starlight | forever young

Hyde Park

Maryrose sat on a bench, right where Kreacher had left her. She was bent forward, tying the laces on a pair of white ice skates. A pair of black ones sat on the ground next to her feet, and she watched the blur of colors go by that were other skaters already on the rink, the bokeh effect of the Christmas tree lights glowing in the night sky, a million twinkle lights on display thanks to the commission of the Royal Parks.

There was a crack and Regulus was suddenly beside her, and he stumbled onto the bench, reorienting himself after the disapparation as the effects wore off. He looked around and saw the skaters, saw the tree and the twinkle lights, saw Maryrose. She was just finishing up the laces and sitting upright, glowing with excitement.

"I haven't got skates," he said. He held out her coat, scarf, and mittens to her.

"You have," she waved her hand at the black skates on the ground before him. "Thank you for thinking of the coats, this dress isn't exactly warm." She stood up, tremulously balanced on the skate blades, and swung the wool coat around her. She was a picture of Christmas colors now, all green frilly dress and warm wool coat. The grey scarf shimmered like her legs did and her hair, still caramel brown as it had turned back at the Great Hall, fell gracefully onto her shoulders. "Lace up, darling."

Regulus bent forward and started putting on the skates, setting his shoes on the bench seat beside where Maryrose's shoes sat. "If I fall --"

"Then I'll cast a cushion charm so you've something soft to land on," she joked.

Regulus laughed, "Might be against the Statute."

"Just a wee bit, but then again so was appearing suddenly in Hyde Park, I should think."

Regulus smirked, "Breaking rules all over the place, aren't we? We're real rebels now."

Maryrose smiled, "You've been a rebel a lot longer than just tonight, Mr. Black, which is part of what makes you so interesting."

Regulus flushed and concentrated very hard on his laces. "You think I'm interesting, do you?" he asked.

Maryrose nodded, sitting primly back down beside him. She watched him struggling with the laces a moment, knowing the skate laces were different than the ones he wore on his everyday shoes, and then she glanced about and discreetly waved her wand with a muttered charm that had them laced and tucked within the blink of an eye.

Regulus sat up and looked at her. "Thanks," he said.

"All the longer I have to teach you how to do it," she answered and she stood back up and extended him her hands. "Shall we?"

Regulus drew a deep breath and pushed himself up from the bench, looking at the two feet or so between where they stood and where the rink began. It seemed an absolute mile away.

Maryrose smiled and took his hands. "Once you've gotten the balance of it, you're going to love this."

"And if I don't get the balance of it?"

"You will."

She pulled him toward the rink and he nervously teetered forward - like a newborn thestral on his legs for the first time - and Maryrose grinned, encouraging him onward until they'd reached the ice and she slid gracefully and near naturally onto the smooth surface, keeping her balance and even managing to hold Regulus's hand still as he tentatively set the tip of his skate blade onto the ice, afraid to put his weight on it.

"You've got this, Reg," she promised.

Bolstered, Regulus drew a deep breath and put down his weight, stepping off with the second foot onto the ice. She grinned as both feet planted firmly, and she skated - backwards, pulling him along with her, laughing as his eyes widened with a cross between excitement and panic. She towed him along for a few minutes, making about a quarter of a loop around the rink before she said, "Slide your feet a bit, like this --" Maryrose did the motion, dropping his hands as her hips gracefully rolling as she skated along ahead of him before returning back to him in a smooth loop.