As James got older he started to forget his early twenties and that meant he started to forget Regulus too. So to keep him alive in his mind, James started to tell all the little children of the village stories about Reg.
Excluding the reason why they met, even though the case had gone cold years ago, he was still weary.
———
“Grandpa James, can you tell us a story?” one little girl asked.
“Hmmm, I have a perfect one for you today,” James grinned down at all the little boys and girls.
Excitement paints itself on all of the little faces looking up at him.
“A long, long time ago, way before you all were born, there was a man,” James begins. “This man was also known as me. I am the man and I fell in love.”
“With who?” a little boy asked.
“The love of my life.”
“What’s her name?” another child asks.
James chuckles to himself before he corrects them.
“His name was Regulus Black and I am deeply in love with him. Now I want to tell you all about how we fell in love.”
“Ewwww,” was the overall reaction from the kids.
But James continues on because they did ask for a story and James is going to give them a happy one.
So James tell them about when they first met, without the almost getting shot part. He tells them about orange muffins and dances on countertops. He tells them about the shutters and the art auctions, about late night tea, purple flowers, and the strange boat painting. He tells him about Regulus and the people he loved and the people who loved him. By the end of it, all of the children are hanging onto his every word.
“The boy named after a star changed my life and I still am so madly in love with him,” James adds at the end.
“Grandpa James,” one little girl asks. “Where’s Regulus?”
This opens the floodgates to all sorts of questions like “When can we meet him?” or “Why isn’t he here?”
James doesn’t have the heart to tell them the truth so he bends the truth a little bit.
“He’s not here anymore.”
“When is he coming back,” one of them asks.
“Yeah, I want to meet him,” another one adds.
“He’s not coming back, I’m afraid,” James says. He fighting every urge to not cry in front of them. They’re so young, they can live in bliss for a little while longer, James decides.
Something about him sets them off because they all get up and come to give him a hug. Every single one of them hugs him until soon enough it’s one big group hug. This settles the lump in James’s throat and makes him happy once again.
“Thank you children, I appreciate it,” he says.
James realizes it’s getting late and sends them all home. All of the children rush home to tell their parents about the man who’s named after a star and the old man who’s still madly in love with him, even after all this time.
——-
Later on, James tells Regulus about them. He hope somewhere out there Regulus is smiling to himself just thinking about all the little kids who were so excited to hear about his love story. That thought alone makes him melt and he holds it dear to his heart for the rest of the night even when he’s falling asleep.