Melting The Ice

James was always an early riser. It pissed most people off, but he just couldn’t help it. He just couldn’t sleep past 8am unless he was hungover or sick. He rose with the sun.

Quite poetic in James’ opinion.

Sirius most definitely did not agree with this statement, as many times as James has said it. Sirius also did not appreciate the early morning practices that he made him do, but that was fine. He could understand that to a certain level.

Not that he agreed, oh no. James was out on his morning run by 6am sharp, watching as the sun warmed the pavement the more he ran. He was excited for the hockey try-outs today, especially with the new recruits he had seen for himself.

Barty and Evan were well known in the UK, despite always being originated in Europe. They were that good, a star pair that crossed together once in a blue moon to create an otherworldly defence, and now they were at Hogwarts. It was reason enough to be excited.

The boy was practically buzzing even as he dragged a groaning Sirius out the door and into Hogwarts.

“Mate, I don’t know why you hold these so early.And why you make me come with you.”

“It wouldn’t be as fun if it was midday! It would be breaking tradition, plus, I can’t wait that long. New hockey players are so exciting don’t you think?” The captain beamed as he threw open the doors to the ice-rink with the key he’d been given. It was one of the many privileges’ of being a captain.

He could still remember the day Frank had given him the key and passed down the role of captain to him once he left. The best day of James’ life, if he was being honest.

Sirius grumbled to himself as he pulled on his skates and began helping James set up the cones on the ice. The main few tests were fairly easy; it wasn’t supposed to be too hard. It was just to bring your skills to the surface.

The tests were mostly things like small obstacle courses on the ice you had to complete with normal hockey gear. For instance, there was a line of cones set up which you had to weave in and out of while dribbling the puck, a small station where you had to partner up and pass it between you to the other end of the pitch, then finally you had to shoot against the goalie.

They actually showed a lot, how you moved on the ice, how you controlled the puck and such. It was James’ favourite way of testing out new players for the team. He enjoyed scouting out talent. Peter was their main goalie; he was brilliant in James’ opinion.

Every player had their own test for their position once they got past the first test, Peter always applied for the goalie position and he’d always gotten it. James wasprobably slightly biased he supposed. 

As the first few players trailed in through the doors, James spotted a few from last year. There were the usual people, Marlene, Peter and Sirius always tried out. He was always going to put them on the team, but it was the rules that they had to try out every year anyway.

“Alright James?” Marlene grinned as she stepped onto the ice, strapping on her final pad. James grinned right back.

“How’ve you been Marls?”

“Oh, you know, the usual.” James nodded.

“Your holiday been good?” Marlene sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Christian family holidays aren’t the best thing when you’re fucking gay and playing hockey. I think my Grandma actually had a heart attack when I told her, looked white as a ghost the poor old bat. Quite funny though.” Sirius snickered.

“Imagine- ‘death by lesbian hockey player’. What a way to go.” Marlene cackled and wacked him with her hockey stick.

Once everyone who wanted to try out was on the ice, James explained the exercises and did a quick demonstration with Sirius. He scooted to the side and watched as everyone began. Sirius and Marlene were good as ever, Peter was amazing in goal, and James was happy. His attention was suddenly drawn to Evan and Barty as they began their own exercises.

James had to stop his jaw from dropping as he watched them skid around the ice at the speed of light, completely in sync as they passed the puck. Not even Peter could stop them as Barty scored. The way Evan moved was light on his feet, dashing around and extremely logical with each of his moves. Even the way he breathed seemed calculated and precise. It was like nothing he’d ever seen.

Barty, on the other hand, was a force to reckon with. You simply had to move out his way or you would be damaged. He barrelled around the ice with such intensity and firmness that it was hard not to watch as he turned a sharp corner with ease, sliding to a halt to high-five his partner.

James was in awe.

So were all the other players, it seemed, because nearly everyone had stopped to watch. Barty looked around and smirked, whispering something to the blonde who chuckled and shook his head, shouldering Barty gently.

By the time practice was over, James was exhausted. He was content, though, and he had made up his mind on the players on the team this year. As Sirius and James walked back to the car, he began telling him the list of people he was going to choose.

“You’re putting Rosier and Crouch on though, right? Those two are a killer duo. You saw them!”

“Fucking obviously. No way am I passing up talent like that. I swear, ice hockey players in Europe are just a different breed of good.” James chuckled.

“Yeah! What the fuck are they feeding these people?!” The two got into the car and drove back to the apartment, thrilled with the idea of a new team.

This was going to be a fun tournament.

                                                                                                              ±……±

Regulus let out a slow breath, balling his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. He was standing outside the doors of the ice rink, the bag with his skates in it clutched so tightly in his hand that his knuckles were white.

Last time he’d gone on the ice, it had been a shit-show. Regulus didn’t know if he was ready, but he didn’t really have a choice. Pushing open the doors, he tentatively stepped into the cold room and looked around. There were already quite a few people there. A blonde girl with butterfly clips in her hair jumped up when she saw him, bright blue eyes lighting up.

“Hello! I’m Pandora.” She trotted over to him in her skates, waving enthusiastically. Regulus blinked at the girl, lips turning up into a thoughtless smile.

“Regulus.” He responded quietly, nodding to her.

As he sat down and began tying up his skates, she sat down next to him and began chatting happily. Regulus didn’t know why, he was quite perplexed by the whole situation, but he wasn’t complaining. It was nice, in a way.

The figure skaters made their way into the ice and began warming up. It was pleasant enough, in Regulus’ opinion, but even that small layer of comfort was ripped away as the doors opened again and a tall, stern looking woman entered the rink.

She surveyed them all slowly, then nodded to herself. She then gave them all a tight-lipped smile and moved forward to introduce herself.

“Alright everyone. I’m Minerva McGonagall, I’ll be your coach from now on. I’ll be doing one-to-one coaching sessions mostly, but I think it’s important to have some quality time with other skaters so I will schedule it once a fortnight. Other than that, do any of you have any questions?”

No one did, so she led them through a gentle warm up before splitting them into pairs and getting them to learn a routine together. It wasn’t the first time Regulus had done pair skating before, mostly when he was younger, but once he had been taken out of school his parents hadn’t even let him do his previous training. They opted for a more personal way of coaching him at home.

Walburga and Orion had been famous figure skaters, dabbling in pair skating and single competitions as their reputations grew. Apparently, that was enough creditability for Walburga to coach him through his next few years of single skating. Regulus shuddered to think of her coaching ways, even if it did guarantee him the number one spot almost every time.

They mostly consisted of overworking and then punishing him when the consequences caught up. His ankle was still delicate even now, not to mention the countless bruises and scars she had left him. Regulus certainly wasn’t forgetting the affects her training methods had on his body any time soon.

By the time the session was over, however, he felt more alive than he had in days. His cheeks were flushed and his frame more relaxed as he glided towards the exit with Pandora by his side.

“So, you were quite the prodigy in Europe I hear.” She smiled and nudged him slightly. Regulus shrugged. “Is it true?” Pandora leaned in, whispering slightly, “All that about Walburga?”

Regulus’ attention snapped to her, his eyes narrowing as he came to an abrupt halt.

“What? What about her?” He said sharply, voice cold. The girl flinched, looking guilty. She opened her mouth to answer, but just then the doors to the ice-rink flew open so harshly that they bounced off the walls.

In strutted Sirius and James, both idiots grinning wildly as they marched over to the rink. Regulus groaned, stepping off the rink and taking off his skates as his brother and James borderline harassed his coach.

“You’ve got Minnie? I didn’t know she did figure skating coaching!” Minerva rolled her eyes and greeted the boys fondly. It turns out she was the coach of the hockey team until recently, she took up figure skating and now only did it part time, Madame Hooch having taken over mostly.

“Bye Reg!” Pandora beamed, waving as she exited the ice-rink. Regulus raised a hand in goodbye, his gaze softening slightly. There was just something about Pandora that made him feel safe, she was so different from anyone he’d ever met. She trusted him like a best friend even though they only met a few hours ago.

“Reg? You let her call you Reg?” Sirius was squawking, flapping his hands and wiggling his eyebrows so hard Regulus thought he might be having a fit. “Does our little Reggie have a crush Prongs?” He nudged his best friend, grinning. When the boy said nothing, Regulus looked to see James glaring at the spot Pandora was a few moments ago, jaw clenched.

What the fuck is his problem? Regulus thought, frowning a bit as he stood up and chucked his skates in his duffle bag. Sirius hadn’t even noticed, rambling on about how unfair Regulus was or something as the three walked from the rink. Regulus suddenly realised he didn’t even know why they were here; it wasn’t like they lived together, or they had anything to do together.

Shit,had he forgotten they were supposed to do something?

“Why are you here?” He asked bluntly, coming to a stop outside his dorms. Sirius pouted sickeningly and ruffled Regulus’ hair. Regulus’ hand shot up to catch his brother’s hand, twisting it slightly as he pulled it away.

“Fuck! Regulus that hurts, you little bitch!”

“Too bad.” Regulus turned to James, hoping to get more of an answer. “James why are you here?” This did not have the effect that Regulus hoped it would, because the boy just stood there, wide-eyed, looking like a deer caught in headlights as his cheeks flushed a little.

What the fuck. Why is he acting so weird? Regulus shook his head in dismay as he let go of Sirius’ hand.

“Right, if neither of you have a valid reason for bothering me, then I'm leaving.”

“Aren’t I allowed to want to see my brother?” Sirius winged, holding his hand overdramatically. Regulus didn’t hurt him that bad. He didn’t think. He sighed and turned on his heel pointedly, swinging his duffle bag to his shoulder.

“Wait!” James called out through Sirius’ whining. Regulus heaved another sigh as he turned back to face the bespectacled boy.

“What?”

“I…erm.” He cleared his throat, fidgeting slightly with his hands.

“Spit it out, Potter.” James swallowed, building up the courage to speak.

“Do you have the notes for Latin? It’s okay if not, I just thought since we have it later today-“ He knew he was rambling, but situations like these made him beyond nervous.

“James, I literally said you could have them, stop.” Regulus cut in, saving him from too much embarrassment. James visibly let out a breath of relief, smiling gently in a way that made something in Regulus’ stomach stir. He pushed it away angrily, gesturing for James to follow him. The boy glanced back at Sirius who shrugged and followed.

Regulus unlocked the door, and they followed behind him into the dorm. The two looked around again, a lot had changed since Regulus had arrived. Things were more organised; the kitchen was done and even in the hall there were sections for each person. Sirius chuckled.

“You still do that?” He grinned. Regulus tilted his head back to look at them as he slipped off his shoes and placed them closest to the door.

“What?” He frowned.

“The section thing. You know- with the shoes.” Regulus did not look any less confused, so Sirius sighed, both boys taking off their shoes and handing them to Regulus, who proceeded to place them at the end in two clear spaces away from the others. Sirius gave him his jacket and the boy put it in the same square of space. “Look- what you did just then!”

“That’s just called not being a lazy shit who can’t pick up after himself.” Regulus shrugged and disappeared into the room, nodding towards the kitchen for Sirius and James to wait. Sirius widened his eyes exasperatedly at James, who only smiled helplessly to himself.

“So, Regulus, huh?” Sirius asked, smirking at James.

James felt a sort of piping-hot panic spread over him quickly, stuttering a little as his cheeks turned red in an instant.

“Wha- Pads, I don’t know what you mean-“

Sirius’ brow furrowed in confusion.

“He’s tutoring you, no? He’s giving you the notes. Regulus?” James placed a subtle hand on his chest in an attempt to calm himself, trying to regain his composure.

“Yeah, yeah he’s helping me in Latin.” He breathed, smiling shakily.

“What did you think I meant?” Sirius frowned, but James was saved by Regulus swooping back into the room, a stack of notes in hand. He looked between the pair, James’ blushed red face and Sirius confused frown. Then he shook his head and rolled his eyes gently.

“I never know what’s going on with you two.” He mumbled to himself, sitting down in a chair and scraping it closer to James’. It made his skin buzz at every brush of skin and breath of air that tickled his neck. Regulus began going through the notes he had, reading through them quickly and summarising them to James as he tried his best to listen.

“Are you diagnosed with dyslexia or anything?” Regulus tilted his head, resting on his hand, looking sincere as James wavered uncertainly. He glanced at Sirius who was on his phone, clearly not listening, then back to Regulus.

This was the thing. He had struggled with this learning difficulty his whole life, but he had only ever been treated like an idiot for it. He could never read in class, it held James back a bunch and he hadn’t even shared it with his one true best friend. If it was out of fear, he didn’t know. Not that he thought Sirius would be rude about it- that wasn’t it. It was just that he was scared he would be treated differently, like he was stupid.

James wasn’t dumb. That was one thing he knew.

It was a sensitive subject to him, he didn’t even raise it to the college teachers when he’d started at Hogwarts simply because in Highschool, even when he was diagnosed, teachers would only ever treat him worse for it. He never really got any help; he was just left out and treated like he was bloody fucking stupid.

James wasn’t dumb. But he did have dyslexia.

Regulus wasn’t asking if he was dumb, or if he struggled, James reasoned with himself, he was just asking if he had dyslexia. Which he did. Plus, if he’s going to tutor him, he should probably know about it, right?

“James?”

“Hm?- Oh sorry yeah.” He was broken out of his thoughts by Regulus placing a gentle hand on his arm.

“Don’t worry about it.” Regulus glanced at Sirius too, before leaning forward and lowering his voice slightly. James could feel his breath fan over his face as he looked determinedly anywhere but Regulus’ lips. His breath was cool and smelt of mint as he spoke softly.

“Look, spiralling isn’t going to help you James. I, however, dowant to help you and I think it might make it easier for you if you tell me what’s troubling you in the first place. Well, it’s that or me just guessing and getting it wrong. That would get us nowhere.” The boy chuckled and tapped his pen against the paper, drawing back as James’ attention slid to notice just how niceRegulus’ hands were.

“Yeah. I have…I have that.” James got out in a whisper, eyes wandering back to his still oblivious best friend.

“Sirius doesn’t know?” Regulus murmured back, sending a shiver down James’ spine as he shook his head slowly. Regulus rocked back slightly. “Sirius, can you go get us all some study snacks?” He asked, lounging back in his chair.

Sirius’ eyes lit up as he agreed, and he was out the door in less than five minutes.

“You’re good.” James laughed. Regulus grinned, only for a second, but it was there.

“Years of practice, James. Food is the only thing Sirius will go anywhere for. Also, he takes really long to decide what to eat, so we’ll have at least half an hour to do whatever we need to do.”

James nodded slowly, grimacing slightly.

“I thought we could start out by using different coloured paper. I could type them up for you if you wanted, it won’t take long. It just depends on what colour you find easiest to read.”

Regulus took out his laptop and began typing away, looking up at the page every few moments. James was still confused.

“What- I don’t understand.” He said weakly, peering down at the screen. “Colours? Typing it up? I didn’t know about any of this.” Regulus looked at him for a second, steely grey eyes eating up every bit of James they could reach, making his skin prickle with the intensity of it all.

“Have you ever noticed that when you read on certain coloured paper it’s easier to read? Or different fonts on a laptop?” James nodded slowly, agreeing.

“Yeah, but isn’t that normal? It’s just easier to read on paper that isn’t white.”

“Well- actually no, not for neurotypical people or people without dyslexia. It is commonly easier for those with your learning difficulty to be able to read better with colours like yellow or maybe pink paper. You just choose which one is easiest to read on.” Regulus shrugged as James made a soft “oh”sound. He continued. “And for the fonts, there will be some that are worse than others, but it’s better than trying to read someone’s handwriting on top of your dyslexia. My only question is, why do I know more about it than you?”

James shrunk in on himself a little, staring down at the table.

“They didn’t offer me much help. I never really looked into it- I didn’t want to cause anyone any bother. I just feel dumb.” There was a heavy silence as he fiddled with the sleeves of his hoodie.

“James, you’re not dumb.” Regulus said firmly, the amount of anger in his voice making him sound so much like Sirius that James’ eyes snapped up to his face. It was set in a hard mask of fury, but when his eyes found James’, they softened slightly. “Whoever told you that you’re dumb was just wrong. You’re not a bother, okay? We’ll figure this out.”

James knew he wasn’t dumb. But it sounded good coming from another person. It sounded good from Regulus. It just made him feel- good.

“Thanks Reg.” He smiled sincerely. Regulus rolled his eyes and carried on typing.

But he didn’t correct him.

That was what made James feel really good, if he was being honest.

The two had Latin only a few hours later, so they walked straight from Regulus’ dorm to the classroom. James took a shaky breath before going inside, shooting a smile at the curly haired boy beside him as they sat down.

The class wasn’t as bad as it was before, now he had Regulus. He was like a lifeboat amongst a sea of words and insults directed at his brain. James was feeling pretty great all round, and he could say with a certain warmth that his heart didn’t immediately drop at the mention of a project in the subject.

James was put into a group with Regulus and another boy on their row, and the three huddled on the end of one of the long tables filling the lecture halls.

The first thing that Regulus noticed about the boy was his eyes. They were a striking amber, almost like hot liquid honey. The boy had his head tilted down, but when Regulus had tilted his head in a question, the boy had reluctantly looked up.

His expression was bored and almost annoyed as Regulus stopped in the middle of his sentence.

“What.” The boy spat, narrowing his eyes. It was only then that Regulus noticed the scars striking across the boy’s face. They looked painful, but oddly artistic in Regulus’ mind, however it was clearly the reason the boy was so offended by his staring.

“You have pretty eyes.” Regulus shrugged, narrowing his eyes right back. “You don’t need to ruin it by being a little bitch.” James spluttered beside him, hurrying to apologise for a very unapologetic Regulus.

The boy’s expression relaxed into one of confusion, as he ignored James. Then he seemed to make a decision of something because he quirked an eyebrow at Regulus and nodded slightly, a silent agreement as the corner of his lip twitched in a smile.

Regulus smirked and nodded back, sighing as he dragged James down to a seat beside him as he sat down, effectively shutting him up. They got to work planning out the assignment, before James suddenly swung back on his chair, grinning at the boy.

“Sorry mate, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m James, you?” He stuck out a hand, almost unbalancing himself as the chair wobbled precariously. He lurched forward, clutching onto an annoyed Regulus. It didn’t seem to stop him from plastering that stupid grin on his face and sticking his hand back out again, though.

The boy chuckled slightly, taking James’ hand, mostly just so he would stop almost falling in attempts to shake his hand.

“Remus.” He replied quietly, eyes flitting to Regulus in question. Regulus was still writing determinedly, so James just decided to do his introduction for him.

“This is Reggie!”

“Regulus.” He corrected out of instinct, scowling at Remus’ chuckles and James’ pouting.

“I thought you were finally warming up to me Reg.” The bespectacled boy did genuinely seem a little hurt, and it made something in Regulus melt slightly. He found himself fighting off a heat on his cheeks as he rolled his eyes.

“You’re not supposed to introduce someone by their nickname, James.” He came up with weakly.

“So, you’re not correcting me?” Regulus could hear the absolute joy and pride in his voice. It made him feel physically ill, something squirming in his stomach as James leaned in and poked his cheek. Regulus pushed him away in hopes the feeling would fade, but it didn’t.

“Go away. I like Remus more than you.” He grumbled, turning pointedly to face Remus who was watching them with an amused look on his face.

“I’m honoured.” He murmured, fighting a smile as he looked down at his work.

It wasn’t a common occurrence for Remus to be able to work with people so unaffected by him. He tried to get his teacher to let him work alone, most days, but he had started denying him even that. To say Remus was grateful for an hour of peace was an understatement. Not even his basketball team really trusted him.

Everyone assumed he was some sort of thug, freak or drug dealer, or any other sort of wild thing you’d expect when you see a bloke with as many scars as Remus did. It was something he’d just had to grow accustomed to, picking his battles and all that. After all, it wasn’t like he could argue every asshole who looked at his face wrong or made an assumption based on it.

Regulus was definitely something, he acted so strikingly similar to the way Remus did it was almost like looking in a mirror. It was a mutual connection, a way of seeing the world and dealing with the shit that happened in it, he supposed. But it was nice, to finally have someone like Regulus. To finally have anyone at all, really. James was nice too- he filled the silence that both Remus and Regulus seemed to coat themselves in.

Still, despite all this, he wasn’t expecting James to wrap an arm around his shoulder and to steer him towards the canteen. He even stopped, trying to escape to the comfort of the library, but this only made Regulus turn to face him, raising an eyebrow in silent question. He was expecting Remus to sit with them, apparently. This guy hadn’t even hesitated before accepting him as he was, no questions asked.

This was fucking weird, to say the least.

But he couldn’t stay there staring at them forever, he had to make a decision. It wasn’t a hard one, he just carried on walking. Regulus smirked at Remus as he fell into step with him, only halting outside the canteen to wait for James. When he didn’t go in himself, Remus just hovered awkwardly, not wanting to ask but wanting to anyway. He opted for just gesturing stiffly at it, a comprehensive look on his face.

Regulus shook his head slightly, grimacing as his shoulders tensed.

“I don’t go in there.” He shuddered, sending a dirty look to the doors as if it had somehow personally offended him.

It made Remus want to laugh, because of just how much he understood. That feeling was the reason he didn’t go in there himself; the library was always a safer option than anything. James reappeared a few moments later, arms adorn with food as he chatted on about something Remus wasn’t really listening to.

“Sirius is by the Whomping willow. He said we could meet him there.”

Regulus nodded, rolling his eyes at Remus.

“That’s my brother. I suppose you’ll have to meet him too, then.” Remus didn’t really understand who this serious guy was, or why Regulus had a brother who was so serious, but he didn’t really care. He couldn’t be so bad if he was Regulus’ brother, right?

The three made their way over to the huge willow tree in the middle of the courtyard, James waving enthusiastically at a boy. When he took a good look at him, Remus fully stopped in his tracks. He had to remind himself how to breathe for a moment before he carried on walking with the others.

Regulus’ brother was possibly the fittest boy he’d ever seen. He wasn’t ashamed to admit it.

He had curly black hair which fell to his shoulders, wide blue-grey eyes and a wild grin as he waved them all over.

“Who’s this?” He smirked at Remus, making his fingertips buzz with elation as he took a seat at the bench next to Regulus, opposite him.

“Remus.” He responded, careful not to show the pure anxiety this whole situation was giving him.

Apparently beautiful people made him nervous.

Regulus sighed. “Remus, this is my brother, Sirius.”

“Like the star?” Remus asked, perplexed. Sirius’ eyes practically shone when he said this, though, his smile growing impossibly larger as he leant forward.

“He knows my name Reggie!”

“Yes, we’ve all noticed.” Regulus scowled, rolling his eyes and turning to him. “Great, now you’ve made Sirius like you. Good luck with that.”

Remus didn’t think that was such a bad thing, to be honest.

Not that Regulus needed to know that.