Chapter 1
Regulus is going to kill Sirius.
How the hell did he convince him to work at a summer camp?
He hates children.
Well that isn’t entirely true. Regulus is scared of children. Scared of how they view him and how he treats them. What if he is just like his parents? He can’t be. He just can’t. And living life with no children present he can just make up his own narrative, one where children love him and he loves them. But spending an entire summer with them, well he can’t make that up. And he also can’t change how they react to him. If the hate him or love him, most likely the former.
“Siri, I can’t do this.” Regulus puts the phone close to his face, praying his big brother can help him.
“What are you- oh, Reg stop there this nothing to worry about.” Sirius’ voice is slightly scratchy through the speaker but still comforting.
“What if the kids hate me?”
“They won’t! I promise, they are all so sweet!” Sirius’ voice is cheery despite the time being 7:30am.
“Kids are mean.”
“No, they are honest. Remember, we used to go there. Mother and Father would drop us off for the summer, it holds some of our best memories!”
“Yeah, well I am not three feet tall anymore.” Regulus grumbles.
“Well you’re not that far from it, growth spurts didn’t hit you as hard as they did some people, huh, bug?” There is soft laughter in the background.
“Shut it, Lupin. I can hear you. You guys know you can’t shag at a kids summer camp, right?”
“Don’t worry I’ll keep your brother under control.” Remus’ voice interrupts his brothers whines.
“You better.”
“You’ll be fine, kid. If I can do it, so can you.” That’s true, Remus isn’t the most social out of the Marauders.
“Whatever, bye.” Regulus hangs up the phone before Sirius can finish his drawn out ‘Bye!’ And kissy noises.
“Are you riding with us or the girls?” Barty comes into the main room of their shared dorm, they need to get out soon. Dorms are closing for the summer and they aren’t returning for Sophomore year. They all, them being Reg, Barty, and Evan, plan to get a flat to finish out the rest of their college years. They shared a dorm at Hogwarts for freshman year, but the summer is upon them and they have other things to do.
“You guys, I guess.” Regulus puts his phone away to help Barty take the bags to the car.
“Come on, remember as kids when we went to camp there. Y’know that’s where you had your first kiss.” Barty winks as they step into the dry London heat.
“You had your first kiss there to, remember when you were ‘just experimenting’ and though I was ‘cute enough’” Regulus uses air quotes around the things Barty had told him when they were 13, they thought they were so grown up. Feels like way more than just five years ago, and now they are going to the exact same place, weird.
Godric's Hollow is a expensive summer camp in the English countryside where rich people send their kids so they don’t have to deal with them for a few months. It’s where Regulus, Barty, Evan, Pandora, and Dorcas all met. They have been best friends since. Barty and Reg both met each other there when they were only 7, Reg was separated from Sirius and Barty took the opportunity to talk to the kid that sat in the corner in silence looking horrified. But it all worked out well. Pandora and Evan came a couple of years later, and then Dorcas when they were 13, their family had become recently wealthy and had heard that all the wealthy families sent their kids to Godric's Hollow. So that’s what they did.
Sirius had made a few friends there too, Remus, Peter, and James. Regulus despised James Potter, always has, kinda. He first met James when he was 7 and found him extremely loud and obnoxious. And years later when Regulus saw him take his shirt off and realised he liked it, he hated him even more.
There is a fine line between love and hate, Regulus tends to use that line as a jump rope.
“I heard Minnie took the place over from old Dumbledor.” Evan comes out with the last of their stuff.
“Oh thank god, I hated that old prick.” Barty grumbles downing another RedBull.
“Yeah, I miss Minnie. She was always my favourite.” Regulus gets in the front seat getting cussed at by Barty.
“Well you were also her favourite so.” Evan gets in the drivers seat to start the car.
“I’m so excited to see the kids, I’ll make them just like me.” Barty announces.
“No!” Evan and Reg say in unison, Barty is a great friend, loyal, funny, protective, but not exactly the person you want as your kids role model.
Barty is a bit of a pyromaniac, he had a thing for fire and was never the safest. But he is going to be a criminal defense lawyer so he has to be doing something
“Can we get coffee?” Regulus asks when they turn into the main part of the city.
“Sure, Stella. Hey, Junior, want anything from Starbucks?” Evan yells at Barty in the back.
“Umm, a nitro cold brew pretty please.” Barty says going back to his phone. Evan turns to Reg.
“Iced espresso with Carmel syrup.” Regulus checks his blood sugar on his phone, he is low because he hasn’t ate today yet so he should also get something to eat too.
“Anything to eat?” Evan says reading his mind.
“A muffin, please.” Regulus says putting his phone away as Evan pulls into the drive through.
After they order and Evan pulls up a bit he turns to Reg, Regulus prepares himself to be mothered.
“Did you pack all the Omnipods you’ll need?” Regulus nods. “And some extra just in case?” Regulus nods again. “Your extra snacks?” Regulus nods again. “Your meds?” Regulus nods. “Anxiety and glucose?”
“Yes, Evan. I have everything. I have been doing this since I was ten, I know what I need.” Regulus rolls his eyes, he was diagnosed as a type one diabetic at ten and has been babied by literally everyone he has ever met since then.
Is your blood sugar low? Is it high? Do you need something to eat? Are you sure you should eat that? Do you want to check the nutrition facts? Do you feel sick? I had a grandpa with diabetes and he lost a leg, will that happen to you?
And the answer is always no, no his blood sugar is fine. And if it isn’t he can check it himself. And no he will not loose a leg, your grandfather lost his leg because he wouldn’t exercise and got type two diabetes. Please know the difference before asking a million stupid questions.
“Sorry, just making sure.” They fall into a silence as they wait for their order, the music is soft as it starts raining. Regulus sits and watches the rain patter on the shield, little drops traveling down to the ends of the window.
The drive is long and boring, Regulus does his best to keep Evan instrested in conversation but finds them both just becoming more and more bored. So he turns on a podcast, it’s about some serial killer. They both sit silently listening to a young woman talk about gruesome murders and Barty’s faint snores in the back. Regulus turns around to send Dorcas and Pandora a picture of him cuddled up with a pillow and a blanket, clearly the RedBulls and coffee didn’t help him all that much.
Panda🐼- we r about an hour away
Hbu
Reggie⭐️- same
Evan isn’t the safest driver
Panda🐼- Niether is Cassie
All our friends are delinquents
Reggie⭐️ hearted a message
Regulus puts his phone away and turns back to Evan who is talking passionately about where the murder went wrong and how if he did it he wouldn’t have been caught. Yeah, this is the guy who is about to spend two months in charge of 15+ children.
“Your brothers calling.” Evan says pointing to Sirius caller ID that is displayed on the front screen.
“What’s up, Siri!” Regulus says accepting the call.
“Are you guys there yet?” Sirius voice rings through the car speakers.
“No, about an hour away. You?”
“Fuck, like two hours. James bloody forgot something when we were already 30 minutes into the drive.”
“I didn’t forget! Remus did, he said he would get it!” James’ voice comes from the back.
“I never said that and you’re a grown man, pack your own tooth brush.” Remus says and Regulus laughs.
“What are you laughing at, baby Black. You should be grateful cause I would have just took yours.” James has called him the same names since they were children. It is never just Regulus, it’s always baby Black, or Reg, or Reggie, or Regs. Never just his name. It’s infuriating truly, but Regulus can’t make himself mad.
“Gross.” Regulus says getting a small laugh out of Lupin.
“Did you remember all your stuff, bug?” Sirius says and Regulus rolls his eyes.
“Yes. You all need to leave me be.”
“Okay, okay. Just checking, call me when you get there! Drive safe.” Regulus hangs up in the midst of all his brothers kissy noises.
Regulus ends up falling asleep soon after, he really does feel bad because he left Evan in a car with two sleeping people and no one to talk to. But Evan says he doesn’t mind after shaking them both awake. They get there at the same time as the girls.
“This is gonna be so fun! Just like when we were kids!” Pandora jumps out of the car running to them, Dorcas close behind.
“Mhm.” Regulus mumbles getting his bags.
“Oh, cheer up. You loved this place as a kid!”
“I know, I know.”
“The kids will probably think he is a camper too.” Barty walks up and ruffles Regs hair. Regulus shove his and huffs, they have always made fun of his height, they are pretty valid though. It isn’t his greatest strength.
“Aww, Barty be nice. It’s not his fault he is 150cm.”
“160!” Regulus argues back earning a few arguing noises from his friends but decides to move on.
“Me and Reg are going to check in.” Pandora announces for them, Regulus just shrugs and walks with her.
“Who do you want to get paired with?”Panda asks as they walk.
“I don’t know, Barty, Evan, Sirius? Maybe Lupin. It’s only two people per cabin right? It used to be only one.”
“Yeah they changed it a few years ago. So there is no one else, you want to be roomed with?” Pandora looks at him suspiciously and Regulus can’t think of why.
“No, I don’t think so?”
“Not even a tall handsome tan boy with glasses?” Pandora asks earning a punch to the shoulder. “Ow, no fair your stronger than me!”
“One, I have invited you to the gym with us and you not so kindly told us to fuck off. And two, shut up! You all are so annoying.” Pandora giggles at him and leads him to the front office.
“Minnie, you in here?” Regulus knocks on the door and peaks his head in. Minerva’s head perks up and a large smile covers her face when she see’s them.
“Oh my god, look at you two! I know you both would be so, so pretty!” They all laugh as she engulfs them in a large imbrace.
“We missed you too, Minnie.” Pandora giggles as Minnie pulls them back to look them over. “Should we get our schedules?”
“Of course! So how are you two doing? College going well?” She asks as she looks through her file drawer.
“Good, school is going well. I am majoring in Art history, working to become a Professor. And Panda is getting her Psychology degree to become a criminal psychologist.” Regulus tries to sum up their future careers the best he can.
“That sounds lovely! Oh, I missed you kids so much! Here are you schedules, my dears. It has your cabin number, who your sharing it with, your group of kids. Reggie Baby you are with the fox’s.” She says still using the nickname she gave him when he was just 7 and she found him crying by a tree. “They are ages 7 to 8. And Pandora, lovely. You are with the butterflies, they are ages 10 to 11. Okay, I’ll let you go settle in, but please come talk to me soon!” She ushers them out to check their schedules.
“I got Lily!” Pandora exclaimed when they stepped outside. He smiled for her and checked his.
“God damnit.” He mumbled.
“Who did you get? Oh.” She giggles.
“It’s not funny! I can’t do this!” He hides his face in his hands.
“It’s not that bad, James is nice it could have been worse.” She tries to reason.
“No, it sucks. I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can. Because you’re a great brother who agreed to do this to make him happy. You have a week to get used to it before the kids come, okay?” She pats him on the back and stands up from the stump they sat on.
“Fine.” He grumbles and gets up to go to his cabin.
“Okay now go, we are supposed to do team building stuff later. Bye!” She jogs off to Lily, Mary, and Marlene.
“So you got Potter?” Dorcas comes up behind him with a giggling Barty and Evan.
“Mhm, you?”
“We got each other!” Evan and Barty exclaim in unison, annoying gits.
“I got Marlene. She is so fucking annoying. I was in a cabin with her one summer when we were younger and I about lost it. Don’t laugh at my short comings!” She hits a laughing Regulus.
“You were laughing at me!” He throws his hands up in surrender.
“No, those morons were.” She huffs and walks off to her cabin.
“See ya, Stella!” Barty and Evan walk off, what great friends he has, god.
He sighs and gets up to go to his cabin, 18. It’s not far from the cabin the kids will be in, it’s a tad smaller as it houses only two people instead of 16. But the bathroom is nicer so that’s good. And they get large twin beds as a posed to the tiny bunked beds the kids sleep it. How did he do that for so long?
He went ahead and chose the bed near a window since James wasn’t there to protest. He put all his stuff away and went to change into other clothes since he felt a little gross in his current ones, maybe a shower would be nice too.
The shower is small but they get hot water so as long as he limits them to 10 minutes.
He looked at himself in the mirror, he skin was at best, odd? He was born with epidermal nevus, which is just a birth mutation but his mother said it has to mean he is different from the other kids. It affects him in no way other than cause his skin to have two different colours. It really just looks like loads of freckles, in simpler terms his Blaschko's lines are visible while others aren’t. They don’t look bad just a darker brown colour than his skin.
He was really insecure of it when he was younger, thanks to his mother mostly, and refused to take his shirt off in front of people, since it only occurred on his torso and slightly bleed up to his neck and arms. Most people just shook it off as insecurity, which is normal for young boys. As he got older he started working on his body, going to the gym with friends almost everyday and eating healthier.
Because he learned that what his mother told him, which was less is better, was in fact not true.
Now he is more than confident enough to take his shirt off without worry. But he still can’t help but think about it when he sees himself.
He quickly showers and changes into black sweatpants and a tee shirt. He stepped out of the bathroom and comes face to face with James Potter, Regulus does not remember him being this tall.
“Hi.” James breathes out, his eyes are running up and down through Regulus body. It is making him feel smaller than normal.
“Sorry, umm I didn’t know you were here yet.” Regulus clears his throat making eye contact with James.
“Oh, yeah. Umm were are you going?” Is James nervous? Is The James Potter nervous?
“We are suppoosed to meet in the mess hall to meet everyone and stuff.” God, this is uncomfortable.
“Oh, yeah I’ll be right there.” James quickly put his stuff down and followed Regulus out. He tries not to think too hard on it. “Did you have a good drive here?”
Why is he trying to make conversation?
“Yeah.” Please stop.
“The car was being so weird for us, it’s not used to driving for so long. I guess we should probably take it out of London more. Or really just use it more, we walk most places so the car doesn’t get used often. Do you guys have that issue? What car do you have? Because we have a BMW, well I do we drove my car but Sirius called dibs on driving so.”
“Oh, umm…” Jesus, he still talks like he is about to explode. “Umm, I have a Volks Wagon, a beetle. But we drove Evan and Barty’s car, they also have a BMW.”
“Cool.” James suddenly looks embarrassed.
They don’t say anything to each other till they arrive at the mess hall.