Potterverse AU, now with backstory
The Regulus/Lily thing again. I've been writing a bit of this, the last few days.
They don’t often have cause to revise together, but it never hurts when they do. Regulus doesn’t always feel like he really contributes to the discussion, since Lily’s a year ahead of him, but that’s only on the academic front. They both benefit from the relatively sane company, and they can at least compare notes on a few things that they’re both good at.
Regulus tries to tell himself there’s nothing more to it, when he finds himself looking forward to their revising sessions. It doesn’t work quite as well as he would have hoped, but he still doesn’t think it’s entirely worth pursuing.
A couple of weeks before Christmas, his fifth year, they meet in their usual corner of the library. Revising turns into talking about just about anything that comes to mind, including the upcoming hols.
“I’m staying here, I think,” Lily says. “Petunia’s... been particularly stroppy this year, according to Mum, and I think I’d rather have a chance at intelligent conversation.”
“Much as I’d love to stay and indulge you, I’m afraid I can’t get out of the family gathering. Bella’s still trying to persuade me to follow in her footsteps, but I’m not particularly interested in that.”
“And she’s... got into politics?”
Regulus nods. “That would be the polite way to phrase it. I think that, should I ever feel like throwing my life away, I’ll do it myself and spare anyone else the trouble.”
“That does make a certain amount of sense. Well... good luck getting her to leave you be. And don’t worry about my conversation options, I think Severus is planning to stay here as well.”
“Well, then. So long as you don’t try to discuss my brother, you should be golden.”
Lily laughs. “Very true. Unless the matter of unholy revenge comes up, which is possible. Anyway--” She picks up his list of deadlines, and compares it to one of her own. “Hmm. Looks like we’ve both got a large string of essays coming up, and... I think on Saturday, we should go out.”
That catches Regulus off guard, for a moment; fortunately, he recovers his composure before the situation gets awkward. “Did you have anything in particular in mind, given that options are a bit hard to come by?”
“So long as it’s not that godawful Madame Puddifoot’s, I think we’ll be all right.” She puts his list back down, still looking at it more than his face. “So... I take it you don’t object to the idea?”
“No. Somewhat to my own surprise, I have to say, but... some traditions don’t quite stand up to real-world experience.”
Lily smiles. “I’m glad you think so. Your family’s going to hate it, aren’t they?”
“Mother’s probably exploding as we speak, and can’t for the life of her think why. It’s a matter of timing the consequences to when I’m better positioned to handle them. Which is not to say I’m not interested in... seeing what happens now, but I’ll let Sirius be the one to flaunt his relationship.”
“I can’t see you falunting very much in any case, so that’s fair. And, well, I can do subterfuge. One has to be subtle to get the occasional crack at your brother and Potter.”
Regulus smiles. “I can imagine.”
The conversation turns to other topics, but he never quite stops smiling, even after they’ve gone their separate ways for the evening. This is going to be very tricky to pull off, he knows, but he’d like to think they have a chance.
After all, they’re both smart enough to think of a way forward.
***
A few weeks after Christmas hols, Regulus and Lily meet in the library as is quickly becoming usual. He can tell she’s got something else in mind as soon as he sees her face, but she won’t explain; instead, she just smiles and leads him upstairs, to a seventh-floor hallway he hasn’t seen before.
“Now, if I remember right,” she says, apparently half to herself, and begins pacing back and forth. Regulus isn’t sure whether to worry about her sanity, or that of the person who decorated the hallway; he certainly could have lived forever without a visual aid to picturing trolls in tutus.
“Got it,” Lily says, after a few moments. Regulus turns away from the tapestry, and frowns.
“That door wasn’t there when we got up here.”
“No, it’s something your brother and Potter discovered. You know the map they’ve put together?”
“The one they think is some sort of tremendous secret, even though they keep referring to it in public?”
Lily smiles. “Remus keeps telling them it’s a bad idea to do that. Anyway, this is the one room they couldn’t pin down on the thing. Apparently, it changes depending on what the person who wants to use it needs of it.”
“Hmm. I can see where that would make it difficult to map. What did you have in mind, then?”
“Just somewhere a bit more comfortable for revising than the library. A bit more private, too. It might even be able to give us food - I haven’t had a chance to try that, yet.”
Regulus considers that for a moment, then smiles. “Well, if it can’t, I’m sure some of the house elves could be trusted to be discreet. We’ll see what happens.”
“That we will. Anyway, we should stop talking about it in the hallway.”
They go in, and Regulus can’t help but approve of Lily’s taste. The room certainly looks more comfortable for prolonged revising than the library, and the seating seems to reflect the fact that it’s only meant for the two of them; there’s one rather large sofa in front of a pair of tables. It could perhaps use a bit more lighting, he thinks - and blinks, as a fireplace appears on the wall across from the sofa, complete with a nicely roaring fire.
“Well,” he says. “That’s certainly interesting.”
Lily grins. “I thought so.”
“How’d you get Sirius and Potter to tell you about this, anyway?”
“Threatened to put Itching Charms on everything they own.”
Regulus grins, and settles in on the sofa. “I’d keep that in mind, if I thought I could get into your dormitory to do it.”
“That’s all right. You have other means of bothering Sirius.” Lily eyes one of the tables for a few moments; a pot of tea appears, and she sighs. “I guess food is a bust, I’d been hoping for scones as well, but... tea’s better than nothing.”
“That it is.”
They have to call in a house elf, in the end, once they both realise they’ve been up there well past dinner. Regulus thinks Lily is just as reluctant to leave as he is, but they need to get to their beds before it’s so late they lose points.
And in any case, having established that it works quite well as an alternate revising space, using it again oughtn’t be a problem at all.
***
Regulus spends spring term his sixth year busily ignoring the fact that Lily’s leaving school in June.
The rest of her year leaving school doesn’t present a problem; in fact, he’ll be quite glad to see less of Sirius and Potter. But Lily is different, has been for years now, and the amount of time they’ve spent together since she proposed they start dating... well, it makes a difference.
They stake out the Room of Requirement the first weekend in May - not coincidentally, the weekend before his family will be invading Hogsmeade in honor of his coming of age, which isn’t really helping him ignore what they’re about to face. Lily’s got NEWTs the week after that, so she’s more absorbed in her work than usual. Regulus finds himself wishing he could say the same; what with one thing and another, he’s having a bloody difficult time concentrating.
After a while, Lily looks up. “You’re awfully on edge today.”
“There’s a lot on my mind, that’s all.”
“I know the feeling. There’s a lot to think about, at present.” She doesn’t clarify beyond that, and Regulus doesn’t ask.
They don’t get a solid chance to see each other until the day after the gathering. Regulus beats her to the Room of Requirement; Lily seems a bit surprised to find him there - surprised, but relieved.
“I’d thought your family might... try to talk you out of things,” she says. Given the circumstances, she really doesn’t need to explain further.
“They haven’t heard a word about it, and they’re not going to just yet. Even Sirius knows when to keep his mouth shut sometimes, if anyone were to ask him, and... I’d prefer to see what happens first.”
“What... oh, right, you having another year. Well, I don’t see why we couldn’t keep talking.”
Regulus blinks. “Really?”
“So long as you want to, and it sounds like you do. It’ll... at least be something, in the meanwhile, and after that we can figure out where things stand.”
“I’d like that. Summer hols will be tricky, but we’re both resourceful. I’d imagine we can come up with something.”
Lily grins. “I’ll probably end up in London at some point. Most of the jobs are there, after all. That should make hols of all stripes a little easier.”
“Especially since Mother will ask less questions about my whereabouts, now that I’m of age. Not to say it’ll be easy, but that should help.”
They go back to revising, and some awkwardness that Regulus hadn’t realised was there dissipates. It makes a certain amount of sense, though, in its way; now that they know they needn’t worry about a little more distance than usual coming between them, he can relax for what feels like the first time all term.
***
By the time Regulus sits his own NEWTs, Lily’s got nearly a year of Experimental Charms work with the Ministry under her belt, and he’s more sure than ever that leaving England would be a wise idea.
If word about them gets out - and it hasn’t, so far, but Regulus has never been one to rely on chance when planning works much better - he’ll become as much of a target as she already is, and he has no illusions of his bloodline saving him from harm. If anything, it would leave Bella chomping at the bit to go after him, and that’s a confrontation he’d much prefer to never see. Add that to the fact that living in a war zone is hardly his idea of a good way to stay alive, and it’s rather obvious that getting the hell out of England would be a wonderful idea.
He rules out Europe as being too close for comfort, Africa as too uncivilised, and Asia as far too foreign for such a swift transplant - and anyway, in either of the last two cases, he would stand out far too easily in a crowd. It would also be better to go somewhere that he already knows the language; having ruled out France, and given that ancient Rome is hardly practical, that leaves Australia and America as the most likely choices.
Lily likes the sound of America better, when they talk about it. Regulus does too, really; Australia’s a bit far away, and with as much trouble as everyone he knows goes to to avoid talking about America, it’s highly unlikely any upstanding member of Voldemort’s cabal would try to follow them there, except as a last resort. In fact, it’s unlikely they’d think he would go there at all, which really makes it rather ideal.
They discuss the idea on and off, over the course of the year, not really making any serious plans. But it’s better to have the contingency plan, Regulus thinks, than to dive in head first with nothing else.
That might be good enough for Sirius, but he prefers to have a little less impulse coloring his choices.
After he leaves school, the discussion becomes more serious. His family is still blissfully unaware, which works to his advantage; no one’s trying to kill him, and he’s got an opportunity to set as much money aside as he possibly can before they do find out. (By now, it looks as though they certainly will be - whether that’ll happen while he’s still in the country remains to be seen.)
But then Lily thinks they should marry before they go, since Sirius is stubborn enough to stay and fight in the war - neither of them have a problem with the thought of helping with research from afar, but staying in the face of people like Bella sounds patently ridiculous. Regulus has no objections to the idea of marrying Lily; in fact, her raising the subject saves him the trouble of having to sort out how to ask. All the same, he insists they plan as much of their move as possible before the wedding, the better to leave almost immediately afterward.
Lily agrees to that plan quite readily. They find a place in New York that can at least house them during the transition, and find out as much as they can about putting in for political asylum once they get there. Sirius is quite upset to see them go, but then, they’d expected that.
***
New York is... an experience, to say the least.
It’s altogether louder than London, for one thing, and somehow manages to be both more hectic and more relaxed; the latter part may have something to do with not being part of a magical civil war. There’s a certain brashness to the place, and a feeling of history that isn’t quite as oppressive as London’s, largely thanks to there being less of it.
And then, of course, there’s the matter of secrecy - or America’s lack thereof, as it turns out. Lily does some research into the matter, after they realise what’s going on; seems the country decided, back when it was recently former colonies, that secrecy wasn’t doing anyone much good and they therefore oughtn’t sign into the Statute of Secrecy, given the chance to do it for themselves. It takes some getting used to, and Regulus is still caught off guard when people ask flat out whether he’s a wizard.
There are times when he suspects that gives him away as foreign-born far more than his accent.
America does not trade on surnames. They learn, over time, that there are only about five families in all of New York City that can claim a sustained magical heritage, part of a loose affiliation that stretches along the former colonies and barely moves farther west than the Mississippi River. There are also the native populations, whose customs make little sense on paper, but some of them were likely established centuries before Britain’s oldest wizarding families. Regulus suspects that would give his mother a heart attack, if only she knew; it’s almost a pity he won’t be the one to tell her.
But there are more important things on the horizon, as becomes apparent a month after they move, when Lily announces she’s missed her period.
“I don’t know if that... means anything, yet,” she says. “I haven’t had a chance to look into a test. But... if it does, I think I’m glad we’re here, and not England.”
“Rather. Among other things, an ocean between him and the object of his spoiling might slow Sirius down for all of five minutes.”
Lily laughs. “I think I won’t be holding my breath. But... well. We can - we can do this, right?”
“I won’t say the idea’s not a bit scary. More than a bit, actually. But I’m willing to try it if you are.”
“I am. I will say, though - if it’s a girl, let’s not name her after a flower. They don’t really lend themselves to people very well.”
Regulus smiles. “You made out fairly well, but I take your point. And I think astronomy should only be used as a last resort. Most of the good ones have been taken and completely ruined by previous generations.”
Lily grins. “I think we can see our way to that.”
***
“Mum? I have a question.”
Lily sets the book she was reading to one side. “Come and sit down, dear. What is it?”
Melissa sits down on the couch next to her, and stays quiet until she settles in.
“Are Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus married?”
Lily blinks; that wasn’t a question she’d been expecting to have to confront for some years yet. On the other hand, Melissa’s always been smart, and perhaps she should have seen it coming, after she asked why they haven’t gone to England before.
“No, honey,” she finally says. “They’re not.”
“Why not? Uncle Sirius talks about Uncle Remus the way you and Daddy talk about each other. So I thought they were.”
“Well... I suppose you could say they are in their hearts. And have been since we were in school, really. But they can’t do anything official about it, partly because they’re both men.”
Melissa frowns. “But what’s that have to do with it? It’d be better than people getting married who don’t really care about each other.”
“You remember the ‘sometimes people are stupid’ conversation, when you asked why we don’t go visit your uncles?”
Melissa nods. “Is it like that?”
“It is, a bit. No one’s started a war over it, but... people still make a fuss about it, for the silliest of reasons.”
“Oh. Is it also because Uncle Remus gets sick so much?”
Lily does her best not to laugh. “In a way, yes. But I’ll let him explain that. It’s a very long and complicated story.”
“Oh. Okay. Can I ask Uncle Sirius about it?”
“Probably. And... well, I think you should ask him if he’s married. Preferably when he’s got a mouthful of tea.”
Melissa tilts her head to one side. “You mean like a joke? That sounds messy.”
“Perhaps, but sometimes a good laugh is worth the bother of having to clean up afterward.”
“Oh. Maybe I will the next time he’s here, then.”
Lily smiles. “Just make sure your daddy and I get to see it, my dear.”
They don’t often have cause to revise together, but it never hurts when they do. Regulus doesn’t always feel like he really contributes to the discussion, since Lily’s a year ahead of him, but that’s only on the academic front. They both benefit from the relatively sane company, and they can at least compare notes on a few things that they’re both good at.
Regulus tries to tell himself there’s nothing more to it, when he finds himself looking forward to their revising sessions. It doesn’t work quite as well as he would have hoped, but he still doesn’t think it’s entirely worth pursuing.
A couple of weeks before Christmas, his fifth year, they meet in their usual corner of the library. Revising turns into talking about just about anything that comes to mind, including the upcoming hols.
“I’m staying here, I think,” Lily says. “Petunia’s... been particularly stroppy this year, according to Mum, and I think I’d rather have a chance at intelligent conversation.”
“Much as I’d love to stay and indulge you, I’m afraid I can’t get out of the family gathering. Bella’s still trying to persuade me to follow in her footsteps, but I’m not particularly interested in that.”
“And she’s... got into politics?”
Regulus nods. “That would be the polite way to phrase it. I think that, should I ever feel like throwing my life away, I’ll do it myself and spare anyone else the trouble.”
“That does make a certain amount of sense. Well... good luck getting her to leave you be. And don’t worry about my conversation options, I think Severus is planning to stay here as well.”
“Well, then. So long as you don’t try to discuss my brother, you should be golden.”
Lily laughs. “Very true. Unless the matter of unholy revenge comes up, which is possible. Anyway--” She picks up his list of deadlines, and compares it to one of her own. “Hmm. Looks like we’ve both got a large string of essays coming up, and... I think on Saturday, we should go out.”
That catches Regulus off guard, for a moment; fortunately, he recovers his composure before the situation gets awkward. “Did you have anything in particular in mind, given that options are a bit hard to come by?”
“So long as it’s not that godawful Madame Puddifoot’s, I think we’ll be all right.” She puts his list back down, still looking at it more than his face. “So... I take it you don’t object to the idea?”
“No. Somewhat to my own surprise, I have to say, but... some traditions don’t quite stand up to real-world experience.”
Lily smiles. “I’m glad you think so. Your family’s going to hate it, aren’t they?”
“Mother’s probably exploding as we speak, and can’t for the life of her think why. It’s a matter of timing the consequences to when I’m better positioned to handle them. Which is not to say I’m not interested in... seeing what happens now, but I’ll let Sirius be the one to flaunt his relationship.”
“I can’t see you falunting very much in any case, so that’s fair. And, well, I can do subterfuge. One has to be subtle to get the occasional crack at your brother and Potter.”
Regulus smiles. “I can imagine.”
The conversation turns to other topics, but he never quite stops smiling, even after they’ve gone their separate ways for the evening. This is going to be very tricky to pull off, he knows, but he’d like to think they have a chance.
After all, they’re both smart enough to think of a way forward.
***
A few weeks after Christmas hols, Regulus and Lily meet in the library as is quickly becoming usual. He can tell she’s got something else in mind as soon as he sees her face, but she won’t explain; instead, she just smiles and leads him upstairs, to a seventh-floor hallway he hasn’t seen before.
“Now, if I remember right,” she says, apparently half to herself, and begins pacing back and forth. Regulus isn’t sure whether to worry about her sanity, or that of the person who decorated the hallway; he certainly could have lived forever without a visual aid to picturing trolls in tutus.
“Got it,” Lily says, after a few moments. Regulus turns away from the tapestry, and frowns.
“That door wasn’t there when we got up here.”
“No, it’s something your brother and Potter discovered. You know the map they’ve put together?”
“The one they think is some sort of tremendous secret, even though they keep referring to it in public?”
Lily smiles. “Remus keeps telling them it’s a bad idea to do that. Anyway, this is the one room they couldn’t pin down on the thing. Apparently, it changes depending on what the person who wants to use it needs of it.”
“Hmm. I can see where that would make it difficult to map. What did you have in mind, then?”
“Just somewhere a bit more comfortable for revising than the library. A bit more private, too. It might even be able to give us food - I haven’t had a chance to try that, yet.”
Regulus considers that for a moment, then smiles. “Well, if it can’t, I’m sure some of the house elves could be trusted to be discreet. We’ll see what happens.”
“That we will. Anyway, we should stop talking about it in the hallway.”
They go in, and Regulus can’t help but approve of Lily’s taste. The room certainly looks more comfortable for prolonged revising than the library, and the seating seems to reflect the fact that it’s only meant for the two of them; there’s one rather large sofa in front of a pair of tables. It could perhaps use a bit more lighting, he thinks - and blinks, as a fireplace appears on the wall across from the sofa, complete with a nicely roaring fire.
“Well,” he says. “That’s certainly interesting.”
Lily grins. “I thought so.”
“How’d you get Sirius and Potter to tell you about this, anyway?”
“Threatened to put Itching Charms on everything they own.”
Regulus grins, and settles in on the sofa. “I’d keep that in mind, if I thought I could get into your dormitory to do it.”
“That’s all right. You have other means of bothering Sirius.” Lily eyes one of the tables for a few moments; a pot of tea appears, and she sighs. “I guess food is a bust, I’d been hoping for scones as well, but... tea’s better than nothing.”
“That it is.”
They have to call in a house elf, in the end, once they both realise they’ve been up there well past dinner. Regulus thinks Lily is just as reluctant to leave as he is, but they need to get to their beds before it’s so late they lose points.
And in any case, having established that it works quite well as an alternate revising space, using it again oughtn’t be a problem at all.
***
Regulus spends spring term his sixth year busily ignoring the fact that Lily’s leaving school in June.
The rest of her year leaving school doesn’t present a problem; in fact, he’ll be quite glad to see less of Sirius and Potter. But Lily is different, has been for years now, and the amount of time they’ve spent together since she proposed they start dating... well, it makes a difference.
They stake out the Room of Requirement the first weekend in May - not coincidentally, the weekend before his family will be invading Hogsmeade in honor of his coming of age, which isn’t really helping him ignore what they’re about to face. Lily’s got NEWTs the week after that, so she’s more absorbed in her work than usual. Regulus finds himself wishing he could say the same; what with one thing and another, he’s having a bloody difficult time concentrating.
After a while, Lily looks up. “You’re awfully on edge today.”
“There’s a lot on my mind, that’s all.”
“I know the feeling. There’s a lot to think about, at present.” She doesn’t clarify beyond that, and Regulus doesn’t ask.
They don’t get a solid chance to see each other until the day after the gathering. Regulus beats her to the Room of Requirement; Lily seems a bit surprised to find him there - surprised, but relieved.
“I’d thought your family might... try to talk you out of things,” she says. Given the circumstances, she really doesn’t need to explain further.
“They haven’t heard a word about it, and they’re not going to just yet. Even Sirius knows when to keep his mouth shut sometimes, if anyone were to ask him, and... I’d prefer to see what happens first.”
“What... oh, right, you having another year. Well, I don’t see why we couldn’t keep talking.”
Regulus blinks. “Really?”
“So long as you want to, and it sounds like you do. It’ll... at least be something, in the meanwhile, and after that we can figure out where things stand.”
“I’d like that. Summer hols will be tricky, but we’re both resourceful. I’d imagine we can come up with something.”
Lily grins. “I’ll probably end up in London at some point. Most of the jobs are there, after all. That should make hols of all stripes a little easier.”
“Especially since Mother will ask less questions about my whereabouts, now that I’m of age. Not to say it’ll be easy, but that should help.”
They go back to revising, and some awkwardness that Regulus hadn’t realised was there dissipates. It makes a certain amount of sense, though, in its way; now that they know they needn’t worry about a little more distance than usual coming between them, he can relax for what feels like the first time all term.
***
By the time Regulus sits his own NEWTs, Lily’s got nearly a year of Experimental Charms work with the Ministry under her belt, and he’s more sure than ever that leaving England would be a wise idea.
If word about them gets out - and it hasn’t, so far, but Regulus has never been one to rely on chance when planning works much better - he’ll become as much of a target as she already is, and he has no illusions of his bloodline saving him from harm. If anything, it would leave Bella chomping at the bit to go after him, and that’s a confrontation he’d much prefer to never see. Add that to the fact that living in a war zone is hardly his idea of a good way to stay alive, and it’s rather obvious that getting the hell out of England would be a wonderful idea.
He rules out Europe as being too close for comfort, Africa as too uncivilised, and Asia as far too foreign for such a swift transplant - and anyway, in either of the last two cases, he would stand out far too easily in a crowd. It would also be better to go somewhere that he already knows the language; having ruled out France, and given that ancient Rome is hardly practical, that leaves Australia and America as the most likely choices.
Lily likes the sound of America better, when they talk about it. Regulus does too, really; Australia’s a bit far away, and with as much trouble as everyone he knows goes to to avoid talking about America, it’s highly unlikely any upstanding member of Voldemort’s cabal would try to follow them there, except as a last resort. In fact, it’s unlikely they’d think he would go there at all, which really makes it rather ideal.
They discuss the idea on and off, over the course of the year, not really making any serious plans. But it’s better to have the contingency plan, Regulus thinks, than to dive in head first with nothing else.
That might be good enough for Sirius, but he prefers to have a little less impulse coloring his choices.
After he leaves school, the discussion becomes more serious. His family is still blissfully unaware, which works to his advantage; no one’s trying to kill him, and he’s got an opportunity to set as much money aside as he possibly can before they do find out. (By now, it looks as though they certainly will be - whether that’ll happen while he’s still in the country remains to be seen.)
But then Lily thinks they should marry before they go, since Sirius is stubborn enough to stay and fight in the war - neither of them have a problem with the thought of helping with research from afar, but staying in the face of people like Bella sounds patently ridiculous. Regulus has no objections to the idea of marrying Lily; in fact, her raising the subject saves him the trouble of having to sort out how to ask. All the same, he insists they plan as much of their move as possible before the wedding, the better to leave almost immediately afterward.
Lily agrees to that plan quite readily. They find a place in New York that can at least house them during the transition, and find out as much as they can about putting in for political asylum once they get there. Sirius is quite upset to see them go, but then, they’d expected that.
***
New York is... an experience, to say the least.
It’s altogether louder than London, for one thing, and somehow manages to be both more hectic and more relaxed; the latter part may have something to do with not being part of a magical civil war. There’s a certain brashness to the place, and a feeling of history that isn’t quite as oppressive as London’s, largely thanks to there being less of it.
And then, of course, there’s the matter of secrecy - or America’s lack thereof, as it turns out. Lily does some research into the matter, after they realise what’s going on; seems the country decided, back when it was recently former colonies, that secrecy wasn’t doing anyone much good and they therefore oughtn’t sign into the Statute of Secrecy, given the chance to do it for themselves. It takes some getting used to, and Regulus is still caught off guard when people ask flat out whether he’s a wizard.
There are times when he suspects that gives him away as foreign-born far more than his accent.
America does not trade on surnames. They learn, over time, that there are only about five families in all of New York City that can claim a sustained magical heritage, part of a loose affiliation that stretches along the former colonies and barely moves farther west than the Mississippi River. There are also the native populations, whose customs make little sense on paper, but some of them were likely established centuries before Britain’s oldest wizarding families. Regulus suspects that would give his mother a heart attack, if only she knew; it’s almost a pity he won’t be the one to tell her.
But there are more important things on the horizon, as becomes apparent a month after they move, when Lily announces she’s missed her period.
“I don’t know if that... means anything, yet,” she says. “I haven’t had a chance to look into a test. But... if it does, I think I’m glad we’re here, and not England.”
“Rather. Among other things, an ocean between him and the object of his spoiling might slow Sirius down for all of five minutes.”
Lily laughs. “I think I won’t be holding my breath. But... well. We can - we can do this, right?”
“I won’t say the idea’s not a bit scary. More than a bit, actually. But I’m willing to try it if you are.”
“I am. I will say, though - if it’s a girl, let’s not name her after a flower. They don’t really lend themselves to people very well.”
Regulus smiles. “You made out fairly well, but I take your point. And I think astronomy should only be used as a last resort. Most of the good ones have been taken and completely ruined by previous generations.”
Lily grins. “I think we can see our way to that.”
***
“Mum? I have a question.”
Lily sets the book she was reading to one side. “Come and sit down, dear. What is it?”
Melissa sits down on the couch next to her, and stays quiet until she settles in.
“Are Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus married?”
Lily blinks; that wasn’t a question she’d been expecting to have to confront for some years yet. On the other hand, Melissa’s always been smart, and perhaps she should have seen it coming, after she asked why they haven’t gone to England before.
“No, honey,” she finally says. “They’re not.”
“Why not? Uncle Sirius talks about Uncle Remus the way you and Daddy talk about each other. So I thought they were.”
“Well... I suppose you could say they are in their hearts. And have been since we were in school, really. But they can’t do anything official about it, partly because they’re both men.”
Melissa frowns. “But what’s that have to do with it? It’d be better than people getting married who don’t really care about each other.”
“You remember the ‘sometimes people are stupid’ conversation, when you asked why we don’t go visit your uncles?”
Melissa nods. “Is it like that?”
“It is, a bit. No one’s started a war over it, but... people still make a fuss about it, for the silliest of reasons.”
“Oh. Is it also because Uncle Remus gets sick so much?”
Lily does her best not to laugh. “In a way, yes. But I’ll let him explain that. It’s a very long and complicated story.”
“Oh. Okay. Can I ask Uncle Sirius about it?”
“Probably. And... well, I think you should ask him if he’s married. Preferably when he’s got a mouthful of tea.”
Melissa tilts her head to one side. “You mean like a joke? That sounds messy.”
“Perhaps, but sometimes a good laugh is worth the bother of having to clean up afterward.”
“Oh. Maybe I will the next time he’s here, then.”
Lily smiles. “Just make sure your daddy and I get to see it, my dear.”