Camp 7 Oaks

Regulus

It has been 3 hours, and Regulus is going crazy. In hindsight, he never should have agreed to this. Why did he think this was a good idea? Sirius is in the seat next to him, singing along - quite loudly - to the song he’s playing (Regulus doesn’t think he’s ever willingly listened to this much Bowie in a row).

“I’m telling you, you’re gonna love it there.” Sirius says for what has to be the third time in the last hour.

“I don’t know how I let myself get talked into this,” Regulus replies, knowing that it's an absolute lie. In reality, he knows exactly how he let himself get talked into this. If only it weren’t for James fucking Potter, his big warm smile, bigger arms, and adorable glasses. When Regulus showed up at Sirius’ apartment he hadn’t expected to find a roommate. When he started talking about his parents’ summer camp that he and Sirius work at every year, all Regulus could do was smile and nod, and hope he wasn’t being too obvious about his painfully embarrassing crush.

That was 2 weeks ago. Now, Regulus was 3 hours into a car ride on his way to a summer camp where he was going to be a counselor. No getting out of it now (he tried, a lot). Now, Regulus has to prepare himself to spend an entire summer with James Potter, with no escape in sight. The thought alone makes him break out in sweat.

“Ok, well you know what? You did let yourself get talked into this, so now the only thing to do is get excited.” Sirius shoots back, smiling way too much.

Regulus isn’t sure there’s too much to be excited about. He has never once been responsible for anyone else’s welfare, especially not children. He honestly can’t see any way for this to end other than a complete and total disaster.

“How does the schedule work again?” Regulus tries, desperate to change the subject

“Ok so we’ll get up there, and it’ll just be staff for a week, then June 8th, campers arrive.” Sirius supplied happily

“A whole week without the kids? What are we even going to be doing?” Regulus questions, wanting to gauge how much time he’ll actually have to spend with James.

“You’d be surprised how much there is to do.” Sirius explains, “We do a lot of prep and set up and stuff, but there’s also a bunch of team-building and group time, so we can all get to know each other.”

“Great.” Regulus mutters under his breath, already bracing himself for James Potter’s ice breakers.

Sirius doesn’t seem to hear him, as he just keeps on talking. “Usually I go up early with James, but since it’s your first year I thought it’d be cruel to make you drive up by yourself. He’s already there, doing extra prep with his parents and Lily.”

Lily? Regulus doesn’t remember this name being brought up earlier. “Who’s Lily?”

“Oh my god!” Sirius almost shouts, “You’re going to LOVE Lily, she’s amazing. She’s also the program director, so she’s basically in charge of everyone and everything, except for maybe James. I guess technically they’re on the same level, but everyone listens to her more.”

Sirius keeps rambling, and Regulus can’t help but tune it out. He really isn’t interested in hearing about the dynamics between James and the other employees. As Regulus is actively trying to think of anything else, he and Sirius drive through a massive ranch gate, reading ‘Camp 7 Oaks’.

No getting out of this now.

As much as Regulus is actively dreading this summer, he can’t deny how beautiful the property is. They’re right on the coast of a huge lake, not to mention the hour and a half of gorgeous forest they drove through to get here. About 5 minutes later they’re parking in a huge garage, with only 3 other cars.

“I’m so glad we’re the first ones here, we get to inspect all the newbies,” Sirius jokes, but Regulus has a pit in the bottom of his stomach.

This is actually happening. I’m about to be surrounded by kids and James Potter for the next 2 and a half months of my life.”Regulus thinks, filling with dread.

As he and Sirius start getting their bags out of the car, Regulus hears an all too familiar voice.

“Sirius!” James, running over to immediately grab Sirius up in a bear hug. “I’m so glad you guys are here!” He starts to move for Regulus who quickly dodges and offers a nod instead.

“Ok so Sirius you’re in Boulder Rock, you’ll meet Ellis, Alex, and Oscar at orientation.” James tells him

“Wait, are we not together?” Sirius asks, looking betrayed beyond all reason.

“No, mom and dad said since we’re the most experienced ones we have to divide it, so its fair.” James puts air-quotes around “fair”, looking equally as disappointed.

“Sorry, what are we talking about?” Regulus asks, absolutely clueless

“Oh, sorry Reg. We’re talking about our cabin assignments.” James tells him; he looks back down at his clipboard. “Oh it actually looks like we’re bunking together. Windy Willows.”

Regulus has no idea what the fuck a ‘windy willows’ is, but he does know one thing: rooming with James Potter for an entire summer will be the death of him.

☀☀☀

Since Sirius and James aren’t done being completely ridiculous and embarrassing, Regulus slips away during what must be their 1000th hug since they arrived 15 minutes ago. Suddenly not sure what to do with himself, Regulus decides to just take in his surroundings. Sirius and James had been talking his ear off nonstop about how gorgeous the camp was, but honestly? Now that Regulus is here, it all feels like a massive understatement.

From the top of the hill where they were parked, Regulus can see a massive, perfectly manicured green lawn, an incredible amount of forest surrounding them on all sides, and what is maybe the best part of the camp, a huge lake, fully equipped with docks for swimming and boating. Now, the Black family were not huge fans of “summer camp”. Too many chances for outside influences. Regulus never understood why the other kids liked them so much, but he can start to understand now.

He’s just starting to feel sort of good about this whole camp counselor thing when he hears James walking up behind him, Sirius not far behind, of course.

“Hey, Reg are you hungry?” Sirius asks, “James and I are gonna go get some food before orientation”

“No, I’m good,” Regulus answers, which earns him an odd look from Sirius. “I think I got a little carsick or something, I’m just gonna walk around for a bit.”

“Okay,” Sirius says, not looking entirely sure of himself, “just let me know where you’re going so I can come find you for orientation.”

Regulus begrudgingly agrees and watches them walk down the hill towards the main camp. Regulus heads decidedly in the opposite direction, hoping to just relax by the lake awhile.

“Hi, do you know where we’re supposed to go?” he hears from behind him.

Well. So much for his solitude.

“Um, I’m not sure.” Regulus responds, turning around to face the girl. He immediately decides she’s cool, with her long blonde braids and her flowy skirt and top, she looks like she’s right out of a fantasy novel.

“Oh, well I’m Pandora, its nice to meet you,” She says and swoops in for a hug.

Before he knows it he’s hugging her back, and he doesn’t quite know why, but he trusts Pandora.

“Hi, I’m Reg.” he responds when she takes a step back. “Why are you here so early? I don’t think orientation starts until 3:00.”

“I could ask you the same question,” Pandora responds, “I always like to get to know my surroundings, and with someplace like this I thought that might take a while.” She says, giggling

“Well my brother is best friends with one of the directors, which means we came up early so they could hang out and catch up on everything they missed in the last 2 days of not seeing each other.” Regulus offers up, “But I was about to go down to the lake.”

“Well there’s no reason you should have to go alone,” Pandora states merrily, and links her arm in his as they start to walk down towards the lake.

Maybe this won’t be so bad, Regulus can’t help but think as he walks towards the lake with Pandora on his arm, going on whatever seems to be on her mind in that particular moment. And as they settle on the dock, letting the waves hit his feet, Regulus really starts to believe it.