Chapter Five
“Well,” Sirius spoke into the silent room. “That went well.” Everyone in the room turned to glare at him. James and Regulus were on opposite sides of the room, James purposefully avoiding even glancing in the direction of the other man, Mary was next to James, and Remus and Sirius were closer to Regulus, but still gave him his space. “Regulus, we’re going to be moving in here so either you leave or stay out of the way.”
“I’m not having Harry live in the same house as him,” James said, speaking for the first time since Remus had run out of the house after him and dragged him back. “I don’t want to be in the same house as him.”
“I feel so loved,” Regulus said deadpan. “Look, James I don’t want to live with you either, but I don’t necessarily have anywhere else to go.”
“Go back to fucking America! Where you were for 12 years while the rest of us were still fighting. No one wants you here Regulus, don’t act like they do.” Regulus flinched as if he had been physically struck.
“James!” Mary snapped. “That’s fucking rude.”
“Like he doesn’t deserve it,” he scoffed.
“He left because he had to, just like I did. Does that make me a bad person?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“No, of course not. You left after everything happened. He left in the midst of it with a way to kill Voldemort! You’re telling me that isn’t a dick move?”
“I never said that,” she said calmly. “I’m saying that he did what he had to to survive. That’s what we were all doing. If he stays here but doesn’t bother us, I don’t see the problem with it.”
“What if he does something to Harry?” James asked in a voice that suggested that he just pointed out the most obvious flaw in this plan.
“James,” Regulus intervened. “Take this in whatever way you wish too but I honestly could not care less about your son or anything to do with you.”
“When I first mentioned him and my wife you seemed pretty interested in them,” he replied, raising an eyebrow, causing Regulus to flush a bit.
“James,” Sirius said, talking for the first time in a while. “I don’t think that you’re thinking clearly. Regulus says he knows how to get rid of Voldemort, and I’m sure he won’t just leave it to us, so there isn’t any harm in letting him stay here while we do.”
So, while James was not happy about it in any way, shape, or form, he somehow ended up living at Grimmauld Place with his best friends and his supposed-to-be-dead ex-boyfriend. How fun is that?
Not fun at all is the answer that James Potter would give to that question. It took a few days to get everything that they needed moved from the Manor to Grimmauld Place as five different people needed to move their belongings.
Originally, Harry wasn’t on board with this plan at all. In fact, the initial discussion of it led to him having a bit of a meltdown which James could’ve predicted as he already had a lot of change occur in the past month, but moving houses took it to another level. The only thing that fully convinced him to move was that he and his friends could have more room in the Manor when they hung out.
And so that’s how they all ended up being successfully moved into Grimmauld Place by mid-July. And a few days later, Harry ended up having his first run-in with the one and only Regulus Black.
“Who the fuck are you?” Harry asked bluntly as he ran into a man he had never seen before on his way to the bathroom.
“Uh–” Regulus started, looking like a deer in headlights. How could this boy look so similar to the boy he knew all those years ago? “James?” He said, quite loudly, which made James rush into the hallway, and upon seeing what was happening cursed loudly.
“Fuck, I forgot to tell him who you are,” he swore, his hand going to his head.
“Regulus Black?” Harry asked, his voice sounding small and confused at the same time.
“How the fuck did you know that?” Regulus asked, snapping out of his panicked state to stare at the boy incredulously.
“Do you think my son is stupid?” James asked, sounding completely serious. “Figuring out that you’re Sirius’ brother is like figuring out that I’m Harry’s father.”
“You look identical,” Harry said, furrowing his eyebrows. “Is it the inbreeding that makes it so you look so similar or is that a normal thing with brothers?” That one sentence made Regulus choke on air, and James laughed.
“Both, but probably more inbreeding. Him and Sirius are cousins and brothers, so that may explain it.”
“You guys are cousins?” Harry all but screeched in disgust. “What the fuck was wrong with your family?”
“I’ve already told you,” Sirius said as he walked into the room. “They were lunatics. I see you’ve met my wanker of a brother.”
“Shut the fuck up Sirius,” Regulus said, rolling his eyes.
“Luqaddqa,” Harry said before quickly covering his mouth as if he hadn’t meant to say that. James suspected that he didn’t.
“Bon dieu c’est un petit James,” Regulus muttered.
“Oui,” James said, glaring at the younger Black brother. “Now, if you could refrain from speaking in a language that my son doesn’t speak in front of him, it would be greatly appreciated.”
“Iga raali ahow, Harry,” Regulus said, causing Harry to raise his eyebrows.
“Soomali ma taqaan?” he asked, curious, looking at his father to see a pained expression on his face.
“Uh-” Regulus said, his cool facade dropping and revealing a panicked face as he looked to James for guidance as to what to say.
“I taught him a good bit when we were younger,” James explained in a slow voice, almost as if it pained him to say. “I had about two years to teach him some, so I did. I wasn’t expecting him to retain any of it, though.”
“Two years?” Sirius interrupted. “I thought–”
“We knew each other before we started dating,” James cut him off swiftly, making Regulus’ eyes widen.
“Harry knows–?”
“My boyfriend was murdered a month ago,” he said bluntly, getting straight to the point. “He told me you guys dated because your old friend Barty was posing as my defence teacher and he was the reason he died.” Regulus was silent, his face drained of all color.
“How the fuck is that dickhead still alive? Is Evan?”
“Speaking of how people can be alive, I thought you were supposed to be dead–” Harry was cut off by Sirius.
“Harry, can you go to your room?” Sirius asked, knowing that he shouldn’t be here for what they were going to have to tell Regulus.
“I’m sorry, I’m beyond confused right now–”
“Harry,” Sirius interrupted.
“What if I go into the bathroom and put up a silencing spell?” Harry offered. Sirius thought it over but ultimately agreed that it would do. Once that was situated, they sat Regulus down in the study.
“Evan was murdered by Voldemort not long before Halloween,” James said, not even giving an opportunity to be misinterpreted. He knew how Regulus could be with difficult information. “Evan had been talking to Barty about defecting and Barty ratted him out to Voldemort, and he would rather murder someone than have a member of his ranks get the opportunity to leave.”
“Barty did that?” Regulus asked, confused. “But they were together. They were in love. James you know this–”
“People in love do stupid things all the time,” he snapped, effectively shutting him up. “Are we done with this conversation?” When the only response to his question was silence, he moved to leave. “Good. Now, Regulus, leave my son alone.” And with that, he shut the door behind him.
James hated that he lived with Regulus Black. He hated it. Moving to Grimmauld Place, the place where he knew his best friend and brother was tortured almost daily during the summer because of who he was, was enough of a reason to hate his living situation, but Regulus being there made it so much worse.
James could see how badly living there affected Sirius, and by extension Mary, Remus, Harry, and even Regulus, regardless of how little James actually saw of him. Sirius was getting more and more snappy, Remus was getting annoyed at everyone easier, save for Harry because how could Harry ever annoy him, Mary was getting even more wary of being around magic, if that’s even possible, and Regulus was starting to get erratic with his magic. Apparently, hiding it from muggles for years has made it difficult to control spells. All in all, this plan was not turning out how they had all wished it to. Harry was just getting increasingly sadder, which made sense, but being around adults who constantly snapped at each other wasn’t helping.
And everything got even worse when Albus Dumbledore showed up on the doorstep out of nowhere. How did he manage to do that with the blood wards that are set up? James had no idea, but he wasn’t going to question it, he didn’t have the energy to do that,
“Can I come in?” Dumbledore asked, after letting James stare at him in shock and confusion for a moment. “I’m taking that as a yes.” And with that, the older man walked into the house without a second thought.
“Regulus,” James said, as he walked into his room and put up a silencing spell immediately. “Under no circumstance can you go into the kitchen. Dumbledore is here, and he can’t know that you’re alive.” Explaining the situation to Harry was enough, James didn’t want to explain it to Dumbledore given how the man’s mind works.
“Why?” Regulus asked, raising an eyebrow. The little shit knew why, he just wanted James to say it.
“Because he’s going to use you,” James said simply. Which was not what Regulus was expecting him to say.
“What?” Regulus asked, immensely confused. Okay, so maybe Regulus didn't know why he couldn't let Dumbledore see him.
“He’s going to use you. You’re younger than us, and you would be less wary of being in the order than we would be.”
“You don’t want to be in the order this time?” Interesting.
“The majority of the people that I love are dead Regulus, because of the order. What about that would make me want to be in it? Anyway, don’t come into the kitchen. Please,” James said, leaving the room before he has a chance to object.
“Mary,” he started, walking into the library where she was currently teaching Harry some more welsh, as Remus hasn’t had time to recently. “Just to let you know, Dumbledore has decided to grace us with his presence, and is currently in the kitchen, so if you don’t want to see him, just avoid it for a while. And Harry, don’t go into the kitchen. Please.”
“We’ll stay here, right Harry?” Mary asked, making Harry nod and smile at her. James nodded, smiling slightly and left the two alone. He was happy that they were becoming closer, Harry needed someone other than his Aabe and his uncles to talk to about things, and Mary’s opened that opportunity. James walked into the kitchen, preparing some bullshit excuse as to why Sirius and Remus weren’t there just to find the two of them sat down at the table with Dumbledore.
“Ah, just in time for the important part of this conversation Mr. Potter. Sit, please,” Albus said, motioning to the seat to the right of him.
“I’ll stay here, thank you.” Albus sighed but nodded.
“So, I need somewhere to host the Order meetings, and I thought this would be the best place due to the wards and the fidelius charm.” Both Sirius and Remus glanced at James when he said that, because for a while after the war had ended he had flinched whenever it was said. He had healed quite a bit since then, and managed to keep a straight face, despite how painful any mention of that charm was to him.
“I’m not sure if you’re aware of this Albus but we aren’t joining the Order this time. I thought that I had made that abundantly clear when we last spoke, but I guess I didn’t.”
“Mr. Potter, all I’m asking of you is one meeting, and after that, you can decide whether or not you want to join again,” he said calmly, sensing the anger building up in James.
“Prongs,” Sirius said, a weird look in his eyes. “Let’s host one meeting and see how it goes, yeah?” James was really tempted to just say no and forget about this whole interaction, but something about the way that Sirius said that made him rethink it.
“One meeting,” he agreed. “And Harry can be present if he wishes to be. If he doesn’t want to be, he isn’t going to be, okay?”
“Perfect,” Dumbledore said, standing from his seat. “The first meeting is this Friday, you have three days to get this place safe for people.” And with that he apparated away.
“How the fuck does he have that much magic in him?” Sirius stared at where he was just standing. “There are anti-apparation wards layered on this building.”
“There’s going to be an Order meeting on Friday?” Regulus asked, seemingly appearing from nowhere, followed by Mary and Harry who both looked a bit guilty at eavesdropping.
“Sirius told me to say yes,” James defended.
“Because, if we have one we can convince people to not fight with him and instead fight with us, dipshit,” Sirius said, rolling his eyes. The room was silent.
“Did– did Sirius just… have a good idea?” Regulus asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm..
“Shut the fuck up dickhead,” Sirius snapped at him.
“Luqaddqa,” Harry said.
“Harry, go to your room please,” James said, sighing.
“Why?” he asked. “You said that I could be at the Order meeting if I wanted to be, why can’t I be here?”
“He has a point, James,” Mary said. James sighed.
“I know he does. You can stay. And fine, Sirius we’ll do that but if it doesn’t work the first time I’m not going to any other meetings.”
“Yeah, neither are we,” Sirius said, as if it were blatantly obvious and if James had ever doubted if his brothers were going to be on his side, that one sentence reassured him beyond belief.
“I’m sorry, you want me to do what?” James asked Harry, visibly confused.
“Sirius always has his nails painted with black varnish and I want my nails to look like his,” Harry explained slowly, speaking to James as if her were stupid.
“And you can’t do it yourself because…?”
“Because I’m left handed and so I can’t paint my left hand. Can you please just paint them for me? Please?”
“Yeah, obviously I will, I just wanted to know why you couldn’t do it yourself,” James said laughing, and grabbing the varnish out of his son’s hands. “I’m not going to let you walk around with only one hand painted. What kind of Aabe would that make me? And plus, Padfoot would have my head if I didn’t help you. Hermione probably would too now that I think about it.”
And so the next ten to fifteen minutes were spent with James painting, charming off, and then repainting Harry’s nails with varnish, and by the end of the time Harry vowed to just ask Sirius for help the next time because his father was, as he learned, shit at doing nails.
“Why did I think that you would be good at this?” Harry mumbled, scrubbing the varnish off of his nails. “You’re telling me that you’ve never painted anyone’s nails before? Like, ever?”
“Hey!” James cried out indignantly. “I’ll have you know that when your due date was coming up, I would help your mam do her nails!”
“And she let you?” He retorted, laughing. “You’re terrible at this!”
“It’s been like 14 years, Harry, obviously I’m a bit rusty.” Harry just laughed at him. Yes, it was at his expense, but it was one of the first times he’s heard his son genuinely laugh in a while, so he didn’t care. He was just happy that his son’s mood was improving. Even if it was just for a few moments. Because James knew that it was going to get a lot worse after the meeting on Friday.