ensures that they all have a good view of him…
“Guys, make the shape of a lemon,” he says, speaking loudly and clearly so that he’s able to properly grab their attention. Immediately he feels the dozen sets of eyes that fall upon him, his every move being watched intently. “Like this, see?” He bends his knees, bringing his feet out and then back in again. . He does it a couple of times, making sure to keep the movement small. “Now you try.”
Immediately, they all begin to copy him. Except for Alex, of course, who instead chooses to say “What if I don’t like lemons?”
”An orange, then. I don’t know,” James replies, and he doesn’t wait to hear Alex’s response before focusing on the rest of the little ones. “Make sure you bend your knees!” he exclaims, and though they’re still not quite getting it at least they’re moving their feet in the right direction now.
He turns away from them to take a quick look back at Regulus—and immediately regrets his decision when he sees the glowering expression on his face. “I didn’t need your help there, James. I know what I’m doing.”
”Never said you didn’t,” James says in a hushed tone, standing side by side with Regulus as they look over the kids. “It’s just that sometimes, they need a little more help—“
”I was doing a perfectly fine job!” Regulus exclaims, his blade scratching against the ice as he swivels towards him. He can feel the hot breath coming out of Regulus as he faces James, and does everything in his power not to meet his eyes. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”
“Jesus Christ, when did I ever say that?!” James asks, just barely restraining himself from yelling. “I was literally trying to, you know, help the kids. Since that’s why I’m here. Not everything is about you.”
James has never blown up at Regulus before—before Sirius left, they’d never interacted enough for him to do so, and now, Regulus is the only one who seems to do that. But this is probably the closest he’s ever gotten, and as Regulus shuts up completely, James thinks that maybe he should bite back more often than he does. He’s been told by Sirius many times that Regulus is absolutely capable of dishing everything out, but totally incompetent when it comes to taking that energy back. And he’s just gotten proof of that now, the only evidence he needs.
The rest of the class passes by before he knows it, and for once it actually seems to go by without a hitch. James helps half of the kids with their swizzles, while Regulus helps the other half. And surprisingly, Regulus seems to actually keep his cool. James didn’t even know that was a skill he had.
As the buzzer on the side of the rink goes off, indicating that all skaters need to leave the ice, James spots Regulus near the penalty box grabbing a swig of water. And for some reason, something Sirius told him about a month ago by now resurfaces in his mind.
He doesn’t know what comes over him—it’s a stupid idea, honestly, to say anything when they’ve just barely managed to teach a class without cussing each other out. But the thought is suddenly at the front of his mind, a remark from Sirius that he can’t shake.
So he races over to the penalty box, trying not to give a second guess to what he is doing. Maybe he’ll die for this—but really, he made that decision when he first decided to talk to Regulus a month ago. And he can’t back out of it now.
Right as Regulus begins to leave for the door, James grabs onto his arm. “Listen,” he hisses, though it’s not like they now have to be quiet in front of the kids, “Sirius thinks you’re an absolutely miserable prick. Don’t let him be right.”
He doesn’t wait for a response, doesn’t even take a moment to study the way in which Regulus’s face twists and changes. It’s with that statement lingering that he turns around and skates away, and this time, he is the one who does not look back.
❅ ❅ ❅
By the time all of the students and coaches clear the ice and the zamboni comes on, Evan feels as though he needs to take a deep, deep breath.
”Wow,” Barty says from next to him as the zamboni starts up, the humming completely masking up anything they might say right now, “that was… something.”
Neither of them had intended to sit in on classes and watch—truthfully, Regulus had told them not to come and he’d seemed so upset that they had no choice except to listen. But after they’d completed off-ice training together, Barty’s mother had texted, informing them that she was behind at work and would be another hour before taking them home. So they’d decided to walk around the rink while they waited, weaving through the stands and totally forgetting in the process that it was a Tuesday. When they’d walked into Rink A and accidentally stumbled across the rink’s evening Learn to Skate classes, Barty had caught sight of Regulus on the ice and taken a seat without thinking. Evan immediately followed, and neither of them decided to bring up the fact that Regulus didn’t want them here.
Now, they’ve been awarded with watching 30 minutes of a little kids’ class far more entertaining than any show currently on reality television. And Evan isn’t quite sure what to make of it, except for the fact that he wishes Regulus had a microphone so he could actually hear what he was saying. It doesn’t really matter, though; his facial expressions alone practically told the whole story.
”I’ll say this for him,” Evan finally responds to Barty, leaning in close and raising his voice so they can hear each other over the cutting of the ice. “He wasn’t kidding.” Regulus had told them just yesterday that teaching this class with James makes him lose his fucking mind, and Barty had been so sure he’d been overexaggerating the entire thing. But no, Regulus looked like he was ready to pull a skate off of his foot and start bashing his head in with it.
“I seriously haven’t seen him that angry since he was beaten at sectionals last year,” Barty agrees, nodding.
”I think I actually saw smoke coming out of his ears,” Evan says, and that gets a laugh out of Barty as they glance back down to the doors. Regulus is there, talking to one of the moms. He doesn’t seem to have noticed them, and Evan intends on keeping it that way as he stands up and begins to head up the stairs. Thankfully, the stands on the upper level also provide a pathway that connects all three rinks—which means they don’t need to go downstairs and run right into Regulus. Barty makes his way to the hallway that adjoins Rink A and Rink B, and just like before, Evan follows. “I wonder what James was saying.”
”Couldn’t tell you,” Barty replies with a shrug, and they soon turn a corner into Rink B. “You think that’s the normal amount that Reggie hates him, or was it worse than usual today?”
”Seemed normal to me,” Evan says, which admittedly surprises him. Regulus is good at holding grudges, sure—what figure skater isn’t? But usually those grudges fade after a season or two, and Regulus will do no more than let out a discontent grunt when their name is brought up in conversation. Over the years, though, his grudge against James has only gotten worse, and never before has it been so adamant or so obvious. He wonders if there’s anything else James does to warrant it. Suddenly curious, Evan glances over at Barty. “You ever talk to him?”
”James?” Barty questions, his brow furrowing. “Once or twice, maybe. Wish it was more though… in middle school, I was pretty much in love with him—“
”I absolutely did not need to know that,” Evan replies, his nose wrinkling up at the image of a younger Barty hopelessly pining after Regulus’s worst enemy. Don’t get him wrong, he’s glad that Barty was finally able to come out to him and Reg this past summer after the years of uncertainty and anxiety he endured… but that doesn’t mean he needs to know about every single crush Barty has ever had. Especially not this one. “But I’m just going to pretend it didn’t happen. You were saying?”
”I dunno. I always thought he was nice. But also, I might be biased because—“
”I will kill you if you say it again.”
”You asked my opinion!” Barty yells, and Evan wants to yell back that he didn’t ask because he wanted to know about his love life. Somehow, he restrains himself. “I gave it to you.”
”Okay, enough of that,” Evan says, though he’s not sure he’ll ever recover from this new information he’s found out. He wishes he could go back to twenty seconds ago, when he lived in oblivion, but there’s no turning back the clock. “Anyway, I’m wondering—do you see any reason for Reggie to hate him the way he does?”
Silence falls between the two of them as they make their way down the stairs to the ground floor, and Barty pushes the door open to the lobby. But in all of that quiet, he still doesn’t contribute. “I mean,” Evan adds, “yeah, there’s the whole Sirius thing. But… it’s not like he’s a hateable person. I don’t know.”
”Evan,” Barty finally responds, putting a hand on his shoulder as they come to a stop by the exit doors. “I gave up on trying to understand anything Regulus does a long time ago. He is a mystery to all of us, and we are no exception. Got it?”
Evan sighs, thinking that there is definitely so much more to the explanation than either of them know. But what can he do? It’s not like they can ask. Evan’s tried that before—it never goes well. Not when his family is involved, or ever. No, asking is the last thing he should do. Evan doesn’t need another repeat of Regulus refusing to talk to him for an entire week, only shooting him occasional glances with narrow eyes any time he did have to acknowledge his presence.
Not that he blames him—seventh grade had been an awful time for him, and Evan probably should’ve known better than to bring up his mother’s questionable coaching techniques. In the end, they’d both apologized and had been fine. Still, Evan cannot go through that again. It hasn’t happened yet, but even just the thought makes him sick.
Barty’s right, then. No point in trying to understand him.
”Yeah,” Evan finally replies, still with more hesitancy than he’d hoped. “You’re right.”
Evan isn’t entirely convinced, but for now, he lets the subject go. He’ll understand his friend someday, he’s sure of it. Today is not that day. He hopes that day comes soon, for his and Barty’s sake… and for James’s, too.
He doubts it will.