Chapter 2
James opened his eyes slowly as they adjusted to the light that was now entering the room. In Regulus' room, to be precise. In fact, that night he had stayed to sleep with the boy, as he did most days these days, and then woke up early and went for his usual run, saying goodbye to the boy and returning to his house. That morning, however, he didn't feel like going for a run. Far from it.
At the moment Regulus had his eyes closed, and his head was resting on the boy's chest, his curls scattered on James's shirt, in disarray. James slowly raised a hand and placed it on the boy's head, starting to massage his skin delicately, with movements that slowly became natural, forgotten, while James tried to look at him from his head resting on the pillow.
“I know you're not sleeping, Reg.” James said softly while the other boy didn't move, eyes still closed, although he had nevertheless moved closer to the boy, which caused a light laugh from James, who looked at him through his blurred, glasses-less vision.
He loved looking at Regulus without his glasses, especially while he slept. (Or at least while he pretended to be asleep.) Without his glasses he could see it in a completely different way. It was like seeing a truer version of the boy, seeing him as he was supposed to see him. Whenever he looked at him without his glasses, Regulus always looked at him with a smile on his lips, which, even if it blended in slightly with the rest of his face, James always managed to love more and more every day. And right on time, he could feel it, Regulus rolled his eyes, but approached him and, waiting for James to focus better, gave him a quick kiss, before handing him the gold glasses.
“Reg?” asked the boy after a few minutes, now looking at the ceiling, without receiving any response. “Reg.” He said again, but only more silence followed his name. “Mi amor, it's time to wake up.” James said smiling while Regulus made a noise of disagreement,
“No, it's not.” The boy answered him in a voice slightly broken by sleep,
“It is. I'm hungry.”
“You're not.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I'm sure about everything.” Regulus said stupidly with a sigh, before raising his head slightly to meet James' gaze, who narrowed his eyes to see him better, and immediately noticed the smile that appeared on the younger's face.
“Good morning.” James said brushing a strand of hair out of his eyes,
“Hi.”
“Did you sleep well?”
“Mhm.” Said Regulus resting his chin on James' chest boredly, “What was tonight?” Then after a few minutes asked the boy as he had done every single day since James had started telling him his dreams,
“Mhm.” The boy said, closing his eyes and trying to remember what he had dreamed, “I remember walking around on this street in a huge city.”
“Do we know it?” The boy then asked interestedly,
“No. I do not believe. I don't know which street it was.” He replied as began to caress the boy's back with his fingertips, “But I remember that in the air you could smell... chocolate.”
“Chocolate.”
“Mhm. And I remember wanting to go and see where this chocolate was.”
“If you smell chocolate on a street you don't know, I don't know how wise it is to follow that smell, you know?” He mused and then made an involuntary sound of disapproval when James raised his hand for a second, stopped stroking his hair, and then started again,
“But I remember knowing it was a dream. I also knew if I had followed the smell I wouldn't have fallen.”
“Fallen where?”
“I do not know. I just knew I wouldn't fall. So I continue following the smell until I reach another street, which however was deserted. There were only streetlights. And it suddenly got dark.”
“This time it's a strange dream.”
“I know, right!” James said out loud, picking up on his movement, “And then, I kept seeing people coming towards me but ignoring me, all the while saying «people on the street are crazy. Crazy! The street people are crazy!» but they were screaming it though.” James said looking down to see a Regulus now watching his face,
“And then?”
“And then I started saying it too. And started following them.”
“Merlin, Jamie. Were you drunk yesterday?”
“You know I wasn't drunk!” The offended boy said as he could see a blurred smile on the Regulus’ face, “But it's not finished!”
“Noo. What else happened?” Regulus asked interestedly,
“I heard a voice saying «We managed to make him crazy. He will no longer be able to ruin our plans.»”
“What?”
“I know! And then, another voice answered him «That is until the road ends.» and then I woke up.”
“Woah. That was something.” Regulus said in a serious tone as James nodded, continuing to think about all the scenes he had experienced, “You could write a book with all your dreams. The Impossible Dreams of James Fleamont Potter. I bet people would pay gold to read them.”
“You know, you talked to me.” he suddenly said, changing the subject,
“When? In the dream? What did I say?”
“No. I mean tonight. You talked to me.”
“I didn't.” Regulus said resting his chin on James' chest now, who smiled,
“You did!” James said and Regulus rolled his eyes,
“Then what did I say?”
“Pretty sure it was something like «stop moving or I’ll do it for you» but I was running on the street!”
“I didn't.”
“You did. And it was very cute.” James said touching Regulus's nose with his as he blushed slightly,
“Oh, shut up.” The boy answered him and James laughed,
“You're bossy even in your sleep.”
“I'm not bossy.” Regulus said in a disgusted tone while James nodded,
“You are!”
“No.”
“Yeees.”
“I'm hungry.” The boy changed the subject and the major smiled,
“Oh, are you.”
“Yes. I am. You can't sleep all day.”
“I would have already been on the street running by now.”
“But you're in my bed, so.”
“I'm in bed because I wanted to stay in bed with you.” James said as Regulus handed him the glasses which he took from the bedside table, reaching out so he wouldn't move too much from his previous position, which he took as soon as James took the glasses and put them on.
“Hi.” Regulus said resting his cheek on the boy's chest, looking at him while he smiled, giving him a quick kiss on the forehead,
“Hi.”
“You know that you have to make me breakfast, right? Kreacher had to go to a meeting.”
“A meeting?”
“Elves? I think it was elves.”
“Do elves have meetings?”
“Kreacher does.”
“Mhm. Of course.”
“Don't make fun of him.” Said Regulus with a serious tone,
“I'm not. I swear.”
“Good.”
“But I won't cook.”
“You have to. You wake me up. You're still in bed, and you—” Regulus started making a list of things that made sense and James smiled,
“Because you love cooking.”
“I don't.”
“You do.”
“Okay maybe I do. So what.”
“I don't want to take that away from you.”
“That's so stupid.”
“I think it's romantic.”
“Romantic.” Said flatly Regulus while James nodded,
“Of course. I let you do what you like!”
“But I like watching you cooking too.”
“Really.”
“Of course.”
“Then we'll cook together.”
“Or I can go to take a shower and you'll do all the cooking.” Said Regulus with a pout, which made James smile,
“Would you take a shower without me?” He asked offended as Regulus rolled his eyes and lay down next to him, the bed poofing slightly.
“Fine.”
“You let me win so easily?” James asked with an unconvinced look as Regulus got out of bed and put on a long-sleeved, but still light enough, shirt from inside the wardrobe.
“Yes. You ran with the crazy street people.”
“It's strange.” James said sitting up in bed, blankets covering his legs as he looked at Regulus who tilted his head,
“Don't you like when something is strange?”
“No?”
“Such a shame, then.” The boy said, taking James' shirt and throwing it playfully at the boy, who caught it. “Come and cook with me, you spoiled.”
“You kidding? I'm not spoiled.” James said getting up from the bed and following Regulus who was already going down the stairs,
“Did you see yourself?”
“Oh, myself? You're the one who is talking? Really, mi amor?”
“Oh, shut up, James.” Regulus said rolling his eyes as James gently grabbed his hand, turning him towards him,
“Make me.” He said with such a serious tone but an amused face that Regulus laughed lightly, running a hand through his hair,
“You're so stupid and you have morning breath.”
“No, i don’t. And I know.”
“So you admit it?”
“Nahh. I just wanted to prove you right so it would put you in a good mood so maybe I would get a kiss?” James said with a sweet smile as Regulus crossed his arms,
“Opposite effect.”
“What if I gave you a hug?”
“No. In at least ten minutes you called me spoiled, a sleepyhead, a liar and a bossy.” Regulus listed impassively as James looked at him with a surprised look,
“I didn't—when did I do that?!”
“Just this morning.”
“I didn't!”
“You did.”
“Okay, that’s not true.”
“But it is! And you won't cook for me, taking away something I like to do, which is watching you cook. And you call this a nice morning?”
“Okay.” James said, adjusting his glasses on his nose, and then taking a step towards Regulus, with a now different expression, which the boy knew all too well, having seen it during the games. Determined. It was exactly that. “C'mon here then, I will make it better.” The boy said, continuing undaunted towards Regulus who was trying to fight the smile that appeared on his face,
“Don't you dare.”
“Oh, don't worry, darling. Too late for that.”
“Don't—James! Put me down!”
⋆⁺₊⋆ ✩ ☀︎︎☽ ✩ ⋆⁺₊⋆
“Hi, Meera.” James said as he entered the house like every morning to go have breakfast with his mother and take a walk around the city with her before accompanying her to work, shaking his head slightly when the family elf approached him to get his coat. “How are you today?”
The elf pulled the small t-shirt she was wearing down slightly, before bowing her head slightly, “Meera is always good, Master James. Meera thanks Master James for asking.”
“That's good. If dad says something bad call me right away, okay?”
At that moment Fleamont Potter also appeared, who was casually straightening his tie, “Stop it, mijo. I'll never do that.”
James smiled at his dad, while the older man did the same, the similar traits of the two now becoming even more noticeable, one the older version of the other. “How's it going at the restaurant?”
“The room is always quiet.” He said, quickly fixing his hair in the mirror, “The kitchen? I'll tell you that mijo. I'll never go there again.”
James laughed lightly, “What did you see this time?”
“Horrible things. Horrible. Things.” Fleamont said only to be hit in the back by his wife, who rolled her eyes and smiled, before hugging her son and kissing him on both of his cheeks.
“Don't listen to him. It was just a stupid fight.”
“Stupid fight? Mhm. The only thing missing was blood in there.”
Euphemia shook her head as she picked up her umbrella even though it was sunny outside, causing James to look confused, “You're so dramatic, Monty.”
“I'm really not, mi vida. I'll never forget your face in that moment.”
“Why are you taking the umbrella Ma? It's sunny outside.” asked James confused as the woman looked at her husband amused,
“They did the sauce wrong. I just told them that.” Euphemia explained before taking the keys on the cabinet in front of the door, “And I 'm taking the umbrella because it 's going to rain.”
Fleamont looked down at his watch before giving his wife a quick kiss and ruffling his son's hair more, “I'll never miss a sauce then, I promise.”
“Don't make a promise you can't keep Pa.”
“I have to go to the restaurant.” Instead the man said ignoring the comment made by James, “See you later. Los amo a ambos hasta las estrellas y de regreso.” Said he,
“Love you too Pa.” James said opening the door as Euphemia walked out of the house saying,
“See you later, mi amor.”
And with these last two sentences, the man disappears with a smile on his face.
“Outside there is a sun that breaks stones though.” James said as both he and the woman left the house and were actually hit by the brightness of the day.
“Trust me. It will rain within an hour and a half. You can smell it.” She explained as James offered his arm, which she took,
Then he looked up at the sky and then down again, “You have to teach me how to smell this rain. I want to know when it will rain too.”
“It's not something you can teach mijo. I wouldn't even know how to teach it. You just smell it.” explained the woman raising a hand and waving at the florist who motioned for them to come closer. “Let's go see what Willem wants.”
“He will definitely give you a flower for your beautiful face. This time it will be something for the eyes.” James said making the woman laugh and hit him affectionately on his arm,
“I'll never understand why you hate him so much.”
“Because he is—” the man began but was interrupted by the florist who laughed as soon as he saw them, a daisy resting on his ear.
“Goodmorning, dears! How are you doing today on this sunny day that cracks stones?” Willem said and James grimaced slightly as Euphemia greeted him with a quick friendly hug,
“That's the same thing James said when we left the house, you know?”
“Ma…” James whispered to her while the woman shrugged as if nothing had happened, an amused smile on her face,
Willem nodded before turning to look for something among the flowers, then picking up two different ones. The first flower, which was a yellow zinnia, was given to Euphemia and she took it as she did every time the man always gave her a flower every time he saw her. “Yellow like today's sun.”
“Beautiful as always.” The woman replied by smelling it while Willem reached out to offer a smaller white flower to James, something he had never done before that day,
“A jasmine for your lover.” Willem said delicately, “A fallen star to give to someone who deserves to have it.”
James looked down at the white flower resting on his hand, before looking up, “What? I don't have—”
“I can see the love that lives in your eyes.” explained the florist to him before waving at the two, going to serve a customer who had just arrived, leaving James confused.
“It's true, mijo.” Euphemia said softly, caressing his cheek, “You seem happier every day. And even if in theory,” she raised her eyebrows slightly to accentuate the “in theory” before lowering them and continuing, “I don't know who your lover is but I know that now he's the one who brings a smile to your face in the morning. And I hope that one day I can truly meet and know him.”
“I know you know you already know him, Ma.” Whispered the man,
“No, I don't.”
“Yes you do.”
But Euphemia ignored him, “Let's go have breakfast now. I'm starving.”
“Thank you Ma.” James said placing the flower delicately in his shirt pocket while her mother placed the flower in her hair,
“But this time I don't intend to get pancakes.”
James turned to her with a super offended look. “What? Why? They are the best there! You can't not take them, it's practically an insult. No, actually, it’s an insult.”
“We take them every Thursday, today I want to change. As your grandmother said, It's nice to change in life, as the seasons change and and the waves change tone and strength with the wind.”
“But they're the best pancakes in town.” James said sadly as he took the umbrella the woman was handing him.
Euphemia clicked her tongue at him in disapproval, “Yours are simply better, mijo.”
⋆⁺₊⋆ ✩ ☀︎︎☽ ✩ ⋆⁺₊⋆
When Regulus left the house there was a beautiful sun that illuminated everything. So imagine the man’s surprise when he walked out of the store to see dark clouds towering over him and the buildings all around that were certainly about to rain soon enough. Too much, actually. Obviously the boy hadn't brought an umbrella, because as mentioned before, there was a beautiful sun that illuminated everything. Probably if he had taken a brisk walk he would have gotten home in time. Or he simply could have dematerialized. After all, he was a magician, wasn't he? He didn't even know—
His flow of thoughts was interrupted by the vibration of his phone, which the man promptly picked up to read that it was Pandora calling him, which wasn't strange, since the girl called him every day. But usually in the evening. Not in the morning.
“Dora? What happened?”
“Hi, Reggie! How are you?”
“Everything okay. I was about to go home. I ask it in the sweetest way possible, but why the call at this hour?”
“Great! Where are you exactly?”
“Dora.”
“Okay, fine. It's not me who wants to talk to you, but Luna.”
“Really?”
“She is—No, honey. Yes, just one sec, my love.” said Pandora, probably responding to something the little girl had asked her, before the audio became slightly less clear. “Okay, here I am. You're on speaker while I'm driving, Reggie. Luna, he can hear you.”
“Hi, ma lune. Everything okay?”
“Uncle Reggie, can you really hear me?” asked the little girl curiously and suspiciously as Regulus smiled,
“Of course I can hear you. Tell me everything, I'm listening.”
“I know, you always listen to me.” Luna said and Regulus smiled again.
“Well?”
“Right! So, Mommy and me are driving to house.”
“You're driving home?”
"Oh? Oh, yes. Sorry, house it's for the others, home is for mine. I forgot.”
“I was just following you.”
"Oh. Well, I was wrong anyway. Anyway. We were wondering—”
“You were wondering, Luna. Not me.” Pandora stopped her while the little girl laughed, continuing,
"Fine. I was wondering where you are uncle Reggie. And if you have something to do right now.”
“I was about to head home and no, I'm not busy. What do you need? Tell me everything, my love.”
“Well, we both love coffee, right?”
“You don't drink coffee, ma lune. You never had because you're still four years old.”
“You love coffee. And Mommy loves it too.” changed then the little girl,
“Mhm.”
“And I thought, why not have a drink together?”
“Oh really?”
“Yes! So I can eat the free brownies and drink the orange juice! While you and Mommy talk, because you two love to talk.”
“That's true, we do love talking. And right now, a coffee wouldn't be that bad.”
“Really? Yes! Mommy, I told you Reggie would say yes!”
“Oh, did you?” asked Regulus, laughing as a drop of rain hit his head, only to be followed by another and another.
“Oh, she did, don't worry. All morning, in fact.”
“Why didn't you take her for a drink then?”
“She didn't want to! She wanted to do it with you, because she missed you, and… what am I supposed to do Reggie?”
“Aw, did she miss me? I miss you too, ma lune.”
“We didn't see each other for four whole days.” The little girl said in a sad tone while Regulus felt his heart clench, looking for a slightly sheltered place only to find none.
“I'm sorry, Luna.” The man said putting on his hood, because thanks to Merlin he had put on a hoodie while the rain slowly increased.
“So we can go and get something to drink and eat right now?”
“Huh….yes. Yes, of course.”
“Yay! Thank you, uncle Reggie. I can't wait to hug you again. I have to tell you what I did at school today!”
“Of course.”
“Where are you, Reggie? We'll come get you, we're on our way."
“Right now I'm in front of the stop. How long should it take you more or less? Because it's raining here.”
“Really? Here almost not at all. Anyway more or less 10 minutes? Can you resist? Do you at least have an umbrella? Otherwise we can do it another time—"
“No, I'm fine. I'll wait here. See you in 10. Bye.” Regulus said as he hung up, then put the phone in his pocket quickly, before it got wet, and then tried to fix his hood to cover his hair better, although it didn't change much, since it was now raining properly. Great. But how could he say no to Luna when she told him she missed him? He couldn’t, of course.
After at least five minutes, the rain was falling continuously and Regulus was soaking wet, his trousers now sticking to his legs, and his hood now glued to his head. Seriously, why didn't he bring an umbrella? Oh wait. Because there was a beautiful sun that illuminated everything that morning. Damn the sun.
After another three minutes, which seemed like longer, there was no sign of Pandora's car or even the end of the rain. Regulus loved the rain, it was true. But he didn't like what the rain did to his hair after. And he didn't like being completely wet when he got into his friend's car. He could have cast a drying spell, but with the way the rain was going it would have been pretty useless. Regulus looked down at his shoes, to see that a puddle had even formed around them, with them inside. How it was—
“Hello there. Need shelter?” someone asked in an all too familiar voice that made the man raise his head suddenly, to meet the gaze of James who was under the umbrella and smiling kindly at him.
“James.” He breathed in surprise when he saw him, while the boy immediately put the umbrella closer and higher so that both of them were covered. “What are you doing here?”
“I was taking a walk and suddenly it started raining. Then I saw you here, in the rain and how could I not save a gentleman in distress? By the way, hi.” James said, taking a wet curl from him and placing it inside his hood.
“How did you understand that was me?” Regulus asked not taking his eyes off the boy in front of him, honestly forgetting that he was completely wet, (and that they were in the middle of the road)
“I would recognize you anywhere, Reg.” the boy explained to him as if it were a fact and really?
“You can't say things like that.” Regulus whispered to him as his heartbeat missed a beat, because come on, how did it couldn’t miss a beat?
“Why not?” James asked in a genuinely confused tone as he looked around for the younger one, “It's true.”
“I think I would too.” Said Regulus after a pause,
“What?”
“Recognize you.” Regulus said before quickly adding as casually as possible, “I mean, it's not that hard with your height and your hair.”
James reacted with a terribly offended expression, but it made him smile because he knew he hadn't been seriously hurt, “Oi, you love my hair.”
“I don't.”
“Yes, you do. That's why I have long hair, because you said that you like it.”
“It's literally medium length. Sirius has long hair. You don’t have long hair.”
“Well, for me it's long. I mean, they cover my ears!” Said James indignantly and Regulus couldn't help but laugh, which obviously made James smile widely.
“Like I said this morning. You're so stupid.”
“Well, you still like me, so.” James said, keeping his voice still quite low, while Regulus looked up at him and smiled sweetly. “I have something for you.”
“You do?”
“Of course I do.” James said, taking the white flower from his shirt pocket, where it miraculously hadn't gotten wet, and handed it to Regulus, who's eyes lit up when he saw it, taking it between his fingers,
“A flower.”
“You love flowers.”
“You gave me a jasmine.” Said Regulus instantly, with a different voice.
“Do you like it?”
“If I like it? I love jasmines, Jamie. They are my favorite flowers, but how did you know? I didn't tell anyone.” Regulus said and James mentally thanked Willem taking back all the insults he had said to him as soon as he saw the boy's expression in front of him,
“Why is it your favorite flower?” He asked to the boy curiously, the rain still falling around them.
Regulus smiled slightly, “When we were little, Narcissa used to tell me this story about where they came from, which she had read in a Muggle book from Uncle Alphard.”
“Now you have to tell me even if we're in the rain. You can't leave me like this.”
“Legend has it that Kitza, the mother of all stars, inhabiting the cloud kingdom, found herself dealing with a group of little stars who complained that their clothes were too poor.” Regulus began as he cast a quick spell with his wand so the flower wouldn't get wet or break,
“Kitza?”
“Mhm. Micar, the king of spaces, heard the futile protests of the stars and, angry, chased them from the firmament. Then, he threw them into the dirt.”
“Oh, I don't like him.”
“Oh, Neither do I.” Agreed Regulus smiling softly, “But anyway. Kitza, at the thought that her stars were trampled by men, struck the lady of the gardens Bersto who, taking pity, transformed the stars into very fragrant flowers: jasmines.”
“A star picking a fallen star.” James said softly as Regulus looked up at him smiling sweetly leaning involuntarily before realizing that they were not at home or in a closed place. But outside. In the middle of the road. Where everyone could see them. Oh god, surely someone would have seen them and everyone would have known about them.
“We are outside.” He said stupidly breaking the moment, trying to make the boy understand what he wanted him to understand,
“I notice?” he replied, however slightly confused,
“Together. We are outside together.” Regulus repeated now more to himself than to James, analyzing in his head what exactly to do at that specific moment, but still looking at the boy, whose expression flickered for a second and you could clearly see his displeasure when Regulus moved his face away from him, standing slightly straighter.
“Sorry. I shouldn't— I just…” James began with a shrug, “I was just happy to see you.”
“James…”
“No, you're right. We're in public. I was—”
“I'm happy that you are here right now, James. I really am. And I’m happy that you brought me a flower. A jasmine, my favorite. I’m always happy with you. It's not that. You know it's not that, right?” Great, now he was rambling,
“Yeah. I know.” The boy said sadly and Regulus didn't know what to do exactly because—because he wanted to hug him, he had to hug him, but they were in public and anyone would— why had the situation changed so quickly? Why had he decided to change it quickly? “I'll see you tonight?” James asked then, handing him the handle of the umbrella which the boy took, then walking away and going into the rain, his curly hair becoming loose under it, only to end up getting all wet now.
“Of course.” Regulus answered him as confidently as he could and James smiled kindly. The boy glanced at the wet street, before reaching out and moving a wet strand of hair from his face. “I'll see you tonight.”
“Yeah. Tonight. Bye, Reg.” James said before smiling at him and walking away, leaving Regulus with the umbrella in his hand, the flower in the other, looking at his back, a feeling of guilt creeping into him, along with a beautiful lump in his throat that he couldn't miss, the hole in my stomach that got bigger and bigger.
When James turned the corner, however, not even doing it on purpose, Pandora's car made its appearance, positioning itself in front of the boy, who after a light flick of his wand to dry himself, entered.
“I'm so sorry. There was traffic and people apparently don't know how to drive with a little bit of water.” The girl said as Regulus climbed inside her, turning to smile at Luna and shake her hand gently.
“It's fine.” The boy said not paying much attention as he put on his belt, his mind still thinking about James' sad expression.
“I—really?”
“Mhm.”
“Okay, what's the deception?” asked the girl in a serious tone and Regulus turned to her with a shrug,
“No deception. It does not matter.”
“What happened?” The girl asked instead,
“Nothing. I'm just cold because I got a little cold in the rain.”
“Reggie I know you're lying. What happened? Something with Sirius? Barty? James.” she understood immediately, “Tell me what happened with James. Do I have to do something?” the girl said then, while Regulus made a sound of unnecessary disagreement. “Oh, don't worry. Luna knows.”
“What.”
“Oh yeah. She told me like a month ago.”
“Really?” asked Regulus turning to the little girl who tilted her head,
“It's pretty obvious, Reggie.” Luna said and Regulus studied her slowly,
“…It is?” Asked the boy with a slight note of concern,
“Well, for me yes. Because I know you and every time Jamie is with us, you two are always looking at each other.”
“Oh Merlin. Are you—really Dora?”
“What? It's not my fault, I swear. She understood, I didn't tell her.”
“That's true. When I told Mommy about you and Jamie she said that it wasn't true. But when I told her the all story she admitted it.” explained Luna and Regulus sighed.
“You can't tell anyone, mon lune. Nobody.”
“I know. I'm not stupid. It's our secret.”
“I've never thought that you are stupid, mon lune. In fact, you're the most intelligent child that I know.”
“Do you know other children? Are you kidding me? Mommy! Reggie is betraying me.” The offended little girl said as Pandora laughed and Regulus took her hand.
“I would never. You're my one and only child. You know that.”
“You promise?”
“I swear.” Regulus said seriously as he placed his free hand over his heart and Luna nodded in satisfaction.
“Good.”
“My love you have him in the palm of your hands.” Pandora said laughing as Regulus rolled his eyes at her but Luna nodded,
“I know. Reggie and Barty are mine.”
“Oh, are we?”
“Yes. Of course. And Jamie said that I was his favorite of all the people so he is a close one!” hummed the little girl as Regulus smiled at her.
“What happened?” Pandora asked after a few seconds of silence as Regulus sat comfortably in the passenger seat.
The man sighed before briefly telling the two girls that he loved more what happened before.
“He left you the umbrella and gave you a jasmine? That's so romantic.”
“Yeah.” Said Regulus looking now at the flower,
“It's like those movie scenes Mommy watches.” Luna added interestedly while Pandora nodded,
“He was sad. Because I—I said that we were in public and—I always fucked up. oh, shit. Never say that, mon lune.”
“That’s what Uncle Barry always says.” The little girl laughed and Pandora shook her head wearily.
“You don't—cover your ears my love—always fucked up, Reggie. It's just—you were just—I know what you proved. And it's okay.” The woman said nodding as Regulus looked at her.
“He was so sad. I've never seen him that sad. He always—smile. He smiled afterwards. But I saw, I can still see that face.”
“Then do something to prove him that you—care about him.” The girl said nodding, “Because you do, am I right?”
“Yes.” Regulus said pausing for a few seconds before saying, “I care about him.”
“Do something for him so you, and him honestly, can feel better. Even something stupid. I know for a fact that James loves stupid things.”
“He does.” Regulus said in thought, a smile appearing delicate on her face as Pandora looked at him fondly, happy that her best friend was happy again.
“Cook for him!” Luna said after a few minutes of silence,
“Cook?” Regulus asked and the little girl nodded convincingly,
“Yes. You cook very well, uncle Reggie.”
“Thank you, mon lune but—”
“Wait. She is right. Cook for him. Cook something that you've never done.” Pandora said nodding as Luna smiled,
“Or cook something that you both love!”
“And make him a surprise. I'm sure James loves surprises.”
“Can we help you cooking? Please! I want to help!” Luna asked happily and Pandora nodded next to her, “Can we make cookies? I think James likes cookies too.”
“You think?” Asked Regulus amused,
“Oh yeah. Who doesn’t like cookies? Chocolate cookies. Can we make chocolate cookies? Can we make them? I love your chocolate cookies Reggie. They’re the best.” Said the little girl while Pandora laughed,
“Stop saying chocolate cookies, my love.”
“But they are chocolate cookies.” Said Luna with a pout and Regulus turned to her,
“Yes, mon lune. We’ll make chocolate cookies for James.”
“Yes!”
“But only for James.” Said Pandora and Luna looked at her for a second, studying, before saying,
“I’ll steal one. Uncle Reggie, can I steal one?”
“Of course.”
“Perfect.” Said Luna and Pandora smiled at her, before turning to Regulus quickly,
“I already have some ideas. He likes everything am I right? He seems the guy…” The woman said already thinking and Regulus ended up letting the two convince him to cook dinner for James.
A dinner surprise for James Fleamont Potter.
What was he doing? He didn’t know. He just keeps doing it.
And, by the way, just this morning they were talking about chocolate.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ✩ ☀︎︎☽ ✩ ⋆⁺₊⋆
When James knocked on Regulus' door, he certainly didn't expect the boy to open the door the next second (it usually always took him at least a minute to do so) and to see that he was wearing an elegant shirt and a pair of equally elegant trousers.
“Hey.” Regulus said giving a nervous smile to James who tilted his head curiously,
“Hey. How are you?” asked the boy as he entered the house and took off his shoes, then put on the slippers that Regulus, on James' advice (or rather kind insistence), had bought him not long ago. They were blue with little stars and planets on them. He loved them.
“Good. Good. You?”
“Everything okay. Are you nervous for some reason that I ignore?” James asked with a faint smile, while Regulus shook his head,
“I'm fine, don't worry. Have you eaten?”
“Actually, no. I thought we could order something, anything you want, and maybe watch a movie?” James explained as he moved slightly closer to him and held out his hand, to lace their fingers together. Regulus looked down at them, but before anything could happen, and before James could kiss him, as he was already leaning forward, Regulus took a step back.
“Yeah, why not?” nodded the boy while James tilted his head even more confused,
“Did I do something? You don't want to watch a film?” He asked uncertainly and Regulus quickly shook his head, “You don't want to eat? It's fine I'm—”
“No, it's okay, James. Really.”
“If I did something that upsets you, please tell me. Really, I—”
“It's not that, James. You are perfect, trust me.”
“You know that I don't want to be perfect.”
“But you are.” Regulus said softly and James didn't know exactly if it was a good thing or a bad thing,
“That's why you didn't want me to kiss you? Because I'm—perfect?” asked he confusingly,
“No. I—okay, sorry. I'm making this awkward. Can you please follow me?”
“It's your house.” James said gesturing, even more uncertainly, for him to continue, because he would follow him. Later. But before,
“I was—oh.” Regulus began but stopped with a smile on his face when James snapped his fingers and, as was now tradition, a flower appeared. A rose. That evening, the rose was blue. The boy gently handed it to him and Regulus took it delicately, lightly stroking the petals. They were softer than the previous evening. “Today is blue.”
“I tried something new.” James said looking at Regulus who was studying the rose carefully, like every time, “I think red is classic. Pink wasn't right. I give you the white one the last time and the yellow is for friends. The blue is different. Don't you think?”
“I think that is beautiful. I love the blue roses.” Regulus said and seeing James' smile he immediately felt better. Regulus absentmindedly turned the rose in his hand before leaning in and giving him a light kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.” He said softly and James simply smiled at him again, before following the boy towards the kitchen to stop at the doorway.
“I was thinking—Reg?” James breathed as his gaze fell on the table, which was set with a white tablecloth, placed on it were two plates, two cloth napkins (because Regulus hated paper napkins, only paper was wasted after all), two glasses, even candles and in the center, in a vase, all the roses that James had given the boy. It was simple. It was for James. It was for them. It was…perfect.
“The candles were Pandora's idea. I didn't want to put them, honestly, but Luna convinced me.” Regulus explained nervously as he placed the blue rose inside the vase, which rested delicately on top of the others.
“Were Pandora and Luna here? Luna..?”
“Yes, they were here, they helped me with all the cooking and all of this but it's not really important.”
“With the cooking. Did you cook for me?”
“Yeah, I did, but it's not important right now. I did all of this because—” the boy began, pausing to shake his head, “About today I am—”
“You cooked for me.”
“Yeah, but like I said—”
“And you prepared all this for me? With candles?” James interrupted again and Regulus nodded,
“Yes. But—”
“For me?”
“James, please let me talk. If I don't do it now I probably won't do it anymore.”
“Sorry.”
“Like I was saying. I'm so sorry for today. About what happened today. It was not right on my part to behave that way, even though we were in public. You're always so kind and I—I was awful today. And I made you sad. And trust me, I don't want that. And I understand if you hate me right now or—”
“What? No.” James interrupted and Regulus stopped short, “I don't hate you. Don't ever think that, because I've never ever hated you. And I'll never will, okay? It's important for me that you know this. I thought it was pretty obvious actually.” The boy added with a half laugh, nodding to the roses and Regulus nodded,
“I'm sorry for what—okay, for how I behaved. I even stole your umbrella. Pandora said that it was romantic but I literally left you under the rain. Alone. Without an umbrella.”
“It's fine, it's not my favorite. The one with the penguins however…” the boy said and Regulus rolled his eyes.
“I'm serious. I'm sorry.”
“You don't have to be, Reg. You cooked for me. You made a dinner for me. With candles.” James said with emphasis reaching out and pulling the boy towards him, “And you're having dinner with me. What else could I want? Sure, you could have warned me though.”
“Why?”
“Because I'm wearing a tracksuit Reg! For a romantic dinner by scented candlelight.”
“It’s not romantic.”
“It is.” James laughed and Regulus blushed a little,
“So what? Would anything have changed?”
“If I knew I’d probably—”
“Probably what? Wearing a smoking?” Regulus asked skeptically and James started to nod, “Oh, please don't nod. You always dress like this.”
“Because they're comfortable and I'm always comfortable with you, but if—”
“You really have to stop that. You can't say things like this.” Regulus interrupted him with a snort, like that day and James had a feeling of deja-vú.
“Like what?”
“Like nothing. Like for you it's something normal.”
“But it is. And I want you to know it.” James said putting his arms on Regulus' waist and crossing his fingers behind it as the boy looked up at him. “Thank you.”
“I did practically nothing. Luna did it all.” The boy said and James smiled,
“About that. Luna..?”
“She wanted me to say hi to you from her. So hi from Luna.” Regulus explained and James smiled before turning serious again,
“She knows?”
“Yeah. She said that you always look at me.”
“I'm not!”
“Luna doesn't lie to me.” Regulus said and James shrugged,
“Okay, maybe I look at you. Sometimes. But not that often, I swear.”
“Me too.” Said the boy after a second of silence,
“What?”
“I mean. Luna said that we looked at each other so I guess I'm looking at you too.” Regulus said and as James looked at him with a gaze that only held his eyes, “Sometimes.” He added for good measure and James laughed before leaning forward and kissing him.
“Thank you. For the dinner. For the cooking. And for this. And thank for…you.”
“Shut up.” Regulus said interrupting him, leaning forward again and James was silenced after that, the dinner that awaited them slowly cooling, the wax burning in the background in the heat of the small forgotten flame. Because the only flame that interested them, but that they couldn't yet see, was the one that shone in their eyes.