a Christmas ‘miracle’
24th of December, 1979
the day of Christmas eve - or was the day actually called Christmas eve, and the eve part wasn’t actually referring to a night? but the entire day was just called Christmas eve - Regulus often wondered about that, he never expressed the thoughts, though; they probably sounded stupid, anyway.
it was now around tea time, and the Potter’s entire house was decorated by now; as Euphemia had happily showed him earlier that day. Regulus figured their house elf, Gully, had probably decorated it; Gully, who Regulus was very fond of, was a very nice house elf - Regulus had often thought that all house elves would be the same kind of creatures, but Gully proved that thought wrong. Gully was, unlike Kreatcher, treated well by her family.
obviously Regulus had always treated Kreatcher the best he could, but the rest of the Black family clearly didn’t think of house elves as equal things. Which Regulus thought was pure bullshit, but he never said anything of it.
Sirius’s record player was bewitched, so the record that was currently playing, would be able to be heard in every room in the house. so right now, David Bowie’s ‘heroes’ was playing.
it seemed to be as if Remus’s extravagant side, only appeared when his favorite artists were on - Regulus had never seen him dance before, aka, what he was now doing with James and Sirius. this was also the happiest Regulus had ever seen Remus; it was such a simple moment, but Regulus had learned that the simplest of moments, could make people happiest.
still he wondered about Peter, where was he spending this Christmas? at family, like usual? or with… Regulus didn’t want to think about it, seeing as it made him feel physically ill, but he especially didn’t want to ask any of the others about it.
The doorbell rang, making everyone look up. Fleamont stood up to take it, normally any of the other’s would take it; since the war, in families like the Potter’s, the men had this sudden protectiveness over their wifes and families; not in a creepy way, but in a way of ‘if something were to happen, i’d be the first and you could still have a chance to get away.’
Regulus thought it was sort of sweet, he’d never see it in his own family.
“oh! Peter, its so lovely to see you!”
They heard Fleamont’s voice say from the hallway, luckily Fleamont wasn’t stupid - he didn’t sound scared at all, and seemed to greet Peter like a friend. the boys all turned to each other; a sense of fear covering their faces, which had been heavily smiling not even a minute ago.
“Reg! quick!” James whispered, throwing a big cloak over to the younger boy, who put it around him in a heartbeat; the invisibility cloak.
not even a second later, the big door swung open, revealing Fleamont and Peter, who had changed quite a bit. he was pale, dark circles around his eyes; he looked like he had lost weight in the worst way possible, like he hadn’t eaten - or slept - in days.
Peter looked happy as ever, and for a quick second Regulus forgot what had even happened; it seemed like everything was back to normal, like nothing had ever been off at all.
James looked normal too, like nothing was wrong, or ever had been. luckily his way of acting quickly made its way into Remus and Sirius’s acting as well.
“Oi there! sorry i’m late, can’t stay too long; but just wanted to say merry Christmas!”
the other boys went up to him and hugged him, Sirius a little stiffly, but Remus gave him a little push; as of saying ‘act normal.” - which happened to be exactly what Regulus was thinking, as well.
this was the first time the marauders were reunited after it happened. it was sure as hell hard, but none of them could use any messing up the plan right now.
“Pete! it’s been a while, where’ve you been?” Remus asked him, big smile on his face; but fumbling with his hands behind his back. Regulus had always admired Remus’s ability to stay calm.
“missions, for the order; top secret. Dumbledore told me i shouldn’t tell anyone.”
“ah.”
there was a silence so quiet Regulus was afraid that Peter could hear him breathing, which was an obnoxious fear; the room was currently carrying 7 people, including Regulus himself - hearing breathing wouldn’t be a weird thing.
Peter comfortably sat himself down on one of the chairs, like he had done for so many years. Regulus could tell everyone was trying to keep it normal, but the awkwardness just sprung off the situation.
“i’m a little tired, probably gonna head upstairs, just for a bit.” Sirius said, while walking out of the room, giving a little smile at Peter along the way.
this only managed to make it even more awkward, everyone sat in silence, sipping some tea. luckily, Euphemia was asking Peter a lot of questions; maybe trying to secretly figure out what he was up to, either way, she was doing a great job not making it any more awkward than it already was.
Lily was in town at the moment, with Marlene and Dorcas, who were currently visiting as well. They had arrived yesterday, since they were also celebrating Christmas with them.
Remus excused himself upstairs, Regulus silently followed him, and the moment they entered the room, Remus put a silencing spell on the door and Regulus took off the cloak.
Sirius was already in the room, walking through it with a certain speed.
“what the bloody hell was that all about? i mean, this guy doesn’t show up for a solid half a year, i don’t know, and then he manages to show up on Christmas? not only was he just ‘not around’, he was also hanging out with,” Sirius lowered his voice. “fucking Death eaters?!”
Regulus and Remus both nodded heavily. “i think it was to check if there was some meeting of the order, probably an order from Voldemort, or one of his stinky followers.”
“Lily,” Remus suddenly said, making both Regulus and Sirius frown in confusion. “Lily. and Marls, and Dorcas. they’re all in town right now. i highly doubt Peter came alone.”
“fuck.” Sirius murmured, turning towards his brother, who was highly confused by now. “Reg; wear the cloak, follow us, and no matter what the circumstances are; don’t take of the cloak or let anyone know you’re there.”
Regulus nodded at this, Sirius walked down the stairs again, his wand holding up his hair in a bun. Remus quickly gave Regulus a little nod, which was strangely enough quite comforting, and then followed his boyfriend.
Regulus could see Sirius open the door of the living-room, putting his head through and say something about ‘going into town to get some medicines’, and close the doors again.
by now Remus was already outside, Sirius and Regulus, who was still under the cloak, followed him quickly. they made their way into the small town walking as fast as possible without looking suspicious.
it didn’t take long for them to find the girls, who were happily shopping. they quickly ran up to them, Regulus was a bit behind them, making sure there really wasn’t anyone else.
“we need to go back to the house, its not safe here.” Sirius said, making the girls frown and look at them in confusion.
“what do you mean?” Marlene said, lowering her voice.
Regulus turned around, the roads were almost empty, except for this elderly lady, who was carrying her groceries, and this other guy Regulus didn’t recognize at first, until he did.
this guy had been in the meeting Regulus had attended beginning of the school year.
he walked towards Remus and quickly tapped his back, making him turn and look at the guy; they had eye contact for a couple of seconds until the man suddenly reached for his wand.
“stupefy!” the man yelled, pointing at Sirius, who tried to block it,
but Remus was faster.
“protego!”
the spell backfired, almost hitting the death eater who conjured it himself. Sirius had by now grabbed his wand as well.
“levicorpus!”
the man flew into the air, like someone had hung him up by the ankle. Sirius let out a quiet laugh, and carefully walked closer to the man.
“don’t fuck with my friends that way, keep your stinky ass face away from us.” he said coldly, turning his back, walking away, catching up with the girls, who were waiting a bit further away.
Remus casted a non verbal spell and the man froze, then popped apart and seemed to have vanished in the middle of the air.
Regulus let out a chuckle and followed in silence, walking next to Remus.
“good one.”