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fourmoony · 1 year ago

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Friends or What?

James Potter x F!Reader

A coming of age story in which Potter's Corner Shop has a funny way of bringing people together. Falling in love is daunting when everyone is watching.

Ao3 Link - Series Masterlist - Fourmoony's Masterlist

Chapter Warnings for Chapter Two -

Language. Internalised homophobia. Mentions of physical and emotional abuse. Smoking. Use of the word 'fag', in context to a cigarette (UK Slang)

CHAPTER TWO (4K) -

JAMES

Sirius is quiet in the taxi home. He’s quiet when they shuck their shoes off in the entrance hall of the Potter Estate. He’s quiet as he footers around the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of water. He’s quiet while he and James stand side by side in their conjoined bathroom, brushing their teeth and washing their faces. He’s quiet, quiet, quiet, and James is starting to worry. The thing about Sirius is – is that he’s loud. In every possible way. Aged eleven, Sirius Black had come bounding into James Potter’s life with his boyish grin and loudmouth attitude, two middle fingers held up to the world and they’d been inseparable since.

James is loud like the sun. He’s funny and he’s charming in a warm, light, happy sort of way. He’s sturdy and reliable, he’s soft and he’s gentle. Sirius is loud like the laughter of a ten-thousand-man crowd. He’s abrasive and he’s obnoxious, he’s rough around the edges but he’s so fucking loyal that James never really stood a chance. He was destined to be Sirius Black’s brother, his best friend, his twin flame. Sirius is rebellious, he’s never been anything except what he wanted to be. He’s jagged and he’s loud and he’s James’ best mate in the entire world.

James knows Sirius like the back of his hand. So, he knows that quiet is not good. Sirius is complex. His past hasn’t been kind to him, and while he’s not the same sixteen-year-old boy that showed up on James’ doorstep seven years ago, battered and bruised, traumatised and a shell of himself, James still worries about him sometimes. Sirius talks about his family less and less as the years go on. James would like to think that, in a way, he’s healed from the trauma of Walburga and Orion Black. There are parts of Sirius that will never come back; his boyish innocence and the warmth he once exuded from his very soul, but James knows that Sirius is better. He doesn’t have nightmares anymore, he doesn’t hide himself away, he doesn’t stash bread and sweeties under his floorboards, he goes to therapy once a week and he’s making changes, for Christ’s sakes.

But James knows, he knows it deep into his fucking core, that the reason Sirius hasn’t told him about Remus, the reason he’s being so quiet, now, is because of his upbringing. It’s a subject he knows will have to be dealt with carefully, untwined with gentle fingers like plucking the thorns from a rose. One wrong word and James is scared Sirius will flee. He doesn’t like change, he doesn’t like lack of control, and if he’s kissing Remus Lupin for any other reason than to get under the poor bloke’s skin, then James is willing to bet Sirius is feeling an overwhelming amount of both.

So, he waits for Sirius to come to him. He sends him off to his own bed with a quiet ‘goodnight’ because he can wait. He will wait. Sirius isn’t ready and that’s okay. The two years James spent without Sirius were, by far, the hardest of his life. The Black’s decided this village was a bad influence, that it bred insubordination, was infecting Sirius’ mind with thoughts of growing up and doing anything but working in politics like the rest of his family. They moved to central London, in the borough of Islington, and that’s where things got really bad. Sirius doesn’t speak about London, much. Only to his therapist, which is fine with James. But he knows about all the stuff that happened when the Black’s lived in the village, he was there for it all; the broken bones, the bruises, the cuts, the scars, the rapid weight loss, he saw it happen, held Sirius through it, took the pieces of his own armour and filled in the gaps on Sirius’ because whilst Sirius is chaos, James is calm and he’s loyal, and he’s strong. And then Sirius left. And then Sirius came back to him. Then. Then, Sirius came home. So, James can wait. He can do it. Because James and Sirius tell each other everything, do everything together, but this is something that Sirius might just have to figure out on his own.

The house feels too quiet, the air around him too heavy, as James lies in bed. He tries to read, he fails, he polishes his rugby boots for training in the morning, and he fails. He can’t stop thinking about Sirius’ face; the frazzled, lost sort of look that plagued him when James had asked if he was okay, if he needed to talk about anything. James watched as Sirius fought and lost the battle of following Remus out of the Three Broomsticks and felt the pain heavy in his chest when he had to stop Sirius, himself.

“Not tonight. Let him cool off.” James had whispered, and Sirius didn’t have it in him to argue.

He tries to read, again, and he fails, again. He loves Sirius so much. He worries. He always worries. Because, sure, Sirius is a lot better, now, but he’s complex, he has trauma, and he’s visibly struggling. But James can’t help. Usually, he can always help Sirius. Sirius never shies away from asking for help. He’s on his own this time, scared and struggling and James can’t help him because he hasn’t asked and James refuses to push.

He tosses and he turns, and he sits up, he lies back down, he paces, he sits down, and eventually, he falls asleep, only to wake up when the bed dips beside him.

When his eyes open, he realises he’s fallen asleep with his glasses on because he can see the way the dawn breaks over the orchard outside his bedroom window. There’s frost on the grass and the sky is still a deep blue, getting lighter the further down he looks. Sirius is next to him. He doesn’t have to look over to know. James can tell by the pattern of his breaths, the smell of his shampoo, how far the bed dips. James Potter would know Sirius Black’s presence were he deaf and blind. He always will. He has a feeling Sirius, much like him, feels the weight that’s suffocating them.

He doesn’t look over, just waits for his best friend to say something. He can hear the cogs whirring behind Sirius’ pale blue eyes, the thumping of his heart against his ribcage. Sirius doesn’t speak for a long time.

“Do you –“ Sirius starts, but he falls short. He’s unsure, voice wavering, thick with anxiety. He swallows, coughs, tries again; “Do you think I’m a horrible person?”

It’s not what James is expecting Sirius to ask. As his best friend, his first instinct is to say, ‘Of course I don’t’, but James knows Sirius Black like the back of his hand, the insides of his eyelids, the warm glow that burns in his chest. He knows how Sirius can be. He knows how cruel his tongue is, how his first instinct when he’s threatened is to go for the throat. So, James deliberates.

“I think you’re a good person who horrible things have happened to. Sometimes, you allow those things to control the way you act. But no. I don’t think you’re a horrible person, Padfoot.” James answers honestly.

He watches the breeze blow through the orchard trees as the sun continues to creep up between the branches. Sirius breathes a sigh of relief, shuffles closer to James so he can feel the warmth of him. He finally looks down at Sirius, head rested on the same pillow as James, and he smiles softly. Sirius smiles back, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. He looks tired, lost, scared. James wants to fix it all so bad. But he can’t. He has to let Sirius do it, himself.

When Sirius ran to him seven years ago, James made himself a promise. Nothing, and no one, would ever harm his best friend again. Not over James Potter’s cold, dead, body. But he can’t stop this, can he? He can’t wrap Sirius up and protect him from his own heart, his own mind. He doesn’t have that much power and it’s killing him.

“Remus thinks I’m a horrible person.” Sirius says, voice so quiet James thinks he believes it. Like Remus’ word is final.

He sighs, rubs the tiredness from his eyes, “Did he tell you this?”

“No,” Sirius answers, voice a moment from sleep, his eyes closed, and his face so sad and soft James feels his heart splinter, “I see it in the way he looks at me.”

“You could prove to him that you’re not.” James advises, voice soft.

Sirius makes a humming noise of acknowledgement, but ultimately, James knows the conversation is over. He’s dead to the world ten minutes later, and James follows suit not long after.

-----

SIRIUS

When Sirius was ten, he realised what it truly meant to be a member of the Black family.

It was more than fame, or politics, or even money. It was more than presenting themselves as a prestigious, well-educated family. For the Blacks it was about one thing: Power. They have an ability to play games with people that don’t even know they’re a part of them, closing in, moving pieces, counting cards until finally, they win. The Blacks always win. For as long as he can remember, every conversation Sirius Black has ever had with another member of his family has held some sort of purpose. Manipulation, information gathering, seed planting. The list goes on.

When you grow up in that environment, carefully wrapping your lips around poisoned words, watching your back with every move, the thing is – it becomes hard to trust. It gets hard to distinguish the difference between someone trying to get to know you, and someone trying to learn every dirty little secret you have so they can use it against you.

So, Sirius was ten when he learned the hard lesson of keeping his mouth shut, keeping his secrets close to his chest. Because the beating he took for telling Mary Riddle that his mother nicknamed her husband, Tom Riddle Sr., ‘The Snake’, was unpleasant at best. Secrets, or spilled secrets, never end well. He likes to keep his secrets close to his chest. Perhaps that has more to do with Walburga than he’d ever be willing to admit – because while the Black’s liked to know everyone else’s secrets, not a soul alive could tell you any of theirs.

It took Sirius one year to tell James how bad things really were. Even then, it’s not like he had an option. Too many black eyes, too many sprained wrists and unhealed cuts. James Potter is one of the smartest people Sirius knows. It was only a matter of time before he figured it out. By then, Sirius knew he could trust James, could feel it in his chest. What they have is special, unheard of. Their souls are made of the same things. Sirius knew that just as sure at age eleven as he does, now, age twenty-three.

Sirius doesn’t know why he hasn’t told James, yet.

Honestly, he doesn’t.

He’s tried. Gods, has Sirius tried. But the thing about James is – is that he’s so observant when it’s the big things, the big moments, the bad days, but the smaller, more minute things? Things like Sirius asking him to go for coffee, have a chat – it goes over his head completely. Every time Sirius builds himself up, James bulldozes over his confidence with an enthusiastic rant about rugby, the weather, the shop, and Sirius deflates like a burst balloon. He can’t get angry with James. Not really. Because Sirius has a sneaking suspicion that he’s subconsciously grateful for James ruining the moment over, and over. If he was truly confident in letting his secret spill, he’d just bulldoze James right back. That’s how they work.

But, instead, Sirius says nothing.

Always nothing.

It’s becoming a problem, he’s aware. Especially with the way Remus is staring at him, now, expectant, and impatient. He’s just – he’s not good at opening up to people, at letting them in. There’s something there, though, with Remus. He feels it in the static buzzing between his ribs, the sparks buzzing at his fingertips. He doesn’t know what to do with the energy, doesn’t like the way it makes him feel. A loss of control.

It’s been less than twenty four hours since their… fight. In the Three Broomsticks’ beer garden. Remus called Sirius a pretentious prick, Sirius called Christopher a wet wipe. Remus’ lips felt so angry against his, so frustrated and raw, so. Nice. They haven’t spoken since. Not really. Not in any way that matters. Nothing other than the short, jabbing quips that once, were fun, but now are exhausting. Sirius doesn’t hate Remus. Not really. But he’s not sure he likes him either.

He’s scared and he’s confused, and Remus is looking at him like he should have all the answers and he doesn’t know what to do.

So, he shrugs, “I told you. I don’t know.”

Remus nods, he looks like he’d been expecting that answer. “I’m not just someone you can fuck around with until you figure out whatever posh boy gay crisis it is you’re having.”

Sirius has the nerve to scoff. The thing about Remus is. He’s incredibly good at giving what he gets. Sirius knows he’s cutthroat when he’s been backed into a corner. He has this evil monster in his head, in his chest, in the blood that thrums through his veins – it’s a by-product of being born a Black. Or maybe it’s just him. Maybe he grew up in a house so rotted, with a family so monstrous, that he never had any hope of being more than. But Remus is just as short, just as rude. It’s maddening. It inspires Sirius to challenge him, if only to feel the scorch of his lips, the electricity of his touch.

“I can’t do this right now.”

Remus flicks his fag across the road, pushes himself off the wall, “You’ve been saying that for as long as I’ve known you.”

“You don’t know me.” Sirius feels the need to remind Remus.

Because really, he doesn’t.

Remus Lupin knows jack shit about Sirius Black. Other than what he tastes like. What he sounds like. That he’s rotted and spoiled and probably a horrible person.

So, he knows a little.

But he’s never shown any interest in getting to know the good parts of Sirius. The loyalty. The unwavering fucking loyalty that Sirius gives out like rare change, but when you have it, you have it, and it never falters. The laughter, the jokes, the careful way he cares for each and every person he loves. He’s loud and abrasive, but Remus will never know he can be that way and not be an arsehole about it.

Sirius won’t force him to see past what he wants to see. He’s accepted that maybe the reason Remus thinks he’s a terrible person is simple. Because he is.

“You’re right. I don’t.”

Remus doesn’t say good-bye when he turns, yanks open the door to the shop and steps inside. Sirius hears the faint ringing of the bell, your voice calling out Remus’ name. He gives himself a moment. A moment to look at the door and hope that Remus will come back out and explain very plainly what it is he wants from Sirius. Because Sirius is at a loss. He doesn’t remember much about the night that he met Remus. Just the feeling of pure adrenaline he got from whatever haughty words they exchanged in the smoking area, the half-hearted scoffs and awkward chit chat of getting to know someone you really shouldn’t have any interest in getting to know. Remus was charming. He was quiet and mysterious, and he was rather blunt. Sirius didn’t mind. He likes to talk, likes to push, likes to know everyone’s secrets.

Power. Games. He never really got away from that. Just them.

He doesn’t remember how it got so heated, how they ended up millimetres away from each other’s faces, their breaths mingling and the static electricity winding its way around Sirius’ ribcage. But they did. And Remus’ lips. They were so rough, so demanding. So lovely. He remembers the way it overpowered him, the kiss, shook him to his core and turned his entire fucking life upside down. The thing Sirius can’t shake, though. The thing that tears him up inside – which he refuses to look at too deeply – is the look on Remus’ face when Sirius broke the kiss, took two steps back, announced that he wasn’t gay, and essentially took off running.

The thing is, Sirius isn’t gay.

At least, he’s ninety-nine percent sure he’s not.

He can’t be. He won’t be.

When Sirius is positive Remus isn’t coming back out, he leaves.

----

The bell dings above the shop door and Remus returns in a flash of fury. His jaw is set, eyes narrowed, and his lips twisted. It pulls at the scar on his cupids bow, makes it an angrier shade of red than it normally is. Usually, after a smoke break, Remus returns more relaxed, calm, a more pleasant version of the boy you’d originally sent outside to cool off after he kicked a box of freddos across the storeroom twenty minutes ago.

He stalks up to the till, doesn’t even check if there’s any customers present before he announces that, “Sirius Black is a fucking prick.”

You’re perched on the edge of the counter, flipping through a magazine. Sundays are generally slow days. All the week’s deliveries have arrived, the pull forwards have been done, the cleaning is done. All that’s really left to do is sit around and wait for customers to show up. Remus must not be expecting you to reply – probably because you never do when it comes to Sirius – because he huffs a breath before continuing through to the storeroom, likely to take his anger out on another unsuspecting box of chocolate. The door squeaks awfully behind him.

A head of Black hair flashes past the window, barely visibly above the promotion signs James is always tacking up. But it’s there. You see it. Sirius is stalking off in the direction of the Leaky. Remus’ frustration suddenly makes sense. Not saying anything to Remus about what you and James witnessed last night has been torture, especially when he’s been a moody sod all day. Sirius and Remus don’t make any logical sense. But then, you’ve never really given it much thought. Until last night, you were under the impression they’d sooner knock each other out before going at it like horny teenagers in the beer garden.

But you promised James you wouldn’t say anything. So, you don’t. You allow Remus to sulk and fume and take his frustration out on a box of freddos. Because that’s what friends do, you suppose.

Remus returns five minutes later looking cool, calm, and collected. He doesn’t offer an explanation nor an apology for his outburst. Instead, he travels around the counter to stand behind you and be ready to serve, should anyone come inside. You doubt they will, most of the village residents barely leave their homes on a Sunday, let alone past five in the afternoon. The silence is weighted. But then, you think, that’s probably because you know more than you should. Silence with Remus is usually comfortable. It sticks to your skin like humid air and makes you restless, unable to enjoy flicking through your magazine.

“What did he want?” You ask, eyes pointedly focussed on the article about this week’s fashion trends.

You’ve got one leg kicked up on the counter, balancing your magazine, and one dangling off the side, facing Remus, but you refuse to look up; terrified he’ll be able to see right through you.

He hums, “Who?”

“Sirius.”

Remus doesn’t respond for a minute. You imagine he’s trying to piece together how you know he was outside.

“Saw him stalking off towards the Leaky after you came in.” You offer.

“Right.”

“So?”

“So, what?” He asks.

You finally look up; Remus is already staring at you with nothing short of frustration written across his face. He purses his lips, shrugs a non-committal shrug, “The usual. To be a prick.”

“Right.”

“Why does it sound like you don’t believe that?” Remus asks, crossing his arms across his chest.

It’s your turn to shrug. You flip the page of your magazine, eyes downcast. “Just doesn’t seem like Sirius to go out of his way to be a prick.”

Remus scoffs but doesn’t say anything else.

The rest of the shift passes in silence.

James comes to lock up because you forgot your keys at home, this morning, and Monty offered to send James before he left earlier on. It feels like walking on eggshells when he shows up, asks how the day went, and Remus is still in his horrible, sulky mood. You avoid eye contact as you clear lottery tickets and scratch cards from behind the till, making polite conversation as James counts the money inside the tills. He knows you hate numbers – he does it without asking.

Remus doesn’t offer much of a goodbye when he leaves, just tells James he’ll see him on Wednesday and goes. You deflate when the door closes behind him, tension seeping out of your shoulders. James frowns after him, “What’s up with him?”

“Sirius stopped by, earlier.” You fiddle with the clipper display, moving the lighters around as though you have a particular order that you’d like them to be in.

“What did he want?” James asks, locking the till.

You shrug, “They were outside. Couldn’t hear. But Remus has been in a right mood since he left.”

James doesn’t say anything, just sighs and rubs his hands across his face.

Then, “I owe you an apology. For last night. I shouldn’t have been so forceful with you not telling them you know. Sometimes I forget Sirius is an adult who doesn’t need to have his feelings protected.”

He looks earnest, sincere. You hadn’t really thought any bad of James for cornering you the way he did. Honestly, you’d admired how much he cared about Sirius in that moment, how he didn’t think, just reacted in the best possible interest of his best friend.

“S’okay.” You nod, offering James a kind smile.

It’s weird, to have a normal conversation with no one watching, no flirting, no innuendos. It’s nice.

James shakes his head, his half-damp hair moving with him. He looks freshly showered, probably is, you know he had rugby practice today. He’s wearing his rugby hoodie and his gym shorts. He looks boyish and cute, and when he offers you a lopsided smile your heart stutters.

“It’s not. I felt the way you tensed when I grabbed your wrist, I shouldn’t have done that.”

You laugh a little breathily, “That-“ You try, stop, try again, “That wasn’t because I was scared or, or anything. It was just,” You trail off, hoping James accepts that as answer.

How incredibly embarrassing would it be to tell James that you’d been so tense because his touch felt like blazing fire against your skin, made your heart stop, your head spin, your stomach grow butterflies. Pathetic, really.

James looks lost but nods slowly anyway.

“Right, well. That’s us done, so you’re free to go. I’ve a few things to grab from the office and I’ll lock up on my way out.”

“Right, cheers. See you tomorrow, Jamie.”

James’ face brightens at the nickname, his smile wide and teasing, “Tomorrow.”

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myriadparacosm · 1 year ago

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CHARMED AU - 1. Something Wicca This Way Comes

Read on AO3

Sirius isn’t sure anymore. Grimmauld Place hasn’t changed, not one bit, which shouldn’t scare him off but he has left this place with the hope that it would have crumbled down. The bricks are clean and shiny despite their dark colours. It shouldn’t be a contrast with the rest of the Borough of Islington and London’s architecture but the house still stands out - as if to scream that it's better than any other. It wouldn’t be a complete surprise that somehow Grimmauld Place inherited their family’s big ego.

He sighs and checks on his parked bike before taking off his helmet. It’s hopefully not too late to come. With his heavy backpack in hand, he climbs the steps he hoped he would never have to ever again. The silver knocker in the shape of a twisted serpent greets him with an infuriating clean glint. Sirius roughly hits it against the door.

With a sigh, he prepares himself with a practised smile and a last look at his motorbike. The trip has been pleasing especially with the company of the full moon always following him, no matter the clouds passing by, and it somehow softened the cold as he drove. It’s not every day that you can see a full moon this beautiful.

“Yes?”

That’s not Regulus. Sirius frowns at the tanned, quite dark, man with perfect bright blond hair as he slowly pieces together a far off memory of a child a bit similar.

“Aren’t you— the Rosier boy?” He asks.

“Evan,” he says, glancing at him up and down. “Sirius, right?”

Frankly it’s obvious who he is but Sirius is more concerned about what he is doing here. He crosses his arms and tries to take a look inside.

“Of course that’s me. What are you doing here? Where is Regulus?”

Rosier purses his lips and hesitates to look behind him although he closes the door a bit more. “Hum-”

“Alright, let me in,” he huffs out before he can be locked out.

“Did you tell Reg’ that you would drop by?” He asks and pushes the door when Sirius tries to open it by force. “Stop that!”

“Look, I don’t know who you are but that’s-”

“What are you doing here?”

Sirius lets go of the door, turning around to spot his little brother at the bottom of the steps. Regulus almost glares at Sirius’ innocent motorbike before focusing on him.

“Reggie,” he greets with a genuine smile but his brother gets only more hostile by the clench of his jaw and furious scowls. “I’m— I’m home.”

Regulus loudly scoffs and angrily stomps up the stairs. He hasn’t grown much from a year ago and Sirius is relieved by it. It means that he hasn’t missed a lot.

“Home?” He repeats. “Home? This hasn’t been your home since you left 10 years ago,” he hisses out.

“Hey, I came back-”

Regulus faces him with a scathing glare and his hands curled into fists. “You came back for Alphard’s funeral! You didn’t even show up when he was sick and you knew.”

“It was complicated!”

“Because of course it’s always the worst for Sirius, isn’t it?” He spits back. “Did you think I was having fun?!”

“Re-”

“You wanted to leave this house and family, Sirius!” He exclaims. “That was your choice and you never came back on that, not even when I was alone here did you try to not be as egoist as you have always been!”

“Hey! You two twats!” Evan shouts before giving a pointed look at their surroundings. “You’re making a scene.”

“That’s what he has always loved to do,” Regulus spits out, roughly pushing Sirius out of his way to walk in the house.

“Reggie, we’re not done!” Sirius storms in too even if Evan clearly tries to close the door. “Look I’m here and you out of everyone should know why it was so difficult-”

“Because it wasn’t difficult for me?!” Regulus snaps, throwing his bag on the couch as Sirius follows him in the living room. “I warned you that Alphard was sick but you waited at the last moment to show up! Mother died when I was barely six and then Father just after you ran away. Alphard is the only reason why I didn’t end up homeless!”

“I was fifteen! And I didn’t know about Orion until two years later!”

“Yes and you didn’t try to come back or even talk to me, did you?” He hisses. “Makes you wonder if you weren’t actually running away from me.”

“From you?! Are you mad?”

“Oh, we have a guest?”

Sirius turns to spot a woman, a stark reflection of Evan but with longer hair and a kinder if not pure angelic look, walking down the stairs with a smile. Regulus sighs as Evan glances at her.

“Not the moment Panda,” he says.

“Who is that?”

“Hi, Sirius! I'm Pandora.”

“Reggie, who are they?” Sirius asks.

“They are my friends,” he replies with that annoying tone of his, “you know people who care about me.”

“You know perfectly that I care about you!”

“We live with Regulus.”

“Pandora!”

“What? It’s the truth and Sirius should know if he wants to stay here.”

“He isn’t staying.”

“I am!” Sirius argues and quickly steps around to face his brother who tries to escape through the living room connected to the dinning one. “Wait, did you change the place?”

“Alphard did. Not that you care.”

“Reggie, I’m trying here!”

“I don’t want to listen to you!” Regulus shouts. “And you get out of here before I call the police!”

Sirius freezes in surprise. “What? Re-”

“No,” he growls. “You aren’t going to waltz back in here like you did nothing. You left me and when I asked your help for Alphard-”

“I wrote to him,” Sirius blurts out. “Almost every week, we wrote to each other.”

Regulus shakes his head, slightly surprised. “What?”

The other two supposed roommates of his brother are clearly eavesdropping but Sirius feels like he is hanging off a thin rope - one that he doesn’t want to break in fear that it fully destroys what he wants to salvage with his brother.

“Since I ran away, we wrote to each other,” he explains. “I didn’t… I didn’t always have the money to write back. And somehow he always bloody knew where I was because I always got them without a hitch. I thought that you knew since he told me— everything about you.”

Regulus glares at him dubiously before his face ticks with a fleeting softness. He squints at the floor. It doesn’t completely break the tension but at least his brother doesn’t look up with eyes full of hell’s fire.

“Did you ask about me?”

“I did. All the time.”

His sigh is febrile and his brother straightens up, wetting his lips. “What are you doing here exactly?”

“To… move back in,” Sirius says. “I want to be around. And we both know there is enough space in this enormous house. Even with your houseguests.”

“Roommates,” Evan corrects. “We have been living here for almost a year.”

Sirius frowns at him and gets a slight pissed look in response. “Aren’t you the Rosiers? Why-”

“Sirius,” Regulus cuts. “Why do you suddenly come back? You barely stayed for Alphard’s funeral so why the sudden change? What are you hiding?”

He sighs, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling, and lets his bag slip down from his shoulder. “I’m hiding nothing. I didn’t come back before because I still had stuff to do,” he explains. “Now feels like the right time for me.”

Regulus shakes his head with a dry snort. “Right time? Well isn’t that great.”

“Reggie, I’m really serious about this. I’m not coming here on a whim,” he insists. “Just give me a chance.”

Sirius hopes that his long trip hasn’t made him look like a monster but he feels his tired muscles pulling at him to just drop. His mind has been heavy ever since Alphard died - not many people showed up to his funeral and that’s why he hesitated to even stay there because he couldn’t truly hide in a thin crowd. Regulus outweighs his fears and disgust and Sirius really wants to act like a better brother and be here for him. He has wondered how Regulus managed to still live here, in this house, but Alphard has been a great influence on him. Better than Sirius.

“Well, you haven’t even joked about your stupid name so this probably means that you grew up a bit, ” Regulus almost chuckles. “I can’t kick you out because the house also belongs to you, per Alphard’s will. Just clean after yourself.”

Sirius looks at Regulus a bit speechless and even takes a few steps ahead, offering a hug but his brother just shakes his head.

“Oh, that’s great! The more, the merrier,” Pandora cheers.

At the refusal, Sirius clears his throat and turns to look at Pandora and her twin. He vaguely remembers them from their old family meetings but he didn’t know that they were this close with Regulus. Still, at least Regulus wasn’t completely alone because it doesn’t seem that he changed much. Still a bit prickly and unapproachable.

“Well, thank you for the welcome.”

“Good. I’m going to take a shower,” Regulus announces.

“Do you want me to give you a tour, Sirius?” Pandora offers. “We haven’t touched your room, like Regulus asked, but we did clean and change some things around.”

Sirius hasn’t changed much. His hair got longer and he has a bit of a stumble which Regulus hopes he will shave before he starts looking like a sexual predator. Pandora leads him out of the dining room, probably to start to explain all the changes they have made from the entry. Regulus exhales through his nose to try to keep his emotions under control.

“Alright there?”

“Great,” he sarcastically replies. “Just the best day of my life. Isn’t it clear on my face?”

Evan snorts and leans back to probably catch the sight of his sister with Sirius before stepping closer. “Hey if you don’t want him here then maybe-”

“No. Sirius probably won’t stay for long anyway,” he says and tries to keep his tone as neutral as possible. “I don’t know what’s going through his head and frankly I wish I don’t have to deal with it.”

“Long day too,” Evan recognizes and nods before crossing his arms. “Just go rest, I will start on dinner while you relax a bit.”

“Thanks.”

Regulus has barely seen Sirius over the last 10 years and he only saw him passing at their uncle's funeral like a mirage, an after-thought made to torture him. It could have been different if Regulus had actually followed Sirius that fateful night where he suddenly piled all his belongings into a bag and announced to Regulus that he was going to run away. Sirius opened the idea to him but Regulus had been a coward; better stay with the pain and misery he is familiar with rather than the unknown. Sirius seems to have managed fine despite everything. Although the motorbike doesn’t truly scream ‘stable and ready to stay’.

His brother coming back to Grimmauld Place is the last thing he ever expected. Regulus has enough with his part-time job and he has all the company he wants with Evan and Pandora. Perhaps she will tell their story herself while she shows Sirius the rest of the house - as if he wasn’t born here - but Alphard really tried to live up the place when he inherited it after Orion died. Their uncle was the only person from their family still around, outside from their cousins but he doubts that they are any different from their parents. Alphard was the exception, somehow. It gave Regulus a little bit of hope.

A creak halts his steps. Regulus knows every nook of this house, which means every groan and shift in the wood is known by heart— except this one. He is about to take his well-deserved shower but this calls his curiosity. The more time he has away from his brother and the upcoming talks or emotions, the better.

He climbs up the rest of the stairs before stopping at the last ones. The door of the attic is slightly opened and it leaves him puzzled as he has never managed to budge the door. Alphard also told him that it’s not worth the effort to open it and that he has given up on that; even if Regulus has seen him coming down from it several times but his uncle always said that it was to check on the door.

“Evan?” Regulus calls from the top of the stairs.

“Yes?”

Regulus glances down to see him on the ground floor, leaning to frown up at him at the second highest floor of their house.

“Did you or Panda go into the attic?”

“Er, no,” he says. “I didn’t even know we had one.”

Is the door broken? There could be an animal in there that scratched at it, probably a bat or even a cat. Regulus has seen a white one lurking around their houses and meowing at their windows. He has given the cat a bit of food or water but the white animal always tries to slip in. In any other place he wouldn't have minded a pet but Grimmauld Place is huge and he is worried that the cat might have stuck itself somewhere no one goes to.

“Do you want me to ask her?” Evan asks.

“No,” Regulus says. “No, it’s fine. Just curious.”

He could have easily walked away, to start on his warm shower, but instead he cautiously pushes the door completely open. It’s dusty and full of furniture that Regulus wouldn’t even know where to start to list them. The large round window also wears cobwebs but the moon hits it in the right spot to freshen it up, illuminating a path for Regulus to slalom through this mess. The night is clear with a full moon which is a rare occurrence for these two to happen together. Regulus feels like nothing can surprise him more than his brother wanting to reconnect for some obscure reason.

“Hello?” He whispers, hoping to hear some signs of the possible wild animals hiding here.

His steps lead him to a curious spot where his feet bob a bit on one large plank of wood. The moonlight falls right on it, just beside a wooden lectern. It takes a bit of strength but it’s clear that something is hidden under the floor. He manages to move the plank out of the way to find a large, really massive, book. Despite its hidden spot, it’s still covered by dust but it seems perfectly intact.

Regulus is surprised by the weight of it but he manages to pull it out. There aren’t many books that large and filled with so many pages. He cleans the cover page with a hand, expecting a title but he only sees a three-pointed symbol crossing a circle on a leather green front cover. He recognizes it from Alphard’s tattoo and some furniture in the house wears it too except that sometimes it was reversed. His uncle called it a Triquetra, a symbol of unity between three elements that might vary.

This could be Alphard’s book, maybe even grimoire by the mysterious look of it, though this would mean that his uncle had access to the attic and only wanted to scare Regulus off. He isn’t sure if he is lucky or not that he managed to get up there.

It doesn’t fully satisfy his curiosity. Regulus opens the book to the front page, ignoring the two ribbon markers, and faces a page that seems to have been hand-written and hand-drawn.

“The Book of Shadows?” Regulus reads. “That’s quite the invention, Alphard…”

His uncle was unemployed, comfortably with how large his inheritance was. He must have had enough time to come up with something like that. Regulus is probably not the one fit to enjoy this kind of joke though, unlike Pandora. There doesn’t seem to be a title although on the drawn scepter, crowned by a Triquetra, with a thin flag-like there is written Dominus Trinus.

“Latin?” Regulus scowls, remembering all the classes they had as if it’s not a dead language. “Dominus Trinus— Master Three? What kind of hobby is that?”

Frankly, and in the nicest way possible, it doesn’t surprise him that his uncle had this kind of fun. Pandora is also quite ecstatic about witchcraft and he is sure she would love to see that. The rest of the page is in English and his eyes quickly drift over the text before reading out loud. The words flutter over him as he stays comfortably crouched under the moonlight.

“Hear now the words of the witches, The secrets we hid in the night. The oldest of Gods are invoked here. The great work of Magic is sought.”

Regulus frowns a bit, amused.

“In this night and in this hour, I call upon the Ancient Power. Bring your powers to we sisters three. We want the power. Give us the power.”

The lecter shakes beside him but he quickly grabs it before it can properly fall. Another second flies where everything shakes, tingles before stopping. Regulus stares at the open page and hesitates turning it before scoffing with a laugh.

“Well, not a sister anymore,” he jokes, closing the book. “I hope you’re laughing from where you are, Alphard…”

“Hum, Reg’?” He startles at Evan’s voice before spotting him at the door of the attic, looking curiously around. “Damn, that’s a huge attic.”

“Yeah… I never went there until now,” he admits and puts the book down on the lectern. “Are you sure Panda never came here before?”

“I can ask her but I don’t think so,” Evan says. “Hey, did you feel that just now?”

“What?”

“Sort of a earth-quake…”

“Oh that. A truck probably drove by. This house is old after all.”

“Huh, well, Pandora would have loved this place so I doubt she wouldn’t have mentioned it to you or me.”

“You’re right. Better show that to her tomorrow, it’s already late,” Regulus decides as he stands up, brushing his knees with a hand. “Is everything alright? Is Sirius—”

“Still here. I just came up to ask you what you want for dinner,” he explains. “Your brother offered to pick up some take-outs for dinner. I don’t know if this qualifies as bribery but still, better take advantage of it. He is waiting on our orders.”

Regulus rolls his eyes. “Well at least we get something out of this. What kind of take-outs?”

“We voted for indian. Pandora has already requested two menus.”

Evan does not have many memories about Sirius Black but he has heard enough to picture his character. Their families were somewhat close, at least enough to share the kind of prideful dinners rich and powerful families prepared. That’s where Evan met Regulus and Sirius the first time, playing with them despite their slight age difference. Every year, Sirius Black got more troublesome whilst Regulus stayed quiet and amenable. Evan and Pandora liked them, the only relief from these endless dinners, though Regulus lost his vitality once Sirius left their home.

Pandora has always been rebellious in a way, though not quite like Sirius who would tug on his formal clothes like they are chains and be as insolent as possible. Thankfully his twin only had peculiar interests rather than fighting authority which saved Pandora from any rough punishment from their father. Evan doesn’t know much outside of what their father asked them to do and learn compared to her.

It’s rare but it happened that Regulus talked about Sirius, but nothing like the rumors or hatred from the adults. It mostly came out when he was sentimental and clearly missing his brother; Evan has probably only seen these glimpses because his twin and him got rather close over the years, especially since they moved in to help Regulus after Alphard’s death.

Regulus has told him that Sirius can be aggressive and obnoxious but that’s his shield - the only way he seems to know how to act since their parents never listened, that’s why his big brother only got louder each time. They still never listened. Regulus affirms that Sirius is actually soft and sincere but rarely ever showed his side outside from when they were by themselves. Though Evan can remember how nice Sirius was when they played, up until an adult stepped too close or called for them. There was always a chilling shift there.

The fondest memory Regulus seems to have is when he started to realise that he is more a boy than a girl and how Sirius has never questioned it and took it in stride, even protecting Regulus from their parents when they caught on his attempts to dress up more like a boy and even taking the fall when Regulus cut his hair.

It’s obvious that Regulus still cares about Sirius even if he is upset that his brother left him alone. Evan can see why Sirius ran away as he recently left his father’s side with Pandora because of how controlling and unsafe it has always been. He finds it rather brave of Sirius to run away so young but he also can’t imagine how he would have felt if Pandora ran away without him. Evan had always been worried that Pandora might be sent off marrying someone just for some business deal but surprisingly his father never appeared to try to separate them even for money. It’s probably the same thing for the Blacks, a weird feeling that they are still centuries back where what only matters is money and power.

Not that Evan really complains about the money. Regulus has Alphard’s inheritance, enough for them three he said, since Evan isn’t sure what to do now that his father isn’t spitting orders at him. Pandora always seemed to know what she was meant to do and rarely, if ever, showed any hesitation. They have covered their tracks but the fear that their father might show up is still here.

Despite their surprised guest, the night goes well. Sirius goes a bit overboard with the take-outs but at least they will have food for perhaps a day or even two for all of them. Pandora is the perfect host and Evan tries to participate, whilst Regulus stays mostly quiet as he observes his brother telling what he did ever since he ran away.

He has scrambled around, worked illegally because no one wanted to hire a teenager with no paper and more than often stayed in abandoned spots before finally landing at a tattoo shop where he managed to become an apprentice. He has finished it only recently which is why he didn’t come back earlier, though he doesn’t say if he plans to open shop here, before showing some of his tattoos to Pandora at her request.

“This is amazing,” she compliments, curiously touching the tattoos on his fingers. “Have you ever made a Triquetra before?”

“A what?”

Regulus frowns at Pandora before glancing at Sirius. “That’s the three-pointed symbol, even Alphard used it.”

“Oh, that one,” he recalls. “I have one actually, on my hip. I didn’t know where it came from but it was always on my mind so I did one.”

“You want a tattoo now?” Evan asks her.

She smiles. “Why not?”

Regulus’ eyes stay a bit on Pandora before he slightly shakes his head slightly, focusing on his food. Evan puts that on Pandora’s usual scheming even if she smiles wildly at him and snuggles to his side, which often means that she is planning something that might concern his twin. He knows her by heart and while she has always enjoyed physical contact, even something as small as holding pinkies, this is a clear sign that her brain is working overtime.

They both go upstairs after storing the rest of the food in the fridge to give Regulus some personal time with his brother. Evan can’t help but watch them a bit. They are slightly uncomfortable, with Sirius on the couch playing with his rings watching Regulus who doesn’t meet his eyes but still stays put. It’s probably a good sign. As long as they don’t start screaming at each other during the night.

“Don’t worry Evan,” Pandora whispers just before she walks in her room. “They both love each other. A bit of time and talking will help them.”

“I’m not worrying,” he argues because it’s always a bit annoying that his twin can read him like that when he can’t.

She chuckles and kisses his cheek with a last hug. “Sleep well. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

In his bedroom, he needs to pull the curtains close because the full moon targets his room like a lighthouse. Thankfully the night is peaceful, he fell asleep before even hearing Sirius or Regulus coming up to their rooms. Their bedrooms mirror each other.

Evan is amongst the last ones to wake up and finds himself rather cold so he puts a small wool vest over his pajamas to walk downstairs for breakfast. Pandora is in the garden, gathering flowers and preparing it for the winter despite the rain. She likes to explain what she does and Evan indulges her but more than often it drifts to witchcraft and what not. Evan likes to lean toward logic and numbers so he is a bit troubled when he can’t properly find what to say to her with all that knowledge; even if she promises that she is just happy that he listens to her.

“Hey, slept well?” He asks when Regulus finishes his coffee.

It’s always better to wait until he has drunk his daily cup to expect a good morning instead of a curse.

“Fine,” Regulus replies and brushes his hair with his hand.

“What about Sirius?”

He shrugs, putting a bit of water in his empty cup before letting it sit in their sink. “We talked. He wants to walk me to my shift as if I’m a bloody child.”

Evan watches him prepare a sandwich before trying to hear if Sirius is still upstairs but it’s quiet. “Is he staying here then? Have you two— made up?”

“I don’t know. Sirius hasn’t changed so I won’t hold my breath,” he answers before facing him with a slight frown. “Do you mind?”

“What? No. I’m happy if you are. Sirius seems to be a good guy, from what I have seen and what you told me before.”

Regulus’ lips tick but are pursed before they can smile. “Yes…” He clears his throat as he picks a part of the takeouts to put it in his bag for work. “Anyway, I already have to deal with Snape at work so I need all my strength to not end up dead or in prison so I’m going to leave before Sirius can follow me.”

“Please torture Snape, better go with a bang than nothing.”

Regulus chuckles and pours hot tea in his thermos. He has been working part-time beside his studies to have a bit of money since he wants to avoid touching Alphard’ inheritance unless it’s really needed. He has this one annoying coworker - Severus Snape - that always leaves Regulus in a foul mood.

“I will keep that in mind. I don’t know what’s Sirius is going to do today beside wandering around but tell him to fuck off if he starts to be annoying.”

He quickly leaves the house with a goodbye to him and Pandora. Evan finishes his tea as he wonders what he could busy himself with today. Perhaps he can offer Sirius some help if he has more stuff of his to move here; he has only come with one big backpack but there could be more. Pandora looks rather busy and wouldn’t mind another pair of hands, especially considering the downpour still going but she seems happy with her umbrella as she works in the garden.

“Did Reggie leave already?”

Evan turns to see Sirius walking in the kitchen, grabbing the empty cup beside the coffee maker. His hair is disheveled and he isn’t wearing a shirt. Evan isn’t that surprised that he is shameless and he looks curiously at all the tattoos. It’s an intricate mix of norse runes and alchemy symbols but it works perfectly as a whole.

“You just missed him,” he replies.

Sirius sighs. “Well I should leave him alone for a while. Probably.”

Evan isn’t sure what he should say. “What do you usually eat for breakfast?”

He shrugs and sits beside him. “Whatever there is. I don’t mind take-outs.”

“I was planning to make myself some toasts and eggs.”

He smiles. “Would love that.”

Cooking is still a bit of an experiment for Evan but he enjoys it. It’s rather satisfying that he can make something good for his twin, Regulus and now Sirius who compliments on his plate with a smile. They quietly eat as Sirius wanders through the kitchen, plate in hand, munching on the food while observing the kitchen. He is probably comparing the kitchen with his childhood’s memories.

“Do you like witchcraft?”

Sirius turns to him with a surprised tilt of his head. “What?”

Evan gestures to his tattooed chest. “Panda is really into it so I know a bit from what she explained to me. You have a lot of runes and alchemy patterns so I figured you must be into that too.”

“Oh, well not really?” He replies and puts his last fork in his mouth, quickly swallowing. “I looked into their meanings before doing anything but I just really like them. They called me sometimes.”

“Called you?”

“Yeah. You never had that before?”

Evan considers it as his eyes fall on the symbol Pandora asked about yesterday. It’s a bit familiar and the more he looks at Sirius’ Triquetra on his hip, the more appealing it seems. Still, Evan is unemployed and doesn’t really have the money to indulge into that hobby. Better leave that to Pandora.

“I mean I have read books and had Halloweens but outside of that, not really.”

“Hum… I don’t know if I believe in everything but it’s nice to think that magic exists.”

Evan snorts as he heads toward the sink to start washing the dirty dishes. “Really? Magic?”

“Yeah, don’t you think it would be great if we were wizards, witches or something like that?”

“I don’t know, if it made life less complicated then maybe yes.”

Sirius laughs before stepping closer to the sink. “Do you need help? I can do it if you want.”

“No, it’s fine. There isn’t a lot to do anyway.”

“See? If we had magic then you wouldn’t have to wash the dishes,” he comments with a proud smirk.

“In that case that would be great,” he drawls out with an amused smile. “Do you have plans today? If you need help to move or tidy your room I’m free. Panda’ too but she is organizing the garden this morning since winter is starting.”

“Thanks but I only had my bag,” Sirius explains. “I didn’t have a lot. Since I planned to come back to see Reggie, maybe stay with him too, I never really— had a lot of things on me. To travel light, you know?”

“Oh I see.” Sirius sometimes sounds like he was homeless for a while and never truly found a safe place to live but Evan keeps his questions to himself. “Hum I have some clothes if you want that I don’t mind sharing with you if you need. Reg’ is a bit smaller than you, though you probably will manage to find something of your size, but I’m not sure he will be happy if we go through his closet.”

Sirius looks surprised and blinks a few times before slowly smiling, an expression more tender, surprising Evan.

“Thanks… That’s nice,” he articulates and quickly clears his throat, a bit embarrassed. “I should have enough but thank you for the offer. I actually saved a bit of money so I might try some thrift shops today and dig through the house to see if there is still some of my old stuff that Orion didn’t throw away.”

“Maybe in the attic.”

“Attic? We have an attic?” Sirius asks, surprised.

“Hum yes? Regulus went there last night but maybe he didn’t lock it. I didn’t know about it either.”

“Huh… I will check it out. Thanks for the tip.”

Evan doesn’t try more small talk even if he wants to hear about him. Today he could try to clean the attic but he is worried about overstepping since Regulus hasn’t talked about what he wants to do with it. It’s also Pandora’s day off from the animal centre so he could go out with her if she wants to. He is curious about Sirius though but he figures that if he gets to know Sirius, maybe get along with him, then it might be easier for Regulus too. The whole Black family has always sounded like a mess to his ears. Regulus is not a complete mess, just human, so he hopes it’s the same for his brother. Hopefully Sirius is really trying to salvage what he can with him rather than messing around.

“I will see you later,” Sirius says, dropping by the kitchen, dressed up for the day with his black leather jacket.

Evan frowns. “Wait, do you have the key?”

“Yup, still remember where it was usually hidden. No worries, I will make a spare one today and put this one back.”

“Oh, alright,” he says and supposes that he cleared that with Regulus.

It’s not like Sirius tried to sneak in last night, he knocked on the front door. Plus Regulus is clearly happy even if he tries to hide it - Evan can spot the signs even if he has only complained about Sirius; if Regulus was really angry he would harass his brother like a clingy parasite and torment him with innocent looks.

Something catches his attention on the back of his Sirius’ leather jacket. Evan shakes the water his hands as he quickly walks to him.

“Sirius, wait.”

“What?” He stops at the threshold of the kitchen, turning around with his heavy boots.

Evan frowns and reaches out for the small lint. “You have some du-”

His stomach churns when he touches his jacket. Evan sees Sirius thrown against a wall with a hand around his throat. Whoever is choking him furiously is no one he recognizes but Sirius fights back the best he can before falling slack.

“Evan?”

He gasps, startling when he sees Sirius frowning worryingly at him in front of him. He takes a quick step back.

“W-what?”

They are back in the kitchen. No one’s hand is around Sirius’ throat and he looks perfectly alive. Whatever wall was slammed into him isn’t near them— it was darker.

“Are you… alright?” Sirius asks, glancing down at Evan’s fingers with the lint he picked up from his jacket. “You sort of went off for a second there.”

Evan swallows as he tries to understand what he just saw. It feels like he got slapped with a short movie in his face. “I what?”

“Did you get shocked?” He wonders, touching the sleeve of his jacket with a curious look. “It looked like it. Your face is all scrunched up.”

“Hum, maybe,” Evan blurts out. “Yeah. You’re right. Sorry.”

Sirius isn’t convinced and his hands hover around him with a frown. “Perhaps you should sit down– you really look shaken up.”

“No, no, I’m fine.”

“Okay…”

Evan forces a smile. “I’m good. Maybe I just need to eat a bit of sugar or something,” he quickly explains and turns to the teapot, checking if he needs to make more.

That was really weird. It felt a bit too real but Evan tries to convince himself that he really just needs a cup of tea to wake up. Maybe he overslept and that’s why his brain is a bit messy.

What was even that scenario? Sirius was choked, probably to death, by a man he has never seen - he can still see the profile of that person as clear as the pot he puts on to boil fresh water. Perhaps he has seen this man before but forgot. He has read somewhere that all the faces you see in dreams are one you have seen once even if you don’t notice it.

“Evan?”

He shouldn’t have been surprised but his heart still jumps like a jack-in-the-box. Sirius smiles carefully at him when he turns to meet his eyes.

“Yes?”

“I need to ask— are you and Reggie..?”

Evan’s eyes widen and shakes his head. “What? No. No!”

“I just had to ask.”

“Reg’ is like a brother to me. And to Panda, really,” he promises. “Just brothers.”

“Alright, alright,” Sirius chuckles. “I’m just happy that Reggie found some people to trust here. That’s why I was curious about you and your twin. He told me the same, that you’re family at this point and that you both needed a place to stay… But I figured that he also wouldn’t share about his private life if he ever had one.”

Evan laughs a bit. “Well, that’s true.”

He is still reeling from that short weird experiment even after Sirius left. The tea calms his nerves but he still can’t come up with a proper explanation about what happened. This hit him like a flash, a punch to the guts, and he doubts that he actually got somewhat shocked from such a contact. Plus Sirius would have felt it first if his jacket had static electricity since he put it on himself. There is also no shock that could make Evan imagine this whole– scene. Maybe he dreamt it during his sleep and only remembered now.

Pandora notices his mood but he lies, telling her he just got a headache. She burns a candle for him to relax. He can’t focus on something else though but doesn’t want to bother her more. Pandora goes upstairs to order everything that she has gathered from the garden and he considers helping even if it means just drying petals, plants or crushing them. A knock on the front door cuts his momentum and Evan leaves the couch to open it, figuring that a distraction is always welcomed.

“Hello there,” their post-woman greets him with a smile. “It’s a downpour today, uh?”

“It is.” Evan chuckles. “Hope you don’t have too much work Nancy. Only ducks would be happy to work with that weather.”

“Hah, don’t worry about me,” she says. “I’m more than used to it.”

Nancy is perfectly covered with her cap and hood but still, she must have been out under the rain and the cold for at least an hour at this point. Her cheeks are a bit flushed already.

“Do you want a warm drink?” He offers.

“That’s kind of you but I have my thermos so I’m all set to survive this morning,” she chuckles with red cheeks. “Here is your newspaper and there is also this package for you.”

“Oh. That’s new,” he says when he spots the package in one arm as she takes out the newspaper from her coat to place it on top of it.

Regulus or Pandora never mentioned that they are expecting something. Evan takes the package from her hands, brushing one with his, and sucks in a gasp when he feels the same slap as before.

Nancy walks away from him, heading toward the street with a last look at Evan as if to say something before her foot slips on one of the steps. She falls hard, grimacing and shouting in pain.

“Well, gotta go,” Nancy says, looking flustered by how she glances down to her feet, already walking down the first step before Evan even digested what he saw.

Except that just like what blinded him— she shifts on her feet to look at him as she continues to walk down. She is about to speak when her foot lands on the step Evan saw her fall on. He jumps before he realises, the package falls heavily on the floor, and he manages just in time to catch her by her waist. She yelps a bit, surprised, and flushes red before scrambling on her feet.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes!” She exclaims, staring at the stairs as she almost runs off. “Sorry and thank you!”

Evan frowns at her and offers a small wave when she quickly looks back but she only rushes away before realising that she missed her car, running back to it. He looks down at the step where he saw her fall— almost since Evan saved her from that.

“What the hell was that?”

This has felt exactly like what he saw for Sirius and this time it was clearly going to happen if Evan hadn’t moved. Did he see in the future for a second there? Or did he just manage to guess that this step was dangerous for Nancy– no way that’s possible. His hand brushed hers and he was hit by the same sudden force and ringing in his ears, just like when he touched Sirius’ jacket.

“Evan? Is everything alright?”

He turns to see Pandora at the entry of Grimmauld Place, only realising now that he was standing under the rain, before quickly walking back inside.

“I’m fine,” he says. “Just— the headache.”

She chuckles. “Did you think the rain would help with that?”

Evan licks his lips and picks up the package and the newspaper before closing the door. “Maybe.”

Sirius has the worst luck ever. There aren’t many people who will tell you that they went to a thrift shop to find one of their exes, who you haven’t talked to over a whole year, when they have just moved to the capital. Sirius has actually hoped to surprise Marlene, finding her by chance in London since she moved here two years ago, but of course he can’t end up meeting his best friend but instead his ex.

Everything went well before that. He wandered through London, to the spots he was the most familiar with to check what had changed or what might be new and catch his attention. He got lost in his memories and soon lunch came but he opted to look at another thrift shop first; in case he needs to have a comfort meal if he finds nothing. Of course now he won’t get any of that since his ex showed up out of nowhere.

“You look,” Gideon smiles nervously, “you look great Sirius.”

He frowns at him, tapping a finger on his crossed arms. “What are you doing here? I’m perfectly aware that your band isn’t playing any time soon in London.”

“I heard from your boss that you decided to move here.”

“Here are your teas,” the waitress blurts out and puts their cups on the table with a nervous glance at Gideon.

“Thank you.”

He smiles pleasantly at her and Sirius opts to roll his eyes not too hard. Of course one of the members of the Weird Sisters would be recognized in London. Thankfully she doesn’t ask for an autograph or a picture, maybe because Sirius is in a bad mood.

“I sure hope you didn’t follow me here Gideon,” he warns, taking his cup in hand. “We have broken up over a year now.”

“That’s because you said you wanted to focus on your apprenticeship,” he argues.

“And the fact that I didn’t call didn’t ring a bell?” He scoffs back.

Gideon tilts his head with an amused smile. “Come on Sirius. I just want to talk, alright? Plus we had something great going on, didn’t we? I figured that we could continue once you’re free and less stressed about getting a job. Not that you need one.”

It’s true that it was what Sirius had planned. Gideon has always been a great boyfriend even with his busy schedule with the band but— Sirius also completely forgot about him. It’s not even that he was hard-working on becoming a tattoo artist but he also didn’t find the desire to call him again. He has good memories of him but nothing made him think of contacting him ever again.

“Well you could have wrote me a letter instead of being a stalker.”

“Stalker? Sirius, you're overreacting.”

He squints at him. “How did you even know in which shop I would be? Did you also follow me home?”

“I do have your address but I was also shopping for myself, if you haven’t noticed my bag.”

Sirius squints at the bag laying at his feet, half-considering stealing it just for the sake of it since he didn’t want to be followed by Gideon through the shop. At least he gets a free drink from that.

His phone rings. It’s only a text but he decides to act like it’s the most important thing at the moment— praying that it gives him an escape from this messy break-up that is about to happen. It’s not even like he promised Gideon that they would ever go back together.

From 020 XXXX XXXX:

Hey Sirius, its Evan

Reg gave me your phone number

Sorry I didnt think of asking you first but I need to call you if you are free at some point?

“I have to take that.”

Gideon frowns. “Is it your brother? Everything alright?”

“Yes,” he retorts. “Just need to call him very quick.”

He smiles, ever so pleased, but Sirius recognizes it as the one he wears around his fan. It would have worked on him before— after all that’s why Sirius sneaked in the backstage to snog him, but he has moved on. Sirius decides to return it with a sharper touch, a fair warning that they aren’t going to play boyfriends anymore.

Evan immediately picks up the phone. “Sirius?”

“Yeah. Is everything alright?”

“You’re free right now?”

Sirius glances at Gideon, still watching him, even when the waitress shyly approaches him now that he is free.

“As a bird.”

Evan sighs out. “Okay, hum… This might sound crazy but just answer me if you can, alright?”

“What? What’s going on?” He frowns.

“Do you know a man with long hair? Like shoulder-length?”

Sirius keeps his frown but tries to not let anything else appear when he glances at Gideon and his hair. He can think of several people if he isn’t honest but his ex-boyfriend is right in front of him.

“Yes..?”

“Is it light? Like not too much. I’m not sure,” Evan mutters. “But it’s a bit curly. A small beard too.”

Sirius leans back in his chair and shifts the phone to whisper. “And a moustache?”

“Yes? Yes!”

“I think I know who you are talking about.”

“Really?” Evan bursts out. “Are you serious?”

“I am always Sirius.”

His joke must have landed because he gets no immediate reply.

“I’m trying to be s— I’m just surprised.”

“What are you on about though?” Sirius asks with a quick look around just in case someone else has followed him.

“I thought I was crazy! Do you have a picture or a name?”

“Er, yes but now I’m a bit… Look, what is that about?”

Evan sighs. “If I told you, you might think I’m insane.”

“About what?”

“Just— if you know them try to avoid them, alright?”

Sirius purses his lips and notices Gideon observing him. He shifts to hide his phone. “Is everything alright?”

“Hopefully yeah,” Evan says, still as cryptic and with his voice going up and down with nerves. “Also you’ve got a package.”

“I got what?”

“A package arrived from the mail. It’s a bit heavy and it has your name on it.”

Sirius takes a deep breath but he openly glares at Gideon who slowly frowns in confusion. “From who?”

“Er, it says— let me check.”

“Sirius?” Gideon asks. “Everything’s fine?”

“Me? I’m chipper but you on the other hand I’m trying to decide.”

“What?”

“-Crumb!” Pandora shouts over the phone. “It says Gideon Crumb! Sirius, why didn’t you tell me that you are friends with one of the Weird Sisters’ members?”

“That’s him!” Evan exclaims just as Sirius hangs up.

“Gideon,” he growls.

“What? What happened S-”

“Oh don’t try to play the nice guy now!” Sirius hisses, standing up. “Did you bloody lurk around my house, you psycho?!”

The whole cafe falls quiet and the waitress that came over gasps with wide eyes on them. Gideon quickly takes a look around before swallowing and facing Sirius with a calm face.

“Sirius… I don’t know what you’re talking about but I didn’t go anywhere near your old place. I only sent a pack-”

“You sent a package? Whatever for?” He growls, standing up.

“Sirius, please, sit down.”

“No I’m not. Because you’re supposed to be at the other side of the country, where I left, and yet somehow you followed me all the way here! Without asking me first!”

“You’re making a scene-”

“You bet I am when I got a bloody stalker!”

Gideon stands up with a glare. “Stop calling me that! I only wanted to offer you something because you left before I could congratulate-”

“We broke up a year ago! How come you didn’t move on?!”

“You asked me to wait for you!”

Sirius scoffs with a shake of the head. “I never did. I told you I want to focus on getting a job before anything else and that I couldn’t follow you to all your concerts anymore.”

“I didn’t mind that!”

“And then I realised that maybe I didn’t want to get back with you,” Sirius says, ignoring him. “The fact that I didn’t reply to any of your texts or calls over a year didn’t make that clear to you?”

“That’s why I came here,” Gideon points out. “To talk!”

“I don’t want to talk with you,” he argues and glances at his unfinished tea before glaring at him. “Don’t even try to come near me again.”

“What? Sir-”

Gideon is a bit taller than Sirius so he easily leans over the table to grab his arm, which he immediately fights off with a sharp jerk. Sirius puts nowhere to strength to send Gideon flying into the table behind him.

The whole cafe roars in surprise and the waitress rushes to Gideon’s side as the others try to salvage the plate and cups that fell when he landed on the table. His ex is a bit shaken up but probably not as much as Sirius who is pretty sure that he saw Gideon's feet off the ground. He hasn’t even touched him but it’s apparently enough for every eye to turn to him like he is some monster.

Sirius decides that he really has the shittiest luck ever as he quickly runs off the scene. Only he could have a clingy ex, possible stalker because otherwise how could Evan even know what he looks like, and get banned from a cafe on his first day back in London and is now running under the rain like a maniac. If Gideon hadn’t tried to stop him leaving then maybe he wouldn’t have been pushed into this table! Not that Sirius even tried to really humiliate him or anything. He only wanted Gideon away.

Regulus figures that he is hallucinating. Although there aren’t many people rushing through the street without even an umbrella when it’s pouring cats and dogs. There are less people walking around with only a leather jacket on their back and long black hair though. Thankfully Sirius hasn’t stopped by the small bakery Regulus is working at, but it was certainly him rushing like a bullet.

Evan hopefully didn’t ask him for Sirius’ number just to send his brother to pester him at work. Pandora could have come up with that idea and stole his phone for that.

To Evan:

I think I just saw my brother running past my shop You better have not told him about where I work

From Evan:

What? Really?? I swear I didn’t How did he look? Fine?

To Evan:

What do you mean I dont know he was running Evan?

Regulus frowns at his phone when he doesn’t get a reply for a few minutes. Evan is the one who asked out of nowhere for Sirius’ number without specifying what for; it better not be some kind of crush on his brother because Regulus will poison everyone then himself just for that thought. But he figures that it is only because Sirius moved in and they probably need to chat about the house or something like that. Still, it’s starting to worry him considering Evan’s texts.

“Your phone, Regulus.”

His jaw tightens but Regulus exhales the curse climbing up his throat as he glances at Snape glowering at his side.

“There is no customer,” he retorts.

“This doesn’t mean you can be rude.”

Regulus seethes quietly and turns back to the few tables busy in their small bakery. It’s a bit busy, especially with the amount of rain drowning London since this morning, but everyone is served and happy so Snape is just being a pain in the ass.

Evan has commented on how it doesn’t make sense that someone like Snape is working here when he is everything but sweet in a bakery shop; even Pandora doesn’t like him and she can feel sad about the trash forgotten by people: ‘we hate them when they are merely the victims of people lack of love’. Sirius would probably try to punch him the moment Snape opens his mouth and Regulus decides to store that idea for later.

It’s obvious that Snape has a problem with him, though the reason is a mystery, but Regulus wouldn’t be surprised that someone like Snape has a problem with his ‘gender’. Morons, terfs, racists and pigs - of course not the animal - are synonyms for each other after all.

One of their regulars is missing and Regulus is slightly disappointed that he doesn’t show up with the new groups of people. Remus seems to have come to this bakery before Regulus even started working here. He is always asking for a hot chocolate and an espresso on the side plus whatever catches his eyes from the daily fresh pastries or salty snacks. Regulus and him have started a sort of system whenever Snape starts to act up, even though he isn’t Regulus’ superior or anything else, with glances and ticks on their lips. Regulus only knows that Remus lives not far and is a teacher which explains the tons of papers he brings if it’s not his usual books. Usually the weather doesn’t bother him but he supposes that today the rain is too much to venture outside.

Dorcas comes out of the kitchen with a long trail full of small cakes ready to be bought for the afternoon. Regulus helps her as she glares at the trail.

“Snape can’t even bother to help,” she hisses.

“This isn’t new.”

Frankly Snape should have been fired a long time ago. He barely even bakes or has any skills to serve and help customers, at least the decorations around the shop are pretty to look at compared to Snape. Still, somehow he is still sticking around to torment them.

“We better get ready for more people with this weather,” Dorcas says with a squint at the large windows of the shop. “You’re lucky you’re done in a few.”

“And Snape finishes at the same time as me so you will be free from him,” Regulus reminds.

A few people come to the counter to order. Regulus is still worried about his brother and how weird Evan was. He could at least answer to him but thankfully work helps him to focus on something else.

“By the way,” Dorcas says when all clients are satisfied and Snape is still in the back. “We didn’t have the time to talk because of our local pest but what was that about your brother? I didn’t even know you had one.”

Regulus almost wants to say that he also didn’t know considering that Sirius disappeared without a look back. He could have followed him, that’s true. Still, he isn’t sure yet on how to digest the presence of Sirius around.

“Yes… He left a long time ago and he suddenly decided to come back,” he explains. “I’m the first one surprised to be honest.”

“Is it a good or a bad thing?”

Regulus shrugs with a glance at her. “I’m not sure yet. Hopefully it’s good.”

He has missed Sirius over the years. When their mother died and then their father, Regulus had expected that his brother would come back upon the news; there would be no one else to hurt them after all. Sirius never came back though, even at Alphard’s funeral he barely stayed. Regulus had been probably lucky that he spotted him before he disappeared.

A mother and her little boy come in to pick a cake. Regulus handles it while Dorcas cleans some of the tables. Her son is very excited, chattering, almost putting his hand on the glass before his mother quickly stops him and explains to not do it. They pick a cake for her wife’s birthday, one with hues of blues, and Regulus offers to write down her name on it and add a little bit of decorations.

“Mum, mum, look how pretty it is!” Her son cheers, bouncing on his feet as Regulus puts it in a box after showing his work. “Yum!”

His mother chuckles and pets his hair with a smile at Regulus. “Thank you very much. I didn’t think of ordering until now.”

“We always have cakes around for this kind of last-minute emergency,” he assures with a smile because he can’t help but feel proud that they picked his cake. “Hope you will enjoy it.”

“I will!”

“Shush, don’t shout here,” she cautions. “You can carry it home if you promise to be careful.”

“I will, I will,” her son promises with an avid look at the box.

Regulus snorts quietly before putting it in a bag because of the rain and offering it to him. “Keep it flat, alright? Don’t squish it.”

“Yes, sir,” he chirps with a determined look as he slides his hands under the box.

Regulus hears someone chuckling and his eyes can’t help but widen at the literal— Adonis waiting behind the little family; who smiles when he sees that Regulus noticed him, eyes grinning behind his round glasses. There is no way Regulus can handle the sight of a fit, warm-toned lad, when he is reaching the end of his shift with a pestering Snape and with the sudden shock of his brother’s return.

“Car-”

The boy gasps, tripping on his untied shoelaces when he tries to walk away. Regulus immediately focuses back on him as the cake slips out of his grasp. He reaches out, managing to grab it with a relieved sigh. Thankfully, Regulus has stayed near the lower table so he could easily lean on it to have the extra-length.

“Are you…”

He stares at the unnerving silence. The boy is still falling but frozen in the movement. Regulus slowly realises that no one else is breathing beside him.

His eyes wander to all the people, stopping mid-movement as they are about to eat or drink. Dorcas stays still at a table, with a hand reaching for an empty cup but never touching it, but her head is turned toward the counter as she must have seen the catastrophe coming. Regulus slowly exhales through his nose. The rain is still pattering on the windows, not disturbed, by what’s going on.

“Hello?” Regulus articulates.

Even the Adonis is frozen, eyes on Regulus, and the clock has stopped clicking. This could be an elaborate prank but— the boy is falling but frozen in mid-air. No one could ever do that and his mother’s face is petrified with a sudden panic and her hand reaching out empty. Regulus wets his lips and takes another look around. The bag with the cake is in his hands, moving if he shifts it, which would mean that everything beside him suddenly stopped. It’s insane, complete nonsense, but Regulus is scared of doing the wrong thing.

A car drives by, outside. The bag shifts to only one of his hands before he slowly leans toward the frozen boy. Whose mouth is parted in surprise and his eyes are heavy with surprise but he doesn’t blink or breath. Regulus grabs him by his hood stuck in the hair and the boy restarts falling.

“-eful!”

“Ah!” The boy squeaks, weighing down in Regulus’ hand who holds him from falling on his arse.

His mother catches him by his arms before realising that Regulus grabbed him first. She looks up in surprise as Dorcas quickly runs to their side upon seeing what happened.

“Everything alright?”

“Yes,” the mother says, still in shock but probably nowhere near the one Regulus is still trying to understand. “You are incredibly fast. Thank you.”

“You saved the cake!” Her son cheers before glancing down at his mother's gaze.

Regulus lets go of him since he is back on his feet and glances at the cake before looking at them. “Er, yes. Good reflexes.”

Dorcas observes him before smiling at the family. “Just a small scare.”

“I will carry that,” the mother quickly says, taking the bag off his hands once she checks on her son. “Better be safe than sorry.”

“But mu-”

“I told you to tie your shoes,” she argues with a pointed look at his pout. “Next time you will know better. Now thank them and say goodbye.”

“Thank you mister,” he mumbles out with a bitter look at the cake his mother keeps out of reach. “Goodbye.”

Regulus forces a smile as they walk out. Dorcas frowns at him and quickly steps around to get behind the counter, putting down the dirty dishes she had fetched.

“Reg’? You alright?” She whispers.

He shakes his head before blinking. “I honestly don’t know.”

She looks at him up and down before glancing at the people in the bakery, living and moving like nothing happened.

“You’re done in ten minutes, just go. I can deal with that. You look like you might faint.”

Regulus wets his lips before nodding. “Thanks.”

He stays quiet as he rushes to the locker room to change himself as fast as he can. He can’t help but replay what happened in his head— this couldn’t be a prank. Except that there are also not many options outside of that.

“Leaving already?” Snape asks when Regulus leaves the locker room for the exit in the back.

Regulus ignores him and quickly walks under the rain. Did time actually stop? Why was he the only one moving? Just like the mother, he reached out to catch what he could. But she was as frozen as everyone else.

The rain gets furious but he barely feels it as he hurries back home. It’s not far but his mind is running faster than he can, barely recognizing the turns as his own voice rings in his head: I call upon the Ancient Power.

Regulus pinches himself as if the cold and a raindrop falling right into his eye aren’t enough to make him groan in pain. He is perfectly awake and aware of what’s around him. What happened in the bakery— this looked like magic, which shouldn’t exist and Regulus has grown out of that phase a long time ago. Except that time is often an old, ancient, power isn’t it? That would fit what the book said. But this can’t be real.

Regulus shakes his head and takes out his phone to check his texts. There isn’t anything from Sirius or Evan so he opts to try to call them. His phone coughs like a dying machine into his ear and he quickly needs to take it away from his face because of the buzzing. It doesn’t look dead though as he can still go to his different screens and texts,but there is no connection. Regulus harshly huffs through his nose in frustration.

Grimmauld Place is in his view soon enough, just as a thunderbolt strikes startling him. He quickly walks inside, shutting the door behind him. The light is weak and he frowns at it but his focus is quickly on the cold and the weird smell.

“Evan? Panda? Sirius?”

Pandora walks out from the kitchen, draped with a heavy sweater, and a frown that clears up when she spots him.

“Reggie!” Her cheer quietens abruptly. “Hum… This is maybe a bad time.”

“Bad time? Why?” He asks. “Did you turn off the heat? And are you cooking again? You buy the new pots this time.”

“Er, well. It's not me.” She glances around the house. “We don’t know. It stopped by itself and even the electricity jumped on and off.”

“Is it Reg’?”

“Yes!” She replies to Evan who quickly walks in the dining room to see Regulus taking his shoes off in the foyer.

“Are you alone?”

Regulus frowns and puts his coat on the rack. Evan doesn’t look quite comfortable and it’s not because of the cold. Something is clearly going on and he is hit with another wave of anxiety as he sees again the whole scene of the frozen bakery.

“Yes? Why?”

The white cat in his arms is perfectly white and its grey, silver eyes slowly blink at Regulus; who recognizes it as the one who tried to sneak in many times, meowing and pawing at doors and windows. It looks quite regal and soft but Evan’s face doesn’t seem to take that in account because his face is twisted with a grimace.

“You… You will think that I’m insane.”

“No, you’re not,” Pandora says, stepping closer to her twin.

“What is going on? Don’t tell me that we are adopting this cat now.”

“Wait, that’s one thing,” Evan says as he comes closer to him. “It has a collar.”

“I could have guessed that it belongs to someone already,” Regulus drawls out. “No cat can stay this white in the streets of London.”

The cat meows back and stretches her neck as Pandora reaches for its dark green collar and the medallion on it.

“Look,” she insists. “It’s a Triquetra.”

It is one. This doesn’t help Regulus though— he has this itching in the back of his brain that screams Ancient Power and Give us the power as he recalls the feel of the Book of Shadows in his hands. Logically, this cat could have belonged to Alphard and this would explain why it kept sticking to Grimmauld Place or the choice of the medallion. Except that his uncle would have told him about that cat or at least mentioned to Regulus that he needs to take care of a pet when Alphard had gotten sick.

“And?”

“Something really weird is going on,” Evan insists as he lets the cat jump down. “But there are too many coincidences.”

“Coincidences?” Regulus asks curiously just as the cat rubs itself against his legs and scampers off in the living room. “Is it about Sirius? Or the house apparently falling apart?”

“Yes, maybe. I’m not sure.” Evan groans slightly when he gets a frown and rubs his eyes before he looks up. “Something happened to me. Really weird— which I wouldn’t have considered real if Pandora isn’t convinced that it’s magic.”

“Did you freeze people?”

Pandora gasps at him just as Evan watches him with a stunned face.

“What?”

“Did you stop time?” She asks with wide eyes.

“Time?! What do you mean time?!”

Regulus clears his throat. “Didn’t— that’s not what happened to you?”

“What the hell?” Evan articulates. “I saw into the future or something like that. Nothing as cool as bloody stopping time! How did you do that?!”

“I— I was working and this child almost dropped a cake,” he explains with his voice weakening. “Just everything stopped, people, Dorcas, the clock and the child mid-falling. Literally stuck in the air while everything outside the bakery and I still moved.”

“This is happening,” Pandora whispers with wide eyes.

“You saw into the future?” Regulus realises with wide eyes. “What do— is that why you asked for Sirius’ number?! What’s going on?”

“I saw him getting choked! This morning!”

“Choked?!” He shouts. “What do you mean choked! Why didn’t you tell me this first!”

“Because I didn’t know if it was real or not!” Evan argues with his hands flying around in confusion before he pushes his braided hair back. “Look, I spoke with Nancy when she dropped off the mail and I saw her slipping on one of the steps. I think that’s because I touched her hand. I thought I was going crazy but then it really happened in front of me so I stopped her from getting hurt.”

“You have the premonitions!” Pandora suddenly speaks out, far more loudly than she ever did, before she turns and grabs like a wild tornado Regulus, “and you, you got the freezing power!”

“The what?!”

“This means Sirius has the last one!”

“Panda, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Did Sirius do that to us?” Regulus asks. “Where the hell is he?”

Pandora’s eyes are huge, sparkling in excitement, as she looks at them like they are precious. “I never thought I would be here for that!”

“For what?”

“For the Charmed Ones!” She cheers, bouncing on her toes. “The power of three! All the witches know about it.”

Evan splutters. “The what now?”

Regulus stares at her. “Power of three..?”

“Panda, are you serious? I can get behind some crazy things but I’m not sure I can follow you there.”

“Yes! I am!”

“Wait,” Regulus blurts out. “Are you talking about what I found in this grimoire? It talked about the power of three.”

“A grimoire?!”

“You have one?” Pandora blurts out. “Where is it?”

“You’re not serious,” Evan articulates. “A grimoire? Witches?”

“It all exists!” She insists. “You felt it yourself, didn’t you? You saw into the future! And Reg’— you froze the bakery, right? There is no other explanation than magic.”

“Wait a second-”

“It all coincides perfectly! You said it yourself Evan,” she exclaims, “it’s too many coincidences. The house, the cat, what happened to the both of you– Sirius came back yesterday, this must have triggered the magic!”

“The attic opened up,” Regulus realises. “It never did before until now…”

“And you found a grimoire there?” Evan asks with a dubious frown. “Witchcraft?”

“You saw it yourself, Evan,” Pandora argues. “You got visions!”

“I read the first page,” Regulus recalls. “There was a bloody spell or something! I thought it was a joke.”

“Wait, I still don’t get it,” Evan says as he turns to Pandora. “Panda, I know you believe in these things but why aren’t you the one with powers then?”

She shrugs but her smile doesn’t diminish. “I don’t know. What I heard is that the Power of Three, to be Charmed Ones, is a prophecy about three sisters from the most powerful bloodline of witches.”

“Sisters? We’re men!”

Regulus frowns at Evan. “And we aren’t related by blood. Panda, are you sure-”

“I am!” She promises with a fierce look. “Listen, you have all the powers they are rumoured to have! One has premonitions, the strongest defensive magic, another can freeze and the other can move things with their minds!”

“Why the hell didn’t I get the moving thing?”

Regulus shakes his head. “I’m sorry I just can’t believe it-”

“Believe in yourself,” Pandora says and takes his hand. “You went into the attic for the first time yesterday, right? Where you found the grimoire, just when Sirius came back! Why would you read the incantation if you weren’t called to it?”

Evan stares at them in disbelief but Regulus can, just like him, only slowly swallows all of this information. The attic never ever opened up until now. Regulus could have easily closed the door last night. He had enough on his plate with Sirius’ return and his decision to stay with him. Except that Pandora is right. Regulus has been compelled to visit the attic and find that one plank of wood hiding the grimoire away.

“How do you know all of that?” He whispers. “You never spoke about that before, the Charmed Ones and all.”

Pandora shakes her head with an excited squealing. “Because I thought it was a legend unlike fairies or werewolves! Everyone believes in the Charmed Ones but they apparently have never existed yet or at least that’s what is said. I would have never thought that this would be you three!”

“Woah woah, wait a second,” Evan exclaims. “Fairies?! Werewolves?! Panda, are you seriously a witch?!”

She scoffs at him. “Of course I am. Though I don’t have powers like you or maybe I will get one now! If you have witch blood then so do I!”

“I’m going to faint.”

Regulus glances at him. “Wait— didn’t you say that Sirius gets choked?! When?!”

“I don’t know!”

“Well bloody know!”

Pandora shushes them. “Alright, take a deep breath. Premonitions aren’t always happening right away.”

“What about the postwoman?!” Regulus shrieks. “Didn’t that happen just after you saw it?”

Evan croaks mutedly with a small grimace. “I-”

“When did you see it?”

He sighs. “This morning when Sirius left. I touched his jacket and bam.”

“This morning?!” He shouts in horror and quickly steps back as he takes out his phone. “He isn’t answering me and— bloody hell it’s already mid-afternoon!”

“Sirius knows who is the guy I saw in that– thing in my head,” Evan points out. “That’s why I asked for his number!”

“Did you tell Sirius that he would get choked?”

“Are you mad? I didn’t think any of that was serious but better be safe than sorry,” he admits. “But Sirius knew him and this man even sent Sirius a package!”

“A what now?” He asks, quickly texting Sirius.

Pandora nods. “We opened it, just to be safe, but it’s only clothes - new and when I looked the name up well it’s actually a member of the Weird Sisters!”

“The band?”

“Yeah, Gideon Crumb. That’s him who I saw and I checked with pictures.”

“This doesn’t answer my question if he already choked Sirius or not!” Regulus barks out and tries to call Sirius. “He could have been running away from him when I saw him! And my phone just doesn’t work!”

“But did you see someone after him?”

“I don’t think so…” Regulus worries his lips as the call cuts by itself. “Why is this phone not working?!”

“I think it’s because the whole house is wonky. Ours stopped working too.”

Evan glances at Pandora. “What? Is that your power?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Evan can’t you see if Sirius is alive or something?” Regulus asks. “Do your magic— or whatever!”

“I have no idea,” he admits with a sorry look. “I don’t even know how to make it happen.”

“I think we would know about Sirius in danger,” Pandora says. “Plus he has his power too so he must be able to protect himself. Evan also warned him about Gideon which means that perhaps it hasn’t happened because of that!”

“This is too many ifs,” Regulus shouts in frustration and grabs his coat. “I’m going to look for him!”

“Reg-”

“If this twat just came back to die the next day and forces me to do his bloody funeral then I will kill him myself!” The door stays as still as a fortification even when he tugs it with all his wrath. He turns around to look at Pandora and Evan. “What is wrong with it?!”

“Weird things have been happening all day,” Evan says with a nervous glance around. “Maybe it’s because of what you read?”

“How could I know that this grimoire was real?!”

“We should go check it,” Pandora cuts with a determined nod. “There must be spells and potions to help us and Sirius. Reg’, I’m sure that Sirius is fine.”

“Yeah and he has this big power of moving things around, doesn’t he? If we have– two of them and Panda doesn’t then Sirius is the last option,” Evan points. “That sounds more useful than mine.”

Regulus’ jaw tenses before letting go of the door’s handle. “Why is the door not moving?”

Pandora shrugs. “I suppose the house must be saying something? If your whole bloodline was witches then the house must have developed with some magic too. Perhaps we need to stay here.”

“Okay, this doesn’t explain why I’m somehow getting a power when it’s supposed to be for three sisters.”

“Bloody hell,” Regulus spits out and walks up to them with a rude gesture to the stairs. “Then let’s go look at this grimoire before I lose it!”

“How did you not know that your family are witches?” Evan asks as he follows him.

“What about you, uh?”

“It’s in our blood one way or another,” Pandora explains. “But it’s true that it’s strange that you didn’t have your powers until now… Or you Evan.”

“Well if it’s the power of three or whatever then maybe that’s because Sirius only came back now?”

Regulus sighs. “Somehow Sirius always manages to make it about hims-”

Pandora bumps into him when he stops in the middle of the second row of stairs with a small gasp. Regulus can feel Evan slowly tugging him back but he almost misses the step since his eyes are stuck on his mother.

Walburga Black stands in front of her portrait, in the exact same stance, but her eyes are stabbing right into him. She is paler and her clothes have the same strange hue as the rest of her but transparency doesn’t stop her aura to slowly dig her nails into his heart.

“[ ],” she hisses and all the windows ring in pain, “still playing as a boy.”

“Holy crap,” Evan gasps out.

“Reg’”, Pandora whispers.

“Mother?”

Her whole body suddenly jumps ahead as a sudden wind pushes itself in his body. Regulus almost slips down the stairs but he is held up.

“Everyone betrayed me!” Walburga shouts. “But I will get the powers that are mine!!”

“We need to ru-”

“Shut up you little bastard!” She shrieks.

Pandora is the first one who is thrown down, breaking a part of the stair’s balustrades, as Evan tries to catch her before he is hit himself in a wall and tumbles down the steps. Regulus stares at his mother, hovering in front of him with a horrid grimace, terrified. He is stricken when she sharply jerks her hand.

His head rings loudly against the wall, barely feeling his body as he plummets down the stairs. Windows shatter around them, covering the furious rain, and a panicked hiss rushes by. Regulus covers his head when he feels something falling on him.

“Regulus! We need to run!” Pandora shouts, pushing him up on his feet, before shrieking in surprise when another portrait explodes above them. “Evan! Evan, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he croaks out, standing up at the bottom of the stairs and his eyes widen when he spots them. “Get down!”

Regulus slips down a step as he and Pandora throw themselves down to avoid the myriad shards of glass flying into the wall beside them. He looks up to see a cabinet and broken pieces of wood, balustrades and a whole window spinning around his shrieking mother.

“The kitchen,” Pandora blurts out. “We need to get to the kitchen.”

He helps her stand up and quickly runs down the stairs as Evan rushes off when he becomes the target.

“Blasted children!” Walburga shrieks. “You are the bane of my existence! You don’t deserve my gifts, my powers!”

“Bloody stop her!” Evan shouts from his hiding spot in the living room. “Freeze her!”

Regulus reaches the ground floor with Pandora when he remembers it. He looks at Walburga, moving her hands around like whips and with a full cabinet thrown at them. Pandora shouts in surprise just as Regulus gestures at it with both hands.

“Holy shit,” he blurts out when the cabinet stays still in the air just like everything storming around his mother. “This is real.”

“That’s mine!” Walburga screams.

Pandora throws herself at Regulus just in time as the cabinet explodes in pieces along with the wall behind them because of a striding burst of wind. He gasps out as everything restarts around them.

“Wait— she didn’t freeze?”

“The kitchen!” Pandora screams.

The cat loudly hisses toward Walburga, following them as they scramble to the kitchen. Pandora opens a cupboard as more things seem to be cracked or shattered in Grimmauld Place.

“If Orion hadn’t killed me everything would have been perfect!” She screams like a dying whistle. “This bastard couldn’t do anything by himself and then begged me when I came back to kill him!”

Regulus crouches down when all the electronics explode in the kitchen. Evan joins him with his eyes wide on Pandora who keeps throwing all the cupboards open as the white cat walks back and forth anxiously under the table.

“Did your mother just say-” He trails off with a panicked look at Regulus. “That your father killed her and then she killed him?”

Regulus shrugs with a crazy chuckle because he is definitely losing his mind here. “How would I bloody know that?!”

Evan pushes him suddenly and jumps back on his arse, just before the buffet behind them crashes down to where they were. Regulus is as shocked as him.

“I found it!” Pandora exclaims and rushes to them with the jar of salt.

“Did you see that too?” He asks and Evan shakes his head, pale.

“Just a feeling.”

“You think you can hide from me?!” Walburga screams and all the windows explode in pieces. “I made you and I can destroy you if you don’t give me what is mine!”

The cat hisses and jumps at the highest point of view when his mother flies in the room with a look madder than it ever was, leaving the kitchen’s door shattered. Pandora throws salt in Walburga’s face before she barrels too close to them. She screams in pain, face literally in flames as she fights blindly drifting back.

“How did you do that?!”

“Salt works against ghosts,” she explains, shocked. “At least that’s what I heard.”

“Then make her disappear!” Regulus shouts.

“It only holds them back! We need a spell or a potion to stop her!”

“Try to freeze her again! Quickly!”

Regulus swears and throws his hands open toward his mother but she keeps moving. He tries several times before looking around to see that the cat is frozen mid-hiss.

“It doesn’t work on her.”

“Maybe because it’s a ghost,” Pandora breathes out.

“That’s such crap!”

Walburga fusses, staring at them with her eyes still flaming. Her whole body flickers with energy as her face grows more and more difform.

“How dare you attack me? Me! Your mother! Without me you would be nothing!”

“Take some salt,” Pandora says, “quickly and we run to the attic for the grimoire! We don’t have a ch-”

Regulus holds his breath when he hears the backdoor clicking open. Grimmauld Place’s back street is not well-known and he can’t even remember if he ever showed it to Evan and Pandora. He watches the door opening with hesitation and Sirius walks in with a frown at his phone.

“Urgh, you won’t belie-”

“Get down!”

Sirius doesn’t understand Regulus’ scream right away, even if he crouches a bit, but his eyes almost jump out when he sees their mother hovering like a storm in the kitchen before the kitchen table is thrown at him.

“Sirius!”

He shouts, jerking away, just as the table is sent back to Walburga who is unfazed. It breaks when it hits the wall, bringing down a painting.

“What the hell?!” Sirius screams, stepping back terrified with his eyes glued on the ghost. “Walburga?!”

“Sir-”

Regulus jumps on his feet with a handful of salt in hand to throw it on their mother, cutting her hissing. Sirius is speechless but Regulus doesn’t let him breathe and rushes to him.

“Snap out of it before she kills us!”

Sirius’ breath is shakingly exhaled and he quickly glances with red, fragile, eyes between him and Walburga - who screams harder behind them. Regulus quickly glances to see Pandora and Evan throwing more salt at her before he turns to his brother.

“Hurry!” Pandora shouts, hand in the pot. “We don’t have a lot!”

“What the hell is going on?” Sirius gasps out.

Regulus grabs him by his arms. “Sirius. No time to explain but you can throw stuff around, like the table-”

“What?! That was me?!”

“Yes! Now we need to get to the attic alive to find this bloody grimoire and send her to hell or whatever!”

Sirius shakes his head speechless just as Evan rushes to them.

“Can we go before she manages to kill us?!” He exclaims. “Try to freeze her or-or move her whatever!”

“Freeze her?” Sirius repeats, paling. “What’s happening?! Is that really Walburga?!”

“Who cares about that!”

“We need to run now!” Pandora warns, throwing the pot at Walburga but it only goes through her.

Regulus doesn’t give him the chance to ask anything more, dragging Sirius by his arm as they run out of the kitchen with the cat meowing after them distressed. His brother quickly catches on the run though.

“I need to know a little bit more!” He shouts.

“You’re the Charmed Ones!” Pandora cheers.

“Not the time!” Evan argues. “We need a bloody grimoire to kill or chase her off!”

“A what?!”

“We’re witches!” Regulus explains. “Maybe!”

“What’s happened to London?!”

The amount of salt seems to have slowed Walburga down enough because they are left at peace even when they reach the stairs.

“Wait, the front door!” Evan shouts, stopping at the first step. “That’s him!”

“Gideon?!” Sirius exclaims.

Regulus leans down to see a man looking around their destroyed foyer and the rest of the corridor before he quickly hurries when he catches their sight.

“I just wanted to check on you but then I heard all these noises– are you alright? What is going on? Why is everything broken?”

“Get the bloody hell out!” Sirius shouts.

“Get out!” Pandora agrees.

“Get him out,” Regulus hisses. “Throw him out or whatever!”

The front door slams closed. Gideon spins around with a small scream. Grimmauld Place shakes and heavy furnitures fall as the cat panics and twists around their feet to bound downstairs.

Walburga shoots through the air like a bullet, hitting straight on Gideon who is thrown unnaturally against the floor with a horrifying scream. Pandora gasps out and Regulus takes in her wide eyes when she weakly shakes him. The scream dies in a snap.

“Gideon?” Sirius whispers out.

“We need to go,” Pandora says with a nervous shake of her head. “She is in him.”

“What?”

“Sirius, let’s go,” Regulus says and grabs him but he stays put. “Sirius!”

“You.”

He freezes at the clear voice of their mother. It’s not an odd apparition anymore - he is back to his childhood where he neared the walls and made sure that he never breathed too loudly. Gideon raises but his face is twisted, a scream of murder and an awaiting wrath that will be unleashed.

“She is possessing him?” Evan realises in horror.

“You have always been my biggest mistake Sirius,” Walburga hisses as Gideon’s skin seems to jump as his body moves like a wild chained animal. “If I had known that Caradoc would have given me two children then I would have killed you at your birth!”

Regulus’ eyes widen, taking in his paralysed brother and the stunned faces of Evan and Pandora. “Isn’t Caradoc your father?”

Evan swallows and nods. Walburga finally gets on her feet, on Gideon’s feet, stumbling before a sound of bones crack echoing.

“I only needed three of you. But all these blasted men tried to fool me,” she darkly articulates with a twitching snicker. “I will get the powers that I created and then get rid of everyone who tried to cross me!”

She grabs a broken part of wood before rushing to them. Regulus startles with his hands out.

“Putain,” he blurts out when she is frozen. “It worked!”

He turns to them, relieved to see them still breathing but still stunned. Pandora shakes herself out of it after a second and quickly glances at Regulus before grabbing Evan and Sirius.

“The attic!”

They make the right move even if the first steps are clumsy before they dart upstairs because Walburga restarts moving, slowly, before screaming in abject horror before they even pass the first floor.

“Are you sure about it?!” Evan shouts.

“The book should have something!”

“We don’t have a choice-” Pandora shouts in surprise as the balustrade bends toward her, almost trapping her against the wall. “She still has powers!”

Regulus freezes his mother’s ascension but she fights through it, only stopping a second before slowly taking up her natural speed.

“Sirius, throw her down the stairs!”

“What?! I can’t!” He screams back after they barely avoided flying shards of glass. “That’s– she is inside Gideon?!”

“Just do what you did with the table!”

Sirius shakes his head distraught. Regulus swears under his breath and freezes Walburga again before running up the last stairs.

They manage to get in the attic with the cat running after them. Evan quickly closes the door and hesitates to stay next to it but quickly follows Regulus who darts to where he left the grimoire: on the lecter.

“What do we do?”

“There should be something against ghosts,” Pandora explains but doesn’t touch it. “I hope it’s a spell because I don’t know if we can do a potion.”

“Tell me Gideon is alive,” Sirius says.

She grimaces, lips croaking emptily before she purses her lips. “I– I don’t-”

They are thrown back, sliding violently against the opposite wall of the attic, just below the round window. The lecter topples and a large of the furnitures are blown away, leaving a direct path for Walburga who threw the door open.

“You’re fighting your own mother?” She spits out. “I know what’s best for you all foolish children. [ ], you were the one that could have made it work but Sirius poisoned you, made you a runt just like him with a sick, sick brain-”

“Shut up!” Sirius snaps, standing up with a glare before throwing his arm out.

Walburga is sent against the left wall, crashing down on dusty furniture.

“She only needed a real body,” Regulus realises.

“Can we get her out?” Sirius asks with a glance at them.

“Panda?”

She shakes her head, glancing at the grimoire laying not far from them. “I’m– I’m not sure!”

Evan groans out in pain as he throws himself to reach out for the heavy book. “I don’t bloody care.”

“Sirius!”

Walburga jumps on Sirius, tackling him against the wall before starting to choke him. He wheezes, fighting with his hands but her body doesn’t even stop. Regulus quickly tries to freeze her again before rushing to them when it doesn’t work. Walburga isn’t bothered by their scratching or the punches. A whistle cuts the Sirius’ gagging who has started to sob with the pain.

“Sirius! Use that!” Evan shouts and tosses the thick grimoire toward them.

Regulus steps back just as Sirius squints at it. The book is suddenly flung at Gideon’s head, properly knocking him off.

“I didn’t say to use it like that!” Pandora shouts.

“That’s what I bloody saw!”

Sirius falls on his ass, loudly gasping for air with tears trailing down his face. Regulus crouches at his side, heart beating painfully, as he sees the red digging marks on his throat. He startles when Walburga stands up violently but before he can try to freeze her again - Gideon is violently thrown out of the round window. Regulus gapes before noticing Sirius’ raised hand while the other goes at his throat.

“Sirius,” he whispers, shaking. “Are you okay?”

“This fall better kills her,” he hisses out.

Pandora grabs the book before joining their side with Evan. “She is still a ghost so I’m not sure-”

The grimoire jumps out of her hands, pages flipping with no end before stopping on a page.

“The power of three spell?” Evan reads just as Sirius roughly clears his throat and coughs.

“This should work!” Pandora exclaims. “You three need to chant it, this should get rid of her!”

“Chant?”

“You need to– to be together to cast it! The three of you, your three powers, that’s what it means!”

A harsh cold sweeps in, violently blowing goods in one piece or more against the walls of the attic, as Walburga reappears in front of them with her body aberrantly formed. Regulus can’t help but think that it’s not even the worst she has ever been.

“I don’t need a body to remind you of who decides in this house!”

Regulus tightens his jaw and grabs Sirius’ hand and Evan’s as he jerks at the opened page of the Book of Shadows.

“You too Panda.”

Sirius glances at him warily before glaring at Walburga. Evan follows their leads as Pandora shuffles closer, grabbing onto their arms. Their mother shakes in fury as all the dust gather around her like a sand storm with shards and broken furniture.

“The Power of Three we now decree, The Power of Three will set you free, The Power of Three will destroy thee!”

The outcry shakes Evan to his core, still rocking him into an unpleasant lull, even after the ghost of Walburga imploded in front of them. She stared at them with a spiteful authority and wrath that still stink in the air, even when the rain is slowly drowning the attic through the broken window.

Sirius is the first one to move, clumsily getting on his feet as he stumbles to the large hole left in Grimmauld’ Place attic. It’s already night and the clouds smother the moon but there is no mistake of the body laying down at their steps. They all see Gideon sinking under the rain but they don’t say anything even when Sirius walks away at the first exclamations of their neighbours. Soon enough comes the police.

“This man attacked you in your house?”

Evan glares at the aged policeman. His shiny badge spells out Barty Crouch Sr. and he has asked them many questions before Evan decides to take the lead. He has almost finished a master in law so he figures he can give them a way out of this mess. Gideon is dead, whether it’s from the fall or Walburga is another question, but there is no way they can tell them the truth.

“Listen, we already told you everything. We are as shocked as anyone else of what happened,” Evan says, trying to not give anything out by mistake. “He knew Sirius but we never opened the door. He came inside without asking before falling from our attic.”

Crouch Sr. eyes him, moustache twitching, before glancing up at the broken window. Pandora tightens her grip around his arm and Evan squeezes her shoulder. Sirius is still quiet, behind them, with a grim look and the white cat in his arms as Regulus is still treated by a doctor from the ambulance.

“And you four live together?”

“Yes.”

“Since how long?”

“A year. It’s– a family’s house.”

“Do you want a surveillance team? If you believe someone else might be after you,” he offers.

“No,” Sirius spits out.

The policeman purses his lips but nods and jots down on his notebook. “Well, then we will contact you later once we have a clearer idea of what happened.”

“Yes, thank you,” Evan clips.

He watches them before leaving. It’s a mess of their neighbours and many reporters, especially once the word got out that it’s Gideon Crumb from The Weird Sister. Grimmauld Place is in a rough state and they have to replace all the windows. Evan can spot that Regulus is already looking for someone to do that by how furiously he looks through his phone.

“I don’t like him,” Pandora whispers.

“Who?” Evan asks with the same tone.

She gestures at Crouch Sr. who has joined his men to discuss. He can share the feeling but can’t help but worry more about Walburga. The Book of Shadows hadn’t let them breathe even when they swallowed the shock, pages furiously turning and settling on the one: How to Vanquish the Evil Spirit of a Witch.

“Let’s go,” Regulus says once he is free. “The cab is here.”

“Now?” Evan asks, stumped. “We– do you know how suspicious this will look like if we leave now?”

“We don’t have a choice, do we? She will come back,” he hisses out. “That’s what the grimoire said, right?”

Pandora nods with a sorry look. “If we don’t burn her bones…”

“I will go fetch alcohol,” Sirius roughly says. “And the lighter.”

The cab doesn’t ask them any questions despite the scene of police cars and ambulances but Regulus slips him more money than necessary just in case. They are in rough shape despite the ambulance’s care but his body still aches. Regulus has already contacted his bakery that he will take his sick leave, at least for two days.

“Wait here, please,” Evan requests and the driver nods even if he glances curiously at the cemetery’s entry.

Sirius leads them and Pandora tries to keep his speed, talking quietly, but Evan doesn’t catch what she says or if he even answers. He has briefly said that Gideon was his ex and apparently followed him here in London to ‘get back together’. There is nothing he can think of to help or even say but hopefully Pandora finds the right words. They still have to digest how they are apparently related, now witches and not just random ones. Regulus’ phone rings and he sighs out before taking it.

“Yes?” He huffs out, eyes on Sirius and Pandora heading toward the Black Mausoleum. “What? Who are you again?”

Evan hears ‘James Potter’ and that he is apparently a handyman, who has been contacted by one of the people Regulus tried to call, and ready to come by to figure out what they need. Pandora and Sirius are waiting for them at the door of the mausoleum and Regulus quickly agrees for this Potter to come by tomorrow to fix a list of what needs to be repaired and the cost.

The mausoleum is huge but they easily find the burial of Walburga Black. She is laying in a companion crypt with Orion Black and Evan wonders if he even expected her to kill him; he wouldn’t be surprised that she told the truth after all of that. His and Pandora’s father never spoke about their mother, not even saying if she died or left them at birth, but they have no memories or even a name to look for. They are two years younger than Regulus which would also fit with her own time of death, since Regulus supposes that Orion might have killed her for cheating and carrying other people’s child– they are big on incest in our lineage.

“How do you open that?”

“I can do it,” Sirius says, putting the two bottles of alcohol in Pandora’s arms.

“Wait, you can’t just send it against the wall,” Regulus cuts him. “Just open it a little or something.”

He glares at him but it quickly softens and Evan thinks he might cry before it glares at the crypt. His hand jerks shortly and the seal snaps, sliding the crypt open without falling with its own weight. Evan gags at the smell and steps back but Pandora immediately peeks inside.

“It’s empty.”

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