Happy house

This is the day, today is the day when the sun met the stars and finally stopped being lonely.

And all by sheer coincidence.

"Love, I can't take care of James today, I have a meeting," Fleamont informs apologetically.

"Monty," Effie looks at him pleadingly "you really can't?"

"Love, you know I would love to but not today," he pursses his lips "I can't postpone the meeting, I already postponed it last week," he reminds with a sigh.

"Right, but–"

"I could arrange a babysitter but you know how Jamie reacts to that," he tries to find a solution, but no one has the time or strength to take care of James, and the babysitters... James doesn't like them very much and always cries when he is forced to stay with them. "He really can't go with you? I know you think it's too much for him, but maybe..."

"Maybe," she sighed "maybe he would meet other children or gain more empathy but, you know I hate to see him sad, if he befriends a child and it disappears from his life in a week, or the fact that there are so many children without parents who are lonely, he-"

"I know, Effie, but you can't hide all the evil in the world from him, instead you can teach him how to help," he smiles.

"Maybe," she nods and returns to baking, today she brings cakes and cupcakes to children from a nearby orphanage to celebrate the beginning of the holidays.

Minerva, a friend from Fleamont's school, needed help and Effie immediately offered her that, suggested to sweeten the children's lives a bit.

Effie admired her, Minerva had a big heart taking care of this house.

"Jamie," Fleamont enters his son's room with a soft smile "time to start a new day, little champion," James smiles broadly as he sits on his bed. Dad tickles him and he giggles, James loved mornings "time for breakfast," Dad takes the boy on his back and heads to the kitchen together, James laughs out loud .

"Toast!" James huffs excitedly and sits down at the table, his plate is red as well as the cup and cutlery, James grins widely. "Dad said I'm going on an adventure with you today Mum," James smiles at Effie.

"Oh yes sunshine, we'll go take sweets to the children at the orphanage, holidays are starting and one of your dad's friends, Minerva, the caretaker of a nearby orphanage, needed help cheering up the kids for the start of the summer," she explains to her boy.

"It's like a house with lots of kids and very few adults? Like in this cartoon Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends?"

"Something like that, Jamie," his dad smiles at him "remember to be nice to these new kids, okay?" He asks and James nods, taking this responsibility and committing to keep his word.

James is a proud nine-year-old but he still holds hands while walking with his mum, in the other hand he carries a basket full of cupcakes, they decide to take the bus, at this time, it shouldn't be crowded. James straightens his clothes, today he had tried very hard to choose them, he could choose them all by himself now, he used to wear red because it's his favorite color now so he's wearing a red shirt and green dungarees with bees embroidered on the straps.

He adjusts his glasses before knocking on the door of the big house, it looks like a real castle. James looks around curiously, smile on his lips.

"Oh hello Euphemia!" A lady about his mother's age opens the door with a faint smile on her lips, wearing a slightly stained white apron "how nice to see you, thank you very much for your help," she smiles gracefully, Effie smiles back "oh and who is that?" She looks at James.

"James Potter," the boy introduces himself politely.

"I didn't have anyone to leave him with," Effie explains "I hope that's not a problem, I'm sure James won't bother us, right Jamie?"

"I'll be good," James promises "I can help," he assures.

"Hm, thank you for your offer James, but I think you'll find it more interesting if you play in the playground," Minerva suggest.

"James, you can play with someone, if you look for me, I'll be in the kitchen with Mrs. Minerva, okay?"

"Okay," James nodded "but-"

"If anyone is rude, come to me, sunshine," she smiles and smoothes his hair.

"My boy, can I see you here for a moment?" Minerva calls inside "no, I don't want to know what important you are doing right now, it's probably mess, come meet someone," the boy mumbles something in response but comes, stands right next to the woman and looks curiously at James.

"Hi I'm Sirius," a black-haired boy with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes introduces himself.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, I'm Sirius, I'm serious."

"That's so cool!" James smiles broadly. His mother had already disappeared inside, but he didn't care much for it at the moment, curious about his new friend. "Shall we go to the playground?" James says after a while, Sirius gladly takes him there.

"Why are you here?" Sirius stares at his new friend "what happened to your parents? Were they bad?"

"Oh no," James shakes his head "my mom came to help Mrs. McGonagall and my dad was going to work, she had nowhere to leave me," he explains.

"Oh, I thought you were new here," Sirius admits, wrinkling his nose.

"And you? Why are you here?" James decides to ask.

"Well, I've been here for two years now," he shrugs.

Sirius came here two years ago when he was 8 years old, after another police intervention in his house. This time, during the trial, it was decided to take away parental rights from Mr and Mrs Black, they didn't even show up for the trial, it said quite a lot about their interest in their own children, Sirius didn't have a happy childhood, he was born in a home without love.

"My parents didn't try to get me back so I stayed here," Sirius just stopped caring about it after a while "and also there is the fact that nobody ever wants to take siblings," he explains.

"You have siblings?" James asks curiously because he is an only child himself and he always dreamed of having a brother or sister.

"Yeah, I have a little brother," he smiles "people are often interested in me saying that I am 'charming' but they don't want two, never," he purses his lips it's not like he wanted to leave this place, he felt quite comfortable in this house, he was more lucky here than in the previous one. "Reggie also gets a lot of attention because he is younger although he is no longer a toddler but still, his 7 years old is attractive to many families looking for a child. It's just easier for younger kids to find a home, but I'm not leaving without him and he's not leaving without me. And no one wants two, so here we are," he ends.

"That's sad," James' lip trembles.

"It's not bad," Sirius assures quickly, not wanting to make a new friend sad. "Mrs Minerva is very nice, she's lovely," he smiles, he likes her very much. He wouldn't be lying if he said she was his favorite adult in this world.

They have 4 divisions here.

The first one is yellow for the youngest kids, toddlers, they are sweet children from two years to five, it is the place through which the most children pass, the most desirable, the most frequently chosen. They're small and cute, they're called Hufflepuffs.

Then the second one is green for kids until the age of 10, they are also one of the more desirable groups, these children were called Slytherins because they cleverly still managed to crawl into the required criteria and get a lot of attention. They have a good chance of a new home.

The third one is red, this is Gryffindor, still brave enough to look for and dream of a new home, brave enough not to give up and count on adoption. These children find it harder to find a home, they are children up to 15 years of age.

And finally blue, Ravenclaws, those who are smart enough not to dream anymore and just wait until 18 to get out of here and start life, they usually have no chance of adoption.

They went inside, Sirius showed James around the facility, he wanted to show him his room. James looked around, it was a nice house, it just looked like a big house, it didn't feel like anything was wrong, it was warm, cozy and nice.

"Hi!" The little boy with dark curls suddenly exclaims cheerfully "oh, Sirius, have you got a new friend?" He asks, looking at his older brother with admiration. They looked alike.

"Yes," proudly admits the elder brother "his name is James," he introduces a new friend "and this is Regulus, my younger brother," he informs.

"Oh," Regulus grows serious and his young eyes scan the shape of the new boy, his eyes drill into James' face "your skin," Reggie squints "it's different," he decides after a moment.

This makes James uncomfortable because all of a sudden it's the mean kids at school laughing at him and excluding him from the group because of his skin color. James's skin was darker than the other children's and they didn't like it. James cried a lot because of it.

"Yes, that's so cool right?" Sirius joins the conversation, James frowns confused "Reggie doesn't like his freckles very much," he says as if it explains everything, it explains nothing.

"Sirius says different means good," the younger boy offers, Sirius had told him that often "it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who's a bit different, we don't have many children with problem like this here," he mumbles "and it's not about my freckles," he confesses more quietly.

This is not the moment to share and said his secret, but Regulus has spots on his body, he has patches of skin that don't match the rest of the skin, they are darker, luckily they don't reach his face but still, he has to keep his long sleeves down and it's annoying, it's sad when other kids laugh with him at the pool, that's why he stop going there.

"Sirius is very nice, isn't he?" James smiled at the younger boy.

He blushes suddenly at the attention he receives but decides to answer.

"He is," Reg nodded "Sirius says my freckles are kisses from the sun," you don't have to dislike them Reggie, they're like a gift, they're like sun kisses, I'm sure the sun couldn't hold on and kissed your cheeks because it loves you, it makes you special and that's good, that's very good Reggie that's what he said "that's sweet but not real, because if I got too close to the sun it would burn me, it's a huge ball of hot gas," he explains with a seriousness not befitting a seven-year-old boy.

"You're very smart, aren't you?" James praises with a smile, Reggie blushes biting his lip.

"Okay Reggie I'll be back later, I'm going to show James my room," Sirius announces proudly.

When they arrive, Sirius talks about everything and nothing and James listens and talks just as much.

They match their energy. It's unusual and somehow so great.

"James, we're going home," Euphemia informs her son "oh, hello, you must be Sirius, thank you for taking care of James," she smiles kindly at the other boy, Sirius grins at her.

James hugs Sirius as they say goodbye. Sirius frowns in surprise, he flinches at first but eventually hugs back.

"Mom, can we take Sirius home?" James whines when they get home.

"Jamie, he's not a stray," Euphemia sighs.

"But like, invite him to us sometime," he explains.

"Sure Jamie, sure," she smiles sadly, he's the first friend James has made in years and it breaks her heart that he is the boy from the orphanage, a wonderful boy but it's still hard.

"Dad! I MEET SOMEONE GREAT TODAY!" James shouts excitedly and jumps at his dad with a big grin.

And so ends one of the most important days in the life of James Potter.

James goes to the orphanage with his mum for practically the whole summer and meets with Sirius, his new best friend.

"Do you like cops?" Sirius asks as they both lie on the carpet. "I like, I think it's a job I want to do in the future," Sirius said one afternoon.

Sirius liked cops, they gave him a chance for a safe life, they let him live peacefully so that he wouldn't worry about every single moment.

Thanks to them he no longer lived with his horrible parents and the punishments went into oblivion.

The first time he did something wrong in orphanage, he panicked and when Minerva informed him that he was going to be punished, he had a panic attack. His punishment was to help in the kitchen, to carry the cutlery to the tables and it always ended up with such small things, for two years no one raised a hand on Sirius unless an angry kid.

The policeman was the first person to treat Sirius well, the nice man offered him hot chocolate and gave him a warm blanket, dressed wounds on his face and talked to him, he was very nice.

So yes, Sirius liked cops.

"Yes," James nods eagerly then grimaces "no sorry," he shakes his head. "I lied," he admits and his dad says it's not nice to lie. "I want you to like me so I said yes I actually prefer firemans," he explains.

Sirius nodded.

"They're cool," he agrees eventually.

Sometimes, Regulus joined them, sometimes he played with them. Sirius always let him because he loved him so much and James just didn't mind, Reggie was a great kid. And James always appreciated having more friends.

But it's one day when they were playing cops and robbers, it's great fun for young boys but then...

James jumps out of hiding and catches up with Regulus, pulling his arm, calling "I got you" which is preceded by a loud click of his gun. Regulus hates loud noises and hates touch, so the fear that overwhelms him leads to a very unpleasant situation.

It's weird because the laughter suddenly stops and Sirius is intrigued to find the other two.

"Oh, you scared him," says Sirius, looking at his little brother who is starting to shake.

His light shorts are wet in one place. It happens because Regulus is delicate, because he's a little boy, and sometimes he can't control it, because sometimes he wets himself when he's scared.

"Reggie wait!" Sirius calls after him as Reggie starts running ahead. "Shit," Sirius mumbles and ran after him.

James was left very confused, he didn't mean it, it was an accident and he really didn't mean it.

Sirius finds his brother in his room, a place where he feels safe and where Sirius usually sneaks around.

Regulus lays flat on the bed, his face buried in the pillows and he cried, sobbing loudly. Sirius sighed, sat down next to his little brother and put his hand on his shoulder.

"That's okay, things happened," Sirius assures wanting to calm him down but it doesn't work.

Sirius knows it's hard, that other kids laugh at Regulus and his problems and it's terrible and Sirius would like to protect him from that but sometimes he just can't.

"No," Regulus denies it, wipes his face with his hands and starts sobbing again "this shouldn't have happened I messed up and now he'll never like me," he cried "and I wanted him to like me, he's so cool and I ruined it," Regulus is so sad and Sirius doesn't like it, accidents happen and Regulus shouldn't feel so bad right now.

"You did not," he whispered softly "he won't laugh at you, I promise," he will make sure of it, he don't think James is mean.

"You don't know that," Regulus sobs.

"You're right I don't know but I hope," he whispers and pulls his brother into a hug. He wraps his arms around him, gently afraid that this is the wrong time, that Regulus will pull away.

Regulus only clung on tighter, burying his face in his brother's neck and breathing in the familiar smell.

Being close to people normally repulsed him, the feel of their skin, the sound of their breath, and their smell made Regulus uncomfortable. It left him squirming and panicked.

Sirius was different, Sirius was the only person in the entire world whose closeness meant safety, warmth, and love. He was his older brother and Regulus loves him.

"Hi little man," Minerva enters Regulus' room with a worried expression on her face "I heard that you had a little incident, do you need any help?" She offers calmly, she is tender and kind. She does not yell at him, does not call him a problem, does not punish him for this accidents. "I bring you some clothes. Let's go take a bath, shall we?" She's gentle with Regulus, he's a gentle boy and she knows it.

Regulus went with her, his head down.

Regulus doesn't like baths, Sirius knows it. Not enough, that he was forced to look at his stained body, in addition, their mother used to scrub his skin until it bled, Wlaburga Black was never gentle.

She always said that Regulus wasn't clean enough, and she used to scrub his body most in places affected by the disease, vitiligo. As if she was sure those spots would come off his skin if she soaped them enough.

Sirius was always waiting for him in the room with cooling cream for new wounds and star patches he had begged from the nice lady at the pharmacy, he was six and had a scraped knee and tearfully asked the lady at the pharmacy for a patch, she gave him a whole pack and Sirius saved them for the bad times.

"Mum," James with a sad expression on his face tugging at Mum's dress. "I made boy upset, what can I do to fix it?" He asks "I tried to apologize but he won't even look at me," he says sadly "I really didn't want to scare him," his lip is trembling.

"What happened, Jamie?" Effie crouches beside him.

"We played with Sirius and his brother," James starts to explain the situation.

"Oh James, he's not mad at you, he's just embarrassed, maybe he's afraid you'll laugh at him," she explains.

"But I would never!" James opens his eyes wide.

"I know Jamie," she smiles "maybe try to make him knows it too?" She suggests, James nods, he has a new mission.

When he finds Regulus, he talks to him, it makes Regulus feel better.

James at the end promises never ever mention it, Regulus agrees, even if he doesn't believe him.

It's good like this.

"Hey Sirius, would you like to meet my friend?" James proposes one day.

Sirius agrees and James takes his best friend Peter with him on his next visit.

They live close to each other and have known each other since early childhood.

Peter is kind, Sirius likes him.

So now there's three of them.

Holidays are over. Now the boys had less time to hang out, but sometimes Minerva and James' mum were kind enough to let them play together.

Sirius could go to James' house if he promised to behave himself and if Mrs. Potter agreed to walk him off before dinner. On some weekends, James and his mum still helped out at the orphanage.

And so the whole year goes by.

When Sirius is eleven, so is James and even Peter, each of them know they will be going to the same school from next year, and they are incredibly excited about it.

Summer vacation begins and James spends some of it with his parents and grandparents abroad.

Meanwhile, something important happens in Sirius' life.

It's one of the most important things in his life, it's the moment the stars meet the moon. Holidays before the first year in a new school.

Sirius was resting peacefully on his bed, bored. Peter was on vacation with his parents in Spain and James went to his grandparents in India, Regulus abandoned him for new friends from school, he was ten years old and considered himself too much of an adult. Now he spent practically all his time with them, with Pandora, Evan, Barty and Dorcas. Sirius liked them, sure, but he didn't often join their meetings.

He sat there bored. Until Minerva burst into his room asking for his help.

In the afternoon the bus arrived, nine children got off, and Minerva had to put each of them somewhere. An orphanage on the outskirts of the city was closed due to lack of funding, and the children had to be housed somewhere.

Minerva took care of them, showed them around the new house and explained the rules.

It was always the case that Hufflepuffs had three-to four-person rooms because the children liked to socialize and never wanted to be alone, Slytherin had rooms in pairs, but Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had separate rooms. Because these are the moments when children grow up and need their own space.

Sirius had never had a roommate, never until now.

"I know you don't like it Sirius, I'm sorry, but I have no other choice," Minerva apologizes. "A mattress will have to do for now, I didn't think there would be that many of you, sorry," she says to the boy outside the door "you'll be sharing a room with Sirius, I'm sure you'll get along," and she leaves them.

"It could be worse," the boy sighs but ignores Sirius's presence completely, unfolds the mattress and puts on new sheets. He ignores his roommate's curious gaze on him. "Didn't your mother teach you it's not nice to stare?" He snorts, finally too annoyed. Sirius blinked "oh shit, sorry, I forgot, you're here for damn reason, but if no one told you yet I'll, it's not nice to fucking stare," he looks at him clenching his teeth.

"It's not nice to use bad words," Sirius snaps, his eyes narrow and the new boy bursts into laughter.

"That was so posh," he shakes his head.

"That was posh?" Sirius raised an eybrow "my name is Sirius Orion Black the third," he introduces himself.

The boy burst out laughing again, and Sirius felt proud that he had made it happen.

However, this new boy did not introduce himself in response.

"Sirius?" Regulus whispers as he enters his brother's room, he doesn't turn on the light, he knows the way to his bed by heart. But something unexpected comes his way, he trips over the corner of the mattress and falls on someone's body. "Fuck," he mumbles, trying to get up, by the time Sirius wakes up and lights the lamp and sits down on the bed. "Sirius what the hell is a boy doing in your room? What changed while I was gone," he snorts indignantly and brushes his clothes off "sorry stranger," he looks briefly at Remus.

"Chill," Remus just grunted and rolled over.

"A lot of new ones came and Minerva had to find a place," he quickly explains more curious with another thing "who taught you to curse!?" He throws his hands up indignantly.

"Definitely not Barty," Regulus shrugs with an innocent smile.

"I'm trying to sleep here," Remus interrupts their conversation as he sits up and rubs his eyes.

"Um, yeah sorry, he's my brother, and usually it wasn't a problem to–" Sirius tries to explain as Regulus takes an interest in the new boy.

"Your skin," Regulus whispers "is also different," he informs slightly delighted, he reaches out his hand as if wanting to touch his face but stops himself.

"What the hell?" Remus frowns confused. "What do you mean by different? How many people with a different skin do you know," he looks into the eyes of the younger boy.

"Well, me, James, Peter, and also Evan and Pandora, now you," he lists with a shrug but looking at Remus's bored expression he bites his lip "it was a rhetorical question, wasn't it?"

"Someone's clever," Remus snorts.

James had Indian roots, his skin was a different color than the usual children in the area, Peter had freckles all over his face, Evan and Pandora were siblings and their skin was dark. Remus had scars on his face, his skin was different too. Regulus had always been fascinated by this, all this difference and uniqueness.

"I'll be leaving now, goodnight," Regulus says into the darkness before he leaves.

Sirius learns that the new boy's name is Remus when Minerva scolded him for something on the first day, probably for swearing.