Serpendipity
He was a sweet and tender hooligan
And he said that he'd never, never do it again
And of course he won't
(Not until the next time)
“Holy shit Peter shut the fuck up there’s no way!” Marlene nearly spat out her drink.
“Well I didn’t know we would be celebrating tonight! I would have come prepared!” Mary put a hand on his shoulder and smiled.
“I told you guys it’s something important!” Sirius sat a bit more relaxed in his chair.
James was observing his whole friend group, the way they all reacted to Peter’s news. Everyone was happy for Wormtail, it was surreal.
“Oh hear me out, I have the best idea ever! Ok so like we should put up a pyramid with photos with all of us since we’re basically all gay here!” Dorcas explained. “So like a photo with you and Lupin at the top since you guys have been going out the longest, and then I don't know one of us and you get what I mean right?”
“Not all of us!” James added, batting his eyelashes playfully.
“Wait so you’re like, not even a bit bi? That’s impossible! Everyone’s a little queer!” Lily looked at him in pure shock.
“That’s what I said!” Remus laughed “Which is why me, Sirius and James have a bet! Padfoot and I bet quite a sum on the fact that Prongs will shag or date a dude sooner or later. He doubled the sum and said he’s definitely not going to!” He took another sip of his drink.
“Oh I want in on the bet!” Marlene was smiling from ear to ear “There is no way James will last!”
“Why are you all so determined?” he rolled his eyes, sitting back and glancing at his phone.
“Well since you’re the only one left it’s only fair we do something special for you!” Sirius put a hand on his shoulder “No matter what you try to do or say it will happen! You’re around too many gay people, there's no escaping fate!” Sirius was trying to turn the conversation into something deep, James just looked at him amused.
“Anyway Pete, tell us more about that dude you’re seeing! When can we meet him?” James changed the subject.
“Oh come on! We’ve been going out for less then a week, give it a few months will you? It’s enough that I told you guys.” he smiled a bit shyly.
“You, Mr. Wormtail didn't tell us anything. If it hadn’t been Sirius to figure it all out and me and James to stalk his account you would have still been hiding this from us! And don’t say it’s not a big deal because it is!” Remus took another shot. “Cheers!”
“So who’s top and who’s bottom?” Marlene said out of nowhere, making even herself laugh.
“Oh my God babe, you can’t just ask that!” Dorcas put a hand over her mouth playfully, also laughing loudly.
“My bet is that that Gilderoy dude or whatever his name is is a power bottom, just how I picture it.” Lily said.
“I will not comment on this!” Peter took another two shots and patiently waited for the conversation to switch.
Remus lit himself a cigarette and passed the packet to Sirius, who then passed it to Marlene who begged for one.
“You should really try smoking James, you only live once, might as well attempt everything!” Remus took one long inhale and he let the smoke out slowly “Makes you look super dope!”
“No, thanks. Life is short enough, I’d rather not make it shorter.” he looked down at the table to find something to keep his hands busy.
“C’mon, one hit won’t kill you, plus I feel like all the smoke you inhale from us is just as bad as just smoking the cigarette yourself…” Sirius kicked him playfully.
“Still no, maybe I will consider it one day, but not today. We’re already celebrating Peter. If I smoke for the first time right now you lot might go a bit insane and party too hard.” He took his phone to check for any new notifications.
Regulus had texted him, something completely out of the blue. He excused himself from the conversation and he sat a bit better to read what he said.
forgot to tell you this today but tmrw we have rehearsal and class on stage and we r allowed to invite a few people to watch. just letting you know in case you might want to come see me no pressure though. it might be good if you learn a few things from watching us dance. He texted. The errors and lack of punctuation irritated James to his core, but Prongs kept his composure and quickly responded.
What time? I’ll be there no doubt! I’d love to watch.
well normally we start at 8 but since people can come watch we start class at 10 pm tomorrow, itll mostly be barre, centre then the corps will leave to rehearse while the others stay to go over each variation (including me)
Yes sure! I’ll be there! James loved the idea of actually watching other people dance, for the first time in his life he actually considered it.
okay i might be testing my luck here but can you ask Sirius if he wants to come with you… Regulus texted, which surprised James.
I’ll ask him right now! He said before turning to Sirius.
“Mate, can you excuse yourself for a sec? I want to tell you something!” he whispered.
“Oi guys, me and James are going out for a bit!” he stood up, wombling for a moment before gaining balance.
They walked outside while Sirius lit another cigarette, just for the fun of it.
“So Regulus just texted me.” James wasn’t sure about how to start the conversation properly.
“Okay, typical. Apparently you only text him at late hours.” Sirius smiled a bit before letting Prongs continue.
“He’s got um class and rehearsal on stage tomorrow, something they do every once in a while and they’re allowed to invite friends to watch them if they want. Well I told him I’m definitely going and he sort of asked if you might want to come see him too..” James watched Sirius consider it, sort of scared of what he was going to say.
“Guess we’re going together then!” Sirius smiled.
“Perfect then! I’ll let him know!” James opened the door to go back in.
“You go, I’ll stay out here for a minute.” Sirius did a sort of salute before turning his back.
James found his friends and he sat back down. He made sure to respond to Regulus.
Sirius will be there! How do we get to the audience? Do we enter through the front?
i can wait for you outside the theatre tmrw
Sure! James was pretty excited to see what a professional ballet class looks like.
After a few more drinks James took Remus and Sirius home, who were far more drunk than he was. Once he managed to get them to climb up the stairs for what seemed like an eternity he took out the keys for his apartment and struggled to open the door. They rushed in and Remus headed straight for the bathroom to puke.
“Shit I celebrated a little too hard!” Then he vomited again.
“Should I make tea?” James giggled “I bought these funny mugs last time I went to the grocery store and I want to use them!” The mugs in question were two regularly shaped mugs with a fish drawn on them. James found them hilarious even when he wasn’t drunk.
“Moony, go vomit in the sink or something I need to pee” Sirius kicked Remus with his leg, trying to get him to move.
“It’s so late we have to sleep or else we won’t wake up in time tomorrow!” James walked in on them and he yawned. He managed to get past Sirius who was in the doorway and Remus who was on his knees just thinking and Prongs grabbed his toothpaste and toothbrush.
“Hehe, une brosse à dents. C'est marrant.” Sirius laughed to himself before leaving the bathroom and letting himself fall on James’ bed. Prongs followed him just to see what he was doing, while he still was brushing his teeth.
“James, do you have any chocolate?” Remus shouted from the bathroom.
“Only twix mini bars!” James almost spat his toothpaste out in an attempt to respond. He walked back to the bathroom and rinsed his mouth while Remus was looking at him waiting for some chocolate.
“I want twix! I like twix, though I like mars better.” Remus looked like a kid waiting for candy.
“Here. I will never like mars. It tastes so bad, twix is way better. Tiny sticks of caramel goodness in perfect proportions, just the best!” James also tore open one and he shoved it in his mouth, making a face at the taste. It clashed with the flavour that the toothpaste left in his mouth.
“Let’s go to sleep, Sirius is ahead of us!” he tucked James by his sleeve.
“Do you want me to give you a t-shirt or something? Are you sleeping in jeans?” Prongs asked.
“Gimme.” Remus waited while James took out some clothes Moony left over some time ago. He also took out his pajamas and they got changed, occasionally laughing at Sirius.
“I should tie his hair, it gets all tangled up in the morning.” Remus ran around the room trying to find a hair tie “Where do you keep the emergency supply of hair ties?” he looked at James.
“Here!” He grabbed one from the bathroom and gave it to Remus, who carefully tied Sirius’ hair.
Remus laid down next to Sirius, and James took his favourite side of the bed. Before falling asleep he looked at a few things on his phone only to find out Marlene had stolen it at some point to take an absurd amount of pictures. James deleted some of them and he fell asleep.
*
*
*
The light was bright and it burned through his corneas, making him flinch. Sirius and Remus didn’t wake up yet. James checked his phone, 9:15.
“What the fuck-” he took a second to remember at what time Regulus’ rehearsal was “What the fuck Sirius wake up!” he rushed over to the other side of the bed to shake Sirius to somehow wake him.
“Ugh screw the damn plans and let me sleep.” he mumbled, turning to the other side.
Remus, who was awake, he just didn’t say anything, looked at James in awe.
“Plans? You have plans?” he asked.
“What the- you’re awake?” James took another moment to process what was happening “Regulus invited us to his rehearsal practice thingy at 10. It’s 9:15.”
“Oh I’ll go make some coffee, what do you want to eat?” Remus got up quickly, determined to help them get ready in time.
“Toast is fine!” James shouted to Remus who was already in the kitchen “C’mon Padfoot let’s get you up!” He lifted him easily off the bed.
“Fine. Put me down you twat.” Sirius waited till his feet touched the ground to untie his hair and rub his eyes.
“I’ll lay out something for you to wear while you go to the bathroom and shit, if you’re still hungover there’s some stuff for it over the fridge.” James pointed to the door to let Sirius know they had to hurry.
For himself he laid out a nice blue button down and a vest to wear over, along with some long black pants that looked really nice and elegant, but not too elegant. For Sirius he chose some jeans he had forgotten over ages ago, his classic leather jacket and a T-shirt with The Smiths written on it, one of James’ favourites. James got dressed while Padfoot brushed his teeth and then they swapped places.
In the kitchen Remus made them his signature four-topping toast and some coffee, adding a lot of milk into Sirius’.
“Okay so it’s 9:30, if you eat in five minutes you should arrive at a respectable time, this is assuming that you should probably be there a little early.” Remus already did all of the calculations. “While you’re out I think I’ll go to our place and take Buckbeak out for a walk, I have class later today.”
“Moony, give me a fag will ya?” Sirius ate the toast in three bites and he was already thinking about smoking.
“Remus, don’t give him a cigarette. No smoking in my apartment, no more. I dreamt about taking this decision so I’m implementing it starting today.” James said, remembering what he dreamt of all of a sudden.
“Well you’re mean. Let’s leave, then I don’t have anything else to stay here for!” Sirius ran his hands through his hair a few times just to make sure it’s not tangled or anything and they left the house soon after, still in a rush.
James held his phone in his hand while walking there, just in case Regulus texted him.
“Are you nervous?” Prongs asked Sirius, just to make sure he’s okay.
“Yes, but I’m okay. If I suggest we have lunch after, will he agree?” Sirius looked at James for help.
“I’m not sure how long this will take and if they are free to go after, you might just have to ask when he’s finished with class.” James actually liked the idea of the three of them having lunch together, it was just like the old times.
“Ugh forget that then, we’re not talking that much yet.” Sirius rolled his eyes and kicked a rock with his foot.
“I can ask if you want, we get along well so he won’t mind!” James smiled at Padfoot.
“Sure, how much longer?” Sirius said.
let me know when youre almost there, its pretty cold outside I dont want to wait long. Regulus texted James.
“Oh he texted me, he’ll be waiting for us outside also, I think I didn’t tell you.” James looked up at Sirius who just nodded.
We’re here! James replied once they were in front of the theatre.
“So like, what do they do in class? I agreed to come because you asked so nicely but I have no interest in ballet whatsoever.” Sirius looked at James with a sort of scared expression.
“Well every class starts with barre, it's just combinations of exercises, then he told me they will do some center, which is more combinations but in the center of the room, then they will rehearse some variations from the ballet that they’re performing. It’s Romeo and Juliet, Regulus told me. He’s the principal so he’s doing Romeo.” he hoped Sirius had at least vaguely understood what he meant.
“Wow, Romeo, how romantic. I must see him dance that, I didn’t even know there was a ballet for it!” Sirius joked.
“Hi! Over here!” Regulus waved at them from a short distance, showing them where to go.
James and Sirius looked at each other before walking towards the big doors of the theatre. James had never taken this entrance, only the one in the back that led to all the practice rooms.
“Sorry I can’t greet you properly, my director is expecting me. Just walk down the hall and you should find the room yourself, sit somewhere in the front, there’s more people so you can just go where they go. Thank you for coming” Regulus gave them a smile before running off to a different part of the theatre to probably go on stage. He was wearing a sort of uniform, long grey leggings and a white t-shirt. His hair was half up half down, tied neatly with a small elastic in the back. He had some sort of funny looking fluffy boots on his feet.
James and Sirius walked in silence down the hallway until they reached the room. Prongs was relieved to see other people, all of them sitting somewhere close to the stage. He was glad they weren’t the only people there. Him and Sirius sat in the fourth row, they considered it not too far and also not too close, just perfect. Also, no one else was sitting there so they figured they could gossip freely if they wanted.
“These seats are comfortable!” Sirius said while taking a better look at the stage, his eyes sort of widened in shock.
A lot of dancers were on stage, each one of them was doing their own thing, either stretching or talking to each other. Regulus was in the left side of the stage in the front, talking to who James recognised as Minerva Mcgonagall.
“That lady there, she’s their director. Her name’s Minerva Mcgonagall, she won some really important ballet competitions back in her day.” James leaned in to whisper.
“She looks mean.” Sirius replied.
“Every ballet teacher is mean.” James smiled.
After Regulus finished talking to Minerva he walked towards a barre spot and he took off the funny boots he had on. His back was facing the audience, but he was sort of hard to see because of all of the other dancers swarming around. He grabbed his left leg with his hand and he stretched it to the side, showing off his incredible flexibility.
“What the fuck! Can you do that?” Sirius turned to him.
“No, that needs flexibility, I’m not flexible. I can do really good pirouettes though, and a lot. I have some sort of natural gift.”
“Okay everyone, positions please. Regulus I want you at the front of the middle bar today, same for you Pandora.” The teacher said, pointing to where she wants everyone to sit.
Pandora, the name rang in James’ ear. He knew he heard of her somewhere, he figured in James’ book. After a bit of remembering he figured out he read it in a passage about Vaganova Academy, it was she was the principal there. So then what was she doing here? Wasn’t Vaganova in Russia?
“Let’s begin, plies.” Minerva said in a very intimidating voice before signaling to the pianist, who James only then noticed, to start playing.
Their plie combination wasn’t much different from the one he did, though it had a few elements he did not recognise. Instead of the usual cambre to the side that he did for second position, they did a cambre to the back then to the side and got back up. It was a lot more different but the elements were fairly similar. Everyone looked like they really enjoyed themselves, some of the dancers were smiling very nicely. Once they finished the right side they turned to the left and the teacher didn’t stop the music like Regulus would for class. She just paced around the room while the dancers did their thing, talking to some of them and giving short corrections.
“Do you do this exercise in your class too?” Sirius asked.
“Yeah, it’s actually not much different from ours, just the cambres.” James was so captivated by everyone on stage that he didn’t really notice Sirius’ face after he said that.
“That’s when they lean forward or backwards, it’s called a cambre.” he rolled his eyes while explaining.
The class moved to battement from first position, and James found it nothing short of confusing. One second their leg was in the front, the other in the back. They moved so quickly, switching from first position to fifth every once in a while and even doing a turn at some point. They even did a sort of step that had them take their hands off the barre. James tried his best to remember everything so that he could ask Regulus in class on Monday.
“He looks happy, when dancing I mean.” Sirius said just as the class was getting started on battement from fifth. “I just can’t wrap my head around how they’re doing so much in such a little time span. Are your combinations this difficult? What is this exercise called?”
“This one is a battement tendu from fifth position, the one before was from first position, and no, our exercises are not this difficult. They have a few elements I haven’t learned yet like see when they hold their leg in the back before extending? Holding your leg like that is a coupe, but I’m not sure what the whole extending part is called, since it’s not exactly a battement.” James was absolutely thrilled while watching them.
“It sounds so funny when you know French, these terms can all be translated, y'know.” Sirius smiled.
They sat in silence while the class moved to jete, which was James’ favourite exercise. He paid extra attention to it, making sure to at least try to remember it. They did two jetes in the front, then they tapped their foot once in the front, once to the side and once to the back. Then they did the same thing from the back, then they swinged their leg insanely quickly from front to back a weird amount of times. After that they did a few other things but James couldn't really understand. Everyone moved their legs so quickly he had a hard time keeping up.
“What is this exercise called?” Sirius asked.
“This is jete, my favourite. The next one is Rond de Jambe, also a pretty fun one.” James replied.
“Wow so the leg going round’, how fun and very unpredictable.” Sirius said, sarcastically.
James watched the exercise closely. Unlike the one they did in class, instead of having a lot of ronds, which one might think is the main element, they actually had a lot of other moves, like a few pirouettes that came out of nowhere and a lot of lifting the leg in the air.
“Only 11 boys, I expected more from such a big company.” Sirius clicked his tongue.
“They’re short on cash, Regulus told me. They can’t really afford to hire a lot of people.” James wisphered.
They ended up sitting in silence until adagio and grand battement, where Sirius was left in shock.
“How do they lift their legs that close to their head at their grown age?” he said while looking at Regulus who was doing the exercise so effortlessly it looked like it was something anyone could do.
After the barre, which finished in about twenty minutes, the Corps de Ballet members put away the bars and they moved to a different room. The soloists and principals stayed on stage to continue with the center.
“Let’s see, Regulus, I want you center front with Pandora. Snape, you go next to Emmeline.” Minerva ordered them around.
“So, this Snape guy barged in on me and Regulus while we were practicing once. He’s a total dick, Regulus told me this dude has been trying to spread rumours about him to get him fired or something. I can’t wait to see how he does.” James told Sirius, who nearly audibly gasped at that.
“That damned slimeball! He looks so ugly, it’s good to know he’s the same on the inside.” Sirius stuck his tongue out to show how disgusted he was.
“Let’s start with an adagio. I hope the barre was enough of a warm up. Classic en croix, try your best to balance.” Minerva said before signaling for the pianist to start playing.
All of the dancers lined up neatly. Regulus was just as good for center adagio as he was for barre. His legs did not go down one bit and he balanced nicely.
“Holy shit that’s incredible.” Sirius was in shock.
“Yeah, this exercise is hard as hell too.” James joked.
Once they ended the exercise on both sides the director told the pianist to stop playing and began talking loudly.
“Snape what was that? You’ve got the front extensions of a chubby ten year old, you can’t hold your leg at ninety degrees and hope to magically get an important role. Work on them or leave.” she shouted. “Pandora, you did marvelous dear, but please be careful about the direction of your leg when you hold it in the back, you tend to move it diagonally just a bit.” her voice softened up as she talked to a girl in a lavender leotard.
“Yes ma’am. I will try,” she said, the r rolling off of her tongue. James could hear a slight russian accent.
“Let’s do some petit allegro. Echappe, bateu, entrechat quatre, glissade jeté, glissade jeté, sissonne side , chassé, assemblé, temps de cuisse, entrechat quatre, glissade jeté, brisé and finish however you’d like.” She moved her hands around while showing the combination. Everyone nodded, as if they remembered and got in position.
“I want to see only the first row please, go ahead and space yourselves out.” She said while signaling something to the pianist.
A quick song began playing and they jumped around, their feet moving so quick James could barely keep track of everything. Regulus did it so effortlessly, jumping up higher than anyone and still landing on the music. His feet moved in a very defined way, his muscles showing off as he did everything.
“That looks incredible, how did they even remember all of that so quickly?” Sirius was also just as shocked.
After two more exercises the teacher said it was time for grand allegro. This time she did not say the combination out loud.
“Regulus and Snape, you go first.” she nodded towards them as the music began playing.
Regulus ran forward, then he did a split in the air, jumping so high from the ground that Snape could be seen behind him. Then from that he landed and moved on, doing a side split, his legs coming close to his head. Then he took a few steps and jumped up just as high, tapping his legs a few times in the air, while holding one arm up and sort of leaning back. Just before he turned to do the same thing on the other leg James could have sworn they made eye contact. Regulus sort of grinned and he gave a small wink before turning around to do the same jumps with the left leg in front. James turned to Sirius to see if he noticed, but he was so focused on how high Regulus could jump that he didn’t even respond to what James asked him. Once they finished a few people in the audience gave a short applause before Minerva asked the pianist to stop playing so that she could say a few words.
“Very well done Regulus, I know jumping has always been your strong suit. When you do the grand pas de chat with your left leg in the front you sort of lean backwards a bit, I think that’s what keeps your front leg from going up as high. Try it again but don't lean as much.” She said, watching Regulus as he did it the second time. “Beautiful, that’s much better. Now Severus, you don’t jump high enough for a male dancer. You have a good amount of flexibility, I need you to put it to work. I really didn’t like your performance today.” she shook her head and she shrugged before calling on stage the next group.
After a few more combinations and some pirouettes, throughout which James just stayed silent to watch everything closely, it was time for them to rehearse some variations.
“Let’s start with the Bedroom Pas so that I can let Regulus go afterwards.” She called Pandora on stage, who had put her pointe shoes on.
The music began playing and Regulus started by taking her hand and helping her spin, as she extended her leg in an arabesque, then doing the splits. Regulus lifted Pandora effortlessly a lot of times, making her look as light as a feather. They danced together with loads of emotion, the variation having a lot of acting and turning (from James’ perspective). They ran together across the stage a couple of times, until halfway through when the dance became a tad more erotic, instead of the energetic and playful style that it had in the beginning. Overall the performance was beautiful.
“That was incredible.” Sirius had no words.
“It was okay.” the director said once they finished. “Let’s go over those lifts at the end.” Minerva said, totally killing the vibe.
After a long series of corrections Minerva let Regulus leave, who texted James as soon as he got offstage.
Meet me in the hallway! Let’s talk!
“Regulus said to meet him out in the hallway, let’s go!” James said before him and Sirius stood up to leave, trying to be as silent as possible.
They walked out and Regulus was already there, with another layer of clothing on already.
“So…what did you think?” he smiled at James. “Thank you for coming, really.”
“Oh it was my pleasure, you were brilliant!” Prongs said before remembering what he promised Sirius beforehand. “We were actually planning to go have lunch afterwards, want to come with us? I’d love for us to talk more about today!” James hoped Regulus would say yes.
“Sure! Let me go grab my things, wait for me here!” he smiled before running off somewhere.
“There’s no way you just asked him like that, how did you talk to him so easily?” Sirius was sort of shocked.
“Dunno, I think we get along well!” James smiled, excited for what was to come.