Chapter 1
Having to babysit a 3-year-old in his prime was not on Regulus Blacks’ new-year to-do list. But what can a guy do when the baby is his very own adorable nephew, Draco Malfoy.
Having Narcissa take over the black family’s business after Voldemort’s demise was one of the best things he has ever done. He got to spend time with his nephew three days a week and could just sit around doing the things that he liked for the rest of his life. And why should he not, he deserved it.
After defeating the dark lord by finding his Horcruxes and killing him in a surprise attack, Regulus was acclaimed as a national hero. Which mind you, he did not care for. The dark lord was just a bitch who had to show up out of nowhere and ruin his perfect plans. So, the obvious plan was to take him down because the noseless creature was ruining his plans for a perfect future. Although the perfect future did not come true, at least there isn’t a slimy git running around trying to do world domination or whatever.
As he got ready to go pick up Draco, his phone started ringing.
Regulus knew that no one other than Narcissa would be calling him at 6 a.m. on a Friday. Regardless, he answered the phone.
"REGULUS ARCTURUS BLACK WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU" her voice boomed over the phone.
Regulus rolled his eyes and replied,
"At home, getting ready."
"ALL I ASKED WAS FOR YOU TO COME PICK UP DRACO, NOT GET READY FOR A MEAL WITH THE PRESIDENT. I SWEAR IF YOU SHOW UP IN FUCKING DRESS ROBES IM RESIGNING."
Narcissa Black Malfoy was his lovely cousin. Although he would never admit it out loud, she is the reason why Regulus is who he is today. Since early childhood, he has looked up to her, always fascinated by how she always had the cool and cold demeanour, the perfect emotionless blank face, always following orders, never letting out what was on her mind; she was the perfect description of calm and calculating, the exact opposite of his brother, who was loud, rebellious and never knew when to shut up. In a way, he was some parts Bellatrix, although that would be a bit far-fetched as Bella was batshit crazy. Narcissa was his light in that household when even his brother had abandoned him. Always talking to him in her calming voice, never forcing him to do or say something he didn't want to. She was always there for him, just like he was for her. With both losing their siblings, Bella going to prison, and Andromeda and Sirius running away, never contacting them. They only had each other to rely on.
"I agreed to be there by five. It's four minutes to five right now, and I won’t leave a second before four fifty-nine. You know, I hate being late or early for anything." Regulus said as he dropped down on his sofa, which was right in front of the fireplace that he would use to floo himself to the Malfoy manor.
The call got cut off, which probably meant that she was coming herself.
After a minute or two, the floo flashed green, and instead of the tall and black-blonde figure of his cousin, he was met with the short and silver-haired head of his nephew, covered in dust, smiling up at him.
He dropped his phone, bolted out of his seat, picked up the boy, placed him on the couch, and started dusting him off.
"Mon Soliel," he whispered in shock.
"oui" Draco replied, smiling at him.
"Ta maman folle"
He said, still in his shocked state, and at that, Draco just started laughing hysterically. Regulus smiled at the scene before him. He would never get tired of his nephew and his antics; it was a universal fact to him that no one was more adorable than Draco or Luna, which may be due to his bias towards the two angels who have taken over his heart since the moment he saw them. They could do no wrong in his eyes.
He picked up his phone from where he had dropped it on the sofa in his hurry and called the person responsible for this. After a few rings, she picked up
"Are you absolutely crazy Cissy? In what world did you think it was safe for him to use the floo? He can’t even speak properly yet, and you sent him alone through the floo. What if he got lost, the connection was distorted, or he ended up in a different place?" he said an angry tone.
The person on the line just laughed and spoke.
"Détends-toi mon éheile, c’est complètement sûr, j’ai un tracker sur lui. Et j’ai eu cette nouvelle version améliorée du floo où vous pouvez écrire l’adresse du floo de connexion que vous voulez aller sur un papier et l’insérer dans une fente. C’est une nouvelle chose créée pour les personnes qui ne peuvent pas parler afin qu’elles puissent également utiliser le floo. Bien que j’étais un peu inquiet qu’il ait pu rester coincé, mais bon, il l’a fait.”
The panic in him washed away. “Mais quand même. J’arrivais littéralement dans 3 minutes; vous auriez pu attendre.”
“No, I couldn't; I have places to be and documents to sign.” The reply came. “Do me a favour and don't get him ice cream, even if he begs. He has had it for 3 days in a row now, and I was thinking of visiting Bella on Sunday. want to come along."
"Okay, and I’ll check my schedule for Sunday and get back to you.”
“Reg, you're unemployed. What schedule do you have?"
“I’ll let you know that I have an up-and-thriving flower café business that is a very popular spot in London and have plans to open a new branch in Paris,” he said, annoyed by her choice of words.
Yes, he is kind of unemployed at the moment, so what. He has a whole generational wealth in his gringotts account and a thriving cafe-cum floristry business, which he co-owned with his best friend Evan, but that was only in name as most of the work was done by Barty, who surprisingly turned out to be very good at managing a business.
The cafe did well enough to attract lots of customers year-round, although he’s had suspicions that people go there for the baristas rather than the coffee or flowers.
The baristas in question being his best friends Evan and Barty.
“Yeah sure, okay look I'm in a hurry. You know the drill keep him engaged no electronics. Try making him practice magic and have fun. I am serious about the electronics. I’ve seen what it can do to one’s mind; Zara’s child is addicted to it, and I don't want Draco to end up like that."
“Okay Mom, got it bye.”
“Okayy love you,” she said, cutting off the call.
“Well, Draco, what do you say? You let me sleep for 2 more hours, and I don't tell your mommy we had ice cream deal,” he said while picking up the boy from where he was playing with his toys on the ground.
The said boy giggled and nodded his head.
"Good, because once your uncle Reggie has slept enough, we are going to go out and have lots of fun, aren’t we?" He said as he let him back onto the ground.
"Yay!" he squealed as he ran around the room.
“kreacher"
Regulus called out.
The house elf appeared out of nowhere.
“Yes master"
“Could you please look after Draco for a while? I want to catch up on some sleep."
“Of course, master, Kreacher will keep an eye on Master Draco while he plays."
“Thanks a lot. Please wake me up in an hour and a half.”
“Of course, master, now young master Draco, come along. I have something waiting for you in the garden. You will love it," Kreacher said in a croaky but sweet voice as he led Draco out of the room.
With that, Regulus fell onto his bed, thinking about the long day he had ahead. He had planned to meet up with his friends at Rosiers (the coffee shop that he owned), which would be a good thing for Draco as well, allowing him to play with Luna. Being just a year apart, Draco and Luna were very close. Their group consisted of Draco Luna Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. Luna being Draco’s cousin and the other two being Narcissa’s best friends, Ms. Zabini and Mrs. Parkinson's kids became fast friends.
He leaned against the headrest with his phone in his hand and opened Instagram. He opened his fake account that he used to stalk Sirius and his friends. After breaking things off with James and doing a very horrible job of trying to move on from him, James's friends, his brother included, cut Regulus out of their lives. Which was the end goal, but he would never admit that a small part of him misses all of their presence in his life.
Remus sharing very similar personality traits with him and making it very easy to get along with him; Peter and his silly and dirty jokes, which were the most horrendous stuff he had ever heard; Lily and her obsession with books, which made both of them debate certain characters for hours at times; Mary and her opinions on everyone and everything; he was loosely in touch with Marlene since Dorcas and Marlene were together and thriving. which meant that he had to meet her at least once a month because Dorcas insisted on it.
But most of all, he missed his brother, Sirius Black.
They had just made up after not interacting with each other for almost a year and a half since Sirius had run away from home to the potters.
During that year, Sirius started ignoring his presence, and that was why Regulus started his very elaborate and dramatic plan to get revenge. He would make sure that karma was a bitch to every single one of the black family members that had done wrong to him or Sirius. That didn't excuse the relatives who did tax evasion and rich people crimes either. His plan was going smoothly until the dark lord showed up, and he had to switch tactics. He played the part of the perfect servant, getting close to him and gaining his trust. During those times, he had no one to rely on but Narcissa and Evan. Barty was in a dark place at the time due to his dad, and Dorcas wouldn’t talk to him due to his affiliation with Voldemort. And he voluntarily never sought out Pandora, as she wanted no part in the war, and if she was ever found because of him, he would lose himself. Being neutral was never an option for him, ever since Bellatrix had gone crazy and involved herself with the dark lord.
On his fake account he opened Mary's story, which was usually always up as she was some kind of an influencer.
A picture of Marlene carrying James popped up, with Peter posing with a black dog in the background. That made him turn off his phone immediately.
That was enough for the day he decided as he grabbed his nightshade from the nightstand, took a small dose, and knocked himself out for over an hour.
And as always, he lost consciousness to the thoughts of a man with round glasses, messy brown hair, and a smile brighter than the sun.