Sirius Black can be irrational, right? A flaw thatās slowly gotten better over time, but not completely gone. Imagine him stuck in his house, unable to visit his friends, even when his best friendās wife is pregnant. He decides to drink his stress away, taking his motor bike to the nearest club he can find. He drinks, and drinks, and drinks, but no one knows heās gone. He gets even worse while heās drunk, and he wakes up in someone elseās bed. A womanās. He gives her his address and a letter, in a friendly way, because heās not an asshole who just leaves without any warning after an.. eventful night. Two weeks later he gets a letter.
Of course, he wants the kid. They both have no romantic attraction towards each other, but thereās certainly enough milk that he doesnāt have to go and buy more. Heās over the moon, writing letters to James, Remus, and Peter alike. Strangely, Remus isnāt as excited. (I wonder why.. hmm..) After a few months, things are getting worse. Muggles dying everywhere, wizards going missing, itās scary.
Then, the mother of his child bursts into his house.
āSirius- I think- I need- please-ā she blurts out, sobbing. Sirius immediately takes her to St. Mungos. Heās in a bad way, restless energy taking over him. Itās too early, will the baby be okay? Will she? All these thoughts run through his head, and then he turns to see James. James, with Lily, who is obviously in pain. Sirius looks at his best friend, James looks back with a bewildered expression.
āThe same day? The SAME day?! Theyāll be like twins!ā
James is ecstatic, Sirius is a worried mess. He paces around the room, and a healer gestures for him to come over.
āIām pleased to say that the baby is quite healthy, despite his early birth.. but, unfortunately, his mother-ā
-and Sirius falls to his knees. This is his fault. Why did he leave the house? Why canāt he just control himself? Why did he accept her choice to have the baby? He didnāt love her, not romantically, at least. Why, why, why-
āSir? Sir, please calm down..ā
Sirius is so distraught he canāt even cry. He gives money to the womanās family for the funeral, goes to Lily to visit her, to see if sheās okay. But sheās with her newborn son, with James, who is happily rambling about how cute he is. A part of him is jealous. But heās happy for them all the same, and even happier when heās announced Harry James Potterās godfather. Thatās when he makes his decision.
He storms to St. Mungos, demanding to see the young healer who had delivered the news that made his world fall apart at the seams. He slams a quill on the table, his eyes filled with tears
āI want my son. I want him. Iām raising him. Who in the name of Merlinās beard gives a shit about whether Iām a woman or not? Heās my child, mine, Iām taking him home.ā
And so he does. He holds the newborn carefully, looking down at him with pure love. How can anything be so small? He never really held a baby before, unless you counted the time when Regulus was born and Sirius was a curious toddler, he still has the picture. He watches as his son raises a tiny hand, and Sirius takes it in two of his fingers.(p
āRegulus..ā he whispers, biting his lip. Regulus, who was foolish enough to believe his family. Regulus, who he hadnāt spoken to since he got sorted. Regulus, who never came back to him.
āIāll take care of you better than I took care of him, I swear.ā
And so, Regulus Black Jr is taken home.
Sirius has a ton of help from Lily, he names Remus godfather, Lily godmother. Regulus and Harry get along as well as babies can do, and Sirius is livid that they canāt spend their first birthday together. Nevertheless, Remus and Sirius enjoy themselves as little regulus somehow makes a mess of the cake. Remus offers to stay the night, which was probably for the best, since Regulus was on a sugar high until 2 in the morning. Sirius cries a little about Regulusās mother, he took regulus to her grave. Even if he had no clue what was going on, it felt right for Sirius to take him. Remus, being the best friend (sure.. friend..) he is, comforted him. They then fell asleep on the sofa, at around 4 in the morning.
He hears the news about James, about Lily, about his godson. He drops regulus off at Remusās, getting on his motor bike and speeding to find Peter. First he lost his sonās mother, now his godmother and uncle? Siriusās best friend? His best friendās son? Hagrid refuses to hand over his godson.. how dare he? How dare he?! Who cares about Dumbledore? Dumbledoreās the one who couldnāt protect Lily and James! He wipes the hot tears streaming down his face, then practically pounces the second he lays eyes on Peter.
I think you know the rest.
Remus finds himself fighting for his right to keep regulus, as his godfather. Sirius, a traitor? He was a father, he couldnāt, surely.. That doesnāt mean his child deserves to be punished too. Heās still fighting his case, over the years, but regulus is in his custody while heās doing so.
Fast forward ten years. Regulus is the spitting image of his father, except with soft brown hair. It makes Remus cry sometimes, he does his best to hide it, not that heās good at it. Regulus also acts very much like his father, a social butterfly with an unfortunate habit of attracting trouble. Or being the trouble.
āReg, stop running! And push your own trolley, Iām not doing it for you.ā
āBut Pa, the train leaves at eleven! Itās on platform 9 and 3/4, right? All I have to do is run through there! The trolley will slow me down!ā
Harry overhears this conversation, edging to Remus and poking his arm
āExcuse me, sir.. I donāt know.. how..ā
Remus jumps. Suddenly, heās eleven years old again, seeing James Potter with his hair sticking out from the back. Except this time heās nervous, fragile, a little scared, with a lightning scar on his forehead. He wants to cry and hug the young boy, but he stops himself. A conversation for another day, another time, another place.
āTo get on the platform? Donāt worry, cub, itās regulusās first day too.ā he mentally slaps himself. Cub? Whyād he say that? He hasnāt called Harry that in ten years, he hasnāt seen Harry in ten years.
āYeah! It is! Cāmon, Iāll show you!ā regulus takes Harryās hand, and runs straight at the barrier, dragging the green eyed boy. Harryās practically screaming.
āThere- Thereās a wall! Are you MAD? THEREāS A WA-ā Harry closes his eyes, preparing to feel extreme pain. But he doesnāt. He hears regulus laugh, and lets go of his hand as he slowly opens his eyes. Itās the Hogwarts Express, platform 9 and 3/4. In the end, Remus did push Regulusās trolley, he also pushed Harryās.
Harry and Regulus rush to the train, finding an empty compartment. Regulus rambles about houses, and quidditch, and magic in general. Harry is amazed. Then Ron Weasley peeks in, asking if he can join them. Regulus agrees, Harry just nods nervously.
āIām Ron, Ron Weasley.ā
āRegulus Black! Junior, that is.ā
āUh.. Harry. Harry Potter.ā
Regulus jaw drops, looking from Ron to Harry.
āWHAT? You said Harry, you didnāt say POTTER! Why didnāt pa tell me? He saw you too! Do you have the scar? Can I see? I mean, only if you want, it was probably super scary, right? Can you remember it?ā he starts bombarding Harry with questions, and he does get answers.
A few hours later, theyāre munching on chocolate frogs, fizzing whizz bees and pumpkin pasties. A girl with bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth pokes in, her Hogwarts robes already on.
Harry Potter, staring at Hermione Granger curiously. Ronald Weasley and Regulus Black Jr sharing bewildered expressions.