Chapter 2
Christmas with Reggie had been a strange affair. Ever since his little brother had dragged him from his bed in the middle of the night and tried to scratch off the dark mark, Sirius had been concerned. He had begged James to let Regulus stay and James had taken one look at their faces, his concerned and desperate and his brothers, still with tear tracks running down his face and agreed. James had owled his parents immediately, with barely an explanation and they’d welcomed him in. That was something he loved about the potters, no questions asked, acceptance.
Reggie had gotten on the train and sat with his friends as usual but, upon disembarking he had immediately sought Sirius out and not left his side, ducking his head and avoiding eye contact with everyone. They had left the train station and headed over to the car park as a little group of three, James and Sirius bantering the whole time. Fleamont and Euphemia Potter were some of the kindest and warmest people he had ever met and whilst James embraced his father, he embraced Effie. Then they swapped. Effie was immediately fussing over them all, Regulus in particular, who stuck even closer to Sirius as a result. It didn’t escape his notice that Regulus flinched a little every time Effie or Monty moved too suddenly and from the look on Effie's face, she had noticed too.
The three of them crushed into the back of the car together and only once they were fully on their way did Regulus seem to breathe again. As though he had been waiting for something to happen. Possibly he was expecting his parents to turn up and escort him back. But as the journey continued and Sirius and James sang obnoxiously loudly to the music, Effie occasionally joining in, Regulus slowly relaxed.
Once they were nearly home, Effie switched off the music.
“Okay, let me check I’ve got everything right.” She said, “Remus is joining us on the 27th, yes?”
“Yes!” James nodded,
“Peter isn’t coming this year, because his family are going to Iceland?”
“Correct!”
“So its still only the usual four bedrooms?”
“Exactly!”
“And Regulus is going where Remus usually goes, and Remus is going where Peter usually goes?”
“All correct momma.” James nodded,
“Alright then, the rooms should be ready!”
“Thanks Effie.” Sirius smiled,
“Yeah, thanks mum!” James exclaimed, elbowing Sirius who cackled loudly.
Sirius cast a quick glance at Regulus. He was sitting with his arms wrapped around himself, staring unseeingly out of the window. Sirius grimaced. He was very glad Regulus wasn’t going home for the holidays. He wouldn’t want him to be alone with his parents when he was in such a vulnerable state. Undoubtedly they would talk him back into doing whatever nefarious deeds had led to him getting the dark mark in the first place. Then he would end up back where he had started, doing Voldemort's bidding. Sirius slung an arm around him. For once, since they were maybe eight, Reggie allowed it, even leaned in a touch.
Reggie settled in quickly. Effie had put him in one of the spare rooms. The Potters home was large yet welcoming. Seven bedrooms in total, one downstairs on the ground floor and the rest upstairs on the 1st floor. Usually, Remus took the room beside Sirius’s with Peter taking the one across from him. But Effie had put Regulus in Remus’s room so Remus would be in Peter’s room. Not that it really mattered, Remus ended up in Sirius’s room more often than not. Not that Effie knew. He was almost certain that she would be accepting, but the idea made him more nervous than he cared to admit. So he and Moony were still keeping things a little on the quiet side. Even though James and Peter knew, they still slipped quietly into each other's rooms after the others had all gone to bed. Moony claimed it was because he didn’t like to flaunt their relationship.
Honestly, it was sort of ridiculous. At Hogwarts, it was very obvious. He couldn’t exactly hide it when he was crawling into Moony’s bed every night. And even if he did wait for them to fall asleep first it would have become clear in the morning when he was still in Moony’s bed. Remus was spending Christmas with his parents, as usual, but would be joining them for the new year. Well actually he would be joining them just after Christmas. Moony wasn’t out yet to his parents either.
Regulus seemed nervous, as if he was walking on eggshells. When Sirius first arrived he had been exactly the same. Tiptoeing around the house, trying to keep out of the way and be helpful so Effie and Monty wouldn’t want to throw him out. Reggie was exactly the same. He tried to shut himself in his room but Sirius made sure to go out of his way to drag him into the family festivities. It was good for him. Good for both of them really. He briefly pulled James aside to ask him for his help in socializing Regulus. James had clearly mentioned it to his parents too, as they constantly asked Regulus to join them.
Christmas day was as chaotic as it usually was. Sirius awoke early, immediately waking up James. James groaned and smacked him in the face with a pillow.
“Fuck off Pads.” He muttered, trying to roll over.
“It's Christmas Prongs…” Sirius whined,
James grunted.
“Okay,” Sirius grabbed a pillow, “You asked for it!” He exclaimed, attacking James with the pillow.
James yelped and threw Sirius off of him, grabbing his glasses and leveling him a glare.
“Happy Christmas Prongs.” Sirius smiled cheekily,
“Happy Christmas you imbecile.” James snorted,
“I’ll get Reg, you get your parents?”
“Sirius it's 6am.”
“I know.”
James sighed, “Fine then.”
Sirius fist pumped before hopping off the bed. He darted down the hallway to Reggie’s room and threw open the door, running and leaping onto Reggie’s bed. He jumped directly on top of Reg with a gleeful shriek.
“Fucking hell Sirius!” Reggie yelped as he startled awake, shoving his brother off of his ribs,
“Merry Christmas!” Sirius yelled, “Come on,” As he dragged Reggie out of bed, down the stairs and into the drawing room.
To Sirius’s delight, Efffie gave Reg a present too. Just a simple scarf like his and James’s, but it clearly meant a lot to his brother. He pretended not to notice though, so as not to make him uncomfortable. Instead he focused on his gifts. He even went as far as to tease James that he had the better gifts and therefore Effie and Monty loved him more. James protested and yelled, making Sirius shriek with laughter at his earnesty. He tried not to think about the present he had bought for Regulus. He wasn’t sure when or even if he should give it to him. It was only a book, but Regulus had always been a fan of crime novels and when he’d seen it he’d immediately thought of his brother. It was neatly wrapped and hidden, sitting under his bed. Maybe he’d pull his brother aside later. Or just wait until everyone went to bed.
Eventually, Effie herded them all into the dining room for dinner. James immediately seized a cracker, offering it to his mother. The jokes were terrible but Sirius took great delight in telling them, snickering him to himself as he went through them. Effie planted her paper crown firmly on her head before turning to fix Monty’s which had already slid halfway down his face, covering his eyes almost completely. Sirius turned to James, starting to tease him about their gifts again. Effie laughed loudly as James immediately fell for the jibe, the conversation quickly devolving. Between him and James bickering and Effie and Monty laughing with each other and murmuring inside jokes, the noise levels quickly rose. He sent a few quick glances Regulus’s way, but his brother was sitting quietly, eating. Sirius tried a few times to bring him into the conversation but Regulus quickly shut him down.
After finishing up their supper, they returned to the drawing room. Regulus stayed behind. Sirius tried not to smile. He had done the exact same thing back when he’d first arrived. He flopped onto the sofa with a long sigh. God he was full. There was nothing quite like Effie’s cooking. Monty and James started to bicker over various board games and Sirius tuned them out. In two more days Moony would arrive. They had barely been separated for a week and already he was missing his Moony dreadfully. Two days. He promised himself. Two more days and then he could snuggle his Moony again… mmmh and kiss his beautiful face. Such a beautiful face. He was abruptly broken out of his thoughts by Prongs smacking him upside his head.
“Pay attention Pads.” James snickered,
“Why?” Sirius retorted, “Have you finally figured out what game to play?”
“Yes, actually.” James folded his arms,
Sirius waited but James just kept smiling smugly at him, “Fine.” Sirius caved, “What game?”
“Charades!” James exclaimed, “It's this muggle game dad found!”
“Hold on a moment James,” Monty admonished, “Wait for your mother and Regulus.”
James pouted but sat down anyway. Sirius returned to daydreaming about Remus. Regulus returned first, eyes looking a little red. Sirius pretended not to notice. Regulus sat awkwardly beside him. Monty and Effie curling up together on the other couch.
“Alright.” Monty announced, “We split into two teams and each team takes it in turn to pick a card. The person who picked the card doesn’t tell anyone what it says but must act it out whilst the other team members guess what the card says. Try to guess as many correctly before the timer runs out.”
“Easy.” James smirked,
Sirius snorted, “I bet you’re going to be terrible.”
“You’re going to eat those words!” James laughed,
“Alright, alright, calm down boys.” Effie laughed,
“Right.” Monty slapped his legs, standing up, “You boys can be a team and Effie and I will be a team.”
“We always are.” Effie smiled at him,
“I feel like that's an unfair advantage.” James muttered,
Sirius laughed, “Worried Prongs?”
“Never.” James shook his head.
Monty picked up a card turning to Effie, “Ready?” He asked,
“Ready.” She laughed.
Monty put the card down and began to mime… something. Sirius couldn’t hold back his laughter. A few seconds later, James was laughing too. Sirius risked a quick look at Regulus, who was also smiling. Monty lay down on the floor and started rolling around. Sirius accidentally made eye contact with James and they both lost it, clutching their stomachs as they laughed.
“A snake!” Effie shrieked,
“Yes!” Yelled Monty, hauling himself upwards.
Effie jumped up and grabbed a card. Monty flopped onto the sofa as Effie began to act. It took a moment but Monty eventually guessed correctly. They managed to guess a total of 4 cards before the 5 minutes ran out. Then, James leapt to his feet with a gleeful cry and snatched the nearest card. He pranced around the room in such a ridiculous manner that even Regulus was laughing softly. As James became more frustrated, Regulus started to guess. Sirius let them both struggle. Sirius eventually realized that James was trying to act as a unicorn, but gave him a few more agonizing seconds first.
“Regulus, you’re up.” James flopped back onto the sofa next to Regulus, “I don’t trust Sirius.” He muttered,
Regulus stood and awkwardly selected a card. He scowled at it for a moment before starting to mime.
“Eating!” James yelled immediately,
Regulus kept miming,
“Sitting and eating!” James yelled,
“Asking for the check!” He continued,
Sirius just started laughing again, not at all bothering to guess,
“Calling someone over? Oh, I know! Ordering food!”
“Yes!” Regulus exclaimed, “Sirius you could have helped.”
Sirius shrugged, “Could have.”
“It's your turn Pads.” James prompted,
Just as Sirius stood the timer rang out. They had run out of time… and after only guessing two correctly. James groaned, flopping back dramatically.
“Told you you’d be bad.” Sirius snickered,
“I was so not the problem!” James argued immediately.
Before the conversation could devolve anymore, Effie intervened - restarting the game.
They lost… badly. Sirius couldn’t help but laugh as James sulked. Regulus didn’t seem to mind either way, curling up on the sofa beside him. Sirius kept a careful eye on his brother. Effie vanished into the kitchen for a moment and Regulus immediately stood to follow her. Sirius snorted and shook his head. But seeing an opportune moment, he got up too.
“I'll be right back.” He murmured.
James nodded, not really paying attention.
Sirius quickly caught up to Reg, grabbing him by his shoulder.
“Hey, come with me for a moment?” He asked,
Regulus stiffened but nodded. Sirius led him upstairs, neither of them saying anything. The uncomfortable silence weighed heavily on him. He hurried along, trying to go faster so the silence would end sooner. He hated silence, it was unnatural to him. He quickly grabbed the present from its hiding place and thrust it into Regulus’s hands.
“Here,” He murmured, “It's not much but, I thought you’d like it…” he trailed off,
Regulus stared at the gift, his expression unreadable.
“You got me… a present?” Regulus asked,
“Yep…” Sirius nodded, gritting his teeth.
Regulus stood stock still, “Uh, thank you?”
“You’re welcome.” Sirius said quickly.
The awkwardness became too much and he dashed from the room before another word could be spoken. He retreated back to the drawing room, dropping down beside James and letting out a long breath. James shot him a concerned look but didn’t say anything. Regulus rejoined them later. Neither brother said a word.