Regulus
Regulus felt shit. Like majorly shit. Like the shittiest he had ever felt in his entire life.
So, he did what any other normal person would do. Get up and pretend nothing was wrong.
He had stuff to do today. He needed to take Harry to the park with Sirius and Remus, he needed to get some stuff ready for work, he needed to finish writing his part of Sirius and James' pitch to the Ministry on werewolf regulations and he needed to fix Harry's toy broomstick. He had a lot of stuff to do today.
He carefully untangled himself from James and Lily, who both seemed to have decided to cling to him during the night, and, ignoring the pounding in his head, he stumbled to the wardrobe and grabbed the most comfortable thing he could find; an old Gryffindor jumper of James' and some loose jeans that were probably also James'.
Once dressed, he headed downstairs, brewing the strongest coffee he could. He considered drinking some Pepper-Up but Lily would notice some was gone and force him back to bed, so he made do with a muggle painkiller. Those things were impossible to count, no-one would notice if one disappeared into his coffee. He made an attempt at eating a slice of buttered toast, but he didn't trust his stomach not to throw it back out, so he ended up using a vanishing spell to get rid of it. However, his magic would always take a backseat when he was sick and apparently this was no exception. The toast didn't even move.
He groaned, opening the window, ripping up the toast and throwing it onto the lawn, hoping it would hide itself amongst the stale bread Lily had let Harry throw out the night before. He made a note to self- don't get into situations where magic is needed today, it would give him away in a heartbeat. He put the plate with the crumbs from the toast in the sink and slumped on the sofa. He contemplated turning on the television, but didn't even get as far as grabbing the remote when he felt a small body jump on his lap.
"Papa!" Harry squealed, tackling Regulus and pushing him onto his back.
"Good morning, Mon Chou," Regulus tried to keep his voice as bright as he could for his son.
"Harry! Harry, come back!" Lily came running down the stairs, her red hair still mussed from sleep. "There you are," she sighed. "Get off Papa," she told him, which only caused Harry to wrap his arms around Regulus' neck and bury his face in his neck.
"It's fine, Lils," Regulus stroked the back of his son's head. "Come on, little man," he said, wrapping his arms around Harry and sitting up. Harry giggled and kicked his feet at the sudden movement. "Let's get you dressed." Harry was strangely heavy; Regulus was sure his three year old son hadn't been this heavy yesterday.
Lily raised an eyebrow at her husband's outfit. "James' clothes," she noted.
"Yeah, cause you've stolen all mine," Regulus quipped, kissing the top of her head as he passed, eyeing the green t-shirt she'd worn to bed. "And James' stuff is comfy; you should know, you spend half your life in our clothing."
"Fair," Lily ruffled Harry's hair. "Come on, sweethearts," she smiled, leading them up the stairs and into Harry's room. She rummaged through the wardrobe as Harry asked (see: begged) Regulus for a story. He was just about to begin as Lily pulled out a pair of jeans and a yellow t-shirt patterned with snitches for Harry. She helped him change out of his Chudley Cannons pyjamas and into the clothes, while Regulus grabbed his glasses (he would never get over how cute Harry looked in his glasses) from the top of the chest of drawers.
"There you go," Lily picked Harry up and tickled his stomach, causing him to squeal. "Come on, sweetheart, let's go grab breakfast." She looked over at Regulus. "You too, Reg."
"I've already eaten," he said, standing up.
Lily cocked her head slightly. "Promise?"
"Promise, Lils. My plate's in the sink and everything."
Lily looked skeptical, but walked out the door with Harry on her hip either way. "Go wake up James then, we need to be out the door soon if we're gonna meet Moony and Padfoot at eleven."
Regulus nodded and followed her out of the door, but instead walked up the corridor to the door at the end of it, behind which lay Lily, James and Regulus' bedroom. He opened the door and saw James still snoring on the pillow. He considered just letting him sleep, on the off chance he also had whatever Regulus did, but ultimately decided against it. He tapped James' shoulder.
"Wake up, lazybones," he said, shaking the shoulder harder.
"Reggie?" James asked groggily. Regulus handed him his glasses as he blinked his eyes open. "You look like shit."
Regulus resisted the urge to say, 'Well I feel like shit' and instead said, "Oh wow, thank you love of my life!"
"Just observing," James shrugged. "Seriously, you okay?"
"Fine, James," Regulus insisted. "Just didn't get much sleep last night."
"Go back to bed then," James said, pulling himself out of bed to inspect his husband. He lifted his hand to check for a temperature, but Regulus managed to dart away.
"James, I'm fine," he said, trying his best to be earnest. "Stop fussing, you're worse than your mum."
"You love my mum's fussing," James teased, but stopped checking Regulus over and pulled himself out of bed. "That's my jumper. And my jeans."
"They smell like you," Regulus shrugged.
"Right," James extended the vowel. "Either way- it's hot."
"Papa!" Harry shrieked. "Look at me! I'm going so high!"
Regulus smiled tiredly at Harry as Sirius pushed him on the swing. "Well done Haz!" He called, ignoring the pounding headache he'd been baring the brunt of all day. He was also ignoring the concerned looks he was getting from Lily and James every few minutes.
"Reg?" Remus asked, sitting down next to him on the bench. "Are you okay? You look..."
"I look what, Remus?" Regulus asked, trying to sound snarky but ended up just sounding tired.
"Kinda shitty," James said, coming up behind them.
"Kinda?" Lily asked, sitting on Regulus' other side. "I'd say very shitty."
"Real nice, Lils," Regulus said, rubbing his head with his hand. "This is an ambush."
"You know you don't have to hide when you're sick, right?" Lily continued. "You're not with Wal- them any more. You won't be yelled at if you need to lie down."
"I know," Regulus said, not able to meet Lily's eyes. "But I'm not sick."
"Sure, you're not," James said. "That's why the bread Harry threw out last night suddenly has butter all over it."
"And why one of the painkillers is missing," Lily added. How the fuck did she know that?
"This is an ambush," Regulus repeated. "This is cruel."
"This is love, Reg," Lily said, taking his hand. "We married you because we love you. So, if you're sick, we'll take you home."
"We'll take Harry," Remus added. "We can bring him home later."
Regulus smiled gratefully, feeling that this was a fight he wasn't going to win. He felt Lily's cool hand touch his forehead and leaned into the touch, sighing, as James wrapped and arm around his waist and helped guide him to a standing position. "Feeling up to side along?" Lily asked him.
"I- Not sure," Regulus admitted, resting his head on James' shoulder. "You can try."
Lily frowned, leaning the back of her hand against his forehead again. "Give me a sec," she muttered, checking for muggles before grabbing her wand and muttering a quick spell. "Bloody hell, Reg," she said, looking up at him, worry etched into her face. "38.9, that's quite a temperature." She looked around nervously. "We need you home soon, I think apparating's our only option." She led him and James- though James was basically dragging him at this point- round to a private spot behind the cafe, before grabbing both their hands and apparating home.
Regulus was relieved when James deposited him on the sofa, though Lily didn't look happy. "We should get him to bed," she said, wetting a flannel under the tap as she spoke.
"Spare room," Regulus muttered, feeling his eyelids droop.
"Sorry?"
"Spare room," he repeated. "Don't put me in our bed, the germs will get everywhere."
James and Lily exchanged a glance, but James nodded. "Sure love," he said, lifting him up off the sofa. "Come on, we'll get you upstairs."
Usually Regulus would have protested to being carried, but he just didn't have the energy. He laid his head against James' chest and allowed his eyes to drift shut.
"Love, I know you want to sleep but we need to get you changed before you can, okay? Ten more minutes, then you're good to go." Regulus made some sort of grunt to show his agreement and allowed James to strip him down to his pants, then allowed him to change him into a loose Gryffindor t-shirt and cotton shorts.
James sank down on the bed next to his husband, wrapping his arms around his waist, but Regulus rolled over, pushing him away.
"No," he said firmly. "Don't. You'll get sick too."
"I don't care," James said, equally as firmly as Regulus. "You're sick. You need cuddles."
Regulus didn't have enough energy to argue, but rolled back over so he wouldn't be breathing all over James. He curled in on himself, sinking further into the mattress. James kept his arms wrapped protectively around his waist, placing his head in the crook of Regulus' neck. "I love you," he whispered and Regulus let a soft smile crawl onto his face as he closed his eyes.
He soon felt something wet and cold on his forehead and blinked his eyes open to see Lily sitting next to him, wiping his head with a flannel. He smiled tiredly at her and she leaned down to kiss his temple, causing him to make a small noise of protest. She ignored it and brushed some of his dark hair out of his face.
"It'll pass Reg," she said softly. "You'll be okay."
He nodded and she left the flannel on his head, kissing his cheek and standing up to leave, when he grabbed her wrist. "Don't go," he said, his voice coming out much quieter than he intended. "Stay," he was whimpering now, but he had James' arms around him and he wanted Lily's too.
Lily's face softened. "I'm just getting you some Pepper-up love," she said, stroking his cheek. "I'll be back in two minutes, at the most."
Regulus nodded as James tightened his grip on him. "I've got you," he murmured. "You're safe."
"Harry's broom," Regulus muttered.
"Hm?"
"I was supposed to fix Harry's broom today. And help with your thing for the ministry!"
"Harry's broom can wait," James said, rubbing circles on Regulus' hand, clasped in his. "He hasn't used it in a while anyway. And I don't think either me or Sirius have even started writing our pitch, so don't worry about that. Just focus on getting better. Nothing, nothing, is more important than your health."
Merlin, how did James always know exactly what to say?
The first thing Regulus noticed when he woke up was a small body curled up against his.
The second thing he noticed was that that body was his three year old son, who definitely shouldn't have been curled up against his sick father.
Harry must have noticed Regulus stirring, because he rolled over and said in his adorable three year old voice: "Papa?"
"Yes, Haz?" Regulus said, his voice gravelly from sickness and sleep.
"Mummy said Papa doesn't feel good," Harry said solemnly. "She said I should leave you alone, but when I don't feel good I like it when Papa cuddles me so I want to make Papa feel more good by having cuddles with me."
Regulus smiled at the sheer cuteness of the three year old's babbling. He couldn't bring himself to tell Harry to leave, even if it was for his own safety. "Thank you, Haz," he said, pulling him closer, causing his son to squeal in delight.
"Papa?" He asked.
"Yes?"
"Do you want me to tell you a story?"
Regulus had to fight the urge to laugh. Harry's stories were always hilarious, full of complete nonsense but Regulus would listen either way, because it made Harry happy. "Go on then," he said and Harry's face lit up as he began into a new story about a dragon who wanted more friends.
As Harry got older, Regulus fell more and more in love with him. And as he fell more and more in love with him, Regulus started to wonder how his parents had done it. How had they been able to give him and Sirius anything other than pure love? How had his mother sat there and used Unforgivables on them, over and over?
Regulus could barely imagine even raising his voice at Harry, let alone laying an unloving finger on him. As Harry sat, curled up next to Reg, babbling on about the dragon making friends with Moony and Padfoot, he felt nothing but love towards the child. The idea of any pain coming to him made him want to wrap his arms around him and stop him from ever leaving the house again, if it kept him safe.
"And then the dragon came and it used its magic powers on Papa so he felt all better again and then everyone could play. The end!" Harry said, snuggling into Regulus' chest. "Did you like my story, Papa?"
"I loved it, Haz," he said, squeezing him tight, so that he squealed happily.
"Papa!" He shrieked, giggling and squirming. "Let me go!"
"Oh, no!" Regulus said, "You're not getting away from the... tickle monster!" He leaned in and tickled Harry's belly, eliciting squeals of delight from the boy.
"Papa!" He said through his giggles. "Papa! Let me go!"
Regulus eventually let up and Harry, still laughing, flung himself onto his father's chest. Regulus rubbed Harry's head gently as he lay down. "You okay, Haz?"
"Tired," he muttered. "I ran with Ucle Padfoot at the park and he went too fast."
Regulus smiled at the way Harry still couldn't pronounce the 'n' in uncle. This boy was too precious for this world. "Did you tell him he was going too fast?" Regulus asked, to which Harry shook his head. "Then how was he supposed to know to slow down? Remember Harry, if we need something, we ask for it, okay?"
Harry nodded. "Sorry Papa."
"Hey, it's okay. You're not in trouble," Regulus assured. "Just something to remember for next time, yeah?"
"Yeah," Harry repeated, as the door creaked open and James appeared in the doorway.
"I heard screaming," he said, a smile resting on his lips.
"Papa was tickle monster," Harry said, happily snuggling into Regulus' arms.
"Was he now?" James asked, looking over at Regulus with a smirk. "Well, I think we should let Papa rest now, okay bud? Remember, he's still not feeling too good."
Harry groaned, but gave Regulus one final hug. "Bye Papa!" He said and Regulus smiled.
"Bye Haz," he replied.
"Go downstairs troublemaker, Mummy's in the lounge," James told Harry as he bounded off the bed and out of the room. James walked closer to Regulus and grabbed his hand, giving it a quick squeeze. "That boy is hopelessly in love with you."
"It's because I give the best hugs."
James hummed under his breath. "I'd say Pads gives better hugs than you."
"Well, we both know Harry loves Sirius and Remus better than the three of us combined," Regulus joked.
"Nah, he loves you more than Sirius. Must be a Black brothers thing."
"I'm not a Black," Regulus reminded. "And neither is Sirius. Not anymore."
James shifted uncomfortably. "Sorry," he muttered. "I didn't-"
"It's fine," Regulus interrupted. James looked unconvinced. "Really, love. I don't mind."
James nodded, though he still looked endlessly guilty. He lifted a hand to check Regulus' forehead, then muttered Lily's temperature spell. "38.5," he said. "Better," he smiled, kissing his still-hot-but-less-so-than-three-hours-ago cheek.
"Can I go back to sleep now, James?" Regulus asked, rubbing at his eye. He loved Harry to pieces but he had interrupted Regulus' well needed nap.
"Course, love," James kissed his forehead. "Love you."
"Love you too."