Chapter 2
“I regret nothin!” Sirius slurred out as he waltzed into their apartment, with Remus close behind him his arms outstretched in case his currently very drunk boyfriend would stumble. James closed the door behind himself and watched the scene in front of him unfold.
“You’re so pretty Rem, has anyone told you that? Are you seeing anyone Rem?” Sirius spoke, turning around to face remus
“Sirius we’re dating” Remus answered incredibly monotone considering the situation, James chuckled, if he had been evil enough maybe James would take out his phone and document this moment to embarrass Sirius with later, but he felt a bit too tipsy himself to be doing anything of that sort.
“We are! No feckin way!” Sirius dragged out, Remus rolled his eyes fondly and caught Sirius as he attempted to take a clumsy step forward.
“Alright, bed, bed right now” remus declared, Sirius smirked at him obviously implying something lewd
“We’re going to bed, to sleep love” remus reinstated, Sirius looked put out, James gave a final laugh, butting into the conversation before it was too late
“Did any of you see where Pete got off to?” he asked
“I'll shoot him a text but i'm pretty sure he left with someone” remus explained, Sirius was hanging onto his shoulders now
“WOOOO, go Petey” Sirius yelled, making remus recoil
“Right! Bed "Remus reminded him, James bid them goodnight and walked into his own bedroom falling down onto his bed with a grunt. He would regret drinking in a few hours when he had to get up for morning practice but he felt that Sirius would regret it about ten times more than him.
It was Marlene who threw the party, her dorcas lily and Mary had moved into a new apartment which was a short distance away from campus and the ice complex. On their first Friday there Marlene had declared that they were throwing a housewarming party, in true uni fashion, a small gathering turned into a ridiculous rager. Most students who showed up had practice in the morning and James knew that only because he too had practice at 7.
He sighed in defeat and shut his eyes letting himself fall asleep.
—-
“Knees, Bend your bloody knees!” Mcgonagall yelled from the sidelines, it was only eight in the morning and regulus was supporting a massive hangover, hearing her shrill at this am wasn’t particularly part of his morning skate plans, but then again popping his triple toe wasn’t part of that morning skate plan either.
The ice was nearly empty at this time of morning, hockey players were warming up in training gyms and speed skaters weren’t even awake yet, the ice was covered by a mist which made it look magical and magnetic. Dorcas, himself and lily had been summoned to arrive at the morning skate by mcgonagall, who had stated in the skating team group chat that
Mcgonagall
You better have all jumps ready to show me tomorrow
we all remember that competition is in three weeks correct?
Regulus had chosen to forget that factor partly because he was still popping his triple toe and partly because he fell out of a scratch spin the other day which made him think he has reached a new low in life.
“Black, come here” Mcgonagall summoned, regulus mentally prepared himself for the telling off he was about to get and skated near the sidelines.
“Regulus, it's heavy, you’re popping your leg every single time, why? Didn’t you have this last week” she asked, looking awfully cross for someone who has told regulus that he is her pride and joy
“I’ll try harder, i can't stop it my legs go all wrong on the landing” he explained
“I don't want you to try harder black, i want you to jump it, may i remind you that you have competition in just three weeks, that's three weeks for this program to look spotless. Regulus, you had no troubles with your short program last time, what happened?” she asked softening a bit
He didn’t know how to answer, because he didn’t know what was wrong, he didn’t know why he was popping jumps or why he was failing at simple elements, he didn’t have an answer to any of it, so he simply shrugged and looked down at his figure skates.
Mcgonagall sighed, “alright then go, give me five more attempts please, and tuck your foot, on the landing bend that knee” she reinstated as regulus skated off to attempt the damned triple toe again.
He popped it the first three times, he felt defeated. The one thing he had been consecutively great at his entire life had been figure skating, nothing else, the one thing he had to turn too when mother was being a tyrant or when father had backhanded him for something he said out of line had been figure skating, and now he couldn’t land a jump which he had no problem landing last week, was he scared? Was he just being silly? He couldn’t tell. But it was eating at him from the inside out.
He talked himself through it:
1. right outside edge
2. arms “your arms are weak regulus, who would want to see a boy with weak arms”
3. Swing
4. jump
5. tuck
6. bend your knee “don’t forget to bend your knee regulus” yes, right bend your knee
7. and land it “stick the landing regulus, i am paying good money for you to stick the landing and you never stick the landings, disgusting, useless, how dare you, how-
8. Stop thinking about your mother regulus and just jump
He had tried, he really did, he popped it again, he heard McGonagall sigh from the sidelines she clapped her hands indicating that the training session had come to a close, Regulus lifted his arms up to his face rubbing at it annoyed.
He walked out of the rink frustrated lily gave him a sympathetic look on his way out, he gave her a half assed smile in return,
Competitions in three weeks, and you can’t jump a triple toe, marvelous.