Sanctuary
The weekend went by in a blur. A great many historical buildings were visited, pubs sampled, and dancing done. By Sunday all that was left was to visit the British Museum.
“Do we have to?” Sirius whined, hugging his cup of coffee. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a steam engine. Twice.”
“That’s what happens when you drink all the hangover cures in one day.” Lily said with absolutely no sympathy. “And before you ask, the answer is no. Everyone got the same amount and now there is no more.”
James patted Sirius on the back. “Poor sod. That’s what you get for trying to out drink people twice your size. Again.”
“Reeeemusssss.”
“You’re on your own love. I promised mum I’d take her to lunch today.” Remus said as he kissed his boyfriends dark waves. “I’ll see you all back at the Potters in time for tea.” And with that he apparated to the Welsh village where his mum lived.
Willow and Tara exchanged a look. “James, do you mind if we just chill out for a while and maybe go for a walk later?” Willow asked
James refused to let his disappointment show, and gave the group his sunniest smile. “Of course not. You saw it heaps of times when you first arrived and the new exhibition isn’t due to open until March.”
“Thanks.” Tara smiled back.
“Does anyone mind if I still go?” James asked
Pandora tipped her head. Lily hid her smile. It was so like James to make sure everyone was in agreement. And the Pandora head tilt usually meant she was considering possible paths forward.
“You should go.” Pandora said. “Beware the Thylacines. They’re not happy today.”
James leapt up. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He grinned and went to grab his coat, gloves and scarf.
Thirty minutes later James walked through the front doors of the great British museum. It was still relatively early so the museum had that ‘just woken up’ feeling he loved. Smiling to himself, James set off to see if there were any new pieces on display, just missing Regulus walking out of the curators office.
Regulus saw James smile broadly and head towards the prehistoric section of the museum. He glanced at his watch. He and Elsbeth were due at lunch with her parents in an hour. Apparently this was a family tradition. The last Sunday of the month the Parkinsons gathered for an informal lunch and afternoon activity. Regulus was now expected to attend as well. He could think of a hundred ways he would rather spend his time. Following James was one of them. Throwing caution to the wind, Regulus decided to do just that. It was clear James was well known and liked as he stopped to talk to various staff. Regulus smiled to himself. Underneath the sunny sporty exterior lay a paleontologist and museum curator in the making.
According to his stomach, it was almost lunchtime when James reached the Terra Australis exhibition. “Hello” he said brightly to the family of Thylacines, who stood surrounded by giant echidna, diprotodon and quinkana “How are you all feeling today?”
“Grumpy.” A low voice answered.
“Pandora said you weren’t happy.” James mused, unaware of Regulus standing hidden behind him.
“Too many people.”
“It’s not that bad. It will get busier this afternoon. Maybe I could rescue you and we could run away together.” James said, grinning at the ridiculousness of it, and the odd looks he was getting from others looking at the exhibition.
Regulus almost burst out laughing. “Maybe.” He answered on behalf of the Thylacine. A small beep on his wrist reminded him it was time to go. ‘See you tomorrow Helios.’ He thought and melted away.
Startled by a soft brush to the back of his neck, James looked at the empty space behind him in the window reflection. ‘See you tomorrow Kitten.’ He smiled and went back to chatting at the exhibition, who no longer answered back, grinning the whole time.
It was mid afternoon when James returned to the house, bumping into Willow and Tara who had gone for a stroll around the local residents only gardens.
“How were the thylacine?” Tara teased.
“Grumpy.” James grinned “As predicted.”
Tara laughed. They were still chatting about the exhibition when they entered the apartment.
“Before you ask, the thylacine were grumpy.” James said and gave Pandora a hug. “Thank you.” He whispered.
She smiled. “I thought you should know.” She sad simply. “Now it’s time for us go. We’ll meet you at the house Effie’s arranged after lunch tomorrow.”
With a final “see you tomorrow” all around, Lily and Pandora headed out. This spurred the others to gather their own belongings and make their way back to the Potters.
——
Twenty-four hours later Willow and Tara stood looking out of the window of a brightly decorated bedroom in the Cornish port town of Fowey. It was the same room they had stayed in after the battle under St Catherine’s Castle.
“You ok?” Tara asked, standing behind Willow, arms wrapped around her waist.
Willow frowned slightly. “Pretty sure I am. Scared though. I keep wondering what will happen if it doesn't go to plan, if we end up somewhere, sometime, else.”
“Do you trust this gang? More importantly, do you trust Regulus?” Tara asked, turning Willow so they were eye to eye.
Willow stared into Tara’s eyes. So calm and reassuring. “Yes. These guys have been amazing. Taking us in. Making us feel welcome from the beginning. Sirius and the Potters have been so generous, making sure we have everything we need or want. Learning new magic with Monty, Remus and Lily. Meeting Pandora. Pandora!!” Willow grinned with excitement. She still couldn’t believe that her favourite author was now a good friend.
“All very true. I’ve learnt so much about healing from Lily and Effie. And quidditch is far more fun to play than I thought it would be.” Tara matched Willow's grin and kissed her. They’d had a great adventure. Now it was time to go home. “And goth boy?”
“Yes. I trust him. He’s enough of an intellectual snob and perfectionist to do everything he can to succeed. Also he’s a perfectionist with a grudge and point to prove.” Willow said after a moment.
“In that case let’s enjoy these final couple of days with our crazy hosts.” Tara said.
“Maybe in a little while. I’ve got other ideas right now.” Willow smiled cheekily and proceeded to kiss Tara thoroughly.
——
James was bored. Everyone was unpacking and he suspected wouldn’t emerge from their rooms for a while. With a frustrated sigh, he grabbed his coat and gloves and headed outside. The weather was relatively mild for the end of January in Cornwall. Not in the mood to head down to the sea, James made for the woods instead. They were peaceful and he wandered contentedly through the trees until he reached the edge overlooking the old fort, where he tipped and stared at the place where everything started for a while.
“You’d think it would look different somehow.” A voice murmured nearby.
“Reg?” James said failing to keep the excitement out of his quiet tone.
Regulus stepped out of the shadows, just out of arm's reach. “James,”
“No Potter?” James grinned
“Do you prefer Potter?”
“Not particularly. You always manage to make it sound like you’re insulting me.”
“It’s a gift.”
They stood in silence staring at the fort.
“Reg.”
“Hmmm.”
“Are you.. where… will you,,,” James felt his mouth go dry. He had planned so many things to say but everything was so jumbled up now.
“Stuttering again Potter.” Regulus looked at James who blushed furiously, and smirked. “Would you like to try that again?”
With a growl James moved, pulled Regulus into his arms and kissed him. Regulus smiled. Teasing James would never not be fun. Then devoted himself to returning the kiss.
“Will you stay with me this week?” James asked when they finally came back up for air.
“Would you like me to?” Regulus asked, lost in the honey brown eyes locked onto his.
“You know I would. But will you? Or have you chosen to be faithful to your new wife?” James tried desperately to keep the resentment out of his voice.
Regulus heard it all the same and kissed him gently. “We are no more faithful to each other now than we were a week ago.” Regulus said. “Would you prefer if I was?”
James shook his head. This was proving to be much harder than he’d imagined. How was he going to get through the next few days?
“There’s only you Jamie.” Regulus paused. “Unless V is still in town.” He grinned at the outrage that flashed across the wonderfully transparent face.
“You you s sod.!” James stuttered and captured Regulus’s mouth in a furious kiss.
——
James and Regulus were sitting demurely at the large wooden table in the kitchen reading the local paper, with a pot of tea and a plate of Winnie’s cakes between them, when Sirius and Remus walked in.
“Reggie!!!” Sirius shouted gleefully. “You made it!”
“Good afternoon Brother.” Regulus said as he looked up from the paper. “Remus.”
“Afternoon Regulus.” Remus responded, noting how close the two sat without actually touching. He also noted the dark circles and sallow cheeks Regulus sported under the subtle glamour he’d cast on himself.
“So where are you staying this time?” Sirius asked, sitting down and helping himself to tea and cake.
“Here.” Regulus said, mirth dancing behind his impassive face.
Startled, Sirius raised a brow. “But there’s only four rooms. And they’re all full.”
“Guess I’ll have to share a room with you then.”
Sirius choked on his cake. James ducked his head behind the paper, laughing silently.
“Makes sense. You are brothers.” Remus said “James, you don’t mind if I share with you?”
“Not all, mate. Be nice to have company that doesn’t squirm.”
Regulus shot him a look. He so didn’t squirm. Flail. Yell. Scream. Fight. Thrash. Absolutely. But not squirm.
Sirius frowned. It was a conundrum. Boyfriend. Brother. Best friend. Brother.
“Prongs. If Regulus stays in your room, do you promise to keep your flirtatious ways to yourself?” Sirius said seriously.
James met the light blue eyes filled with a level of concern he hadn’t seen for a while. “What I do and how I act in the room is entirely up to Regulus.” He said with equal seriousness.
“Oh. In that case. I’ll keep Remus. Regulus won’t want your grubby flirting anywhere near him.” Sirius said relieved.
It took Remus far more willpower than it should to not smack Sirius across the top of his well coiffed head. Did he not see the smug look from Regulus and the barely disguised delight from James as they glanced at each other.
“Oh I don’t know. It could be fun to flirt a little.”
“You? Flirt? Nah.” Sirius laughed.
Regulus raised a brow and looked at James who grinned broadly. Then leant in and kissed him deeply. James responded with as much fervour.
“Urghggh! Stop it you two.” Sirius groaned, closing his eyes.. “Reggie you’ve made your point. You can flirt but keep hands and mouths to yourselves “
“At least in company” Regulus said against James' mouth, and continued their kiss.
“Reeeeeemussss. Make them stop. It’s ruining the taste of these delicious cakes and I can’t open my eyes.”
James broke the kiss laughing, amazed at how good it felt to see a sparkle in Regulus’s eyes. He dreamt of being able to just kiss his lover regardless of who was around. Maybe one day.
“Thank Merlin for that,” Sirius said, opening his eyes with a dramatic sigh and bit into another cake. “Now we’ve established that getting married has meant Regulus has finally learnt how to kiss, even if he had to demonstrate on the only available body in the room, we can move on to planning our next few days.”
Remus snorted, his wolf senses telling him the two besotted young men had demonstrated far more than kissing to each other this afternoon. Regulus and James one hundred points, Sirius zero. It was going to be hilarious when Sirius finally worked out what was happening between his real and adopted brothers.
“What are we planning?” Willow asked, wandering into the kitchen with Tara and Lily. “Hey Regulus.”
“Afternoon.” Regulus answered.
“What we do next.” Sirius said
“We eat lots of cake. Drink lots of beer and cider. Worry about planning tomorrow.” Chirped Pandora coming in the back door with a basket full of winter fruit. “Or we could make lots of cider, drink lots of beer, and revisit our plans tomorrow.”
“How long does your cider take? I tried it at home a couple of times and it’s at least a month.” Tara said
“Oh. Yes. That’s true. I forgot that bit. Guess we’re doing the first option. And then we can eat the apples, pears and cranberries as we go.” Pandora said unfazed and put the basket down beside the cakes. “Oooh. Cake. Excellent idea.”
The others laughed. Remus refreshed the tea pot, Lily plated the rest of the cakes, while Willow transferred some of the fruit into a shallow bowl and put the basket over by the window.
“I like this. We should do it again in a few years. When Willow and Tara have time to resettle and it’s a bit warmer.” Pandora said, taking a big sip of tea before biting into a rich slice of. fruit cake.
“Does that mean we’ll definitely get home?” Willow asked, eyes shining with hope.
“That’s what you want isn’t it?” Pandora asked with a slight frown. The two women nodded vigorously. “In that case you should be fine. But we’ll discuss that tomorrow. Today is for exploring and having fun.”
—
After a very filling afternoon tea, the eight friends headed into town. The snow had given way to rain, leaving the cobblestones streets slick and slightly treacherous in the twilight. Regulus found himself walking with Pandora on his arm, while James escorted Lily down the hill towards the harbour.
“Have you decided to be happy Regulus this week?” Pandora asked
“Yes. It’s exhausting being a cold heartless monster around this lot.” Regulus responded.
“Good. Maybe you’ll sleep as well.” Pandora looked closely at the pale drawn face. “When was the last time you had a decent night's sleep anyway?”
Regulus shrugged. His nightmares had gotten worse since Budapest. He’d had an amazing couple of hours sleep with James in the early hours of New Years Day but that was it. He’d been tempted to hang out in James’s room every now and again as a cat just so he could doze, but even for him that was a line he wouldn’t cross. Not without permission. And he wasn’t about to ask, even if he knew the answer.
“They’ve been getting worse.” Pandora stated. “Are you taking the potions?”
“When I have to. I got addicted to them last year, so trying to avoid them if I can.” Regulus admitted.
“Can I do anything to help?”
Regulus shook his head. He had set his plan in motion, but it would take several months, if not years, to play out. In the meantime he would survive. He always did. He smiled suddenly and kissed Pandora’s cheek, startling her. “Keep being you. Be happy with Lily. And don’t let the kringleshacks bully you into giving them pennies.”
“How do you know about the pennies?”
“I keep finding piles of them on my windowsill with requests for gin and thimbles. I suspect Kirkby has started a bar somewhere in your garden.”
Pandora laughed. “You really shouldn’t encourage him.”
“Why not? He’s an enterprising young creature. And the tiny bottles are easy to get. Pewter thimbles are harder to find, so he has to settle for whatever I can find in thrift shops.”
“I may need to leave a few extra pennies lying around. What do you do with them all?”
Regulus grinned but said nothing.
“You leave them scattered around the cottage when you visit.” Another laugh. “An endless supply of the same coins.”
Still giggling, Regulus and Pandora caught up with the others by the harbour wall. The sea was calm this evening. Fishing boats were taking advantage of the conditions and staying out as late as they dared before it got too dark and the next storm rolled in.
“Remember. No flirting. And definitely no more kissing. It’s too wrong.” Sirius called as Pandora led Regulus to where James and Lily stood.
Pandora raised a brow. Regulus smirked. “I took the opportunity Sirius offered to thoroughly kiss James in front of him. He thinks we were flirting.”
Pandora studied Sirius thoughtfully. “He’s terrified of what might happen. He won’t cope with losing both of you.”
“He’ll never lose James.”
“He thought the same about you.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Exactly.”
Regulus shrugged. They’d had this conversation many many times in the years since Sirius moved in with the Potters. Sleeping with James was an added complication but didn’t actually change anything. “Let’s not go there. I’m determined to be happy Regulus, remember?” He said impassively.
“Yes. You should be. I’ll be happy Dora.”
“You’re usually happy.”
“That makes it easier.”
Regulus smiled fondly as Pandora removed her arm from his and went to stand arm in arm with Lily. James looked over his shoulder as Pandora joined them. The unguarded fondness he saw made his heart lurch. He wondered wistfully if Regulus would ever look at him like that. “He already does. When he thinks no one is paying attention.” Lily said softly beside him as Regulus moved to stand beside Sirius at the end of the group. James squeezed Lily’s hand gratefully. This relationship with Regulus was far too complicated. He liked the simplicity of what he now had with Lily.
——
It was past midnight by time they all returned to the house, louder and drunker than when they had left several hours earlier.
Regulus had indeed seen V, and even flirted, causing Sirius to invite V to join them. James smiled a little too broadly. Remus noticed and sent Sirius off to challenge V in a game of pool instead.
“What on earth is up with Regulus? He is being far too … too … not him.” Tara said,
“He’s being a muggle. He was like this in France last year.”
“This is muggle Regulus. It’s more like regular Sirius.” Willow giggled.
“Yep.”
“Seriously?” James peered through the crowd at the brothers. Regulus was indeed a perfect copy of his more outrageous brother. “I’m not sure how I feel about this.”
“Me neither.” Remus rumbled beside him. “One Sirius is quite enough.”
James laughed. “Do you think Sirius has noticed he’s being mimicked?”
“I doubt it.” Remus finished his drink. “I love that man, but he’s got very large blinkers on sometimes. Anyone for another round?”
And so it went. Drinking, laughing, flirting. James decided to join in the game and very nearly ended up taking both Regulus and V home. In the end it was Regulus, as the most sober of the three, who made the decision on who was going home with whom.
“That was fun. You can totally flirt with V anytime we’re in town together.” James slurred as they stumbled into their bedroom.
“Are we planning to come back here?”
James nodded. “At the end of January. Every year until the kids get bored or we decide to go somewhere warmer for winter.”
“What about if I come back on my own?” Regulus teased.
“Nope. Not allowed. V’s too cute to be trusted.” James stayed slightly.
Regulus laughed. “Are you saying you trust me?”
James caught the now slightly flushed face in his hands. “With my heart and my life.” He said then kissed Regulus. “I love you.” He paused. “I also really enjoy flirting. I like that you do to.”
Regulus gave a low throaty laugh. “I like far more than flirting.” He growled and proceeded to show James exactly what he liked