Chapter 3
Regulus missed solitude. It drove him crazy, it made him feel stuck and paranoid. But that was nothing compared to having a small, reckless, fragile child to care for. Harry was impulsive and curious, but as soon as Regulus hinted he shouldn’t do something, the boy assumed he was in trouble and hid, or worse, cried. Regulus was at his wits end, and heavily considering a self-inflicted lobotomy.
It wasn’t all bad, he supposed. Sometimes Harry would sit on the couch and ask Regulus a thousand questions about himself and Sirius, and Regulus was more than happy to tell him all his stories. Other times, Harry would beg Regulus to let him in the kitchen, swearing he would help with dinner, only to steal food right out of the pan. Harry was making him feel insane, but he also made the old cottage a bit warmer.
“Where are you going?” Harry asked, barging into Regulus’s room.
“I told you not to come in here without permission,” Regulus scolded, pulling on a coat. “I’m going to see someone.”
“Who?”
“My brother’s… friend,” Regulus said vaguely. He didn’t feel like explaining Remus and Sirius’s complicated relationship.
“Can I come?” Harry asked, bouncing on his toes. Regulus sighed. He had been debating taking the boy with him. Actually, he was still debating it. He didn’t want to wander around wizarding spaces with The Boy Who Lived, but he felt more than a bit guilty leaving Harry by himself. “Pleeeeeeaaaasssseeeee?”
Harry pouted, making his eyes go big and shiny.
“Fine, but you have to stay with me. No wandering off, no talking to strangers, got it?”
“Got it!” Harry grinned, before running off to his own room.
“Five minutes, Harry! If you're not at the door by then I’m leaving without you!” Regulus called after him.
When the boy finally made it to the door (After 10 minutes), he was in a t-shirt that dropped to his knees and jeans just as big.
“Harry, what are you wearing?”
“What? These are my warm clothes!”
“One day, I’m going to meet your aunt and uncle and I cannot guarantee they will make it out of that encounter alive,” Regulus muttered.
“What?” Harry tilted his head to the side.
“Nothing. Come here,” Regulus said, pulling out his wand. With a bit of transfiguring, the shirt became a warm, green sweater and the jeans shrunk 4 sizes. Unfortunately, that revealed a new problem; Harry’s trainers. They were battered and broken and beyond repair, even with magic. “Remind me to get you some shoes before we get back home, okay?”
Harry’s eyes went wide. “Like, new shoes?”
“They definitely won’t make it out alive,” Regulus muttered again. “Let’s go. We have to take muggle transportation and it’s a long walk to a town that isn’t abandoned.”
He scooped Harry up, double-checked the wards over the cottage, and off they went. They walked in silence for about 5 minutes, which must have been torture on little Harry and his overactive brain.
“Can I ask about my parents now?” Harry whispered as if he wasn’t sure the question would be welcome. Regulus just raised an eyebrow.
“Of course. I’m surprised you didn’t ask sooner,” he replied.
“I didn’t know what to ask, I don’t know anything,” Harry explained. Regulus was long since resigned to the fact that the boy would never stop breaking his heart, so he simply took a breath and continued.
“Why don’t we start with their names?” When Harry nodded enthusiastically, Regulus began. “Your father’s name was James Potter, and your mother’s name was Lily Evans.”
“Were they good people?”
“The best. James was loud and bright, he’d do anything to make you smile. He was cocky, mind you, but he was so lovely that he got away with it. My brother used to call him ‘a Prince among Men’. Lily was fiery, the strongest person I’ve ever known. She’d give the best advice, and she’d smack you for not taking it. And they loved everyone. They loved so fiercely that it sometimes hurt to be around them. And they loved you more than anything,” Regulus sighed, letting the memories flood his mind for the first time in years, blinking away tears.
“What did they look like?” Harry asked, blinking curiously up at Regulus.
“Well, they looked like you. James had the same wild black hair, the same crooked smile, and unfortunately, the same terrible eyesight,” Regulus explained, pushing Harry’s glasses back up his nose. “You have Lily’s eyes and her freckles. But she had bright red hair.”
“Red?” Harry exclaimed in shock.
“Bright red, like a bonfire,” Regulus confirmed.
Harry smiled to himself, mouthing ‘Red’ a few times before turning back to Regulus, weary.
“What… happened to them?”
“They… were very brave people. You see, years ago, long before you were born, there was a very bad wizard who wanted to hurt people. Who wanted to hurt… you. But your parents fought him, so he wouldn’t hurt you,” Regulus did his best to leave out details, deciding Harry was too young to know the full extent of the war.
“Did the bad wizard kill them?” Harry whispered as if he already knew the answer.
“Yes. But, that led to the bad wizard dying, and now he can’t hurt anyone,” Regulus assured, seeing the fear flash in the boy’s eyes.
Harry was quiet for a few moments, looking far too thoughtful for a child. He looked up with a small nod.
“So my mum and dad were heroes,” Harry reasoned, and how could Regulus do anything but smile and nod? Harry was exactly right. Lily and James were heroes.
Now all Regulus had to do was make sure their heroics weren’t in vain. Simple enough.
Harry continued asking questions about his parents; their favourite colours (Green and Red), their favourite foods (Biryani and Pot Pie), what their home was like (warm, comforting, and there was always at least one person who didn’t live there visiting), their hobbies (Quidditch, reading, friendly duelling, experimenting with Potions, and several other dangerous things Regulus didn’t tell Harry for fear of the boy trying to follow in his parent's footsteps), and million other things. There were some things Regulus refused to answer, and when Harry tried to use Regulus’s promise against him, he’d assure Harry he’d tell him everything he knows in due time.
Eventually, they reached the non-abandoned muggle town. Harry had fallen asleep, drooling on Regulus’s shoulder and making it a bit difficult to discreetly pull out his wand and ‘borrow’ an unattended muggle car. Still, he got one with only a bit of a scuffle with an elderly woman who was convinced he was a vampire.
Harry woke up as soon as Regulus put him in the back seat.
“Who’s car is this?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.
“I’m not sure. I hope it’s that old lady’s, she was quite rude.” Regulus studied the dashboard for a few moments before giving up and using a spell to jumpstart the car. A few moments later, the car was driving itself through the streets and to the apartment.
By the time they go there, Harry was wide awake and back to asking thousands of questions, this time about who they were visiting.
“What’s his name?”
“Remus Lupin.”
“Is he magic too?”
“Yes, he is.”
“How do you know him?”
“He and my brother were…” Regulus trailed off. He didn’t know how to begin to describe the complicated relationship between Remus and Sirius, and he didn’t think Harry would understand any of it in the first place. “Close. They were very close.”
“Why are we going to see him?”
“I need help with something.”
“With what?”
Regulus glanced at Harry in the rearview mirror. “Nothing important.”
Harry opened his mouth to ask more questions, but the car had parked itself, and Regulus climbed out before having to decide how to explain a jailbreak for the greater good to a 6-year-old.
“I’ll leave the car on, you stay here,” Regulus instructed.
Harry climbed into the front seat and started fiddling with the knobs on the dashboard as Regulus placed several concealment charms and offensive protection spells over the car.
Regulus considered turning back with every step up to Remus Lupin’s flat. How does one ask for help from their brother’s sort-of ex? Not to mention the fact that Remus wasn’t even aware Regulus was still alive. Still, he kept going until reaching the dark wood door of flat 314 and quietly knocked.
When no one answered, he internally celebrated, taking it as a sign that the voice in his head was wrong and he didn’t, in fact, need help. Unfortunately, the door opened just as he was about to turn around and run back down to the car.
“Is that Baby Black or have I finally lost it?”
Regulus turned back to face the door where Remus Lupin stood, looking much older than he should have, with grey streaks and deep lines under his eyes.
“Did you say Baby Black?” A voice called from somewhere in the flat. A woman with bouncy black curls popped up behind him, eyes wide. It took Regulus a second to recognize Mary Macdonald, who looked much more threatening in scarlet red Auror robes. “Aren’t you dead?”
“I was, technically,” Regulus explained, ignoring the odd nickname the two seemed to have for him; something told him it had been James’s doing.
“You were dead?” a small voice from behind made Regulus whirl around.
“I told you to stay in the car!” He hissed. Harry just shrugged.
“I got bored, and I couldn’t figure out the radio,” he explained. Regulus let out a heavy sigh and turned back to Remus and Mary, who were staring in confusion and shock.
“I need your help.”
They turned to each other for just a second before Remus stepped out of the doorway. “I’ll put the kettle on, then,” he said, gesturing for them to come inside.
“I’ll get the firewhiskey,” Mary said.