Chapter Text
December 24, 1977 (Saturday)
The snow had fallen earlier that month, so it was already gone by Christmas, leaving the young children in London disappointed yet again. On the other hand, their mothers were very happy because they got to spend the whole day not worrying about them catching a cold.
Everyone was in a Christmas spirit of their own, happy that they’ve got a day off from work and a warm dinner waiting for them at home. Well, at least it was like that for most people.
The small thrift store on the corner of the street appeared to be closed to anyone who was just passing by, but to those who paid it more attention, it was certainly a busy place. The neon green sign read Howell’s thrift and gift, and it made anyone’s eyes teary if they looked at it for more than ten seconds.
***
“Remind me again, exactly why are we still working on Christmas?” Remus was huffing more than the kids that were inevitably being dragged by their mothers outside and made it obvious that everyone else had to deal with it.
Hope Lupin just smiled softly at her whiny son, and before she could explain it to him all-over again, James decided that it’s his turn to do the talking.
“Remus, we’re only doing sorting duty; it’s not like we’ll be here all day. And besides, you said you didn’t have any plans for tonight, or am I missing something very important here?" James smiled at him in the way friends do right before they get you in trouble.
"Maybe a pretty friend of yours wanted to spend Christmas with you, huh?” James fluttered his eyelashes suggestively, well aware that this would turn into a long conversation between Remus and his mum after the shift ended. Hope was certainly not ready to give her little Remmie away to some random, lucky girl for the time being, so she turned to her son with eyebrows raised to her forehead in question.
Remus was about to explain himself, but just then the shop’s door opened with a loud thud and the bell above the door clattered to the ground. Two boys walked in with similar features, but very different expressions. They were soaking wet but didn’t seem to notice that much, or maybe they didn’t care.
Both were very pale compared to the others in the shop and had a particularly intimidating look in their eyes that made them look more mature for their age. They had grey eyes, or maybe they were green— changing color depending on which angle you were looking at them from.
“Well, shi—.” The boy that appeared younger stopped mid-sentence. He looked around as if expecting someone to stop him from saying the "forbidden" word, but when he didn’t see whoever it was that he was looking for, he continued,
“...shit... We’re so sorry. I told him that you guys weren’t working, but he wanted to make sure, so—” The younger boy with sharp features and jet-black hair that reached his shoulders and was currently wet, tried to speak up, but was immediately interrupted by the other boy.
“Oh, shut it, you mardy git! I can apologize for myself when I want to.” the other boy looked at Hope, the oldest person in the room, and finally realized he had scared the poor woman.
He was going to apologize properly, but Hope had already walked towards the storage room all the way in the back of the store and was closing the door behind herself. Tears were beginning to roll down her rosy cheeks. The boy was confused, so he turned to the others for reassurance, but James and Remus looked more worried than her.
“Um...Did I do something wrong?” He tried for a smile but faltered when he locked eyes with the tallest person he had ever seen so far. For a second he wondered if they had ever met before because he looked oddly familiar for some reason. But before he could get a better look, Remus started shouting and advancing towards him.
“YES, you fucking did! What’s wrong with you, are you mental?!” Remus was shouting at him, and James had to hold him back, or things would have gotten nasty.
Just then, a girl that could have been on a magazine cover with her perfect skin, and even more perfect teeth, ran from the storage room. She looked shocked and didn’t notice the newcomers right away.
“Remus, it’s your mum... I think she’s crying.”
And that’s all it took for Remus to give up on his attempt at murder and run to check on his mother.
James looked at the boys and felt bad for his friend’s outburst, so he walked towards them to apologize, but they seemed to have misread his intentions. And while the younger one that appeared to be grumpier, jumped back in surprise, the other boy managed to land a punch on James’ nose. A sharp crack could be heard, and blood started gushing out.
“What the—” James grunted both from pain and shock as the pretty girl screamed and jumped back.
“Sirius! What. The. Actual. Fuck. IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!” The younger one punched the other boy presumably named Sirius.
“Shit, Reggie-”
“Don’t call me that!”
“Okay. Shit, Reggie, I thought he was gonna kick my ass. What did you expect me to do? Take one for the team?” Then he turned to James with an expression that could only be regret, or sarcastic regret. Sirius Black didn’t regret anything. “Sorry, uh...”
“James...Potter.” James always introduced himself with his surname because his parents were one of the most successful lawyers in Britain.
He was delighted every time they told him the story of how they ended up in the newspaper for the most successful couple when they decided to get married. It usually got him out of trouble.
“Yeah, sorry Pot Man."
Well, apparently these guys didn't think twice about who he was, James thought, slight fear creeping in on him.
"Based on your friend’s reaction, I really thought that I was gonna be a goner, so I figured it would be a good idea if I hit you first. Again, sorry. It’s nothing personal.” Sirius tried to explain casually.
James looked at the two boys standing before him with confusion as the girl, Mary, was wiping his bloody nose with her sleeve.
“Sirius, right?” James waited for a nod and then continued, “You gotta teach me how to throw punches like those. I’ve been begging Remus, but he wouldn’t budge.”
“James, stop talking or you’ll get blood in your mouth. Nice hit, by the way, Sirius. He needs that from time to time, but I do hope his nose isn’t broken. A main character with a broken nose doesn't sound too dreamy.” And now she was giggling.
Why are girls so confusing, Sirius thought to himself, and what did she mean by "main character"?
“I’m Mary, so are you two brothers? Sorry if you’re not, it’s just, you look so identical.” She looked from one boy to the other, already knowing what the answer would be.
“Unfortunately, we are.” The younger boy answered with a straight face, while at the same time Sirius replied, “Well yes, we are.” Then he turned to his brother and raised a brow. “You weren’t saying that when mother—”
“Reggie?” James stopped Sirius because he was pretty sure another fight would break out.
“No, it’s Regulus, but this idiot’s too thick to remember something that long.” Now he shot a sterner look mostly at Sirius, but it was still hard to take him seriously when he looked like he had gone for a quick dip in the water with his clothes on.
“Oi, I still remember to check what's in my pants, unlike you. Seriously, how did you pass your anatomy class without a visual interpretation?” Sirius was rather satisfied with the venomous glare he got from Regulus.
“Oh, okay. Um... Do you guys want new clothes? Mrs. Lupin doesn’t like it when the floor gets wet.” James didn’t know what else to say.
“Yes please, that’s what we came for. Ah, sorry about the bell, and um, Mrs. Lupun...and also, for punching you in the nose.” Sirius looked at James sheepishly but was relieved when he noticed that the blood had stopped leaking.
And then Remus came marching in, holding his mother and helping her walk with him.
“It’s Lupin. And what are you two still doing here? Didn’t I make it obvious that I want you both out!” His anger had subdued, but his brows were still furrowed which made the scar across his nose bridge stand out.
“Ah, sorry Lupin.” Sirius looked at him carefully observing his every move. “We were just freezing and wanted a change of clothes. There’s a whole lake below our windows, I swear. We can leave you the ones that we’re wearing if you don’t mind. We’re kind of poor right now.” Sirius tried to calm him down because he didn’t want to be on Remus Lupin’s death list.
“And we’re sorry, Mrs. Lupin. We can also fix the bell if you would like.” Regulus was quick to fill in what Sirius had forgotten to mention.
“Oh, don’t worry boys. Remus will fix it.” Remus glared at his mother and quietly cursed under his nose, “Oh, and feel free to look around for anything you would like to wear. We haven’t had many customers anyways. You don’t have to leave your clothes, my dears. How did you fall in the water anyway?” Hope smiled and there were no signs of her previous reaction.
“Long story.” Regulus obviously didn’t want to talk about it.
“Well, okay then. Maybe another time.” She noticed their discomfort and remembered that they were still wearing drenched clothes.
“Now honey, can you come and help the boys? And I think that’s enough for today. Mary, James, you’re free to go to Effie’s. Have fun dears, and don’t forget to say hi to Marlene for me.”
Sirius was secretly jealous of the way Hope spoke to her son and his friends; he was jealous because of the motherly care and worry they got, but he kept that to himself, just like he did with a lot of other things.
“Remus, we can wait for you if you’d like?” James didn’t quite fathom the idea of leaving the two brothers in the store with a pissed off Remus.
“Nah, thanks mate, I’ll drop by in a minute. See you two there.”
And with that James and Mary left, but Hope seemed to be confused, so she followed them too.
They didn’t look surprised and played along with it, like it was a normal thing for them.
Remus was left alone with the two strangers that had made his mother cry and thought to himself that it was the perfect moment to get a proper explanation of what had just happened.
“Speak. Who are you two and who sent you here? Is this about last night?” Remus cracked his knuckles, and Sirius decided it was best to tell the truth if he and Regulus wanted to leave with new clothes, and not new bruises.
“Listen, I’m Regulus, and this right here is my idiotic brother Sirius. We don’t want any trouble, and we certainly do not have any information about what occurred last night. We apologize about the way we entered earlier, and we promise it wasn’t on purpose. We just want new—”
“Hey aren’t you Lyall Lupin’s son?” Realization dawned on Sirius’ face, and he finally remembered the first time they had met,
“I knew you looked familiar. We were in the same dumb interview about the future of politics or something when we were twelve, remember?” Sirius stopped his brother to change the topic to something friendlier but didn’t expect to ignite fire in Remus’ eyes.
“Did he send you here?” Remus spat.
“What? Who?” Sirius was confused. He was expecting his words to have the opposite effect. Most people liked talking about their parents if they were filthy rich and famous, but was it possible for Remus to also be embarrassed by what his father did for a living? What he did to other people for a living?
“Don’t play dumb— or maybe you really are dumb, who knows. Lyall. Did he or did he not send you both here after mum?”
“No, no he didn’t.” Regulus was quicker to understand what was happening, so he decided to answer. “Um, we’re not his agents or something. Our father is Orion Black, you know, the minister of economy? I don’t believe he’d be proud if his children were spies for your father. He isn’t very fond of him and their rivalry is publicly known, if that’s what you think this is.”
“Oh, and do you think he’d be proud if they were runaways, Reggie?” Sirius was testing his luck with Remus and Regulus at the same time, and miraculously, he was still standing on his own two feet, living and breathing.
“Sirius, if you mention that one more time, I’ll—”
“Okay, wait. Both of you.” Remus’ confusion grew, but at least he knew that they meant no harm. For now.
They all stood there awkwardly in silence as Remus was trying to piece together the information he just got.
“So, you two are Orion’s and Walburga’s children.”
Sirius and Regulus both nodded, although they looked immensely uncomfortable talking about that.
“Great. Then you two must be Sirius and Regulus Black.”
Another nod, this time with more confidence.
“Okay. So, explain this to me, what the fuck, are two of the richest kids in London doing in a random thrift store on Christmas, dropping wet?!”
“Long story, but shouldn’t we be asking you the same? Remus Lupin.” Regulus didn’t like being asked personal questions and firing questions back was his defense mechanism.
Just when Remus was about to answer, James, Mary and two more girls that Sirius and Regulus didn’t know stormed into the store and looked at them expectedly. James sighed, relieved that no one had a stab wound across their chest and was bleeding out on the floor yet.
The girls were holding at least ten thick books each but looked like they could carry a couple of more, as if it was just a habit of theirs.
“You two still haven’t changed? Mrs. Lupin would like to talk to you guys, so she invited both of you for a cup of coffee. Or tea. Personally, I don’t like dirt water.” James was prepared to argue about his distaste of coffee.
“James, darling, when most people disagree with you, you should probably consider shutting up. Just some kind advice you could occasionally use.” One of the girls, probably another model if you were to ask Sirius, smirked as she wiped James’ smile off his face.
“Well, I actually agree with him.” Regulus spoke up because no one in the shop seemed to notice him when he was surrounded by the brightest people he had ever met. He thought that everyone saw James as some kind of leader among them, and as he was taught from a young age, he agreed with the people that gave him the most benefit.
James gave him a slight smile, happy that someone finally shared his opinion, and suddenly Regulus hated himself for lying for no good reason once again.
He was a coffee type of person; heck, he drank five coffees a day. He just had to start liking tea more from now on, how hard could that be?
After that Regulus and Sirius quickly changed into warmer clothes, although Regulus was a bit pickier when it came to what he chose to wear.
“Lupin, you sure your mom won’t mind if we join you guys? I don’t want to make her uncomfortable again.” Sirius cautiously asked from the small dressing room in the corner, his voice being muffled from the shirt he was putting on.
“No, trust me. You’ll make her more uncomfortable if you don’t come. And don’t worry we’ll pay, so just pick whatever you like from the menu.” After calming down, Remus appeared to be a literal angel. An angel with amber eyes, bushy brown hair and cuts all over his otherwise flawless skin.
“Did you leave her waiting alone?” This time it was Regulus, from the other corner. His voice was strangely concerned and even Sirius was surprised.
Last time Regulus was worried for someone, it was Barty, their personal bodyguard, and probably Regulus’ only friend that got fired because of Sirius’...reckless behavior.
“No, she’s with Marlene, a friend of ours that works there, and kind of my adoptive sister. I mean, she’s not my adoptive sister, she just stays with us sometimes, but—uh ... only sometimes, and uh... it’s complicated, —oh, and my mom’s there too.” James was having a hard time forming sentences.
“Your mom?”
Sirius never questioned weird family ties. He had to learn that the hard way when he discovered that his parents were cousins on a random Tuesday dinner.
“Yes. My family owns the café—my mom does actually—and since the store is close by, we often walk back and forth.”
“Oh. That must be nice.” Sirius replied.
“Guys, can you hurry up? These books are killing me.” It was the same girl that thought James’ coffee opinion should be considered a crime. Somehow, she shifted the stack of books to her right hand, and with her left she swept the stray braids away from her face. Yeah, the books were definitely killing her, she probably could have ran a marathon all while holding them in one hand. Dorcas, as she had introduced herself, wasn’t really muscular, but she always said what was on her mind, even if it got her in trouble, and that was her strong suit.
“Well why do you carry them everywhere you go, Dora?” Mary laughed.
“Because we need to study! The tests won’t wait for our mental health to stabilize again. They’ll take our souls before we have the chance to understand them. They tricked me with the pop quiz last time, but oh, how they will pay back for every tear I shed.” Said the other girl – the one with ginger hair and freckles that came in earlier but was too immersed in her book of Romanticism to introduce herself.
Sirius thought that she was being slightly dramatic, only slightly.
“I’m Lily. Sorry, it’s really hard for me to focus sometimes, and then I just forget that there’s people around me.”
“S’fine. Mother used to do that all the time, but she never really had a good reason for it. Are you Einstein? Cause like, who carries stacks of books around—and on Christmas Eve, nonetheless.”
Sirius was just chatting, but he realized the weight of what he had said about his mother as soon as the words left his mouth, and he scrambled to change the subject.
Lily simply ignored the first part Sirius had said in hopes that no one heard, “Well, no, I wouldn’t say so, and also I don’t want to be compared to Einstein because I’m pretty sure his wife—”
“Oh, shut up, Evans. You basically wrote your own book before half of us even knew how to write our names.” James was making a joke, but Dorcas snapped at him anyway.
“Oi, speak for yourself, Mittens. While you were too busy writing your name, I knew how to write a whole sentence, and with only two mistakes. Only two, ya hear!?” Dorcas laughed maniacally.
“Mittens?” Sirius came out from behind the changing curtain first and looked absolutely stunning in his white shirt and disco flares.
“Yeah, when he was younger, he used to have these yellow mittens with Tom and Jerry, and he never took them off, ever. And then one day Remus managed to convince him to leave them on the fence for a few minutes while they were playing in the backyard. But little did James know, Mary and Dorcas had made Lucas, James’ older brother, steal them and hide them away. It was hilarious.” Lily was smiling like she was remembering the good old days, but she couldn’t hide the sadness in her voice when she mentioned Lucas.
“Yeah, and then they all laughed at me, mercilessly, and never told me about it until two years later.” James' smile faltered at the mention of his brother. It was a touchy subject for him.
“Mind if I call you that?” Sirius was also laughing.
“No, please don’t. It’s hard enough as it is with the girls being at it day and night; don’t add salt to my wound.”
“Ah, then I guess I’ll just find you another nickname, Mittens.”
And finally, after about fifteen minutes, Regulus pulled the dressing room curtain to the side and elegantly stepped out. Now that was a look. A white shirt matching Sirius’ and black business pants that had no business being in a thrift store. By now, his black wavy hair had mostly dried, but he was still as pale as a vampire. Not in a bad way, no, quite the opposite. He looked like a marble statue of a Greek God.
“Great. Now let’s hurry up. Marlene’s probably gonna kill us if she has to wait any longer, and Peter’s probably back as well by now.” Mary was looking at Regulus like it was his fault, but she didn’t say anything.
“You guys sure have a lot of friends.” Regulus glared back at Mary.
“Sure we do, and now you do too.” James was unaware of the tension between them and just smiled back.
“Peter might be able to get you two a cheap flat in exchange for some homework help, so I hope at least one of you is good with maths. His dad owns most of the buildings in the area and he’s actually really nice once you get to know him.” Remus was being sarcastic, but he was so bad at it that Sirius didn’t even notice.
Sirius just gave him a glare as if daring Remus to call him thick, even though it was indirect.
“Well, we’re fine actually, we can probably work out a plan and find some place to—”
“Oh, Reggie, you poor beggar.” Sirius tried to accept the flat before his brother’s pride left them on the street.
“When people offer you a place to stay, you take it and you don’t complain. Are you forgetting that we’re homeless now, or do you have some secret loot that I don’t know about?”
Regulus wanted to slap his brother across the face, but that would mean ruining his reputation, so he settled for flipping him the bird instead.
“Then it’s all settled. I’ll talk to Pete and ask if he can get you one by tonight, but don’t worry if he can’t. I was already planning on having you two over for Christmas. We usually all celebrate together.” And after James grinned from ear to ear, it was impossible to decline his invitation.
This was different, Sirius thought. He never got to meet people and have a normal conversation with them, not unless his father had already done a full-on investigation on their parents and family background.
“Sure mate. Cheers to new friendships, I guess.” Sirius had learned not to expect much from people, but somehow this motley crew was making him lower his defenses.
“Cheers!” They all said together and then finally headed out for the café.
At this point they were so late that they’d almost completely miss the start of Christmas. Marlene was definitely going to kill them all.