Part 3
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A week. A fucking week and it feels like a lifetime . James’ head yells at him as he glances at his calendar. Monday, a mere week since he met Regulus and his world turned upside down. Since everything happened. James is up, much later than needed, much later than is probably good for him, mind racing. He can’t help it. His mind won’t stop working, thinking through all that has happened. He barely even notices when his phone starts to ring.
He sits up slowly, reaching over to his bedside table to grip his phone. He throws on his glasses, the image and name coming into view. Dad .
James shoots up, instantly putting the phone to his ear.” Dad?” He asks groggily, voice raspy with disuse. He feels something inside him, screaming at him that something is wrong. Fleamont Potter is never one to randomly call in the middle of the night.
James’ suspicions are confirmed quickly when he hears his father’s voice. “James… I’m sorry to reach you like this but, it was so unexpected.”
“Dad, it’s fine. What’s wrong?” James’ voice quivers, scared of the amount of worry in Montie’s voice. He hates anyone of importance to him in pain — especially his parents.
“It’s your mother.” Montie sighs, and James is already up, pulling on a pair of trousers. Tears prick at his eyes already, threatening to fall at any moment.
“What…” James is at a loss for words, his mind spinning too fast to catch a single thought.
“I don’t know. Something about her heart, she’s in the hospital right now. Just please—”
“I’m on my way, don’t worry Dad.” James assures him, steadying his voice, “Give me 10 minutes.” He throws on the first pair of shoes he sees, his house shoes he's had for as long as he's been living away from his parents. He rushes out the bedroom door, opening Harry's and shaking him awake.
“Harry, come on get up.” Harry does so, slowly, confused, “Come on, we've got to go.”
“Where?” He asks, rubbing his eyes.
“Ah, I'll explain later. Come on, really.” He picks Harry up, heart racing inside his chest. He grabs Harry's small glasses and rushes through the door, grabbing his keys along the way. He hears Harry start to cry, in confusion or worry, it's hard to tell. Maybe simply because he truly doesn't know how dire the situation is. James drives as fast as possible, zipping to the hospital he knows they'll be at.
“Papa, what's wrong?” Harry wails, arms flailing in his seat, “Why are we rushing?”
“It's Nana, sweetie.” James says, his voice as steady as possible.
“What's wrong with her?” Harry cries, tears streaming down his face and he continues to whine and flail.
“I don't know, Harry.” James sighs, “That's why we're going quickly.” James pulls into a spot in the parking lot, hopping out of the car and getting Harry out, who's calmed down but still crying. His face is wet. James realises his is too, a little. He wipes at his face, rushing into the hospital.
“I’m here for Euphemia Potter.” He gasps, “I heard somethings wrong?”
The receptionist looks at him in something that can be described as pity, “I’ll get to you in a moment. She’s doing well now.”
“Well, what happened?” James asks, eyebrows creased in worry. He can hear distant chatter in the background, but he barely registers anything. His mind is only focused on his mother.
The receptionist sighs, “I don’t know, sir. Just sit down and wait for a moment, someone will come and get you in plenty of time.”
“Ma’am I’m sorry, but I can’t just wait—”
“James!”
James turns around, looking directly at his father. His usually combed hair is messed up, creating an even more striking resemblance between them. His eyebrows, too, are creased behind his glasses, cheeks tear-stained and circles under his eyes, showing his lack of sleep.
“Dad.” James sighs, running over, “How— where— what?”
“What happened Poppy?” Harry whimpers, lip quivering, “I’m scared.”
“I know, Harry. Trust me, everything is going to be fine.” Montie assures him, although something in his eyes tells James that he’s only trying to make his grandson feel better. It’s the same look James has when he’s clinging onto the littlest hope.
“We really don’t know anything?” James whispers.
Montie looks down, running a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up even more. He looks down, “I don’t want to say anything right now. I don’t want to scare. I still don’t know all the details.”
James feels Harry shaking in his arms before a wet drop lands on his arm. Tears. Harry is crying again.
“Hey, Harry. It’s okay. Nana’s going to be okay. I promise.” James mumbles into his ear, feeling he’s convincing himself just as much as his son. Harry nods his head, wiping at his face in a weak attempt to get rid of the tears. Montie hands James a tissue to wipe Harry down, who has calmed down significantly. His eyes are drooping, and it’s clear he’s close to falling asleep again. James sits down, allowing both himself and Harry some lifted weight. Montie sits down next to him, heaving a long sigh.
An hour or so later, a nurse walks in. James and Montie perk up, Harry fast asleep. She nods at them. They rush to get up and go inside the room. There, Effie waits, a soft smile on her face, attached to at least ten different wires, like it’s nothing.
“Mama.” James breathes out.
“Did you think a simple heart problem was going to take me out?” Effie asks with a laugh. James smiles. Ever the same . He watches as his parents embrace, a slow tear rolling down Montie’s face. James relaxes.
“I’m glad you’re alright.” James mutters, going down to wrap an arm around his mother, Harry asleep in the other. Effie smiles, calm as ever. James yawns. As the adrenaline drains, he notices how tired he is. Effie must notice too, because she smiles warmly at him.
“I promise I’ll be alright. How about you go take Harry home and get a couple more hours of sleep?” Effie uses her ‘mother voice’, as James deemed it all those years ago. He knows that’s when he should listen to her no matter what. However, he can’t stop worrying about her, about what could have gone wrong.
But he has to listen to his mother. “Alright, Mama. Just call me if anything goes wrong.” Montie nods, and with that James and Harry leave.
***
James decides that Harry stays home from his art class that day, instead taking it to decompress what had happened that morning. James requests off of work too, to spend the day checking in on his mother every so often and just staying with Harry, just in case. It’s horrifying knowing that your grandmother — or mother — could have passed away in the night.
The next day, however, it’s back to the normal schedule. James gets both himself and Harry ready for school. James is staying online for work, although he’s supposed to be in the office. He can’t fathom having to put on a fake smile all day. Harry, however, seems as if nothing had ever happened the day before. He smiles, bouncing up and down in excitement to see his new friends again. James can’t blame him. He would be lying if he had said he wasn’t looking forward to seeing Regulus.
“Alright, Harry, let’s get to the car.” James calls, and Harry follows, still beaming. James buckles him in, smiling at his son's giddiness. Once again, he wishes for his childhood back. His naiveness. His ability to get over something quickly. Although, he doubts he wouldn't feel fully for Effie no matter the age. He starts to drive, the thought fresh on his mind. As James pulls up to the school though, nerves replace everything.
His palms are sweaty, heart rate picking up. God this was — is — annoying.
James sighs, hopping out of the car quickly, “Alright Harry, you ready to conquer today?” He asks, leaning down and unbuckling Harry’s seat. Harry’s grin looks as though it had never left his face. He nods, eyes bright. James smiles, unable to contain his joy around Harry. “Okay, come on. You’ll make something extra special, right?”
Harry nods again, “For Nana!”
James laughs, “Yes. For Nana.” James takes another huge breath, walking in the doors of the small school building. He sees Regulus there, standing, smiling, talking to the parents with ease. James’ heart skips a beat. He looks so flawless .
“Are you nervous to see him, Papa? Mr. Reggie?” Harry asks, looking up at his dad. James tries to stop the blood from rushing to his cheeks. He looks away, laughing nervously.
“No, of course not.” James contradicts, looking right at Harry again. He sets him down, ready to do this quickly. He can't risk anything stupid happening.
And then he locks eyes with Regulus.
And he knows that something stupid is definitely going to happen. Regulus walks up to them, smiling. James tries to convince himself that it's totally normal for him to be looking at Regulus' smile… his lips…
“Hello there, Harry!” Regulus greets, looking down at Harry before up at James. “Hello Mr. Potter.” And James might have imagined it, but he swears Regulus’ voice took on a softer, more fond tone to it.
James smiles, “Good morning,Mr. Reggie.” James feels as Harry releases his hand and races over to his friends, excited to catch up on whatever he missed.
“Now, I know it was personal, but do you want to talk about what happened?” Regulus asks, looking at James with so much concern that James almost thinks it was genuinely for him. Then, James remembers Harry. He just wants to connect with Harry.
“Uh, yeah. Just something with my mother, it's nothing.” James reaches for his neck, tugging at the hairs at the base nervously, “She's fine. Just a scary moment that we felt we needed to compress for.”
Regulus nods, sympathy clear in his eyes. “Well, I'm glad she's alright. And I'm glad you both feel ready to face the world again.” James smiles at that last sentence, thoughts racing through his mind. Is he happy to see me? James looks at Regulus, really looks at him. And he notices something.
“You're wearing makeup.” James blurts out, without thinking. He can feel himself blush and watches as Regulus does the same, reaching for his eyes. There's a small, bashful smile on his face.
“Yeah. It's just a little eyeliner. I wanted to try something. I don't know if I'll do it again.”
“You should.” James blurts out again. What the bloody hell are you doing? “It uh… it looks nice. I like it. It brings out your eyes.” James is definitely blushing now. He can’t keep track of his mouth. It’s like his brain and his mouth have been separated from each other.
Regulus looks down, clearly trying to hide his blush and smile, “Thank you.” They stand in silence for a while, James’ brain in full freak-out mode. He doesn’t know what is happening. He has too many thoughts in his brain. He can’t pick out a single one.
“I think you should wear it more often.” James adds on, the inside of him spiraling while he tries to remain calm. He looks at Regulus with a soft smirk, “I’ve already told you I like it.” James can feel himself leaning in, although he doesn’t know whether he wants to stop or not.
Regulus, however, leans back, “I’ll, uhm, keep that in mind. I guess.” Regulus coughs, his face painted bright red. James likes him like this. He doesn’t know how to get it to continue, especially when Regulus breaks his gaze away, laughing nervously. “But, class is about to start.”
James looks down, whatever spell that was on him before now broken, “Right. Of course. I’m sorry. I’ll see you later, Regulus.”
“Right. See you.”
James watches as Regulus turns around, hand behind his back. James smiles, remembering that image of Regulus’ flushed cheeks, the black rimming his eyes. Making them pop. James feels an odd feeling in him, bubbling from his stomach up, making him dizzy. Maybe the thoughts also had something to do with that. He didn’t want to think about that though. He walks out of the school, smiling widely. As soon as he gets to the car, he connects his phone, and calls Marlene. He doesn’t expect her to answer, she was at work, maybe in a meeting. And this was her personal cell. But he heard a soft click and then her voice.
“ You idiot, I’m at work .” James hears her snarl, but also her soft smirk. Mischievous. Always.
James pulls out of the parking lot, smiling and chuckling, “You don’t seem to be working very hard if you picked up the phone. Your personal phone, might I add.”
He can picture her rolling her eyes, smile growing. “ I thought you were going to tell me why you aren’t at work today, dumbass. ”
James laughs again, breathy. That didn’t seem like something to laugh at, but it was Marlene. And Marlene always brought joy. “Family. My mom. Hospital. Scary night. But she’s good now. Anyway—”
“ Is Montie still there or can I go? ” Marlene asks. James sees the way she’s smiling. Again, mischievous, joking. Her eyes tell the joke too, shining brightly.
“You will not be hitting on my mother as she recovers from a heart spasm.” James demands.
“ I bet she was thinking of me while it happened. ” Marlene jokes. James can think of himself slapping her, if they weren’t over the phone. “ Anyway, clearly there’s more you want to talk about other than your mum. ”
“I just dropped Harry off—” He hears a groan from the other end of the line, “Hey, you got to talk about your gay fantasies, let me talk about mine.”
“ Mine’s not a fantasy .”
“ Anyway , he was wearing eyeliner today, Marls. And I complimented him on it. I got to watch him act all flustered and… I want to do that to him again. He’s adorable, Marlene, you have no idea.”
“ Just clarifying that we are in fact talking about an adult ?”
“Oh my God, yes Marlene. We are talking about the teacher . I— ugh I don’t know. I felt all crazy and my head was spinning and then… it wasn’t. And I felt happy. And I feel like a twelve-year-old girl.”
“ You sound like one too. I would know .” Marlene teases, “ What is so amazing about him that would cause you to be like this? ”
“Hey, remember when I asked you that question about Dorcas?” James hears silence, and he knows he’s won. He doesn’t know what, but he has won.
“ Awww, you wanna marry him? ”
“Of course I want to fucking marry him! Marlene, do you know how long it’s been since I met this man?” James asks, desperation seeping through his voice, “Just over a week! One! Look at me, I’m a mess. How do I fix this? I can’t continue living like this, seeing him everyday and having shallow conversations.”
“ Hit on him. ” Marlene instructs, no more teasing in her voice.
“What? No I can’t— If I do and he doesn’t feel the same I have to pull Harry out! I can’t face Regulus again! And I can’t pull Harry out of something he loves!” James argues, “I can’t. I have to just let these feelings pass. As much as it sucks. They will pass, right?”
“ You know at this point James, I don’t know. But what I do know is that you already flirted with him. And he handled it as if he liked it. So, just to let you know, I don’t think he doesn’t feel the same way .” James stays silent for a minute, unable to take that information in. It’s impossible. And he didn’t… no, he just complimented…
“No— I… uh… No I didn’t. I told him it looked nice. That’s all. No— Nothing happened.” James stutters out, heat rising to his cheeks, “And I would really like it if you didn’t put those thoughts in my mind. I'm on the road, I don’t want to swerve.”
“ Too bad. Yes, you ‘complimented’ him. But how did he respond? Blushing. Being flustered. ”
“Some people just act like that when others give them compliments. It’s nothing major.” James huffs, staring at the road with his eyebrows furrowed. “I won’t— I can’t do that. It won’t happen. The feelings… they’ll pass, right?” James reiterates his earlier question, hoping to get a better answer
“ As I said before, at this point I really can’t tell you .” Marlene answers. James breathes out, thoughts starting to rush back into his mind.
“I— uhm, I have to go. I need to concentrate on the road.” James tells her, hanging up before she has time to argue with him. His thoughts are back, his heart rate is picking up, and right now if he didn’t concentrate on the road and the road only, he would get into some sort of accident. And he can’t risk that.
He needs this shit to get better.