Day 14- Snowman- Dorlene with Harry
Dorcas is a notoriously light sleeper, she has to have thick black-out blinds, an eye mask, a heavy blanket and as little noise as physically possible to fall asleep. So, when her phone keeps beeping, over an hour before her alarm is set, she’s obviously annoyed. She pulls the mask up to the top of her head, grumbling some nonsense as she blindly reaches for her phone. Marlene stirs next to her, twisting in the blankets and folding a pillow over her ears.
“This better be good.” Dorcas’ voice is still croaky with sleep and she rubs her eyes as she tries to rip herself out of the comfort of sleep.
“Sorry did I wake you?” Regulus asks, even though it’s clear he did, and Dorcas softens immediately, Regulus would never call like this unless it was an emergency so she can’t be mad at him, she never really is anyway.
“Hey Reg, what’s up?” Marlene’s head peeks up from behind her pillow, Regulus is known to be chronically unreachable, he’s on his phone more often than not but if you message him? You better pray for a miracle.
“I’m really sorry to have to ask this but no one else is available,” Regulus is out of breath, and Dorcas can hear him encouraging Harry to put on his shoes.
“Don’t worry about it, what is it? Let me know what I can do to help.” Dorcas swings her legs out of bed, stretching them out as she speaks, prepared to sprint to Regulus’place if necessary.
“Um, I don’t want to say it right now, I’m still processing but I need someone to look after Harry, and James, Lily and Mary are all at work today, I can’t get ahold of Peter or Pandora, and this involves Sirius too, so can you look after him for a few hours maybe?” Regulus is rambling, completely away from his normal calm composed self that it makes her worry.
“Yeah, we’d love to take Harry for as long as you need,” Marlene gives her a thumbs up in confirmation, even though Dorcas already knew she’d agree, they love that boy and would do anything for him.
“Ok, thank you, we’re leaving in a second so we’ll be there in about 20 minutes if that’s okay?”
“That’s fine,” Dorcas stands up, already getting ready for the day, “And Reg,”
“Yeah?”
“Remember to breathe.” She hears him sigh deeply and feels a bit better knowing she managed to calm him even slightly.
They get ready quickly, waiting with bated breath, they don’t know what’s going on, or what the two will be like when they show up.
When there’s finally a knock on the door, Marlene practically dives for it, pulling it open to face them. She takes one look at Regulus' face and immediately looks back at Dorcas worriedly, she scoops Harry up, making plane noises as she ‘flies’ him into the other room.
Regulus steps in, closing the door behind him, takes one look at Dorcas and promptly bursts into tears. Dorcas pulls him in close, letting him rest his head on her shoulder, not caring about the tears seeping into her shirt.
“It’s going to be okay,” Dorcas strokes his hair back soothingly, trying to calm him. “What happened?” Regulus pulls back from her, apologising and wiping his face as he tries to breathe. Dorcas gets him to match hers, reassuring him gently. They can hear Marlene and Harry playing in the next room and slowly Regulus calms down.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to come here and cry all over you, I’m imposing enough as it is.” Regulus shakes his arms out, trying to pull himself together.
“Regulus, you’re my best friend, you’re not imposing, this is what I’m here for,” She smiles and smacks his arm gently in a friendly manner, “Now, tell me what’s up.”
“My mother is dead. And I’m not sad about it but I am at the same time.” Dorcas knows all about Regulus’ relationship with his parents, she has a special hatred in her heart for them and wishes them the very worst. She isn’t going to say it to Regulus but she hopes Walburga’s death was painful, she didn’t deserve to go peacefully.
“You’re allowed to be confused by it. You can be sad, happy, angry, devastated or not feel anything at all, you don’t have to know how you feel at all.” Dorcas starts, trying to make sure Regulus is really hearing her, taking in the words fully. “When did you find out?”
Regulus groans, burying his face in his hands, “Like an hour ago, I didn’t even react, just said okay, hung up and carried on making Harry pancakes, it wasn’t until I called you I even realised what had happened.”
“Well, that’s okay too,”
“I don’t think it is, I should’ve reacted, do you think I’m a bad person?” Regulus shakes his head before Dorcas can respond, “I need to go, sorry again, and thank you, I’ll see you soon,” He’s out the door before Dorcas even opens her mouth. She sends him a quick message, telling him she’s there for him and reassuring him that she doesn't think he’s a bad person.
Harry peeks his head around the door, waving excitedly at Dorcas, “Where did Papa go?”
Dorcas walks over, crouching down in front of Harry, who doesn’t seem to have noticed anything strange going on, “He had to go deal with something, so you get a fun day with your Auntie Dorcas and Auntie Marlene!” She bops Harry on the nose and smiles, laughing when he giggles and returns the gesture.
“Everything alright?” Marlene watches them with a smile, no concern visible to Harry, but Dorcas can tell she’s worried so she shakes her head discretely, not wanting to try and explain in front of Harry. He, however, is a very observant boy and peers between the two of them curiously.
“Now, Harry,” Marlene crouches next to the two of them, where Harry stands between Dorcas’ arms in a small hug, “As our very special guest, what would you like to do today.”
This seems to please Harry, who immediately forgets his confusion or worry to bounce on the balls of his feet excitedly, pushing his glasses up with the palm of his hand.
“Can we make a snowman!” Harry’s excitement is contagious, especially when the adult feels the same joy, so Marlene is immediately taken with the idea. “Papa said we’d make one but then he was sad, and he said we might not be able to anymore,”
“Well, how about you make one with us now, and then when you and your papa make one you can tell him how much better ours is.” Dorcas laughs, tickling Harry to make him forget his worries. He’s got Regulus’ worry, Lily’s compassion and Mary’s ability to pick up the smallest details but that's not enough to erase James’ attention span.
“C’mon,” Marlene stands up and offers her hand to Harry who takes it, “let’s go pick out a scarf!” They run off down the hallway yelling and laughing and Dorcas watches them with a fond smile. Who would’ve thought a snowman could bring so much joy?