Chapter Nine
It was finally October. Regulus had been walking back to the castle after a bit of pre-season flying on the pitch. It was late afternoon, nearly dusk, dinner would have just started but Regulus took his time in returning, not caring about missing the beginning of the meal.
He entered through the ground gates, noting that the trickle of students returning from afternoons on the outer grounds had nearly stopped, all of them having already gone inside for dinner. Except, that was, for a one James Potter. Great.
As soon as Regulus saw him, he averted his eyes in an effort to not make eye contact. It wasn’t that Regulus was avoiding him, he just avoided most people. James, however, was not an easy person to avoid. Especially, it seemed, when he was one’s caregiver.
Regulus tried to backtrack and take the roundabout way back into the castle but it was too late; James had seen him.
“Regulus!” he called, running after the younger boy.
Just hearing James say his name made something inside of Regulus melt. He couldn’t help but stop and turn around as James caught up with him. “Where are you off to?”
“My room. I have a potions essay to finish,” that wasn’t entirely true. Regulus had finished that essay almost a week ago and had just been putting off revising it.
“Got a minute to chat?”
Yes. Please do talk to me. “If you make it quick.”
James glanced around before lowering his voice to more of a whisper, “I went in and registered as your caregiver so they should stop bothering you now. Let me know if they keep it up.” Regulus nodded, secretly glad that James had gone and talked to them on his own so that Regulus wouldn’t have to. He didn’t like talking to people that much.
“Also I’ve got something to show you, come on.” James looked at him and took a step forward, waiting for him to follow. Regulus was always weary of people telling him to follow them, but this was James, so he trailed after James into the castle like a lost kitten.
James talked as they walked down the halls and Regulus got a feeling that the other boy didn’t like silence. Most of it was rambling mixed in with bits of ‘You’re going to love this!’ Regulus was skeptical but he listened to James anyway.
They stopped in front of the Come and Go Room but in the place of the usual door for club meetings was a light blue door painted with clouds that had a silver handle with the letter ‘R’ engraved in it. James came to a stop in front of the door and looked at Regulus to judge his reaction.
Regulus tentatively reached out and traced the letter on the door before holding it gently in his hand and turning it so that he could push the door open. He saw the inside of the room and he inhaled sharply in surprise. The room was just so… comforting. Even looking at it dissipated a deep tension inside of Regulus. James had made this room. James had made this room for Regulus. Just for him. And it was absolutely perfect.
Regulus took a step inside. The room was hardwood but with a giant rug right in the middle of it. Not one of those stuff, short, dull-looking rugs that could be found in any household of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. This rug was thick and was decorated to look like a night sky. Well- at least it was supposed to resemble a night sky. The stars were comically shaped and they didn’t make any constellations from what Regulus could tell, but it was the thought that counted.
There was a bit of furniture, but not much. A sofa, bookshelf, dresser, cupboard, and (Regulus noticed with a blush) a rocking chair. James followed him into the room, rubbing the back of his neck uncertainly. “I kinda already went into Hogsmeade and bought some stuff,” he said, “Just some simple things I thought you’d like, nothing too ridiculous.”
“You did?” Regulus asked.
James nodded, “Yeah, I’ve put most of it away or it’s lying around here somewhere. Do you like it?”
Oh. James Potter was so…nice. Sweet, thoughtful, considerate. James was a kind person; it made Regulus want to cry.
He opened his mouth to thank the other boy but all that came out was a whine caught in the back of his throat. He snapped his mouth shut and closed his eyes, tight.
He heard the sound of James coming towards him, “Regulus?”
Why did he have to say his name like that? He sounded so worried, like he wanted to help. No. Regulus was stronger than this, he was not about to slip, he-
“Regulus,” James whispered, “I’m here, it’s okay.”
That was enough. Regulus unclenched his jaw and relaxed his shoulders. He stumbled forward towards James and buried his head in the front of his shirt, whining.
James wrapped his arms around him and ran his hand up and down Regulus’ back soothingly. “Let’s stay in here for a while. Does that sound nice?”
Regulus nodded.
“Okay, why don’t we get you more comfy then?” James looked around the room from over his head. “It’s just about dinner, you hungry?” Regulus shook his head no. “Thirsty?” He shook his head again. “Do you want a binky then? I’ve got a few.”
Regulus peaked up at James through his ruffled hair and made a noise.
“Binky then. I’ll get it. Do you want blue? You like blue things, right?” James looked at Regulus, waiting for some sort of confirmation.
Regulus nodded with a smile, happy that James had remembered. James held his hand and walked the two of them over to a cabinet. He opened it up and inside it was amazing. There were snacks in there as well a shelf of bottles, sippys, and binkys. There were also a couple of bibs and a few other trinkets. He had planned on grabbing a blue one but Regulus got his eyes on a light gray one with a bunny on it and immediately went for that one.
He tugged on the sleeve of James’ jumper to get his attention and pointed at the one he wanted. James caught on quick and reached up to grab the binky for Regulus and gently pop it into his mouth.
Regulus happily accepted the binky but it reminded him of his rabbit back at home and he got a bit sad. He missed his rabbit. He whined through the binky and looked up at James with a pout, hoping that he could fix the situation.
“Is something wrong?” he asked. Regulus responded with another whine. “Okay, you wanna give me an idea of what it is?” Regulus grabbed ahold of James’ arm and pulled lightly on it.
“You want to go somewhere?” Regulus shook his head. “Do you feel funny?” Another no. “Umm… oh! Did you want to hold onto something? A stuffie maybe?” Regulus nodded at this. James took his hand and took him over to something which Regulus had yet to take notice of, a toy box. James opened it and Regulus was pleased to see that the inside was neatly organized.
Near the top of the box, was a black cat stuffie that James handed over to Regulus. The smaller boy took it gingerly into his hands and held onto it tightly. James smiled softly at the sight. With a binky in his mouth and a kitty in his hands, Regulus pulled out his pebble and handed it to James.
James turned it around in his fingers for a moment before mumbling a spell that Regulus recognized and pointing his wand at the small stone. In a moment, the tiny rock had transformed itself into a light blue security blanket. Regulus eagerly took it from James and sat down on the floor with all of his things, very contently sucking on the binky as he set the stuffie down on the blanket and began to look at it curiously.
The stuffie looked new. Its ears were clean and perky and it felt full and fluffy when Regulus held it. He looked at the small friend and considered it. What to name the little thing? It looked dark like the night sky. It reminded Regulus of the darkness that a certain spell brought about, “Noxie…” he said softly.
James looked down at him with a smile before lowering to sit on the floor next to him. “Noxie? Is that your new stuffie’s name?” he asked.
Regulus nodded and hugged the toy to his chest proudly. “No’ie.” he repeated, not quite managing to say the name.
“And what do you and Noxie want to do today?” James asked, reached out to lightly ruffle Regulus’ hair.
The little one thought about it for a moment. “Bocks?” he asked, pointing at the toy chest Noxie had come from.
“You want some building blocks?” James repeated, going over to the chest to search through it. A moment later, he pulled out a small basket of wooden building blocks. Regulus clapped his hands excitedly. Some were brightly colored with smooth edges while others had labeled pictures and carved in letters on their sides.
James brought the basket over to Regulus and dumped a few of the blocks out in front of him. Regulus took hold of the nearest one and examined it with two hands. It was one of the smooth blocks, simple and red. Regulus ran his finger over the side of the small cube and then sat it down in front of him to look at the next one.
After about four more blocks, Regulus got bored of this and instead started to build. He took the smooth red block and an alphabet one with the letter S and stacked them on top of one another. Then, he took another block and stacked it on top of those two. He grabbed three more blocks and pillied them in the same way right next for the original three blocks.
James watched him curiously as he continued to stack the blocks into towers. Not all of the stacks had three blocks, some had two or even five or six. Regulus wasn’t exactly sure of what he building or if he was building anything at all, it was just fun to balance the blocks on top of each other.
When he felt that he had stacked the blocks enough, he looked to James and pointed at the towers questioningly, hoping that he liked them. Regulus had worked very hard on his towers. James smiled first at the blocks, and then at Regulus, reaching over to ruffle his hair. “You did this all by yourself? It’s brilliant!” he said.
Regulus hummed happily and scooted closer to James on the fluffy carpet. He tried to speak but his words slurred as he said them through the rabbit binky, “Wa’ stowu ‘ame.”
James looked at him quizzically for a moment before his eyes widened in understanding. “You want me to read to you?” he clarified. Regulus nodded vigorously, squeezing Noxie tightly.
James stood up, brushing his legs and then offering a hand to Regulus. He took James’ hand and stood up next to him but he didn’t like it, his legs felt all shaky. With Regulus’ hand in his own, James started walking over to the bookshelf. It was clear that Regulus was slowing his pace significantly. He tried to keep up with James but he was going so fast and Regulus’ legs didn’t want to go. Each step he took was wobbly and after a couple of feet he couldn’t do it anymore and dropped back down to the ground.
James caught his fall, “Woah there, you alright?” Regulus looked up at him timidly. Was James mad? Regulus hoped he wasn’t. He hadn’t fallen on purpose. He tried to push himself off the ground so that he was standing again but he couldn’t quite manage it. He needed James’ help.
Regulus didn’t want to ask James for help and he didn’t have to. The older boy helped Regulus to his feet and then proceeded to scoop him up into his arms. Regulus was grateful that he wasn’t expected to walk all the way to the bookshelf. It was on the far side of the room and he really disliked the idea of going all the way over there.
They reached the bookshelf and James grabbed a red book with a Quidditch team on the front cover. The players were laughing and lightly roughhousing with one another, Regulus smiled at the scene. James then took them over to a couch and set Regulus down on his lap. He covered Regulus with his blankie and once the little boy was comfortable, James read him story after story after story. Regulus loved it.