Chapter Text
REGULUS
“Dada I want a mermaid braid!”
Regulus rubs his temples and tries not to let his frustration show.
“Luna, sweetheart, I don’t know what a mermaid braid is. Are you talking about a fishtail braid?”
Luna crosses her arms and gives him a very dramatic eye roll for a 4-year-old. “No, Dada! I want a mermaid braid!”
“How about we settle for a regular braid for now and I’ll try to learn how to do a mermaid braid for next time?”
Luna sighs. “Okay, Dada.”
She turns her attention back to the stuffed animal she has in her hands. Regulus begins braiding her hair into two pigtails. She likes when he ties off her hair with brightly colored scrunchies so he does his best to pick out two scrunchies that match her outfit.
She glances back up at her reflection in the mirror and smiles. “They’re beautiful, Dada. Thank you.”
Regulus kisses one of her chubby cheeks. “You’re welcome, sweetheart. Now go get your backpack. We’re going to be late for school.”
Regulus quickly grabs his work keys and the paperwork for Luna’s school. He’s turning in a permission slip a day late and he’s upset with himself for forgetting about it. Regulus already feels like the teachers and administrators at the school are judging him because he’s not Luna’s biological parent. He’s probably overreacting about that, but he can’t help but notice the looks they give him and the way they refer to his relationship with Luna as his ‘current situation’. As if becoming Luna’s guardian and then formally adopting her is just something he’ll do for a little while. As if this little girl isn’t his whole entire world. As if he doesn’t love Luna as much as every other parent loves their child.
“Dada, can I have crisps in my lunch?” Luna calls from the kitchen.
Regulus quickly pulls his shoes on and grabs a light jacket. “One second, Luna! I’ll be there in a moment.”
He quickly makes his way down the hallway of their small two-bedroom flat. Luna is sitting at the kitchen table with an entire bag of crisps sitting open in front of her.
Regulus laughs. “I see you already opened them. I suppose we can throw a few in your lunch.”
Regulus finishes packing her lunch and then helps her put her jacket on. Luna grabs her Disney princess backpack which is almost as big as her and heads toward the door.
They live close enough to Luna’s school and the weather is nice enough so they decide to walk. They walk most days. Luna grabs onto two of Regulus’ fingers with her tiny hand. Regulus swears he feels his heart squeeze every time she grabs his hand. He wasn’t sure he would ever be a father when he was younger and even though he would give anything to change what happened that night, he is so grateful that he gets to be a father to Luna.
Luna prattles on about how one of her classmates just got a pet hermit crab, but she doesn’t want a pet hermit crab, she wants a pet unicorn. She tells Regulus that all they have to do is go to the forest in the middle of the night and they can find a unicorn. Oh, and they have to bring a bar of chocolate with them because unicorns love chocolate. Regulus thinks that has more to do with the fact that Luna loves chocolate, not the unicorns.
When they make it to her nursery school Luna stays by Regulus’ side as he goes to turn in the permission slip. Unfortunately, Ms. McGonagall isn’t in the office when he arrives. Regulus prefers when he can talk to her. She was one of his teachers when he was in secondary school. Now she’s in charge of the entire Hogwarts campus. Luna tells Regulus all the time that she can’t wait until she gets to go to the ‘big kids building’. Regulus is happy that he’s able to send Luna to the same school he and Pandora went to. He hopes one day it will help her feel closer to her mother.
Unfortunately, Regulus has to deal with Mrs. Hoffman today. She’s a nice woman, but she always looks at Regulus and Luna like they’re a charity case.
Regulus plasters on his best smile. “Hi, Mrs. Hoffman. I’m sorry that this is a day late, but I have the permission slip for the field trip next week.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it, honey! I understand, I mean, with everything you have going on right now.” She motions to Luna. “It makes sense that something as small as a permission slip would fall through the cracks.”
Regulus does his best to keep that fake smile on his face. “Thank you, Mrs. Hoffman. I appreciate it.”
After they leave the office, Luna sprints down the hallway with Regulus in tow. Regulus has always been grateful that Luna loves school so much. Although, he cried for an hour after he dropped her off for her first day of nursery school. She gave him a quick hug and immediately ran off to go talk to the other kids. Regulus had felt like a piece of his heart was ripped out and pulled across the room. He had expected tears and for Luna to hold onto him for dear life. So, when she didn’t need him the way he thought she would, he broke down in tears as soon as he walked out of the building. Regulus imagines he would’ve cried anyway. He had to fight the urge to sit outside the school all day just to make sure Luna is okay.
Luna still wants to run straight to her friends as soon as they get to her classroom. This time Regulus grabs her arm before she can run away.
He squats down to her level. Regulus notices that she has a little syrup on her cheek from the pancakes she had for breakfast. He quickly licks the pad of his thumb so he can wipe it off. Luna scrunches up her face and tries to pull away. “You have syrup on your face, my little gremlin.”
“That’s gross, Dada!” Luna laughs.
After he finishes wiping off the syrup he helps Luna hang up her backpack on the hooks they have on the wall. “Okay, don’t forget that Uncle Barty is picking you up from school today. Dada will be at work.”
Luna smiles. “Yay! Uncle Barty always buys me ice cream when he picks me up from school!” Her eyes go wide. “Oopsie. I wasn’t supposed to tell you that. It’s a secret.”
Regulus groans internally. He’s going to kill Barty for telling his kid to keep a secret from him.
Regulus smiles at Luna. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I won’t tell him. Enjoy your ice cream after school and your crisps at lunch. I love you, Luna Bug.”
She wraps her tiny arms around him. “I love you too, Dada.”
Luna’s attention is caught by another parent walking in to drop off their child. Regulus tries to stop her, but he’s not quick enough. Luna sprints over to the woman wearing nurse’s scrubs.
She smiles up at the woman. “Hello, my name is Luna Black and I’m looking for Draco’s heart! Can you help me?”
Regulus feels the tears already forming behind his eyes. He doesn’t think this will ever get any easier.
The woman is clearly caught off guard by Luna’s question. She tries to be polite and smile at the little girl, but she trips over her words.
Regulus intervenes. “I’m so sorry. It’s a long story, but the short version is her cousin passed away two years ago and his organs were donated. She’s been asking every medical professional she finds if they can help her find his heart. Again, I’m so sorry.”
It’s an oversimplified version of the story. He doesn’t have time to go into everything.
The woman gives him a polite smile. “It’s quite alright. I’m so sorry for your loss.”
Regulus thanks her and then he turns his attention back to Luna. “I thought we talked about this, Luna. You can’t go around asking people if they know who has Draco’s heart. I know this is hard to understand, but we don’t know who has his heart and we may never find out. I’m so sorry, Luna Bug.”
Luna gives Regulus a sad smile, the kind of smile that breaks his heart. He knows he’s not telling her what she wants to hear, but he doesn’t have any other answers for her. They truly don’t know who has Draco’s heart.
Everything had happened so fast. Regulus hadn’t even processed the fact that Draco was gone before they were trying to explain to him that there was a child in London who needed an immediate heart transplant. The doctors told him the whole story. The child had been on the donor list for so long and this could be their last chance, but Draco could barely hear anything they said. In the moments after the accident, Regulus immediately became the guardian to two children and then almost instantly lost one of them. It was too much to process, too much to handle.
The only thing he could do was think about what Narcissa would have wanted. She would’ve wanted to help the child. So, he agreed to the transplant. Draco’s heart saved a child that night and Regulus has tried to hold onto that over the years.
Luna overheard Regulus and Barty talking one night and she started asking questions about Draco’s heart. Regulus tried his best to explain what happened in a way that a 4-year-old will understand. That’s all he’s been doing since the day he held Luna in his arms at the hospital two years ago, trying his best. Sometimes he gets it right, sometimes he doesn’t.
He gently pulls Luna into a hug. Regulus hears her sniffle. He holds her until she stops crying and then he watches her join her friends at the arts and crafts table. Regulus wishes he could bounce back as quickly as a child can. Luna is so incredibly resilient.
He waves to her one last time before he leaves. He’s definitely going to be late to work, but he doesn’t care.
*****
“This is the second time you’ve been late this week, Mr. Black.”
Regulus rolls his eyes. “I own this bookstore, Dorcas.”
Dorcas peeks around the bookshelves. “Well your tardiness is still unacceptable,” she teases.
“Luna told one of the mums at her school today that she’s looking for Draco’s heart.”
Dorcas’ teasing grin falls from her face. “Oh. Damn, I’m sorry, Regulus. Is Luna okay?”
Regulus nods. “Yeah. You know her, she bounced right back. She was smiling with her friends when I left.”
Dorcas smiles. “That kid is tough. Just like Pans.” Dorcas places a reassuring hand on Regulus’ arm. “It’ll get easier, Reggie. We’ll all figure this out.”
Regulus resumes restocking the shelves after Dorcas walks away. She may be a pain in his ass sometimes, but Regulus is lucky to call Dorcas Meadowes a friend and his only employee.
Regulus opened Turn The Page three years ago. After his parents disowned him and he lost his inheritance, he never imagined he would have the money to open up the bookstore he’s always dreamed of owning. After he graduated from uni, his friends encouraged him to open the shop. They surprised him on his birthday with the money to buy the building. He instantly tried to give it back, but they wouldn’t take it. They believed in him so he owed it to them to give this business his all.
The business has been steady, but it could be better. Dorcas thinks they should expand so they can add a cafe, but they don’t have the money for that at the moment.
Regulus hears the bell over the front door chime. “Hey! Can you see if they need any help?” He calls to Dorcas.
Dorcas pops back around the bookshelves. “Can’t. I need to finish the inventory. Consider this your punishment for showing up late. You have to interact with a stranger!”
Regulus rolls his eyes. “I’m the boss, Cas!”
Dorcas laughs. “Better go and see what they need, Boss.”
Regulus puts the last few books he’s holding on the shelves and then heads to the front of the store. He sees a man with messy, dark hair standing by the shelf of new releases at the front of the store. His back is to Regulus so he doesn’t see him approach.
“Welcome to Turn The Page. Can I help you find something?” Regulus greets him with his best customer service voice.
The man turns around and Regulus feels like all the air in his lungs has been punched out of him.
What the hell is James Potter doing in his store?
James squints at him through his glasses. The same ridiculous glasses he’s always worn.
“Reggie?”
Regulus bristles at the nickname. Or maybe it’s just his reaction to hearing James Potter’s voice. “It’s Regulus,” he corrects.
A mischievous grin spreads across James’ face. “Yeah okay, Reggie.”
Regulus clenches his jaw. He hates Dorcas a little bit right now for being the reason he’s standing here talking to James Potter. He’d rather be talking to his brother and that should tell you exactly how much Regulus Black hates James Potter.
“Can I help you find something?” Regulus asks again.
“A book,” James says. He still has that stupid grin on his face.
“I didn’t know you knew how to read,” Regulus deadpans.
James laughs. His laugh is loud and it startles Regulus, but it’s also nice? Regulus isn’t sure how to accurately describe James’ laugh, but loud definitely comes to mind.
“That was a good one, Reg!”
“Oh great, we’ve added Reg to the list of unauthorized nicknames.”
James pushes his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. “Look, I’m not here to annoy you believe it or not. I had no idea you work here! I’m actually looking for a book. Some book about a ghost that’s a quilt? Harry has been bugging me about this book for weeks.”
Regulus knows exactly what book he’s talking about. Luna’s teacher read them the book at school and she came home that day begging Regulus to buy it for her.
Regulus sighs. “Follow me.”
He leads James back to their children's section. He quickly locates the book and hands it over to James. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” James says.
The two of them stand there awkwardly looking at one another. Regulus wonders when he’s finally going to give up and leave. He has zero desire to make small talk with James Potter.
Finally, Regulus breaks the silence. “Is there something else you need or are you going to stand there and stare at me all day?”
James smirks. “As much as I’d love to stare at you all day, I think I’m supposed to pay for this before I leave.”
Regulus’ face heats up from embarrassment. “Oh. Yes, of course.”
James follows Regulus up to the till. He briefly takes the book back from James so he can log the sale. He tells James the total and he hands Regulus the money.
“Harry’s going to be so excited that I found this.”
There’s that name again. Harry. Regulus has no idea who he’s talking about. Thanks to the fact that James, Sirius, and the rest of their friends were ridiculously popular in school for some reason, Regulus knows almost everyone that they were friends with. He’s never heard of a Harry. Then again, why would he be buying a children’s book for someone his age?
“Who’s Harry?” Regulus finds himself asking against his better judgment. He really doesn’t want to talk to James for longer than he has to.
James has a confused look on his face. “Who’s Harry?”
Regulus nods in confirmation.
“Harry is my son. I thought you knew?”
“Why would I know that you have a son? I haven’t seen you since you graduated from Hogwarts.”
James nods. He studies Regulus for a moment before speaking. “That’s fair I suppose. I guess I just figured Sirius would’ve mentioned him.”
“Bold of you to assume I talk to my brother any more than I talk to you.”
Regulus’ tone is icy. He knows it isn’t fair to take out his anger at Sirius on James, but unfortunately, the man with the messy hair is the only one in his line of fire at the moment.
To James’ credit, he takes Regulus’ tone as his cue to leave. “Thanks for the book, Regulus. Harry’s going to love it.”
He sounds so genuinely thankful that Regulus almost apologizes for his words. The apology is stuck in his throat as he watches James turn and walk toward the door.
James turns back around as soon as he reaches the door. “I’ll have to come back here more often now that I know you work here. After I learn how to read, of course.”
James flashes him one more megawatt smile before he walks out the door. It’s not until the door closes that Regulus processes what James said.
“I own this place!” He yells at the closed door.
Regulus groans. As if he doesn’t have enough to deal with, now James Potter has infiltrated his safe space with his stupid smile and his stupid glasses and his stupid laugh.