Just to answer a few questions: I will probably include the dragon and the forest and not just skip to the end of the year, but I will be skimming over some things a bit.
As for if I'd thought of doing a version where James and Maia died in the original story: I hadn't thought about it but it's a good idea so I might do! In my mind, if James and Maia had died, Regulus would have brought Harry up, or maybe Sirius depending on whether he'd gone after Peter and been framed like in the books, so a lot would have been different from the books.
Chapter Ten
Before Maia could believe it, she was sending her son back off to school.
The rest of the Christmas holidays seemed to have gone far too slowly for her liking, but had been very enjoyable nonetheless. New Year's Eve was a fun family occasion – Regulus, Andromeda, Ted and Nymphadora all came around to celebrate and there was music, food, drinks and fireworks.
It was the first time Harry had met Nymphadora Tonks and first time in his memory that he had met Andromeda and Ted. It was also the first time Nymphadora and Regulus had met, and the first time in many years that Regulus and Andromeda had seen each other.
Harry immediately liked the Tonks family – in particular, the young auror had entertained him with a few of her best metamorphagus tricks, with Lyra chipping in and asking for her favourites. Andromeda and Ted made polite conversation with him but Neville was sleeping over, so the children mainly went off to play by themselves.
Nymphadora didn't seem to know what to say to Regulus, and Maia couldn't blame her. Regulus hardly invited conversation, much to her exasperation. Her younger brother could be charming and everything else if he tried, but he mainly stuck to talking to Maia at first. His greetings to Andromeda and Ted were civil enough but he didn't know how to talk to them.
Eventually, things became more relaxed and Regulus participated a little more in the conversation – it was difficult not to take part around such lively characters as the rest of the family.
By midnight they were having fireworks in the gardens and ringing in 1992. Andromeda and Ted went home not long after and the children went up to bed, but the party continued for the adults well into the morning, with both Tonks and Regulus sleeping over.
The few days between New Years and Harry going back to school were quiet but Maia loved each one of them and was feeling quite sad when the time came to take Harry back to King's Cross.
It was a Sunday morning so the whole household went to the train station, wrapped up warm against the chilly January morning.
Maia drew her winter cloak tighter around herself as she led the way, walking between Harry and Ron, chatting away happily enough though wishing she could keep her son at home for longer. Behind them James was pushing a trolley with the boys' luggage on, Lyra at his side, cooing at Hedwig, and Sirius and Remus bringing up the rear.
When they reached the barrier between platforms nine and ten, Maia rested a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Alright, after you?" she asked.
Harry looked far more confident than the first time they had taken this same journey, and he and Ron strode through the barrier together. Maia followed them, appearing on the platform between them and soon followed by the others.
The scarlet steam train was already waiting and other pupils were saying goodbye to their parents and boarding. Reluctantly, Maia glanced towards the train then to the luggage on the trolley James was pushing.
"Right boys," she said with a smile, "shall we get your luggage on for you? Come on, James."
There wasn't time to linger much after getting the luggage onto one of the carriages, and around them the other pupils were boarding the train.
Maia bit her lip as she looked at her son – the holidays had gone far too quickly and she knew she should feel better about this given they'd already spent a term apart and she knew he had fun at school, had plenty of friends, and had his uncle around to keep an eye on him.
"You should probably get on the train," she said, a false cheeriness in her voice that her children didn't pick up on but the adults did.
Harry nodded, glancing at the clock and feeling reluctant to leave his family again after having such a good time over Christmas, "Suppose so."
Maia reached out to pull him into a hug, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly, swaying them from side to side, "Have a good term," she told him when she eventually let go of him.
Harry's cheeks were pink with embarrassment as he fought not to look at Ron, but Ron didn't seem fazed. His mother would have done exactly the same. He didn't have much time to breathe before his father engulfed him in a bear hug, clapping him on the back and telling him to look after himself. Remus was next, then Sirius.
"Ok," Maia said, turning to both boys and finding this just as hard as it had been in September, "so have a good term, watch what you're doing. Look after yourselves – and Neville – and for Merlin's sake, stay out of trouble this time."
"I will," Harry said.
"I mean it," Maia said, "I don't want to hear anything about you fighting trolls, or .. or – well I don't know, but just stay out of trouble please."
At her side, James nodded firmly, "As cool as fighting a fully grown mountain troll is, just save us the grey hairs and stay out of trouble."
Sirius smirked, "Real trouble anyway. No-one's going to begrudge you sneaking out for a midnight snack but-"
"Sirius-" Maia started sharply.
Sirius cut her off with a laugh, "What? I'm telling him the same as you are – don't get into big trouble."
"I won't get into any trouble," Harry said loudly, cutting across all of them and ending the debate.
Maia nodded, unable to stop herself leaning down and pulling him in for another hug, this one longer than the last, and kissing his cheek when she finally let go of him. "We'll see you in a few months then. Don't forget to write to us," she told him, already feeling tears well up in her eyes and determined not to cry in front of him. "We'll miss you."
James hugged Harry again, and Maia turned to Ron, also telling him to be careful and have a good time at school, and Ron thanked her for having him and assured her that he'd had a very fun holiday.
"See you soon, sweetie," Maia smiled as Harry took a step backwards from them, towards the train, "I love you."
"Love you too, Mum," Harry said, cheeks burning as he glanced at Ron again.
They shouted their goodbyes after Harry and Ron until they were on the train and it wasn't long before the whistle sounded. Halfway down the platform, Maia saw Neville jump on the train just before it started to move, and his exasperated grandmother was shouting after him. Maia called her godson's name and wave at him too as the train started to move.
A minute later, the train had pulled out of sight and Harry was gone. Maia let out a sigh, wrapping her arms around herself and feeling rather deflated. Tears were in her eyes but she swallowed hard, refusing to let them fall. Behind her, Lyra was already chattering away about how she wanted to go to Hogwarts, but Maia wasn't really listening. Remus glanced at James and Maia, and took it upon himself to wrap an arm around his little goddaughter and start walking towards the entrance back to the muggle train station.
"Are you alright?" James asked at Maia's side as she hadn't moved.
Maia nodded, "I didn't think it would be as hard as the first time."
"I know," James replied, stepping closer and holding out his hand, "but you know he'll be fine."
Maia swallowed hard, blinking away the tears that had formed and put her hand in her husband's, "I know," she said, "but .. I miss him so much."
James closed his fingers around hers and squeezed her hand reassuringly, tugging her closer to him, "I miss him too but he wasn't too much trouble in the first term – apart from the troll - and at least he's made friends and everything, and he's the youngest seeker in a century, and he's doing well."
"I know," Maia replied.
James smiled slightly and drew her even closer, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead, "At least we've still got Lyra at home for a couple of years."
Maia sighed, shaking her head, "Don't. I can't imagine Lyra going off to school too and it just being us all year round."
James secretly hoped that by the time Lyra went off to school in 18 months or so, they'd have another child, but wasn't sure it was the moment to mention it.
He raised his eyebrows at her, "There's no need to sound so sad about it just being us, you know. I assure you I'm good company. Besides, we'll still have Padfoot and Moony – I can't imagine either of them moving out any time soon."
Maia thought he was probably right. Sirius would probably be a bachelor forever, although Maia wished he'd settle down, and Remus was too harsh on himself and probably wouldn't try to pursue anyone without considerable encouragement from the others. Maia thought briefly of Tonks – she didn't care what James said, they had a connection.
"Don't be sad," James told her, glancing after Remus, Sirius and Lyra, "we have to go to work tomorrow, but we can spend the rest of our weekend with our daughter, and Harry will be back before we know it. "
Maia nodded in agreement and they started to walk away, James slipping an arm around her waist. Looking at her daughter's back, Maia looked up at her husband, "It won't just be me crying when she goes off to school, you know."
"I don't cry," James scoffed.
"You will, for her."
Harry's first few weeks back at Hogwarts were very busy – the teachers seemed to be working them harder than they had in the first term, and Wood was working the team harder than ever before too.
In their spare time, he, Ron, Hermione and Neville had been skimming books to find a mention of Nicholas Flamel. One quick conversation with Hermione on the train back up to the school confirmed that none of them were any closer to finding out who Nicholas Flamel was, and they were all giving up hope of ever finding out who he was.
Hermione had been dismayed at failing to find something in a book, and she'd also been disappointed that Harry hadn't found out anything at home. Harry had pointed out that there would have been too many follow up questions if he'd asked his parents or uncles – he would have ended up having to explain about the three-headed dog, and his mother would have had a heart attack.
With all the work they had, quidditch was the only fun thing really happening and it was almost February when Wood broke some unexpected news to the Gryffindor quidditch team during one very muddy and wet practise.
Wood was at his wits end with the Weasley twins, who kept dive-bombing and pretending to fall off their brooms.
He yelled, "Will you two stop messing around?! You'll end up losing us the match! Black's refereeing this time, and if we beat Hufflepuff, we'll overtake Slytherin! He'll be looking for an excuse to take points off us!"
This was met with silence. Professor Black was competitive and loved quidditch, and although his favouritism towards Slytherin house wasn't usually too bad, he was unlikely to be fair when the Gryffindor team had a chance of overtaking his own team in the league. The rest of the team then began to complain loudly about how Black wouldn't be impartial, and Wood loudly tried to calm them down, pointing out that Black's own nephew was their star seeker, and that had to count for something.
Harry merely frowned. He wasn't worried, as the others were, about how fair the game would be, but instead wondered why his uncle would be refereeing the match. As far as he knew, Madam Hooch always refereed.
He wondered if it had anything to do with his last quidditch match, where his broomstick had been dangerously jinxed, and he still didn't know the cause of it, though his uncle had told him not to worry, and they'd agreed not to tell his parents. Maybe Regulus was worried that it would happen again and wanted to referee so he could keep a close eye on everything. Either way, it didn't quite sit right with him.
In the common room after practise, Harry told Ron and Hermione this news. Neville, for some reason, was absent and neither Ron nor Hermione was quite sure why – he'd gone to the owlery, they supposed.
"Why does Professor Black have a sudden desire to become a quidditch referee?" Ron frowned.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Isn't it obvious? He wants to keep an eye on Harry, after the last match. Harry if you're worried, you could just go and talk to him – he is your uncle."
Before anyone could say anything more, the portrait hole swung open and Neville toppled into the room. His legs were stuck together with that Harry recognised as a Leg-Locker curse, and poor Neville must have had to hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower.
The whole room fell about laughing but Hermione immediately leapt up and performed the counter-curse, catching Neville under his elbow just as he was about to fall and pulling him towards the group.
Neville sank into a chair and Ron demanded, "What happened?"
"Malfoy," Neville said shakily, "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practise that on."
"You should report that," Hermione said firmly, "go to Professor McGonagall!"
"I don't want the trouble," he mumbled, avoiding everyone's eyes.
"You've got to stand up to him!" Ron urged, "he's used to walking all over people but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier."
"I already know I'm not brave enough to be a Gryffindor!" Neville choked, looking very much like he was about to cry.
Harry sighed and felt into the pocket of his robes, pulling out a Chocolate Frog and handing it to Neville, "You're worth twelve of Malfoy," he said, "the Sorting Hat put you in Gryffindor, didn't it? And Malfoy's in stinking Slytherin."
Neville's lips twitched into a smile as he unwrapped the frog, "Thanks Harry," he mumbled.
Harry added, "And if you don't want to tell McGonagall, you could always tell my Mum. She'd be straight round to give the Malfoys a piece of her mind."
Neville smiled a little more – he knew his godmother was fiercely protective of her children, and of him too. Merlin knew he'd seen her get into enough disagreements with his grandmother.
"I mught go to bed," Neville sighed, holding out the Chocolate Frog card to Harry, "here, d'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?"
Harry took the card with a nod and looked down at it, "Dumbledore again," he said, "I've 7 of-" He broke off with a gasp, suddenly remembering something and he turned the card over to stare at the back of it, "Neville, don't go to bed yet, sit down. I've found him!"
"Found him?" Ron asked eagerly.
"Flamel," Harry continued, "I knew I'd seen the name somewhere before – I've seen it on a Chocolate Frog card before. Listen - "Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel"!"
Hermione leapt to her feet, commanding them to stay where they were and ran up to the girls' dormitory. The three boys barely had time to exchange confused looks when Hermione returned with an enormous book in her arms.
"I took his out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading," she explained, "but I never thought to look in here."
After some frantic flicking through the pages, she finally found what she was looking for, and told them in a dramatic whisper, "Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone."
When it didn't have the effect she'd clearly expected, Hermione showed the boys a passage from the book to explain. Harry stared – apparently, the Philosopher's Stone had the ability to transform any metal into pure gold, and produced the Elixir of Life, which would make the drinker immortal. Flamel himself was 665 years old!
"See?" Hermione whispered, "the dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it. That's why he wanted it moved out of Gringotts!"
"A stone that makes gold and stops you ever dying," Harry said, "no-one someone's after it. Anyone would want it."
"Maybe we should just forget about all this," Neville said quietly – he'd never really been on board from the beginning.
The others were far too busy thinking about what they'd do with a Philosopher's Stone if they had one, to pay attention to Neville.
Maia's initial sadness at her son going back to school began to fade as the time passed and before she knew it, it was February, and Harry had been gone again for a full month.
One Friday afternoon in early February, Maia was sitting in the living room with a piece of parchment on her lap – a list of sums that Remus had set for Lyra to do.
Maia had got home from work an hour ago and Remus was up in bed, sleeping off a full moon from the previous night, but had still set Lyra some work to do. Maia had got home to find Lyra grumbling over her sums, and her daughter was now lying on the sofa, watching Maia mark the work.
"I don't understand why I need to do sums," Lyra said with a frown, "I'm going to Hogwarts in a few years - won't I learn everything I need to know there?"
Maia smiled slightly, making another tick on the parchment with her long quill, "You'll learn how to make potions, look after magical plants and animals, use charms and transfigure things, all about our history, and the stars and muggles if you want, but you learn simple things like sums and reading long before you get to school. How will you add up all the money you earn when you leave school and get a job, if you don't learn your sums now? These are all right, by the way sweetie, well done."
"Thanks Mum," Lyra nodded, taking the parchment from her and glancing down it. When she put it aside, she said, "I'm going to have a cool job one day and lots of money to count."
"Cooler than your Dad and Uncle Sirius?" Maia asked in amusement, knowing just how much Lyra adored her dad and uncle and looked up to them. She was always asking them all about their job, and she'd always thought fighting the bad guys was the height of cool.
"Much cooler," Lyra announced, though she wasn't sure what it would be. Frowning, she asked, "What's the coolest job you can think of?"
Maia thought about it for a second and replied, "Dragon handler, hands down."
Lyra nodded thoughtfully, "That does sound cool."
A sudden noise in the kitchen distracted them both and Maia glanced at the clock, knowing it would be her husband home from work, and slightly later than usual.
She didn't rise to her feet, tired from a long week at work, but Lyra did, running into the kitchen. Maia closed her eyes and leaned back against the sofa and she heard the noises coming from the other room – Lyra was enthusiastically greeting her dad, and Maia heard the voices of Sirius and Tonks too. She'd quite forgotten that Tonks was supposed to be coming around for dinner and a few drinks, as she did every now and then.
"Where's your mum?" she heard James ask from the hallway, and a moment later he appeared in the doorway, smiling brightly.
Maia smiled at him slightly, "Hi."
"You look knackered," James told her, tossing his cloak over the back of the sofa, then leaning over her to kiss her in greeting.
"Thanks," Maia said, rolling her eyes as he sat down beside her.
"Long day?" he asked.
"Long week," she replied. She'd worked longer hours than usual over the last couple of days, trying to help a man with a very nasty bite, and covering the work of two of her juniors who had wrote in sick. "How was your day? You're home a bit late."
It wasn't unusual for James to come home later, having had to stay to work through the mountains of paperwork that came with the job, but if Sirius and Tonks were late too, then something must have happened.
James shrugged, "It was nothing. Arthur Weasley was doing a raid – some guy suspected of selling dark objects to muggles. He came by to tell us, warned that he might need someone to check out the goods afterwards and well ..."
"You and Sirius couldn't resist going along on the raid," Maia finished for him, "and you dragged Tonks along with you."
"It was fun," James replied defensively, just as Sirius and Tonks entered the room, both with a loud cheery greeting for Maia, and followed by Lyra. Sirius and Tonks settled onto the sofa opposite the couple, and James reached out for Lyra, patting the sofa beside him. Lyra smiled and sat beside him, nestling into his side as he draped an arm over her shoulders.
"Dad, what's the coolest job you can think of?" Lyra asked.
"Lyra's decided she wants to have the coolest job in the world, so we're trying to decide what it is," Maia explained, smiling as James draped his free arm over her shoulders.
"Well, its an Auror of course," Sirius replied.
"Of course," James agreed, "or maybe a quidditch player."
"Or one of the weird sisters," Tonks offered.
"I'm sticking with dragon handler," Maia insisted.
"Ooh, can I change to dragon handler?" Sirius said quickly, "that does sound cool. Maybe you could be a quidditch-playing dragon-handling Auror?"
Lyra nodded, "I'll try."
Half an hour later, Maia was in the kitchen putting dinner out, and Tonks had followed her in to help her. Tonks was a nuisance in the kitchen, knocking things over and nearly burning herself on the oven, so Maia instead asked her to lay the table, which seemed like a task she couldn't mess up.
"Isn't Remus joining us?" Tonks asked as she counted the sets of cutlery in her hands.
"He's a bit under the weather," Maia replied, "he's taking a nap."
Tonks nodded, looking a little put out and sounding concerned as she said, "I hope it's nothing serious?"
"He'll be fine by tomorrow," Maia replied.
Tonks knew nothing about Remus being a werewolf.
When she'd first started coming to the house, she was merely an acquaintance so it didn't make sense to tell her, but now 5 months later, she'd become a friend and part of the family, and stopped by at least every fortnight, if not every week. James and Sirius saw her every day at work, and when she stopped by the house, Maia was always glad of a new female friend. Tonks was becoming like a little sister – someone to have a laugh with and talk to, but she felt a bit of responsibility towards her due to their age gap.
When she was merely an acquaintance, it hadn't made sense to tell her about Remus, but Maia knew they'd have to tell her eventually, but it would be down to Remus.
"Now, since those two aren't around," Maia started, clearly indicating her husband and brother, "it's Valentine's Day next week … any plans?"
Tonks shrugged, laying down the last set of cutlery, "Not really. I've never been big on Valentine's day."
"So you're not seeing anyone?" Maia asked, a mischievous smile tugging at her lips as she took the food out of the oven.
"You sound like my mother," Tonks replied, amused.
Maia shrugged, "I've always liked a bit of gossip. Sirius won't tell me much about his love life, although I know he's bound to be taking someone out. I'm sure he tells James, but he swears him to secrecy, and it's always ministry witches I only know in passing. Aren't there any handsome wizards who wanted to take you out?"
Tonks held her hands up with a smile, "I assure you, my love life is non-existent, and I'm fine with it. I've got enough on with work. What about you?"
"I was never too bothered about Valentine's Day either," Maia admitted, starting to plate up some of the food, "we can do out and do something nice on any day of the year, but James likes it, so we try and do something. We're going out for dinner this year – he won't tell me where though."
"He's actually rather romantic, isn't he?" Tonks said, screwing her nose up at the thought of the man she saw in the office every day being like this. Merlin knew she'd seen enough sweet moments at their house between he and his family, but it was still strange.
"He tries," Maia replied, "you know … don't tell James I told you, but on the night he proposed to me, I came home from shopping to find him standing in the kitchen surrounded by smoke, taking two lumps of charcoal out of the oven. He'd tried to make me a slap up meal and burnt the lot."
Tonks laughed and they were still laughing about it when James came into the room, with the distinct feeling that they were laughing at him.
Several days later, on Valentine's Day, Maia stood at the bottom of the staircase and wrapped her arms around her daughter. "Be good for Uncle Moony," she said when she pulled away, kissing her on the cheek and trying not to leave lipstick on her, "we'll see you in the morning."
"You look nice, Mum," Lyra said, earning herself a smile as James embraced her warmly.
"She does, doesn't she?" James grinned, "now, no funny business while we're gone, angel. I don't want to come home and find frogspawn in the bed or anything, you hear me?"
"Of course Dad," Lyra said, sounding incredibly innocent.
Maia turned to Remus, "Thanks for looking after her for us."
Remus gave her an incredibly disbelieving look, "Well I do live here, and it's not like I was doing anything else tonight, is it? Enjoy yourselves."
As they left the house together, stepping into the chilly February air, James held out his hand to his wife, curling his fingers around her slender, cold digits, and suddenly realising that it wasn't really necessary for them to come outside.
"Where are we going?" Maia asked curiously.
"You'll see. Hold on," James told her, looking down at their joined hands and concentrating as he apparated them both to their destination. He kept a firm hold on Maia's hand and when they landed on their feet at their destination, he felt her sway on her feet and put an arm out to steady her.
"We're … in Hogsmeade," Maia said, looking around at her surroundings as she clutched his arm.
"We are," James replied, "you okay?"
Maia nodded, feeling steady now, and she removed her hand from its tight hold on James' arm, instead taking hold of the hand he now offered her. "I'm fine. So … where are we going?"
"There's a new place opened round the corner, just on the way out of the village, sort of hidden away," James told her as they started walking through the village, "Dawlish took his wife last week, said it was lovely."
"I thought perhaps, the Three Broomsticks," Maia said, pleased to find out they were going somewhere new – she loved going nice places and having her husband all to herself.
James shook his head, "Not for a romantic Valentine's Day dinner. I thought we could maybe call in for a few drinks afterwards though."
"Sounds lovely," Maia replied honestly, "as long as we're not going to Madam Puddifoot's, then I'm happy."
"Never," James grimaced. He'd taken a girl there in his fifth year at school, and Maia had gone on a date there during sixth year, and both had agreed it wasn't their scene – in fact, it had gained a reputation amongst the Gryffindors for being very uncool.
The restaurant was situated on a side street off the lane that led out of Hogsmeade – a road that Maia had rarely walked down, but it was well lit, and even in the dark, Maia felt safe enough.
When they turned down the side street and got closer to the restaurant, Maia saw it had little fairy lights around the window, giving off a warm glow. From the outside, it looked lovely, with the name of the restaurant written above it in elegant, curvy writing.
"Here we are," James said.
"Looks nice," Maia replied as James rested a hand in the small of her back and ushered her into the restaurant in front of him. When they walked in, a smartly dressed, cheery older wizard approached, asking for their name and reservation, which James gave promptly.
The restaurant was busy, and the man led them to the only remaining empty table, pulling Maia's chair out for her. She took her seat with a thank-you and the wizard took their drinks order, handed them their menus and left them alone.
"This is lovely," Maia commented, looking around – the place was decorated like a little christmas grotto, with sparkling fairly lights, but in no way over-done and frilly like Madam Puddifoot's place. There was quiet classical music playing in the background and around them other couples were sharing a Valentine's day meal.
"I'm glad you like it," James said, "hope the food's good."
Maia nodded, looking around at their surroundings. They were surrounded by couples, and as James reached across the table to take her hand and started talking to her, Maia found herself not quite listening because a couple on the other side of the restaurant had caught her eye.
A man with longish dark hair, was pouring a glass of wine for himself, and then the woman sitting opposite him, black sleeves falling over his hand. Maia did a double take, realising that her brother Regulus was in the same restaurant, on a date.
She couldn't help but stare – he was wearing a pair of very smart robes and his hair looked more groomed than it usual did. He was dressed up, she thought, amused. The woman opposite him had dark skin, long dark hair, and wore a set of very pretty blue robes, and was altogether quite pretty. She was smiling at Regulus, who looked as though he were turning the charm on.
"Maia, are you listening?" James asked, forcing her to snap her attention back to him.
"You won't believe who's over there," Maia said in hushed tones, quite forgetting to apologise to James and ask him what he'd been saying.
James, intrigued, looked across the restaurant in the direction Maia had just been looking in and suddenly grinned gleefully as he turned back to face his wife. "Is that … Regulus?"
"Yep," Maia nodded with a matching grin.
James chuckled, "Regulus … on a date? On Valentine's day? Who's he with?"
"I don't know but she's pretty, isn't she? Where does he meet anyone, up at the school all year round?" Maia admitted, "He'll be hearing all about this at dinner on Sunday. Maybe we should go over there and say hi? Oh, she's looking, look away, look away."
James rolled his eyes at her, as they both looked away, "Very subtle there, darling," he told her, glancing back at his menu.
Regulus was very private about his love life, and his sister loved to nag and tease him, and she was feeling positively gleeful about seeing him here. She thought it was about time that one of her three brothers, by blood and otherwise, settled down, and it would especially nice if it was Regulus. She worried about him sometimes, off at the school by himself, and she knew he was charming and caring underneath the somewhat regal boredom he often put forward.
Meanwhile, on Regulus' side of the restaurant, a young serving witch had just brought a bottle of wine for he and his date, when the doors of the restaurant tingled as they opened and in walked a very familiar couple. Regulus was facing the door, and his date had her back to it, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Dread filled him as he watched his sister and brother-in-law walk into the restaurant and be led to a table on the other side of the room. As usual, at first they were too wrapped up in each other to notice anything else, and he hoped that they wouldn't notice him. He hated when Maia and Sirius asked about his love life and he certainly didn't want to spend his date knowing she was there, wondering if she was looking over, and knowing she was going to tease him the next time she saw him.
"Regulus?" asked the woman across the table, making him realise he'd been staring. He very quickly looked back at her and silently cursed himself when he saw she was looked in the direction he had just been. "Is everything alright?" she asked, "do you know them?"
"No, no, not at all," Regulus said quickly, picking up their bottle of wine and trying to distract her.
Aurora Sinistra looked at him suspiciously, still eyeing the couple who had just walked in. They looked familiar, she thought, though she couldn't quite decide why she thought so, and it was difficult to make them out properly since they were now both sitting down, and there were several couples in between them, not to mention the somewhat dim lighting.
Aurora narrowed her eyes at her companion – he seemed a little flustered as he poured their wine quickly, almost spilling some of his on the tablecloth, which was rather uncharacteristic. She'd sat a few seats down from him at the teacher's table up at the school for a few years now, and Regulus Black was always very put together. The expression on his face when they'd walked in had definitely said something was wrong.
"Are you sure?" she asked, half confused and half amused.
"Of course," Regulus said smoothly, eager to get on with his date and pretend that his big sister wasn't also here, observing his first date with the woman. He pushed Aurora's wine glass towards her to distract her, "there you go."
A few moments later, Aurora felt a pair of eyes watching her and she looked over to the table where the couple she'd caught Regulus staring at, were sitting. The woman was looking right at her, but immediately looked away when she'd been caught looking. The woman was whispering rapidly at the man, who smirked, also looking in their direction and looking away.
"Regulus, are you sure you don't know them?" Aurora asked the man sitting opposite her. She and the Potions Master had been flirting for a while, and this was their first date – not especially because it was Valentine's Day but it just happened that in trying to choose a night to go out on, they'd accidentally found this day to be most suitable for them both.
"Never seen them in my life," Regulus replied without looking at them, "you know, I think I'll have the steak."
"Well, for people you've never met, they keep looking over here," Aurora countered, thinking about how highly odd this was. Observing the couple, she became even more intrigued. The woman wore luxurious robes of purple, had curly dark hair and even her profile screamed aristocracy – high cheekbones, a defined jawline, a thin nose, porcelain skin. The man sitting opposite her had very untidy black hair and circular glasses – both appeared to be in their early thirties.
Suddenly, Aurora realised she'd seen them before – not in person, but plastered across the Daily Prophet, most recently a couple of weeks ago, when the section filled with celebrity news and gossip had featured pictures of them dropping their son Harry off at King's Cross for the new term. She remembered Regulus scoffing into his pumpkin juice and remarking loudly that Mrs Potter would be very unimpressed to see herself in the celebrity gossip section again.
"Isn't that the Potters?" Aurora asked.
Regulus tried not to frown, knowing he'd been found out, and instead tried to act innocent, "Oh no, I shouldn't think so."
"Regulus, is that your sister?"
Regulus was fairly sure that there was no way out of this and he looked across the restaurant, scowling at his sister for daring to walk into the same restaurant as him, and admitted, "Erm … yes. Yes it is."
Across the restaurant, after giving their order to the waiter, Maia looked back over at her brother to see him looking at her, rather unimpressed. "He's seen us," she told James, with a grin, "oh look at him, he's so unimpressed. We really should go over there and say hello now, come on. "
Regulus tried not to sigh when he met Maia's eyes and she grinned at him, rising to her feet. Great, they were coming over. Act natural, he told himself. Just be nice and say hello, and then they'll go back to their own date and leave him alone, and they could all never speak of this again, and hopefully they wouldn't embarrass him too much. Aurora, for her part, just seemed amused.
Maia rose to her feet and held out her hand to James, taking hold of his hand and tugging him after her as they crossed the restaurant and came to stand beside Regulus' table.
Regulus couldn't possibly not be courteous to his sister and rose from his seat, "Sister, what a surprise it is to see you here," he said, leaning down to kiss one of her cheeks and then the other, then offering his hand out to James, shaking it firmly, "James, how are you?"
"What a surprise it is to see you here," Maia smiled, looking from Regulus to the woman, "I hope we're not interrupting."
Regulus raised his eyebrows at her, looking very much like he wanted to kill her, "We're in a nice place on Valentine's Day, of course you're interrupting, but never mind." Gesturing to the woman beside him, who had also stood up now, and revealed herself to be a tall, thin woman, he added, "This is Aurora Sinistra, she's the Astronomy Professor as Hogwarts. Aurora, my sister Maia, and my brother-in-law, James."
"Charmed," James grinned, taking hold of the hand Aurora extended.
"Nice to meet you," Maia added, clearly enjoying herself far too much for Regulus' liking, "I hope you're having a nice evening."
"Yes we are thanks, we were really enjoying our conversation," Regulus nodded, widening his eyes at her in some sort of signal that she should leave them alone.
"Perhaps we should leave you to it then," James suggested, resting a hand on Maia's arm.
"How's Harry?" Maia blurted out, before she could stop herself.
Despite his annoyance at seeing his sister here, Regulus softened at the mention of his nephew, "He's alright," he said, "I'll tell you all his latest antics at dinner on Sunday, don't worry."
"Well, I hope he's not too much of a bother," James grinned at the astronomy professor, who grinned back, shaking her head.
"Not at all," she said, "he's no bother."
"Right, well, have a good evening, see you Sunday," Regulus said quickly.
Neither Maia nor James could possibly be grinning wider, he thought, and it was all at his expense. They were incredibly amused to have seen him here on a date, and he knew he was never going to hear the end of it. Still, he seemed to be doing a good job of getting rid of them, so he and Aurora could get back to their date before they embarrassed him too much.
The way he brushed them off was so comical that Maia didn't quite know what to say and instead, she grinned at her brother, "Yes, maybe we should leave you to it. Have fun, little brother."
Regulus knew he was blushing when he and Aurora took their seats and the Potters left them to it, and too embarrassed to say anything, he took a sip of his wine.
Aurora smirked at him, raising her glass to her lips, taking a small sip and then telling him, "There's no need to be embarrassed and pretend not to know them – I think they're lovely."
"I'm not embarrassed," he said quickly.
"Of course not," Aurora replied, "you know, I think I'll have the steak too."
Two days later was Sunday and as soon as Regulus turned up on the doorstep, he was greeted and let into the house by his grinning sister. As soon as he entered the living room, his brother was grinning too, though Remus and James seemed at least able to control themselves.
"I hear you were on a date with a very pretty astronomy professor," Sirius said as soon as he saw his brother.
Regulus raised his eyebrows, "Really? You couldn't even wait until we'd said hello?"
"Yes, hello, so how was it? Tell us all about her," Sirius urged.
Regulus groaned, sinking down into an armchair, "Wouldn't you rather hear all about how I'm refereeing the next quidditch match. It's Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff."
"Why isn't-"
"She's ill," Regulus replied, preempting his sister's question about why Madam Hooch wasn't refereeing, "it's going to be a good game, I should say."
And with that, everyone was suitably distracted.
Harry's quidditch match was in the first week of March. He was feeling incredibly nervous about the match – Gryffindor's first chance to overtake Slytherin in the league for years. The rest of the team were worried that having the head of Slytherin house as the referee would make it biased, but Harry knew his uncle well enough to know that that wouldn't affect the situation, and he assured the Gryffindors that Regulus being his uncle would surely balance out any bias.
Since discovering the identity of Nicholas Flamel, Harry and his friends had given little more thought to it. Harry was convinced that someone was after the stone, and that was why it had been moved from Gringotts, but it was impossibly to say who it was.
At least Ron and Hermione had never tried to put his uncle under suspicion again. They had agreed that they'd obviously seen him going up to the corridor on Hallowe'en to check on the stone, or protect it or something, as one of several staff members doing so.
Harry hardly heard a word of Wood's pep talk as he pulled on his robes and picked up his broomstick, but Wood took him aside as they waited to go on the pitch. He advised Harry to catch the snitch as quick as possible before Regulus could favour the Hufflepuffs too much, but Harry told him he was sure his uncle would be fair.
When the team captains shook hands and the players all mounted their brooms, Regulus met his nephew's eyes. Harry felt himself relax as his uncle gave him the smallest of winks – there, he thought, he was going to be fair. Of course he was, Harry knew he'd be disappointed if Slytherin lost their long hold on the Quidditch Cup, but surely some of him would be proud of his nephew.
The match was quick – Harry caught the snitch quicker than anyone could ever remember, and Gryffindor had won.
The stands erupted in cheers and when Harry landed on the ground, he was mobbed by the rest of the team, and then the Gryffindors who spilled out onto the pitch with a deafening roar.
Even Dumbledore came over to congratulate him, and Regulus, though he looked disappointed, gave his usual half-smile and nodded at Harry in congratulations.
As Harry left the changing room some time later, to take his broomstick back to the shed, he felt extremely proud and knew he had to write home with the news – his mum and dad would be extremely proud to say the least.
On his way back up to the castle, where he'd arrive just in time for dinner, Harry saw a figure leaving the castle, food up around his face, robes flowing behind him. Harry immediately recognised his uncle and wondered what he was doing, when everyone else was at dinner. He wondered about going over to speak to him, but saw him duck behind a tree and yank his hood down.
Harry frowned and carefully edged over, desperately trying not to step on anything that might make a noise and give him away. He realised that all those years of playing tricks on each other at home had come in handy as he was able to sneak over unnoticed and hide behind a neighbouring cluster of trees.
Not far away, his uncle was standing with Professor Quirrell, who was stuttering worse than ever.
"Regulus, I-I d-don't know why w-w're ..."
"I thought we needed a private conversation," Regulus said coldly, in a voice Harry wasn't sure he'd ever heard him use, "wouldn't want students overhearing anything about the Philosopher's Stone, would we?"
Quirrell mumbled something Harry didn't hear but Regulus quickly replied, "Don't try lying to me, Quirrell, it doesn't work. Have you found out how to get past Hagrid's beast yet?"
"R-Regulus, I -"
"You had better stop whatever you're doing, and think about where your loyalties lie, mark my words," Regulus hissed, "we'll be talking again soon, and as soon as I have any evidence, Dumbledore will be hearing all about this. You wouldn't dare do anything with Dumbledore around."
Regulus strode away with that, and Harry frowned in confusion.
When Harry got to dinner, his friends immediately started telling him about how Malfoy had tried to bully Neville in the stands and been rewarded with a black eye from Ron, whilst Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle together. They then started telling them all about the party in the common room Fed and George were throwing, with food they'd stolen from the kitchens.
On the way back up to the common room, Harry took them all aside into an empty classroom and immediately started telling them what he'd seen in the grounds between Regulus and Quirrell.
"So we were right," Hermione said slowly, "it is the Philosopher's Stone, and it sounds like Professor Black thinks Quirrell is after the stone."
"Why would Quirrell be after the stone though?" Ron frowned, "he's so … pathetic. I can't imagine him … doing anything like that."
Harry shrugged, "Well, that's what it sounded like."
They all mused this for a bit longer, before Hermione decided, "Well, if Quirrell is after the stone, I'm sure Professor Black can handle it, and it sounds like he wouldn't dare do anything with Professor Dumbledore around, and he's not going anywhere."
"I think we should stay out of it," Neville said quietly.
Harry reluctantly agreed but wondered if he should speak to his uncle – Regulus was a capable man though so surely he'd have it all under control. Harry decided he would keep an eye on Professor Quirrell and go to his uncle if anything else happened. For now, they would just enjoy the party.
Note: About the relationships in my story: I'm thinking of bringing Tonks and Lupin's relationship forward a bit, since they've met four books earlier here than they actually did, so their relationship will probably progress a lot through Chamber of Secrets.
Regulus: I want Regulus to find someone, probably a nice pure-blood or half-blood but am struggling to think of an appropriate canon character, so if anyone has any ideas, I'd always willing to listen. Obviously, I've tried to give him a date here, but I don't know what everyone thinks about this pairing?
Sirius: Sirius will probably be a bachelor for a while but I'm also trying to think of someone for him in the future but that will be a way off.