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Regulus groans as the phone rings for the third time , hoping this isn’t Andromeda again telling him more about what he has to do when he watches Nymphadora tomorrow. He gets up and answers it, “Hello?”
“Reg, hi!” James happily greets from the other side, “How are you?”
“I’m good,” Regulus replies, “Is there a reason you’re calling?”
“Why can’t I just call to talk to you?” James asks, laughing, “I’m kidding, yes there is, are you busy tomorrow?”
“I mean, technically yes, but I’m just watching Dora for the day,” Regulus tells him, “I can always just take her with me.”
“Oh, well, I was going to ask if you wanted to just come over and hang out, I think Harry misses you,” James says, “And I haven’t seen you in a while. If Andromeda is alright with it you can bring Dora to meet Harry, hasn’t she been incessantly asking you?”
“Every goddamn time I see her, she always asks about the baby, when she’s seeing the baby, where the baby is,” Regulus sighs, “I’m positive she would love to meet him.”
“Great! Call Andromeda, see how she feels about it, and you’re welcome over whenever,” James replies, Regulus hearing faint yelling in the background, “Ok, I’m needed elsewhere. You don’t have to call back, just show up if you get an ok from her.”
“Alright, thank you James, I’ll probably see you tomorrow,” Regulus replies.
“Mhm!” James hums in response, “Bye Reg!”
“Bye,” Regulus pulls the phone away from his ear and hanging up on James before dialing Andromeda. He puts the phone back to his ear and listens to the phone ring a couple of times before someone picks up, a surprisingly high voice happily chirping, “Hello!”
“Hi Dora,” Regulus laughs, “Why did you pick up the phone?”
“I wanted to answer it,” She tells him, “I can answer the phone, Mum said it’s ok.”
“Alright, but can you go get her? I have to ask her something,” Regulus replies, hearing Nymphadora yell for her mother. A moment later a different voice grows closer before someone else takes the phone.
“Reg?” Andromeda asks.
“Mhm,” Regulus affirms.
“Ok, good, I thought it was you,” She sighs, “I did not say Dora could pick up the phone, but apparently she doesn’t want to listen to me.”
“In her head you did, she sounded very confident about it,” Regulus laughs, “Anyway, I have something to ask you, it’ll be quick.”
“Go for it,” She encourages.
“So, James just called asking if I wanted to go over there and just hang out for a while, but, obviously, I’m watching Dora tomorrow,” Regulus explains, “I was wondering if you were opposed to me taking her over their house.”
“Oh, not at all, I’m sure she’s going to go crazy when you tell her,” Andromeda replies, “She asks about their son all the time.”
“That’s what I was saying to James,” Regulus agrees, “Don’t tell her, though, or we will not be going out to eat before we go over there because she’ll be off the wall.”
“I won’t, don’t worry. I have raised a kid, I do know they don’t forget, especially Dora,” Andromeda laughs.
“Just making sure,” Regulus clarifies, “That’s all I had to ask you, so I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye, Andy.”
“Bye Reg,” She replies before Regulus hangs up the phone. He leans back against the counter, trying to remap his day tomorrow to incorporate spending some of it at James’ house. They’re still going to breakfast because Cynthia is coming with them, so going over after that probably would be early enough that the excitement would wear off so he could pry her back home when they were done. Although, Nymphadora is notorious for not wanting to leave places and being very adamant about it.
Regulus is drawn out of his train of thought when the door opens, looking over to see Cynthia walking in before shutting it behind her.
“You’re back early,” Regulus comments, glancing at the clock to see it isn’t even 5 yet.
“There wasn’t much to do today,” She replies as she takes her shoes off.
“That’s always good,” He remarks as she walks over, giving her a kiss before she goes to start making herself some tea. “I’m sorry, I was just about to start making it, you caught me off guard.”
“It’s fine,” She assures him, “Did you do anything fun today?”
“Not really, other than chatting with Mad-Eye and him inevitably trying to commission me into being an auror,” Regulus answers, “I’m not doing it.”
“You also can’t , right? You definitely are not qualified,” Cynthia points out.
“That’s what I keep telling him, but he’s insistent that because I was an Order member they’d waive the standards. Which, in all honesty, is fair, but the last thing I want to be is an auror,” Regulus replies, “That wasn’t even my job when I was in the Order, I’m horrible at countercurses and any kind of defense. They brought me if they needed anyone coerced into admitting something, that I can help with.”
“Coerced is a nice word for it,” Cynthia teases, “What are you doing tomorrow? Other than breakfast with Dora and I, obviously.”
“Well, James invited Dora and I over just to hang out, so I just called Andy to make sure that was alright.”
“I’m sure Dora is thrilled?” Cynthia laughs.
“I told Andy not to tell her,” Regulus responds, “I do not want her jumping up and down all excited all breakfast.”
“That’s reasonable, knowing her she would be,” Cynthia agrees, “That’ll be fun, though, as long as you can teach her that you can’t jostle around a one and a half year old baby.”
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t hurt him,” Regulus assures her, “For now, though, I want to hear about your day, didn’t you pitch something?”
“Oh! Yeah, it wasn’t quite a comprehensive bill but…”
***
Regulus thanks the server as they walk out of the restaurant, hand in hand with Nymphadora next to him.
“So, Dora, we have something cool to do today,” He tells her.
“Really?!” She exclaims, “What are we doing?”
“Well, James invited the two of us over so you can meet baby Harry, how does that sound?”
She excitedly gasps, her hair, which has recently been green, immediately lightens, and she excitedly shakes her hands back and forth, “I can meet him?”
“Mhm,” Regulus nods.
“Yay!” She squeals, jumping up and down before hugging Regulus, “Thank you!”
“You’re welcome, but you also should thank James when we get there,” He tells her, looking up at Cynthia, the two smiling at how happy this made her. “Say goodbye to Cynthia, though, she’s going to work.”
Nymphadora runs over and gives Cynthia a hug, “Bye!”
“Bye Dora,” Cynthia ruffles her hair, “I’ll see you soon.”
“I’m gonna see the baby!” She cheers, “I’m gonna show him how I can- Uh, how I can change my hair!”
“He’s going to think it’s very cool,” Cynthia smiles, “But I have to get to work so you can show him.”
“Ok,” She gives her another hug, “Bye-bye.”
“Have fun today,” Cynthia tells her before walking over and giving Regulus a kiss, “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Have a nice day at work,” He bids her goodbye as she starts her way down the street to where the Ministry building is. Regulus takes Nymphadora’s hand and walking her just down the road to the closest building with a floo. They step up to it and Regulus grabs a handful of floo powder, Nymphadora holding out her hand for some. “No, you’re going to floo with me.”
“Why?” She whines, “I can do it myself.”
“Mm-mm, I don’t want anything to happen, we’ll floo together.”
“I don’t want to,” She crosses her arms.
Regulus sighs, “I know you want to, but if you don’t floo with me we’re going home instead.”
She groans before taking the hand Regulus is still holding out. Regulus takes that as permission enough to move them into the fireplace, holding onto her as he calls James’ address and throws down the powder, the two of them appearing in James and Lily’s fireplace. Regulus lets go of Nymphadora to let her step out into the living room. Sitting beside the fireplace is their Christmas tree, decorated in lights and ornaments. Hanging up around the room are lights, paired with the garland outlining the doorways. Regulus knows this is entirely James, he hangs up all these decorations for every holiday.
“James!” Regulus calls, James peeking around the corner from where Harry’s bedroom door is.
“Oh, hey guys!” James happily greets, “We’ll be out in a minute.”
“Mhm,” Regulus hums in acknowledgment, ushering Nymphadora over to the front door, “Take your shoes off, Dora.”
Nymphadora and Regulus both take off their shoes and put them by the rack at the door, Regulus seeing Nymphadora get progressively more excited as she rubs her hands together. She looks up at Regulus, a huge toothy smile on her face, some of her teeth missing. It’s been her new thing she’s been excited about, losing her teeth, which Regulus doesn’t understand at all.
Not even a minute later, in walks Harry, with his big goofy steps and his hand up to barely hold his father’s hands, who is bending down awkwardly to make sure he doesn’t fall.
“Harry, go say hi,” James lets Harry go so he can take the final few steps to Regulus and Dora, holding onto Regulus’ leg and looking up at him, babbling something to him.
“Hi Harry, look,” Regulus crouches down and picks up Harry so he can look down at Nymphadora, who is awestruck by him, “This is Dora.” Regulus waves at her to show him, Harry happily copying him and waving.
Nymphadora giggles, “Hi!”
“Say hi,” Regulus says to Harry, “Say hi to her.”
“Ha!” He yells.
“Close enough,” Regulus laughs.
“Here, do you want me to bring the blocks out? He’s been in love with those recently,” James asks, Regulus nodding. James goes back into Harry’s room, bringing back out a box with a whole bunch of colorful wooden blocks in them of a few different shapes. James puts them down on the ground and Harry immediately tries to fall out of Regulus’ arms for them.
“Mine mine!” He grabs for them.
“I’ll let you down if you tell me what they are,” Regulus reasons, crouching down and picking up a cube, “What is this?”
“Mine!” He reaches for it.
“What is it?”
“Block!” Harry cheers, “Mine!”
“Block, very good,” Regulus praises, giving it to him and setting him down on the ground. He immediately tips over the bin and starts to stack up the blocks on one another. Nymphadora doesn’t move, surprisingly, seemingly frozen with what she’s supposed to do.
“Dora, why don’t you play with him?” Regulus offers, “He likes to knock the towers down, build one for him.”
She rushes over and sits down right in front of him, taking some of the blocks off of the ground and stacking them up in a tower. Harry pushes it down before she even finishes, giggling like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever seen.
Nymphadora looks up at Regulus, almost for assurance that what she did was right.
“See how much he liked it?” Regulus says, “Do it again.”
She makes another one, Harry doing the same exact thing and laughing even harder. Nymphadora smiles, not looking up this time and immediately starting to make another tower for him.
“Reg,” James calls his attention up, “I think that’s a success.”
“Agreed,” Regulus replies, glancing over at the two playing with one another. Regulus walks up beside James, “I was afraid she’d be too rough, she can be a little all over the place sometimes.”
“Yeah, but she can be gentle, I would be surprised if Ted raised her not to be,” James points out.
“That’s fair,” Regulus nods, “I’m sure this won’t last long, though.”
“Oh, totally, it’ll go south very quickly,” James laughs, “I hope it doesn’t but I know it will.”
“Well, I guess we’ll just wait until something happens,” Regulus walks over and takes a seat on the couch, James sitting next to him, “So, anything new with you?”
“I’ve been looking around for a healing position to take, and I think I found something the other day,” James tells him, “It’s weird, you know, getting back into things after all of that, but I think I want to start working again- Well, kind of again, if you consider the Order a job.”
“What unit is the job in?”
James smiles, “Werewolf unit, exactly where I want to be. And the kid’s sector, they’re super understaffed so they said they’d gladly take me.”
“That’s great,” Regulus answers, “When are you starting?”
“I don’t know,” James sighs, leaning back on the couch, “I just- I really want to, I want to want to, but I don’t think I’m ready. I can’t even leave the house for an hour without calling back home. Lily didn’t pick up the other day and I was convinced that something happened, I’m just so paranoid.”
“Don’t push it, if you’re not ready don’t start working,” Regulus replies, “You went through a lot, and you still have another year that you’re getting Ministry pay for what happened. You don’t need to start working if you think it’s going to take a toll on you.”
“What are you doing? Are you working?”
Regulus shakes his head, “I don’t think I could, not yet. It’s barely been a couple of months.”
“Yeah, I know, I know,” James nods, “Lily doesn’t want to work, like, ever. She and I were talking last night and she said that as much as she would love to work and be independent she just doesn’t think that she can , you know?”
“Mhm, I know what you mean, and she’s completely valid in saying that-”
“Reg,” Nymphadora calls his attention over, “Can I- Can I ask something?”
“Mhm, go ahead,” Regulus encourages.
“What happened to his head?” She points at Harry’s head, where the big lightning scar he got peaks through his hair.
Regulus and James share a glance at one another before James chooses to explain, “He got hurt by someone, he’s ok now, though.”
“Hurt? Hurt how? That’s a big scar.”
“Someone- Someone hurt him, it doesn’t matter how,” James quickly brushes her off.
She looks at him, confused, “Who?”
Regulus looks on a James clearly starts to look distressed at all these questions. Regulus pats him on the shoulder, “Do you want to go take a minute?”
James nods, getting up and heading off into the other room, Regulus hearing his and Lily’s door shut. Nymphadora looks to Regulus for an answer.
“Someone who wanted very very bad things, I know you’re curious but James doesn’t want to talk about it,” Regulus tries to put this as lightly as possible, “If he doesn’t want to talk about it we won’t ask, alright?”
She frowns at him, clearly skeptical of his dismissive reason, but she complies, “Ok, I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright, you didn’t know,” Regulus assures her. Apparently, the blocks have become boring, because Harry crawls his way over to Regulus, “Hey, bud, what’s up?”
“Up up!” He grabs up towards Regulus, Regulus picking him up and putting him on his knee. Nymphadora gets up from the ground and walks over to sit next to him.
“Reg,” Nymphadora starts, “Why can’t the baby speak?”
“Well, Harry has to learn all the words we know, so that takes time,” Regulus explains, “He knows some words, but he’s still learning.”
“What can he say?” She asks.
“He knows his mum and dad, he can ask for more and ask you to pick him up,” Regulus explains, “He also likes to say ‘mine’ a lot, and he’s learning how to say things like water and food.”
“Can he walk?”
“Mhm, he’s learning,” Regulus nods.
“How old is he?” She inquires, seemingly very curious about this. Although, she’s always been one for questions.
“He’s almost one and a half,” Regulus answers.
“I’m 8 and a half!” She excitedly tells him as if he doesn’t know.
“Mhm, now, how much older are you than him?”
“Uhh, 7?”
“Mhm, perfect, good job,” Regulus praises, “You’re 7 years apart.”
James comes back out of his room, looking notably more cheery than how he went in, “Oh, we’ve moved, ok.”
“Yeah, Harry decided he wanted to be over here on the couch,” Regulus replies as James comes over to grab a seat on the other side of him.
“Oh, I completely forgot to tell you,” James says, “Mad-Eye might be stopping by, he needs to give me something and that man has never learned how to use an owl in his life.”
“You’re telling me, Cynthia jumps every time he knocks on the door because he bangs like a policeman,” Regulus replies.
“It definitely catches your attention,” James laughs, Regulus feeling someone tug on his shirt. He looks over to see Nymphadora looking up at him.
“Reg,” She starts, “Can I show the baby how I’m a metamorphmagus? Is it ok?”
“Yeah, you can show him,” Regulus nods, tapping Harry’s shoulder to get his attention and pointing at Nymphadora, “Harry, look, watch her.”
Harry looks on as Nymphadora holds out her hand and her skin at the tips of her fingers shift to green, slowly climbing up her hand until the whole thing is green. She smiles at Harry, who is entranced with what she’s doing. She flips through a couple of colors, purple, pink, red, normal ones she likes using for her hair.
Harry points at it and yells something incoherent.
“I think that means he likes it,” Regulus laughs when Nymphadora seems confused at the response, “Remember how I said he doesn’t know a lot of words? When he’s excited he does that because he can’t tell you the words.”
“Oh, ok,” She nods, her hand quickly shifting back to its normal color, “He liked it.”
“Mhm, he did,” He assures her again, rubbing Harry’s head, “Right, Harry?”
“No no, da-da,” He shakes his head, bending backward and causing Regulus to have to prevent him from falling, “Da-da, da-da up!”
“Ok, ok, I’m giving you to your dad,” Regulus hands Harry off to James, Harry slurring some baby jargon James immediately understands.
“You’re hungry?” James asks, “You want to eat?”
“Eat!” Harry parrots.
“Yes, eat! Good job, come on, let’s grab something to eat,” James gets up, looking to Regulus, “Would you mind helping, Reg?”
Regulus gets up, gesturing for Nymphadora to follow them into the kitchen, which is really only separated from the living room because it’s set into the front wall of the house.
“Let’s see if he answers this question, it’s a hit or miss sometimes,” James comments before looking to Harry, “What do you want to eat?”
Harry just replies in a series of sounds, none of which are real words.
“Mmm, what about a strawberry? Strawberries?” James asks him, Harry adamantly shaking his head, “Uhh, what else do you know, eggs? I can make you eggs?”
“You cannot make eggs,” Regulus counters, knowing James has never gotten the ability to cook.
“I can’t, but you can,” James looks back a moment before asking Harry again, “Eggs?”
“No no!” He shakes his head, “Baaaa!”
“Banana?”
Harry cheers, Regulus absolutely shocked with the fact James translated that.
“Banana it is, Reg, would you mind cutting it?” James asks as he goes over to set Harry in their high chair.
“I got it,” Regulus walks over and takes out a knife and their cutting board, starting to cut up the banana into baby-sized pieces. Standing at his side, looking on, is Nymphadora.
Regulus takes his finished pieces and walks over to where Harry is sitting, putting them onto the tray in front of him that James just made sure was clean. Harry immediately grabs for it, inevitably smushing it all over the tray.
“He’s making a mess,” Nymphadora looks up at Regulus, “That’s gross.”
“He’s just a baby, Dora, he doesn’t quite know what messes are yet,” Regulus tells her, looking back when someone knocks on the front door. Regulus knows exactly who it is from how aggressive and loud that was. James walks over to the door and opens it, Regulus hearing him greet Moody. Nymphadora, who apparently is interested in what is at the door, walks over to stand beside James, Regulus keeping one eye on Harry as he walks up to pull her away from the conversation.
“Oh, hello Regulus,” Moody greets, “Who is this?”
James steps out of the way so Nymphadora can look up at him, almost in awe.
“Dora,” Regulus taps her on the shoulder, “Introduce yourself.”
“Hi,” She smiles, “I’m Dora.”
“Nice to meet you, Dora,” He replies, Nymphadora not at all deterred by his monotone response. He looks up at Regulus, “Where did she come from?”
“She’s Andromeda’s daughter, my cousin,” Regulus explains, “I’m watching her today.”
“How old are you, Dora?” Moody asks in a tone completely too harsh for an 8-year-old. Nymphadora couldn’t care less, though, she seems fascinated by him.
“I’m 8 and a half!” She excitedly replies, “You’re tall.”
“And you’re short,” He counters, Regulus going to scold him for talking like that to her but stopping when Nymphadora laughs.
“What happened to your eye?” She points.”
“Dora-”
“Hush, the kid asked, I’ll answer,” Moody cuts Regulus off, “It got hit by a real nasty curse, so I had to get myself a new one.”
“A new eye?” She gasps, “You can get new eyes?”
“Well, I can.”
“Wow,” She marvels, “That’s so cool.”
Moody lets out a laugh, looking up at Regulus and pointing, “I like this kid.”
“I’m sure Andromeda is going to love hearing about this later,” James comments, walking up behind Regulus, holding Harry this time.
“I can’t have a fake eye, but I can do this,” Nymphadora holds up her hand, doing the same thing she did before with Harry, showing Moody how she can turn her hand green.
This seems to catch Moody’s attention, because he flashes the smallest expression of surprise, “A metamorphmagus, huh, and you’re 8?”
“Yeah!” She nods, standing up taller.
“No, you cannot commission her to be an auror at 8 years old,” Regulus stops him before he even starts.
“An auror would be an amazing career for her, I promise you, that’s where she’s headed,” Moody replies, “I know an auror when I see one.”
“She’s eight .”
“What is that?” Nymphadora asks, tilting her head ever so slightly, “An au-ror?”
“It’s a job, one that you’re ability will help you a lot with,” Moody tells her, “You get to throw assholes in jail-”
“No swearing in front of the kids,” James scolds, “If Harry picks that up, Mad-Eye, I swear.”
“Eh, won’t hurt him,” Moody brushes him off, “But I’ll be watching for her name on my trainee list in 10 years.”
“That’s cool, yeah!” Nymphadora nods, “I want to be that!”
“Mhm, that’s right,” Moody nods, “My work here is done, I’ll see you all when I see you.”
“Bye!” Dora waves as Moody walks off, tapping his stick on the ground and disappearing.
Regulus sighs, “Andy is going to kill me.”
“Reg, Reg,” Nymphadora turns around and looks up at Regulus, “He was cool.”
“Cool is definitely a word to describe it,” Regulus nods as James shuts the door and brings Harry back into the living room. Nymphadora continues to talk to Regulus about how cool she thought that was and how she wants to become an auror because she could change and whatever, Regulus doesn’t really catch most of it. James sets Harry down on the ground, Harry walking his way over to where Regulus is standing. He only gets a few steps in, though, before Nymphadora, who is hyped up on excitement, turns around and goes running up to James, knocking him back onto the ground.
Harry immediately begins to cry, screaming as James rushes over to help. Nymphadora stops talking and steps back, putting her hands over her ears and looking back at Regulus, teary-eyed.
“It’s ok, come here, it was an accident,” Regulus assures her, inviting her into a hug, which she gratefully takes. Although she keeps her hands over her ears, Regulus just wrapping his arms around her as he watches her hair color darken.
“He’s loud,” She mumbles, halfway into his chest.
“I know, James is quieting him down,” He rubs the back of her head, knowing she has a history of getting very overwhelmed very quickly.
It only takes a minute or so for Harry to quiet down. He’s still crying, but not nearly as loud, much to both Nymphadora and Regulus’ relief. He doesn’t want anything to get out of hand, and if Harry kept screaming Regulus has a feeling that it would.
Regulus and James share mutual looks of relief, Regulus looking down at the girl pressed against him, “Are you ok, Dora?”
“Mhm,” She nods, stepping back and looking up at him. She’s visibly still pushing back at whatever just bubbled up.
“Just breathe,” He instructs, “You’re alright.”
She takes her hands away from her ears, apparently deeming the room quiet enough for her to listen to it again.
“I didn’t mean to,” She hesitantly says, as if she isn’t sure if that’s the right thing to say.
“It’s alright, it was an accident,” Regulus replies, “See, Harry is fine too. You didn’t see him, just make sure you look next time.”
“I- I didn’t see him.”
“No, you didn’t,” Regulus agrees, “But you have to look next time, ok?”
“Mhm,” She nods, turning around to face Harry and James, where James is bouncing Harry around as he giggles. Nymphadora walks up to James, “Can I hold him too?”
James looks up at Regulus a second before answering, “He’s heavy, so you can’t hold him, but you can see if he wants to sit with you.”
Nymphadora happily smiles and nods before sitting down on the couch, James sitting next to her and explaining how to hold him so he stays in her lap. Of course, when he sits him there he keeps a hesitant hand out, knowing Nymphadora has a tendency to wander off from things. She keeps her arm around Harry, though, beaming down at the baby.
“He’s so cute,” She laughs, looking up at Regulus, “I got to meet him.”
“Mhm, you did,” Regulus laughs at the fact that this has just sunk in, “Do you agree that this was something cool?”
“Yeah,” She nods, “Very cool.”
“Oh, I totally didn’t ask you guys, are you, like, hungry?” James asks.
“I’m fine, we just had breakfast before this,” Regulus tells him, “Dora, are you hungry at all?”
“Mm-mm, I’m ok,” She shakes her head, still looking at Harry. After a moment she looks over at James, “Can you take him off?”
James picks Harry up and sets him down on the ground, Harry waddling off to sit by the blocks.
“Harry,” James calls over his son’s attention, “Show Uncle Reg how you stack them. Up like this,” James gestures with his hands, motioning the act of stacking blocks up.
Harry gets the point and stacks up the blocks on top of one another, going about 4 high before dramatically pushing it down, giggling like a maniac.
“Wow, very good,” Regulus praises.
“Reg,” Nymphadora starts, “Why are you Uncle Reg?”
“Because I’m kind of like James’ brother, so I’m Harry’s uncle,” Regulus explains, “You don’t call me uncle Reg because I’m not your mum’s brother, I’m her cousin.”
“Oh, ok,” She nods, “So- So if Sirius had a baby, you would be Uncle Reg to his baby?”
“Yeah, exactly,” Regulus affirms, “Oh, have you told James about how school is going? What you did the other day?”
“Oh! James! James,” Nymphadora catches James’ attention, “In school last week guess what I did?”
“What did you do?” James asks, smiling.
“We are learning about how to add and subtract big numbers and we had a test on it and I did the best in the class,” She excitedly tells him, “I got all of them right!”
“Wow! Good job, you’re so smart,” He praises.
She smiles pridefully.
“Mhm, James is right even if your teacher doesn’t think so,” Regulus emphasizes, “Right?”
“But she-”
“No, she’s not right, remember when your mum talked to you about this?” Regulus reminds her, “You’re perfectly smart the way you are, right?”
“Right,” She agrees, Regulus glad this didn’t recede into the conversation they had over the phone a couple of days ago, in which Regulus had to talk her down from sobbing because her teacher kept talking down to her when she got frustrated over something.
“Good,” Regulus looks down as someone pulls on his pant leg, seeing Harry sitting at his feet.
“Blocks!” Harry yells up at him, Regulus laughing before taking a seat and starting to build up a tower for him to knock down.
James gets up and walks over to sit with them, “Group blocks session, come here, Dora.”
Nymphadora gets up and sits down between James and Regulus, starting to build her own thing with the pile of blocks spread out on the ground. James tries to get Harry to understand the different shapes of the blocks, which doesn’t work, because Harry just takes them and gives them to Regulus to stack on his growing tower. After he has Regulus put a star block on top of it he decides it’s time to push it down, clapping when all the blocks go everywhere. Everyone laughs, because who wouldn’t laugh with a baby. It’s just so contagious.
Regulus revels at the moment, looking around at his two favorite kids getting along with one another, Nymphadora not getting upset when Harry pushes down what she’s building. It feels so close to normal, and in the chaos of the past few months, it’s nice to not just see that things are dying down, but feel it. He feels more at ease, he feels like he can enjoy a moment like this without anything nagging at him.
He’s so so so fortunate for that.