Ice Cream Sundaes
“The boys have been very disobedient today, don’t be afraid to discipline them if they act out,” Aunt Walburga tells Andromeda, “Let me know if they keep acting like brats.”
“I will, don’t worry,” She assures her, “Have a nice weekend.”
“Mmm,” Aunt Walburga hums, turning around and pulling her bag behind her, leaving with Uncle Orion. Andromeda shuts the door behind them when they leave, locking it before she immediately hears the quick pattering footsteps down the stairs, Sirius poking his head around the corner of the staircase and beaming.
“Andy!” He exclaims, Andromeda putting down her two bags and opening her arms as he hops down the last step and runs into a hug. Andromeda laughs, rubbing the top of his head.
“Hi, Sirius,” She greets, “How are you, sweetheart?”
“Not great,” He says, his face still buried against her, “Mum was really mad at us today.”
“Did she hurt you at all?” Andromeda asks, not getting a response from him and knowing it’s a yes. “Let me see, Sirius,” She urges, having to wait a moment before Sirius steps back and pulls down the neck of his shirt, turning around to show her the huge bruise on the back of his shoulder. She immediately goes to run a finger across it but Sirius pulls his shoulder away before she can even really touch it.
“Ow!” He exclaims, pulling back up his shirt and turning around, “It hurts!”
“I’m sorry, I’ll see if your mum has anything to heal it hidden around,” She says, “What was she mad about?”
“Mmm,” He guiltily hums, “Maybe I yelled at her?”
Andromeda sighs, “Why did you do that?”
“She was teasing Reg! I wasn’t going to let her do that, he was doing a really good job talking and she made fun of him,” Sirius tells her, “I had reason to yell at her, she was being mean.”
“What am I going to do with you?” She laughs, ruffling his hair, “So protective.”
He smiles pridefully up at her, Andromeda savoring the look of that smugness on his face, knowing one day she’ll miss it.
“Where is your brother?” She asks, Sirius pointing back towards the stairs.
“In his room, Mum sent us up to our rooms after lunch,” Sirius replies, “He didn’t want to talk to me when I went to see him, I think he’s upset.”
“Probably, let me go say hi to him,” She starts her way towards the stairs, Sirius following right behind her. They go up to Regulus’ door, Andromeda turning back to Sirius. “Let me talk to your brother alone, I’ll be out in a minute.”
Sirius looks at her upset a minute before stepping back and going into his room. She’s barely fazed by it, it doesn’t take long to learn that it is impossible to please both of them.
Rather, she knocks on the door, waiting a minute before opening it and peeking her head in. She sees Regulus with tears running down his cheeks, sitting on the ground and rocking back and forth as he reads a book on the floor. She’d recognize that book anywhere, it’s one of the little constellation books he got from Uncle Alphard for Christmas. They’re meant for kids twice his age but yet he’s burned through all of them several times already.
“Hey Reg,” She calls his attention up, Regulus looking up at her. He smiles at her, a sad smile but a smile at that. He doesn’t say anything, though. “How are you?”
He just holds his arms up at her, Andromeda sighing but walking over to him, leaning down and picking him up. For any other six-year-old, they would be too big and too old to be picked up. But Regulus never got this when he was little, and he’s a really tiny kid for his age, so he gets a pass sometimes.
“You know you’re getting a little too big for this,” She comments, Regulus just wrapping his arms around her neck and resting his head on her shoulder. She rubs his back with her free hand, almost positive that she’s not going to get him to say a word to her. She wants to try anyway, though.
“What’s wrong, Reg? Why are you upset?” She asks, Regulus just shaking his head. “I can’t help if you don’t tell me, I know you can,” She presses, “It’s alright you tell me slow or you stutter, I just want you to tell me.”
Regulus only mutters a quiet, “No.”
“Yes,” She says, moving to put him down on the ground again.
“No!” He whines, holding onto her tighter.
“Then you have to tell me what’s wrong,” She presses, Regulus shaking his head, “Alright, then I’m going to put you down.”
He just indistinctly whines this time, Andromeda setting him down regardless. He just sits down on the floor with his arms crossed, Andromeda watching his shoulders fold as he starts crying again. She crouches down in front of him and puts a hand on his shoulder.
“You have to tell me what’s wrong, Reg, I can’t read your mind,” She softly reminds him, Regulus looking up at her and slowly hiccuping.
“M-Mum said-said-said I’m s-stupid for not being- being able to talk,” He very slowly tells her, “I-I was trying!”
“I know, I know, and you’re doing a really good job,” She assures him, “Look at all you just told me, that was a lot and you didn’t even need me to say it first. I know your mum is really mean to you but try not to believe her, ok?”
Although he’s still crying, he nods, Andromeda pulling him into a hug. He only holds on for a moment before he mumbles something.
“What did you say?” She asks, Regulus sitting back and pointing at his cheek.
“Kiss?” He asks, tilting his head.
Andromeda chuckles but leans down and presses a kiss on his cheek, exaggerating the sound like he loves. He giggles when she does, holding up two fingers.
“Two kisses?” He asks, pointing at his cheek again.
“Mmm, two kisses?” She pretends to think a moment before leaning in and giving him two big kisses on the same cheek, causing that sweet little laugh to echo through the room again.
“Three kisses!” He says through laughter, Andromeda smiling at him.
“I’ll give you three kisses if you said ‘Can I please have three kisses?’” She offers, Regulus’ smile fading. He goes quiet, not even trying to say it. “I know you can, it’s ok if you get tripped up. Try it, I know you can do it.”
He opens his mouth slightly for a moment, thinking before slowly and carefully saying, “Can I p-p-pl- I can’t.”
“Yes you can, you can do it,” She encourages him, “Try again, you got it.”
“Can I pl-please have-have three kisses?” He slowly says, Andromeda beaming back at him when he finally finishes.
“Of course you can,” She enthusiastically says, cupping one side of his face and giving him three big kisses on his cheek, Regulus giggling away. It’s really hard to get Regulus to say more than a few words at a time, so the fact that he asked at all was really impressive.
Andromeda stands up when she finished, picking Regulus when he holds his arms up to her.
“I have a really special treat for you and your brother, should we go see it?” She asks, Regulus excitedly nodding.
“Mhm!” He hums, Andromeda going over to the door and opening it to go see Sirius. To her surprise he’s sitting right outside the door, looking up from where he’s got his knees to his chest.
“Hey Sirius,” She greets, “What are you doing out here?”
“Waiting for you,” He says, “You took a long time.”
“I was just talking to your brother,” She tells him, “I was telling him how I brought a surprise for you guys, do you want to see it?”
“A surprise?” He asks, standing up, “What is it?”
“Well if I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise,” She teases, starting downstairs. Sirius follows after her, Andromeda going into their entranceway and picking up the bag with her little surprise in it, bringing it into the dining room and putting it down on the table. Sirius stands at the edge of the table next to her, going on his tiptoes to look as she pulls out the two tubs of ice cream and puts them on the table. When she does she hears both boys excitedly gasp, Sirius jumping up and down.
“Ice cream!” He exclaims in the happiest tone Andromeda thinks she’s ever heard, Andromeda just continuing to take out the chocolate sauce and sprinkles and whipped cream and gummy candies she brought. Sirius looks up at her, smiling from ear to ear, “Sundaes?”
“Mhm,” She smiles down at him, “I thought you guys might like that, it’s something fun to do.”
“Yeah!” He throws his arms around her, Andromeda wrapping her free arm around him, “Thank you!”
“Thank you,” Regulus says too, Andromeda looking over at him to see him excitedly smiling.
“You’re welcome boys,” She replies to both of them, “Now, we can do it now or we can have it after dinner, what do you think?”
“Now! Now!” Sirius steps back and looks at her, “Please?”
“We can do it now, here,” Andromeda pulls a chair out and sets Regulus down in it, who stands up on the chair and reaches out for the vanilla ice cream she brought. “Let me get bowls first, hold your horses, you two.”
Andromeda quickly heads into the kitchen, greeting Kreature, who just hums at her. She knows he keeps in the kitchen when she’s here. As much as he’s devoted to her aunt, he knows how horrible she is for her kids. So, when Andromeda gives them their break when she’s over, Kreature chooses to ignore everything they do as to not out them to Aunt Walburga.
She goes back into the room with 3 bowls and 3 spoons, giving Regulus, who has sat down in the chair, and Sirius standing next to him each a bowl and a spoon.
“You can grab what you want, don’t worry about making a mess,” She assures them, “I’ll clean it up.”
Despite her assurance, the boys still both carefully take their helpings of ice cream, chocolate for Sirius and vanilla for Regulus. Sirius haphazardly piles on toppings, Regulus sticking to just putting the gummy worms on top. He doesn’t make much progress, though, Andromeda chuckling as she watches him put down a gummy worm just to eat it by itself.
“Regulus sweetheart, you can just eat the gummy worms, you don’t have to put them on the sundae,” She tells him, but he shakes his head.
“Sundae,” He simply tells her, doing it a few more times before sitting down and eating his bowl of plain vanilla ice cream. Sirius finishes his up too, dragging a chair closer and sitting down right next to his brother. Andromeda takes a small bowl of her own, just a little bit of chocolate and whipped cream. They eat quietly for a minute before Andromeda looks over at the two of them.
“Was this a good surprise? Did I make your day a little better?” She asks, eliciting a nod from Sirius.
“Mhm!” He hums, swallowing before continuing, “Very good, we never have ice cream.”
“I know, it makes it special when you get to,” She smiles, “And we have to finish it before your parents come back home on Monday, so you’re welcome to have all you want.”
“Yay!” Sirius chirps, continuing to eat his huge bowl of ice cream. Andromeda taps Regulus on the shoulder to get his attention before asking him.
“How is your ice cream?” She asks, Regulus looking over at her with her favorite huge, lopsided smile.
“Good!” He says back.
“Do you want more gummy worms?” She asks, reaching over to grab the bag of them and bringing them closer to Regulus. He immediately starts doing what he did before, putting them on the little bit of ice cream he has before eating it off a couple of gummy worms later. She just lets him, knowing he’s having a good time doing it. She also makes a mental note to do this more often, because it took them both from upset to smiling in less than a minute. She knows she shouldn’t have to be the person to do this, it should be their parents coming home with ice cream and surprising them. But they’re certainly not going to do that.
So Andromeda will have to do.