"they say home is where the heart is, but that's not where mine lives"
July 1971
“I’m going to James' house, wanna come with reg?“ Sirius asked his younger brother.
“Yes, please” came the polite reply of Regulus Black.
Both boys headed to the floo and there they threw some powder to transport them to Potter Manor, they’d only be gone a few hours. Not that their parents would notice any way.
Once the green fire lit to signal the arrival of incomers, Euphemia Potter went to go check. There she saw two little boys, one of age eleven and the other of age ten, standing out of the fireplace slightly covered in soot. She smiled warmly at them, helping the boys dust off some of the powder from their pristine robes. Regulus seemed to pout at the fact that not all the powder was coming off so with a fond like sigh, Euphemia pulled out her wand to cast a simple cleaning spell at their clothes. She was rewarded with the beaming smile the tiny black sent her way and the awe in both their expressions at the display of magic.
She started to walk away after to go back to the kitchen where she was baking cookies and could hear the slight padding of footsteps that indicated that they were following.
“Are you guys thirsty? Hungry?” she asked.
Sirius looked at Regulus before he turned back to her saying “A glass of water is fine Mrs.Potter”
Euphemia glanced at the two boys with a nod, she turned to grab a glass to fill with water from her fridge.
“Here you go dear,” she placed the cup in front of Regulus that gave her a timid smile in thanks.
Sirius started to walk over to the oven, peering inside through the see through glass, “Are you baking cookies Mrs.Potter?”
The older of the two asked her as he smiled widely at her, glancing at her and the oven.
“Yes I am, would you guys like one when they’re all finished?” She asked the boys as Regulus was standing awkwardly in his previous spot, his glass of water now empty placed back on the counter as Sirius stood up to go by his brother.
“Yes,” they both replied in unison. She smiled at them before telling them that they can go find James in his room. At that Sirius and Regulus looked at each other before racing off through the house. She chuckled to herself at that, checking the cookies before going back to cleaning any leftover dishes.
Sirius knew James Potters room by memory. He could get there with his eyes closed, at least he thinks so. Regulus Black wasn’t exactly friends with James, but James was Sirius' best friend and Regulus went wherever Sirius did which was why he was there in the first place.
Sirius and Regulus stopped in front of James Potter rooms door. On it was a sign that read
“wizard property ☀️
james potter residence”
Sirius rolled his eyes at the sign while Regulus smiled a tiny smile, as Sirius decided to knock. He was a Black after all and he still had manners. After a few moments there was some footsteps being heard through the door before it was opened by another. There stood James Potter, only an inch or two taller than Sirius, but both boys were taller than Regulus. Regulus looked up at James with wide eyes, never quite getting used to seeing him while Sirius and James grinned at each other. Neither of them noticing his reaction.
Sirius started walking into the room as he quickly said hey to James, he started to talk and talk about whatever came to mind. Regulus thought James hadn’t noticed him as he began to pout following the two, before James turned back to look at Regulus flashing him a quick smile and a quick greeting of “Hey Reggie” before turning back to the older black. Regulus started to smile again at that.
Sirius went to sit on the big bed with red covers and a red overhead, that had dangling vines and lights intwined at the top. James sitting next to Sirius as Sirius began to talk about quidditch.
Regulus decided to snoop around while the boys were distracted. He always loved to see what new things James had in his room in every visit. First he went to his desk. There he could see scattered scrolls of paper, some with writing and some with not. A box of a chocolate frog. A tiny collection of wizard cards. Some new quills. But there was another thing that hadn’t been there last time, Regulus’ curious ten year old mind started to reach for it. It was a tiny black box. He was holding it in his hands when he decided to glance back up at the other boys, he saw Sirius was still going on about he thinks it was about Hogwarts now, but James was peaking at him.
His head was turned a bit his way as he was glancing over at what he was doing. Regulus didn’t know if he should put the black box away, just in case he did so. His heart clenching in sadness in not knowing what was in it. He decided to find out some other time. Continuing to snoop around the desk, Regulus decided to pull out a drawer to simply find a small stash of candies, he heard James speak to him, “Grab any you want Reg, it’s okay, I don’t mind.”
He glanced up at James while Sirius paused in what he said, both of them looking at him as he nodded, “Get me a peppermint please Regulus.” Sirius said before turning back to James and continuing to rant about something else.
Regulus looked away as he searched through the pile for what Sirius wanted then grabbing a small packet of every flavor beans. He closed the drawer before walking to Sirius and handing him the mint. Standing a foot away after to open his own bag of candy, popping one of the blue colored beans into his mouth, mindlessly grabbing another yellow looking one to give to James.
James who was still paying attention to Sirius, responding when given the chance, grabbing the bean from Regulus' fingers before plopping it into his mouth. “Thanks Reg,” he said still watching Sirius.
He gave a small nod, lingering a second or two to stare at James before going to a different part of the room to snoop. This time he headed to the walk in closet that was directly in front on the opposite side of James’ bed. There he opened the door and flicked the light switch on as he took some steps inside. Grabbing beans to plop into his mouth as he gazed around. There was many different clothes in the closet. Most of it was wizard clothing but Regulus could recognize some muggle ones too, they looked like the ones that were in the magazines Effie had in the living room sometimes. There was robes, dress shirts, t-shirts, pajamas, different types of pants, shoes and variations of sweaters. All organized in their own category, Regulus saw a shirt he liked as he lifted his hand to touch the red plaid shirt, a type of pajama clothing piece.
He took his hand away as he plopped some more candy into his mouth. Chewing absently and turning to get out of the closet. He stood momentarily frozen when he saw James was just standing at the opening of the closet, leaning against the silver of wall by the door, watching him arms crossed and an amused expression on his face. Regulus just kept chewing the candy in his mouth waiting for James to speak.
“What’re you doing in here?” James said as he glanced around before looking back at him, questioning.
“Nothing,” was his own reply as he started to walk again to get out, passing by James in the process, who was just watching and followed him out back into his room.
“Where’s Siri?” he asked while James went to his desk and sat on the chair nearby. Regulus went to sit on the big bed instead.
“Went to go get us some cookies,” was the reply he was given.
“Oh, okay.” Regulus said as he finished the last of his candy and placed the wrapper into the pocket of his pants.
Sitting on the bed with his hands on his lap. Unsure of what to do now. James who was on his desk chair, decided to get up and grabbed the tiny black box from earlier. Glancing over at Regulus to see if he was watching, he was. James smiled at him as he opened the box, showing it to him. Regulus didn’t notice the way he was starting to lean off the bed trying to get a closer look. At noticing that James walked closer to Regulus until he was in front of him, showing him what was inside. It was a piece of jewelry, a silver bracelet, one that had a golden sun charm.
“Oh,” was his first thought, that’s what it was. Regulus was staring at in fascination but curiosity, he wondered if it was a present James got or if he was going to give it to someone.
“Do you like it?” James asked Regulus.
“Yes, it’s pretty Jamie,” he replied looking away from the piece back at James.
James who was staring at him taking in every piece of reaction he got before smiling at him brightly.
“Okay good because I’m planning on giving it to Sirius for his birthday, as a way to remember me when I don’t see him.”
Regulus nodded in understanding as James turned away to put the black box back at his desk where it was before, a slight sadness spreading through him at the thought that Sirius will get a gift and he will not. James turned to look back at him, noting the expression on his face.
“Hey, Regulus?” he glanced up at James, a slight pout on his face.
James smiled at him as he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll get you something too.”
Just as Regulus' expression brightened Sirius came back through the door saying, “Sorry I took so long, got distracted by all the cookies that I couldn’t help but eat some, but here are the ones I promised to bring,” grinning at them as James and Regulus went towards Sirius to grab a cookie each.
The sounds of chewing being heard for a few seconds. Once they were done they all went back downstairs to the kitchen to place the plate that Sirius had, had the cookies on, in the sink. Euphemia Potter entered the kitchen and asked the boys if they wanted to play outside as she was going to do some gardening. All of them nodded as James and Sirius raced outside. Regulus walking beside Effie.
Outside James and Sirius played some quidditch, with beginner brooms as they simply chased each other around in the space available to them. Their laughter could be heard throughout the yard. Regulus was helping Effie by passing her what she asked and making sure the other plants were all healthy and growing. By the time they were done, the sun had started to set, Regulus cleaned his hands with the hose Effie told him to put his hands under.
Making his way to the tiny swing inbetween the two trees that was placed near the gardens a few feet away. He saw as Sirius and James started huffing and were a bit sweaty after playing. As the wind blew through his own curls and he watched attentively to see what they did next. He hadn’t noticed when Effie had gone inside until she came back out with four glasses of lemonade on a tray. She brought the tray to James and Sirius, he saw as Sirius got his glass and started drinking very fast through the straw. Then saw when James grabbed two glasses after Effie seemed to nod his way, before grabbing her own glass and stayed standing next to Sirius before chatting with him. Regulus' eyes went back to James as he started walking towards him, one hand holding his drink and the other holding his own, as he started to drink his lemonade.
“Here you go Reg,” James said passing him the lemonade as he came to a stop to grab it and murmured a quick thanks.
Looking down at his feet as he began to take some sips through his straw. When he saw that James' feet didn’t move he glanced back up a bit confused. James was just watching him as he took his own sips. Before he saw that Regulus was looking back, smiled at him and turned away to walk back to Sirius and Effie.
Regulus stood up a few seconds after to follow and went with the others back into the house. There Effie told them all to go take a shower so James went to his room, and Sirius went to the guest room upstairs. Regulus decided to wait until Sirius was done. A little bit later, James came out of his room as Regulus was sitting in the hallway waiting.
“What’re you doing Regulus?” James stared down at him, he looked up and told him he was waiting. With James' head tilted to the side, Regulus saw him think for a second before telling him he can just use his shower instead.
Regulus thought about it before saying okay, and went into James' bathroom. There he snooped through the various shampoos and body washes, smelling each one before using the ones he liked the most. Once he was done, he walked out into James' empty room to find the shirt he was eyeing earlier folded on the bed on top of his own dress pants. A happy smile slid onto his face as he pulled on the clothes. Walking outside to find where Sirius and James went. He found them in the living room playing wizards chess. James saw him first, seeing that he wore what he laid out and smiled at him before turning back to the game. Regulus sat near them to watch. After the game ended with Sirius winning, Effie came back to tell them that they should go home now, that it was getting late and that they don’t want to miss dinner.
Effie handed Regulus his shirt from before, as she said goodbye to them. James was standing near as he hugged Sirius bye, James turned to Regulus telling him he can keep the shirt and gave him a quick hug as Sirius went through the fireplace, with one last look at James, Regulus followed after. Both boys headed to their own rooms after saying a small bye to each other, Regulus changed back into his own shirt, hiding James' shirt into a drawer before waiting for Kreacher to summon him for dinner, then both boys walked to the coldness that was the room of where dinner was being held. Walburga and Orion Black were waiting for them, none of them saying a word as they all ate silently throughout their dinner. Regulus and Sirius felt like the warmness of the Potters was the only thing that was keeping them alive throughout the whole ordeal as once they were done, they were dismissed back to their rooms to go to sleep. Overall, the boys did not regret a thing and looked forward to going to Potter Manor again.