Chapter 1
"It's only the first hour and I'm exhausted" Evan groaned as he walked up to Regulus, having just finished helping a nine year old find their cabin. Their camp counselor turned out to be the Mary girl so he figures they'll be okay.
"I know, if it weren't for Sirius watching me like a hound I would've already cut a hole through the gate and made a run for it" Regulus sighed, scratching his tattooed neck because the bugs kept on getting to him.
"When I find him I'm gonna punch Barty for signing me up for this" Evan mumbled, kicking a rock near him out of boredom.
Evan and Regulus had both been forced to volunteer for a summer camp called Camp Marauder.
The camp itself was located a bit in the middle of nowhere in the state of Colorado. The camp was free of charge for underprivileged or neglected kids and anyone who just wanted to join.
The counselors there were volunteers that gave up ten out of their twelve weeks of summer to be there helping kids on their journey.
Sirius and his friends had been volunteering for a good two summers already and were more than happy to. Sirius decided that since Regulus finally turned eighteen and was legally allowed to volunteer that he would be joining him this summer.
Evan had been dragged along by his twin sister Pandora and their mutual friend Barty. The only reason Barty had volunteered was because his father, Barty Crouch Sr. had decided he hated the camp and that it was a waste of space, more of a liability than anything due to the free admission.
In an act of rebellion Barty had signed up immediately and dragged the rest of them to do it too. Dorcas was, per usual, on board immediately and signed up quickly while Pandora had done it purely out of her love and respect for nature.
Regulus and Evan were the most reluctant to go. Neither of them had a problem with the outdoors. In fact, Evan was a rock climber in his spare time but the problem they both shared was taking care of children.
Regulus wasn't really around children in his life and neither was Evan, the only children they had been around were distant cousins kids or random children in public but they both knew that they would never take care of children that weren't their own. Clearly that wasn't true.
The camp didn't have wifi, the only place where the internet was accessible was the counselors lounge and even there it was a bit spotty.
Of course they had trained professionals around in case something went wrong. All of the counselors knew CPR and the head counselor McGonagall was a trained nurse along with her trusty confidant Ms. Pomfrey.
Lily Evans was also a nurse in training so that definitely helped.
The camp itself was spacious. It was shockingly well built and had lots of things despite it being only privately and government funded.
There were twelve cabins in total. Six were for boys and six were for girls. All of the children ranged from ages five to twelve and they all would be hanging out together for the next ten weeks.
Regulus had gotten stuck with the five to seven year old boys. His cabin was called the badger cabin and it was nice enough. None of his kids had shown up yet so he was stuck holding up a sign that read "5 TO 7 YEAR OLD BOYS MEET HERE" . In any other circumstance this sign would have been predatory and alarming but Regulus deemed it okay in this sense.
"Reggie! Come here, I need you to meet some people"
Sirius's voice carried from across the drop off area, loud and booming as it went.
Regulus audibly groaned and physically rolled his eyes before walking over to his brother who was surrounded by three other men. His friends.
Regulus had heard of Sirius's friends, of course he had Sirius never shut up about them, but he had never met them due to the fact that Regulus was legally still under his parents control until middle of last summer.
Since then Regulus had been making excuses as to why he couldn't meet them.
'oh school has just been hectic'
'oh I have a concert that day'
'Pandora needs my help replanting her flower garden that weekend'
'i have a test I need to study for coming up, I don't have time to go drink in a dirty bar'
Eventually Regulus gave up with the excuses and told it like it was.
'i don't want to meet your dirty hippie friends'
'i'm not going to meet them, they seem awful'
'If I meet them I'm gonna only speak in French and it's gonna be awkward'
Eventually Sirius gave up on his quest for his brother to meet his friends because he knew that they'd meet this summer anyway at camp.
He had tried to introduce them earlier but his friends were off doing something else, he later learned that that 'something else' was hiding Lily's itinerary from her, hoping she'd 'flounder about in a tizzy'.
But now was finally the time they'd meet each other. Sirius was practically buzzing with excitement as Regulus walked up to them.
Regulus already had an idea of what they all looked like. Sirius's non stop talking about them included physical descriptions of them all. But as Regulus walked up he got a closer look at them.
Sirius had described Remus as a pretty boy but that description held little light to the real thing. Remus Lupin was a tall thin man, he had dark black skin and had long thick dreads that went a little past his shoulders. He had dark black eyes and stood with the support of a cane. He stood around 6 feet and four inches, maybe a little more. He was drop dead gorgeous but he still held a soft and welcoming vibe. He was wearing a baggy bright orange t-shirt that read 'CAMP MARAUDER' on the front with its sleeves cut off so that you could see his ribcage, along with baggy cargo pants. Regulus wasn't sure how he was putting up with the heat in his outfit but Remus didn't look bothered in the slightest. He held a similar sign to Regulus's but instead of '5 through 7 year old boys' it read '5 through 7 year old girls' with little flowers adorning the words.
Once Regulus got to them Sirius immediately started talking.
"Guys this is my brother Regulus!" Sirius had a large excited smile on his face as he gestured to Regulus. "And Regulus this is Remus Lupin"
"Pleasure to meet you" Regulus said as he stuck out his hand to shake. Remus muttered agreement and shook his hand as well.
Up close Regulus could see scars lining the man's face. They were thick and jagged but also somewhat controlled, magically missing the important or 'vital' parts of his face such as his nose and eyes except for one scar that went from the top of his left brow, across his left eye and over to his right nostril.
His hands were worn and hard. Built up over time of manual labor but we're still gentle and soothing. His whole appearance was contradictory but still strikingly attractive.
"And Regulus this is Peter"
Next was Peter Pettigrew. He was a younger looking man. He looked as if he was still in highschool and Regulus stood a good two to three inches taller than him at 5 feet 11 inches. He looked kind and many brackets adorned his wrists. He was wearing a pale blue shirt that looked worn and also read 'CAMP MARAUDER' like all of the other counselors. He was plain looking, he had a bit of a beard with blonde hair cut shorter. He had blue eyes and a kind smile. He looked down-right jolly to be there and overall excited.
"Peter, nice to meet ya" Regulus shouldn't have been surprised to hear the northern accent on him but for some reason he was. He over pronounced his O's and rushed his words together. Sirius had told him that the man had grown up in northern Minnesota but it startled Regulus to have the evidence staring him right in the face.
"And then Regulus this is James"
Finally there was James. James was taller than Regulus but not by much. He had tan skin and brown eyes, dark, curly, unruly, black hair that went every other direction. He also wore gold, rounded, wire glasses. Sirius had mentioned that James got girlfriends easily and that James was attractive but he failed to mention just how attractive James was.
Regulus was taken back for a moment. This man was practically sparkling and his smile was nearly blinding. Regulus just said the same greeting to James that he had said to the others and his hand was shaken much more enthusiastically than it had been before. James was buzzing with excitement and when Regulus pulled his hand away he felt the sudden urge to wipe it off.
"It was great to meet you all but I've got to go greet my kids" Regulus tried to excuse himself before James spoke up.
"Oh! What kids do you have?"
"5 to 7 boys" Regulus answered quickly, trying to brush them off of him, this task turned out harder than expected.
"Oh those were mine last year, they were great. I got stuck with eight to ten boys this year" Peter laughed, seemingly wistful about the last year.
"That's great but I've got to get going, great meeting you guys" Regulus excused himself again before rushing off so that no one could try and start up another conversation.
"Well he's talkative" Remus smiled sarcastically as they watched Regulus interact hesitantly with a little boy.
It was only the end of the first day and Regulus had a problem.
He had made two of the five boys he was assigned to look after cry. He honestly didn't know what he did. One was struggling with his luggage and so Regulus carried it for him and the boy broke down into tears. The other one Regulus could hardly remember because it all happened so quickly but he knew that it wasn't good.
So now he was on his way to the counselors cabin looking for McGonagall's office with his friends in tow.
"I just can't believe you made him cry! How do you even do that on the first day?" Barty laughed, he was quickly swatted by Dorcas but his laughter persisted despite it.
"I don't know one second we were talking and the next he was crying! I don't know I feel so bad though" Regulus sighed, swatting around him to get the bugs away from him, they just kept on eating him alive.
"It'll be okay Reg, you just need to see if you can switch cabins and if not apologize, they're kids. It'll be okay" Pandora tried to comfort him, digging through her bag for an extra can of bug spray for Regulus.
"My kids are fantastic, I've got the eleven to twelve girls and they're so funny, a true godsend I swear" Dorcas smiled as she led them to the counselors cabin nearby.
"I've got the eleven to twelve boys, they're alright. Real competitive, that's for sure two boys had a race at the beginning to see who could make it to the cabin first before they realized they didn't know where the cabin was" Evan explained, he seemed happy enough with his arrangement and he truly was. He wasn't sure he could take care of girls, they seem to get offended by everything he says.
"I've got the five to seven girls, they're the cutest we're in the bunny cabin and it's so cute! They love it already and are so kind" Pandora gushed about her kids as Barty held open the door for them.
Inside were the rest of the counselors and a very upset Peter was pleading to McGonagall about something.
"Please Minny, just let me switch, they locked me out of my cabin! Locked me out!"
"I'm sorry Peter but there's nothing I can do, no one is willing to switch with you, you'll just have to deal with it" McGonagall sighed as she attempted to make herself a coffee.
"That's not true! Reggie came in here to switch" Barty smiled obnoxiously after clapping Regulus on the back of the neck and pushing him forward towards McGonagall.
"Is that true Mr. Black?" McGonagall asked.
"Go on! Ask him what happened" Barty laughed loudly as he made his way around for his own cup of coffee.
"What happened Reggie?" Sirius asked with a devious smile and a playful glint in his eyes.
"He made three boys cry!" Barty laughed out before Regulus could even begin explaining himself.
Everyone gasped and some laughed while Regulus groaned and shook his head at the ground, cursing Barty as he did.
After a long talk with McGonagall, Regulus explaining in detail what happened and how it truly wasn't his fault, he switched his responsibilities with Peter. Regulus was now in charge of the snake cabin full of eight to ten years old boys. Much more his speed.
As Regulus settled into bed that night he prayed and hoped that the next ten weeks would be boring if not uneventful. Fortunately Regulus's prayers were not heard.